I'm sick of Kickstarters

[MichaelSomething]

Like how people used D&D for things it wasn't intended for, people can use Kickstarter for things it wasn't intended for.

 

[MNblockhead]

Kickstarter is not just another store-shelf. There is more risk than a typical on-line store. That makes many people uncomfortable. It is okay to be uncomfortable andk if you are not comfortable with a potential transaction, you should not spend your money. There is nothing immoral about crowdfunding, however, whether it is needed or not.

There is no moral imperative to sell a product for the lowest price possible. If a someone can make more money if they fund their product using Kickstarter rather than cash reserves or more traditional funding sources, then it is just good business sense to do so. There is nothing immoral about this, whether the seller is a large and successful company or a starving artist trying to realize his vision.

People can use the platform to commit fraud. That is immoral and illegal. But fraud exists in traditional garb as well. Like anything, you need to be careful and perform some due diligence before opening your wallet. Kickstarter presents a new model, so people are naturally more wary of it and less sure how to be an informed customer. To them it may seem shady. I remember people talking the same way about on-line shopping in 90s. I'm looking forward to a decade from now when instead of cable subscriptions and third-party store fronts, engaging directly with creators will be as normal as buy stuff on Amazon is today.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I've backed something like 30 kickstarters. I've had 1 fail to fund. 3 were not RPG supplements.
Of all the ones that have funded 2 have not been fufilled yet - 2 are overdue, but PDFs of chapters are still being released, so while they will be extremely late, they will be fulfilled (they are both almost done). The other two have not reached date yet (WOIN and Blue Rose). A couple of them I was a little disappointed in, but by and large they have all been good. I tend to go with companies that I trust, or small companies who do well. I enjoy the platform.

I also do a number of Patreons that are wonderful.

I think both have been a boon to RPGs in general. And for those counting age - I'm 50.

 

[bkwrm79]

My issue is the shipping; I usually avoid buying PDFs and always avoid "price mystery" purchases such as drivethrurpg and Kickstarter. The chance that the extra cost will be prohibitive, on top of the chance the product won't be good, makes it too much of a chance. If they can solve that I'll take a closer look.

 

[Morrus]

My issue is the shipping; I usually avoid buying PDFs and always avoid "price mystery" purchases such as drivethrurpg and Kickstarter. The chance that the extra cost will be prohibitive, on top of the chance the product won't be good, makes it too much of a chance. If they can solve that I'll take a closer look.

Nobody can solve shipping costs. Those are set by postal services.

 

[Igwilly]

I simply don’t import RPG books anymore: it’s too expensive, and apparently Amazon isn’t shipping those books to Brazil.
But I actually like PDFs. When it comes down to buying stuff in dollars, I usually wait the PDF release in online stores such as DriveThruRPG. I’ll not have the same amount of content, but it’s something cheaper and safer for me.

 

[aramis erak]

I simply don’t import RPG books anymore: it’s too expensive, and apparently Amazon isn’t shipping those books to Brazil.
But I actually like PDFs. When it comes down to buying stuff in dollars, I usually wait the PDF release in online stores such as DriveThruRPG. I’ll not have the same amount of content, but it’s something cheaper and safer for me.

Several KS's, you won't get the same content via DTRPG, as there will be KS-exclusive content.

Hell, I just got "bonus content" on a KS which delivered everything promised a year ago...

 

[Igwilly]

That is my main problem with crowdfunding: they should be nicer to post-campaign buyers. I almost never have all the money in the right time to the right system, so I can only wait. In this case, it’s a huge disadvantage for me.

 

[pogre]

I'm not "sick" of kickstarters, but I am pretty careful. I look carefully at the time schedule if it is too far out I probably won't pledge. I understand that actually encourages kickstarters to be overly optimistic with deadlines, but I am just being honest. I mostly back companies I know, but there are exceptions when I love an idea. I typically go "whole hog" on a kickstarter when I do commit - Reaper and Dwarvenforge have made a lot of money from me.

 

[Weird Dave]

I've been a Kickstarter enthusiast for RPG products for the past 5 years, and I fell in love with the idea as a means to get cool products into my hands. I've backed 150 projects, and I've only been burned by a handful of them (and like others, I now avoid video game Kickstarters of any shape or size). As a freelance designer, Kickstarter has also been the only way I've gotten products to the people (Cut to the Chase Games) - I've run two projects, and while I was about six months late on the first one I'm tracking to only be one month late on this one.

Also, as a project creator and company owner, my ultimate goal is to NOT do Kickstarters. I see it as a tool to get started, to prove the viability of a product brand or idea, but once I get to the point where sales from existing product fund new products in a timely manner, I'll stop using the Kickstarter model and simply release new products on a regular schedule. I'm not quite there yet, but who knows? Maybe by the end of this cycle I'll have enough adventure products in my backlog to get there. Running a Kickstarter adds a level of stress that can be a bit overwhelming at times.

I'm also guilty of adding extra stuff outside my core product, like dice and t-shirts, that ultimately I'm going to back away from. It's a lot more time and money (well, mostly money) to get that stuff ready, and I've always wanted my focus to be on the content, not the fluff. If I wind up doing another Kickstarter I'm stripping it down to the modules and leaving the extra content off. Will that mean less backers? I don't know. Will it mean I can ask for less for the backer levels? I hope so. Or at least it would change my funding goal.