[colinwinter]

Bostinno also recently reported another project that simply failed to deliver: http://bostinno.com/2012/04/25/kickstarters-dark-side/

Could this create a market for 'verified' kickstarter projects? Kickstarter as an organization states they dont verify, but as they grow the need will also grow. I'm thinking this could be an optional feature that everyone would be aware of (IE: grayed out badge when not invoked). For a small fee a typically background check will be performed, either by kickstarter or an independent.

[forrestthewoods]

Ugh. No. Every damn news site on the planet misrepresented the Star Command money issue.

First, Star Command didn't fail to deliver. It simply hasn't delivered yet. The game was being shown at a trade show last month. It's on it's way. This is not a case of a cancelled project or someone running off with the money.

Second, the article's statement that only 4k went to the game is an outright lie. They clearly state that 6k went to music, 5k to marketing (poster + PAX), and 1k to development/demo hardware. That's not necessarily ideal but it's not entirely unreasonable either. You can argue the marketing/hardware issue perhaps, but 6k went directly into the game in the form of music.

The real lesson to take away from Star Command is their under-estimation of time and money required to create, package, and ship backer rewards. That's the real danger that other projects should be wary of.

[egypturnash]

Yeah, the way their funds evaporated into nothing after delivering all those t-shirts and whatnot was large in my mind this past week as I worked out the rewards for the comic book I just started the campaign for. I'm basically not offering anything physical beyond the book - more money gets you sponsor credit in the back.

[toast76]

Personally, I think it's up to the individual (or in this case, collective) investor to perform due diligence before handing over your cash. I've only chipped into 3 kickstarter projects, but in each instance I'd done the appropriate due diligence before signing up.

As the saying goes, a fool and their money are soon parted!

[FrankBooth]

Making a Kickstarter pledge is no more investing than ordering a pizza.

[Dylanlacey]

When you pay for a pizza you get a damn pizza or you get your money back. Kickstarter projects aren't anywhere near as certain. They are much closer to an investment, except your return is fixed at either 1 unit of project product OR nothing.

[homosaur]

PREordering pizza...