Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board: MotorRoach - Viewing Profile - Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board

Hez, on Yesterday, 10:00 AM, said:

Does that means that I can ask for donations for the things I make in this community as well? They're nowhere in the same level of hacking discoveries, but...

(Yes, this is a serious question. My financial situation went from bad to even worse just today)

See, that would be a problem if Stealth was limiting his Patreon for Megamix and Sonic in general. The thing is that, as it was mentioned, it's not JUST for Megamix, but Stealth also got like five projects going on-- that being said, he isn't solely making money of a hack, yet the donations help him focus on it more.

Also, I have no idea what Stealth's financial situation is like, but getting a handful of donations is not to be seen as a main way of income (unless you have a huge fanbase that donates to you)-- however, a fine amount every now and then can help you save up to the point of not needing to get a second job, depending on how tight your situation might be. Depending on the person, it indeed helps them getting some more free time, and that might as well be Stealth's case.

And at last, I recall seeing quite the fan artists who set up their own Patreon pages, or at least where there was fan art involved. It wasn't so much of a "hey pay me to see my Sonic art", it was more of a "hey give me a spare buck so you can get early progress shots of this cool pokemon art and have the chance of getting free requests". If it was the former, that would be considerably making profit out of fan content-- as in, outright selling your fan art.

While we're still on that subject... well... I DO take art commissions very frequently (nearly everyday), and said commissions often involve fan content. I can guarantee that it isn't as much of a problem as it might sound to be, given that you're not really selling any company's copyrighted work as your own. You're more like being paid to do something that someone wants you to make, basically "oh hey, I got you fifteen bucks. Can you sketch my fav character?", and there's definitely nothing wrong with that. It's only a problem if you try to sell said commissions... but well, even then, it depends on how it's made.

Atendega, on 23 July 2015 - 05:35 PM, said:

Fixed it for you. Literally no one else is complaining.

Yeah, how DARE we donate to him out of free will? That's such a stupid thing to do! We don't owe him anything! He should continue to give us free content for free!

You're really saying that just making Sonic Classic Heroes is the same thing as everything that Stealth has done before. Like, wow, the way you put it like, you sound against the very concept of donations to begin with.

I'm not putting him on a pedestal and I'm not saying you should pay for his work. I'm saying that I respect the guy for what he's done and since everyone literally needs money to stay alive and/or not have a horrible time, he might as well promote himself using his creations. There is nothing wrong with that, and it is no way dirty, just because money is accepted (but not demanded), specially since he's not even tricking anyone into doing so.

Besides, no one is going bankrupt just for giving him a spare buck every now and then, nor this is going to ruin the reputation of the community. Groups like artists do this very often, given that not everyone can simply get a second job so easily-- this goes specially to the people who WANT to keep delivering frequent content to their audience. He's not different from said people, and I for one hope I can reach a higher level of interest with my art, so I can do the same thing (finances have been a real struggle for me these days).

If you're so concerned about it having to do with Sonic fan games, keep in mind that this isn't JUST for his Sonic content. He made it clear that he also has non-Sonic content he wants to work on.

...what.

It becomes a business if someone is outright demanding that you give them your money if you want to play their game. Asking for donations is a completely different story, and is entirely optional.

Keep in mind that while people choose to work on Sonic hacks/fan games are entirely by free will, it doesn't means people are always able to work at them, and some times said people really want to keep doing that. Finances are an essential thing in pretty much living, and there are people who need help with their financial situation, because some of them literally get little free time at all. Asking for financial help from a fanbase is an understandable act, and is in no way something greedy to do. It's only a problem when people entirely limit their new content ONLY to those who donate, instead of treating it like something optional (like that guy named TomPreston).

In Stealth's case, he had always delivered great content to the community, and donating to him is the least people could do for all that he's done. He's certainly one of a kind for all of his coding knowledge, and I honestly think he deserves what he gains. Just because he does it out of free will, it doesn't means he's forced to work on content entirely for free just for our amusement.

Now, if you are going to tell me that that no one has the right to ask for financial help, and that helping someone out in their bills so they can deliver more content for everybody somehow ruins your "fun", then I seriously hope you never have fun again.