Is Webtoon changing?

Lolliebye 2019-04-04 00:20:42 UTC #1

Hello, I've been on webtoon for around three years now, and I've been seeing some things that I'm not sure is just my imagination.
I feel as if Webtoon is the one driving the creators, the stories never seem to be how the creators originally wanted them to be. One example is SubZero, its really focused on the romance and no longer is about the society, other comics as well such as Muted.
Also I've been seeing that some (I won't say many because they are just people I know irl) people are noticing that webtoon is just featuring popular comics now. They used to be about creativity and what they loved, but it now seems that theyre more into gaining a bit more money. This I completely understand! But now with new policies theyve grown more and more money centered, it's not about all the comics now. Its just about earning more.
Or is this just what I feel as a biased and small creator?
I see that although tapas is not as popular because of its coin system, people on it are more deep with their stories and nothing is rushed or made just to make it appealing to the crowd of crazy shippers out there.
Tapas seems to really care for new and small creators with their fresh picks and staff reads. i put this out there because I don't know if I'm just going crazy or if this is actually happening.
Please, this wasn't hate on webtoon or any of the creations on it, don't take it personally if you don't agree with me, but I just had to double check with others to see if Webtoon really is changing from a small user friendly platform to a big platform that is friendly towards what is popular.

joannekwan 2019-04-04 00:27:00 UTC #2

CORPORATE GREED blah blah blah (jk)

But in all seriousness, since we don't know what goes on behind the scenes of webtoons, maybe there's a shift because investors want more of a profit? Even though LINE is a huge company and offers a much greater pool of funds for webtoons to play around with, maybe they're shifting their funding structure, leaving webtoons to fend for themselves more? It's all speculation.

Lolliebye 2019-04-04 00:30:40 UTC #3

That's what I'm trying to figure out. This is probabolly none of my business whatsoever as my small comic doesn't fit any marks of being featured or of being a big hit, but I have a friend who got featured and I also see all these small creators everywhere and I wonder to myself "Whats changed?" Because two years ago every comic would have at least 5,000 subscribers but you see some comics out there with one subscriber, and that subscriber being the author.
Also~
I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE HERE
HOW-

joannekwan 2019-04-04 00:34:04 UTC #4

I probably spend too much time with the forum tab open xD
('s what happens when you don't have a 9 to 5 job)

But yeah, I remember people had amazing sub counts not that long ago, and then it seemed everything started slipping after the big contest.

Lolliebye 2019-04-04 00:35:03 UTC #5

YoU HaVE MENtioNeD ThE coNTesT
*le gasp

Jenna_A 2019-04-04 00:42:39 UTC #6

The "change" is just the nature of business. As the market changes,you adapt. You can definitely expect a lot more changes to come! As for why certain comic storylines change, it really is speculation and you'll never get the same answer for each comic on Webtoons. Yeah, it might be the editors changing things but it might be the creators who are wanting the change. (For my own comic I'm definitely planning on re-drawing my 1st few episodes and making minor changes to the story) Also- Since the money for creators isn't coming from the readers (like Tapas) Webtoon has to find other ways to support their webcomics.

Lolliebye 2019-04-04 00:52:34 UTC #7

Ah! Good luck on your story!

baasinsimple 2019-04-04 01:21:30 UTC #8

Business is business dude. Shounen Jump and Kodansha's Weekly Shounen Magazine where mostly typical high fantasy battle manga until recently for a reason and even today that's super popular. Tapas has been pushing BL and Romance for a reason. When a Company based on the entertainment of others come to light they need to follow the trends established in their country of origin, what their main demographics come to enjoy, and the rules the most popular stories have established. After 2 decades of Dragonball and Kinnikumon inspired stories SJ and KW are now getting new mangaka who are inspired by later generation material. (Rather than the 80s-Early 90s manga people where now more inspired by mid-90s- Early 2000s manga) and thus the cycle continues. I think the same is happening with Tapas and Webtoon at a much faster rate and at a much smaller scale because the Webcomic scenes are still less hampered by editors than the manga scene. Though if what you're saying is true that may become less true later on.

Lolliebye 2019-04-04 01:49:37 UTC #9

Business is business I understand that!

seru 2019-04-04 01:55:05 UTC #10

Don't be surprised when they start locking the featured episodes later on :))

the "fast pass" is just a prelude to that.

Jenna_A 2019-04-04 02:40:40 UTC #11

That's what I'm thinking will happen too.

JRHoch 2019-04-04 07:10:39 UTC #12

I find it much harder to interact on Webtoon. Tapas has a more community feel.

unknown_user 2019-04-04 07:26:43 UTC #13

I don't agree. In my opinion, there ARE a bunch of premium comics in Tapas, made just to "make it appealing to the crowd", and I personally don't see much artistic value in them. At least, it is how I see it.

Yes, but it's a lottery. Actually, only very small percent of comics and novels are picked. Besides, if you'll look at these staff picks, you can notice that they are biased, and it's unavoidable, cause they corresponds to tastes of just a 2 (3?) particular people.

Despite all of this, I myself still like Tapas more than Webtoons, particularly because

and I've found here a bunch of particular amazing creators and readers.

But I'm against demonising webtoons and mindless admiring Tapas. Let's try to be just a bit more objective.

punkarsenic 2019-04-04 08:15:59 UTC #14

this is speculation, but if these creators are earning money on their comics, they could be swayed by what the audience wants. generally more people are gonna go gooey about romance than social commentary or worldbuilding, and thats clearly the webtoon market, so it doesnt surprise me that creators who are Earnin lean into that. its also possible for this to happen on tapas, patreon - anywhere where engagement can = money.

i know people have said 'thats just the nature of business' - which it is. but i think its worth being critical of how any for-profit structure affects a work of art and potentially forces creators to tell stories that werent what they wanted them to be.

beta1042 2019-04-05 00:08:29 UTC #15

I mean a creator could just as easily want to shift directions given the chance to restart. It may have nothing to do with the editors. But only the creator and editor can say for sure.

I feel like what they feature seems to come in waves. For awhile they were doing a lot of superhero comics. Now it seems like they're featuring all the contest entries (the 8 winners and many of the HMs), and it makes sense to get those pushed out quickly while they're still on people's mind.

Lolliebye 2019-04-05 01:05:18 UTC #16

Right?! With these forums and profiles and support system!

baasinsimple 2019-04-05 21:05:54 UTC #18

I mean we all pretty much all know that business plans can ruin someones vision, it's nothing new. Kind of a prerequisite at this point.

punkarsenic 2019-04-06 08:15:45 UTC #19

i just dont think it should be something we can shrug about and accept - sometimes its necessary, but sometimes driving uber to pay rent is necessary, doesnt mean either are things we should put up with unquestioningly.

baasinsimple 2019-04-06 20:10:10 UTC #20

I agree but what would you suggest? Talk about it on a forum? We literally only have a different outlook because we're not direct consumers of the content. We have an outlook that is in the minority because we're also content creators. We're not thinking about it from a business perspective. The businesses have no incentive to change because the mass consumers aren't complaining. Tapas and Webtoons will boom because of this, until they reach a transitional period then the next trend will happen. It's inevitable until we find a new platform that embraces different kinds of content then they will follow the same path. This is a process that has happened since the inception of trade on this planet.

punkarsenic 2019-04-06 20:36:33 UTC #21