"Are Kickstarters Good for the Hobby?" Topic

Have Kickstarters been a positive or negative influence on our hobby?

Positive but there is a lag time between funding and receiving.

Positive, also to understand if a project may have a future or not.

I have the same rule as with computer games.

Kickstarter is to help make a project that would otherwise not be made.

So if say Calpe wanted money to expand the ranges of french, fine by me.
If aventine wanted help to create a line that is fine too.

Infact most miniature producers low scale with little in the bank, to bankrole a big project.

But if perry, GW, Battlefront wanted money to make something they could easly do them self. Then no.

Positive. They create another venue for raising capital which helps the market.

While there are a lot of misgiving about timing and failures, I don't think everyone knows what actually goes on behind the curtain in companies (timing, failed lines, failed businesses), including some people who start KS.

Only if they actually deliver.

The internet already wiped out much local so I dont see how KS could hurt gaming anymore than the internet except maybe overload people into a painting panic.

Depends on how they operate and how realistic the aims are. I'm wary of serial kickstarters who seem to use the money from 1 range to fund a different range and never actually complete any.

positive in most cases. But buyer beware

Yes but as MajorB says only if they deliver. I think some compainies use them as pre-orders which is OK. Others make too many strech goals and these can slow the project down.

They do get games to market that otherwise would not make it (I'm thinking Maelstrom's Edge); but they are also used as pre-order systems with an inordinate lag (Mantic). What really matters is do they deliver on their promise? If yes (Mantic's Dungeon Saga and Spiral Arm's Maelstrom's edge did--for me). So, yeah, they're good…and a good lesson in patience.

I made a pile of "dead Kickstarter" stuff which I plan on selling off.

The common theme I see is that the delayed KS just die on the vine. So, it's time to dump my Relic Knights and Robotech plus the Kingdom Death stuff. There is also stuff that fulfilled fine, seemed like a good idea at the time but, I've moved on: Rivet Wars and Mars Attacks are in this category.

Supremacy 2020 and Zombicide are the two best KS I ever backed.

Positive.

I still think Ogre was the best one I've backed so far, with Kingdom Death coming in second (but that's mostly because I like the models).

As a useful tool for creating investment then mostly positive.
The problem seems to be people perception that they are actually purchasing something when they not. Many vendors reinforce this by the way they present their Kickstarters. In reality folk investing in Kickstarters are speculating on the vendors plans/ideas with all the risks that that involves.
If you invest then you are betting on the professionalism, honesty and integrity of those seeking investment with a hope that the odds are stacked in your favour.

As with any policy, there are positives and negatives. The outcomes will depends on point of views and the personal goals.

On balance, I think not.

But then I don't indulge, no matter how very tempting.

Just my opinion, though.

John T

Overall I'd say they are positive. If you don't want to get burned evaluate them logically and not emotionally. There have been several I've been interested in but stayed away from because they looked e sketchy. Almost all of them had major issues.

From my experience, positive.

It has saddened me. If the intent was to enable small or 1-man operations and allow them to compete with Big Ideas, then I'd have to say it's been a dismal failure. KS has more often been used by companies that are already big, to raise huge sums (sometimes in the millions).

I recently saw a KS campaign from a company that routinely sells in the millions, and they set the "goal" at $5,000. USD Obviously they are just using KS as an advertising platform.

There's no way a small company can compete against that because the small company really does need fifty grand and will live or die by that campaign, whereas the big company obviously doesn't need five grand and is just using KS to attract attention.

Kickstarters sadly arent for beginners. Many people become hated because they cant fulfill the pledges and some even lost their own money and homes trying to do right by people.

I am sorry to say that I along with most pledgers condemned people who probably meant well. They just got in with a screwed up format that doesnt work. CMON, Reaper, DF and a few others always come thru but even they are often late.

Before you never saw the fubar situations companies went thru, before they only posted it when they had it.