Adding a Little Vetting on the Kickstarters I Highlight - As Folks Tend to Not Do So On Their Own

I did a lot of talking about Kickstarters while at NTRPG Con. I know some of what's coming up, heard details about what's currently available and shared horror stories of the failures and the nearly so. Some of what I heard was surprising and some not so much.

One thing was clear though. Few backers or potential backers do even the most basic vetting of Kickstarters they may be potentially backing. They like it and the price looks good (and look at all the pretty pictures of awesomeness) and they're all in. Few look deeper. I'm going to try and attempt that slightly deeper look.

It isn't going to be an in depth vetting. I'll point out previous projects by the creator (if any) and look for the general feedback on quality and timeliness for them. I'll look at how many projects the creator has back and over what amount of time (did he just back a dozen to fill in his profile) and I'll give my opinion on the viability of stretch goals if any. If they are a known publisher, that will also factor into the vetting.

It's not a lot, but still more than most. I'm not going to give a letter or number grade. Just a simple opinion. Heck, my opinion of the project as a consumer may be different than the paragraph I'll come to when I do the vetting. Actually, I suspect that will happen more often than one might initially imagine.

The vetting I'll be doing isn't the be all and end all, but I'm hoping it will encourage others to take a closer look at the Kickstarters they are interested in backing and maybe increase the odds of skipping the ones with potentially major issues.

Last night's PEDION Kickstarter highlight included a very basic vetting. I hope to get a bit more in depth as I do it more often.

Feedback on this idea is of course welcome.