My experience as a backer of SOTA makes me feel like there is some truth to this. Backers have been extremely involved since the very beginning and directly affected the direction of the game development. Instead of showing the work in progress to a publisher and getting feedback, we sort of provided that role. At the same time minimized some of the risk as we are also the customer so the game was being developed for us rather than what they think we want.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Tim, what you describe as the role of the publisher is really more the role of an Executive Director/Producer. The reason devs went to publishers was not so much because they had money but because they knew how to navigate and harness the distribution and advertising channels. You'd be hard pressed to get shelf space in a brick and mortar without a publisher. It was even hard to get the ear of a retailer to begin with.
With digital distribution and ready access to digital advertising, developers have moved away from publishers in a lot of cases, especially indie titles. This doesn't mean the role of the publisher is obsolete. They're invaluable for getting your product in the right places at the right time. They often already have a lot of the market research done and they know where/how to get further research done. Also, even when it comes to digital releases, software distribution platforms (ex: WildTangent, Big Fish, Playstation Store) and Content Delivery Networks (ex: Level 3, Akamai) take up some of the roles of publishers.
As to the question "Are backers publishers?" Unless they are hired/contracted to do the tasks of publishers, then... of course not.
-- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG - RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? - FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
No, you silly billy. Publishers have contracts. Backers are people who preordered a game before work even began on it in earnest, some of whom paid far more than the game will cost.
But once funds are exchanged doesn't that create a type of seller to consumer contract?
Not in this world it doesn't. A contract creates a contract.
-- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG - RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? - FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
No, you silly billy. Publishers have contracts. Backers are people who preordered a game before work even began on it in earnest, some of whom paid far more than the game will cost.
But once funds are exchanged doesn't that create a type of seller to consumer contract?
Not in this world it doesn't. A contract creates a contract.
Pretty sure you are wrong there all the elements of a contract are present in a sale to a consumer, and at least under Australian law a contract is created. As I remember my text book on the subject it was published in the U.S. , although that was a long time ago, and so I think it is true there too.
But I am pretty sure that a kickstarter donation is not a sale and any implied contract only requires the use of rhe money on the intended project.
With crowdfunding you spend money on projects that seems to be made in the right way but unlike publishers I don't think the crowdfunders should have too much impact on the game as it is being developed. While making the game to be like the future players want seems great at first thought the problem is that none of us know exactly what we want until we actually get it and a lot of changes in past MMOs based on what the players thought they wanted actually made the game worse instead of better.
The problem with publishers is that they always want something they think will maximize profit and as the article said (interesting reading BTW) that have given us 10 years of Wow clones now.
I think after we pledged that we should let the devs continue as long as they follows the goals we supported without too much involvement. Now, if the devs asks for feedback on certain things that is another matter but lets not change the original goals which are the reason we supported the project in the first place.
If 10 000+ people have to much to say we would get a generic mess trying to please everyone and MMOs are frankly already like that. If you don't like the goals of a project don't support it, do not try to change those goals.
The reason we need crowdfunding is so we can get a few games not only focused on having some stuff for everyone while making no one really happy but instead make the game for the people that really wants it. Yeah, you might initially loose money on it but a great game will win long term compared to a mediocre generic game.
No, you silly billy. Publishers have contracts. Backers are people who preordered a game before work even began on it in earnest, some of whom paid far more than the game will cost.
But once funds are exchanged doesn't that create a type of seller to consumer contract?
Not in this world it doesn't. A contract creates a contract.
Pretty sure you are wrong there all the elements of a contract are present in a sale to a consumer, and at least under Australian law a contract is created. As I remember my text book on the subject it was published in the U.S. , although that was a long time ago, and so I think it is true there too.
But I am pretty sure that a kickstarter donation is not a sale and any implied contract only requires the use of rhe money on the intended project.
All the elements of an agreement are there. That said, even defined as a contract (which the KS ToU page says it is), that doesn't change the status/ownership/rights/control of the backer outside of the reward for their donation. A backer is not a publisher.
-- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG - RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? - FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
No, you silly billy. Publishers have contracts. Backers are people who preordered a game before work even began on it in earnest, some of whom paid far more than the game will cost.
But once funds are exchanged doesn't that create a type of seller to consumer contract?
Not in this world it doesn't. A contract creates a contract.
Pretty sure you are wrong there all the elements of a contract are present in a sale to a consumer, and at least under Australian law a contract is created. As I remember my text book on the subject it was published in the U.S. , although that was a long time ago, and so I think it is true there too.
But I am pretty sure that a kickstarter donation is not a sale and any implied contract only requires the use of rhe money on the intended project.
All the elements of an agreement are there. That said, even defined as a contract (which the KS ToU page says it is), that doesn't change the status/ownership/rights/control of the backer outside of the reward for their donation. A backer is not a publisher.
Thanks for clarifying that. I really should have added the sense of your second sentence in my post. I was thinking that at the time but did not say it, I should have. Thanks again.
You're a gambler and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It's game gamer equivalent of the home shopping network. It all looks good on the TV. However, when the package arrives......
Comments
I am pretty confident that store bought toilet paper is better than the toilet paper found in nature.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
With digital distribution and ready access to digital advertising, developers have moved away from publishers in a lot of cases, especially indie titles. This doesn't mean the role of the publisher is obsolete. They're invaluable for getting your product in the right places at the right time. They often already have a lot of the market research done and they know where/how to get further research done. Also, even when it comes to digital releases, software distribution platforms (ex: WildTangent, Big Fish, Playstation Store) and Content Delivery Networks (ex: Level 3, Akamai) take up some of the roles of publishers.
As to the question "Are backers publishers?"
Unless they are hired/contracted to do the tasks of publishers, then... of course not.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
Not in this world it doesn't. A contract creates a contract.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
But I am pretty sure that a kickstarter donation is not a sale and any implied contract only requires the use of rhe money on the intended project.
The problem with publishers is that they always want something they think will maximize profit and as the article said (interesting reading BTW) that have given us 10 years of Wow clones now.
I think after we pledged that we should let the devs continue as long as they follows the goals we supported without too much involvement. Now, if the devs asks for feedback on certain things that is another matter but lets not change the original goals which are the reason we supported the project in the first place.
If 10 000+ people have to much to say we would get a generic mess trying to please everyone and MMOs are frankly already like that. If you don't like the goals of a project don't support it, do not try to change those goals.
The reason we need crowdfunding is so we can get a few games not only focused on having some stuff for everyone while making no one really happy but instead make the game for the people that really wants it. Yeah, you might initially loose money on it but a great game will win long term compared to a mediocre generic game.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
Please.
Edgar F Greenwood
I self identify as a monkey.