Kickstarter
Oct. 3rd, 2017 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynThis is a random review of my Kickstarter experience. No reason for it. Someone just started talking about their own Kickstarter stats and I started reviewing my own spending patterns, and return on investment. Since I’m musing. No one else needs to read my Kickstarter statistics, though. Do they?
I joined Kickstarter in June 2014, to back (of all things) a set of loose leaf teas. I’m pretty sure this was for Jeremiah. Since then I have backed 30 projects, 27 of which have been successful, costing me, in total, $2,288. I sort of wish I didn’t know that. But apparently I now do. If it helps, I’ve spent more money on LRP over that period. I mean, it doesn’t really help me. It mostly makes me agonize on how much I spend on hobbies. But maybe you’ll judge me less. Or differently. Or more.
I spend a lot on imaginary worlds, it seems.
The cheapest Kickstarter I’ve backed was $1, to conserve Dorothy’s ruby slippers in the Smithsonian. The most expensive has been 7th Sea, where I paid over $1000 for a character to be made canon (WORTH EVERY PENNY), plus the complete 1st ed pdfs and the complete 2nd ed hard copies of the books (also WORTH EVERY PENNY). My average spend on a Kickstarter is $85, although in reality, the vast majority were considerably less than that – 21 projects backed were $66 or less, and 18 projects were $40 or less. I’ve only actually splashed on a couple of big ticket items and the 7th Sea Kickstarter cost me more than three times the amount I spent on the next biggest spend – that was $350 on getting my picture put in werewolf sourcebook, as part of the W20 Shattered Dreams Kickstarter.
So, those are the stats.
Next, the breakdown on what I get out of Kickstarter.
Because I live my life by spreadsheet, I decided to move all my Kickstarter games into columns – ‘lost reward’ (this covers two RPGs I backed, received, quite liked, but got lost in the house move from London to Scotland), ‘received reward, never used it’, ‘received reward, used it, not worth it’, ‘received reward, used it, worth it’ and ‘not received reward yet’.
Currently there are 2 games that got lost in the house move. So, my apologies to ‘wield – a little game of ancient powers’. You looked excellent. I really liked you upon reading through. I may even replace you one day. But you were lost. Also, apologies to ‘a world of dew – a samurai noir role playing game’. I’m going to be honest – I liked the look of you less. But I might have grown to love you if I’d given you a chance.
There are 3 games on the ‘not received’ list yet, none are stupidly delayed and I’m currently not wallowing in bitterness as a result (yes, Puppetland. I’m going to talk about you in a bit).
So that’s 22 projects I’ve backed and received rewards for. What is the dud/success ratio there?
There are actually only 7 projects who’s rewards either went onto a shelf and were never used, or were used once and weren’t worth it. Which I’m kind of OK with. And at least 2 of those were basically throwaways – I threw $5 at SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1 because it was a war gaming project which I was never going to play, but wanted to show my support for SLA, and I think I threw something similar at a bunch of Old West Gunslingers Playing Cards for a pdf of a pretty cowboy because I thought the project was cool but didn’t need playing cards. They sent me a picture, I looked at it once and moved on. I don’t regret losing $10 on encouraging random creative gaming types. So, really, I only wasted money on 5/27 projects. Of those 5 projects, 3 were RPGs that looked cool, but when they arrived they either weren’t my cup of tea, or were games I was just never realistically going to get any of the people I currently game with to try. 1 was a card game I think I planned to give someone as a Christmas present and then it arrived after Christmas, which taught me a valuable life lesson about Kickstarter timing. And I have no idea what the last one was and I really ought to actually click through to Kickstarter and discover it. I ticked it off as received so it must have arrived. Um. Did anyone else back Bluebeard’s Bride? What is it? What did I do with it?
Next, 15 projects backed in which a reward has arrived, and I view as worthwhile. That’s 6 RPGs, 2 tea related projects, 5 art related projects (ranging from a colouring book, to a comic, to a Lovecraft picture book to a random $2 original art project which I still think was fun), 1 museum conservation project and a set of weird dice which I think I gave to Jez for a Christmas present one year.
I’m sort of pleased I’ve got range there. On a totally personal and non-mathematical note, reading through that list I actively smiled at the sight of; Deluxe Werewolf 20th Shattered Dreams, Undying, Storypath cards, Pugmire Fantasy Tabletop RPG, Littlest Lovecraft: The Horror Collection, Conserve Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers, Brigantia (Issue #1), 7th Sea Second edition. All those Kickstarters come with good memories and I would actively back them again. There are a couple of things that got given as presents, and so served their purpose, and a couple of things that were cute for a while, but I have no real emotional attachment to, and there’s Puppetland which fills me with old bitter thoughts and is my current example of how good people can mean super well and have loads of good ideas for an awesome Kickstarter that wanted to make a lot of enthused backers very happy, and turn into disappointment and tears.
So 8/22 projects have provided me with ongoing joy. Which, considering the other stuff I’ve bought in that period, isn’t bad. And I’ve only really spent any kind of significant sum on 1 project which disappointed me, which is Puppetland. Which is probably why I was so disappointed, actually. If I’d paid $10 for Puppetland I’d have liked it. And probably been less bitter about the epic (I think nearly 2 year) delay, and poor communication, and pretty loose relationship between the picture I sent them to be added into the book and the picture that came out. I mean, I don’t regret backing Puppetland, in that I loved the original game and I’d have been sad to miss out. But I wish I’d paid less.
Although I guess maybe they charged too little or something. I don’t know. I paid about twice as much for my picture in Undying (which is currently my gold standard for ‘paid for picture – TOTALLY WORTH IT’) and got a book which was much less glossy than Puppetland, but more playable, delivered on time, and with art I really loved.
