Why Kickstarter?

[Craorach]

Can someone please try to explain the appeal of Kickstarter.. to the people donating?

I mean, I get that there are games that we all think would be awesome, but unless I'm misunderstanding Kickstarter, you're basically giving them money for nothing?

You give them money.. and they give you nothing in return, eventually to develop and sell the game that you will have to buy at full price like everyone else.

Is this correct, or am I completely misunderstanding the situation?

I bought three copies of Minecraft before it was released, and considered Project Zomboid and a few others, but I get the game in a playable format and get to keep updating it. There's no way I'd be willing to fund a game project without getting something from it, it's a business not a charity.

So why are so many people willing too treat these developers like charities?

 

[odBilal]

If you donate atleast 15$ to the Doublefine Kickstarter you get the game when its done. I dont know if its the same for other kickstarter games but I guess it is. Donating to a kickstarter game is like preordering with the "little" difference that the game isnt developed yet.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Ever hear of the concept of "commission"? It's when people will fund something they want like a painting or the like. It's basically like that just in a group form. Like when notch was offering to fund Psychonauts 2 except instead of one person giving them money it's a bunch of people.

 

[Indecipherable]

So why are so many people willing too treat these developers like charities?

Because it is nothing like you have described, see above.

 

[LookingGlass]

When you donate to a kickstarter project, you get to pick a "reward tier" with the rewards you receive for your pledge. This will usually include the game itself as long as you donate a reasonable amount. So if you have a look at Wasteland 2's page ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2 ), you see that as long as you donate $15 or more you get:

Digital Downloable copy of game DRM free for PC or MAC OSX or Linux. This low price only available for those who helped fund. Also your party will start with a unique and quirky skill. (It won't affect game balance.)

So when the game is done, you don't need to buy it. They'll send you a Steam code (at higher tiers they'll ship you a physical copy too). It's not a charity thing. It's more of a pre-order, but the plan is for the developers to pay for the game's development out of the "pre-order" money received (i.e. the kickstarter pledges).

So in theory, every sale after the game's release, is profit. And if the kickstarter doesn't reach the goal, they know that they can't fund the game, and thus don't make it.

 

[lapan]

When you donate to a kickstarter project, you get to pick a "reward tier" with the rewards you receive for your pledge. This will usually include the game itself as long as you donate a reasonable amount. So if you have a look at Wasteland 2's page ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2 ), you see that as long as you donate $15 or more you get:

Digital Downloable copy of game DRM free for PC or MAC OSX or Linux. This low price only available for those who helped fund. Also your party will start with a unique and quirky skill. (It won't affect game balance.)

So when the game is done, you don't need to buy it. They'll send you a Steam code (at higher tiers they'll ship you a physical copy too). It's not a charity thing. It's more of a pre-order, but the plan is for the developers to pay for the game's development out of the "pre-order" money received (i.e. the kickstarter pledges).

So in theory, every sale after the game's release, is profit. And if the kickstarter doesn't reach the goal, they know that they can't fund the game, and thus don't make it.

Might not be a steam code but a download link since they called it "DRM-free"

 

[LookingGlass]

When you donate to a kickstarter project, you get to pick a "reward tier" with the rewards you receive for your pledge. This will usually include the game itself as long as you donate a reasonable amount. So if you have a look at Wasteland 2's page ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2 ), you see that as long as you donate $15 or more you get:

Digital Downloable copy of game DRM free for PC or MAC OSX or Linux. This low price only available for those who helped fund. Also your party will start with a unique and quirky skill. (It won't affect game balance.)

So when the game is done, you don't need to buy it. They'll send you a Steam code (at higher tiers they'll ship you a physical copy too). It's not a charity thing. It's more of a pre-order, but the plan is for the developers to pay for the game's development out of the "pre-order" money received (i.e. the kickstarter pledges).

So in theory, every sale after the game's release, is profit. And if the kickstarter doesn't reach the goal, they know that they can't fund the game, and thus don't make it.

Might not be a steam code but a download link since they called it "DRM-free"

Ah, true. I think they might be doing both. Or perhaps that was just Double Fine's thing.

 

[Craorach]

I'm glad to hear it might not be as charity like as I imagined it, I've finally gotten around to taking a glance at the Kickstarter website, however, and I am curious if.. once you sign up.. there is any form of legally binding contract going on.

For it to be a preorder, surely they have to make some kind of agreement that it will be finished or you will be refunded? I don't go into EB, preoder a game, and lose my money if it doesn't come out.

