There’s a long running reason why once I see an MMORPG utilizing Kickstarter for its funding, I say no thank you. The sham that is Star Citizen is one example (a continuously ongoing fundraising campaign of expensive assets for a game that has parts of it released in tiny playable pieces to give loyal backers something to experience part of what they’ve been scammed into); the actual complete game still has no projected release date and has been drama filled since it’s original successful $2 million Kickstarter back in 2012.
And the suckers seem to have an endless appetite for funding these scams to the point where the one thing these scammers have learned, is that the gaming community (especially MMO players) has way too many people with deep pockets that are too willing to buy into scam after scam. The keyword I am obviously repeating is SCAM. And those with less disposable income end up being sucked into overhyped promises (many which are too good to be true). If all of these concepts and ideas were such a grand slam home run, these “companies” sales pitch (including the actual game design and develop experience to back those concepts) would’ve resonated with actual venture capitalists and private investors. The fact these scams ended up utilizing Kickstarter for that fundraising, should be self-explanatory (but is obviously not). So we end up in PT Barnum territory.
There are more than enough articles and YouTube videos chronicling the ongoing scam that is Chronicles of Elyria (and that one actually raised several million before the ensuing drama that took place over the past couple of months). And as if there weren’t enough suckers to fall hook, line, and sinker for the next scam, along comes DreamWorld (which as of this writing, has raised $64K). Just the comments section on their Kickstarter page (which I’m not going to link for obvious reasons) should be telling.
There will be a point in time where there will be a major day of reckoning with how crowdsourcing campaigns are utilized for funding game development. It is safe to say that each one of these scams, is doing lasting damage to the game industry in general. It’s already bad enough with poor publishers treating a lot of developed titles, as a cash grab (with questionable monetization combined with subpar support). It doesn’t help when so called game development studios are utilizing these crowdsourcing platforms, to scam the general public. We need a precedent setting lawsuit (potentially the legal proceedings taking place against Chronicles of Elyria) and actual prison time for the principals perpetuating this type of fraud, to send a strong signal to future scammers. Until that happens, expect to see more “promise the moon” shysters fleecing supporters looking for the next big game.
