Game Developer Support

[Green Hills]

I'm new to these kinds of games and just played a few random ones for the first time. Some were fun and I would like to support the developers.

The way most developers want support is from Patreon. But some (most...) of the games deal with objectionable content like blackmail, incest, rape, drug abuse, whatever ahego is, and who knows what else. Patreon only accepts credit card payments. Since Patreon knows your identity from your credit card, I am afraid of being outed or doxxed. Is there a way to support developers safely or am I worried about nothing?

Someone with more experience please share some advice.

Also, feel free to recommend a game for someones first journey into this magical land!

 

[Girm Ork]

I knew two ways:
1) Prepaid VISA or MasterCard cc. Those cards are virtual and have no name.
2) Cryptocurrency. Some developers are accepting payment to their bitcoin or ether wallets. It is really hard to identify a person who is paying with it.

 

[Deleted member 3086194]

This is something i've been asking myself so thanks to the OP for making this thread. I'm sure everyone has their own reasons for coming to sites like this one and pirating games. My reason is simply (and bluntly) that adult games tend to vary in quality, with the majority being on the lower end. Some games are outright scams where the developers are trying to make a quick buck, and others are just too ambitious and end making people pay for promises that will never be fulfilled. There are a few games that are very good and i would very much like to support those, but i have a similar issue to the OP. I don't feel comfortable having adult games listed in my credit history.

So my question is, when you support a developer on Patreon how does that appear in your payment history? Does it just say that the payment went to Patreon or is there information about whoever you supported in the payment as well? (Sorry if this doesn't make sense, i'm not very aware of the terminology). And similarly what happens for other sites like etch.io or subscriberstar? Thanks in advance.

 

[Droid Productions]

So my question is, when you support a developer on Patreon how does that appear in your payment history? Does it just say that the payment went to Patreon or is there information about whoever you supported in the payment as well? (Sorry if this doesn't make sense, i'm not very aware of the terminology). And similarly what happens for other sites like etch.io or subscriberstar? Thanks in advance.

On your credit-card the payment is to Patreon itself (through Paypal). You do get a receipt, so you might want to use a siloed email account for signups, since your $20 support for Anna's Anal Adventures would show up on the email receipt.

Similar happens on Steam/itch.io; your payments show for Steam itself, not for "Anna's Anal Adventures (via Steampowered Inc)". Again, you receive a confirmation email (which obviously tells you what you ordered) and for Steam it also shows up on your "games owned" list, which your friends can browse (

You must be registered to see the links

).

 

[drguyo]

i use separate email / accounts / paypal / virtual cards for anything adult. its not even complicated, i just use a diferent browser to hold all my passwords (i usually use Chrome but Firefox is my adult browser)

websites get hacked so much and our data gets leaked. there's no way i'm trusting anybody with my info. way bigger websites get hacked every day.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[AdventAnyx]

Anna's Anal Adventures would show up on the email receipt.

That's a triple-A game I'd like to play

 

[Etsilias]

I see that prepaid/virtual cards are a good way of helping secure your privacy. What are usually the go-to virtual cards out there?

 

[Green Hills]

Thanks for the replies, I've already learned a lot.

Patreon does not take prepaid cards unfortunately. Only credit cards and PayPal if linked to a credit card. It's an instant ban to try and use a prepaid card. Ditto for a virtual or masked card, both are instant bans (guess how I know...) I was told this is for "fraud prevention". If anyone has gotten something similar to work with Patreon please post.

It sounds like getting a wallet set up for the occasional developer that takes crypto and setting up a silo email for Patreon with directly identifiable credit card information (*scary*) might be the best you can do. I'd love to hear other thoughts and ideas.

That's a triple-A game I'd like to play

I wouldn't want to ass-ume, butt I would bet it gets intense near the end

 

[Crimson Delight Games]

That's a triple-A game I'd like to play

I see wut u did thar!


Green Hills
I guess this varies from dev to dev, depending on what payment/support options they offer. We actually put a PayPal link on our game's intro screen for anyone who doesn't want to or can't use Patreon for whatever reason (some people just dislike recurring billing). But cryptos like Bitcoin are also a good way of offering alternate options to people who want to support a project.

There should definitely be more threads and discussion on this topic! The loss of personal anonymity in an ever more connected (and digital-risk susceptible) world is a serious issue. We're living in an age where every company, no matter how tiny, wants to gather as much of their users' data as possible... and sell it to advertisers.

Aside from going full hermit in the woods, protecting your privacy through judicious use of the tools currently available is probably your best bet.