
MYTHIC: The Story Of Gods And Men (Canceled) - GabeN
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/273246798/mythic-the-story-of-gods-and-men
======
GabeN
Project has already been taken down by creator, and all of the companies
information is being deleted from the internet, yet they still managed to get
nearly $5,000 in the few hours it was up, which is quite worrying.

 _Points of evidence_

\- God character art is from [http://pgwebdesign.net/blog/35-mythological-art-
masterpieces...](http://pgwebdesign.net/blog/35-mythological-art-masterpieces-
of-character-design-history)

\- Backgrounds are from <http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=211755>
and [http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/painting/ancient-temple-
en...](http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/painting/ancient-temple-entrance/)

\- Poster consists of this icon;
[http://xooplate.com/templates/details/2443-ancient-
warrior-s...](http://xooplate.com/templates/details/2443-ancient-warrior-
shield-icon) on top of this texture; [http://panzertm.deviantart.com/art/Old-
Yellowed-Paper-125646...](http://panzertm.deviantart.com/art/Old-Yellowed-
Paper-125646153)

\- The sword reward pictures are from;
[http://www.knifecave.com/fantasy/store/products/Designer+Cus...](http://www.knifecave.com/fantasy/store/products/Designer+Custom+Swords/Kit+Rae%26%23153%3B+Valermos%26%23153%3B+-+Sword+of+Fire++Swords+of+the+Ancients+Collection+-+6th+Edition/UCKR7.html)

\- The reward tier text and values are copied wholesale from The Banner Saga's
kickstarter, with just a game name search & replace.

\- The office photos; <http://i.imgur.com/uTCBT.png> are just crops from the
Burton Design Group; <http://i.imgur.com/XOFdi.jpg>

~~~
alexobenauer
The don't actually get that $5,000. It's worrying that that amount was
pledged, but Kickstarter / Amazon Payments doesn't charge until after a
project is complete, and in the case of an unfinished, canceled project,
never.

~~~
masklinn
> and in the case of an unfinished [...] never.

That is incorrect. The money is transferred once funding period has ended if
funding goals have been reached.

From that point on, the project authorship has the money (minus Amazon's and
Kickstarter's shares) and may never get it done still.

Source: funded half a dozen of KS so far, I know when money leaves me. It
would also completely unmake the point of kickstarter: it's about providing
funds for the project to be done, not guaranteeing sales so people can go get
institutional investors showing they have 3 million sales in already
(especially since most KS are a few thousand, the current million+ craze is
not the median project)

~~~
hristov
You are correct, but nevertheless, they did not get the $5000. The funding
goal was $80 000 and they got nowhere near that. So that was a scam that did
not work.

------
vasco
I've been wondering for a while how long it would take for mass fake projects
being created on kickstarter/indiegogo once these sites got more widely known.
This project uses stolen pictures, but one could easily mock up random 3D
scenes, make a cool video and walk away with 100k for two days work

~~~
rickmb
I think you'll find the "walk away" part is not that simple, considering the
fact that it would constitute a _crime_. The kind of crime law enforcement is
quite familiar with and that leaves plenty of traceable evidence because it
involves financial transactions.

I'm sure there will someday be someone clever enough to get away with it, but
most people are likely to get caught very quickly.

~~~
jonny_eh
While I agree it would be a crime, how hard would it be to enforce? Can't the
perps just claim some lame excuse for why they didn't execute on their stated
plan?

~~~
lotu
A lame excuse isn't going to hold up in court. Imagine you raised $100K to
make some cool gizmo but instead buy your self a sports car, the fact that you
never had any intent to even try to make the product is going to be really
obvious. If you actually spent enough of the money raised on the project to
convive a judge that you weren't running a scam, then you not going to have
enough left over to really be considered a scam.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
That rather depends on who you pay and how convincing their invoices look.

20 folks on here could create a convincing Eco system of sub contractors and
out sourcers - spend 20k on equipment and rest on salaries, you can spend most
of yourdays on the yc startup subsidised by the game income

or is that sounding like actual work?

