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Happy 10th Anniversary GTLive!
This totally snuck up on me but August 26 2025 was the first GTLive livestream! Sadly that stream is probably lost media as no recording exists on the channel, but I guess it still counts.
I'm hoping they do something to celebrate this and Film Theory's 10th anniversary given that they posted that all the hosts (plus ID's Fantasy ??!?) were in Raleigh last week. Chances are high we get a surprise real soon. :)
Chris: "Are you ready? I wanna just go back and sleep."
MatPat: I'm sorry, Kermit the Frog just entered. Kermit the frog!
Steph: Kermit! I didn't know you worked at this cafe.
MatPat: I love your work.
-Doki Doki Literature Club Mod
Let’s Support MatPat However We Can
The last 24 hours have been a rollercoaster for MatPat’s community. Regardless of where you hang your online cape, I’m pretty sure you heard about it: YouTube approached The Game Theorists for the opportunity to turn on Channel Membership on their channel, and Matthew did something very considerate and thoughtful for his community before making the big decision:
He asked us first.
A lot of YouTubers don’t do that. But Matthew did. Because he wanted to make his final decision based on what would benefit the community the most. So he linked a Google Survey containing a simple three-option question: Should Channel Membership be turned on? The options? Yes, No, and I don’t care.
This is when shit started hitting the fan, because a lot of people were on the side of No. And their reasoning wasn’t as sound as I hoped it would have been. Had their reasoning been “No, because you guys already make cool content, there’s no need to try and experiment with new forms of media just stay as you are”, it probably wouldn’t be that bad. Even though improvement and evolution is always a key factor in the lifespan of anything. Regardless of whether it’s regarding someone’s personality or someone’s YouTube content.
But that wasn’t the reasoning behind the collective No of the community. The reasoning was this: On a personal level, on the individual level, it would hurt them. Because they believed that the enabling of this feature will create a rift in the community between members and non-members. All this because of the perks that they were focusing on that Matthew highlighted in his video. The most prominent feature they were all problematic over being: Members-Only Live Streams. They didn’t want that. But let me break down the logic that they were clearly not thinking through:
In a month, GTLive will stream every single weekday at 4pm PST. That’s a mostly guaranteed schedule, barring any emergencies or last minute meetings. This is available for everyone, members and non-members alike. This could be anything from a gameplay to a challenge video, but one thing’s for sure: this will never be member-exclusive. GTLive stays exactly as it is. So that’s approximately 22 streams a month, at most.
In that same month, assuming the feature is enabled, Matthew & Stephanie and possibly the rest of the GTLive crew will make at least one extra live stream, accessible only to members. This could be anything from an AMA, to a behind the scenes, to maybe some goofy ideas they wanna test out before making it accessible to the rest of the audience. Honestly it could be whatever they wanted. Same goes for the once a month members-only video that goes up.
So when you look at it this way…you’re comparing TWENTY-TWO streams and FOUR videos a month to one of each, and this is what you’re focusing on as your reason to say NO to giving other people the opportunity to support Matthew.
What is the purpose of these videos and streams and other perks in the first place? Before I get into that, let me make something perfectly clear: Matthew did not need to put those perks into his channel membership system. That was not a requirement in order for him to enable this feature. Put that in your brain. Now…the purpose of these perks are simply this: Members put in a small fee ($5) into supporting Matthew’s channel, which in turn gives him the opportunity to start making more intricate and elaborate content for us (us the community, not us the members) to enjoy. The perks are a thank you from creator to “financial supporter” for the contributions they put in, nothing more and nothing less.
But I don’t have the money to buy membership. But I want those perks as well. That’s just being greedy. The philosophy is this: You put in more contributions, you receive more rewards. But the case is not you put in nothing, you receive nothing. You receive a stream on the weekdays and a weekly theory. You receive regular and consistent content. Like I said, the perks are an extra thank you to to the members. For putting in the money to help support the channel. And I can hear your next question coming a mile away.
But Matthew said they’re doing just fine with AdSense. So they don’t have to turn on this feature, right? Did you…did you not pay attention to the video? Yes, they’re doing FINE. By fine, we mean that he’s not going to starve for the next few years if YouTube decides to change up the algorithm in favor of someone who makes the exact opposite of Matthew’s content and he suddenly loses views. However, just because he is doing fine and the channel is doing fine, it doesn’t mean that there’s NO ROOM for the channel to do better. What do I mean by this? By even just 2000 members of his community signing up for Channel Membership, that will result to $7000 going into funding for future projects, for more ARGs, for more merch, a month. The channel will do exponentially so much better and the community as a whole will benefit from just these 2000 people. And I say 7000 because 30% of the channel membership fee goes to YouTube.
