Can We Trust Kickstarter?

It has been close to three years since the Kickstarter fad started.

Before I go on to say my two cents, I have to say here that I had not given a single cent to any project, so take my opinion with a metaphorical fistful of salt.

I am aware that there have been some so-called successes, but for some of these, I have experienced the "full" games which came out of them first-hand; they are not the second-coming of messiahs as their supporters would make them out to be. They have problems.

For example, (you might not know this game) Expeditions: Conquistador was an infuriating experience for me; that game's "minimum" requirements don't tell you that you need more for the second campaign in that game.

As for the failures, I will just call them for what I strongly believe they are: failures. The main problem with them though, is that it is not just the game-maker which shoulders all the risk of failures; backers do as well. Even if backers demand refunds, the heartache and hassle is not likely to be worth it.

To summarize, I don't believe in crowdfunding anymore. It is not - and has never been - a maker of dreams come true. What it does is distribute the risk to people other than the ones who run the project.

(Credit to saturatedbutter; dude's the earliest person I know to use a phrase similar to "distribute the risk".)