Kickstarter fatique……

[midnightblueParticipant 1300xp 1]

I’ve backed (and am backing) way, way too many Kickstarters.

I agree with what others have said…it’s here, it’s probably the predominant means of producing games these days, even from well-established companies, and it would be a crime not to discuss them on a gaming website/forum.

That said, from a gamer who used to truly love roaming his FLGS shelves and aisles to see what new game/supplement came out recently…Kickstarter has killed that aspect of gaming enjoyment for me.  There are very few games I buy today that don’t hit store shelves without going through KS first.

The “KS delay” would be the other aspect that is starting to fatigue me on that format.  As a general rule, KS is a process meant to get funding to create a project.  Therefore that project is going to take time, and time beyond an “estimated” delivery date is also to be expected.  My problem comes in two varieties.  One, the excitement I felt for a project for a year or more before its release has not always lasted until the project hits my doorstep.  Two, companies who use this as their primary format don’t always plan for the long haul with their KS developments in mind.  I won’t name names, but in at least one case, I received an overdue KS RPG book after the process for a revised edition of the core rules had begun.  And then with this same company, I received an overdue KS RPG book after the announcement that the entire core system was going to a new edition.

I know I’m not the strapping young lad I was when I first grabbed D&D 1E, and with all the amazing RPG (and minis games) we are seeing, I’m not suggesting we go back to those barebones days.  But I’m having a hard time keeping up.

I really envy folks that can just buy a single game, become fully engaged with it, and never feel the need to try anything else.  My “gotta have them all” personality is suffering in the days of KS.

As for fatigue from hearing about Kickstarter projects, I can’t really say I’m there.  After all, KS is merely the financing/advertising/distribution format chosen by the game companies.  I guess it would be like me saying, “I’m tired of hearing about Amazon products.”  If KS is where the games are, then as a gaming addict, I need to hear about KS projects.

Now if the question becomes, “Is KS helping or hurting the gaming/game store industry?”  I’d have a few things to say there in the negative, for sure.

Great OP topic, by the way.

[phoenixman 3056xp 0]

I think Kickstarter is good at what it does, but like everything it has its faults, and for me the biggest is you have to back a project to comment or ask questions about it.

I assume BoW get money via advertising, and if they do I have no problems with it, and totally understand why they do it as they have running costs to cover.

My other issue with Kickstarter is not exactly with them, but some of the companies who use them, when given the size of the company they could just fund the game themselves.

I have bought games via this route and will continue to do so, but maybe I will be a bit more choosy from now on

 

[osbad 4279xp 0]

I did read your post and didn’t take that as your main point.  I thought your main point was what you concluded with – that BoW was becoming too focussed on KS.  If that wasn’t your main point, then fair do’s.

If your main point is that certain KS games are covered multiple times in their cycle whereas other releases not so much, then if that happens I haven’t noticed it much.  But then I routinely scan news from multiple sources and readily ignore the 99% of stuff that doesn’t pique me so I’d probably not notice anyway.

[onlyonepinman 18061xp 0]

I don’t see why you would have an issue with Kickstarters – a product is a product whether it’s being Kickstarted or funded out of a business’ own pocket.

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

Again we’re wandering a bit off topic (although I did start it). The point is “Does the marketing for a KS 6-12 months down the road deserve front page news (rather than being on the forums, which is much more suitable in my opinion)? When “other” news is being missed for actual releases due to time and space constraints”

It’s not just BoW, its basically all of the “broad coverage” mini wargaming news sites. We see “news articles” with concept art, perhaps a render when the KS is 6 months away. Wouldn’t it be better to feature this kind of thing when it’s a month away (when the hype actually matters), rather than covering it and missing out on none KS news.

Some of the news is just marketing that has the purpose of maintaining your company profile (little content, but you get mentioned), and is a pretty common business practice (can’t fault them for that).

Again, not suggesting any embargo on KS news, but rather a “focus” on timely news, when products are being released (or will be within a month or two). This goes for non KS news as well. It’s only an issue when news gets missed due to space and time constraints, if it’s a slow news week…then post about the speculation news items. However a lot of news sites are either being bombarded with news promoted by various companies that sole intent is to grab headline space away from any competition (again a common business practice), but of late a lot of these news items are either for something so far down the road it ends up getting reposted again nearer launch or contains very little news in itself.

