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Modern crowdfunding is awesome, and allows for some truly amazing results. It's important, though, to realize that not all crowdfunding platforms are the same, and not all projects can be crowdfunded.
I remember I once saw a particularly nasty tumblr user - racist, homophobic, etc - who had enough enemies and "haters" that she decided to try to monetize them. She created a Patreon, promising that if she received sufficient pledges, in exchange, she would not post for a day, or a week, or a month. Needless to say, I do not feel that this is an appropriate use of Patreon.
Conversely, I kinda wish that any and every artist who puts out work regularly - regardless of how they do it - had a Patreon or something similar to which I could contribute. I love Steven Universe, for example, but I don't have any sort of TV-watching apparatus that serves up associated commercials, and I really have no need for merch. I really just want to hand Rebecca Sugar a wad of bills and tell her to keep up the good work.
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0719-------------------------------------
(Friday morning, INT: WW and SW's apartment, living room)
JH: Well, that's all fine. No Coke, no naked lady balloon. Anything else?
WW: Nope, I think we're all good. Next step is to shoot a little video for the Kickstarter.
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JH: Wait, what's all this now? Why are we using Kickstarter?
WW: We don't have to use Kickstarter if you want. There are other crowdfunding options - Indiegogo, RocketHub, Fundable, we could set up a Patreon...
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JH: No, I mean why are we "crowdfunding" at all? The game is essentially done. All we have to do now is exchange goods for currency, there's no reason to be all... Internetty about it.
WW: That's just how things are done these days, Jamie. It's essentially a way to build buzz and take pre-orders.
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JH: I guess I figured we'd build buzz and take pre-orders by building buzz and taking pre-orders.
WW: Hey, you want to stand on the street corner and sell it like it's heroin cough syrup, be my guest, I'll be over here in the twenty-first century when you're done.
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