You are completely wrong about what is precious about Kickstarter. If you expect projects to be on time you couldn’t have picked a worse thing than Kickstarter. That’s not what it’s good at. And it’s nevertheless completely awesome.
Take the Double Fine Adventure: It will completely overshoot the estimated delivery date by a long, long time. However, following its progress has been one of the most awesome media consumption things I have done this year. I don‘t even care if the game is ever released (well, I do, but only because I want Double Fine to do well, not for my own enjoyment).
At Kickstarter you give money to something that might or might not work out in the end, but that will most definitely overshoot its estimated delivery date – if it doesn’t it’s a fluke. That’s how you have to see it. Maybe that’s not something for you, but for me it’s great fun. And that’s all that matters.
I certainly understand the point of "crowd funding".
> If you expect projects to be on time you couldn’t have picked a worse thing than Kickstarter... Take the Double Fine Adventure: It will completely overshoot the estimated delivery date by a long, long time
This is a problem with estimation. It's way worse to overshoot a delivery time than deliver before it. This is poor project planning. If I would have known this, I perhaps would not have backed Double Fine Adventures.
> At Kickstarter you give money to something that might or might not work out in the end, but that will most definitely overshoot its estimated delivery date
I disagree fundamentally. If a project is funded, then it is funded. The backer rewards aren't qualified with "if we're successful". They're "you will get ___".
> if it doesn’t it’s a fluke.
If I didn't get my backer reward, then they stole from me. If I do, and I get it late, then they poorly managed their delivery date.
If people are not held accountable to deliver at all, which is what it sounds like you're proposing, then Kickstarter is not awesome but the biggest scam in history.
> At Kickstarter you give money to something that might or might not work out in the end, but that will most definitely overshoot its estimated delivery date – if it doesn’t it’s a fluke. That’s how you have to see it.
No, you don't.
Obviously there needs to be leeway given to projects that expand their scope after overshooting their funding, but shitty planning is shitty planning, no matter how you look at it. What possible positive effect is there in tolerating it? If anything it increases the likelihood of complete failure by removing sanity checks.
> Why do you care? I doesn’t sound like you would ever back anything.
Sure I would, but only if I was convinced that there was a realistic chance that it would actually be completed, that the people involved have the skills and motivation as well as a feasible project plan, and aren't going to dick around for a few months before they realize they promised more than they can deliver and give up.
> I will and enjoy it. No matter the outcome.
That sounds like you treat it like some sort of reality TV show, purely for entertainment value, without actually caring about the products. That's OK for you, but hardly the stated goal of Kickstarter. Besides, you said "I want Double Fine to do well" - if you want that, you should very much care about it meeting its estimated delivery date, because overshooting it a "long, long time" is A) bad for the product even if it is eventually finished, because potential players will lose interest, and B) a huge red flag that the developers don't know what they're doing and may not deliver at all.
> Don’t tell me how I have to feel.
That's funny coming from someone who just said "That’s how you have to see it."
Take the Double Fine Adventure: It will completely overshoot the estimated delivery date by a long, long time. However, following its progress has been one of the most awesome media consumption things I have done this year. I don‘t even care if the game is ever released (well, I do, but only because I want Double Fine to do well, not for my own enjoyment).
At Kickstarter you give money to something that might or might not work out in the end, but that will most definitely overshoot its estimated delivery date – if it doesn’t it’s a fluke. That’s how you have to see it. Maybe that’s not something for you, but for me it’s great fun. And that’s all that matters.