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[Column] General: When Kickstarter Works...
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Kickstarter is arguably one of the hottest topics coming out of 2012. There is, however, a curious thing that happens when a game funds: We are reminded of the past and commentary we may have made prior to a successful Kickstart. Check out today's Devil's Advocate and then leave your thoughts in the comments.
When a Kickstarter project fails, everyone seems to be okay with it, and nothing more is said about the occurrence other than, perhaps, “What a shame!” When a Kickstarter actually works though, the things you earnestly say in the past about a project can come back to haunt you. Being haunted by words I said last year is not going to help me sleep soundly, so I’ve taken today’s Devil’s Advocate and turned it into an exorcism ground.
Read more of Victor Barreiro Jr.'s The Devil's Advocate: When Kickstarter Works...
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Comments
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
There is a trend in these forums of falling in love with KS projects simply because it's a cool new idea that gives the little guy a shot at developingn an MMO. You see a lot of the same defensive posts promoting the projects based on little more than blind faith like you see in game forums defending a failing but beloved MMO.
Do I need to point out that this suspension of disbelief is the best possible atmosphere for a scammer to operate within?
Seems to me all you have to do is throw some trendy popular MMO lingo around like "open world", "sandbox", "payer-built cities", etc. and people will flock to give you $500 so you can have a river named after your pet gerbil.
Then there are all the disguised ads for KS projects polluting the forums on a daily basis. They usually start something like this "Hey guys I have this idea for an MMO based on the bubonic plague... What do you think?" And then there will be a link to the KS page for the project. Then there will inevitably be some forum posters that will discuss the merits of the idea creating something tha t looks like a legitimate thread...job done: lock-proof advertising.
Getting a bit tired of all this KS garbage... This site should at least create a KS panhandling forum segregated from other general forums.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Kickstarter has worked with many games by indie developers that are a blast to play. Why does it have to be a mmo to solidify Kickstarter's ability to move the market forward? That''s a very narrow-minded way of thinking.
MMOs are significantly different than regular 'games'. There has yet to be an MMO kickstarter succes. When a kickstarter releases and recieves noticeable post-launch development (regardless of size of player base) over a span of several years then we will have our success and proof that kickstarter is an option for this genre.
There's already been a few casualties, frauds exposed (by reddit) and bleeding companies going for kickstarter gold...
Just got to do some research on the people. Balance the risk/reward of an interesting campaign and imo be motivated to pledge for vision more than for personal gain. It's one reason I'm happier chipping in small amounts to ks games than traditional publishers pushing out games.
At face value looking at the Tech Demo with no context it looks like any other 100's of fantasy themepark mmorpgs. Secondly coming out on the xmas period did not help. Third: No build-up release. Fourth: Their middleware contract talks were extended by unforeseen reasons but Five: Most of all: A mmorpg asking for a lot of cash is a big clash: The more you ask for and the more ambitious your vision, the more you ideally need to be able to show. Fortunately for GW they have Paizo community already built up which saved the day. And I think the faster development will prove vital: The dilemma of an indie mmorpg.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Comparing Greedmonger and Pathfinder is like comparing night and day. Although I was not thrilled with the pvp everywhere feature in Pathfinder, it has far better design points than Greedmonger. Greedmonger was just a gambling game, it really had no worthy design points at all.
Of all these indy games Pathfinder probably has a much better chance than many of them. I will be shocked if Greedmonger ever sees the light of day.
You cannot support them all, but some show potential.
It does work...
http://www.2playerproductions.com/projects/minecraft
That was funded by Kickstarter.
Nice article Victor.
Given the MMO market as things currently stand I have doubts about PO. Too many other games have offered pie in the sky and didn't deliver.
The game they are modeling after Eve Online failed in China (although its being rebooted there) and as the devs in that game have learned, a small change in the game could have a massive effect. Eve itself *may* have been a happy accident of right game, right time with the right balance.
As usual, I don't even take a look at a game until its in open beta. Then see what the number crunching players say. I hope Pathfinder Online is successful, but only time and wallets will tell.
Company Owner
MMO Interactive
If forums here are across the Internet are to be believed, the world is cram full of people who buy into hype only to be let down by the game that's actually delivered, even without kickstarter.
well you know what to do, release the game and prove people wrong, until then kickstarter remains highly suspicious to those of us who have been around for awhile.
At least that hype has an end product regardless if it meets your mmorpg wet dreams or not, kickerstarter projects just look doomed from the beginning. They are ticking the boxes that everyone wants to see tick but executing it into a working product is a whole different animal.
Nice article Victor, I enjoyed the read.
Kickstarter is one of the more fascinating things I have seen in business in the past decade. There's no reason getting into its positives because, well, they stand out on their own merit quite well.
But Kickstarter does put the interested party into an odd situation. It's micro venture capital without an equity component. The Kickstarter funder needs to be able to do the same due diligence VC normally would do. Even if the relevant information is available, I don't think the typical Kickstarter follower is familiar with this level of due diligence.
It's not just the product pitch and marketing plan of the business plan that need evaluation. There's an adage in my non-hobby, real-world experiences, "cash is king." That's not a call for returns to a cash-only business model (far from it), but a recognition that cash flow management kills more projects than bad ideas do.
The prospective Kickstarter funder really needs a feel for the operations, project management, cash flow management and business side of the business... but they make their decisions largely on the marketing/product side.
Beyond the fraud issues, it's a model that's prone to a higher degree of strikeouts than straight VC... and it's not like VC is a high success rate environment.
Ryahl - writer of eye-bleeders
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And you have completely and utterly missed the entire point of this article somehow, amazing.
Nowhere at all did the author claim Kickstarter doesn't work, all he said was that when a kickstarter project succeeds, you may end up seeing something you said of that project earlier coming to live, for good or bad. Try reading more than the topic name next time.
Backed Pathfinders myself back in december, even upped my pledge to the 100 buck zone. Why? Well, the interest my friends have sparked in me for the PnP game for one, that hefty PDF dump for second, and three well... I'll use a quote.
"Mandingo, how I grok your mouth music."
Your confused, there are no "investors" in kickstaters there are backers. Investors buy piece of a company expecting a monetary return on their inbvestment (ie dividends on stacks the ability to sell their stock shares at a later date etc.
When you back a kickstarter you have bought a tier of rewards on a game that has not, and very well may not ever be released. One needs to be knowledgable about the risk one is taking. Even in investments theres nothing prevent the ,arket from going bad and you lossing everything.
In the end its best not to expect someone else to save you from your own bad choices.
The sky is falling!
In the end i'd rather take a chance with a bit of money i can afford to lose then continue to buy up the low grade stuff the Suites at the big developers decide I and eveyone else should play because thier marketing research (which is never ever wrong) say so.
Basically its about choice and in truth todays market its pretty much limited to ultra casual games (farmville anyone?) and wow clones. I'll stick with the kickstarters that seem reliable, worst thing can happen is i'm out the cost of the game and have nothing more then the current crap to play. (humm funny sounds like the same results of buying a game from EA.)
Great write up Iamstillwater! I hope to see more.