Saturday, December 7, 2013

Kickstarter or Indiegogo?

I asked this question on Facebook the other day, but want to gather opinions here too.

Do you have a preference for the Barrowmaze Complete and Miniatures campaign?

Would you rather see it on Kickstarter or Indiegogo? Do you have a strong preference either way?

17 comments:

  1. Strong preference towards Kickstarter.

    Not worried about you not hitting your funding, but getting charged, up front, regardless of whether or not the funding goal is hit isn't nearly as comfortable as getting charged once the smoke clears. It's also considerably more painful to handle changing contributions with IGG, since they're individual transactions that I've got to trust you can keep sorted out.

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  2. I'd prefer Kickstarter, although I can't say for sure if I'll pledge or not. But I will strongly consider it on Kickstarter and probably won't on Indiegogo, just from the inertia of not having an account on Indiegogo.

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  3. Kickstarter also lets you change your pledge far more easily. This is critical when you open up stretch goals and new options. I also think that it gives a lot more exposure to projects. And even though they take a little bit more, I think you'll end up with a higher total funding level.

    I missed the first two, so I'm looking forward to this one.

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  4. I only went on IndieGoGo once and looked through it to see if they had any RPG stuff, but it was filled with crap like send [X] to [Y]Con, projects asking for money to set up Minecraft servers and people begging ('I want an XBox/PS3/gaming computer').

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  5. After three campaigns there, IndieGogo has lost my support. One failed to fund (but was published later without art and was well worth it), one was about a year late, and a third saw 1/8 of the backers shafted on their perks (or more - that was the best tally I was able to get even though the project head admitted he had more names than I provided).

    That third one's the reason I won't support IndieGogo projects. Those of us who didn't receive our perks contacted their customer support numerous times and got the same canned responses each and every time. The sheer number of complaints prompted IndieGogo to delete the project page... which was how the funders were able to exchange information on the project head in an attempt to get either our perks or our money.

    At least with Kickstarter, there's a stronger infrastructure to protect both the funders and the funded. While you do run into the occasional Nystul or "The Doom That Came To Atlantic City!", there have been instances where Kickstarter has been instrumental in litigation against project heads who have failed to fulfill their obligations.

    When I saw the "Barrowmaze Complete" would be on IndieGogo, I was upset. I've been holding off on buying into Barrowmaze for want of a single, complete edition, and seeing the funding would be through a site I won't support... Well, I'd get it, just not as soon as I'd prefer.

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  6. On the one hand, IGG accepts paypal and gives you money if you aren't fully funded (if you pick that option).

    You also can't withdraw a pledge, so there is fewer shenanigans.

    OTOH, those things can be seen as disadvantages.

    I've pledged on it a couple times, and for the most part it's been good, but one time I pledged to this woman's operation, who said she was dying (this was in the video gaming press over the summer). IGG canceled it because the operation was something else, but I never got a refund and I don't think the project creator got the money, either. So I consider IGG more than a little shady if they kept at least some of the money from a canceled project...

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  7. Hi Kiltedyakman,

    I work at Inidegogo and head up their gaming division it would be great if we could jump on a phone call to discuss your upcoming IGG campaign to discuss best practices and ways that we can optimize it for success. My email address is John@indiegogo.com feel free sending me an email to discuss setting up a call.

    Best,
    John

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  8. The primary advantage of Indiegogo is that I've had two successful campaigns there in the past. I know how it works and there is a comfort level. The paypal option is a big bonus.

    On the other hand, Kickstarter charges slightly more, there is no flexible funding, but it is certainly more popular.

    It is a difficult call, to be sure.

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  9. I've had good and bad experiences with both.
    Kickstarter has more boosters. That makes it louder, not better.
    The project is more important to me than the vehicle.

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  10. You will get more money through kickstarter. It is bigger and will put your project infront of more eyeballs. If your going for the miniature angle Kickstarter already has a large community of wargamers, mini collectors used to using the platform. Seems a no brainer to me.

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  11. Yeah, I'm leaning to KS at this point. But there's time left before making a final decision.

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