Comments on: Legal Opinion: When Kickstarter limits game development

By: bronzed

bronzed — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:43:03 +0000

“While the traditional publisher model allows these changes to be managed by good communication between publisher and developer, consulting with the fifty thousand or so backers that you want to change your game mid-step is going to be… messy.”

assuming it got funded at all, since… you know… if they actually went to Kickstarter, then chances are no publishers are going to take it anyhow in the first place which kinda defeats the publishers advantage with direction shift.

By: coatsy22

coatsy22 — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:24:14 +0000

Theres already been a pile of pretty high-profile fails on kickstarter, just none that have involved computer games yet.

My favorite is the deadly jellyfish tank. Deadly to jellyfish that is :D

http://betabeat.com/2012/03/jellyfish-tanks-funded-54-times-over-on-kickstarter-turn-out-to-be-jellyfish-death-traps/

One thing that really should have been emphasised is that Kickstarter washes its hands of anything relating to refunds or failed projects. Backers are expected to work this out with the project creators – Kickstarter will have nothing to do with it.

http://betabeat.com/2012/09/kickstarter-reminds-us-backers-better-beware-because-theres-no-refunds/

that article covers most of Kickstarters hand-washing of the issue, but the main point of interest is:-

“Kickstarter doesn’t issue refunds, as transactions are between backers and the creator. In fact, Kickstarter never has the funds at all. When a project is successfully funded, money is transferred directly from backers’ credit cards to the project creator’s Amazon Payments account. It’s up to the creator to issue a refund, which they can do through their Amazon Payments account.” – Quote from the kickstarter creators/owners.

To get a refund you have to be able to figure out who actually has your money (dodgy peeps will just disapear). They have to be willing to give refunds and not be a tool about it, and if they aren’t they have to be sueable to get your money back. If the creators broke, noones getting refunds.

By: Nebby_99

Nebby_99 — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 05:31:09 +0000

I still prefer to view it as throwing money away with no entitlements at all. I’ll back projects this way, but only ones I trust and really want to see succeed.

There are a few that have failed already. The first one I backed was a solo musical album by Nataly Dawn. She asked for around $10K, got over $100K, then missed the delivery date and has signed with a label to get it done – whoops…

By: Patrick Vuleta

Patrick Vuleta — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:36:16 +0000

Oh and ha. I realised that waaay back in July, I made my own promise to Nekosan and James to look into legal aspects of Kickstarter. I finally delivered. ;)

By: Patrick Vuleta

Patrick Vuleta — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:27:46 +0000

Semi-related: One of the biggest sources of failure in non-gaming Kickstarters is where the product is made obsolete by commercial products before it finishes.

It’s a bit related to the situation of a game needing to change mid-development for any number of reasons.

By: bek

bek — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:07:18 +0000

If they get money from outside of kickstarter (like from paypal) it won’t be counted by kickstarter, and I suppose it’s perfectly possible they could loan money for the project.

I also agree it’ll be interesting to see a big kickstarter fail to deliver on its promised product/service.

By: skitzor

skitzor — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 03:33:39 +0000

I hate to say it, but I can’t wait to see a big kickstarter fail. it will be interesting to see what happens.

also, does anyone know if the money raised on kickstarter is their only source of money, or do they borrow more money with that “deposit”?