So that’s me and that’s Kickstarter. What about you?
I joined Kickstarter in June 2014, to back (of all things) a set of loose leaf teas. I’m pretty sure this was for Jeremiah. Since then I have backed 30 projects, 27 of which have been successful, costing me, in total, $2,288. I sort of wish I didn’t know that. But apparently I now do. If it helps, I’ve spent more money on LRP over that period. I mean, it doesn’t really help me. It mostly makes me agonize on how much I spend on hobbies. But maybe you’ll judge me less. Or differently. Or more.
I spend a lot on imaginary worlds, it seems.
The cheapest Kickstarter I’ve backed was $1, to conserve Dorothy’s ruby slippers in the Smithsonian. The most expensive has been 7th Sea, where I paid over $1000 for a character to be made canon (WORTH EVERY PENNY), plus the complete 1st ed pdfs and the complete 2nd ed hard copies of the books (also WORTH EVERY PENNY). My average spend on a Kickstarter is $85, although in reality, the vast majority were considerably less than that – 21 projects backed were $66 or less, and 18 projects were $40 or less. I’ve only actually splashed on a couple of big ticket items and the 7th Sea Kickstarter cost me more than three times the amount I spent on the next biggest spend – that was $350 on getting my picture put in werewolf sourcebook, as part of the W20 Shattered Dreams Kickstarter.
So, those are the stats.
Next, the breakdown on what I get out of Kickstarter.
Because I live my life by spreadsheet, I decided to move all my Kickstarter games into columns – ‘lost reward’ (this covers two RPGs I backed, received, quite liked, but got lost in the house move from London to Scotland), ‘received reward, never used it’, ‘received reward, used it, not worth it’, ‘received reward, used it, worth it’ and ‘not received reward yet’.
Currently there are 2 games that got lost in the house move. So, my apologies to ‘wield – a little game of ancient powers’. You looked excellent. I really liked you upon reading through. I may even replace you one day. But you were lost. Also, apologies to ‘a world of dew – a samurai noir role playing game’. I’m going to be honest – I liked the look of you less. But I might have grown to love you if I’d given you a chance.
There are 3 games on the ‘not received’ list yet, none are stupidly delayed and I’m currently not wallowing in bitterness as a result (yes, Puppetland. I’m going to talk about you in a bit).
So that’s 22 projects I’ve backed and received rewards for. What is the dud/success ratio there?
There are actually only 7 projects who’s rewards either went onto a shelf and were never used, or were used once and weren’t worth it. Which I’m kind of OK with. And at least 2 of those were basically throwaways – I threw $5 at SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1 because it was a war gaming project which I was never going to play, but wanted to show my support for SLA, and I think I threw something similar at a bunch of Old West Gunslingers Playing Cards for a pdf of a pretty cowboy because I thought the project was cool but didn’t need playing cards. They sent me a picture, I looked at it once and moved on. I don’t regret losing $10 on encouraging random creative gaming types. So, really, I only wasted money on 5/27 projects. Of those 5 projects, 3 were RPGs that looked cool, but when they arrived they either weren’t my cup of tea, or were games I was just never realistically going to get any of the people I currently game with to try. 1 was a card game I think I planned to give someone as a Christmas present and then it arrived after Christmas, which taught me a valuable life lesson about Kickstarter timing. And I have no idea what the last one was and I really ought to actually click through to Kickstarter and discover it. I ticked it off as received so it must have arrived. Um. Did anyone else back Bluebeard’s Bride? What is it? What did I do with it?
Next, 15 projects backed in which a reward has arrived, and I view as worthwhile. That’s 6 RPGs, 2 tea related projects, 5 art related projects (ranging from a colouring book, to a comic, to a Lovecraft picture book to a random $2 original art project which I still think was fun), 1 museum conservation project and a set of weird dice which I think I gave to Jez for a Christmas present one year.
I’m sort of pleased I’ve got range there. On a totally personal and non-mathematical note, reading through that list I actively smiled at the sight of; Deluxe Werewolf 20th Shattered Dreams, Undying, Storypath cards, Pugmire Fantasy Tabletop RPG, Littlest Lovecraft: The Horror Collection, Conserve Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers, Brigantia (Issue #1), 7th Sea Second edition. All those Kickstarters come with good memories and I would actively back them again. There are a couple of things that got given as presents, and so served their purpose, and a couple of things that were cute for a while, but I have no real emotional attachment to, and there’s Puppetland which fills me with old bitter thoughts and is my current example of how good people can mean super well and have loads of good ideas for an awesome Kickstarter that wanted to make a lot of enthused backers very happy, and turn into disappointment and tears.
So 8/22 projects have provided me with ongoing joy. Which, considering the other stuff I’ve bought in that period, isn’t bad. And I’ve only really spent any kind of significant sum on 1 project which disappointed me, which is Puppetland. Which is probably why I was so disappointed, actually. If I’d paid $10 for Puppetland I’d have liked it. And probably been less bitter about the epic (I think nearly 2 year) delay, and poor communication, and pretty loose relationship between the picture I sent them to be added into the book and the picture that came out. I mean, I don’t regret backing Puppetland, in that I loved the original game and I’d have been sad to miss out. But I wish I’d paid less.
Although I guess maybe they charged too little or something. I don’t know. I paid about twice as much for my picture in Undying (which is currently my gold standard for ‘paid for picture – TOTALLY WORTH IT’) and got a book which was much less glossy than Puppetland, but more playable, delivered on time, and with art I really loved.
So that’s me and that’s Kickstarter. What about you?
