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[miauw62]

I caused someone to change their avatars. I feel complete now.

[NobodyPro]

So I'm thinking of starting a kickstarter for lemonade. I'd probably need, what, $10~ for the lemons? $2 for cups and $10 to set up a stand in a residential area. Maybe I'd need a little more so I could hire a little person to sell the stuff. Nobody's going to buy lemonade from an undergrad.

[lordcooper]

Nobody's going to buy lemonade from an undergrad.

Bullshit, I've been to McDonalds.

[Servant Corps]

"There is something particularly awful about professionals who have already risen to the near top of their field asking for handouts as if they can't get work any other way."

As of the time of this post, said professional has raised over 1.7 million dollars, out of the total 2 million dollars he is asking for.

[Scoops Novel]

"There is something particularly awful about professionals who have already risen to the near top of their field asking for handouts as if they can't get work any other way."

As of the time of this post, said professional has raised over 1.7 million dollars, out of the total 2 million dollars he is asking for.

I think you are right about this, though there are ostentatiously good reasons based around procuring investors interest, but if you're complaints are limited to kickstarter then i will be disappointed. I dislike the irrelevant status of wealth when it comes to games. Apparently its only worth complaning about when said developer has been to space and is wearing conspicuos bling, and its enough of a sacred cow for there to be little to no questioning when millions are proudly proclaimed to have been spent on it. I admit to hypocrisy given where I'm posting this, but continued development seems to be comparitively cheap and crucial to the psychological well being of many on these boards, besides being a model example of how to handle a community.

[scriver]

Since when is Beard even close be near the top of "his field"? And regardless, how is having been the main character of a sit-com supposed to make it a cakewalk for him to finance a movie?

[Scoops Novel]

Nobody's going to buy lemonade from an undergrad.

Bullshit, I've been to McDonalds.

Seconded.

[Leafsnail]

He clearly could get work some other way, but he decided to go via Kickstarter instead.  Kickstarter is more like a non-standard way of getting investors rather than a handout, so I don't really see the problem.

[Draco18s]

Since when is Beard even close be near the top of "his field"?

"Beard"?

[Sergius]

There seems to be an assumption that you have to be poor to be allowed to make a Kickstarter. (as opposed to, I don't know, being able to reduce risk or even measure interest before doing a project, or try to keep your artistic integrity instead of bowing down to the whims of a producer)

Or that people are getting ripped off because they don't get a share of the profits. I guess those who say this thinks people need to be protected from themselves (since they chose to give money away without expecting a return, merely because they prefer to have this thing made vs this thing not made at all).

I don't mean specifically in this forum, but from a lot of detractors and critics of this crowdfunding thing.

[Draco18s]

I don't mean specifically in this forum, but from a lot of detractors and critics of this crowdfunding thing.

I think it's more of a "personal wealth" thing.  If you have 10 million dollars a year worth of income, spending 2 million on a personal project is a drop in the bucket.

I'm pretty sure most people spend a larger percentage of their yearly income on alcohol.

[penguinofhonor]

20% of your income is a drop in the bucket?

[Draco18s]

20% of your income is a drop in the bucket?

When you make $10mil a year?
Yes.
It is impossible to consume more than about $150,000 worth of goods a year.  Above that, you're either saving money (because you can't spend it) or are investing it (to make even more money).  Also remember that it's 20% of one year's income.  It's not a reoccurring cost.

[nenjin]

"In business, it is always better to use someone else's money than your own."

The sooner people internalize that rule, the better. I evaluate every Kickstarter now based on the people behind it, as well as the concept. There is a distinct difference between an amateur and professional, between a bedroom developer and a team trying to pay salaries and pay rent on their building. They have different needs, different goals and different capabilities.

It's why I ended up not backing any inXile projects. Or Steve Jackson. Or a lot of these professionals. They've got every right to use KS as loosey-goosey investment sourcing. But I'm not interested in backing professional businesses/business personalities anymore, unless it's about resurrecting an IP that I'm insanely devoted to.

Instead, I'm interested in backing dreamers and could-be professionals, new IPs from newbies. Those are the projects that get my love, when they align with what I'd like to see. Sure, it's riskier. They may not be able to hack it, their product might suck donkey balls. The same risk exists for professionals and amateurs, just in different amounts.

But Kickstarter is all about wish fulfillment, the backers and the creators, and frankly, people with millions to their names are capable of fulfilling their own damn wishes. If someone just wanted to create a thing, and fuck the financial outcome, that's a motivation I can get behind. That's a dream and a wish I'm willing to take a gamble on, that's where the magic happens, to me.

The rest? I grow more cynical with each passing year, especially when were starting to see serial Kickstarters, like inXile. That's not how I want to see Kickstarter get used, and that's not how I personally think it works best. After the 4th, 5th, 6th? inXile KS (assuming any of this stuff they've done is truly good and successful), it becomes a case of seeing how the sausage gets made, economically speaking. When a successful company with a warchest starts telling you "This could only happen because of YOU!", it should start setting off BS sensors in everyone's head. That's the tag line, not reality, for some of these people.

And, at least as it relates to game, we STILL haven't truly seen the proof in the pudding on ANY of the games that rode the initial video game Kickstarter wave...or who continue to.

Does this mean I'm in favor of the publisher model overall instead of the crowdfunding model? I dunno. Dealing with publishers forces developers to be accountable in ways that they're not with crowdfunding. That lack of accountability is worrisome to me, and I've kind of become anxious about how a lot of these big projects finally shake out.

[Neonivek]

Sometimes the larger developers do kickstarters instead of getting a developer because Kickstarter offers more creative freedom when it comes to its development.

Though yeah I have seen people who could have EASILY funded their own games do kickstarters anyway.

Admitting there is another reason to do kickstarter funding instead of your own anyway. It determines interest.