Four days remaining with the Alice: Otherlands Kickstarter campaign and we’re at 70% of our goal. We’ll need to make 15kUSD a day to finish successfully, but with the 48 hour notice and “Surge of the Last Days” I think we can do it! The thing is, we REALLY need to turn up the noise on our social, online, friends, and family marketing. So get those fingers tapping and let the world know!
However this campaign turns out, this will be my last Kickstarter. Working with the platform this year has been an interesting experience to say the least. We’ve run three campaigns – Akaneiro, OZombie and now Alice: Otherlands. Each has been unique in terms of content and presentation. The Akaneiro campaign helped us launch a game. OZombie explored the limits of my ambitions and public support while Otherlands… well, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Thing is, I don’t think I’ll ever be willing to run the gauntlet again. As many positive things have come from these campaigns, for me personally it’s a mostly painful experience. It’s tantamount to putting a giant “kick me” sign on my back. “Don’t read the comments!” screams Ophelea (our Community Manager), but maybe the naysayers and insult hurlers have a point? Not that they are necessarily “right,” but when the echo chamber of the majority destroys any and all independent thought, what is “right?”
Someone recently sent me a Lewis Carrol quote:
“If you limit your actions in life to things that nobody can possibly find fault with, you will not do much!â€
The man has a point, and so my Kickstarter sentiments are not about my actions in general – just about this particular form of public exposure. Crowd funding is a gladiator’s game. I still think it’s an amazing platform, and one that our industry desperately needs, just not one that’s suited to my temperament, endeavors or (it would seem) my audience.
Speaking of the stage of life… the image you see alongside this post is a peak inside the mind of Sarah Bernhardt, the French actress who has been referred to as “the most famous actress the world has ever known.” This image will be offered via the Kickstarter campaign with tomorrow’s update. You’re getting an early sneak peak!
If you’re looking for a slightly darker mind, check out today’s update – which provides a glimpse inside the mind of Dracula author, Bram Stoker.