WOF: Have you pledged any money to crowd-funded projects?

[Jos]

Crowd-funding has really taken off over the last year or so, changing the way anyone from cash strapped manufacturers to aspiring inventors can execute upon their million dollar ideas with relatively little risk for themselves. Besides raising money it has also served as an avenue to get the community involved in the product development process, and -- with luck -- to build plenty of hype ahead of an actual launch.

According to recently released statistics from Kickstarter, more than 2.2 million people opened their wallets in 2012 to help fund more than 18,000 different campaigns. All together, backers pledged nearly $320 million over the course of the year.

Projects like Ouya, NCase M1, the Pebble smart watch and even a number of films and video games owe their existence to crowd-funding. But not every campaign is a success story and even those projects with thousands of supporters often struggle to live up to expectations or get the product out the door. With that in mind we want to ask: have you ever pledged any money to crowd funded projects? If so, what was it?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/51663-wof-have-you-pledged-any-money-to-crowd-funded-projects.html

 

[Craig C.]

I've pledged to thirty Kickstarter projects, two of which failed to launch, five of which have yet to launch, and a few of which haven't delivered yet. I love Kickstarter, and plan to use it myself soon for a board game I designed.

 

[TomSEA]

Yup - $50 to Hidden Path Entertainment (via Kickstarter) to make a sequel of Defense Grid: The Awakening.

 

[MrBungle]

Yup - $50 to Hidden Path Entertainment (via Kickstarter) to make a sequel of Defense Grid: The Awakening.

That game is so addicting... They definitely need a sequel!

 

[Greg S]

I have not and probably will not fund any projects like that. If I invest, I either want the whole company or a 51% equity.

 

[Guest]

I pledged $50 on KickStarter for Grim Dawn. I'm hoping to see some more progress soon. I also spent $50 on Path of Exile during Closed Beta when they initially started accepting support.

 

[Novulux]

A couple of video games, a book, and Oculus Rift.

 

[psycros]

Funded one game which is well into development by top industry talent. They couldn't get the useless publishers to care about anything that wasn't an online FPS, MMO or casual cash shop rubbish. Soon this studio will have the money to fund even more ambitious projects and the empty suits at EA and Activision will be kicking themselves.

 

[LukeDJ]

Sadly no As a student with a part-time job, I can barely afford to pay for my own projects

 

[Guest]

I've backed about 25 projects. I've mostly backed games projects, and I couldn't be happier. One thing I've found is that people make a whole big hoopla about shipping dates. For a lot of these projects, they're adding stuff or their estimations are way off base for what kind of product they are delivering. That's why I just basically "throw my money at it" and eventually wait for a product. My faith hasn't been shaken yet, and all projects that have started shipping have reached me, with good quality.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Only backed one so far, but hoping to change that.

It is Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey

 

[highlander84]

I just backed my first one off Kick starter. I really hope it goes. If this goes well, I'm sure in the future I will go with more. I think its a great way for small people to make big differences. If their produce/idea sucks no one will fund it. So its like a survival of the fittest for tech!

 

[madboyv1]

I've pledged money for a couple web comics that were making print releases. The only game I've pledged for is Star Citizen, which I'm totally psyched for. I'm thinking about putting money into that NCASE M1 mini-ITX case too...

 

[treetops]

I gave 10$ to wiki and 5$ to Obama lol. Pledged 5$ to grim dawn.

 

[Lurker101]

Nope. I'm a traditionalist. First, you make the product. Second, you market the product. Third, I check reviews of the product. Fourth, I buy the product.

I'm not paying for a product that doesn't exist yet. For gamers, pre-ordering has a nasty habit of biting you in the arse. This is moving the goalposts even further, with no real guarantee that what you're pre-ordering will ever exist.