Why the PV13 crowdfunding is bad

We tend to post news in a neutral tone here and I did as much for BIS' PV13, though I later added in a negative recommendation in the conclusion. Still, I feel it'd be remiss to not highlight at all just how bad this crowdfunding campaign is. Destructoid offers a piece in its usual trolling tones trying to somehow make it seems like this reflects on all Kickstarters.

Our own WorstUsernameEver did a short but very to the point expose on this when posting the news on GameBanshee, summing up very well the ways in which this is wrong.<blockquote>First, there's no indication on the website of how much money is needed, or for that matter, how much money has been raised. You have to actually open the website's source code to unearth a widget that shows how much money has been raised so far, which strikes me as extremely counterintuitive. Granted, the way the campaign has been set up is undoubtedly quirky and humorous, but that doesn't really justify the lack of transparency.

Second, the crowdfunding campaign has been set up to get the money to develop a prototype. Frankly, I'm dumbfounded by this. If Interplay can't fund this prototype, why should I believe that they can fund the whole development cycle? I admit there's something I might be missing, but this doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence.

Third, as per the crowdfunding campaign's FAQ, donators won't get a copy of the finished title if and when it is completed.</blockquote>Gamespy offers an opinion piece on why you should not donate, while Gamasutra posted an opinion piece about how this is a case study in how not to do crowdfunding.<blockquote>Fair enough, you say -- Interplay has had this in the works for years, and to throw all of the work away over a dispute would be madness. But here's where it gets tricky. Bulgaria-based Masthead Studios was working on the original Fallout Online build, with the plan that it would be published by Interplay. With this move to Black Isle, there's no word regarding whether Masthead is on the project anymore.

More notably, the pledge page for PV13 fails to describe the game in any detail, refusing to even list the type of genre that the game will fall under. "We've had to make some major changes recently," it reads, suggesting that the MMO angle may well have been dropped -- but in place of what?

Why would backers want to put cash down for a project outline that is so incredibly vague and disconcerting? And what happened to all the work that was done at Masthead all these years? Is there really not enough there to put together a prototype and seek proper funding?

What is the money even going towards?

Even if you decide to look past all of this shadiness, it's pretty impossible not to raise a critical eyelid at the crowdfunding scheme itself.

Where it has become common practice to offer backer rewards for those putting funding toward your game, Black Isle has decided this isn't necessary. If you pledge $10, you'll be granted access to a special Black Isle forum. If you put down $20, they'll even let you post on the forum.

There is no way to receive a copy of the game by pledging -- even if you decide to put down $10,000 -- because the money isn't actually going towards a game at all. In fact, the money will be used to build a prototype, which Black Isle will then show to investors in the hope of gathering up moolah elsewhere.

And why is there no total figure shown at all? Shouldn't the entire point of open crowdfunding like this be that consumers can see how well the scheme is doing, and choose whether to be part of it? Hiding how much you've actually made is more than a little dodgy, truth be told.</blockquote>This is not a raging success so far, with that ticker currently standing at $2,023. But that's probably $2,023 too much. This really shouldn't be justified with any money, people, so stop it, please. Up your Wasteland 2 or Project: Eternity pledge or give it to Forsaken Fortress, which recently passed its funding goal. At least with those there's a non-zero chance you'll see something substantial for your investment.

EDIT: here is a page that shows their current amount raised, standing at $2,091.

 

Not exactly.

As for Chris T, I have no idea why he stays there. I know Fargo's been in contact with him though I'm not sure he offered him to jump ship. Fargo rescued Jason from the clutches of Interplay, maybe he can do the same with Chris.

Oh, don't get me wrong, this isn't some kind of big stamp of approval from me or a push to get them money. I think it's a worthy indie effort and glad it succeeded but I feel the same way about their pitch having a lot of dubious points.

My point was more of a "there are actual worthwhile things to give money to that might actually result in you seeing a game, compared to this BIS nonsense"