Offbeatr update and… cold feet ?

Hi my dear hentai lovers!

An update to celebrate the success of the first step of our offbeatr campaign to support KoPC project!
(yeaaah !!)
Thx to everyone for the quick voting to this project, it was sure appreciated a lot!
Cheesecake for everyone, wouhouuu!!

—–

That said, going to the next level is kind of… worrying me, about how it’s done.
First : you don’t have any built-in “buttons” or interface, automatic or not, to go from “vote stage” to “pledge stage”.
I was a little surprised, as I already had to fill in tons of forms and personnal & financial infos just to get there and publish my project idea, in the first place.
So, I try to search for infos about that in the FAQ, in developer’s interface and all, but no message nowhere about it.

Finally, I wrote to them directly.
And now they send me back another form, a contract, where I got to fill-in again all my personnal infos and bank account infos.
Along with authorizations to directly take money on my bank account, for several situations and under no clear conditions.
I mean, it’s all about locking-in the creators in case they don’t fullfill the goal or rewards they promised.
It’s all detailled about how creators will be prosecuted and able to get sued by any pledgers if they fail to deliver, and how they will be forced to pay by automatic withdrawal on their bank account for every legal action taken against them, etc…

Don’t get me wrong : I can totally understand the principle, but how it’s put into action begins to worry me and scare me.
I mean, obvious way would be to have things (projects & rewards) transiting through their site, as a double-check before allowing money to come and go. Or just to built on some kind of “commercial trust”, like big services sites like ebay or paypal do, where they just make sure you don’t get robbed, but don’t interfere into how products end up.
And in 99% of case it works perfectly fine.

But there, it’s all about collecting everyone’s bank account infos, along with authorization to withdraw money from it without your future consent.
It’s very invading and risky. In case anyone from offbeatr want to withdraw your money, they would have the legal right to do so, in fact, and you to just shut up.
In case anyone breaks in their database (as past internet history proved even the biggest companies can have that kind of problem), we would all be in deep shit, with all our financial infos and authorizations right there, waiting to be used. (because I think pledgers don’t “magically” get funds on their account and have to give infos too)

Also, fees are about 30%, on everything, everywhere, and I would also have to pay BEFORE being authorized to gather “pledges”. (which is not real money : creators gain nothing until the very end, and only if the campaign is a success, and after offbeatr took its 30% comission. If anything fails, no refunds for fees previously engaged by creators)

It’s a detail, but added to the global picture…. yeah, I am getting some kind of cold feet, about all that.
I gave it a try because it was definitely worth it, but how it goes along, I discover it’s not as straight-forward and easy to handle as it seems.
Interface could be really worked out (very uneasy to access my creator panel), links appears changed (if you put your facebook page, for example, the links will show facebook itself instead of your page… guh ??), project stages are neither automatised nor informed when reached, and all those infos to give away and fees to pay….
I don’t know, guys…

At this point, no one has paid nothing.
So maybe it’s an opportunity to take just a little time to think about all this.
What do you think ?
Do you think we would be better off with our paypal donations system ?
Do you feel like pledging a lot to make this work, and feel it’s worth going through all that ?
Do you think I’m making a mistake ?
You tell me!

Comments
  • bartux says:

    Hey,

    I’ve read your post and support your project on offbeatr.
    I don’t know if you’re making a mistake doing a campaign over offbeatr.
    Maybe using Paypal is more simple but maybe it’ll gather less people as they don’t have “guarantee” of their money.
    Through offbeatr, the thing is more serious.
    As you said, you’re engaging yourself personnally on this project and you’re more exposed.

    The campaign you run on offbeatr doesn’t give so much to the pledgers, like giving access to features or version in the future.
    Maybe if you give people more “gifts” for supporting you they’d give you more money.
    For example I’ve supported 120$ on XstoryPlayer through offbeatr, and I don’t have anything by now. (almost 6 months since the payment).
    But I give them time and I think they’re serious.
    I’m not sure I’d have give 120$ through a paypal donation as easily.

    I’ve contribute to others projets on offbeatr and made donation for other websites like your.
    Maybe people would support you easier on offbeatr than donate over Paypal…

    So this is my point of view, it’s not an advice just a thought.
    Regards

    • Mattis says:

      Thx for sharing !

      Yep, as I said, I understand the virtual trust building value of “pledges” system on those kind of sites.
      It’s just… yes, what you give on one hand to pledgers, you take back on the other from creators.
      It’s a valid way of thinking (even if I don’t personally agree), but I think it’s done really uncarefully, on offbeatr.
      So much odd details that shake creators trust! Did you notice their search bar system doesn’t work either ? Man, do anyone really worked on that website ?? We’re talking very big money, for some of the projects, and they can’t even have a proper site & FAQs ?

      But yeah, I suppose paypal donations wouldn’t be as high.
      Even if I propose several rewards to donators (which they almost always turn back on, I don’t know why, but it’s very noble, lol!), and show donations amounts, which “emulates” some visibility in what comes and goes.

      For offbeatr gifts, I don’t why what I could add, it’s already very “generous”, given it’s a one-man amateur entreprise.
      For versions in particular, it’s been asked sometimes. Problem is I’m too forward-giving, it seems. Everything I produce, I release it, so everyone can enjoy it the very moment it’s done.
      I don’t hold back stuff or “pre-release” and betas, like everyone seems to be doing, in gaming industry, those days.
      Just like passcodes and secret features like bonus poses : people FORCED me to do stuff that are not directly accessible.
      Just why ? Why voluntarily hide and hold back stuff when it would be easier to give it to everyone directly ?
      Lol, maybe a little off debate, sorry.

      For Xstoryplayer, as far as I saw, they promised stuff “before 12/2015″, so, you will probably not hear of them for until next year. :/

      Anyway, thx for sharing, I will take that into account.

  • Lazram says:

    This is still a risky venture. and it sounds like a considerable personal investment from yourself with no guarantees of success. If Paypal donations have been working for you, I say stick with them. That way you don’t run the risk of putting yourself in a financial bind.

    • Mattis says:

      I think too, for now.
      Maybe we could emulate the project & reward system somehow, locally.
      Or maybe I just miss the very strong “pros” vs “cons” of this site, I don’t know.

  • kaetzer says:

    if you have a strange feeling about offbeatr, see if you can find a review or something like that, someone out there HAS to have some experience with that, and it can really help to see what experience others have made with certain products, organisations and even websites
    (reviews are what brought me to some of my PC hardware and even turned me away from certain email providers)

    personally i have no idea about sites like this, i checked kickstarter out once, but since they only accept credit cards (no paypal, wtf?) i just turned around

    maybe you can even find someone who had a project funded via offbeatr and ask him/her how it worked out?

    • Mattis says:

      I’m sure it’s working.
      But the question of pertinence remains.

      And also, you raise another point : if paypal can’t work, and if most of my players voted for the project just to support it and don’t intend to pledge on it (because they would have already donate on paypal before I started it, if that was the case) : what are the chances to raise enough money, in the end ?

      It also seems they are some bullshitting about the fees.
      Example for indiegogo, another funding platforms (not accepting porn, alas!) : fees about 5% if campaign is a success, 9% if fail, but you can still collect what you raise, use paypal, and american credit cards.
      offbeatr : fees about 60$ upfront, + 30% if success, and you gain nothing if campaign fails, and can’t use paypal and american credit cards…
      No, the more it goes, the less I think it’s worth it…

      I’ll write all that down for everyone, I don’t think I will go on with this :/