![]() Instead, I’m trying to point out that Kickstarter doesn’t just provide the backend for crowdfunding, they provide eyeballs. I’m not intending to be entirely doom and gloom, the point here is not to be defeatist and say that there’s no reason to try building a Kickstarter alternative. And given that what Kickstarter does provide, marketing, is driven by network effects, the path to an alternative is essentially all uphill. And while many have put together software which can provide the same functionality as Kickstarter (making pledges, disbursing funds, hosting campaigns), they all, at least right now, fail to provide what Kickstarter actually provides campaigners. Kickstarter accounts for a large enough percentage of TTRPG sales and revenue that if it were a game publisher it would be larger than every other publisher save Wizards of the Coast. Leaving Kickstarter sounds great in a tweet, but ultimately doing so is going to be tough for many of the creators who, without the company, would have never gotten off the ground. What the announcement should have revealed to anyone who felt strongly enough to leave the platform over it is that the TTRPG hobby has let Kickstarter become infrastructure. Whether or not the new platform comes to fruition, whether or not it uses less energy-intensive proof-of-stake software, whether or not people leave the platform, these are in the long run irrelevant. ![]() That all said, the end state of Kickstarter’s blockchain plans don’t particularly matter. It’s a fair response, though given how little the Kickstarter announcement said, perhaps not entirely warranted. ![]() The announcement received a significant negative response, given the negative environmental impacts of current blockchain applications and the widespread use of blockchain tech, through both cryptocurrencies and non-fungible token (NFT) schemes, to commit fraud. In December of 2021, Kickstarter made an announcement that it was going to develop a new platform for crowdfunding, using blockchain technology.
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