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[Chris_W]

As the head of an indie Studio I have been looking into Kickstarter.  With a 5% charge being taken from the donations going to both Kickstarter itself and another 5% to Amazon, losing 10% of your donator's money right at the start seems wasteful.  Is everyone just donating to Kickstarter out of momentum, since they were the first to start Crowd Funding?  Or is there another reason?

I am trying to get my project (Escaping the Zed) at least started via PayPal, but if there is compelling reasons that I have not come across yet, then I may be forced to KS after all.  I just think that having to ask for an additional 4% in donations that I do not necessarily need (but could certainly put to good use), is wasteful.

Thank You for your responses!

[Amy Pond]

I don't know if I'm just naive and have got into a bad site but I joined Indiegogo instead of Kickstarter, they only take 5% unless your project fails it's goal when they take 10%. Sure someone more knowledgable can comment idk.

[Blademasterbobo]

 10% is nothing for what they offer (most important thing they offer being an actual audience.) you're gonna lose 5% to whatever people use to pay regardless, dude.

also if the 5%s are separate, it's only really 9.75% total 

indiegogo has no audience compared to kickstarter, most of the things i've seen on there are bad, and it has that stupid "you keep the money even if you fail" thing. just cuz of that last one, i don't even bother looking at anything on there.

[Eponasoft]

Virtually all other crowdfunding sites do the "keep the money even if you fail" model; Kickstarter, I believe, is the only one that is actually goal-oriented.

[GhostBomb]

If the developer gets to keep the money, what's there to stop him from just making a scam then running off with all the funds?

[brettchalupa]

Pissing off a bunch of people. That's about it.

Kickstarter will probably be ruined at one point by a bunch of people at once.

But yeah, there are no ramifications.

[Chris_W]

If the developer gets to keep the money, what's there to stop him from just making a scam then running off with all the funds?

Your name as well as your established history with the particular industry.  There are many projects that are run by people with little to no background, just an idea.  Basically, it is just a matter of trust and reducing your exposure to a scam.  Brett is right though, it will eventually happen and then the crowd funding site will either adapt or die.

[theSoupSmith]

I think the strength of Kickstarter lies not in the money, but the community it creates around your project.

Don't get me wrong the money is the reason people put their games up, but I think the long term value of it is that it creates an audience invested in your project. It gives people the opportunity to have been with something from the very start, and a personal connection to a game that they wouldn't otherwise have.

The one weakness that I see is it has the potential to harm a game if the Kickstarter fails. I have wondered, but not done any research, about projects that go forward even if their kickstarter failed and whether or not they have found success or if they are forever branded as "that game that people didn't like enough to kickstart".

[Hima]

I think the strength of Kickstarter lies not in the money, but the community it creates around your project.

Don't get me wrong the money is the reason people put their games up, but I think the long term value of it is that it creates an audience invested in your project. It gives people the opportunity to have been with something from the very start, and a personal connection to a game that they wouldn't otherwise have.

The one weakness that I see is it has the potential to harm a game if the Kickstarter fails. I have wondered, but not done any research, about projects that go forward even if their kickstarter failed and whether or not they have found success or if they are forever branded as "that game that people didn't like enough to kickstart".

I just backed a project that failed. It isn't a game but a movie. Still, people who back the project are willing to back the project again, asking the creator to start again with lower amount of goal or move to IndieGogo with flexible funding.

I think your first sentence is very true though. You could create a very strong community around your work, and to me the project I mentioned show that you'll still get to create community regardless whether you actually reach the funding goal or not.

[Chris_W]

That is an excellent point that I had not even considered.  Thank You!