November 2024 – Behind-the-Scenes Update

Hello, my patrons! Here's your behind-the-scenes update for November 2024.

Next video.

I've begun researching for my next documentary on Virtual Teenage Democracies, which aims to give a broader overview of what "sim governments" actually are. As I explained all the way back in June 2020, they involve "mock governments ... writing their own Constitutions, electing their own Presidents and Parliaments, and running their own Supreme Courts."

For my Averra Dossier video, I intentionally began my script in media res (or, to put it another way, I intentionally chose to throw the viewer straight into the action without giving any context). While I've had quite a lot of feedback that said they loved how I framed the introduction, I've also received some feedback from viewers who struggled to follow the video—particularly because I went through a lot of content very quickly.

This documentary can be seen as the much-needed preface—a "Part 0"—for the Averra Dossier. While the Averra story was a story that warranted a docu-series in its own right, it's not the only type of noteworthy story that sim governments regularly face. Indeed, there are many stories that don't involve alt accounts or election rigging at all, be it admin coup d'états, power plays in UN-style international bodies, and high-stakes lawsuits in front of a Supreme Court staffed by 17-year-olds.

There are probably tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of sim governments in a plethora of games and platforms. As a broad overview, my plan is to cover a diverse range, from Discord and Reddit to Minecraft and Habbo. As many of these sim governments operate in semi-isolation from each other, my hope is that my documentary can bring a level of coherency to the topic and highlight just how common some of the issues raised in my video are.

I've produced a draft thumbnail (subject to change) for the video, which I've attached to this post. I hope you're all as excited about the video as I am about making it! :)

Billing changes.

Patreon requires all creators to transition to monthly subscription payments owing to changes in their Terms of Service. I'll update you with further details and consult with you all about these billing changes in good time before they take effect.