Reflecting upon dA's capitalism
Mar. 1st, 2022 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magicofthepiperNote: I have diagnosed dyscalculia, please take the follow numerical information with a grain of salt.
When I was younger, I was really excited about deviantART's point system. I really thought I could make pocket change from the site.
However, points were almost impossible to mine. While dA could probably implement a way to reward users for activity, this way limited to llamas and wining highly competitive art challenges. However, most points on the site were supplied by "whales" willing to open their wallets and turn their savings into "premium currency". There was for a while independent point exchange accounts which help make the points more akin to a "soft currency", my favorites being dAtrade and dAhub.
But as these still required a lot of grinding to accumulate. So, as a buyer, I was still left with a dilemma that points did not yield very much in savings. To buy adopts that were being sold as a fair value to the artist, I could either open my wallet and buy points or pay via Paypal. Ultimately, Paypal was the better option as most artist expected the buyer to cover the fee's meaning paying in points required an additional charge of one-fifth of the asking price. However, to use Paypal required me to doxx myself, and I have since regretted my willingness to do that.
As a seller, I wanted to make my art available via points, with consideration to what could be accumulated softly, which meant that I probably unvalued the price of my labor.
Soon after, I started working a "real job" and rather than establishing a healthy balance of reliable income and side hustle. I just really got depressed because I had prioritize the "fair wage" labor and then family. It was difficult to work in proper alone time in which I felt safe to even do art because I don't like my family being aware of my art production. Locked rooms are not encouraged, and my parents demand access to a key at all times for "emergencies", I can't even afford a private studio space on my salary.
So a mix of the above causes, and dA changing Eclipse mode permanently (which made the main reason I bothered to log in, to look up stock art, almost impossible) really made me distant from the site.
Now, it looks like dA has addressed some of the issues by at least allowing user to pay with credit cards without having to covert it into points first. I haven't tested this method but I assume this prevents up-charging and allow more a privatized exchange of money.
They've also incorporated the ability to use a personal subscription service in site. But I've set up Patreon and prefer it right now. I will likely not be buying subscription from other dA users.
But now they've introduced fragments, and I'm a a bit more positive about it. It's still a "premium currency" but it's a bonus that comes from having a core membership and I really like how they can be gifted to others to unlock a month long core membership for them. Occasionally, the site rewards individuals for being active by give some away for free. In some ways, it's what I wanted points to be.
Part of me wants to pull myself together, and look for way to make money on dA, but part of me is still burnt out by the site.
When I was younger, I was really excited about deviantART's point system. I really thought I could make pocket change from the site.
However, points were almost impossible to mine. While dA could probably implement a way to reward users for activity, this way limited to llamas and wining highly competitive art challenges. However, most points on the site were supplied by "whales" willing to open their wallets and turn their savings into "premium currency". There was for a while independent point exchange accounts which help make the points more akin to a "soft currency", my favorites being dAtrade and dAhub.
But as these still required a lot of grinding to accumulate. So, as a buyer, I was still left with a dilemma that points did not yield very much in savings. To buy adopts that were being sold as a fair value to the artist, I could either open my wallet and buy points or pay via Paypal. Ultimately, Paypal was the better option as most artist expected the buyer to cover the fee's meaning paying in points required an additional charge of one-fifth of the asking price. However, to use Paypal required me to doxx myself, and I have since regretted my willingness to do that.
As a seller, I wanted to make my art available via points, with consideration to what could be accumulated softly, which meant that I probably unvalued the price of my labor.
Soon after, I started working a "real job" and rather than establishing a healthy balance of reliable income and side hustle. I just really got depressed because I had prioritize the "fair wage" labor and then family. It was difficult to work in proper alone time in which I felt safe to even do art because I don't like my family being aware of my art production. Locked rooms are not encouraged, and my parents demand access to a key at all times for "emergencies", I can't even afford a private studio space on my salary.
So a mix of the above causes, and dA changing Eclipse mode permanently (which made the main reason I bothered to log in, to look up stock art, almost impossible) really made me distant from the site.
Now, it looks like dA has addressed some of the issues by at least allowing user to pay with credit cards without having to covert it into points first. I haven't tested this method but I assume this prevents up-charging and allow more a privatized exchange of money.
They've also incorporated the ability to use a personal subscription service in site. But I've set up Patreon and prefer it right now. I will likely not be buying subscription from other dA users.
But now they've introduced fragments, and I'm a a bit more positive about it. It's still a "premium currency" but it's a bonus that comes from having a core membership and I really like how they can be gifted to others to unlock a month long core membership for them. Occasionally, the site rewards individuals for being active by give some away for free. In some ways, it's what I wanted points to be.
Part of me wants to pull myself together, and look for way to make money on dA, but part of me is still burnt out by the site.
