Taffy Tales been removed by Patreon - my official statement

lostraven

Engaged Member
Donor
Game Developer
Apr 27, 2017
3,000
13,410
I'm re-posting here my official statement (as well as Uberpie's) for everyone to read what's happened and for the details not to get lost in the endless sea of comments... Keep that in mind as you read.

Uberpie statement (below):

1710595085373.png


And here's my official statement on the matter, (below)

Suffice to say, this has been a huge and shocking blow,
not necessarily that a suspension has happened, (this is Patreon - it only takes one report to trigger an investigation),
but rather ... the sudden abruptness by which the project was just unceremoniously put out to pasture - for now, at least.

I've been working on the Taffy Tales project since early 2018, it is, possibly now was, the first project I ever became involved with.

Until I know for sure whether this project is going to continue or not, and whether I still have a place in it, I can't talk freely about everything, including my feelings, many of my thoughts and key events, so you'll have to forgive me if I can't answer any pending questions.

With that said...

I've long, long been concerned about the tightening nose of Patreon, and shared these sentiments with Uberpie many times previously - and once again, my concerns are proven correct.
The simple fact is, the more people choose to empower patreon over things like subscribestar, the more they can and will dictate the types of games you want.

I'm sure, there will be a complete flood and fury of developers and detectives-in-the-making rushing to speculate on the many various rules that may or may not have been broken in order to make sense of this.

Stop.

Just stop... It's become so tiring.


...Even if you prove rule X was broken, or bent, or whatever you feel justifies the page being purged,
even if you hate Taffy Tales, hate me, or hate Uberpie or whatever.

Patreon gave nothing more than a vague deadline of 72 hours to fix problems which they refused to specify what they actually took issue with.

-Why was the page not held in suspension while the team was at least given a chance to fix the issues like so many other devs get to do?
-Why were the offending issues not listed?
-After refusing to extend the suspension, despite the team making contact and saying they were willing to make changes, how did Patreon realistically expect any changes to be effectively made within 72 hours before the page got terminated? It's neigh impossible.


Even if the rules *were* broken... Is that okay? Is that acceptable?
The rules are applied inconsistently, with some devs, who I think we all know are treated VERY differently than everyone else, are given free passes, whereas everyone else gets to face the firing squad.

(And I don't blame those devs I will add, only this system that's been allowed to cultivate.)

The simple truth is, Patreon has made an example of Taffy Tales to prove a point - They can and will come after you, and if they don't feel like actually treating you equally and fair, they don't have to.

Now, I don't know what will happen to me.
Perhaps, this is it for me and Taffy Tales.
Or perhaps, if I'm still around, (due to the obvious budget cuts) - I will have to cut back my work amount.

...Or maybe, this will all blow over and subscribestar (should uber create an account there), will be an instant success.
We just don't know right now.

In light of this, if this is the end of the road for me with Taffy Tales, (for whatever reason).
Then I hope at the very least, I'll be able to see some familiar faces with my own project you can find here:


(I hope that doesn't seem too selfish putting a link to my project there ... But I really don't know for sure what will happen and I *do* have to at least try to make sure I'll be okay - as well as I hope the rest of the team will be no matter what).

I will know more soon on my own fate I imagine.
Pretty worrying time over all though.
This has been pretty much my main job these last few years, and well, now it may be gone which is one hell of a mental mind-fuck for me to deal with right now.
Hopefully, I and everyone else will come out of this alright.

As a final note...

I never imagined the project would blow up the way it did,
and, despite everything...despite if you think the project fell off at some point or whatever...

It was pretty cool for a while, wasn't it?
Hopefully see you on the flip side, space cowboy.



....

Ih8figs said:
Where's @lostraven with his witty remark :confused:?

Hopefully, I at least got to make people laugh one more time with that one. :BootyTime:
 

2LAOD

Member
Oct 19, 2018
359
302
My advice: Don't rework content for steam it's not worth it, you'll end up hating what you make.
I would reach out to a few adult game YouTubers and ask them to cover your situation.
Try to ring that gong loud and clear to get as many eyes on your subscribe star as possible.
Creative freedom is what brought us (creators+consumers) this far. Can't lose that now, not ever.
 

