![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Sometimes you just can't tell
Jan. 5th, 2015 01:46 amI used to reckon that I could distinguish at least moderately reliably between those kickstarter projects that were intended as jokes and those that were the absolutely serious effort of someone suffering badly from the Dunning-Kruger effect. The infamous potato salad fell pretty clearly into the first category, while the people who wanted to start a company selling a "computer security" device that amounted to a network cable with a switch wired into the middle were utterly out of their depth. There have always been some crossover cases - I imagine the endless stream of people who want the internet to buy them a high-end PC so that they can be the next big Youtube star contains examples of both types (as well as some people who've thrown it out as a "doesn't cost anything" effort), but I've never felt inclined to pay them any attention. (Nor has anyone else; I've never noticed one with a single backer.)
But there's one up at the moment that honestly could go either way. He wants to make an MMO, and has a target of a million Euros. So far, that's straightforward "hopeful idiot" territory; there are usually several such projects floating around at any given time. They don't get funded unless they're attached to the name of someone with a track record of actually making games that work. Generally, they've come up with their own generic (sorry, "fascinating and unique") fantasy or sci-fi universe to set it in, but not this guy. He wants to make an MMO strategy game that's some kind of sequel to the Westwood Dune 2 game. What do you mean, licences?
So now I'm curious, both as to whether he's serious or not (a million is peanuts in MMO development terms, even without IP licencing, but it's the sort of number that sounds big enough to appeal to people who don't know any better), but also as to whether the potentially-offended IP holders will hammer him into the ground or decide they don't need to because he's obviously never going to make a game anyway. (Given how easy-going the assorted Dune rights-holders notoriously aren't, it definitely wouldn't be my choice for a joke, which inclines the scales towards "clueless", but since there's no actual product maybe he feels safe?)
But there's one up at the moment that honestly could go either way. He wants to make an MMO, and has a target of a million Euros. So far, that's straightforward "hopeful idiot" territory; there are usually several such projects floating around at any given time. They don't get funded unless they're attached to the name of someone with a track record of actually making games that work. Generally, they've come up with their own generic (sorry, "fascinating and unique") fantasy or sci-fi universe to set it in, but not this guy. He wants to make an MMO strategy game that's some kind of sequel to the Westwood Dune 2 game. What do you mean, licences?
So now I'm curious, both as to whether he's serious or not (a million is peanuts in MMO development terms, even without IP licencing, but it's the sort of number that sounds big enough to appeal to people who don't know any better), but also as to whether the potentially-offended IP holders will hammer him into the ground or decide they don't need to because he's obviously never going to make a game anyway. (Given how easy-going the assorted Dune rights-holders notoriously aren't, it definitely wouldn't be my choice for a joke, which inclines the scales towards "clueless", but since there's no actual product maybe he feels safe?)
