DISCLAIMER: I'm not mentioning any names, but those who this applies to know who they are. This is not an attack, this is a desperate PLEA for them to stop a certain behavior.

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So there is a nicer post about this from a little while ago, but lately a lot of fellow devs have been coming directly to my different socials promoting their products. This is fine, except that it is unprovoked, in that they seem to ignore that I am an active solodev as well with products of my own. While I do make a point of shouting LOUD and PROUD about your product (which is good), I guess I should also emphasize my opinion on respecting other active devs in the process.

In my opinion, it's not the most considerate thing for me to bring up my games on another person's "internet space" (such has their profile, their game page, their social media) unless they bring it up first - saying things like "I hope your game does well too". <- That's the signal where it is appropriate to switch topics from their game to mine. Otherwise, I check to see if they are actively working/developing and if so, lend my support via engagement while keeping my games out of it unless they relate to the topic of the post. I'm gonna need y'all to do the same, please.

It is HARD to dev a game, and while all devs who do the work deserve their flowers, they also deserve the respect of having their games be the primary (if not only topic) in spaces made for their discussion (such as devlog posts or profile pages). I know that no one means any harm, but it can quite condescending to the other dev for you to go to their internet space JUST to promote your own work. If you're going to visit their page, a really good courtesy would be to at least acknowledge the hard work they are doing in some way.

Some of these devs may do so after I give them positive engagement (likes and comments) on their games. That positive engagement from me is genuine, but it's all I have time for at the moment - it should NOT be taken as a promise to get invested in your work YET, it literally means I hope you succeed whether I get invested or not.

I know not every dev has a problem with this so I speak for myself, but the timing for me is especially bad as the release date for my game is so close and it's debug crunch time. To reiterate, PLEASE keep posting about your games on your profile and game pages - I will come and support you there on my own if and when I get time, but also PLEASE refrain from discussing/promoting your games in my comment sections/shouts/game pages unless I bring them up in those spaces first. Again, I genuinely wish the best for your games and are happy you are working on them, but DAMN this is happening a LOT...it can even be discouraging at a time like this.

#advice #rant #support #community #release #gamedev #solodev #indiedev