Kickstarter

I’ve been watching Kickstarter from afar for a while, not particularly looking for projects to back but watching as various people/companies/sectors I’m interested in have been experimenting with it. This week I finally backed a project.

The reason I haven’t backed any projects before even if I was interested are varied, but high on the list are combinations of: they’re not something I feel that strongly about; they’re already well backed (ie, well over the goal); or I just can’t justify the cost/benefit.

Some notable Kickstarter projects that I can remember looking at before are:

• The Ouya, which I’m still skeptical will ever survive it’s infancy
• The first Penny Arcade “no ads on the site” project, which I didn’t feel strongly about since I almost never visit the site, I just read the RSS feed and pop in for the comics when the come up. However I think this one is when I created my Kickstarter login, so I was tempted.
• Amanda Palmer’s project, which at the time I thought was awesome, but over-funded by the time I saw it, and I wasn’t as attached to her as I am now. If/when she does another I’ll almost certainly back it.
• The Lizzie Bennett Diaries DVD project – I loved the series, but don’t have a huge need to watch it again (though I am following the new series), and let’s face it this was destined to have huge backing as soon as it was announced

The project that finally got me to pony up some cash this week was the Penny Arcade ‘DLC’ podcast project. (note: runs until May 31st, 2013!)

Part of the reason was definitely the “impulse buy”, and Kickstarter has lowered the bar for this as much as possible. I think when I first looked at Kickstarter you couldn’t even back projects if you didn’t live in the US, which is obviously no longer an issue, and the whole site is just super easy to use.

Another reason is that I generally trust the PA folks to deliver on what they promise, so I’m not worried about handing over money and them cutting and running, or just not delivering. They’ve proven with PAX (which I really want to go to someday) and Child’s Play charity and various other projects that they’re good people in my books, and I’m willing to front them a few $$ for something I value.

Which brings me to the main reason – like many people featured in the video on the Kickstarter, I’ve really missed the PA podcasts. They were one of my favourite podcasts ever, I really looked forward to them coming out on their previous irregular basis, I was sad when they stopped, and I’d really like to get them back. And I’m willing to express how much I value them by sending along some money.

Which I think is pretty much the whole point of Kickstarter.