Joey1264

Member
Sep 29, 2020
138
248
Was this some sort of personal vendetta?
Whatever the error, a service that has supported you for so many years just shutting you down
without explanation makes no sense.
 

anonj73

Newbie
Game Developer
Apr 6, 2020
32
463
I've spent two years developing a game for this genre... found this genre a few years back and started playing with, because I have a history in writing and storytelling and this new medium was exciting to find. In the last two weeks I have been back and forth with Patreon trying to release this finally... them denying my account review over and over, always with a chain letter... I wrote back begging them to clarify what the problem was with my submission (and they did say when registering that their team would work with me to get me in compliance)... yet no response... just repeated form letter denials. I didn't have links to my product. I didn't have imagery that was any more salacious that you see on a billboard in Vegas. I did mistakenly say that I am an "Adult Interactive Novel Creator" and labelled my page as 18+... I am just posting this because I believe the OP is a victim of a culture change in Patreon... I don't think they want ANY "porn" creators on their site. I'm looking at subscribestar... I don't care if my project makes money... but I do care if it's disallowed from that even being an option.
 

peterppp

Active Member
Mar 5, 2020
762
1,348
In the last two weeks I have been back and forth with Patreon trying to release this finally... them denying my account review over and over, always with a chain letter... I wrote back begging them to clarify what the problem was with my submission (and they did say when registering that their team would work with me to get me in compliance)... yet no response... just repeated form letter denials. I didn't have links to my product. I didn't have imagery that was any more salacious that you see on a billboard in Vegas.
for starters, have you read their guidelines? that should be enough to understand. but if you still don't, show your submission (including your game) and there's a good chance we can tell you what's wrong with it.
and links to product doesn't matter. you can't fund your product on patreon if it doesn't follow the guidelines
 

Spiderling77

Member
Aug 17, 2018
168
165
I've spent two years developing a game for this genre... found this genre a few years back and started playing with, because I have a history in writing and storytelling and this new medium was exciting to find. In the last two weeks I have been back and forth with Patreon trying to release this finally... them denying my account review over and over, always with a chain letter... I wrote back begging them to clarify what the problem was with my submission (and they did say when registering that their team would work with me to get me in compliance)... yet no response... just repeated form letter denials. I didn't have links to my product. I didn't have imagery that was any more salacious that you see on a billboard in Vegas. I did mistakenly say that I am an "Adult Interactive Novel Creator" and labelled my page as 18+... I am just posting this because I believe the OP is a victim of a culture change in Patreon... I don't think they want ANY "porn" creators on their site. I'm looking at subscribestar... I don't care if my project makes money... but I do care if it's disallowed from that even being an option.
Yeah, I was also planning to do Patreon and I would like to see your submission to see what they could have interpreted wrong. Honestly, the guy above me said, I may be able to help you on that matter.
 

anonj73

Newbie
Game Developer
Apr 6, 2020
32
463
Yeah, I was also planning to do Patreon and I would like to see your submission to see what they could have interpreted wrong. Honestly, the guy above me said, I may be able to help you on that matter.
I didn't submit anything... it was a generic landing page with 3 tiers, each tier promising only credit in any projects I make... I didn't have links to my project on the page... I didn't describe my project on the page... it was very basic. It just said the name of my account, three generic tiers, with no posts or anything below... I posted two images, one of two faces side by side looking at the camera, headshots only and just looking... and one headshot of a laying woman facing the ceiling, kinda sexy but it was just her face... and I labelled the site as "Adult Interactive Novel Creator" and checked "adults only 18+"... that was all the information they knew about me... they never asked for a copy of my product and they can't possibly know anything about it. I didn't list anything about it, not the title nor logline. Soon I will be posting this to it's own thread... I am signed up with subscribestar now. I'm sure I have content in there that Patreon will probably frown on -- it's iffy because a part of my story is in a prison and that prison stay determines the entire psychology of a main character... but they couldn't possibly know that. They could have asked to see my stuff and then determined it wasn't appropriate, but they aren't communicating with me on this. It's just a chain letter denial. I don't want to take over Taffy's thread with this... sorry Taffy.
 

