Lets take a look at Call of Cthulhu: The Withering Dark - Playing Cards and Tarot Kickstarter.
Estimated delivery: April, 2014.
Last update: August, 2016.
Number of Backers: 1626
Monies raised: Over $116k
Pledged by your Tavern Keeper: $72
Received by your Tavern Keeper: Jack Shit
Quality of sample art: Awesome
Shit happened. The updates aren't backer only, so any can read, but they detail enough in the way of personal events that, should you desire to read them, you have the link but I am not going to copy and paste. My summary is this - if you don't know how to manage money, run a business and are at risk for bouts of depression, Kickstarter IS NOT for you. Great ideas with piss poor planning and implementation as well as inability to cope with the associated stress leads to shit shows like this. While I feel for the creator, eight months of radio silence since dropping the "personal baggage bomb" eats away at whatever sympathy I have.
My expectations?
Gareth is more likely to deliver. Hmm, need to check up on him now...
I am to the point now where I do not give a rat's behind what your personal issues are. This is a business proposal like any other business. Just because the end product is a game does not excuse you from crappy business decisions or bilking your customers. You made a project ideal, you promised a finished product people bought a finished product. We are not investors or share holders. There is no dividend or gamble involved, or there shouldn't be because kickstarter backers are not trying to play the stock market. We are paying for a product, and if you do not turn in said product in a TIMELY manner that follows the schedule you set forth there should darn well be repercussions. This attitude in society of "Hey I made the effort so that is good enough, I should get rewarded" is absolute bull hockey. You get paid for a finished task, product, or service. Period not half attempts and oh feel bad for me words. Business is business, if were friends or family I can have compassion, but if I don't know you from adam and money has exchanged hands you better deliver what was promised. You don't drive into Mcdonald's pay your bill and drive away without your food.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the very idea of "kickstarting" something means you are putting money towards a business idea or startup company. That investment of capital goes along with inherent risk. Sucks balls when shit doesn't pan out, but that's the way things go.
DeleteKnow and trust those you invest in.
I can't view it that way. I liken it more to Etsy, you are a small company or individual making a product that may or may not be limited in nature. You are simply trying to figure out who is interested and if enough are to hit your profit goal, you press on and go into production on it. An investment, you buy into for CONTINUING returns back. I buy stock not for a one time good deal but so I can continue to reap money from my initial buy in. Once a kickstarter is over a supporter isn't crap back other than the product they hoped to receive. I realize this is all semantics, but I truly am tired of excuse after excuse from all these kickstarters, but sadly I don't have a better idea for these folks to get their start at. I love the fact it brings ideas to fruition that would not otherwise have occurred but hate the fact so many of these ideas end up being attached to folks who clearly have no idea how to run a business.
DeleteJust priced out the costs for printing and shipping cards. There is no sound reason this can't be profitable. Not holy cow I'm swimming in money profitable but defiinetly profitable.
ReplyDeleteSadly, Gareth has yet to update the KS again since he sent out some material (though nothing strictly new) awhile back. In response to a personal email from me, he mentioned a "family emergency" some weeks ago. I have since been in unrelated discussions with him on social media, so he appears to be able to make short online posts, but nothing on KS.
ReplyDeleteOh, also I got unfriended by Ken Whitman on FB after I mentioned his KS debacles. He had started a "What has Ken stolen from me" game. I think you were supposed to just make stuff up :)
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ReplyDeleteI was stoked to find the tarot deck, which is used in my new project. It was perfect, and fit the Lovecraftian Weird West theme like a glove! That stoked feeling quickly vanished when I saw this was another that slipped down the rabbit hole.... Sigh
ReplyDeleteWell, when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest problem is, the shit that beckons people to back a KS and drives them into overdrive (the add-ons and stretch goals) are the things that kill your margin. So after kickstarter, the bank, and the government take their cut, I'm sure many a creator is left with way less than what they thought they'd end up with. And then there's the insane amount of time required to fulfill even the barest bone kickstarters. I'm actually not surprised as many gaming-related kickstarters fail to deliver as they do.
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