Quest: On Pricing

This thread is me codifying a lot of recent thought, and amounts to an open letter to @questrpg and the community surrounding it, about pricing things. Some of it is practicalities, some community.

(+)

Practicalities first.

The two platforms for selling files on with any energy whatsoever are Itch and DrivethruRPG. 

Itch takes a smaller cut of the gross, but has more petty fees, which eat *hard* into money if your price tags is under $5.

(+)

Itch also does "tax withholding" in *some* regions outside the US, which means they hold onto about 30% of your sales for tax; you get it or not when you do taxes.

Drivethru takes a bigger cut, but less payment fees, and it can automate royalty splits for group projects.

(+)

Group project?  Price under $5?  Both? I'd advise Drivethru.

Solo project, and pricing at or above $5? I'd advise Itch.

(+)

That's the practicalities.  Now, let's talk about community.

In the various TTRPG scenes, there exist two troubles in this realm, one extremely common and one a bit rarer.

(+)

The first and worst is an entitlement to incredibly low prices, of the kind that translate to below-poverty wages.  This entitlement is strong enough it has distorted expectations.

(+)

When the community waiting to enjoy the work of creators effectively has a high-pressure, predatory stance on price, that's not good times.  Recognize that some low pricing impulses are *damage* from this.

(+)

The second trouble, rarer, is when the reaction *against* the first thing pushes "price higher!" out of the bounds of helping people value their work and into being mean to creators who primarily want to share, not sell, devaluing *their* generosity.

(+)

We want, I hope, an ecosystem which avoids both the common problem and the overreaction.  I don't have a solid plan here, beyond this:

(+)

Value your work and the work of others.  AND value their generosity and their dignity.  Support them in valuing themselves, however they do that.