Post by Layla Littlenymph on Feb 1, 2016 19:54:50 GMT -5
Let me get this out there right at the start.
I Love Kickstarter.
Kickstarter is an awesome concept that has done many people a world of good. So why is it that I have reached the point that I have come to hate the fact that I still love them? This is my perspective as an avid gamer.
I guess it would be fair to say it began with the outright scams. How many horror stories have there been about unscrupulous game producers putting product ideas on Kickstarter that they never had any intent of completing, after collecting thousands in donated seed money? The only good that has come from that is when those same producers moved to gaming sites like Steam to sell Early Access for their broken products, it eventually forced the likes of Steam and others to institute a long overdue refund policy. A silver lining in every cloud I suppose, but it still left Kickstarter contributors out in the rain. But is this Kickstarters fault? Can they actually do anything to curb scams like this aside from blacklisting unscrupulous producers AFTER the fact? Is this just another example of a great idea brought to ruin by base, opportunistic, human nature?
As if the scamming were not bad in its own right, another trend has begun to emerge that I dislike. It is nothing even borderline illegal in any way; simply something which leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The game industry is a tight knit group, despite the fact that it has a reputation for being somewhat mercenary. From humble animator to corporate CEO, a position within this industry is by no means a fast track towards a stable retirement plan. Just ask any of the multitude of personnel that have been hired, fired, rehired, and re-fired from the late, great, on-line game producer, SOE, now known as Daybreak Games. With major figures within this industry frequently out of a job they once thought secure, many have been turning to Kickstarter to fill the void. Speaking of SOE, lets take for example the former CEO of SOE, John Smedly, who just recently raked in a rather tidy sum of money on a funding site to begin production on a retro inspired game. Now I ask you, does one of the most iconic names in the on-line games industry really need to lean on public funding to get a project off the ground? The guy that put EverQuest on the map can't get a private backer or a loan? Really? The reason that bothers me is that for every John Smedley on public funding, you may as well knock a small indie publisher... or two...or three off the list. There is no law that decrees who may or may not take advantage of public funding, but I find it distasteful that public funding goes to someone WITH other options instead of individuals for which public funding is the ONLY option. Can I get an Amen? It reminds me of how Sophia Vergara and Kelly Rippa get paid a million plus to peddle one furniture or toothpaste commercial when there are thousands of wannabe actresses that would have leaped at the chance to do it for a fraction of the cost. You would think that any pretty face and great set of teeth would be able to entice gullible men into buying toothpaste, but apparently it takes Kelly Rippa,s magnificent choppers to sell Colgate.
Again, I can hardly blame Kickstarter for this. What's the option? Only allow poor people to establish funding sites? It's not the purpose for which Kickstarter was created, but once you build something, you can't control how each and every consumer will make use of it. Still though, it's just one more thing that makes me hate to love something I once loved so much. But,
Wait for it... wait for it...
Just when I thought Kickstarter had been kicked enough, something totally unexpected comes out of the blue to give them another black eye. Was it something Kickstarter did? No. Was it something Kickstarter could have prevented? No. Is it something Kicstarter can make good on? No. So what is it, you ask? It's just another distasteful story that is beginning to make the news that has Kickstarters name attached to it. It's bad enough to look bad on your own, but what's a company to do when they constantly find themselves looking bad by association?
Check out this story by Mike Futter on Game Informer.
Indie Dev Cancels Game After Alleging Business Partners Embezzled; Questions Abound
Over the weekend, a relatively unknown developer attracted a great deal of attention for a relatively mundane announcement. Ant Simulator, a game you likely haven’t heard of, has been canceled. But it’s the circumstances that have led to a great deal of questions.
In his video, Eric Tereshinski details a sordid tale of embezzlement and destroyed friendship. The developer says that his friends of 11 years robbed him of Kickstarter funds and other investments.
“I recently found out that my ex-business partners were secretly stealing company money,” Tereshinski claims. “They had secretly spent the overwhelming majority of both our Kickstarter money and the Ant Simulator investment money on liquor, restaurants, bars, and even strippers.”
The Kickstarter Tereshinski refers to is not for the canceled Ant Simulator, but for a series of instructional game development videos. That campaign raised $4,459 from 149 backers. It’s unclear how much money he believes his former partners improperly used.
Additionally, Tereshinski says that he is legally obliged to remove all evidence of Ant Simulator, another game called Go Home, You’re Drunk, and the Kickstarted Ultimate Game Dev videos. “Resigning and canceling Ant Simulator is the only option to me right now,” he claims. “This is a huge and disappointing setback.”
There is much of this story that is still unclear. We attempted to reach out to the company (and, by extension, Tereshinski’s business partners). However, the developer appears to retain control of all social accounts and points of contact.
