Maxistentialism

Newsarama interviewed me about Kickstarter and Double Fine Adventure:

Double Fine turned to Kickstarter and the general public to try to free itself from the traditional publishing system, but instead of metaphorically painting the ceiling of their Sistine Chapel for one Pope, they are now working for tens of thousands of individuals who have paid for the right to feel invested in the outcome of the project. As per custom, solicitors for funds on sites like Kickstarter offer premiums to their donors akin to public television tote bags, but for a small percentage of donors, this might not be enough.

“We got plenty of well-meaning but crazy emails,” explains Max Temkin, referring to the early feedback he received when he turned to Kickstarter to fund the printing of his card game Cards Against Humanity, and came away with almost four times his fundraising target. Such feedback, both positive and negative, turned into a benefit.

“A single great email that gives us a new idea is rare, but getting feedback from users in aggregate is an important part of how we created the game and continue to improve it,” Temkin said.

Further illustrating Schafer’s point about crowd-sourced funding seekers looking to take the power back from the large purse-string holders is proven in Temkin’s potential response to an overzealous donor. “If one of our backers tried to leverage their support to force us to change our idea,” Temkin says, “We would simply say, ‘Sorry to lose your support.’”