New $7 Patreon Spots Available November 30th!
Hello! When we kicked off our Patreon a little over a year ago, we made 50 spots available at the $7 level. These 50 spots give the folks holding them one week of RSVP priority for new Gauntlet Hangouts events.
Effectively, this put Gauntlet Hangouts games behind a paywall, which, admittedly, was something we were initially nervous about doing. A few people in our community strongly opposed it under a theory, I suppose, that everything should just be free, and that the principal community organizers should shoulder the entire financial burden of running the Gauntlet. Some of those people even chose to disassociate themselves from the Gauntlet entirely.
Wherever those folks are, I hope their gaming is even a fraction as good as what we are currently getting on Gauntlet Hangouts.
Gauntlet Hangouts games nearly always make. And the people who sign up for those games take them seriously. We have a culture of respect and mutual admiration at our game tables that is quite distinct. We do not suffer from the scattershot flakiness that affects much larger platforms like Roll20, nor do we have to cope with the toxicity that permeates many meatspace gaming communities. A major reason for our success is that people tend to take things more seriously when they have to pay for them.
The original plan was to limit the $7 tier to 50 spots through calendar year 2017. We have decided to move that timetable up by one month for several reasons:
1. The calendar is much bigger than when we first conceived of this idea. In fact, the number of available games on a month-to-month basis has more than doubled. Limiting the RSVP priorities to 50 people was based on a much smaller slate of available games to join.
2. Gauntlet Con 2017 was a huge success, and many people are asking how they can game with us on a more regular basis. Moving up the timetable for new $7 slots helps us capture some of that excitement from Gauntlet Con.
3. Starting in January and February, we have a number of brand-new folks running games on our calendar. Opening up the $7 spots a little early will give those games a chance to fill faster.
So, with all that said, there will be 100 new $7 Patreon spots available on November 30th. We will maintain that level until July 1st, 2018, at which point we will make more spots available (provided the number of calendar offerings has substantially grown by then).
This is a really exciting time to be involved with Gauntlet Hangouts. I can’t wait to share it with more people!
Jason
I don’t mind the paywall. I think it’s a perfectly reasonable way of distributing some of the financial burden to folks who are getting something out of it. It’s not any crazier than buying convention tickets, so I don’t see what the problem is.
But if I’m being honest, one thing that does bother me is that Gauntlet games seem to have undergone this slow creep from signing up a couple of weeks ahead of time, to a month, and now the average is about two months. And now we’re talking about opening up February slots in November, so, I guess that trend is going to continue?
One month is about the upper limit for me for signing up for games, and even that’s a bit of a stretch. I just don’t know what I’m going to be interested in an entire changing of the leaves from now. So I haven’t done any Gauntlet games this year, aside from one short-notice pickup game.
So, if paywalls are copacetic anyway, might there be room for games which only sign up a few weeks ahead of time but don’t open up to non-patrons until a couple of day prior, if at all?
I don’t mind the paywall. I think it’s a perfectly reasonable way of distributing some of the financial burden to folks who are getting something out of it. It’s not any crazier than buying convention tickets, so I don’t see what the problem is.
But if I’m being honest, one thing that does bother me is that Gauntlet games seem to have undergone this slow creep from signing up a couple of weeks ahead of time, to a month, and now the average is about two months. And now we’re talking about opening up February slots in November, so, I guess that trend is going to continue?
One month is about the upper limit for me for signing up for games, and even that’s a bit of a stretch. I just don’t know what I’m going to be interested in an entire changing of the leaves from now. So I haven’t done any Gauntlet games this year, aside from one short-notice pickup game.
So, if paywalls are copacetic anyway, might there be room for games which only sign up a few weeks ahead of time but don’t open up to non-patrons until a couple of day prior, if at all?
James Etheridge The premise of your comment is flawed. While my games and those of Rich and Lowell go up two months early (and they have for a long time) most games that hit the calendar do so 2 weeks to 1 month before they are scheduled to run. Now, mind you, I personally prefer games go up earlier than that, but it’s not a policy. In fact, I only just closed the November calendar to new games a week ago.