He responded to our request for more information simply reaffirming what he said in his video. “Yeah, what you've heard is true,” he said via email. “My ex-business partners demonstrated to me that they're willing to keep secrets from me and jeopardize the game for drinks. They put forth a lot of effort to keep me from finding out how that spent the money. They planned on getting away with it. Now I'm the one who has to clean up this mess and push forward. These other two guys don't care about making games. Hell, one of them doesn't even play video games. Making video has always been my dream career. I'm not going to stop working towards that goal.”
We’ve followed up, asking a number of questions to better understand the situation. We’re hopeful that Tereshinski can put a finer point on how much money was embezzled, provide more detail about the LLC agreement that supposedly binds him from releasing the game, and help us put into context how many pre-orders are affected.
At the same time, we’ve reached out to both named business partners. We have opted not to include their names at this time, as the accusations levied have serious legal implications. We were able to determine that it appears that Tereshinski and the other two individuals do know each other, as they are connected on Facebook.
We’ll update as more information develops.
Thanks to the many readers that sent in tips about this story.
Our Take
For now, we recommend withholding judgment until we know more of the story. We opted to run something now, as there seems to be misinformation about this situation making the rounds. All we can confirm reliably is that Ant Simulator has been canceled.
Just to be clear, the problems that seem to follow public funding sites like stench follows the garbage truck is in no way limited to Kickstarter. Most every public funding site created to date has had its share of woes to a greater or lesser degree. The only reason I focused on Kickstarter was because it happens to be the victim of the day in this particular story. In fact, this article from Mike Futter is not about Kickstarter at all. I simply saw a story within a story, and used it to kick-start an issue of greater interest to myself. <<< see what I did there?
So what is the moral of this story? Well... I'm not really sure there is one. Perhaps it's just a rant. Perhaps I'm just tired of seeing good ideas trashed by people of less than good character. Perhaps I'm up too late on my computer after having consumed too much coffee. Perhaps I've lost my train of thought....
Perhaps... perhaps there is a moral after all. Public funding is a risk in which there is no guarantee of a reward. Much akin to paying into early access. When you spend money on a product that does not exist, you have bought nothing tangible until such time as it is in your hand, or on your hard drive, or... whatever. I'm not saying that you should never invest in public funding; simply that when you do invest, do so wisely. Do your research. Know what it is you are investing in. Know something about the people you are giving your money to, and even then... who saw this coming? I support public funding. I will continue to support public funding. I will probably lose money one day in public funding. I do it anyhow because I believe in the good it accomplishes, but I do it as wisely as my feeble brain will allow.
That's it. That's all. Nothing to see here. Nothing left to say.
Please be sure to support me at gofundme.com
Just kidding.
Or am I?
Hmmm............
~LL
I Love Kickstarter.
Kickstarter is an awesome concept that has done many people a world of good. So why is it that I have reached the point that I have come to hate the fact that I still love them? This is my perspective as an avid gamer.
I guess it would be fair to say it began with the outright scams. How many horror stories have there been about unscrupulous game producers putting product ideas on Kickstarter that they never had any intent of completing, after collecting thousands in donated seed money? The only good that has come from that is when those same producers moved to gaming sites like Steam to sell Early Access for their broken products, it eventually forced the likes of Steam and others to institute a long overdue refund policy. A silver lining in every cloud I suppose, but it still left Kickstarter contributors out in the rain. But is this Kickstarters fault? Can they actually do anything to curb scams like this aside from blacklisting unscrupulous producers AFTER the fact? Is this just another example of a great idea brought to ruin by base, opportunistic, human nature?
As if the scamming were not bad in its own right, another trend has begun to emerge that I dislike. It is nothing even borderline illegal in any way; simply something which leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The game industry is a tight knit group, despite the fact that it has a reputation for being somewhat mercenary. From humble animator to corporate CEO, a position within this industry is by no means a fast track towards a stable retirement plan. Just ask any of the multitude of personnel that have been hired, fired, rehired, and re-fired from the late, great, on-line game producer, SOE, now known as Daybreak Games. With major figures within this industry frequently out of a job they once thought secure, many have been turning to Kickstarter to fill the void. Speaking of SOE, lets take for example the former CEO of SOE, John Smedly, who just recently raked in a rather tidy sum of money on a funding site to begin production on a retro inspired game. Now I ask you, does one of the most iconic names in the on-line games industry really need to lean on public funding to get a project off the ground? The guy that put EverQuest on the map can't get a private backer or a loan? Really? The reason that bothers me is that for every John Smedley on public funding, you may as well knock a small indie publisher... or two...or three off the list. There is no law that decrees who may or may not take advantage of public funding, but I find it distasteful that public funding goes to someone WITH other options instead of individuals for which public funding is the ONLY option. Can I get an Amen? It reminds me of how Sophia Vergara and Kelly Rippa get paid a million plus to peddle one furniture or toothpaste commercial when there are thousands of wannabe actresses that would have leaped at the chance to do it for a fraction of the cost. You would think that any pretty face and great set of teeth would be able to entice gullible men into buying toothpaste, but apparently it takes Kelly Rippa,s magnificent choppers to sell Colgate.
