So people are telling me that Kotaku didnt actually change its Patreon policy. I'm not sure they thoroughly read the statements in question. So Totilo put out an initial statement that said "no, you can't pay into dev Patreons", he then afterwards said " I believe that Kotaku writers are indeed entitled to pay into a game developer Patreon if that's what they need to do to access a developer's work for coverage purposes. They can even expense it." He specifically says in this statement "don't fund developers personally on an ongoing basis for non-coverage purposes" and you can see right here - http://bit.ly/1wtH8Jl - Paying into a Patreon to receive a copy of a game is a very specific circumstance. It's so rare that frankly it shouldn't even come up. Now if Totilo is saying, you can do it but only in that circumstance, I'm personally fine with it. If he's giving carte blanche to start doing the whole "fund my life" thing via Patreon to reporters again then no that in my view is not ok.



I really dislike this whole "throw money at me every month for non-descript" reasons thing at least from a coverage perspective. If you back a Kickstarter you back once, for X amount in return for Y rewards. Patreon is a monthly thing that's ongoing and often provides no tangible rewards at all, it is really a donation service. I don't think reporters should be donating to developers they cover, I mean, am I being unreasonable when I say that? That sounds like solid grounds for recusal, though personally I dont think you should be doing it period if your job is to report on them or anything adjacent to them.



As for Kickstarter, I think it should be disclosed if you paid anything more than the base amount for the product. If you went beyond just "I want this game when it comes out for a discounted price", then I think you should be telling your audience about that. I don't think it is grounds for recusal, but you should tell your audience and where relevant, describe any in-game rewards (such as named characters) so they can decide whether or not they think your coverage is on the level.