Boycott Kickstarter

[The Myopic Sniper]

It is quite clear that Kickstarter has totally reneged on their support of independent creators with their obsequious collaborating with WOTC on their probably illegal termination of OGL 1.0 and institution of the monopolistic and anticompetitive OGL 1.1. If WOTC ends up trying to push the OGL 1.1 through in what is reported to be its current form, I think as a community we should stop all business with Kickstarter and refuse to do business with creators who continue to run their campaigns there. As it is, even if the new OGL doesn't go through, it will take a while before I regain any trust in them although that could be repaired now if they step away and denounce this attack on creators in the tabletop industry.

 

[cbwjm]

No.

 

[Clint_L]

I've never backed a KS that had anything to do with the OGL.

 

[Langy]

I'm failing to see anything that Kickstarter the company has done that would lead to them being boycotted over this. The "worst thing" they did was advocate for their people and get a slightly better royalty agreement; they never had the power to negotiate all the way down to "don't deauthorize the OGL".

 

[Clint_L]

Yeah, I'm not sure how this is really on KS. They've made it clear that they don't like this change, but they are largely bystanders. The vast majority of projects on KS have absolutely nothing to do with D&D or the OGL.

That said, I've heard that KS themselves are not necessarily a great platform for gaming projects, which is why some folks have started embracing other platforms, such as Gamefound.

 

[delericho]

IMO, it's too soon to be boycotting. WotC may yet reverse course.

That said, if OGL 1.1 does come into effect as described, I won't be buying from WotC again. And if (big 'if') Kickstarter's deal with WotC includes them policing the de-authorization of 1.0 then I won't be using them in future either.

That said, both of those will be very small losses for all concerned - it's not like I've done much business with either in the last few years.

 

[xiphumor]

Not the right target. Kickstarter doesn’t have the power to change what we’re upset about, and isn’t responsible for it in the first place. To the best of our knowledge, they tried to advocate for creators when confronted with the OGL 1.1.

Focus on WotC/Hasbro. That’s where things matter.

 

[MichaelSomething]

If memory serves; Kickstarter's business model is to have as many successful Kickstarters as possible. They take a ten percent cut of every project on there (note that five of that ten percent is ate up in credit card/financial fees). Something that would discourage big Kickstarters, like an extra fee of twenty percent over amounts of $750,000, would be bad for Kickstarter.

Though at best I barely recall one potential scandal about Kickstarter itself. Those who fail to fulfill their projects are another matter though. At this point, I'm willing to trust them.

 

[Morrus]

The only people that would hurt are small creators.

 

[mamba]

KS has done no such thing, they negotiated a lower rate, and that is it.

Granted, I mostly KS TTRPG stuff, so that is about to become less frequent, but I will not boycott them.