Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Announcement: Cardfight Pro Live on Patreon, Twitter

Over the past few months, we at Cardfight Pro have increasingly had to face a problem that we would be remiss to ignore. No one should ever be expected to work 48 hours a week and not be paid a living wage for their contributions, but this is exactly the dilemma we have to address. When we started out in 2011 our work was done for free, as a labor of love; but the bar is higher in 2015, and the hours necessary to create quality news are longer. Our goal is to be the NPR of Vanguard. We want to provide the community with a free, nonprofit centralized news source for information about professional level competition in the Cardfight!! Vanguard trading card game, and provide support for its burgeoning tournament scene. We also want to be able to pay our writers and contributors a living wage for the work they've done for this community. Working for the good of the community and paying our employees are not mutually exclusive decisions; as part of our solution, we've opened up our Patreon page to public donations. Cardfight Pro will be written for and supported by the public.

Patreon is an efficient system which allows patrons to donate whatever amount they feel the content is worth, or are able to pay. Patrons of Cardfight Pro can donate through a pledge, paying whatever amount they feel comfortable with on a monthly basis. We do not need a tremendous amount of money, nor should anyone feel compelled to donate large sums. If all of our readers donated just $4 a year, our chief editor would make minimum wage. (Note that a pledge can be made for one month only and then canceled later, to make the donation truly one-time.) As Cardfight!! Vanguard continues to grow and Cardfight Pro grows along with it, we will be able to hire more permanent staff, and realize our long-term goal; a print publication available on the magazine racks of retailers and bookstores across the United States. If our campaign is successful, readers will observe an immediate effect of their support--Cardfight Pro will move to a twice-daily schedule, updating in the mornings and evenings every day of the week. As an immediate reward, patrons who pledge $4 or more will be able to suggest articles to be written and published on Cardfight Pro, and all patrons will have the option to receive public acknowledgment (in the form of their name, their username or other preferred identification) at the end of news articles. Business owners that pledge $8 or more will also be able to have their business identified as a source of support, allowing them to advertise their brand on the site. Those who pledge $30 or more will be able to have a strategy or deck analysis article written at their request.

As part of our transparency policy, all funds donated through Patreon will be disclosed annually during our end-of-year reporting in December. Money paid to employees and contributors will be clearly labeled, as will work-related expenses for travel and equipment. At this time it is believed that upwards of 98% of the funds received will go to paying the employees. We have no desire to misuse the funding our supporters provide; Cardfight Pro must match the will of the community as nearly as is possible. Our services will always remain free to the public. No one will be excluded from content based on donating too little or not at all.

Although the bar can always be set higher, Cardfight!! Vanguard is by far one of the best balanced games of its era and we do not want to drop an opportunity to help develop the very special community it is host to. Your donations will enable us to travel nationwide to cover tournaments across the United States, and eventually internationally.

We are also now live on Twitter; follow us @vanguardus