Not really, basically every youtuber worth his salt has a donate link somewhere on their channel and says "Not asking, just saying" in some form or another. Hell, even I do. The problem is that it's a one time thing. It's something the fan has to go out of their way to remember to do if they want to do support the artist.

Patreon is more like a voluntary subscription fee, I guess is the best way to put it, (It's early and my brain still isn't awake so that might not be the best way to put it). But it's a way for fans to say "Yes, I would like to support you on a regular basis." and not have to be constantly donating manually. Honestly Jack's "Kickstarter for continuous projects" is probably the best way of putting it.

You can alreayd donate regularly and automatically, it's called Paypal (which most people use to make the donation in the first place).

Faldor: I'm not really ready to announce anything definite yet, not out of any you know idea of ssh secret, I just don't wanna be mouthing off about something I haven't finalized yet. But anyways, I'll be contineing my let's play channel for sure, and soon, I'm going to be starting some new stuff. And once I've got things finalized on my end, I'll be starting up a channel for my production company.

At the moment the plans for that are similar to what FeddieW or Corridor Digital are doing (Releasing small films on a somewhat regular, monthly or so, schedule) although I'll be focusing more on narrative driven projects (less explosions and video game references, more story...but still a few explosions and video game references...cause you know, they're still fun), more like the Lizzie Bennet Diaries (Although nothing on that scale for a while).

And then from there who knows. I have ideas, but nothing I want to share <coy smile>

I don't agree at all that everyone paying money = greater sense of community. Shared interests bring people together and community simply develops over time and frequency of discourse. If the podcast/forum/chat charged you to become a member, would any of us still be here?

This 'new' model sounds like any other club in any other activity, pay us and you'll get stuff or be treated special. And who cares about an 'isolating event'? You still do it and money still gets to where it's supposed to go. Is this therefore going to be about bragging rights - where it shows all the other members that you gave money and how much you gave?