Patreon has, like Kickstarter before it, a site that lets you browse available projects and creators. These are sorted by category. Adult content creators are barred from this system, leaving it impossible to find a creator from within Patreon's own infrastructure. No, I'm not talking about searches here. I'm talking about regular browsing. You say supporters mostly come from forums and sites like this (which is a forum, for the record). Well, no big surprise there when the alternative is closed to us. I know Kickstarter projects receive a lot of traffic from people browsing the site itself, and I doubt Patreon is any different. Imagine if Patreon had an adult section where you could browse new projects that might appeal to you. Right now, new projects fight a horrible uphill battle to get noticed, and there is little to no help to be gained except from word of mouth. If you're not already big, it's incredibly hard to get anywhere at all (but if you do get a foothold, word of mouth appears to keep you going).
Worst of all, if you don't frequent, or don't know about, forums with adult games, you're going to have a hard time finding anything in the first place. What would someone even search for on Google to find games like the ones in here? They'd be bombarded with flash sites and spam, and they risk turning away before ever discovering the proverbial gold mines out there. This is a problem. We, as adult game creators, have no official way to be discovered. It might not be a problem for you or me as gamers since we already know where to look at this point, but it's a problem for the John and Jane Does out there, and that turns into a big problem for your average game creator.
That's what I was referring to. A forum presence is nice, and pretty much essential, at this point. But the fact that it's our only way to be promoted right now is a real issue.