So why can’t they just give us all the content they had planned as the thank you for the channel members instead of creating the divide? What divide? The divide that was created by the fans by fulfilling their own prophecy of a divide being created? Don’t pretend that Matthew is the one behind this. This was all you. And if you weren’t paying attention to literally anything I just said, pay attention to this: Those videos and streams were planned to thank the people who chose to donate their money in the name of supporting the channel.
So because I didn’t fork up the cash to support the channel, I don’t deserve a thank you? Let’s say you have a friend who saved up money to give his mother a gift for her birthday, and she thanked her son (naturally)…do you think it’s unfair that all you were able to do is witness the giving and the receiving and the thanking from afar without your friend’s mother thanking you for doing nothing? Do you think it’s unfair that your friend’s mother got a gift on her birthday when so many mothers around the world don’t? Do you see how messed up this logic is? This isn’t even the case with non-members. It’s not that exaggerated and it’s not that idiotic. Because you get your thank you every single day that they stream, for every single video they put out. Thanks for watching. Thank you for joining us. If you really think that that’s not a satisfactory amount of gratitude for the amount of support you put in, then maybe that’s not Matthew’s problem anymore. It’s yours.
Does this mean that if I don’t become a channel member, I am less of a fan? No. Absolutely not. This doesn’t make you any less of a fan. You know why? Because the support they’ve been getting via AdSense is only happening because of all of us non-members. Because of the watch hours we put in. Because of the ads that we’re forced to watch for five seconds before skipping. They’ve been doing just fine from the non-members alone. So no. Being a non-member doesn’t give you any less value as a fan just like being a member and giving the money monthly doesn’t give you any addiitonal value as a fan.
The driving force behind channel membership is essentially this: The support of a few will be beneficial to the whole. So by enabling this feature, the opportunity for bigger & better ARGs, for even better quality merch, for more merch, and for bigger projects to be tackled by Matthew and the rest of the Game Theorists crew is enabled as well. The purpose of the membership is not to create a rift from the fans between the members and the non-members. And of course it’s going to look like that in the beginning, because you’re focusing on the finer details when you should be focusing on the big picture. So allow me to describe to you the bigger picture.
What will non-members get from Matthew turning on Channel Membership? • a bigger, more elaborate, more intricate ARG in the form of a bigger merch mystery • production of more merchandize in terms of quantity of products manufactured. This means that products are probably not gonna get sold out in less than 3 days when the goods go live on the Creator Ink website • production of more merchandize in terms of variety of products. Basically, more kinds of merch. Maybe more designs for the shirts, maybe some Film Theory merch again. Maybe a phone case. Maybe a onesie for babbys. Maybe Theorist pajamas. But the point is we won’t know until it happens. • higher grade quality production of merchandize items. Self-explanatory. • potentially bigger & more elaborate projects by Matthew. Maybe he’ll get to actually conduct experiments a la Mythbusters for the sake of a theory. We’ll never know until it happens. And because y’all are voting NO, we may never know.
So now…what will channel members get from Matthew turning on Channel Membership? • Everything mentioned for the non-members • At least one members-only video per month that does not contain content regarding the main focus of the channel. This could be anything from vlogs to science experiments, to blooper reels • At least one members-only stream per month. Again, this will probably not contain content related to the main focus of the channel. So this will not be a let’s play or a challenge video. Probably. • Possibly a live stream that everyone can view, but not everyone can chat in. So a public stream with a members-only chat. I can hear your pitchforks being sharpened from here. • Merch discount codes • a badge next to your display name in the comments section as well as the live chat • a selection of emotes to be used in live chat and comments
When you look at those perks, you’ll see that they function solely as tokens of appreciation for the people who gave their money in order to support the channel and its endeavors to improve on its content for the benefit of the community as a whole. Perks are an ancillary thank you, like a gold star from a teacher when they really appreciated your work. Not every student will get it, because not every student put in the same amount of work.
Personally I had every intention of signing up for channel membership, because my philosophy has always been this: If i spend more money a day on my coffee and my food than I would in a month to support someone I absolutely and unconditionally respect, someone who makes my list of My Favorite People…then why the fuck would I not take that opportunity? And here’s the thing, it took me three days to justify sponsoring Markiplier. And one of the things I said back then was “Had this been Matthew, however, I would have signed up in a heartbeat.” And now herein lies that precise opportunity for me to sign up in a heartbeat. And that survey is taking that opportunity away from me, and from a lot of other people, one NO at a time.
