"I wonder if Kickstarter allowed projects to set a maximum number of backers (or a funding cap), if projects would take advantage of it" They do; kickstarter p

"I wonder if Kickstarter allowed projects to set a maximum number of backers (or a funding cap), if projects would take advantage of it" They do; kickstarter project teams can set a cap on each individual tier they offer. However, most projects foolishly have chosen to not place caps on anything except the most "exclusive" tiers -- those that usually offer a chance to name something in a game, or a custom character representing them, a flight to some faraway place to meet the developers, etc. for thousands of dollars. If the tier involves a tangible product, then there should always be a cap. And most of the software projects I've seen should at least triple their estimated project completion time if they haven't started yet or aren't at least "50%" complete.