Videogame Kickstarter Campaigns with No Information. Why Do They Exist?

[dropcap size=big]K[/dropcap]ickstarter and Indiegogo are inundated with new campaigns on a daily basis. No matter your area of interest there’s almost certainly a handful of cool-looking things to catch your eye each week. In regards to the video game sphere, which is our area of focus here at Cliqist, this is especially easy to recognize. Just this past January we saw a tremendous amount of excellent campaigns launched within a short timespan of each other. STRAFE, Starr Mazer, Underworld Ascendant, and more brought tons of deserved attention. In this era of crowdfunding that necessitates 24/7 social media interaction, a great pitch, and doggone cool idea, how is it that we still see campaigns which offer none of that?

No, I’m not trying to throw my personal opinion of what a “good” and “bad” game might constitute. I’m talking about all those campaign pages which appear to have zero effort put into them. There’s almost never a video, rarely pictures (and when there are they showcase the most minimal aspects possible), and maybe three paragraphs at most of text. The project creator might be around, or it might appear as if they’ve completely abandoned the project after hitting launch. Whatever the case may be, projects such as these are almost certainly doomed for failure. So why even post it?

Despite the fact that sites like Kickstarter have been around for years now, there is still a real mystique surrounding them to many folks out there. Some of them may have just heard of crowdfunding for the first time a month ago thanks to a random news report or website article. Whatever the case may be, the allure of “free money for [doing anything]” is outrageously appealing. Heck, in the past I myself considered the prospect of running a Kickstarter! It seemed that there was so much attention being given to them that I could create a project worthy of some attention. In the end I could never come up with a project deserving of a spot on Kickstarter – and that was exactly the problem. If you think this way about crowdfunding then your mindset is incorrect!

You should come to Kickstarter because you have this burning passion to create a project and can find no other avenue to make it work. A jump onto Kickstarter or Indiegogo should not occur as the motivating factor to begin a project. It’s hard to say whether many of these no information campaigns are viewing crowdfunding in that way, but I do assume some are. After all, the concept of getting money from online strangers is very powerful. My reason to believe that so many folks do follow this mindset is because, if they actually had a multi-year passion project, they’d have something to actually say about their game! Instead, these people offer huge blanket statements that in no way show some creative spark or adoration for their own pitch.

Instead, potential backers see a whole lot of nothing. These campaign pages may offer a whole host of generalities which draw from popular gaming buzzwords and trends like “procedurally generated,” “zombies,” “crafting” and all that but little else. Without singling any one campaign out these trends are entirely common between them. They are also written as if receiving money via crowdfunding is expected instead of something that must be worked for. Perhaps such shoddy campaigns could have had a chance years ago, but certainly not today. If you love your project and want to see it funded, treat your campaign page with the utmost respect. Make it pop visually, provide information that differentiates your product, and most of all, show respect for your own creation.