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Trezy
@trezy.codes

Hey #GameDev, what are everybody's thoughts on ads in the game dev feed? I'm looking for ways to support my work, so lemme explain about what this would look like. 🧵

Trezy
@trezy.codes

The platform we use now — @graze.social — offers monetization via ads. Ads in this case are just regular skeets that folks pay to have injected into the feed. I can decline ads, I can control how often they show up, I can revoke an ad if things get weird... basically, I have a lot of control.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

One of my concerns is that there's no indicator that something is an ad. You may be able to recognize it because it shows up more regularly than other skeets or seems out of place, but you're technically seeing ads that don't look like ads, and that feels weird.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

The plus side is that even a small number of ads (think 10 or fewer being shown once every ~100 skeets) would help support all of my feeds immensely.

0 reposts15 likes

Jochem Kuijpers 🎃
@jchmoe.bsky.social

Not opposed as long as it is disclosed clearly that some posts are paid promotions. Can you require those posts being labeled by a labeler listed in the feed description, for instance? I will say, 10 per 100 is a lot of ads to me, that's US Twitter level of ads, which is not 'normal' to me.

Jochem Kuijpers 🎃
@jchmoe.bsky.social

In comparison, before the Elmo takeover, Twitter here (Europe/Netherlands) had maybe 1 ad every 100 tweets, if that, and it was very easy to block. The difference was staggering, whenever I would visit the US everything became infested with ads, and they would all disappear once I came back home.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

Yeah, I must have done some fucky math when I figured 10/100. The highest I'll ever go is 5% saturation, or 1 ad every ~20 skeets. Likely it'll be closer to 1% saturation, or 1 ad every ~100 skeets. We also have a solution for disclosure until Bluesky implements something better. 💙

Trezy@trezy.codes

1) I've settled that ads will have to have the #ad hashtag for me to accept them. 2) I don't even think game releases are relevant enough to count — see the quoted skeet. 3) The initial target is gonna be less than 1% of the skeets you see will be ads, so ~1 in 100 skeets.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

I also think I'll _mostly_ keep it limited to ads that are relevant to game dev. Game jams, game engines, conferences, etc. So... what are y'all's thoughts? Is it a bad idea? Are there other options for monetizing that I'm not thinking of? Are there other issues I haven't considered?

Duckocide
@duckocide.games

I don't know what editorial controls are in place for ads and their sources but I guess a concern will be troll ads masquerading as gamedev with poor click-thru destinations? Could you end up spending all your time doing editorial/censorship admin?

Trezy
@trezy.codes

It's possible, but unlikely. Graze is working on systems so I'd be able to auto-reject a lot of ad requests based on certain criteria, only having to review a handful of them manually.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

I actually don’t think game releases make sense for this audience. 😅

Trezy@trezy.codes

1) I've settled that ads will have to have the #ad hashtag for me to accept them. 2) I don't even think game releases are relevant enough to count — see the quoted skeet. 3) The initial target is gonna be less than 1% of the skeets you see will be ads, so ~1 in 100 skeets.

BaronWombat
@baronwombat.bsky.social

I always lose track of what's going on with the rest of the games industry. Hearing about new games via social media gives me notice to at least take in the trailer. It's a way to break out of my info bubble. That's my 2 cents. Cheers!

Trezy
@trezy.codes

I think we’ve even solved that! 🥳

Trezy@trezy.codes

1) I've settled that ads will have to have the #ad hashtag for me to accept them. 2) I don't even think game releases are relevant enough to count — see the quoted skeet. 3) The initial target is gonna be less than 1% of the skeets you see will be ads, so ~1 in 100 skeets.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

I'm interested which Twitter trauma you're referring to? There's so much... 😅 One thing is that I've busted my butt to make sure my feeds are well-maintained and non-toxic. I won't allow an ad that I think sacrifices the quality of a feed. Period.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

Yup, we've solved that until Bluesky gives us a better option! 😉

Trezy@trezy.codes

1) I've settled that ads will have to have the #ad hashtag for me to accept them. 2) I don't even think game releases are relevant enough to count — see the quoted skeet. 3) The initial target is gonna be less than 1% of the skeets you see will be ads, so ~1 in 100 skeets.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

Yeah, totally agree. We've settled on a solution until Bluesky gives us a better option, tho! 🥰

Trezy@trezy.codes

1) I've settled that ads will have to have the #ad hashtag for me to accept them. 2) I don't even think game releases are relevant enough to count — see the quoted skeet. 3) The initial target is gonna be less than 1% of the skeets you see will be ads, so ~1 in 100 skeets.

Trezy
@trezy.codes

That's one of the reasons we'll be requiring ads to use the #ad hashtag! 😉

Trezy@trezy.codes

1) I've settled that ads will have to have the #ad hashtag for me to accept them. 2) I don't even think game releases are relevant enough to count — see the quoted skeet. 3) The initial target is gonna be less than 1% of the skeets you see will be ads, so ~1 in 100 skeets.