Before I begin, I want to reiterate what I said in the title– this has nothing to do with most physical merchandise<\/b>. While it can be a bit frustrating, obviously sometimes you can only afford so much– that’s the entire point of having the thing on Kickstarter in the first place. I will admit I do have mixed feelings on exclusive physical stuff tied specifically to how many other things you buy (IE: You can only get this item if you bought at least 3 or 5 or 10 other things), but that’s genuinely not the focus of this post. This also isn’t about obvious limited stuff like “design a character!”– this is specifically about the generally presumed inconsequential– things relating to customization or getting things a little bit earlier. Things that, to be blunt, could just be paid DLC.<\/p>\n
And that’s kind of my issue. I’ve seen too many games go up on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or other similar sites where there will be some kind of “Digital Deluxe” tier that includes things like a special outfit or skin and a special pet and a special hat. Some of these tiers aren’t too much higher than the game itself– maybe $10 more. Others pack in so much stuff, you may be looking at $100-$200 to get everything. <\/p>\n
You may be thinking, why would it even cost that much? Generally, it’s because tons of other things are packed in– think of how a lot of Mobile Games will have some kind of special item pack– the item is maybe worth $5-$10, but the pack itself is $30-$50 because of premium currency and other random boosts and things. While these generally are more substantial, including things like a soundtrack, artbook, Beta access, and\/or possibly even a whole other copy of the game. And the thing is, outside of maybe Beta access: Most of those will not be exclusive to the Kickstarter. Maybe physical versions of the soundtrack\/artbook, but again, this has nothing to do with physical stuff– it’s simply those digital vanity items. That said, I have absolutely seen some where they gave options for you to add on the items yet priced some of them at $20-$50.<\/p>\n
I think what blows my mind especially with how common this has become at this point is a lot of the time it’s for more down to Earth, play how you’d like, simulator or casual games where they advertise fun customization and cute pets and then lock some of them behind a limited time paywall<\/i>. Even worse, sometimes there may be a cheaper tier with everything… that is then limited in number. <\/p>\n
And I don’t know, when I play fun casual simulation-based games, wearing my favorite items and collecting lots of cute things (especially pets) and being able to place all the furniture are some of my absolute favorite parts of playing a game. <\/p>\n
I don’t mind if they want to give Backers a discount– like “Oh, you can get these now as part of your pledge if you pledge for the game” and then just… let people buy them later (and I say this as someone who has pledged for these things previously, but I know friends who have skipped a game because something they really liked was exclusive to a Kickstarter). I feel like if someone wants to back, they are going to regardless of those limited items… And if they want those, I think they’d still be happy with them discounted? <\/p>\n
The last Kickstarter I pledged with Kickstarter exclusive digital items, I actually couldn’t afford to pledge for both the game and special items so I ended up just getting the special items. I figured I could try and get the game eventually, but since these won’t come back and it would take away some of my enjoyment of the game otherwise, I should buy the exclusives instead. And that was when I decided I wouldn’t pledge to Kickstarters with exclusives anymore. It actually really stinks too because there’s games I had been following and looking forward to so much and then see some huge price to get some items that you can only get there. <\/p>\n
Do I necessarily want all the items? No. Well, unless it’s pets or pink and princess-y, but generally, I actually do not necessarily want most of the items. I just… do not like the principle of it. I think it’s unneeded. I think it’s completely possible to make it a DLC thing. I think it leaves people out for no reason when there’s plenty of other ways for people who pledged to show they have done so (like… having your name in the credits). But most of all, I just find it baffling that this is such a thing in largely single player games. Like do you really care if someone who only found out about the game after it released paid for a DLC pack to get something that came in the tier you pledged for? To be honest, whether a single player game or not, with customization (or vanity things in general– whether just a silly emote, a hat, a pet, or a chair), I always feel more options are better so it’s just a shame that now it’s almost routine to see a set of items get stuck behind a limited one-month Kickstarter wall. <\/p>\n
It just makes me sad to think someone maybe finds out about the game late or just couldn’t afford to pledge right then and there and misses out on something that really shouldn’t need to be exclusive. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before I begin, I want to reiterate what I said in the title– this has nothing to do with most physical merchandise. While it can be a bit frustrating, obviously sometimes you can only afford so much– that’s the entire point of having the thing on Kickstarter in the first place. I will admit I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[232],"tags":[488],"class_list":["post-11163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion-piece","tag-opinion-piece"],"yoast_head":"\n