Kickstarter Whales

[Thomas Shey]

Not wanting to belittle the importance of ‘whales’, but I’m now wondering about the importance of ‘Super Backers’.

I wonder if there is a huge consort of Super Backers swarming from big project to big project, backing at various levels yes, but ultimately generating huge project success?

Hard to say. My own stuff has been mostly slightly obscure-but-interesting trad or near-trad games, and while some of them blew through their target fast, they weren't usually ridiculously over the top types like the various million dollar projects.

 

[Thomas Shey]

A superbacker is a user who backed more than 25 projects in a year, for a minimum of $10 each.

Now I'm wondering what year I backed that many in. I can see myself doing 250 bucks across a year, but averaging two a month or more is surprising.

 

[...m...]

I ended up coming back and adding to my Shadowdark Western Reaches pledge multiple times, until I was up at the hardcover slipcase level. Not cheap, but I'm confident it'll both be worth it and will be books I will genuinely use and for a long time.

...that's how i've ended up at all-in pledges for monte cook's campaigns: they make a compelling case for those becoming the best deal for things i'll actually use as stretch goals are added, kind of the opposite of exploitative campaigns...

 

[...m...]

Now I'm wondering what year I backed that many in. I can see myself doing 250 bucks across a year, but averaging two a month or more is surprising.

...goodman's castle whiterock tie-in campaign pushed over the superbacker threshold pretty much on that project alone: lots and lots of tiny supplements add up quickly...

 

[Thomas Shey]

...goodman's castle whiterock tie-in campaign pushed over the superbacker threshold pretty much on that project alone: lots and lots of tiny supplements add up quickly...

Yeah, but most of the games I've backed that did that sort of thing did them as stretch goals (I'm not prone toward microsupplements in the first place).

 

[aramis erak]

Even the non-whale tiers are getting insane... partly because (political specifics withheld) screwed up shipping, and partly because of subsidies of whales. And partly because of recent rapid US inflation.

And I can't even buy in anymore on KS — my bank won't let the new payment processor charge my debit.

 

[dbm]

pushed over the superbacker threshold

It’s number of ‘qualifying’ spends that count, not the total spend. I’ve spent more than $250 on a single pledge in two or three cases but I don’t have the super backer tag because apparently I have never backed 25 campaigns in a single year.

 

[Clint_L]

I generally only back projects that offer miniatures or terrain, though at lower price points I will also back for roleplaying PDFs, typically to support an interesting creator.

I am a bit whale-ish in the amounts I am willing to spend on certain products (most notably Dwarven Forge), though collecting terrain is just an expensive hobby. I will also spend a lot if I perceive the value to be high; for miniatures, once stretch goals lower the cost to under 1$ per miniature and I trust the company to deliver good quality miniatures, I will back heavily (Reaper, for example).

But extra gimmicks don't really move the needle much for me. I have specific things I want, and will pay to get them if they make sense in my budget.

 

[Clint_L]

...that's how i've ended up at all-in pledges for monte cook's campaigns: they make a compelling case for those becoming the best deal for things i'll actually use as stretch goals are added, kind of the opposite of exploitative campaigns...

One thing I watch for, though, is whether the stretch goals are actually just adding things that always would have been part of the main product, or are true bonuses for being a backer. For example, in Bones 6, Reaper offered expansion sets that clearly weren't worth the money until all of their "extra" miniatures "unlocked." I get really annoyed when KSs offer fake stretch goals.

 

[...m...]

...i think the backerkit threshold started with ten projects in 2023 and gradually ramped up to twenty this year; regardless, castle whiterock comprised fifteen tie-ins and i walked away from megadungeon month as a whole with nineteen ticks toward that rainbow halo...