So, I have a question for everyone, but first, a quick story.
I set aside 4 hours today to work on scion stuff(this is aside from anne and I's 2 hours of nightly titan work). This was supposed to check through my scion emails, work on some blog posts, and then spend the majority of it working on our scion games.
I have minor OCD(self-diagnosed, like all good nerds) and I always want to clear my inbox before I can work with a clear head(I often fail). But today I wanted to clear out my scion emails as best as possible before I got to work on the games. Then 4 hours later, after helping 3 different people with some very specific and detailed ST and gaming questions I realized I blew all my time....and was frustrated. So I had to figure out what to do. Lately the site has become much more popular, and so we're getting a ton more questions, and not just blog questions, also direct emails to us asking about stuff people dont want on the blog or need just faster answers to. And the questions are getting MUCH more in depth(which we enjoy).
So I started thinking of ways to work with this. We love helping people, and it feels great to have such a surge in great questions, thoughtful responses and great people to talk to and share experiences. Also to be completely honest, we love the attention, we are artists after all. I would hate to be at a point where a blog question doesnt get answered for a month(atm we have 40 questions in queue). Or me having to say I cant respond to emails at all cause there are too many and itd be unfair. Or that I couldnt respond in a timely manner so the answer became useless.
Problem: We have too much we want to do with this community, but its cutting into our time for other important activities including, sadly a little bit into our careers.
So...brainstorming. I came up with two possible solutions, and am up for hearing more.
Would you guys be interested in us doing less daily blogging(now we do 3-4 questions a day, we'd probably cut down to 2), if we did a weekly video blog where we answered a big handful of questions?
Would anyone be interested in short term ST classes. Meeting maybe once or twice a week over video chat in a small classroom format with weekly "office" hours where I was devoting time to your general questions or specific things for your game and also being available for contact so you could "drop in(virtually)" and talk. Ive been researching formats for this kind of thing and it seems like they range from 8-12 classes over a period of 6-12 weeks. If anyone was interested I could start putting together a sketch out of what a class might be like, and depending on students could contour it more to the kinds of things they wanted to talk about.
I have several years of K-12 teaching experience and about 2 semesters of undergrad level teaching experience. I also have a little bit of scion and STing experience.
I figured people had been donating a bit(which is amazing, thank you thank you thank you) and it helps run the site. Perhaps people would want to pay for a class and help us move more of our resources towards the site(and help us pay for a secret project we're saving for).
So lemme know. This is just some brainstorming that we had, that we are now involving you in :)
I set aside 4 hours today to work on scion stuff(this is aside from anne and I's 2 hours of nightly titan work). This was supposed to check through my scion emails, work on some blog posts, and then spend the majority of it working on our scion games.
I have minor OCD(self-diagnosed, like all good nerds) and I always want to clear my inbox before I can work with a clear head(I often fail). But today I wanted to clear out my scion emails as best as possible before I got to work on the games. Then 4 hours later, after helping 3 different people with some very specific and detailed ST and gaming questions I realized I blew all my time....and was frustrated. So I had to figure out what to do. Lately the site has become much more popular, and so we're getting a ton more questions, and not just blog questions, also direct emails to us asking about stuff people dont want on the blog or need just faster answers to. And the questions are getting MUCH more in depth(which we enjoy).
So I started thinking of ways to work with this. We love helping people, and it feels great to have such a surge in great questions, thoughtful responses and great people to talk to and share experiences. Also to be completely honest, we love the attention, we are artists after all. I would hate to be at a point where a blog question doesnt get answered for a month(atm we have 40 questions in queue). Or me having to say I cant respond to emails at all cause there are too many and itd be unfair. Or that I couldnt respond in a timely manner so the answer became useless.
Problem: We have too much we want to do with this community, but its cutting into our time for other important activities including, sadly a little bit into our careers.
So...brainstorming. I came up with two possible solutions, and am up for hearing more.
Would you guys be interested in us doing less daily blogging(now we do 3-4 questions a day, we'd probably cut down to 2), if we did a weekly video blog where we answered a big handful of questions?
Would anyone be interested in short term ST classes. Meeting maybe once or twice a week over video chat in a small classroom format with weekly "office" hours where I was devoting time to your general questions or specific things for your game and also being available for contact so you could "drop in(virtually)" and talk. Ive been researching formats for this kind of thing and it seems like they range from 8-12 classes over a period of 6-12 weeks. If anyone was interested I could start putting together a sketch out of what a class might be like, and depending on students could contour it more to the kinds of things they wanted to talk about.
I have several years of K-12 teaching experience and about 2 semesters of undergrad level teaching experience. I also have a little bit of scion and STing experience.
I figured people had been donating a bit(which is amazing, thank you thank you thank you) and it helps run the site. Perhaps people would want to pay for a class and help us move more of our resources towards the site(and help us pay for a secret project we're saving for).
So lemme know. This is just some brainstorming that we had, that we are now involving you in :)
Honest questions.
ReplyDeleteDo you think a video blog would be able to maintain the high level of quality that we see in your written responses? I am concerned that you might have to write out your responses prior to the video blog, which kind of defeats the purpose.
If your video blog becomes popular, are you prepared for the increase in traffic that will bring to your site (and the subsequent demands upon your time)?
