Hello lovely folks,
I just wanted to share an experience and a small thought with you.
So many games on itch are free. And that's wonderful! I love that so many designers provide community copies for their games. TTRPGs Are such an accessible and affordable medium and I love them because of it.
A couple of days ago somebody left me a 2$ tip for my nano-TTRPG "Two hundred year old Greenland shark". It's more of a meditation exercise than a game. But somebody valued it enough to go back and tip me 2$. It is the first thing I published and the 2$ was the first time somebody paid for it. I was dancing! Really... it meant a lot to me.
Nobody expects to make much money from indie TTRPGs. I get that. And money isn't the best form to show appreciation. Direct engagement with a game, playing it, talking about it, sharing it and commenting on it... that's what it is about!
But still, this moment when I received the 2$ made me think.
I think it has to do with AI devaluing all the work that goes into writing and illustrating a TTRPG. Because that is an actual decrease in monetary value of work that is being done by illustrators and writers.
So I want to encourage you to tip people 1 or 2$, if you can afford it. Because for the creative sector these are troubling times. So maybe use a bit of spare change to show somebody appreciation. Tell AI to bugger off!
What was the last human-made game you tipped a creator for? For me it was Diedream.