| pokoko said: I have no idea why anyone would have a problem with this. Remember, a developer isn't trying to convince publishers or venture investors that they're going to make a good game, but rather that they're going to make a game where those investing will make a substantial profit. Those two are not the same things at all. On the other hand, with kickstarter funding, the developers are trying to sell the idea, and nothing else, that they will produce a quality product. It's just investing, but with a different goal. Not every great developer is a great promoter or businessman. If we punish those that aren't by denying them a means to create games then we're the ones missing out in the end. Kickstarting cuts out some of the business-people who run most of gaming and I can't help but see that as a positive. |
Two reasons, mostly. The second reason is explained in some detail above. But this post hints towards the first reason. Simply put, when you fund a kickstarter game you are an investor, not a consumer. You are putting money down towards a product that does not, and conceivably may not ever, exist. In exchange, you get the (likely) possibility of acquiring a license to use one copy of the title some time down the road, when the game is completed. In other words, even though you are an investor, you get the same reward the consumer does, with maybe a few dollars shaved off for your troubles.
You do not, however, get to enjoy any of the things that nearly every other investor does: you have a 0% ownership stake in the product, and you get zero say in how the product is produced, published, marketed, distributed, etc. I hesitate to say that you've given the developer a "gift," because that's not completely accurate, but you certainly aren't going to get treated like the investor you are. That does not sit well with me; not to sound hyperbolic, but it feels like desperate consumers are being exploited by a system that seems so fundamentally broken that the only way consumers can get titles they want is to cede ownership of their investment to someone else.
