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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 7681679" data-attributes="member: 3285">The global recession hit the game industry hard, forcing developers to find new ways to fund their games. Crowdfunding has become a viable alternative, fueling a  renaissance across all forms of game development. But like other kinds of crowdsourcing, crowdfunding is only effective as long as the crowd believes in supporting it. Will Kickstarter's high profile failures cause gamers to seek new crowdfunding models?<h3>The Crowdfunding Landscape</h3>Kickstarter isn't the only crowdfunding platform but it's one of the most popular, particularly <a href="http://www.techtimes.com/articles/3995/20140303/kickstarter-projects-reach-1-billion-in-pledges-gaming-the-big-winner.htm" target="_blank">with game developers</a>:Jeffrey Dufseth, one of three developers and owners at <a href="http://houserule.com" target="_blank">http://houserule.com</a>, said:<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats" target="_blank">As of September 15</a>, Kickstarter was cresting $2 billion in dollars pledged to 92,438 successfully Kickstarted projects. 19,620 of those projects were games, with $355 million successfully pledged and $40 million unsuccessful. This puts the games category at 33 percent success, which beats out technology (20%), publishing (29%), food (26%), fashion (24%), photography (29%), journalism (23%) and crafts (24%). Of those failed 12,765 game projects, 1,535 were never funded at all.Tabletop gaming is not immune to the fail rate that plagues the gaming category on Kickstarter. Erik Tenkar succinctly shares that <a href="http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2013/10/kickstarter-failures-rpg-corner-is.html" target="_blank">the path of good intentions is littered with broken dreams</a>:Tenkar references <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Nystul" target="_blank">Mike Nystul's</a> three failed Kickstarters, which<a href="http://rpggeek.com/blogpost/18148/crowdfunding-report-nystuls-magic-aura-fades-dwarv" target="_blank"> BoardGameGeek summarizes</a>:Tenkar's list of failed RPG Kickstarters is long: <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/705393141/myth-and-magic-players-guide-2e-revived-and-update/description" target="_blank">Myth & Magic</a>, <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joshuafrost/quantum-roleplaying-game-an-all-new-science-fantas/description" target="_blank">Quantum Roleplaying</a>, and <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1778492214/appendix-n-adventure-toolkits-dcc-rpg-modules/comments" target="_blank">Appendix N</a>. I can add to the list <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dinaandrewswalker/28mm-miniature-sea-monsters-dungeon-terrain-and-bi/description" target="_blank">Miniature Sea Monsters, Dungeon Furniture and Big Beasts</a>. In every one of these cases, all the Kickstarter comments section are filled with references to lawsuits and demands for money back.  Some of these Kickstarters are years past their fulfillment dates.Why are these Kickstarters failing?<h3>Manufacturing: It Ain't for Everybody</h3>One of the challenges of the new crowdfunding model is how it can sometimes skip distributors and retailers, requiring project creators to work directly with manufacturers. This is a specific issue for tabletop games, as miniature and board games live and die by their components.  <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1750773027/tabletop-props-tent/description" target="_blank">Jonathan Wilson</a> shared lessons learned as he fulfills two Kickstarters (I'm a backer of both <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1750773027/tabletop-props-covered-wagon" target="_blank">Tabletop Props: Covered Wagon</a> and <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1750773027/tabletop-props-tent" target="_blank">Tabletop Props: Tent</a>), and his experience is illustrative of the challenges the industry faces as a whole. The first lesson Wilson learned was that he needed to <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1750773027/tabletop-props-covered-wagon/posts/1338169" target="_blank">work out gaps in communication</a> with a factory in a different part of the world.  There are language, cultural, and time zone barriers that must be overcome:There are also challenges with security:Complicating global Kickstarters is the fact that miniatures are considered toys in some parts of the world:Wilson's Kickstarters are progressing nicely, but the same can't be said for everyone who is far less forthcoming about their Kickstarters' progress (or lack thereof). There are plenty of other challenges too: time, management of funds, and the mental health of the creator who juggles other obligations.A Kickstarer project that I contributed to for Jeffrey Thomas' Punktown <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1799183063/punktown-an-rpg-setting-for-call-of-cthulhu-and-br/description" target="_blank">encountered many of these same issues</a>.  The text was written by a team, including myself, but there's more to a book than just text; layout, graphics, and production require the cooperation of a lot of other folks. It's over two years late but <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1799183063/punktown-an-rpg-setting-for-call-of-cthulhu-and-br/posts/1339316" target="_blank">progressing well</a>.Fred Hicks, Co-President and Founder and Carrie Harris, Marketing Manager, at Evil Hat Productions, said of the Kickstarter model:Perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a crowdfunded project is reaching its goals.  The Doom that Came to Atlantic City is a dire story of what can happen to game developers when things go horribly awry.<h3>The Doom That Came to Kickstarter</h3><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-that-came-to-atlantic-city/posts/548030" target="_blank">The Doom that Came to Atlantic City</a> was a Monopoly-inspired game that, like the much more popular <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-that-came-to-atlantic-city/posts/548030" target="_blank">Cthulhu Wars</a>, put the player in the role of a Great Old One destroying the Earth. It was launched as a Kickstarter by The Forking Path on May 7, 2012 and concluded on June 6, 2012 well over its $35,000 goal, surpassing $122,000:The Kickstarter's promised rewards never materialized. Worse, by The Forking Path principal <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-that-came-to-atlantic-city/posts/548030" target="_blank">Eric Chevalier's own admission</a>, the Kickstarter wasn't funding a game, it was funding the company to LAUNCH the game:Keith Baker <a href="http://keith-baker.com/the-doom-kickstarter-my-response/" target="_blank">responded</a> <a href="http://keith-baker.com/the-doom-kickstarter-my-response/" target="_blank">on his blog</a>:Baker made it clear that he and Lee Moyer received none of the funds raised by the Kickstarter and promised to produce a print-and-play version of the game at no cost. As for the fact that Chevalier created a company, not a game, with the funds:Doom is particularly noteworthy because it's the first board game in which the <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/150611chevalierstip.pdf" target="_blank">Federal</a> <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/150611chevalierstip.pdf" target="_blank">Trade Commission got involved</a>:It's not just board games that have drawn attention from state officials. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson<a href="http://www.atg.wa.gov/uploadedFiles/AsylumComplaint%202014-05-01.pdf" target="_blank"> filed a lawsuit</a> against<a href="http://about.me/ednash" target="_blank"> Ed Nash</a> and his Nashville, Tenn.-based company, <a href="http://www.altiusmanagement.com/" target="_blank">Altius Management</a> over the company's failure to deliver on a retro-horror-themed set of playing cards titled Asylum. Of the 810 backers, 31 reported that they live in the state of Washington and the state's attorney general brought the suit on behalf of those constituents.Chris Rowlands, host of the podcast NPC Cast, said in an interview:The Asylum lawsuit was the first of its kind. It certainly won't be the last.<h3>Spoiling the Potato Salad</h3>There's lots of entrepreneurs trying their hands at Kickstarter.  But what happens when projects are successfully funded that shouldn't be? Two Kickstarters illustrate the fickle nature of crowdfunding: the Emperor's New Clothes and Potato Salad. The Emperor's New Clothes by Game Salute, a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamesalute/emperors-new-clothes/description" target="_blank">tabletop game netting over $6,000 from 280 backers</a>, was created as <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamesalute/emperors-new-clothes/posts/441214" target="_blank">commentary on the flaws behind the crowdfunding process</a>:To illustrate their point, the entire set of game components was blank. The "lesson of unintended consequences"? The game-that-wasn't-quite-a-game <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamesalute/emperors-new-clothes/posts/773444" target="_blank">was late</a>. Potato Salad wasn't even a game.  It was...a guy trying to <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zackdangerbrown/potato-salad/description" target="_blank">crowdsource potato salad</a>. It netted nearly 7,000 backers contributing over $55,000. For a potato salad. It was also a <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-potato-salad-guy-should-keep-every-penny" target="_blank">turning point for Kickstarter</a>:Potato Salad spawned a host of imitators hoping to make a quick buck.  As one <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/potato-salad-by-the-numbers" target="_blank">commenter put it</a>:Obsidian Entertainment's Chris Avellone expressed similar concerns about Kickstarter's high profile failures to Time:Shannon Appelcline echoed Avellone's concern in Designers & Dragons:High profile failures have become enough of a problem that <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/accountability-on-kickstarter" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a> <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/accountability-on-kickstarter" target="_blank">finally responded</a> when NPR asked what the company was doing about the high-profile cases of failed fulfillment:It's a good thing too, because the FTC has promised that the Doom that Came to Atlantic City case is just one of many as part of the battle to manage new financial technology:Doug Davison, President of SmiteWorks, spoke about crowdfunding risk in an interview:Crowdfunding has become a lot more complicated since Kickstarter debuted, but in a new era modeled after software startups, creators sometimes launch first and figure it out as they go. This might work fine for angel investors who understand the risks, but for the tightly knit gamer community it's a model that is in danger of losing its credibility.  Tim Roven of Tabletop Audio spoke of crowdfunding's gray area between pre-ordering and investing in an interview:Mike Mearls, Senior Manager for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast, looks at Kickstarter contributions as donations, not investments:With over <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/abigailtracy/2015/06/30/kickstarter-campaigns-ftc-consumer-complaints/" target="_blank">50</a> <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/abigailtracy/2015/06/30/kickstarter-campaigns-ftc-consumer-complaints/" target="_blank">Kickstarters with FTC complaints</a>, it's perhaps no surprise that gamers are beginning to look elsewhere to fund their games.<h3>Crowdfunding's Next Evolution?</h3>Some of the criticisms leveled at Kickstarter -- the failure of successfully crowdfunded projects, the lack of accountability -- are addressed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronage" target="_blank">an older funding model</a> with a new platform, <a href="http://www.patreon.com" target="_blank">Patreon</a>:Patreon minimizes risk by putting the onus on a creator to produce. Glenn Peoples at Billboard <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6502119/patreon-two-years-crowdfunding-amanda-palmer" target="_blank">explains the shift</a>:Benjamin Loomes, Half-elf Bard/Paladin and Creative Director of Syrinscape, supports a similar approach to crowdfunding: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/tabletopaudio?ty=h" target="_blank">Tabletop Audio has nearly 200 patrons</a> contributing over $450 per month.  Tim Roven explained:Evil Hat Productions is also <a href="https://www.patreon.com/evilhat?ty=h" target="_blank">doing well on Patreon</a>, with over 700 patrons contributing over $4,000 per product:<a href="http://www.patreon.com/talien" target="_blank">My own Patreon</a> enabled me to quit the Examiner content mill. And of course there's EN World, which has its <a href="https://www.patreon.com/trailseeker?ty=h" target="_blank">Pathfinder publication, TRAILseeker</a> (146 patrons at $377 per article) and <a href="https://www.patreon.com/ensider?ty=h" target="_blank">Fifth Edition D&D publication, En5ider</a> (825 patrons at over $2,000 per article).Patreon's growth is startling. <a href="https://www.patreon.com/toolbox/stats" target="_blank">As of June 2015</a>, the site averaged more than 15,000 creators signing up and 16 million pages views per month:Crowdfunding models leverage the strengths of the Internet: speed, access, and individuals making it big through the support of the crowd.  We seem to be in a sort of grand social experiment as the crowd -- us -- learns what level of risk we're willing to tolerate in pursuit of an awesome game.  Kickstarter may be here to stay, but if the growth of Patreon is any indication we can expect more contributor-to-artist models in the near future.Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, and communicator. You can follow him at <a href="http://www.patreon.com/talien" target="_blank">Patreon</a>.</blockquote>

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