MisterOJ Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 So prior to getting on board with MC's hot sauce Kickstarter campaign this week, I have been a part of two other campaigns. One was for a band, Delta Rae, to help them produce their first studio album. It was a big success. Got the album (and other goodies) as promised and loved it. I got on board with them after seeing them open up for another band I liked. Had never listened to them before, but gladly signed up to help fund their first-ever album after seeing them live. This was a couple years ago. Now, they're signed to a big label and appear to be on their way up in the music industry. The other was for an online Magic: The Gathering style card game called Hex. I signed up for this last summer. They netted nearly $2.3 million after having a goal of just $300K - so they brought in almost $2 million more than their goal! The game was supposed to begin beta testing in September of 2013 and everyone that backed was supposed to get a beta invite. Well, it's now mid-March of 2014 and the game hasn't made it to beta yet. The company has even started offering refunds to anyone that is tired of waiting. (I considered it, but I am only in for about $35, so it's no big deal.) So I'd say my success rate (prior to the MC campaign) is squarely 50-50. I'm sure he'll change that for the better though. I'm just curious what other folks experiences with Kickstarter have been. Mostly positive? Mostly negative? Or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I donated 25 dollars to the I Am Divine documentary about Divine, my name is on the website and film credits apparently but I did it because I love Divine so much and just wanted the documentary to be made, I now have a I Am Divine post card with "To Sian - stay filthy!" on it and it makes me smile. So ya, glad I did it. I don't look at kickstarter too much though, I think it's a great idea but maybe easy to cheat or fool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felice Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 The other was for an online Magic: The Gathering style card game called Hex. I signed up for this last summer. They netted nearly $2.3 million after having a goal of just $300K - so they brought in almost $2 million more than their goal! The game was supposed to begin beta testing in September of 2013 and everyone that backed was supposed to get a beta invite. Well, it's now mid-March of 2014 and the game hasn't made it to beta yet.A delay doesn't seem unreasonable given all that extra money - it takes time to do all the additional stuff that money pays for! I assume they did have stretch goals to make the game bigger; and a bigger, more complicated game is going to take longer to alpha test.Out of the Kickstarters I've supported, so far I'm most happy with Digger. Most aren't due to deliver for a while yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Did anyone support the The Oatmeal's Exploding Kittens card game kickstarter?Fully funded in twenty minutes, and on it's way to $3 million. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Did anyone support the The Oatmeal's Exploding Kittens card game kickstarter? Fully funded in twenty minutes, and on it's way to $3 million. Crowds are dumb and/or silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Mine have all been pretty good. I've given to a couple of video games to get made, bought the 10 year hoodie (holy fuck was that worth it), did the Veronica Mars funding (Ya, don't hate me), and to the Harry Connolly book campaign (you guys should pick those up) All in all I've been happy with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 I've only ever backed two Kickstarters: one for MC's hot sauce, which has hit some bumps but is still underway, and one for Harmonix's new Amplitude game, which is still under development but proceeding apace. I have no real complaints, and Amazon payments has made it frictionless, which is nice. I probably wouldn't have given the site a credit card number on its own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Mine have all been pretty good.I've given to a couple of video games to get made, bought the 10 year hoodie (holy fuck was that worth it), did the Veronica Mars funding (Ya, don't hate me), and to the Harry Connolly book campaign (you guys should pick those up)All in all I've been happy with it. How could anyone hate you for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Did anyone support the The Oatmeal's Exploding Kittens card game kickstarter? Fully funded in twenty minutes, and on it's way to $3 million. What happens to the excess cash? Does the kickstarter dude, Elan Lee, just get to keep it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 What happens to the excess cash? Does the kickstarter dude, Elan Lee, just get to keep it? Yes. Usually they try and offer something more via stretch goals and such for overfunding, but per the rules of Kickstarter they just get more money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 It's important to understand that Kickstarter (really, any purchase you make but we'll stick to Kickstarter) is not setting a price just to cover costs. It's based on costs, obviously (sometimes badly) but it's ultimately just someone saying "I'll make X if you give me money". And Kickstarter makes you set a threshold $Y that the funding must reach before the project gets underway. And that's it. Money above and beyond that is just more money for the same product they promised to deliver. (though likely more copies of it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 What if you fail to deliver? Do you have to give the money back? I mean, what's to stop me from saying, 'You guys, I'm building a time machine out of discarded LHC parts and unicorn juice. All I need is two million bucks, and it's dinosaur steaks for dinner,' before trousering the cash and moving to Belize? