You can make these decisions, sure, but only based on what the project creator is willing to feed you.
And if the information is inadequate, I won't pledge, or will at least vastly reduce the amount of risk I'm willing to stake on the project.
Typically Kickstarter are better informed on them than the backers.
So they could either provide more info if necessary, or provide backers with a risk assessment of their own, based on their experience with similar projects. This will work to the advantage of benevolent project creators too, because they will get kind of a "trusted" label, and shady project creators won't be encouraged. Kickstarter could still add in their Terms that their assessment is only for use at your own risk and stuff, so that they don't officially endorse the projects.
Secondly, Kickstarter could also be more supportive towards project creators concerning what is feasible and what is not, according to their experience. So that you don't get stuff like this after several months:
I don't really have faith in "Kickstarter's experience". There's a massive
range of projects on there, and expecting them to be able to make realistic assessments of each one of them doesn't seem to be realistic. I know a little about what's realistically possible when developing a video game, I wouldn't have a clue about the costs involved in, say, shooting a stop-motion film. You argue that they could compare it to the success of similar projects, but that requires the massive infrastructure to track and research projects that are completed and make educated assessments on whether they're successful or not (and in art cases, that's going to be wholly subjective, of course)
And finally, you make your decision at a certain point in time, and many people just don't look back after making that commitment. Susan Wilson has changed her "pitch" several times during the project. So after a while you're just not getting anymore what you've committed for. Kickstart could also monitor this more strictly.
I broadly agree - although I'm under the impression that the
tiers were immovable once established: You can add to them, and modify unpledged ones, but once you've
It's worth bearing in mind that
the tiers are all you're actually entitled to; the KS runner is *not* obligated to complete the Kickstarter project, only to meet the rewards. In the case of VG kickstarters, that generally includes the game, of course, but in the case of more varied KSes (including for projects intended to be released for free) - if the project is *not* completed but you still recieve your rewards, you are not entitled to press it legally. IANAL, of course, but I believe that's the precise terms they work to.
