Chris Avellone on Kickstarter Burnout

[Idiotfool]

Came across this a bit earlier about Chris' fears of the first wildly unsuccessful Kickstarter project and what it could mean for crowd-funding. Thought it was interesting - sorry if it was linked already.

http://www.gamesradar.com/project-eternitys-chris-avellone-worried-kickstarter-exhaustion/

 

[TheWesDude]

i agree that right now we are in the honeymoon phase.

grandiose promises, catering to niches


the first game that gets released that does not make the most vocal of their fanbase happy, will face a huge backlash.

"i funded YOUR game because i wanted features X and Y and you promised those features and you didnt deliver!!!"

notice i said most vocal....


or else the first one subject to numerous delays because they want to get it just right.


in other words, the first one that gets massive bad publicity for any reason... that will cause a problem. especially when you consider the life cycle of these. you will see people starting to want to invest later and later in the project.

so we will end up right where we are now where it takes a publisher.


it really could be done well, and create a boon for the market. but there will be sour grapes along the path. the question will end up being, were those grapes so sour they spoiled the harvest or just the vine.

 

[Crni Vuk]

and thats a surprise for anyone really?

I mean who would ever expect ALL projects to be succesfull? I would even go so far to say that only a handfull of projects will be good. Those where some professionals worke on. Ideas and concept alone are not going to work anyway. Look at the mod community for Fallout or any other game. It sure is not short on "ideas and concepts" ...

 

[Sub-Human]

and thats a surprise for anyone really?

I mean who would ever expect ALL projects to be succesfull? I would even go so far to say that only a handfull of projects will be good. Those where some professionals worke on. Ideas and concept alone are not going to work anyway. Look at the mod community for Fallout or any other game. It sure is not short on "ideas and concepts" ...

Agreed with you totally. I backed Wasteland 2 because of the people behind it. I could care less if Double Fine collected a million dollars within 24 hours.

 

[SnapSlav]

I think the point he was trying to raise wasn't that "not EVERY project will be successful", but that when one turns out less-than-delivering, the uproar will paint the WHOLE of fan-funded game production as a bad idea. Think the Mass Effect 3 ending debacle. No amount of good ideas or "doing it right" will make a difference if the screaming and whining is loud enough that it manages to undermine the best intentions. If, in Kickstarer's case, the fanatical bitching comes to the point of expressing that games SHOULD NOT be funded by Kickstarter, that would begin a domino effect that could potentially destroy many great developer's chances at creating some great games, simply because the FANS of another were disappointed (and not even because the actual "disappointing" game was necessarily so bad).

"Most vocal" doesn't mean they were justified.

it really could be done well, and create a boon for the market. but there will be sour grapes along the path. the question will end up being, were those grapes so sour they spoiled the harvest or just the vine.

I personally hope for the latter, myself.