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 My girlfriend did gofundme when she opened her bagel shop to cover some unexpected costs. It'd like kickstarter but with fewer restrictions. For her it was more of a medium to make it easy for friends and family to help out- everyone that donated (as far as I know) was already at least an aquaintance. It was really useful- it didn't offset the costs from a shipping debacle, but it let her stay alive while she improvised.I've gone in on hotsauce and a couple of research studies, and have no regrets.I think in the future, with crowd sourcing becoming such a popular tool, that people will be a bit more discriminating in their contributions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 What if you fail to deliver? Do you have to give the money back? No. I mean, Kickstaters rules probably say you are supposed to and their might be some laws you could get hit with, but ultimately Kickstarter is not a purchase or an investment. It's a donation. You, as the backer, have few if any rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercenaryChef Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 sooooooo. kickstarter. well, i have supported a couple. a friend wanted to fund a biscuit business i threw in on that. and i went in on a hot sauce biz. oh, yeah. i started one. and thus far i am kind of sucking at covering it. sure, it is something i take very personally and seriously as it was supported almost entirely by my friends, people i had worked with over the years and you fucking amazing people. yeah. you guys. the funding was swift and fantastic. you people believed in me and my idea and jumped to make it happen. i however have failed to live up to it. pretty much every single day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I have contributed to a number of Kickstarters. All have been successfully funded. Most have been to support a friend's endeavor. Kickstarter is a small-capital gift platform, and I view it as such. That is, I don't get butthurt if the thing to which I donated never eventuates, as almost everything on Kickstarter is vaporware, until it isn't. The main problems with Kickstarter are about goals and perception. Too many people erroneously think Kickstarter is a pre-order service to buy things, and Kickstarter itself fosters and promotes that misapprehension because they get a lot more money exploiting the stupid and gullible. As such, I don't like Kickstarter as a company (one reason among many, tbh) and I have a very jaundiced view of the whole enterprise. I'll fund friends through it if they've decided that is the best way forward to achieve their goals. I'd rather just give them the money, though, and leave the middleman out. Example: My friend's book was supposed to come out last year. I think it's slated to ship this spring, but who knows? I don't know, and I don't care. My money helped my friend do the reporting she needed to do to get the book done. I was a beta reader on the draft, so I know that she actually wrote the book she said she would. It's now up to her publisher to get that bad boy out the door. I feel that way about every Kickstarter project that has run into difficulties following through -- I gave them the money to try something. I don't actually give a shit if the thing I funded shows up or not (although I am pleasantly surprised when it does), and I don't look at the projects as failures even if they don't get off the ground. I'm always just happy that my friends are pursuing something they love -- that in itself is reward enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elder Sister Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I've contributed to a couple of Kickstarters, and I've enjoyed them. I have no idea if one of them was successful, but I got a cool magnet/kangaroo pouch thingy. The other Kickstarter was for a fitness gadget that turned into a big success - it was fun to watch it get off the ground. There were numerous hiccups, and I personally enjoyed watching a business come to life. MC, you are too hard on yourself, imo. You're in the process of attempting something, and you generously allowed your friends to help you. I personally appreciated the opportunity to help you and Kair: You have both been good to me. And your hot sauce is out of this world. I owe it to the world to try to help you bring your hot sauce to the masses. I feel quite evangelistic (is that even a word?) about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Drunkard Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I've never contributed to any, and probably won't. But I am happy that other people take the risk and get things like Wasteland 2 funded, even if I end up paying more than them for the final product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterOJ Posted February 2, 2015 Author Share Posted February 2, 2015 So, some dudes in my town are using Kickstarter to start up a local brewery. This is severely lacking in our little burg, and I would normally be all about helping out, but... The rewards seem so piddly. Is it just me, or does this seem way out of whack for a Kickstarter project? $20 gets you only a couple of stickers. $50 gets you a T-shirt and stickers. And $100 only nets you the shirt, stickers and a pint glass? If a project is worthwhile (and this one is, IMO) should the rewards matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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