IS THERE A WAY TO KNOW WHO SUBSCRIBES TO YOUR WORK?

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Hi! Karin's Soulkeeper here.

As said in the title, is it possible?
I'm just really excited that I actually have a subscriber, because I'm new and all to the developer scene.

Thanks!
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
I don't think there's a way to know. I agree that this would be really cool because then I can keep tabs on who's actually interested in my games.
Maybe this feature could be implemented in the future?
It sure is nice to have a way to thank your supporters, even if there's only one XP
Well I for one want to anonymously subscribe.
author=Shinan
Well I for one want to anonymously subscribe.

There could be an option to give a subscriber, as to whether or not they want the developer to know about them subscribing.
But really, I bet any developer out there would be more than pleased to thank everyone. And this is one method for that...

PS: Why exactly do you want to be anonymous? I don't see any harm in informing the developer about your interest in their game.
Because if I ever unsubscribed (which I actually do now and then) I don't want people to PM me wanting to know why or making snarky comments or thinking something is wrong with their game or them. Hell, I don't want friends whose games I'm not subscribed to to either pressure me to subscribe or feel pressured to subscribe to my own games or to think that something is wrong since I/they didn't subscribe.

Besides, people are entitled to that kind of privacy - and sometimes people subscribe to games for different reasons. I know I've watched games in the case of inflammatory reviews and the like, to keep an eye out for whether I need to step in, or I might just want to watch a game for a little while when it's just been released.

Frankly, why does it matter who is watching your game? Does who watches really matter? Each watcher should be equal and it shouldn't matter who they are. It's not something worth knowing - what does it really tell you? "This person likes this of my games but not this one." So? Why do you need to know that? Is it going to change how you create your game or value it in any way? "Kentona watches my game so it should be good." No, fuck off (uh, not you boss >.<; just the idea in general.)

I personally prefer being anonymous, as, I'm sure, do others.
@Liberty, point taken. I didn't think of it that way. Yeah, I guess some people just take things too seriously.
Yeah, the subscription system is a service for the player, not the developer., I am hoping that once I make Playlists more visible, eager players will take the extra step of adding the game to their Favorites playlist.
I could only wish to have my game in someone's favorites playlist :P



Wow, you guys really are helpful, no matter how far-out the topic may be
(I asked some random questions and always got decent answers. I'm so happy :D)

Yep, I'm staying here for good. Hope you don't get tired of me \(^v^)/
I like lurking. ^^ So I prefer to remain anonymous as well.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
author=karins_soulkeeper
I could only wish to have my game in someone's favorites playlist :P


This thought sounds awfully familiar...


author=karins_soulkeeper
Wow, you guys really are helpful, no matter how far-out the topic may be
(I asked some random questions and always got decent answers. I'm so happy :D)


Here's a bit of RPG philosophy: You represent the NPC, asking for help. The responses you get are the heroes, helping you out. The "reward" for this "quest" is a better game to the community.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
I'd just like to say that I, too, would like to know who my subscribers are. It's true that the knowledge doesn't really mean much, but I like knowing who has taken an interest in my work, for whatever reason. I can respect many of the points Liberty made about needing to be anonymous, but some of those are more important for her duties as staff on this site.

To play devil's advocate here, what does anonymity do for subscribers? Are you afraid of what others will think? If you like someone's game, don't you want them to know it?
There's a simple reason: why would we need to stalk who does what all the time? We've got facebook, we've got the chance to google all kinds of junk.
It's a nice change of pace.
Not to mention that subscribing does not necessarily mean that there is a great interest in the game. There are people who will not subscribe to the games they've taken in interest in, especially when they are already complete. (I for one, certainly wouldn't subscribe to all games I'd like to play in the future)

It just results in less time investment on your part. No looking up who likes what. Saves you time. Because knowing who likes you might give you a fluffy feeling for a second or two, but it isn't of real use to anybody.
Unless you want to PM some of those, in which case more active members have a problem on their hands.

If you really needed to know who's on your game, you could bluntly ask. But nobody does that because there really is no need. And why include something that absorbs time, when there is absolutely no need for it?
We all know: if it was there, it would be used.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
That...doesn't really answer my question. You're saying that the information doesn't need to be visible because there's no functional reason for it to. I don't deny that, but it doesn't change my desire to know. The reason is "I'm curious who my subs are." What I'm asking is why subscribers are averse to being known.
I suppose the common stalking/being stalked is nothing you would like to avoid? Good for you.
When I took a flight a friend of mine searched for the engine and was even keeping track of my airplane. It doesn't bother me much, but makes you think.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Honestly, I feel more like I'm being stalked when I DON'T know the person following me.

It's not like this same system doesn't work perfectly fine on other similar websites. Take deviantArt, for example. Your watch list isn't hidden. You're even notified when someone begins watching you. If people exploit the system and get creepy about it, they're likely to get reported and banned for it.

So, I don't understand the concern. There are already site policies in place that would cover any serious trouble that could arise, if you could even consider it serious to begin with.
"If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear."
\


More seriously Deviantart is a great reason why subscribers should remain anonymous. I know somebody years ago who used to frequent it and he'd get messages when he'd favorite or watch an artist. In fact there's an artist I follow that has on their profile page to stop messaging him when he favorites art by another. Some people just want to check out cool creative endeavors and use site features to keep what they're interested in organized. They don't want to get involved, and I think that's fine. Stuff like site policies to deal with harassment and whatnot are a reactive measure, if we need to invoke them then the crime has already been done. Keeping subscribers anonymous is a proactive measure to keep it from being a problem. If I want to tell a creator their work is cool I'll post about it and get involved on their site profile.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Fair enough; I have seen profiles on dA plagued with 'thx 4 teh fav' comments. I guess it wasn't an issue for me because I never fave anything. I do, however, thank the people who watch me. Some consider that spam, too, but I like to show my appreciation, even if it's just acknowledging them. I also refrain from thanking if I see their profile requests I don't.

