Additional: Hopefully, I have been placed on ignore by those I wanted to ignore me. 
General / Off-Topic I Guess I'm Just Too Old To Understand Modern Business. Especially Games.
- Thread starter Ralph Vargr
- Start date
Hi Old Man!Having been born in the Eisenhower Administration, I guess I'm just too out of touch with modern business methods. I've been told, bluntly, that although my credentials are *quite* impressive, that younger persons were preferred, because they had natively grown up in a technologically advanced society, and were more adaptable and flexible than I was. Also, they were cheaper, and more easily intimidated due to student debt loads.
So, I'm reaching out to all you cool kids, to help me out with how things are done, nowadays.
In my day, I had to come up with something called a "business proposal/case", write it, have it analyzed by an accountant, and go find financing from sources other than fans on a internet forum.
Let me know if these means to gather capital for a business venture are no longer valid:
Retained earnings from previous business.
Venture capitalists.
Forming a corporation, and issuing stocks (shares to you Brits), or bonds, or preferred shares.
"Borrowing" from relatives and friends.
Self-financing.
Busking/Standing on streets begging.
And, worst of all, getting a loan from a bank.
All these means require some demonstration that there will be a profitable business or service to pay back monies acquired.
Now, it seems that all I have to do is make a promise of future delivery to either Kickstarter backers, or existing customers who are awaiting delivery at some (generally) unspecified point in the future. It is even possible to shame existing customers into buying products or services that they do not want or need, due to peer pressure and social media (or addiction). The use of fear tactics, particularly the mantra that if monies are not provided, the business will fold, seem especially effective.
I guess that I'm not sociopathic enough to make it in today's business world. Especially online games. Being honest is a design flaw I have long suffered from.
Help me out here. I need to learn how to be a ruthless (redacted), and young gamers are a great resource for finding that talent.
There seems to be some confusion on what buying is, what investing is and what donating is. The Kickstarter was not an investment, it was a donation which was used by the recipient of the donation to invest in creating a proposed product, a product that a potential customer could buy. The donator may feel they're investing but that would be self-deception, a design flaw that all of us have and that does manifest itself from time to time.
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Regarding 'customers who are awaiting delivery at some (generally) unspecified point in the future.' This could be a description of insurance. In this case a customer who buys an insurance product may not even avail themselves of it during its term.
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The internet has brought new 'business' delivery methods and new products.
A lot of individual programmers write open source applications, utilities etc. that are delivered via the internet and by which they ask for donations which they say helps them maintain their product. Is this an investment?
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Ruthlessness is something that is beaten into life.
Now I'm going bounty hunting in a RES.
Do we need insurance for being a sucker, and falling for current funding methods?
*Comes* without making a case.
Banks used to reject proposals with typo's.
- - - Updated - - -
I would *never* do Kelsey Grammer.
You have incorrectly used a possessive apostrophe in the word "typos", which is the contraction which you have used in place of the words "typographical error".
Thus, like the banks to which you refer, I feel compelled to dismiss your arguments out of hand, regardless of whatever merit they may or may not possess. I do this for no other reason than your inability to adequately exert command over your usage of the English language.
The phrase "hoist by your own petard" springs to mind.
dayrth
Volunteer Moderator
Do we need insurance for being a sucker, and falling for current funding methods?
You have referred to us Kickstarter backers as suckers several times now. I backed the game at premium beta level. It cost me £100. I did so because I was a big fan of the original game and I wanted to support FD in creating the new version. In return for my donation I received the game I was hoping for and a load of extra goodies. Well worth the money in my opinion.
I also get any future expansion for free, so with Horizons on its way my original outlay will be about the same as anyone who bought the game after release and now intends to buy Horizons. When the next expansion comes out, and I have no doubts about the continued development of ED, the cost to me will be far less than for non backers who want buy it.
You may not like FD's business model or they way they have chosen to raise funds, but I am more than happy with the results. I am certainly not feeling like a sucker.
P.S. Please feel free to criticise my spelling and grammar. I am dyslexic but with the aid of the spell checker I can generally make myself understood.
P.P.S Not sure how age is relevant but if it matters I am 51.
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Than answering not then answering.
Having been born in the Eisenhower Administration, I guess I'm just too out of touch with modern business methods. I've been told, bluntly, that although my credentials are *quite* impressive, that younger persons were preferred, because they had natively grown up in a technologically advanced society, and were more adaptable and flexible than I was. Also, they were cheaper, and more easily intimidated due to student debt loads.
So, I'm reaching out to all you cool kids, to help me out with how things are done, nowadays.
In my day, I had to come up with something called a "business proposal/case", write it, have it analyzed by an accountant, and go find financing from sources other than fans on a internet forum.
Let me know if these means to gather capital for a business venture are no longer valid:
Retained earnings from previous business.
Venture capitalists.
Forming a corporation, and issuing stocks (shares to you Brits), or bonds, or preferred shares.
"Borrowing" from relatives and friends.
Self-financing.
Busking/Standing on streets begging.
And, worst of all, getting a loan from a bank.
All these means require some demonstration that there will be a profitable business or service to pay back monies acquired.
Now, it seems that all I have to do is make a promise of future delivery to either Kickstarter backers, or existing customers who are awaiting delivery at some (generally) unspecified point in the future. It is even possible to shame existing customers into buying products or services that they do not want or need, due to peer pressure and social media (or addiction). The use of fear tactics, particularly the mantra that if monies are not provided, the business will fold, seem especially effective.
I guess that I'm not sociopathic enough to make it in today's business world. Especially online games. Being honest is a design flaw I have long suffered from.
Help me out here. I need to learn how to be a ruthless (redacted), and young gamers are a great resource for finding that talent.
I understand what your saying but frontier had one thing going for them. David Braben and the history of elite. Because of the original elites popularity they were able to successfully kickstarter elite dangerous. If you look at any successfully kickstarter game you will find many of them have history (star citizen, wasteland 2 and shadowrun returns) which for some makes it a worthy gamble to fund somebody's vision. Yes it's new, yes it can be successful and yes you can waste your money.
(Edit, err that's two things they had going for them)
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