Spiderling77

Member
Aug 17, 2018
168
165
Ok lets go part by part like Jack the Ripper.

I didn't submit anything... it was a generic landing page with 3 tiers, each tier promising only credit in any projects I make... I didn't have links to my project on the page... I didn't describe my project on the page... it was very basic.
Problem 1° Why should Patreon accept a project without any description or even knowing what it is? They cannot support that broke their guidelines.

I posted two images, one of two faces side by side looking at the camera, headshots only and just looking... and one headshot of a laying woman facing the ceiling, kinda sexy but it was just her face... and I labelled the site as "Adult Interactive Novel Creator" and checked "adults only 18+"... that was all the information they knew about me...
That is fine.

they never asked for a copy of my product and they can't possibly know anything about it.
They don't need to ask, you are the one using their platform. You need to prove to them that you are ok with their terms.

It's iffy because a part of my story is in a prison and that prison stay determines the entire psychology of a main character... but they couldn't possibly know that.
That is legal, you can have that type of story. It seems that your main problem is that they are exactly denying your petition because they don't have the proper information to make an adequate decision.
 

peterppp

Active Member
Mar 5, 2020
762
1,348
I didn't submit anything... it was a generic landing page with 3 tiers, each tier promising only credit in any projects I make... I didn't have links to my project on the page... I didn't describe my project on the page... it was very basic. It just said the name of my account, three generic tiers, with no posts or anything below... I posted two images, one of two faces side by side looking at the camera, headshots only and just looking... and one headshot of a laying woman facing the ceiling, kinda sexy but it was just her face... and I labelled the site as "Adult Interactive Novel Creator" and checked "adults only 18+"... that was all the information they knew about me... they never asked for a copy of my product and they can't possibly know anything about it. I didn't list anything about it, not the title nor logline. Soon I will be posting this to it's own thread... I am signed up with subscribestar now. I'm sure I have content in there that Patreon will probably frown on -- it's iffy because a part of my story is in a prison and that prison stay determines the entire psychology of a main character... but they couldn't possibly know that. They could have asked to see my stuff and then determined it wasn't appropriate, but they aren't communicating with me on this. It's just a chain letter denial. I don't want to take over Taffy's thread with this... sorry Taffy.
can you post a screenshot of their message to you?
 

fidgetspinner

Active Member
Jun 12, 2017
967
4,788
Patreon has had a very clear no incest content guideline for years now. (Come on don't deny it this "Step-landlady choose her title to you" doesn't fool anyone). I'm always astounded big game like Taffy Tales and Summertime Saga haven't been hit before. You built your house on shaky grounds knowing it could fall at any time. Don't go around acting surprised it all came crumbling down.
 

peterppp

Active Member
Mar 5, 2020
762
1,348
there are missing pieces here for us to know the full story. we don't know how your patreon looked, only you words (unless you can show us?). we don't know if you showed your game anywhere and if patreon then could have seen it, and seen that it is outside their guidelines
 

anonj73

Newbie
Game Developer
Apr 6, 2020
32
463
there are missing pieces here for us to know the full story. we don't know how your patreon looked, only you words (unless you can show us?). we don't know if you showed your game anywhere and if patreon then could have seen it, and seen that it is outside their guidelines
I haven't shown my game anywhere... the attached screenshot is the same letter I got each of the six times I reapplied, each time changing a font color or slightly changing a word in my limited "about page" so that they would accept a new submission... I'd screenshot the page but I don't want to reveal my project unless I'm actually releasing it and the images are a big clue... I'm sorry I posted here and you have been a great help... I'm still working with Patreon so we'll see... but I'm going to stop replying here because this is another gamer's thread and I hate to hijack it with my issues... I only meant to chime in that "yeah, it does appear to be hard to deal with Patreon..." and not get into the weeds of my own issues. Thanks again tho... you have been a help.