#it spares me a whole world of drama and discourse i am not interested in having

[terrence-silver]

If someone sends an ask/prompt of something outside your area of familiarity do you just delete it? Like if beloved has characteristics that may be outside of your experiences do you avoid answering so you don’t unintentionally write something offensive?

Yeah, to be honest, I do. Especially as of late. If I don't understand something as much as I'd like, I either research it to the best of my abilities or I delete in the off chance I don't feel I can portray something properly because I think it is okay to admit you aren't informed on something rather than go about offending people. No shame in that. But whenever I can, I look up a specific topic and that helps me tons because I do like a nice challenge too --- so, fifty-fifty, I’d say! 

[ophiuchus-interactive]

While I agree with you I just gotta say.. it isn’t actually gonna be free, just because we get to play the demo freely (a peak to buyers of how the final product is gonna be) doesn’t meant you are not going to charge for the whole game and books in your case.

Not only the interactive fiction give their player a bit of the content free and if you search for those game, they usual in the category “pay to play”.

Yes it is your game and you can call it whatever you want but don’t fucking lie and say is free when you are going to charge money for all the book when is finished and when you haven’t even finished the demo part which also is expected to be free.

Sorry I just have seen others authors before say this and I found it completely ironic considering how sometimes authors also make ko-fis and patreons just so we can support them while writing their free demo.

(Please use the "discourse" tag to hide any and all discourse you don't wish to see! Thank you!)

I've answered a question like this once before, and I will only answer it one more time. Considering your lack of understanding as to what you can and cannot do with demos, patreons, and CSS, I will now disabuse you of any and all misconceptions. I hope your crow pie tastes good.

One: This entire IF will be uploaded into a demo for free. This includes the book and whatever extra content I feel like making in my spare time. You technically cannot make any money with CSS while the demo is in the works. It says so in the licensing upon downloading the tool. While you see many, many people start patreons for their demo, they technically can't.

This isn't to say I agree with this policy one way or another. I don't. I think it's a stupid rule. But from experience, personally, it's best to let sleeping dogs lie, and not stick my feet into something that could end up being something akin to a cease and desist or a lawsuit.

This is why so many IF authors are moving to Twine. You can publish demos and the like on itch.io and have the option to charge people whatever you like, as well as run patreons specifically for their IF they're developing.

I don't like Twine. I'm not going to waste my time learning to code on Twine, either.

Two: I don't know if this final product is going to be sent to Choice of Games and be approved for publishing. It most likely will not be. That is the only way I can make money off of this with CSS. I didn't come into writing IFs to get money; as I've stated many, many times before, I've written WWYFFs and CYOAs since I was about twelve years old, and none of what I've ever produced on the internet was ever hidden behind a paywall of some kind. Despite my love and passion for writing and creating, these aren't viable forms of income or jobs.

I cannot make this my job. I would lose interest in it pretty quickly if I were to try and make it one. I don't want that. This is a hobby, it has always been a hobby, and it will continue to be one.

Three: Ko-fis are completely donation based. I have a ko-fi if someone cares enough to throw a dollar my way for writing. I don't promote it out the ass, I don't have ANY content hidden behind a paywall there, and chances are with me preparing to go to law school and working a new job, I'm not going to have the time to write the IF, run this blog, and create content exclusive to any paywall.

Someone wants to pay five dollars to write a five page fic featuring a character they like, personalized and everything? Cool- welcome to the real world, where people decide as to whether or not the product or service they pay for is worth the money they will purchase it with. This principle is no different to the IF authors brave enough out there to have patreons while their demo is still in the works. If people believe their content is worth the price, they will pay for it. This is between the consumer and the provider, not me or you or any other Tom, Dick, or Harry who objects to it. It is what it is.

This will be the last time I will be answering any asks from you if it pertains to any discourse you feel is necessary to throw my way. I am not a drama blog, this is a development blog for a story that I want to write, and have fun while doing it. You can take your complaints and either swallow them and continue to enjoy every single piece of free content I've ever published on this blog and elsewhere, or you can leave. It's truly as simple as that.

Pestering me with pointless arguments and pretending that you have a dog in the fight when it is clear you have an astounding lack of knowledge as to how I will write my demo is truly nothing other than a bloody annoyance and a waste of both our times.

This is my story, this is my time that I am putting into creating content for people to enjoy, and I will not have ANYONE try to complain or bemoan their way into changing what I am writing. This doesn't just go for you. This is for every single person out there who thinks they can tell ME or any other goddamn author what they can and cannot write.

Go find someone else to annoy with your inane arguments and problems. Send anymore and you will be blocked. Period.

Thank you.