See, i am looking at this based on the activity of the games journos, as well as the game devs that have been talked about in gamergate. That is the context that i look for when i do this kind of research. A lot of crap came out, about how they wrote articles praising each other, donated to each other's pateron, promoted work without revealing their relationships to the other parties, then profited off of that work via pateron donations.  The whole thing is just a cringe worthy mess.   Patreon Patrons typically get product (artistic creations) not profits. The loss is if the product is not provided as promised. Patrons are, as elsewhere, customers getting goods in exchange for money.  I am interested by this. Is a games journalists work artistic creations? If so, then what is the responsibility for the receiver of pateron? Does this mean that if an article is not objective, that they have violated their end of the arrangement?  the more i look at pateron from a business standpoint, the more i cringe. Its a horrible idea.   I am looking at this from a tabletop RPG perspective  There is nothing wrong with thinking outside the box. I post these to the community, to get input, because i am just one guy, and this is a mess that requires a lot of work to sort out.  We have been talking about ethics this entire time, but not once did we stop and ask "Is any of this legal?" Its something that we should have been doing from the beginning. The problem with the ethics argument, is ethics are constantly debated.