4 ms·

Looks like a free advertising stunt for RPG Maker. I'm very weary of this. This paragraph: I play games on my computer, PS3 and KindleHD all the time and it's

by joonix 14y ago

Looks like a free advertising stunt for RPG Maker. I'm very weary of this. This paragraph: I play games on my computer, PS3 and KindleHD all the time and it's fun but I REALLY WANT to create my own games to play. Ultimately I want to learn to program really cool stuff, but since I'm 9 I'm starting with RPG Maker because it lets me create something awesome without having to know how to actually program everything. I'll learn to program more as I get older, but right now, RPG Maker's drag & drop functionality makes it pretty easy for me to create working RPG games quickly. Kids don't talk like that. They don't announce their limitations and justify them with their age (since I'm 9...). The rest of the paragraph is almost insulting and straight out of a lame commercial. And there is a big RPG Maker screenshot just below this. Millions of middle-class suburban kids go to summer camps that cost $1,000+ every year and their parents don't petition the internet for the tuition. This family doesn't seem poor. I think they could come up with it without posting an ad on Kickstarter for RPG Maker.

juriga 14y ago
I assume the text on the Kickstarter page is written by her mother - she used the first-person viewpoint to enhance the narrative. You can read the same paragraph with a 3rd person viewpoint and it makes more sense ("since she's 9 she's starting with RPG maker..."). Regarding your second point: It would be a great move by the parents to donate most of the pledges to a charity for kids'/women's/STEM education. I don't know what Kickstarter's stance on this would be though.
primigenus 14y ago
Look at it like this: if the Kickstarter campaign gets attention in the media, Mackenzie and her mom (or Susan and her daughter, depending on how you want to look at it) have successfully brought positive attention to the case of videogames and computer programming for girls. Something in me, perhaps a naive, optimistic part, tells me that's a good thing. Regardless of whatever their motives for doing this are.
- alaskamiller 14y ago
  The experienced cynical part of me thinks that not being skeptical about things like this makes things worse.
Paul_S 14y ago
I didn't see that angle but if you look at it thas way, there's also Adobe that came in with some nice corporate sponsorship.
RobertHoudin 14y ago
From her mother's LinkedIn: "A graduate of Georgetown University, I'm completing my final year of Harvard Business School's 3-year ExecEd OPM Program. I'm honored to have been named to FORTUNE's List of Top Ten Most Powerful Female Entrepreneurs (2009) and I'm particularly proud to be part of Ernst & Young's prestigious Winning Women Program. Specialties Entrepreneur in Residence, Georgetown University Ernst & Young Winning Women Fortune's Most Powerful Women, 2009 Maryland's Top 100 MBEs, 2008 Forbes Business Competition Finalist, 2008 2008 Debt Buyer of the Year Finalist Top 25 Woman Owned Companies, 2008 Featured in Inc. Magazine, June 2008 Top 50 Collection Professional, 2007 WBE Certified Minority Woman-Owned Business Partner for SmartGirlsRock.com scholarship program Stevie Awards Finalist: Most Innovative Company & Use of Technology, 2007" Yeah... this family really, really doesn't need a Kickstarter campaign to send their kid to a camp. I am absolutely appalled if they take the $10,000+ that they make from this, instead of using it for something like helping disadvantaged kids attend the same camp. This woman knew exactly what she was doing when she set up this campaign. She pulled all of the right strings.

by joonix 14y ago

juriga 14y ago

I assume the text on the Kickstarter page is written by her mother - she used the first-person viewpoint to enhance the narrative. You can read the same paragraph with a 3rd person viewpoint and it makes more sense ("since she's 9 she's starting with RPG maker..."). Regarding your second point: It would be a great move by the parents to donate most of the pledges to a charity for kids'/women's/STEM education. I don't know what Kickstarter's stance on this would be though.

primigenus 14y ago

Look at it like this: if the Kickstarter campaign gets attention in the media, Mackenzie and her mom (or Susan and her daughter, depending on how you want to look at it) have successfully brought positive attention to the case of videogames and computer programming for girls. Something in me, perhaps a naive, optimistic part, tells me that's a good thing. Regardless of whatever their motives for doing this are.

alaskamiller 14y ago
The experienced cynical part of me thinks that not being skeptical about things like this makes things worse.

Paul_S 14y ago

I didn't see that angle but if you look at it thas way, there's also Adobe that came in with some nice corporate sponsorship.

RobertHoudin 14y ago

From her mother's LinkedIn: "A graduate of Georgetown University, I'm completing my final year of Harvard Business School's 3-year ExecEd OPM Program. I'm honored to have been named to FORTUNE's List of Top Ten Most Powerful Female Entrepreneurs (2009) and I'm particularly proud to be part of Ernst & Young's prestigious Winning Women Program. Specialties Entrepreneur in Residence, Georgetown University Ernst & Young Winning Women Fortune's Most Powerful Women, 2009 Maryland's Top 100 MBEs, 2008 Forbes Business Competition Finalist, 2008 2008 Debt Buyer of the Year Finalist Top 25 Woman Owned Companies, 2008 Featured in Inc. Magazine, June 2008 Top 50 Collection Professional, 2007 WBE Certified Minority Woman-Owned Business Partner for SmartGirlsRock.com scholarship program Stevie Awards Finalist: Most Innovative Company & Use of Technology, 2007" Yeah... this family really, really doesn't need a Kickstarter campaign to send their kid to a camp. I am absolutely appalled if they take the $10,000+ that they make from this, instead of using it for something like helping disadvantaged kids attend the same camp. This woman knew exactly what she was doing when she set up this campaign. She pulled all of the right strings.