------
homosaur
If anything, this is should be kind of a relief to Kickstarter users since
people have PLENTY of time to discover these scam projects before payment is
distributed.

------
brackin
The only scams like these which will work on Kickstarter is campaigns that
aren't especially interesting or may not appeal to a huge audience. Once a
campaign gets to 100k, there is press involved and people researching. If you
get $5k in pledges, no one would look deep enough to check if you're legit.
Kickstarter is quite tough in terms of getting on the site and through the
month process.

I think it shows, always do some due diligence, it seems people did in this
case. Look up the creator, their experience. They don't have to provide any
work at the end of it all, so it's up to you as a possible pledger.

~~~
shock-value
I think the problem though is that projects can end up "scammy" even if they
aren't outright scams. If a project makes very ambitious promises, and upon
getting the funds, the developers don't put forth much effort and deliver a
bug-ridden, lackluster product, it might not technically be a scam. But it
will sure feel like one to contributors, and I think Kickstarter is going to
increasingly run into this problem in the future.

~~~
lotu
I don't know about that. One of the big selling points of the Double Fine, and
Shadowrun campaigns was that it was a established team with a reputation for
making good games. Also, say you do raise $100K and produce a lousy product,
your not going to find funding for you next project. You can actually see this
already as some projects are now on their second or third campaign.

------
unreal37
Was this a real attempt at a scam? Or just an attempt to get some news
coverage - like a prank? Like the first real scam on AirBNB someone wants to
be the project everyone always talks about with online fundraising.

~~~
AJ007
When you start collecting money from people a prank becomes a scam.

~~~
jasonlotito
They didn't collect any money, simply took pledges. And, looking at it that
way, it's easy to see how it could be looked at as just a prank.

~~~
angryasian
the difference is it got taken down before the prank became a scam. If it was
never caught, and cashed out I don't think anyone would be calling a prank.
Every system involving money always has people testing the boundries. This
isn't the first and probably won't be the last.

------
colinwinter
Bostinno also recently reported another project that simply failed to deliver:
<http://bostinno.com/2012/04/25/kickstarters-dark-side/>

Could this create a market for 'verified' kickstarter projects? Kickstarter as
an organization states they dont verify, but as they grow the need will also
grow. I'm thinking this could be an optional feature that everyone would be
aware of (IE: grayed out badge when not invoked). For a small fee a typically
background check will be performed, either by kickstarter or an independent.

~~~
forrestthewoods
Ugh. No. Every damn news site on the planet misrepresented the Star Command
money issue.

First, Star Command didn't fail to deliver. It simply hasn't delivered yet.
The game was being shown at a trade show last month. It's on it's way. This is
not a case of a cancelled project or someone running off with the money.

Second, the article's statement that only 4k went to the game is an outright
lie. They clearly state that 6k went to music, 5k to marketing (poster + PAX),
and 1k to development/demo hardware. That's not necessarily ideal but it's not
entirely unreasonable either. You can argue the marketing/hardware issue
perhaps, but 6k went directly into the game in the form of music.

The real lesson to take away from Star Command is their under-estimation of
time and money required to create, package, and ship backer rewards. That's
the real danger that other projects should be wary of.

~~~
egypturnash
Yeah, the way their funds evaporated into nothing after delivering all those
t-shirts and whatnot was large in my mind this past week as I worked out the
rewards for the comic book I just started the campaign for. I'm basically not
offering anything physical beyond the book - more money gets you sponsor
credit in the back.

------
marshallp
This is why kickstarter/indiegogo need to release an api or a data dump. It
will only help them and the public, just the same as the sec releases public
company data.

~~~
elemeno
An API or a data dump of what?

~~~
marshallp
Of campaigns, basically a scrape of their website (they make their money fees,
not advertising). Then other people can do review sites of campaigns and do
statistical analysis.