It's also kind of a bad comparison for here, too, because the nature of what's uploaded to dA is totally different. There's significantly less involvement behind any piece of art that's uploaded versus a complete game on here. We wouldn't even see the faves issue because RMN has no 'Like' buttons.

So from what I've read so far, subscribers are mainly concerned with protecting themselves from the creators of the games they subscribe to? Is there anything more to it?
Frankly, and personally, I just don't want people to know if I follow them or not. I detailed a bit of it in the above post but I'll delve a bit more here - and mind I'm delving without fully knowing the reason myself and it'll probably be weird for me so uh... just keep that in mind. I'm discovering the answer here too, and laying a bit of my mind bare in the process.

Warning, there may be ramble.

So, why don't I, personally, want someone to know I follow them.

I guess part of it is that there's this expectation that if they know I follow their game I should comment on it. I don't like people scrutinising me in the best of times and I definitely don't want them looking at me and making assumptions based on the games I follow. I don't want to answer things like 'why follow them and not me' or 'why are you following my game'.
A lot of the time I don't have an answer - I'll see a game that I think looks interesting and click the subscribe button. Do note that I don't use subscribe often and even then I have about, oh, nine pages of them. Looking at some of the entries I wonder why I picked them over others.
Some of them are games of friends who I support - even if I don't comment much on their pages I click the subscription to let them know that I'm there for them, even if they have no way of knowing. The same can be said for a few games that I felt pity for - they seemed decent and I clicked subscribe to give them the small boost of "Someone likes my game".
You'd think I'd want them to know who liked their game, but I don't. I don't want to deal with them putting thoughts in my mouth, assuming something. Some games, as I've noted, I subscribe to to keep an eye on. I'm not supporting them, but watching in case something goes awry and I can jump in as part of my mod duties and stop the in-bitching. And I don't want some of them to know because they'd assume that I'm supporting their bitch-fests (usually it's the creator who is the issue, just something I've noticed. Sure, it's often sparked by a review but it's very often the creator reacting badly to a review rather than the reviewer being an ass - though I won't deny that has been the case a few times.) I also don't want people to know because they can make assumptions. "You liked this game so maybe you'll like this one too". No thanks, I can pick my own games. I really don't like people telling me to play their games. I can understand if it's in an LP thread, asking me to LP their games, but (and it's not here that does this - probably because there is that screen hiding players) on other sites I get PMs like this quite a bit and while they can be nice when from a friend, when from random people it's annoying. They assume that because I like X, I will then like Y or Z and no. No thanks.
I think that part of me likes the divide - being able to follow without others knowing so that I can watch unseen (might be the spy/detective enthusiast in me ;p ). A lot of people like to watch without being seen - that's basically what we're brought up to do when you think about it. What is most entertainment but watching without the actors knowing who watches? If I want to reach out to them then that's my choice but they don't reach back unless I want. News, TV, radio, books... games - all of these have the experiencer and the creator. The creators don't reach back - they see a number, yes, but not the actual people.

You put your work out there to be looked at and examined by faceless people. It's about numbers, not the faces behind those numbers and if the examination were backwards, if you could see the faces instead, we both lose the comfort of not knowing. You lose the power of knowing those numbers aren't fake, that the people watching aren't the ones that comment or dead, one-time accounts that were just passing through. We lose the power of being able to hide and judge something worthy of our attention from a place that's safe.

I think it's a wall that protects both sides from the other - if you don't know who's scrutinising you don't have to feel upset if it's someone you don't like or someone who left the site or someone who has complained about the game or left a review you thought was less than great. It protects the subscribers from feeling pressured to give and interact, from being dragged onto the stage and asked uncomfortable questions they'd rather not know or didn't think of.

I can tell you now that if such a thing were to pass, personally? I'd be unsubscribing from every game bar those of friends and/or related to site matters. I don't like double-way mirrors. I still don't really know why even after re-reading what I wrote above. I just know that I would.


Sorry if that's not exactly what you wanted to hear but... well, it just is I guess. (PS: I hate the deviantart system. I agonise over deleting all my 'subscriptions' there each time I'm on because I don't like people going through my favourites and what-not thinking "Oh, this is what she likes?" I don't know, I hate those kinds of systems. Even Tumblr annoys me sometimes.)

The biggest part is judgement, I guess. I didn't open myself to being judged by following a game. In all other aspects I do - putting a game up gives people the right to judge it and myself, adding a review, putting up an article, posting a comment, adding an image, making a blog post... all are opening myself to being judged. But this is safe from that. I don't have to worry what people think about what I choose to follow because they don't know. They don't know who I follow so they can't care and in that part I'm free of being judged by that choice. It's like PMs - I open myself to being judged by that one person I PM, but no-one else. When I post a status I choose to let everyone respond and have their say. Not so when I follow something. That is for me, not you. It's the safe place where I can watch without being forced to respond in some way, shape or form because no-one knows.
I was fishing for thoughts and words myself. But I couldn't have described it better. I applaud and thank you, maam!
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