4 ms·

What kickstarter teaches us is that there is a reason why gatekeepers to bags of money exist. Credibility, accountability and responsibility matter, kickstarter

by leokun 13y ago

What kickstarter teaches us is that there is a reason why gatekeepers to bags of money exist. Credibility, accountability and responsibility matter, kickstarter can only provide a description, bios and empty promises. Donors have very little to rely on when making a decision about funding, and no recourse when things go south, which seems to be the norm. Donors are ill equipped to make sound decisions in the first place, lacking experience, expertise and access. Kickstarter is a recipe ripe for failure and loss with little accountability.

camus 13y ago
You mean no accountability whatsoever.That's what will kill Kickstarter.
mercurial 13y ago
> when things go south, which seems to be the norm. Source? > What kickstarter teaches us is that there is a reason why gatekeepers to bags of money exist. You absolutely never see games from big publishers be repeatedly delayed, killed off mid-development, or released mid-development. Fact is, game development is hard and fraught with risks. As far as I can tell, this part of Kickstarter is, in this regard, doing pretty well, and I'm certain that a game like the Torment remake would never have gotten funding without it. Now and then, some of them are going to tank, just like games from AAA publishers tend to do. Others will come out and be crap (though since so many of them include "pay more to get access to the alpha", I'd say it's much less likely that the released product will be out of line with backers' expectation). And though people do tend to treat as such, Kickstarter is not a pre-order system. There is a chance the product you fund will not make it (that's why there is a mandatory "Risks and challenges" at the bottom of each Kickstarter project page). I'd just rather risk some money for a potential product which appeals to me and would have no shot at seeing the light of the day otherwise, than preorder an outsourced-to-5-different-studios sequel to Aliens: Colonial Marines.
- leokun 13y ago
  > There is a chance the product you fund will not make it A very high chance, and the nature of that chance is not discernible to donors who have nothing to go buy other than the marketing materials on the Kickstarter page. People should not donate to Kickstarter, they should spend that money on existing games.
  - mercurial 13y ago
    > A very high chance Again, what statistics do you have to back this statement? Several game have been successfully produced. Of high-profile failures, I know only of this one and Haunts. On the other hand, Chivalry, Shadowrun Returns, Leisure Suit Larry, to quote some of the big ones, all got released. It's definitely too early to tell how statistically risky for backers crowd-funding video-games is, but I don't think initial numbers support your argument.
    - leokun 13y ago
      That's probably true.

by leokun 13y ago

camus 13y ago

You mean no accountability whatsoever.That's what will kill Kickstarter.

mercurial 13y ago

> when things go south, which seems to be the norm. Source? > What kickstarter teaches us is that there is a reason why gatekeepers to bags of money exist. You absolutely never see games from big publishers be repeatedly delayed, killed off mid-development, or released mid-development. Fact is, game development is hard and fraught with risks. As far as I can tell, this part of Kickstarter is, in this regard, doing pretty well, and I'm certain that a game like the Torment remake would never have gotten funding without it. Now and then, some of them are going to tank, just like games from AAA publishers tend to do. Others will come out and be crap (though since so many of them include "pay more to get access to the alpha", I'd say it's much less likely that the released product will be out of line with backers' expectation). And though people do tend to treat as such, Kickstarter is not a pre-order system. There is a chance the product you fund will not make it (that's why there is a mandatory "Risks and challenges" at the bottom of each Kickstarter project page). I'd just rather risk some money for a potential product which appeals to me and would have no shot at seeing the light of the day otherwise, than preorder an outsourced-to-5-different-studios sequel to Aliens: Colonial Marines.

leokun 13y ago
> There is a chance the product you fund will not make it A very high chance, and the nature of that chance is not discernible to donors who have nothing to go buy other than the marketing materials on the Kickstarter page. People should not donate to Kickstarter, they should spend that money on existing games.
- mercurial 13y ago
  > A very high chance Again, what statistics do you have to back this statement? Several game have been successfully produced. Of high-profile failures, I know only of this one and Haunts. On the other hand, Chivalry, Shadowrun Returns, Leisure Suit Larry, to quote some of the big ones, all got released. It's definitely too early to tell how statistically risky for backers crowd-funding video-games is, but I don't think initial numbers support your argument.
  - leokun 13y ago
    That's probably true.