What if the lesson here were to teach how to raise money? What if it were to go through the actual process of building a game (which includes far more than just writing the game)? Instead of looking at it as a scam, this is a mother who is trying to teach her daughter some valuable life lessons that I wish I learned when I was young (I'm male, but that's beside the point).
To put it in terms more germane to technology, she has a brilliant pitch (appealing to gender issues), really good reward items (lots of people get burned by underpricing those) and a really modest goal (even if she doesn't finish the game, everyone chipping money into the kickstarter feels good)
Is that how you want to teach your daughter how to make money? Throwing your own kin and women you see as lesser than you under the bus? Spamming people over Twitter and Facebook with those same hateful messages for attention? Guilt-tripping a young girl that she'll become some nameless plastic woman on an old guy's arm if she doesn't learn enough? It's shameful; putting one type of person above another is the exact opposite of appealing to gender issues. There's nothing wrong with being one of the women in the presentation if both parties agree to those terms; there are dating sites specific to it and some men (and women) honestly enjoy that role. Who are we to judge them? That whole part of her campaign is distasteful and doesn't do anything but emphasize discrimination. It has nothing to do with why that little girl should enjoy education and yet it was the most emphasized part of the video.
The rewards are continued proof that she has the means to fund the course herself. Having greater incentives means more people will pitch into her grand scheme of profiting off of above "gender issues".
There's no feel-goodery in helping a rich mom sell her daughter out when there are plenty of girls out there who want to do this without the money or mothers to exploit them.
"There's no feel-goodery in helping a rich mom sell her daughter out when there are plenty of girls out there without money or mothers to exploit them.'
If you didn't know the mother was rich, would you feel the same way? If the mother was destitute yet really creative, and wanted to teach the child certain lessons so that the child could avoid the same fate as the mother, would you be so offended?
"Spamming people over Twitter and Facebook for attention?"
When I was young, I used to go around town with a stapler and a bunch of flyers. Twitter and Facebook is the digital extension of that.
"That whole part of her campaign is distasteful and doesn't do anything but emphasize discrimination"
Suppose you wanted to teach your daughter the fundamentals of business. The fact still remains that there were at least 1100 people willing to chip money into that storyline. And if the lesson here is to find an underserved portion of the market and cater to them (many many many articles discussing this very matter brushed the front page), this project fits the bill.
"The rewards are continued proof that she has the means to fund the course herself."
To put it in perspective, many of the projects on kickstarter could have been funded by the project creators. The Tim Schafer kickstarter could easily have been funded by the man, yet I don't see anyone complaining about that.
> If you didn't know the mother was rich, would you feel the same way? If the mother was destitute yet really creative, and wanted to teach the child certain lessons so that the child could avoid the same fate as the mother, would you be so offended?
It would still be against the TOS, so yes. There was also a KS for an artist who was invited to an art show she was being shown in, but she wanted to take her daughter with her and the artist stipend didn't even cover her own costs, no less her kid's. She used the plea that "if her daughter didn't make it, it would break her heart because everything she does is for her daughter." By pulling people's heartstrings this way, she was able to get enough money to cover not only both of their trips, but some excursions around the city and an additional large-scale art piece for her to bring to the show. Again, against the TOS.
I'm also changing my initial view that even if it were more sincere, I'd allow it. I don't believe that anymore. Indiegogo exists to fill the gaps that Kickstarter does not and allows for things like this. I think the benefit of trying to use KS over IGG is that more people know about it and are therefore more willing to put money into it.
To your point about a mother trying to give your child access to extracurricular activities, most of them have means for low-income parents to get their children into those classes.
> When I was young, I used to go around town with a stapler and a bunch of flyers. Twitter and Facebook is the digital extension of that.
Unobtrusive flyers aren't the same thing as soliciting door-to-door. The only reason this is getting so much media attention is because she's sending this story to all of the outlets she can.
> Suppose you wanted to teach your daughter the fundamentals of business.
"Please keep in mind, we started this campaign to raise about $900 because Kenzie was going to camp and her brothers were asking why she was going to RPG camp b/c it's not like she was going to be able to make a good game. Together, Kenzie and I decided to do this campaign to prove to them that she was smarter than they thought and she deserved their respect."
It wasn't to teach her anything except that her brothers are bullies and people will gladly pay to make them look like the douchebags her mother has no issue portraying them as.
> The Tim Schafer kickstarter could easily have been funded by the man, yet I don't see anyone complaining about that.
Because part of using Kickstarter is to get an idea of if it's something people want in the first place. No one has any issue wanting more females in STEM fields, but this is still an inappropriate way of using the site.
"this is still an inappropriate way of using the site."
"It would still be against the TOS, so yes."
Ultimately that's a question to be directed to kickstarter who, as far as I can tell, has to sign off on the projects before they show up on the site. Regardless of the scruples of the mother, the site still approved this project.
"It wasn't to teach her anything except that her brothers are bullies and people will gladly pay to make them look like the douchebags her mother has no issue portraying them as."
... or to teach her the importance of putting together a really compelling story to attract investors.
"Unobtrusive flyers aren't the same thing as soliciting door-to-door. "
Wait, are you saying that twitter and facebook are door-to-door solicitations? It's far closer to putting up flyers everywhere.
> Ultimately that's a question to be directed to kickstarter who, as far as I can tell, has to sign off on the projects before they show up on the site. Regardless of the scruples of the mother, the site still approved this project.
KS does a minor sweep to see if the project meets guidelines, but we've seen what they've allowed through before. It has been linked elsewhere in these threads, but this comment really sums up all of the reasons this woman and this campaign shouldn't exist - http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1awnzx/so_you_know_th...
After seeing the other cases, I'm inclined to agree with your mentality, although I really would like to see more KS oversight or at least more options to flag what seems to be a violation of TOS
We don't know the underlying family dynamic, but the storyline that is being sold here is:
- Girl proposes idea of making a game
- Brothers were skeptical: "She tried with my brothers but they weren't interested."
- Brothers challenged girl, maybe saying something like "you can't do it"
- Girl says "watch me!" and asks mother about going to this RPG camp.
So if you believe that actually happened, the $10K reward where the boys apologize is a really clever lesson. The girl gets her money and the boys lean a lesson about not being overly cynical (after all, someone would have given her $10K)
Of course we don't know what actually happened here.
So my answers are:
(assuming everything stated is true)
1) Disgusting and manipulative (I never would want to cast any of my children in a negative light)
2) Brilliant if it actually happens: no better time than now to stamp out cynicism and negativity
But of course, that assumes the story line is 100% true.
If it turns out not to be the case, then I agree that the entire situation soup-to-nuts is repulsive.
What if the lesson here were to teach how to raise money? What if it were to go through the actual process of building a game (which includes far more than just writing the game)? Instead of looking at it as a scam, this is a mother who is trying to teach her daughter some valuable life lessons that I wish I learned when I was young (I'm male, but that's beside the point).
To put it in terms more germane to technology, she has a brilliant pitch (appealing to gender issues), really good reward items (lots of people get burned by underpricing those) and a really modest goal (even if she doesn't finish the game, everyone chipping money into the kickstarter feels good)