 

[Starnerf]

Kickstarter doesn't charge your account until the project is funded. If the project never reaches its target, you don't have to pay anything. But the issue of final quality is why the vast majority of independent game projects are not eventually funded. People tend to fund projects with more complete plans or projects from a company who they know can make a good game.

 

[DoPo]

I'm glad to hear it might not be as charity like as I imagined it, I've finally gotten around to taking a glance at the Kickstarter website, however, and I am curious if.. once you sign up.. there is any form of legally binding contract going on.

For it to be a preorder, surely they have to make some kind of agreement that it will be finished or you will be refunded? I don't go into EB, preoder a game, and lose my money if it doesn't come out.

Well, look at the terms and conditions/terms of service/whatever it's called there. I don't know why you ask here instead of doing that. That's why they have it there and it should be visible. I'm guessing you can find a link at the bottom of the page or maybe a link to an "About US" or some sort of FAQ at the top.

...

Yup, I actually just checked there is a "Help", "Guidelines" and "Terms of Use" at the footer of every page. And there is "Contact" if you really feel lost.

 

[Dandark]

Good intentions, but I wouldn't fund one. What happens if the game turns out to be shit?

That's mostly how I feel. There are not any kickstarters I have seen that interest me. However to most people I imagine that it's the same as randomly buying a new game. It could be good or it could be shit.
I randomly buy games I like all the time and have found both good games and shit ones like that. I imagine that donating to kickstarter is pretty much like that but preordering.

A lot of people also do it because it feels good to give away money to people who are not ****s like EA or Ubisoft.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well kickstarter is not a strict charity because every donation get's something in return, standard donation of $5-15 will usually guarantee you the full game, some even get you alpha/beta releases much like Minecraft.

But it is a donation system runing on good will alone, for now nothing bad happened however they are leaving themselves wide open for abuse.
Especially with people who have no business standards, most of these big new guys come in with zero work, they are asking money for nothing, no project at all, only the promise of some type of game being made eventually... that to me is really dodgy business.

I would urge kickstarter (and others) to impose some rules for alpha/beta releases before someone blows milions on a bad game and they get burnt for it, consequently screwing every indie dev that really needs them.

 

[Sexy Devil]

Can someone please try to explain the appeal of Kickstarter.. to the people donating?

I mean, I get that there are games that we all think would be awesome, but unless I'm misunderstanding Kickstarter, you're basically giving them money for nothing?

You give them money.. and they give you nothing in return, eventually to develop and sell the game that you will have to buy at full price like everyone else.

Is this correct, or am I completely misunderstanding the situation?

I bought three copies of Minecraft before it was released, and considered Project Zomboid and a few others, but I get the game in a playable format and get to keep updating it. There's no way I'd be willing to fund a game project without getting something from it, it's a business not a charity.

So why are so many people willing too treat these developers like charities?

Basically the idea is that the developers are doing it for the fun of it and not for profit. As such, if you fund them then you've paid them for the development process, and you get the game for no extra cost.

 

[Yopaz]

OK, so you clearly don't understand what Kickstarter is. We aren't paying money for nothing. If the funding works we usually get something in return. I donated to both the Double Fine kickstarter and the Wasteland kickstarter. In return I get the game when it is released and if I had paid more then I would get extra stuff. If they don't reach their goal then my money is refunded and I don't have to pay what I wanted to donate.
I also get to take an active part in supporting the developer of a game rather than the publisher.

Good intentions, but I wouldn't fund one. What happens if the game turns out to be shit?

Buying a game the normal way is not a gurantee the game will be good. Take Alone In The Dark, Kane and Lynch or Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

There is a certain element of risk involved in funding a Kickstarter project versus buying a game delivered via ordinary publishing. That risk is offset by the gain of a system in which the fans take the role of publisher, giving them significantly more voice and presence in the development process, and allowing developers to make niche games directed at specific audiences instead of everything being carefully groomed to have the broadest possible appeal. If there was no risk at all, everyone would be doing it.

 

[Fappy]

I have been really interested in this concept since I first heard about it but haven't really looked into any of the options out there at the moment. Any Kickstarter projects I should be looking into?

 

[Weaver]

I was hoping this would be a rant about how Kickstarter uses Amazon and hence you need to, essentially, be an American citizen to use it whereas the much lesser known (and much better) RocketHub is agnostic to the nationality of their users.