

The Kickstarter Conundrum  - maudlinmau5
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-15-the-kickstarter-conundrum

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Tichy
The article makes it sound like a bad thing. Maybe unknown insecure people
should not simply get 2 million $ for posting their stuff on Kickstarter. Just
because Kickstarter doesn't enable a gold rush for everyone does not mean it
won't work.

It will simply work as it has always worked: you'll have to work your way up.
Start with smaller projects and make a name for yourself.

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kmfrk
I consider this a new business model _for a very select few established
developers_. However, I think Kickstarter can be used to gauge interest in a
product, before you invest resources in developing it only to lose money in
the end. This is very important, and I am sure that it will work as a great
reality check for many naïve people who "just want to make videogames". It is
much easier to revise why your project campaign was unappealing rather than
coming to the conclusion at the end of a one- or two-year development cycle.

With Steam available and guys like Valve who go above and beyond to help their
developers by doing things like handing out 50k keys to them upon request,
developers have the best distribution platform imaginable, which means that
the logistics are no longer something to worry about.

It's a great time to be an independent developer.

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jfruh
This is a great piece, and it gets to the contradiction at the heart of the
new trend/buzz around creative people using the Internet in various ways to
make an end-run around traditional publishing infrastructure in all
industries. It's the same with big-name authors ditching their publishers to
self-publish on Amazon: Sure, they make a mint, more than they would have at a
traditional publisher, but they wouldn't have been able to do it were it not
for the fan base they built up with their traditionally published works.

Everyone loves to bash publisher/distributors in all areas of creative
endevour, and often with good reason. But at their heart these companies are
accumulations of capital and expertise that allow risky investment in creative
works that might fail. Everyone who succeeds in the traditional world to the
extent that they don't need the publishers anymore got there because that
capital took a risk on them; now they don't want to let part of their profits
go back into that capital pool. The question is, if the old system blows up,
who takes that risk for unknowns?

I'm certainly not saying its impossible. Probably people will be ramping up
creatively, writing/making music/what have you for nothing until they build up
enough of a fan base to ask for something more. But crowdsourcing is
definitely not just a free handout without huge accumulated goodwill.

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ChuckMcM
Sometimes when I read articles like this it seems to me they are saying
"Mediocre people only make mediocre money at best."

And I'm tempted to say "And the problem is? <long dramatic pause>"

Double Fine demolishes their funding goal, and we say "but that is only
because everyone already loves them, no one else can do that."

There is this concept called 'paying your dues' which historically has
reflected the time an artist (or worker) spends toiling in an under
appreciated way, honing their craft. And from the folks who toil emerge
'stars' who have a knack for the business or their voice resonates with a
receptive crowd. Kickstarter, Amazon's Kindle store, Louis CK's self produced
show, _replace_ the part where you develop a reputation (or pay your dues)
they merely give you a way to monetize your reputation and keep more of the
money for yourself, rather than parasitic forces which latched on to you early
in your career like trigger fish follow a shark.

I believe that kickstarter, and things like it, will give artists tremendous
freedom to create the art they want to create, when the rest of the world
agrees its worth creating. But there is no disruption of the fact that nobody
believes you can do anything until you've already shown them that you can.
That takes work. That takes time. And that time is not part of your 'high
earnings' period generally.

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tikhonj
This is slightly tangential, but it seems Kickstarter has elicited some very
good behavior from Double Fine--the game is to be DRM-free and will support
Linux! I really want to see more games embrace both in the near future.

With that in mind, I wonder if Kickstarter could be the model for open source
games in the future. Of course, getting people to pledge for a game that will
end up free may be tricky, but I think it would be doable.

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MicahWedemeyer
I really love this analysis. People see a gigantically successful fundraising
campaign like Double Fine and they think Kickstarter is the magic sauce, when
in fact the sauce is good old fame and social capital.

