Great tips. Taking some time out from crowd funding makes these a lot more apparent. I recently checked the secondary market for some of my previously purchased Kickstarters and found many can be bought for a similar price, if not cheaper providing I'm prepared to monitor the second hand market over time and snap up a deal when it comes along.
FOMO has been a real problem for me in the past. However now that I’m older the deciding factors are time and shelf space. I’m worried that I’m going to die with games still in shrinkwrap because of bad past decisions.
Ha! I’ve thought about how many shrink wrap games I might have sold I pass away. Is the solution to immediately remove the shrink wrap?! 🤣😜 With some of these narrative campaign games, at what point do I accumulate more games than I may have time to play?
Thank you Chris. A very important video and very well put together. I almost never back a game without watching a playthrough. No playthough? Not for me. The few instances that I did back a game was some cheap games and one expensive game. That expensive game is on my sale list unfortunately. The cheap games were luckily great.
I know I’ve said before that CMON is the biggest offender with regards to manipulating FOMO. I’ll basically only back their products if I’m okay with having a bunch of decorative statues of these characters lying around
I needed this when the new tainted grail rolled around. It got a lot of coverage around different channels hyping it up and they got me. I still have bardsung, etherfields, core space first born and both gloomhavens sitting in the closet untouched. 🤡
I have just 12 games . All of them I consider pure gems. And NONE of them I have played through . Some of them barely touched, some got painted and shelved for good mood/time/ whatever….
Your first point is exactly why I switched to a $1 pledge for the new Cthulu DMD. I recently bought and have been really enjoying Season 1, but until I am sure my wife will consistently play it with me, I am not going to drop money on a new one.
Number 2 is a big one for a lot of people. The games do come around or available on the secondary market. There are very few that do not come back around and I am not sure it matters because there are 10 other games are available right around the corner. Number 3 for me has always been something I have done. if you do not want me to back a project simply do not offer a rulebook that I can read. Better yet, have something on Tabletop Simullator or Boardgame Arena.
I stopped backing crowdfunding because most of the time the game sucks or is mediocre and I've had a few that took my money but never delivered (maybe 4 out of 60 never delivered). Plus, they use the shipping costs to other countries (Canada, in my case) to subsidize free shipping to the US. Plus, you end up paying two or three times the amount you would pay in stores. Sure, you get the extras but they rarely are worth the extra money. Plus, too many times they get in the stores before I get my copy...Like, way before. Like, months before. If a game is really THAT good, I'll get it in the stores when it comes out. If they don't release the kickstarter exclusives that have gameplay impacts (at a cost, of course) then I don't buy the game no matter how good it is (I don't buy incomplete games). I email the company and inform them of this.
The advice is sound and appreciated. It needs to be said. The degree to which companies will incentivize content creators/influencers to push games and FOMO is insane. Did not fall for that C:DMD:FotU:S4 (what the heck of a title)
At the beginning of the year I was subscribed to dozens of RU-vid channels, on BGG everyday, in numerous FB & Reddit groups. At one point I dropped it all, unsubbed from all but one gaming channel, stopped using FB and logged out of BGG (I visit the site logged out to look up things every note and then). It wasn’t until I stopped consuming all of that content that I realized how insane it was. The constant stream of new games, new crowdfunding campaigns, etc. To add on top of that are all the posts showing off all the KS stuff when it arrives, “Best Game Ever!”, etc. A couple months ago I started watching board game videos again. This past month was a reminder of how crazy things are! I was not immune either… I’ve been hooked by a few campaigns.
Hello Chris! Those are mistakes I make all the time when backing. By the way, I see you've a Re;Act copy in the back. Will you make a video about it soon? I've been following the game for a while now and it seems sooo interesting (I love Unmatched).
Thanks for this. Back and received Everdell the complete collection, Beautiful game but too much box. Have had to sell it to appease my partner. Will look for the base game and maybe a singular expansion at a later date. Waiting on ISSV (opted for single wave shipping) and just received Undead and Alive, which I am looking forward to playing. Am being more cautious in my backing. Did back the latest Wonderland's War Expansion, as we play that a lot. Have other games coming (Atlantis Rising) that as its been so long, am losing interest. Still pumped for Sleeping Gods 2, as we played the first enjoyed it and will pass it along. We're learning to be more selective.
I got ISSVanguard, Frosthaven is coming in a few weeks and I backed Tainted Grail KoR. So I guess regarding campaign games im good for the next 2 years at least.
