So I've got a game coming to Kickstarter this afternoon, and I'm really curious as to how many of you actively support, the games you like on Kickstarter.

Is the fact that so much of the content on Kickstarter is a scam a real deterrent for you?

How do you feel about big publishers launching Kickstarter campaigns?

Whats your opinion on kickstarter as a whole?

 

If I am investing in something I want a return for my investment* (be it a percentage of a company or a cut of some form), kickstarter and co seem to actively avoid this (various reasons from legal complexities to generally not being what they do). It has previously been said I should instead view it as a kind of ultra early preorder, which is a possibility but not one I am inclined to go with.

Scam or not... obviously fewer scams a whole would be a good thing but I would trust my own judgement before I write off an entire market of sorts -- I have general money, I can invest in any number of companies in any number of ways**, the vast vast majority of those companies and ways of investing would be a poor investment, I am not prepared to write off investment as a concept though.

Big publishers. No objections whatsoever, give or take specific things someone could so to make it unpleasant, and have never seen a general objection I can agree with. If it was solely for small guys to fund each other, it is not and kind of never was (even though it got used almost exclusively for it at first), then I guess it could count. It could see things get made that might not have quite as much financial merit but more artistic merit, and if the big publisher game industry is going to have such a low volume output to where a couple of bombs can tank them then drumming up cash like this can work for me.

Kickstarter started off as some kind of circular funding nonsense for layabouts to fund each other, not that I really have any problem with that (I might not care to endure the tedium of a beer or a conversation with such people but they are not really hurting anybody) and having cash sit there doing nothing is worse than cash actually flowing through/around in an economy. I might have an opinion on the cut they and similar services take for the service they offer, however it seems pretty plainly worded and is well covered when you sign up so it then falls upon the one setting up the crowdfunding effort.

*by and large the only thing I invest in is myself.

**in some countries I might be denied the chance to do some types of investment as I am not a known investor and thus I am covered by the laws designed to protect widows and the unwary.

 

Never had but almost did for meow the jewels.
I prefer to wait and buy what they sell or donate once the product is finished

 

Never supported it and never will. This has nothing to do with scams (I didn't even know it was a common thing), but with the fact that I don't want to buy bad games. As such, I never preorder and only go by reviews and hearsay (unless it's insanely cheap...like humble bundles).

 

i've given kickstarter money for things before, but i would never kickstart a game be it hardware or software i want to buy games on steam or amazon or at best buy.
if your game is good and it ends up at walmart for a console i own i'll probably try it out, or if it ends up on steam for dirt cheap and everyone is talking about it other than that no thanks.

 

I kickstarted Mighty NO. 9 when it came around, and the Normal Boots Dating Sim, so I can have my way with PBG and Jontron and no one will be able to stop me

 

A demo is definitely better than some concept art and a "wouldn't it be cool", I would like to believe I would play it from a game analysis/low level mechanics too. Unlike normal released games where demo versions probably distract from things I reckon it would be a net positive.

That said the only time I ever visit a crowdfunding site is if someone links it up and I have yet to download/play a demo from one. I do watch videos though, if only because they are occasionally great pieces of unintentional comedy, or they things to point at and say "if you want to make videos... basically don't do that".

 

Kick...starter?

 

Artistic downward spiral? Can't we just look at whatever Hollywood is doing at any given time and come to that conclusion?

 

I'm completely with you, I support anything that, well, needs supporting. As someone with a project up, that's in my opinion really good, I think it's importing to understand the climate that I'm releasing a product into, and to try and understand how people perceive crowd funding. I think kickstarter is a great place to experiment with new ideas, before you invest years of your life into a game, you can see if the market wants it. that's good in a lot of ways and bad in others. These days due to corporations needing to keep stock holders happy, you see a lot less creativity and imagination in AAA titles.
I love going though the demos on kickstarter too, you can find some really interesting stuff, that although might not be good enough to fund, is probably worth a try.