Hmm, a reasonable question. John tends to be more eloquent as a speaker than as a writer, while I'm the opposite, so it's likely that he'd do better in a video blog while I'd be better off sticking with a written one.
DeleteI'm more worried about the bandwidth traffic to the site. I guess there's always YouTube.
That would really be neat as long as it is not adding to your work load. As a regular visitor to your site I would be very interested if that kind of service was available.
ReplyDeleteNeat, good to know. :)
DeleteThat sounds awesome. Don't over do it for yourselves. IN FACT. if you're going to continue to up the ante, you should be asking people on this site to help sway the editors who own this game to pay you for your efforts. It seems like something both you and they could benefit from.
ReplyDeleteAs always i want you two to be successful. And with the popularity this site has recently, Onyx Path would be blind to not notice.
And personal opinion, I think you should try to keep it written and ask the people who contact you directly to please be patient due to the large volume, or offer something for your services.
It's not that I don't want you to help the community as efficiently as possible, but you've already re-written the game for nothing.
Video Classes WOULD be cool though. But I'd limit it to classes, things that aren't discussions...
Since Onyx Path purchased Scion just recently, they've been discussing their desire to retool it completely, probably involving a new system and other radical changes from the old White Wolf version we're currently using. While we'd love to help out, it seems pretty likely that they already have a plan of attack; I'm not going to hold my breath that they want to involve much, including us, from the old system. (Though I will write them a polite letter of inquiry.)
DeleteIt's a hard thing, because we really love being part of the community and helping people out, and we don't want everyone to feel like we only help for compensation. We like helping. It's fun. It's just grown to a point where we're trying to figure out how to keep doing it most efficiently for ourselves.
The video blogs would still be posted here, so you'd be able to comment and discuss them as usual, but your preference is duly noted. :)
Counter-suggestion: what if the video blogs were less frequent - say once a month? That way they could still cover a lot of ground and be a lot of fun, but they wouldn't be quite as tight a time-sink as they would be weekly.
ReplyDeleteThen again, weekly might be fine, I really don't know. I think we'd have to try it and find out.
If you can manage a video blog now and again, I think it would be awesome. John is hilarious and informative at the same time! I'm envisioning amusing visual aids as well, but that would tack time on to production.
ReplyDeleteA podcast would also be an awesome format, but I picture you two discussing a topic and getting into an argument or going off on some tangent.
At any rate, I don't want you guys to get too bogged down in any one thing. If I can help you at all, even if it's just organizing paperwork or doing dishes to buy you guys extra work time, just let me know!
I think Anne might have a good compromise. Doing a video blog once (or twice) a month would let you save up questions that you think would really benefit from the video format (or just be more fun to answer that way)!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I feel like a video format might help bring even *more* attention to the site, not that it seems like you're struggling in that respect. Maybe some more *official* attention!
Maybe you can clear the easier questions to answer in this monthly video. Stack up these and answer them one after another.
DeleteI would also recommend YouTube, maybe publishing the links on the blog.
Have you considered putting a publicity banner (why not by Onyx Path)? Selling a neet pdf format of your rules and pantheons?
I also like the idea of seeing how Onyx might be able to help. I know they usually don't have alot of money, but they can certainly propose something. They are aware I'm sure of your blog and must have at least gave a look at your rules to see what players found lacking in the original ones. (I suppose I'm not the only one thinking the system was only built and tested for Hero)
The major reason we haven't been selling PDFs of anything is the legal one - they contain systems and terms that were the legal property of White Wolf and are now the property of Onyx Path, so we can't sell them without infringing on their legal rights. The writing and ideas are ours, but the system isn't. We like WW and OP and want them to make money, plus we don't want to get sued, so we just put our stuff out there for free (bonus: we like giving things away for free, too!).
DeleteWe've frequently thought about how much we'd love to do something with the official Scion line, maybe along the lines of how the Ink Monkeys used to maintain an Exalted blog with the blessing of Those on High, but of course that's something that totally depends on the interest and blessing of the companies involved. We're pretty sure the focus is on Trinity right now, with Scion slated to be next year's project, so while we're trying to get our names out there, I doubt there'll be much activity at OP for Scion in the near future.
I can do you one better - it's my blog, I can embed from YouTube or Vimeo. Having our cake and eating it, too!
Didn't think about that -_-'
DeleteIs it possible then to make it ''voluntary'' contribution downloadable ? I'm dead broke, but people who aren't could.
Also, the money question doesn't give you more time. It adds up to either be more efficient (videos, etc) or getting help from a devoted friend.
Money gives me more because I can reroute my time spent on the getting money from other sources. Im a private contractor so I can just take fewer other jobs.
DeleteAs I said via e-mail, I am willing to donate money to JSR. Out of every website I've ever attended on the internet, I think you guys deserve some cash for the amount of time and effort you guys put into this site.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd be the first to sign up for John's ST classes!
I'm doing a happy dance at the thought of ST classes. You can never stop improving as a ST, I think and picking up tips and tricks would be amazing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't see the problem in cutting back on answers or even going to a weekly video-blog.
"Odysseus on the Rocks" was scheduled for March 2012 release. Get on it!
ReplyDeleteSo very wrong and yet so right.
Delete