People occasionally bring up this notion of “I don’t know how I will feel in two months” or “I don’t know what I’ll be doing in two months.” My answer is always very simple: if you sign up for a game on a specific date and time, you know exactly what you’ll be doing on that day and time.
James Etheridge The premise of your comment is flawed. While my games and those of Rich and Lowell go up two months early (and they have for a long time) most games that hit the calendar do so 2 weeks to 1 month before they are scheduled to run. Now, mind you, I personally prefer games go up earlier than that, but it’s not a policy. In fact, I only just closed the November calendar to new games a week ago.
People occasionally bring up this notion of “I don’t know how I will feel in two months” or “I don’t know what I’ll be doing in two months.” My answer is always very simple: if you sign up for a game on a specific date and time, you know exactly what you’ll be doing on that day and time.
It’s a good time for me to try to participate in some actual games after a longer period of listening to the awsome podcasts and lurking around in the G+ community. The Gauntlet looks awesome, I only wish there were more european-timezones-friendly games.
It’s a good time for me to try to participate in some actual games after a longer period of listening to the awsome podcasts and lurking around in the G+ community. The Gauntlet looks awesome, I only wish there were more european-timezones-friendly games.
Daniel Kušan The weekends are actually pretty good for Euro timezone, because a lot of the Americans are running in the morning and afternoon on those days. Weekdays are tougher, but it’s something I suspect will get better.
Daniel Kušan The weekends are actually pretty good for Euro timezone, because a lot of the Americans are running in the morning and afternoon on those days. Weekdays are tougher, but it’s something I suspect will get better.
Jason Cordova it’s by no means unmanageable and I’m looking forward to join some games. Thanks 🙂
Jason Cordova it’s by no means unmanageable and I’m looking forward to join some games. Thanks 🙂
I think it’s worth pointing out that if you are really interested in participating in the games being played by our awesome community with its very unique and healthy play culture, but are finding it difficult to find an open slot in a game, there is a free and easy method of playing with us: message Jason Cordova about running games for the Gauntlet! Especially with the new batch of $7 slots opening, you will find a cadre of dedicated players for your favorite game. Every player I have encountered has been fun and encouraging. You don’t have to worry about players flaking out, because this is something they have paid for and have been looking forward to for weeks, plus there’s a waitlist to back you up. Best of all, you can pick a time that works for your schedule!
I think it’s worth pointing out that if you are really interested in participating in the games being played by our awesome community with its very unique and healthy play culture, but are finding it difficult to find an open slot in a game, there is a free and easy method of playing with us: message Jason Cordova about running games for the Gauntlet! Especially with the new batch of $7 slots opening, you will find a cadre of dedicated players for your favorite game. Every player I have encountered has been fun and encouraging. You don’t have to worry about players flaking out, because this is something they have paid for and have been looking forward to for weeks, plus there’s a waitlist to back you up. Best of all, you can pick a time that works for your schedule!
Daniel Kušan There’s a bunch of time slots that should be more friendly coming up, as more GM’s start running from the other side of the world, too. Kyle Thompson is running the Shadowrun hack of Blades at 5am for East Coast, for instance.
Daniel Kušan There’s a bunch of time slots that should be more friendly coming up, as more GM’s start running from the other side of the world, too. Kyle Thompson is running the Shadowrun hack of Blades at 5am for East Coast, for instance.
Daniel Kušan I will have games up on December Wednesdays 6pm CET. Possibly Monsterhearts, but definitely something with lots of inter character drama in its focus. From January on the games will unfortunately be already at 4pm CET.
Daniel Kušan I will have games up on December Wednesdays 6pm CET. Possibly Monsterhearts, but definitely something with lots of inter character drama in its focus. From January on the games will unfortunately be already at 4pm CET.
Michael G. Barford Fraser Simons Gerrit Reininghaus Sounds great. I won’t be able to play a lot in December because I have a few sessions planed with an in-person group, but they are not big storygame fans, unlike me, so that’s why I’m here. I see there’s plenty of great games to choose from on the Gauntlet. Everyone here is so helpful. Thanks, people 🙂
Michael G. Barford Fraser Simons Gerrit Reininghaus Sounds great. I won’t be able to play a lot in December because I have a few sessions planed with an in-person group, but they are not big storygame fans, unlike me, so that’s why I’m here. I see there’s plenty of great games to choose from on the Gauntlet. Everyone here is so helpful. Thanks, people 🙂
Me: Stupid paywall. Never able to get into games that I could actually play, with my schedule.
