[Musings of a Game Store Owner] GGP: Kickin' It

I am interested in learning to ride a motorcycle. My local university offers a free rider's class that teaches you to ride, and if you pass the class, you can get your Class M license without having to take the test at the dreaded DMV. Several of my friends have taken the class and were offering me various bits of advice in the case that I take the class. Apparently they teach you on small bikes, and some of them are tricky to get started. A buddy of mine was saying that on these little bikes, it is totally ok to STOMP on the gas to get going.

That same idea is behind Kickstarter.

Can't get started? Need a little help? Kickstarter is the answer for many folks.




Kickstarter is a lot like passing the hat, but with a promise attached to the contents. You think up your idea, you come up with a great pitch, you ask your friends, relatives, neighbors and so forth to support it, and then ask them to tell THEIR friends, relatives, neighbors and so forth in hopes that they support you, too. Of course you have a goal for the amount you want to raise, and if your supporters promise that many dollars, you're in business. If you can't get enough support and don't hit your goal, no one is out any cash and you have to figure out another way to get some money.

Kickstarter is almost entirely dependent on social media to work. Facebook is an embedded program, and Kickstarter encourages you very heavily to sign up using your FB log in, and to share when you back a project. Kickstarted did not forget Twitter as a way to get the word out. You can also tweet to your followers about projects using shortened links, and encourage them to check out the goods as well.

If the idea is popular, innovative, novel, or just plain "cool", the hope is that your friends will click, check it out and share as well- and continue to do so until the project has gone fully "viral".

That's the idea.

Like all ideas, how things really work is often completely different. There are plus sides, and not-so-plus sides. There are glitches and there are great successes.

On the positive side, when something works, it REALLY works. Examples like Reaper, Redshirts, Get Bit! , Numenera and  Glory To Rome  show just how effective Kickstarter can be as a source for funding. It's also a way to get your project known and even helps develop a market for you to sell to once you have a finished product.

The ones that don't succeed? Well, you don't hear about them.

Kickstarter has some distinct positives as a funding venue:

It's easy.  Anyone with an internet connection and an idea can put a product onto Kickstarter for backing. There are no barriers and no "it's who you know" kinds of standards.

You don't need a finished prototype. If you have an idea for a miniatures game, but can't bust out the funds to mold and cast them, you're not totally boned. You can pitch with your rules and sketches of what the miniatures might look like and still be in business.

You can reach a wide audience very quickly. The extreme nature of the social media build-in for Kickstarter means that if someone with a lot of friends or followers shares your idea, you can be pitching to literally thousands of people overnight rather than just the 20 dudes you play poker with.

Rewards. You can offer cool and innovative goodies to folks that promise you money- and make the goodies get better as folks offer more money. PBS used this model for years and it worked, so why not do the same and get people fired up about your idea?

Kickstarter also has some very real downsides:

It's easy. You think the independent game designers are the only ones that have figured out that using Kickstarter is a way to get money? Sorry to burst your bubble, but as seen above, Reaper hit it BIG with Kickstarter. Guys like Steve Jackson Games and Monte Cook have also tapped into this super easy fundraising avenue, and come away with a lot of money. Trying to compete with those big guys and their slick, highly produced pitches can be exceptionally frustrating for a small scale operation.

It's easy, Part 2. Good production and a great pitch are some of the most fundamental elements of a successful Kickstarter project. Not everyone on there has those, and it's terribly obvious that they're not ready yet.  Badly hand drawn sketches and "I can haz moneez nao?" pitches can make Kickstarter projects look like a risk far too often. This "not ready for the big leagues" kind of assumption can bleed over onto serious, well thought out projects very easily.


You don't need a finished prototype.  If you have a great miniatures game idea, but no clue how to render, sculpt, cast or mold; you might have a problem. It's fine to pitch when your idea is still in the "planning stages"; but undone projects can make your backers very antsy. All it takes is ONE guy or gal that feels burned and delays, problems or just plain logistics that are legitimate reasons to be behind schedule can turn into the "flake" label very quickly.

There's no enforcement. Promises are only good if they are kept, and Kickstarter doesn't have any enforcement in place for those that take the money and run. It's entirely up to the folks behind the projects to actually hold up their end of the promisory deal, making many very leery of investing as freely as they might in other venues.

Rewards.  It's not good enough to have a great product, superb pitch and excellent supply chain awareness. No, on top of that. you have to lure potential backers to your idea with bonuses based on level of support. "Lame" rewards mean you won't get backed, and too many "pay to play" options burn your options for support as well.

The "Popularity" Problem.  This is where the clique-y "who do you  know" portion of   networking comes out. The more popular, well-read and well followed folks you know are higher on the tree of low hanging fruit. You start to gamble with what connections (direct or not) you can make to benefit your exposure, and the real honest to goodness connections you once had can up and disappear.

We've talked about a lot of the ups and downs of this particular avenue. But what is a Kickstarter project experience really like? I decided to find out. I got a lot of information for you guys and gals- so much that it deserves its own post.

Next week, I talk in depth with Matthew Sears, Mike Bohlman, and our very own Dethtron about the actual process and results of stomping on the gas, and whether their motorcycles are still running.