Kickstarter - stupid question

[Golden Girl]

I, uh, don't understand why you think the potential for a free statue is scamming, GG. Can you explain that a little further?

In any MMO there are 2 levels of reality - the lore/setting, and the players - and finding ways for the players to permanently affect the lore/setting is vital for immersion - letting players simply buy their way into it is unethical, because it sets up a real world financial barrier that has nothing to do with playing the game - players should earn a statue for being a badass hero during an epic storyline, not for having a badass bank balance.

[lapucelle]

I see. So how do you feel about unique costume pieces? Are statues unique here, or is offering costume pieces only to people who paid for them in the kickstart unethical?

Would you feel better about this if people could buy statues after the kickstarter ended?
Would you feel better about this if people could buy statues after the game launched?

In order for a MMO to be made, it is going to require an amount of money. Again, many MMOs cost as much as feature films these days. How would you suggest a company entice people to contribute that money, given that many kickstarter veterans say that physical objects often cause many more problems than they serve, often costing more than the money they contribute?

I believe Steve Jackson Games' kickstarter left them several thousand in a hole, simply because OGRE was such a success. 

[Zombie Man]

In any MMO there are 2 levels of reality - the lore/setting, and the players - and finding ways for the players to permanently affect the lore/setting is vital for immersion - letting players simply buy their way into it is unethical, because it sets up a real world financial barrier that has nothing to do with playing the game - players should earn a statue for being a badass hero during an epic storyline, not for having a badass bank balance.

You keep using that word, 'unethical,' I assure you, you don't know what that means.

[JaguarX]

You keep using that word, 'unethical,' I assure you, you don't know what that means.

well unethical means lacking moral principles. Which then what is ethical and unethical all depends on what is considered moral principles and who or what those principles are based of off which can vary from person to person situation to situation. So anything and everything can be ethical and everything and anything can be unethical. Depends on the person view.

Like many think it's unethical to kill, but ethical if the killing take place in a middle of a war while still some people think killing even then is unethical while a few minor few think it's ethical to kill for what ever reason they choose (although laws tend to draw the line so there is some sort of standard).

[Golden Girl]

I see. So how do you feel about unique costume pieces? Are statues unique here, or is offering costume pieces only to people who paid for them in the kickstart unethical?

That's just as unethical - if you're claiming to make a game for CoH players, gating costume pieces behind a time limited pay wall would be staggeringly bad decsiion.

Would you feel better about this if people could buy statues after the kickstarter ended?
Would you feel better about this if people could buy statues after the game launched?

If they don't clearly mark the KS ones as non-exclusive, it'd  be a bait-and-switch - but if they do clearly mark them as non-exclusive, then there'd be no motivation to buy them within the KS timeframe.

In order for a MMO to be made, it is going to require an amount of money. Again, many MMOs cost as much as feature films these days. How would you suggest a company entice people to contribute that money, given that many kickstarter veterans say that physical objects often cause many more problems than they serve, often costing more than the money they contribute?

The enticement should be the prospect of creating the game - an honest game project stands or falls by its ability to inspire perk-free donations.

[Golden Girl]

You keep using that word, 'unethical,' I assure you, you don't know what that means.

I know exactly what it means - which is why I'm using it for this kind of behavior.

[Aggelakis]

Well, the OP was answered and now we're off in weirdo wordplay land. Locking thread!