Monolith drops the nuts and bolts of Kickstarter campaigns

A couple years ago Tasty Minstrel Games attempted to leave Kickstarter and launch a game on IndieGoGo, presumably because they take considerably less money. It failed miserably, and vocal group demanded they go back to Kickstarter. That's what they did and they re-launched the campaign on KS. I personally have no particular love for KS, but I guess it's what people are used to, and all the completionists on the spectrum don't want change.

Kickstarter is THE storefront for the industry now.

A couple of my nieces are casual gamers, and they browse-shop on Kickstarter more or less everyday. You or I know to go to GMT or Steve Jackson Games to find stuff, but my nieces can't name a single game company if you asked them because they don't really care. They shop at the store for what looks good.

I can see the impact of this "pay it backward" mentality in the products. KS games just aren't that good. For every gem there are a dozen or more turds that are exercises in bad playtesting, bad rules, and FOMO stretch goal marketeasing to rope-a-dope backers into keeping these folks afloat.

I backed some games, they are OK. I don't know why I would do this and not support my local game store. I know retail is hell on everyone, but I feel like a local business needs me more than a big publisher that is exploiting my limbic system for an extra couple bucks.

@nthx1138: I made you a custom avatar. Your posts are always cogent, let's get you looking sharp!

I wonder how long this radical honesty of Monolith can last. Between this no-stretch-goal, real-funding target campaign and its Claustrophobia 1643 storefront campaign, it has staked its place as the “honest” Kickstarter publisher for the smarter consumer that doesn’t buy into the hype and tricks. On the other hand, it also ran the Batman campaign that may very well be the ne plus ultra of Kickstarter’s worst trends. Would this strategy even work if other publishers began to adopt it?

BUT... BUT... BUT... "KICKSTARTER IS NOT A STORE!" That's what they tell me! I know KS wouldn't lie to me! They just wouldn't! And all of the braindead KS stans also tell me it is NOT a glorified pre-order system! They tell me I am "crowdfunding an idea!" You mean to tell me this has all been bullshit since boardgame KS became a thing?!?! My world is crumbling, I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel.

I consider myself lucky to have only dipped my toes in the KS cesspool for a few games (Root, Innovation, uh......Fleet I think?) - and I can safely say I am done with the platform. No more extending multi-year interest-free loans to internet strangers for games that may or may not be half baked both in terms of playtesting and curing the plastic. Any true gems will hopefully make it to retail, and if not, oh well.

Even the preying-upon-FOMO stuff shouldn't work anymore, because so many of these buckets-of-plastic type games end up immediately going back to the well to run a 2.0 Kickstarter of the same damn game! So these rubes & dupes end up giving an interest-free loan to some publisher, who uses it to pay off previous debts to Chinese plastic factories, only to use said rubes/dupes as beta-testers so the publisher can turn around & run a new KS for a better version of the game.

Junk-kicker.