Another thing that immensely pissed me off is this: People are now blaming Matthew for their mental health issues. Just recently, like just a few hours before writing this long and winded post, I saw a comment from someone who was essentially blaming Matthew for her suicidal tendencies and her chronic insomnia because she wasn’t able to get merch, or even get to participate in the final stretch of the merch mystery. And because she didn’t win, she now blames Matthew for the resulting mental health issues that attacked her during those following nights. And now she’s blaming Matthew and the channel membership discussion for her occurring anxiety attack. And this isn’t an isolated case. A lot of people are blaming Matthew and his intention to better the content of the channel and better everything he’s about to put out into the world for their mental health issues.
They’re directly mentioning Matthew and Stephanie and the rest of the GTLive crew in their tweets to tell them that this treatment of members vs non-members is unfair. And I can’t imagine the amount of negative feedback currently appearing on their notifications because people are so against the idea of thanking the people who went above and beyond what’s expected of a fan in order to support the channel.
It feels like the creator isn’t allowed to thank people anymore unless they’re thanking everyone. Even though only a small portion of that ‘everyone’ was really deserving of the extra gratitude. The mentality that ‘they put in the extra work, but we should have all the benefits’ is so toxic and so mind-numbingly idiotic that it makes me want to leave the GTLive community altogether. I mean, sure I’d still be participating by commenting on videos and tweeting along during the streams, but actually interacting with fellow members of the community? Potential hard pass right there.
I’ve seen some great members. I talk to them on a near daily basis. But I’ve also seen a much more overwhelming amount of toxic members. People who use their following to create rifts in the community because they have thousands of followers and Matthew follows them, people who go so far as to DM members of the crew why they think the feature shouldn’t push through because it’s unfair to them on a personal level, people who brag that they’re willing to spend $5 on a coffee a day, but not the same amount of money for a month to support their ‘faves’. People who twisted my words of “this is just him thanking people who gave him the extra support” and turning it into “so that means members are more special just because they pay”.
So let me make this crystal clear: I do not think that signing up for membership will make you more special in the eyes of the creator just because you paid for it. I believe that despite the membership, people are on equal footing in the eyes of the creator, regardless of the extra gratitude that members receive in the form of the channel member perks. Becoming a member does not make someone more valuable than the rest of the community, just the same as not becoming a member does not make someone less valuable than the rest of the community. Channel members should never be referred to as ‘true fans’ or ‘loyal fans’ just because we’re putting forward the cash to support our favorite creators, because as non-members, support can still be given simply by watching the video and spreading the word.
Now, if anyone wants to twist those words, and if anyone wants to accuse me of some idiotic bullshit like that girl in the group chat did a few hours ago, to Hell with you.
The purpose of the channel membership was to support Matthew in an alternative manner. We should have been trying our damnedest to support MatPat however we can; whether it be from watching the videos or signing up for the membership. But instead you all fulfilled your own prophecy of ‘this will put a rift in the community’ by acting as childish and behaving as selfishly as you all did today.
So let’s support MatPat however we can. Which at the rate we’re going, is just by watching his videos because Channel Membership doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Because of you. Because of everyone who said no for the most selfish reasons I’ve ever seen on the Internet: Because it’s unfair to me. The NO you guys gave out for a personal level issue? That affects GTLive on a community level issue. Now that’s selfish; it’s not signing up for the membership so perks can be doled out, it’s not the desire to stand out with a shiny channel badge. True selfishness lies in the people who want to silence and incapacitate everyone else, who want to clip everyone else’s wings, just because circumstance did not favor them.
That being said, I have one last thing to say. This is my favorite type of response from people: “I can’t afford the membership right now but I voted yes so that people who want to and people who can, have that opportunity. This isn’t just for me. It’s for everyone.” You guys are the real MVPs of this community, you deserve thousands of followers, and I hope that more people follow in your example.
~ Ally P.S. On the off chance that reading this has changed your mind on your vote in the survey, kindly go back and give a Yes; you can vote more than once. You don’t have to sign up if the feature gets enabled, but you would be doing a great kindness for the people who want to support him in this manner if you do…Thanks.
Why do these stock actors literally look like the walmart brand version of MatPat and Steph
Team Theorist as Troubled Birds
matthew:
stephanie:
jason:
chris:
dan:
bonus skip:
literally anybody: raise your hand if you've ever felt personally victimised by scott cawthon.
team theorist, but especially matt: *raises their hands*
A perfect theory Christmas
i choked on my ice tea.
@six-and-a-half-dollar-man and sushi-anon have this lovely comic :)
(i, too choked on my drink when i saw that ask. it was too much)