Again, I can hardly blame Kickstarter for this. What's the option? Only allow poor people to establish funding sites? It's not the purpose for which Kickstarter was created, but once you build something, you can't control how each and every consumer will make use of it. Still though, it's just one more thing that makes me hate to love something I once loved so much. But,
Wait for it... wait for it...
Just when I thought Kickstarter had been kicked enough, something totally unexpected comes out of the blue to give them another black eye. Was it something Kickstarter did? No. Was it something Kickstarter could have prevented? No. Is it something Kicstarter can make good on? No. So what is it, you ask? It's just another distasteful story that is beginning to make the news that has Kickstarters name attached to it. It's bad enough to look bad on your own, but what's a company to do when they constantly find themselves looking bad by association?
Check out this story by Mike Futter on Game Informer.
Indie Dev Cancels Game After Alleging Business Partners Embezzled; Questions Abound
Over the weekend, a relatively unknown developer attracted a great deal of attention for a relatively mundane announcement. Ant Simulator, a game you likely haven’t heard of, has been canceled. But it’s the circumstances that have led to a great deal of questions.
In his video, Eric Tereshinski details a sordid tale of embezzlement and destroyed friendship. The developer says that his friends of 11 years robbed him of Kickstarter funds and other investments.
“I recently found out that my ex-business partners were secretly stealing company money,” Tereshinski claims. “They had secretly spent the overwhelming majority of both our Kickstarter money and the Ant Simulator investment money on liquor, restaurants, bars, and even strippers.”
The Kickstarter Tereshinski refers to is not for the canceled Ant Simulator, but for a series of instructional game development videos. That campaign raised $4,459 from 149 backers. It’s unclear how much money he believes his former partners improperly used.
Additionally, Tereshinski says that he is legally obliged to remove all evidence of Ant Simulator, another game called Go Home, You’re Drunk, and the Kickstarted Ultimate Game Dev videos. “Resigning and canceling Ant Simulator is the only option to me right now,” he claims. “This is a huge and disappointing setback.”
There is much of this story that is still unclear. We attempted to reach out to the company (and, by extension, Tereshinski’s business partners). However, the developer appears to retain control of all social accounts and points of contact.
He responded to our request for more information simply reaffirming what he said in his video. “Yeah, what you've heard is true,” he said via email. “My ex-business partners demonstrated to me that they're willing to keep secrets from me and jeopardize the game for drinks. They put forth a lot of effort to keep me from finding out how that spent the money. They planned on getting away with it. Now I'm the one who has to clean up this mess and push forward. These other two guys don't care about making games. Hell, one of them doesn't even play video games. Making video has always been my dream career. I'm not going to stop working towards that goal.”
We’ve followed up, asking a number of questions to better understand the situation. We’re hopeful that Tereshinski can put a finer point on how much money was embezzled, provide more detail about the LLC agreement that supposedly binds him from releasing the game, and help us put into context how many pre-orders are affected.
At the same time, we’ve reached out to both named business partners. We have opted not to include their names at this time, as the accusations levied have serious legal implications. We were able to determine that it appears that Tereshinski and the other two individuals do know each other, as they are connected on Facebook.
We’ll update as more information develops.
Thanks to the many readers that sent in tips about this story.
Our Take
For now, we recommend withholding judgment until we know more of the story. We opted to run something now, as there seems to be misinformation about this situation making the rounds. All we can confirm reliably is that Ant Simulator has been canceled.
Just to be clear, the problems that seem to follow public funding sites like stench follows the garbage truck is in no way limited to Kickstarter. Most every public funding site created to date has had its share of woes to a greater or lesser degree. The only reason I focused on Kickstarter was because it happens to be the victim of the day in this particular story. In fact, this article from Mike Futter is not about Kickstarter at all. I simply saw a story within a story, and used it to kick-start an issue of greater interest to myself. <<< see what I did there?
So what is the moral of this story? Well... I'm not really sure there is one. Perhaps it's just a rant. Perhaps I'm just tired of seeing good ideas trashed by people of less than good character. Perhaps I'm up too late on my computer after having consumed too much coffee. Perhaps I've lost my train of thought....
Perhaps... perhaps there is a moral after all. Public funding is a risk in which there is no guarantee of a reward. Much akin to paying into early access. When you spend money on a product that does not exist, you have bought nothing tangible until such time as it is in your hand, or on your hard drive, or... whatever. I'm not saying that you should never invest in public funding; simply that when you do invest, do so wisely. Do your research. Know what it is you are investing in. Know something about the people you are giving your money to, and even then... who saw this coming? I support public funding. I will continue to support public funding. I will probably lose money one day in public funding. I do it anyhow because I believe in the good it accomplishes, but I do it as wisely as my feeble brain will allow.
That's it. That's all. Nothing to see here. Nothing left to say.
Please be sure to support me at gofundme.com
Just kidding.
Or am I?
Hmmm............
~LL