To take one last stab at the big debates going on with changing shipping costs, massive delays, and generally prices going up on Crowdfunding platforms because of what. What are we, as a consumer or investor owed by the company? Do they need to keep exactly what they promised, or is that unreasonable to expect?

Are We Consumers or Investors in Crowdfunding?

I think this is the starting point of the conversation. Because, I believe that what we should expect is different between the two and often people don’t consider that. When I say people, I mean both backers and the project creators themselves.

According to Kickstarter, and I believe Gamefound as well, we are investors in the project. This is important to note because it does not mean that we deserve anything more than the project creators best attempt to turn out a product. If they fail, well, our investment failed and we don’t have recourse.

On the flip side, a lot of backers and project creators, treat the backing as being a consumer only. If we are consumers only, we deserve a refund if they can’t fulfill. We pre-order something and we should have the ability to cancel a pre-order if we decide that we want the newer shinier thing.

However, by the letter of the law, crowdfunding has us not as consumers, though we will – most likely – get a product at the end. We are investors in what the company is doing, whether it is a bigger company like CMON or a small company that’s launching their first game ever. By that, they do not owe us a product.

What Are We Owed Then?

This is interesting, because by the nature of investing, we aren’t really owed the product. The project creator is promising us one, but we aren’t owed it. And we might need to pay in more for our investment to get that return, the game, from it. And that is kind of lame. I want to get my product, so you do. Thankfully most board game projects deliver, albeit maybe late or costing more.

However, since we invest in the game and the project, we should expect some things. Mainly, I expect good communication on the status of the project. Jesse from Quackalope did a very good video covering this.

But I want to talk about it more as well. Because I expect good communication. And I think what that means can vary from person to person. And for a project creator, it might not seem that people are reading your updates. Here’s a secret, most people aren’t and that is a good thing.

Communication

I expect consistent communication once the project is done. Let’s make it simple, pick a day of the month, the 1st, last day, 15th, whatever day you want, and give me an update that day. Even if it’s just a thank you for backing message with a little of an update on development, that’s great. In particular, a thank you and some pictures, I will love that.

What I don’t want is no message for four months. Then a short message, maybe a picture, and letting me know that shipping has doubled. I want to know shipping has doubled, but that shouldn’t be the only reason for sending me a message. If shipping is doubled, I want you to link to an article about the shipping crisis. And I want to know what if anything I need to do about it. But I also want the benign updates that things are progressing.

But People Aren’t Reading My Content

Now, that is just fine that they aren’t. I know it might seem wrong but you don’t want people reading them, you just want people getting them. If people are getting an update, they will see the e-mail or notification for it. Then they will know that things are progressing and skip what you wrote. Sending out the communication is about what it says, for some people, but also to reassure people you are still working on the game.

If you send updates sporadically now people will assume either production is starting, shipping is starting, or something has gone wrong. And people will read those and be primed to be frustrated when something is going wrong. Also, more people read it and more people are frustrated. If you put it out normally, even if announcing a delay, people feel like you are staying on top of it.

But I Don’t Have Much to Say

Again, that is fine. I invest in your project because I like the idea of it. But also, I invest in your project and your company. The point of the message is to keep your investors happy. And you want to keep two groups happy. First is the group that always complains, it’s a loud but small group. The second, also small, is the group who will defend you.

If you don’t send messages, you lose that second group. I am willing to go to bat for you and for my investment, because I invested in you, if you keep me informed. Instead of that, I will be critical of you if you do not send consistent messages. For example, I still kind of defend Grimlord Games, I understand it is not their fulltime job. But they do not send consistent updates, they are well delayed at this point. My willingness to defend them is reduced because they do not communicate.

On the flip side, when Nemesis Games sent out a message asking for more support for shipping, I will defend them. I understand that shipping is crazy, and because they communicate now I am willing to give them more grace. Same with Creative Game Studio. Even though they ran into issues with shipping and how things are being charged, they keep communicating.

So Is There More?

Honestly, it is all about communication. If you show that you are being responsible with my investment, setting aside money, building in margin, and communicating success and struggles that I need to know, I don’t need to know all of them. I feel like my investment is in good hands.

Yes, behind the scenes, you need to know what you are getting into. And I expect that before going into your crowdfunding project that you have a plan. If you don’t, if you don’t have plans for shipping, for production, if you don’t have estimates, you aren’t ready. And as Quackalope talks about, it is hard to make money on a first Kickstarter or Gamefound campaign. So plan contingency money, plan not for everything that goes wrong, but plan to communicate when it does.

It is important to keep it moving forward, and it is important to keep communicating. It might feel like added work, something you don’t want to stop work on the game for. But just a two paragraph message with a picture of playtesting, or an update that says what you are working on. I keep on harping on it, but that is what I expect as an investor.

Finally, yes, I expect to get a product at the end. And whenever that end might be. But if for some reason that can’t happen, I expect to know why. And if it is because everything costs 2000% more than when you ran your campaign, I will try and understand. It sucks, but things happen, and I want to be understanding, but that means I need to know through the process. And hopefully, eventually, I receive that product.

What do you expect from a crowdfunding campaign? Do you see yourself as a consumer or investor?

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