Whats your view point of Kickstarter and people who use it?

[BuDo]

Some people loathe the idea and call it e-begging citing the lack of accountability and possible scamming on the part of people who are starting projects... While others think its a great conduit to get your idea off the ground with the funding help of the internet community. The truth is some people do abuse it but some people don't... What are your thoughts?



In case you don't know what kick starter is here is a video:






The arguments against it: This video is just a parody of what happens at times

[CrimsonNuker]

I never pay attention to kickstarters, you hear about it once and then it's gone.

[.curve]

I don't really care either way. If something or someone I support is using a Kickstart, and I know it's a legitimate thing, I'll gladly help out.

That's about as far as my thoughts on it go. I don't just see a Kickstarter, think it's legit, and pledge money.

[omier]

It's not bad. It's not the fault of Kickstarter that there are swindlers out there and people who donate to them.

[poehalcho]

It's the same as E-bay. You just gotta be able to judge what's trustworthy and what isn't.

Other than that as a concept I like Kickstarter very much. It's a way to guarantee that your project turns profitable.

[Toshiharu]

Terrible. Look into WMD instead which, imo, is a better solution since it encourages hands on interaction with the game and to make it better. Kickstarter is just a high gamble on 'preordering' a product before it's even out. How do you know it'll be made? How do you know it'll be quality? And so on.

Game wise speaking only though. If you want I can start talking about how mac users funded like 500k USD for a mac usable SD card. Or that a scam artist mother raised 130k to send her child to a RPG camp then capitalized on it which her husband tried a year before her and is a cybersquatter. Ignoring the "fund my life" that Kickstarter and put up. KS had 2 choices allow the mother, not get bad PR, and open up more fund my life crap. Or remove it, lose out on 5% of that money, set an example saying it's nto allowed, and of course bad pr. Bad PR alone probably made them go through with it.

I can go on and on, but that's only the negatives. Good thing is.. well I honestly can't think of anything I found positive. Jonathan Blow's website has funded more games that I care about than Kickstarter.

[ltsune]

I simply love the idea and concept behind Kickstarter.
I've used it about 3 times so far to help fund projects that I like. There's only one of them to
whom I've actually pledged a larger amount of money, and that is the Ouya.
Luckily for me, the Ouya is not a scam and they have already sent out about 30% of the unites.
I'm really looking forward to receiving mine soon!

If I were to praise one more thing about Kickstarter, it would be the experience you have when you help funding something. The entire process is 100% trouble-free, you are only charged if the project actually reaches its goal, you will receive updates from all campaigns you have helped fund until they reach their goal (unless you chose not to), you can comment and get feedback from the creator of the kickstarter campaign and even more.

Put simple: I love it!



@Toshiharu:
Obviously, as in ever other part of life, you'll have to consider who you give your money to.
If you do not find the project trustworthy - simply don't fund it then!
Kickstarter cannot and should not take responsibility for what happens with the projects. They are merely a middleman between several individuals and the creator of whatever you're funding.

Apart from that I believe it's also vital to mention that people who look at Kickstarter as a pre-order machine for PC games have gotten it all wrong. Yes, you can chose to fund and hope that you will receive a version of the game whenever it is out. And you mostly will - if the game gets made. You should not see it as a guarantee but rather consider that what you're doing is simply donating towards something.
Donating! That's the keyword.

That being said, I did not back the Ouya project thinking that I would not receive my unit. And I surely understand people who get angry at creators who end up just running away with the money - who wouldn't.
What I'm getting at is just that Kickstarter is not to blame for this

[*BlackFox]

Well... kickstarter can be used in both good and bad ways.

Spoiler!

Below is a great explanation about Kickstarter and how it works.

[Toshiharu]

@Toshiharu:
Obviously, as in ever other part of life, you'll have to consider who you give your money to.
If you do not find the project trustworthy - simply don't fund it then!
Kickstarter cannot and should not take responsibility for what happens with the projects. They are merely a middleman between several individuals and the creator of whatever you're funding.

Apart from that I believe it's also vital to mention that people who look at Kickstarter as a pre-order machine for PC games have gotten it all wrong. Yes, you can chose to fund and hope that you will receive a version of the game whenever it is out. And you mostly will - if the game gets made. You should not see it as a guarantee but rather consider that what you're doing is simply donating towards something.
Donating! That's the keyword.

That being said, I did not back the Ouya project thinking that I would not receive my unit. And I surely understand people who get angry at creators who end up just running away with the money - who wouldn't.
What I'm getting at is just that Kickstarter is not to blame for this

You're absolutely right that Kickstarter has no authority to force them to make the product and it's up to the user to decide where to place their money at. That isn't what particularly pisses me off. It's that users break Kickstarter's own terms, but KS looks the other way. Retarded projects are funded even though nothing has happened for months after it was funded.

As I said actual investment > crowd funding. Project Cars has had major improvements to the game simply by it's users. Users that did extremely well were promoted up for their work. If you chose to just opt in do nothing? That's fine enough. You contributing through logs was more than enough helpful.

Don't get me started on Ouya. I'd rather not get into it. I just don't want to sound like a grumpy negative guy even more.

[*BlackFox]

Don't get me started on Ouya. I'd rather not get into it. I just don't want to sound like a grumpy negative guy even more.

Sorry, but Just out of curiosity.. What's so wrong with Ouya?

[Toshiharu]

pls no I don't wanna

[*BlackFox]

Ah well.. Maybe another time, okay? xD

[I Am Vegeta]

friend went with dieselbolan as a kickstart, might use dianabol myself, not sure yet.

[CrimsonNuker]

We need a kickstarter to find Vegeta his bulma