Also Me: [Sets reminder to get $7 tier on November 30th… smiling]
Me: Stupid paywall. Never able to get into games that I could actually play, with my schedule.
Also Me: [Sets reminder to get $7 tier on November 30th… smiling]
Daniel Kušan I’ve got some Euro time friendly sessions of Fall of Magic coming in February: keep your eyes peeled for those if you’re keen! 🙂
Daniel Kušan I’ve got some Euro time friendly sessions of Fall of Magic coming in February: keep your eyes peeled for those if you’re keen! 🙂
Lu Quade oh yes. I will.
Lu Quade oh yes. I will.
The first time I read about The Gauntlet’s freemium pay model for gaming, I immediately thought, “That’s it, that’s the model.” There’s always been substantial pushback on the notion of someone charging a group $x.xx to GM for them, and I think Gauntlet’s freemium model provides a clever palliative approach to charging for a service which has sufficient demand to charge for. After all freemium, by all accounts, is a big reason for Roll20’s profitability with some 2.6+ million(!) registered users.
Two takeaways for me about the concept from Jason’s post here are 1) you still can’t please everyone, and 2) the reconfirmation that people continue to care more about what they have to pay for is welcome news in this less-flake-factor context.
The Gauntlet does, indeed, seem to be one of the pioneers in the hobby.
The first time I read about The Gauntlet’s freemium pay model for gaming, I immediately thought, “That’s it, that’s the model.” There’s always been substantial pushback on the notion of someone charging a group $x.xx to GM for them, and I think Gauntlet’s freemium model provides a clever palliative approach to charging for a service which has sufficient demand to charge for. After all freemium, by all accounts, is a big reason for Roll20’s profitability with some 2.6+ million(!) registered users.
Two takeaways for me about the concept from Jason’s post here are 1) you still can’t please everyone, and 2) the reconfirmation that people continue to care more about what they have to pay for is welcome news in this less-flake-factor context.
The Gauntlet does, indeed, seem to be one of the pioneers in the hobby.
Sean Phelan The thing about the paywall (unless something’s changed) is it’s not going into anyone’s pocket but funding art for the Codex, expenses for Gauntlet Con, supporting the site, etc.
Sean Phelan The thing about the paywall (unless something’s changed) is it’s not going into anyone’s pocket but funding art for the Codex, expenses for Gauntlet Con, supporting the site, etc.
Christo Meid …pay web hosting and editing on the podcasts, contest prizes, fund every aspect of Codex (not just the art—we pay five cents a word on features, too, plus layout), Dropbox, website hosting…
Christo Meid …pay web hosting and editing on the podcasts, contest prizes, fund every aspect of Codex (not just the art—we pay five cents a word on features, too, plus layout), Dropbox, website hosting…
Jason Cordova I knew there was more, but didn’t know the details… Thanks!
Jason Cordova I knew there was more, but didn’t know the details… Thanks!
Christo Meid There is so much, haha. The Gauntlet is nowhere close to being “profitable,” haha
Christo Meid There is so much, haha. The Gauntlet is nowhere close to being “profitable,” haha
Christo Meid I guess I can understand how it would matter to some that RPG efforts remain essentially non-profit, but I’m kind of on the other side of that perspective.
It’s unfortunate how apparently challenging it can be to make your living at game design, and I’d be more than fine with it if successful designers tended to make a TON of cash for their efforts. My outlook for The Gauntlet’s RPG service is the same.
Whether it’s non-profit or the owners are just killing it, I’ll consider purchasing if it makes sense for me.
Christo Meid I guess I can understand how it would matter to some that RPG efforts remain essentially non-profit, but I’m kind of on the other side of that perspective.
It’s unfortunate how apparently challenging it can be to make your living at game design, and I’d be more than fine with it if successful designers tended to make a TON of cash for their efforts. My outlook for The Gauntlet’s RPG service is the same.
Whether it’s non-profit or the owners are just killing it, I’ll consider purchasing if it makes sense for me.