0
\$\begingroup\$

I am a Ukrainian game developer and we are about to run a crowdfunding campaign for our first title. For quite a while I was looking for ways to run the campaign on Kickstarter (it does not support Ukraine), but could not as there are zero information on the web about it. Our only option was to run the campaign on Idiegogo instead which is, shortly speaking, 10 times less effective. Recently I heard from a friend that there is a service that facilitates using Kickstarter in other countries.

So I believe that the following question should be on stackoverflow:

"How can I launch a Kickstarter campaign for my game from all over the world?" with an answer, of course.

Here is why I believe Stackoverflow is the best place for it:

  • Transparency. Stackoverflow allows to upvote/devote questions, therefore, in the end of the day it will not be a dumb advertisement but a credible q&a evaluated by public. If the service is good, the answer will have upvotes, if it's not - it will go below zero, therefore visitors will immediately see a)a possible solution and b)the quality of the solution.

  • Gamedev is the right place to be. Kickstarter is unparalleled in it's ability to raise funds for indie game developers and stackoverflow's gamedev section is the place where every self-respecting game developer goes at least several times a week. I believe that it's only logical that such question appears in this section.

  • Gamedev already has similar questions. Marketing aspects of game development are quite often discussed on Stackoverflow. And Kickstarter, while being a powerful croudfunding platform is also a huge marketing engine, I believe this question would fit well among:

Casual games market share distribution?

How was the world game market segmented in 2011?

Marketing: Angry Birds - How it's done

Finally if there is no way to post it on Gamedev's section I believe there should be some other section on Gamedev where this question can be posted, but still in my opition Gamedev is a place to be. Stackoverflow is getting bigger every day and it covers almost all the aspects of human lives nowadays, there is no way such intel should not have it's place on this site.

\$\endgroup\$
4
  • \$\begingroup\$ Just to confirm: you want to post a question about using kickstarter to crowd-fund your game? Also, you are free to answer your own questions on Meta, so you should relocate the portion of your question that offers an answer and post it as an answer. This is the usual method when people post a question and their opinion about its answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Seth Battin
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 7:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sorry, I am new to meta I have no idea how to properly structure posts here. I know that posting questions sometimes result in them being deleted on the main site and wanted to ask if this question will be approved? \$\endgroup\$
    – cubrman
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 7:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ No. I deleted the first question these guys posted. It was quite clearly spam. I also edited your post here and comments to remove reference to the service, as this post itself felt very spam like. \$\endgroup\$
    – House Mod
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 14:07
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ All three of those questions you linked as examples are bad questions for the site, in fact; they're just old. I've close them all. \$\endgroup\$
    – user1430
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 15:48

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4
\$\begingroup\$

The contact details for the advertising department are that-a-way.

Yes, this is off topic, as per Seth's post.

But it's also an attempt to insert what is clearly an advertisement into the site content - which alone is reason enough to keep it firmly off of the site.

\$\endgroup\$
3
  • \$\begingroup\$ I can see your point, yes it is a clear advertisement, I just feel that there should be a room on Stack for such intel. Oh well. \$\endgroup\$
    – cubrman
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 11:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @cubrman There is room on Stack Exchange for such info. By way of paying for it with advertising. \$\endgroup\$
    – House Mod
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 15:48
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ There is "room" on StackExchange sites for tons of information, but StackExchange doesn't want all the information possible. It only wants a particular subset (opinion-oriented discussions are information that SE could have room for, it just does not want that kind of information). \$\endgroup\$
    – user1430
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 15:49
2
\$\begingroup\$

No, you should not post that question here.

Gamedev.SE is for posting technical or design challenges that arise during game development. These questions should cover topics to which a game developer would have the most to offer. In spite of Kickstarter being used frequently for game development funding, your question is not about developing games.

More to the point, your question isn't about using kickstarter; it's about a specific issue with Kickstarter's terms of use that forbid certain countries from using their service. Again, this is not a game development issue; it's an issue with Kickstarter's terms. It might even be a legal question, which is discouraged almost universally across all StackExchange sites.

I don't believe there is a SE site dedicated to crowdfunding services and their terms of use. Even if there was, I would recommend writing directly to Kickstarter or other services.

\$\endgroup\$
5
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ I think you completely misunderstood the idea. In no way can it be regarded as a legal question, as there is no dispute here: this service is allowed by Kickstarter team and proven to work. Moreover, just like it is about a specific issue with Kickstarter forbidding certain coutries, it's about a way to overcome a this issue. The specificity of the question makes it a great fit for the stack's specific-question-specific-answer format. Once again, I see no difference between this question and a question about marketing strength of Angry Birds, where the answerer states which aspects of the game \$\endgroup\$
    – cubrman
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 7:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ ... help it's sales on iOS market. I cannot see the fine line you are trying to draw for the stack's format. \$\endgroup\$
    – cubrman
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 7:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ Its definitely a legal question as you ask people to try and find ways around the rules imposed on the site. Your argument that KS condones it doesn't hold (a few projects slipping through is not legally condoning anything, and the terms of services explicitly prohibit it. As they state the project must be identified by a member of the project team who is eligible to use KS). Even if it were no legal question, its not a technical question, so it is definitely not something for GD. \$\endgroup\$
    – Roy T.
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 8:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ @RoyT. I can't see how there can be any problem with KS rules any time in the future as the person confirming the project is always a part of the development team. This service creates a Canadian corporation on developers' behalf where the owners are shareholders, which effectively makes him a part of development team. \$\endgroup\$
    – cubrman
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 9:47
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ For what it's worth, non technical questions are allowed here. That said this is indeed a legal question because as far as I can tell the jist of the question actually is "How do I get my game funded on KS when their ToS doesn't allow my country to use their service?" \$\endgroup\$
    – SpartanDonut
    Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 13:26

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .