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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 6761517" data-attributes="member: 18182">There's a lot of back-and-forth on this thread that I, frankly, stopped reading as it really wasn't going anywhere. It feels like both "sides" are drawing unnecessary lines in the sand and arguing over semantics, and I'm not even sure what is the point.Is Kickstarter a bad thing, or a good thing? If you love your FLGS, should you avoid Kickstarter? Is Kickstarter a scam, or a site riddled with scams or at least might-as-well-be-scams? Kickstarter is a part of the landscape now, and it brings in opportunity for some and pain for others, just like every innovation and change to the market. And Kickstarter has been a bit rocky, again, just like any innovation.Does Kickstarter compete, and ultimately hurt, FLGSs? I would say, yes and no. Does Kickstarter provide incredibly opportunity for a startup to bring a new product to market that they would not be able to do otherwise? Is Kickstarter a gaming entrepreneur's dream? Hell yes! I own game products that WOULD NOT EXIST without crowdfunding, and I count that as a positive in the changing landscape of the tabletop game industry.When a company runs a successful Kickstarter, does that take away from FLGS sales? Sorta. It's likely the product would not exist without Kickstarter, and from that frame no sales are "moved" to Kickstarter. But when a Kickstarter wildly surpasses its goals and sells tons of units, could some of those units have instead gone to a retailer? Yes, very possibly, but it's hard to fault a game company for being more successful than they anticipated. And, I'm guessing, not all gaming companies feel the benefit of working in support for brick-and-mortar retailers, which is their prerogative.Should an FLGS owner (or "supporter") whine about Kickstarter negatively affecting their sales, like some in my local area? No, waste of mental energy with no positive benefit. I think Black Market Games has the right idea, try to understand and get ahead of changing trends in the game industry. Sorry to hear Garemon lost money backing failed or delayed Kickstarters, but his new tactic of carefully analyzing new Kickstarter products individually to see if they are a good match for his customers, that seems very smart.</blockquote>

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