Kickstarter and its Inherent Awesomeness.

This blog post isn’t about anything I’ve read, watched, or played recently. Instead it’s about Kickstarter and how Kickstarter is helping propel the arts.

Kickstarter is a website that allows people (You and I and the plebeians) to fund projects, be it artistic, technology, etc. As of now I’ve funded two projects. (I wish I could afford to fund more but college is pretty expensive.) Hollow World, a book by Michael J. Sullivan and a CRPG by InXile Entertainment Torment: Tides of Numenera. Let me just say I cannot wait to get my hands on these goodies.

What Kickstarter does is it brings the creation of what we consume into direct contact with the people who consume it. Before Kickstarter, a book was written and then trickled through different stages of development until we, the consumer, got our hands on it. Only after all that would it get praise or hate.

Now we have dialog with the writer. Now there is push and pull and sway. Even as I write this there’s a debate going on at the Torment Kickstarter page on whether or not some of the game-play should be Turn-Based or Real-Time.

http://kck.st/13F7hZn

This dialog is a good thing because we help the creators craft what we want, and often times we’re right. (Because as a whole, we are collectively more knowledgeable than the author.)

Kickstarter gives people and small organizations opportunities they would not have had access to as little as 10 years ago. It proliferates creativity because people are now reaching out to the creators, giving them money.

It’s inspiring to see a kickstarter with a goal of $900,000 reach $4,188,927. It shows the faith we have in talent. It shows our collective thirst for more.