5 ms·

As a progressive younger person who has been swimming in internet culture for 15 years now, I find my attitude, wants, needs, and desires are almost completely

by chez17 14y ago

As a progressive younger person who has been swimming in internet culture for 15 years now, I find my attitude, wants, needs, and desires are almost completely left out of pop culture. The news rarely people with my point of view on it. The games I like to play are rarely made and instead it's CoD 143. The music I like isn't on the radio most of the time. I feel like there are a lot of people like me who like niche things they've found on the internet yet get no respect in the more 'mainstream' world (NOTE: I'm not using that world with a negative connotation). I like random stuff. Things like KickStarter give people like me a say. It lets me 'invest' in a project that would not get picked up by the normal distribution channels. It's almost a political statement. If I have the ability to throw Tim Schafer $20 so he can make a game without the normal pressures of the modern gaming industry (make it appeal to as many people as possible which inevitably leas to dumbing things down) then I'm going to give it a shot. It's literally the only way I see to get involved. It's putting my money where my mouth is.

npsimons 14y ago
So. Totally. This. As someone who is probably (only slightly) older than you, I couldn't help but read your post with an exponentially increasing sense of recognition. The Internet has been my ultimate refuge from the banal mediocrity that is popular "culture", and I really think things like Kickstarter are a wonderful, big part of that. "Disintermediation", while a cumbersome word, describes perfectly things like Kickstarter and forums (which were the recent focus of Discourse) where people can form communities that care about non-mainstream topics. 20 years ago, probably half the things on Kickstarter wouldn't have been possible, and if you wanted to discuss a non-popular topic in-depth, you had to travel to enclaves of like-minded people, or were out of luck.
- dromidas 14y ago
  Yes to both. Also, Timothy Leary would be proud.
xnxn 14y ago
This post really resonated with me. As you implied, it's really not an anti-mainstream thing. I completely understand why publishers want to sell CoD 143. There are also people like me who would rather play Star Citizen. With crowdfunding we finally have a way to simultaneously express our desire for those products and to give them a shot at becoming a reality.
vbl 14y ago
Really interesting point of view - thanks. Do you participate at other sites, like IndieGoGo? I ask because I have a project that I think would get traction but KS has strange rules around some types of projects and mine is excluded.
picklefish 14y ago
I'm in this same boat. However, I give very little to kickstarter. I think I've helped fund 2 or 3 things at the lowest teir (like tim schafer's). For most things I am interested in I let other people fund them while I wait for them to hit retail with absolutely nothing lost.
jerf 14y ago
For what it's worth, it's the internet culture thing, not the youth thing. I'm 34 and feel the exact same way. Well... that's not ancient or anything per se, but I don't think I can fairly call myself a youth anymore.
wisty 14y ago
If you want a non-hipsterish way to say "non-mainstream", "long tail" might be better. Just don't tell the hipsters.
- ChikkaChiChi 14y ago
  or fringe.
- nnnnni 14y ago
  Yeah but then you sound like a business-talk yuppie jerk.
  - hnriot 14y ago
    The "long tail" phrase came from Chris Anderson. I wouldn't say the phrase implies jerk at all or business type. It's a statistics thing.
zecho 14y ago
Thank you so much for saying this. One of the main reason I contribute to projects on Kickstarter is that I KNOW the big studios/publishers/whatever are consolidating. They're racing to produce the things with the biggest mass appeal. Sometimes, I just want to see niche things survive. ' It's the same reason I go to the small businesses in my neighborhood sometimes. I can get similar products elsewhere for cheaper, but their existence in my neighborhood makes my neighborhood experience better. I think of it like an awesome tax.
forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
Agreed. Nothing to do with the age. You have a personality that represents maybe 1% or 2% of the global population. Historically cities were the place were a significant critic mass of people interested on a specific topic could meet, as it could put millions of people in the same place, you will have 0.01x10e6 = x*1000 ->thousands of people sharing, learning upon each other, growing, and truly understanding you and you them. From those potential thousand people you will probably only get to meet hundreds, if you do have the opportunity. If you don't you will feel isolated and misunderstood all your life. Now with Internet you have thousands of millions of people in the same place. There are barriers of communication, but they slowly go away(kickstarter success depends on video communication which makes for a more personal communication). This will only improve in the future.

by chez17 14y ago

npsimons 14y ago

So. Totally. This. As someone who is probably (only slightly) older than you, I couldn't help but read your post with an exponentially increasing sense of recognition. The Internet has been my ultimate refuge from the banal mediocrity that is popular "culture", and I really think things like Kickstarter are a wonderful, big part of that. "Disintermediation", while a cumbersome word, describes perfectly things like Kickstarter and forums (which were the recent focus of Discourse) where people can form communities that care about non-mainstream topics. 20 years ago, probably half the things on Kickstarter wouldn't have been possible, and if you wanted to discuss a non-popular topic in-depth, you had to travel to enclaves of like-minded people, or were out of luck.

dromidas 14y ago
Yes to both. Also, Timothy Leary would be proud.

xnxn 14y ago

This post really resonated with me. As you implied, it's really not an anti-mainstream thing. I completely understand why publishers want to sell CoD 143. There are also people like me who would rather play Star Citizen. With crowdfunding we finally have a way to simultaneously express our desire for those products and to give them a shot at becoming a reality.

vbl 14y ago

Really interesting point of view - thanks. Do you participate at other sites, like IndieGoGo? I ask because I have a project that I think would get traction but KS has strange rules around some types of projects and mine is excluded.

picklefish 14y ago

I'm in this same boat. However, I give very little to kickstarter. I think I've helped fund 2 or 3 things at the lowest teir (like tim schafer's). For most things I am interested in I let other people fund them while I wait for them to hit retail with absolutely nothing lost.

jerf 14y ago

For what it's worth, it's the internet culture thing, not the youth thing. I'm 34 and feel the exact same way. Well... that's not ancient or anything per se, but I don't think I can fairly call myself a youth anymore.

wisty 14y ago

If you want a non-hipsterish way to say "non-mainstream", "long tail" might be better. Just don't tell the hipsters.

ChikkaChiChi 14y ago
or fringe.
nnnnni 14y ago
Yeah but then you sound like a business-talk yuppie jerk.
- hnriot 14y ago
  The "long tail" phrase came from Chris Anderson. I wouldn't say the phrase implies jerk at all or business type. It's a statistics thing.

zecho 14y ago

Thank you so much for saying this. One of the main reason I contribute to projects on Kickstarter is that I KNOW the big studios/publishers/whatever are consolidating. They're racing to produce the things with the biggest mass appeal. Sometimes, I just want to see niche things survive. ' It's the same reason I go to the small businesses in my neighborhood sometimes. I can get similar products elsewhere for cheaper, but their existence in my neighborhood makes my neighborhood experience better. I think of it like an awesome tax.

forgottenpaswrd 14y ago

Agreed. Nothing to do with the age. You have a personality that represents maybe 1% or 2% of the global population. Historically cities were the place were a significant critic mass of people interested on a specific topic could meet, as it could put millions of people in the same place, you will have 0.01x10e6 = x*1000 ->thousands of people sharing, learning upon each other, growing, and truly understanding you and you them. From those potential thousand people you will probably only get to meet hundreds, if you do have the opportunity. If you don't you will feel isolated and misunderstood all your life. Now with Internet you have thousands of millions of people in the same place. There are barriers of communication, but they slowly go away(kickstarter success depends on video communication which makes for a more personal communication). This will only improve in the future.