2023 Community Survey + some other updates (Patreon)

Hey there and welcome to 2023! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and had a good start to the new year. 🥰

I personally had a rather calm Christmas and New Year's Eve, which I desperately needed after the stressful last months of 2022.

Nonetheless, I was a bit shocked when I saw that my last proper post on Patreon was from early September. This certainly wasn't due to a lack of updates or new content in the following months, all of it simply happened on our community Discord server instead of here. But before I start recapping last year, there's something important (actually the main reason for this post) I'd like to address first. 👇

upcoming game

Since I wasn't able to publish something for Christmas as I had originally hoped, I was planning to kick off the new year with an exciting new game featuring DVa. As I mentioned in August, this new game is actually part of the Home Office Game, my large overarching project with an uncertain future.

For the moment, however, the smaller game has an uncertain future as well. In fact, all games have an uncertain future for now. Milovana, the software and website I use to create and publish my games, has been having severe server issues for the last few weeks. As of now, the existing games all work without flaws but no content creator can upload new pictures. Until these issues are resolved, no new games will be published through Milovana, neither by me nor by any other creators. 😢

With that said, I am in contact with some staff of Milovana and will keep a close eye on the situation. There have been similar issues in the past, so I'm certain this current problem will be fixed as well, it might just take a bit. And in the unlikely event Milovana's troubles persist for a long time or indefinitely, I already have some alternatives in mind. So while this certainly sucks right now, there's no reason to worry about my content in the long run. 💪

the main part: 2023 survey

However, that was only the introduction to the main part of this post. Since I can't work on the new game, let alone publish it, I decided to focus on a different important project which I had been planning for almost a year now: An extensive survey of you and your preferences for the future of my content! 😊

▶️ Fill out the survey here: https://forms.gle/PUfFqEHhqC3pTGXM9 📝

As a content creator, I've been pretty much doing the same thing for the last three and a half years. So to shake things up a bit in 2023 and after, I'm considering some major changes to all aspects of my content. And since you are the most important factor for my content and the reason for its existence in the first place, I don't want to make any decisions without first understanding you and your preferences.

So please take some time to fill out this special "Morexis Community Survey for the Future". The survey mainly regards my future games, our Discord server, and your support for me and my content; it only takes around 15 minutes and helps me create better content for you. Thank you for participating, I appreciate it! ✨

twenty, twenty-two

Alright, that was the most important topic I wanted to discuss today. Considering this is the first post of the new year, let me also say a few words about 2022 (I'll try to keep it brief). 

For me personally, 2022 was one of the best years of my life. During the first half of the year, I was studying in a different country, meeting loads of amazing new people and gaining new experiences I will never forget. In the second half of 2022, I was working as an intern in the public relations department of a major company and gained lots of valuable insights. I officially didn't have any prior experience in that field but I certainly feel that some of the controversies surrounding my early games have prepared me well for crisis communication. 😅

Merely looking at the number of games I published last year might give the impression that these adventures in my personal life caused you to miss out on a lot of JOI fun. While it's certainly true that both my exchange semester and my internship demanded most of my attention, that didn't stop me from working on new content for you. Aside from continuously advancing with the Home Office Game I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I put together a couple of interesting experiments for new features for my games, including player-versus-player simulations, voice acting, and customizable pronouns (aka. my "Inclusive Language System").

Just like my communication with you, most of my activity last year happened on our Discord server. Two years ago, the Morexis Community Discord counted around 500 members. Two weeks ago, that number crossed 2,000, a huge milestone for our comfortable, little community! 2022 also brought the Discord server two additional moderators with Ben (alias Dad) in January and Tino in August. 

Last year, we hosted multiple special events, including Locktober, followed by the No Nut November event, followed by the third JOI Advent Calendar. During the No Nut November event, over 30,000 pictures and videos were posted in the #joi-feed channel alone; that's truly an impressive amount of contributions!
Organizing events like these always takes a lot of work and preparation, but seeing so many people participating and having a great time is really rewarding. So thank you very much, I'm sure you will continue to have a great time in the safe and comfortable space that is our Discord server. 😘

I want to wrap up this first post of 2023 with two quotes. The first one is from Nima (alias Zero Two), who despite just joining in April of last year has quickly become one of the most active and prominent members of our community.

"Merry Christmas to every single wonderful person in this. [...] I’ve had some truly wonderful and beautiful experiences in this server since joining this year. And met so many lovely people, learnt so much, experienced new stuff. And just found a wonderful sense of belonging and kindness too, in what many might consider an odd place to find it. But I think that just makes it even more wholesome and beautiful. There’s a lot more I would and could say, struggling for the words right now. [...] So, merry Christmas you beautiful people."

The second quote is from yours truly, originally posted during the Locktober event but I think it's relevant in a larger context as well.

"Every day, seeing all of you participating and interacting with each other makes me incredibly happy to have set up this Discord server almost three years ago. Every day, reading your messages motivates me and my fellow mods to manage this community, ensuring you have a great time in a safe space. Every day, being aware of how much you enjoy the fun events and activities I organize is a reward for the hours I put into them. Everything we had, everything we have, and everything we will have requires a lot of time and effort. And it would not exist without the amazing support from many of you."

With that said, thank you very much for your support during the last year. I am immensely grateful for the trust and loyalty you have for me, so I will continue to honor your commitment in this new year by providing you with great content, a great community, and loads of great times (get it? "loads" of great times, hehe). 🤭

Don't forget to fill out the survey and let me know if you have any questions or want to talk. Just like in the past, you can contact me about anything at any time.

For now, let's look forward to an exciting 2023 together. Thank you and stay awesome! ❤️❤️❤️