Reply With QuoteThe same way they always do, put forward a front of seemingly-independent interests that roll all of the cash up into the hive while not allowing the profits from the successful projects to roll back down to the creators.
They will eventually, we all know that, so how do you think they'll do it?
The same way they always do, put forward a front of seemingly-independent interests that roll all of the cash up into the hive while not allowing the profits from the successful projects to roll back down to the creators.
I'm just imagining Coca-Cola "kickstarting" a production run of New Coke for the 30 people that preferred it.
If Pepsi did this with Pepsi Clear, I'd actually sell every ounce of plasma in my body to help kickstart it.Originally Posted by CLWheeljack
I have a distinct memory of fucking *loving* it when I was relatively young; no idea if the memory is accurate or just youthful rose-colored glasses.
I'd throw in a substantial sum of money for Pepsi Harvest Spice. That one will probably never happen, though.
Did Pepsi clear actual taste different than Pepsi or did they just drop the caramel color additive?
I think any amount given more than the eventual cost of the product itself should include a percentage of the profit, proportionally, even if it's pennies. That might not stop spammers, but it might at least curb the deluge of people looking for flat-out handouts for middling ideas.
A good idea, but that's going to need an army of accountants (or absolute trust) to enforce.
Kickstarter has a human approve every new project, so spammers won't get in there. Fraud will be a problem, though.
Lets say, for example, I submit what looks like a perfectly legitimate proposal for a high-end cool-looking articulated arm iPad mount that fits into a standard car stereo socket, allowing the iPad to handle navigation, media, etc. Sounds good, right?
My project gets posted to boingboing, mac blogs, gizmodo and whatnot. I quickly reach my $400k goal. At this point I take the money and run. Kickstarter does not offer refunds. You're SOL.
I guess we'll see what happens when projects start failing out and people have put money in ... are consumers allowing for the possibility of failure or are they seeing their contributions as binding agreements?
Yeah, it's only a matter of time until people start collecting money and never delivering the goods, or deliver something shitty they whip up in a weekend.
I also think some people will try but fail. I have a friend who prepaid for an umbrella by helping fund a Kickstarter project. Her umbrella is months late and is yet to arrive. I think the project is legit but the person is doing something she's never done before -- dealing with getting something manufactured. She was hand painting umbrellas before. She may have underestimated costs and time involved.
I'm not so worried about scammers and fraudsters. I'm more worried about projects just fizzling out after the goal is met. I'm sure many Kickstarter efforts have good intentions, but take a look at the MMO lottery winner guy. Even if he got his $1.1 million in Kickstarter, I'm pretty sure nothing playable will ever come from it. Of course, this example is pretty easy to spot as a foolhardy exercise, but I can foresee a day when some high-profile believeable project goes belly up and takes everyone's money just through incompetence or general economic conditions.
Perhaps Kickstart is somewhat like the wikipedia. You can edit the Abraham Lincoln entry and add that he is a alien. Journalist will report about it, and will say that Wikipedia is a unreliable piece of shit, mostly to confirm the bias of the people that watch TV. But 7 minutes after you add that text, the vandalism is fixed by a bot or a human.
So like Wikipedia, I think that Kiskstart is "exploitable but easy to repair".
The only "but" is that people putting money in kickstart sould consider it a donation with a 99% of it being lost forever and ever. If people put his money there thinking about this 99%, then things will be right.
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If the 99% of the money put in Kickstart projects is lost, maybe is not a very efficient way to run things, humm?.
Last edited by Teiman; 03-18-2012 at 02:33 AM.
Haven't some failed already? I haven't seen any reported on, but you'd figure that some must have.
I think some have failed, but like the one pointed out by Mark Asher, they're probably too small to garner any notice. Wait until a Kickstarter with a lot of publicity and millions of dollars fails. That's going to be the watershed moment.
This kickstarter project appears to have defrauded people for $343,415.
http://zionkick.com/2012/01/30/zione...comments-here/
Math is hard. Considering a smallish HD recorder costs at least $100 these days I'm somehow going to get two of them the size of a tic-tac and two sets of sunglasses for $150 each after research and development costs? Derp.PLEDGE $300 OR MORE
97 BACKERS
You will receive two Eyez™ by ZionEyez HD video recording glasses with clear and shaded removable lenses. (Shipping to Canada add $10, International add $15 to pledge amount)
I'm getting a real "but I'm a consumer and I want my pre-ordered product!" vibe from some of the comments.
No, you're an investor with an agreed upon return if the project is successful.
That said, I'm sure there is going to be a massive scam hitting kickstarter soon enough. A lot of backers didn't make the switch yet in their head from being a consumer to being an investor.
There'll be a role for another layer of supervision, who'll say - these projects are ok, we've looked into it. We'll call them ohh, adventure capitalists or something.
Why would they? The site is designed so they would think of themselves as consumers. All you get for "investing" is the final product. You don't get to share in any revenue. This is why kickstarter sucks.
I'm pretty sure that between us, QT3 could come up with an amazing and convincing fake Kickstarter pitch. Just saying.
Of course I'm joking.
Unless you're into it.
Internet cat rental service: receive cat, enjoy it until it is no longer adorable and its antics are no longer endearing, and then ship it back with a prepaid envelope.
If you like where this is going, let's take this to PM's. . . no need to leave a paper trail. . .
I specifically search the forum for a thread on kickstarter so I could post a 'nyah, nyah, I said this would all fail on 16/3/2012, so I'm awesome'.
So here are my reasons why kickstarter will fail, (or change):
1) A large, outright scam, or a large failure to deliver on the part of one of the receiving companies will tank the good will of the community. It will frame KS as an untrustworthy place to put your money.
2) In response to 1) KS will require more accountability on the part of the receiving companies, possibly appointing auditors and/or milestones. This will diminish the appeal of KS to the receiving companies since it allows them less freedom.
3) It may also be hurt by a runaway hit. The receiving company makes mad profit from the game, and givers will feel like they have been ripped off. Possibly exaggerated by poor profit sharing within the company that funnels profits to a minority of the creators.
4) I suspect they would try to fix 3) by insisting games will have to be free after they are made. I reckon that givers will be totally fine with this. I have trouble understanding why this point is insisted on right now.
(note that my comments apply to games, not anything else KS might fund)
(oh and I don't think it will go the route of profit sharing, KS's model is of patronage, I suspect investors would be wary of KS)
such project exist
https://www.pixonauts.com/en/
it's replace of www.games-plant.com (Most Wanted Ent. put there e.g. Nexus 2 , sequel to Nexus: The Jupiter Incident)
primary aim is actually working support for European Indie Developers and actually thinks about funders as investors with % interest ...
Has a Kickstarter project actually succeeded yet?
Are you intending to confine this to games? Because there have been plenty of Kickstarter successes in that they did what they said were with the money.
Does anyone know where you can see a (live) ranked list of the highest funding for kickstarter projects. I want to applaud the good taste of fellow internet citizens and laugh at the stupidity of the masses.
Good one.
Yes, I meant games.
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