Somethings could be brought up in the forums and discussed if you are already interested in it (and no doubt other would join in the discussion), however the usual reader is just skimming the front page for news (which is why I said I’m seeing the word “Kickstarter” and I’m starting to treat it as spam. Perhaps I’m starting to treat it as spam as I’ve seen so many of late with very little “news” in them).

Many sites are missing news of actual launch products and new releases and covering things that could matter 6 months away. Perhaps the problem is theirs too much news these days (after all we are in a golden age for the hobby), but it’s up to the news sites to better prioritise how they cover things perhaps. BoW isn’t the only place I’ve posted about this recent trend (I’ve not got an axe to grind against the team), but again perhaps this is all middle aged rage and I need to go and buy a sports car or something (or write to Points of View on the Beeb) 😀

 

 

 

 

[avernosKeymaster 33947xp 1]

another thing to take into account is the sheer volume of releases, they require someone to find them and post them. If they get missed it’s not because the OTTers are solely focused on Kickstarters, it may just be that they haven’t heard of the release. I know I annoy @brennon‘s happiness by spamming new and upcoming releases for smaller companies on a regular basis. Some of these make it to the news and some do not. I appreciate that he’s one man and can’t mention everything, when it doesn’t get picked up a few days after I pointed it in his direction I tend to make a forum post instead to direct people in that direction.

At the end of the day the OTTers are still a very small company with limited resources so not everything can make it to a news story, in which case starting a forum thread is the best way to help everyone out.

[jamesedwardsParticipant 1101xp 0]

Running a kickstarter would surely require the creator to get all their marketing stuff organised — images, content, release dates etc. & they probably do it much better than a different company that is churning out yet another update. I imagine this has an impact on what BoW display — a packaged up media-friendly release is always going to get more news hype than something amazing that isn’t explained or packaged properly.

So I think that non-Kickstarting businesses need to look at their marketing efforts a bit more to compete for eyeballs. Get a PR release ready for any new product, give it 3 stages (concept, pre release, released), and see if that makes an impact.

[brennonKeymaster 31029xp 2]

We cover a lot of Kickstarter stuff because it’s very relevant to the industry at the moment and a lot of companies that would normally have released their content by traditional means (whatever that means nowadays) are using Kickstarter as the launch pad for their products.

However, I am fully aware that there are companies out there doing things the old way and traditional releases happening all the time – I just don’t get enough time in the day to cover them all. However, if anyone in the community does have some news that they think is worthy and has been missed then do as @avernos has done and private message me here on BoW with whatever you think is relevant and I will chase it up.

If I had my way I’d talk about small companies all day long and what weird new things they’re doing, but we also have to talk about the big folks doing their thing as a lot of people want to know what’s going on on that front.

Hopefully, in the near future, we will have our Kickstarter Blog back somewhere on the main page. With that in place, a lot of the Kickstarter coverage will shift back to there (as it did a few months ago) and the focus of the news will be back towards looking at what you’re hoping for.

I totally get and understand everything you’ve talked about, and I know you’re not ‘having a go’ as it were – I get Kickstarter fatigue as well – @phaidknott and will be endeavouring to find new ways to share the news.

[onlyonepinman 18061xp 0]

Due to the nature of the BoW website, nearly everything is “front page news”;  all announcements end up in the side bar and gradually fall off the bottom as newer stories appears.

 

Additionally, we might ask ourselves what is the point of BoW telling us news at all?  If the intention is to try and make us aware of newnand exciting products that we might be interested in and ultimately wish to purchase then informing us about Kickstarters before they start or as they’re running is pretty vital.  Telling me about a Kickstarter 6 months after the funding period concluded is more than a little useless – at that point it’s definitely not news, it’s history.

I don’t really see why it’s such an issue putting stories up about Kickstarter.  They’re news in the same way that new releases constitute news.

 

A function of BoW is to help promote products and future releases to help generate interest and eventually sales.   For new release that means telling us about them before they’re released.  For Kickstarters it means telling us about the Kickstarter well before it happens.

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