Blue Table Painting Kickstarts Controversy

Blue Table Painting is now on Kickstarter offering their painting services. Doing so, they take the simmering controversy of Kickstarter-for-creatives vs. Kickstarter-for-business to a whole new level. It seems the line between Kickstarter as a place to crowd-fund “creativity” and a peculiar second store-front and pre-order-page is getting more blurred each week. Will projects like this wear down the Kickstarter-hype? Or is this the future?

Kickstarter and Commerce: A Paradox in Design

What is Kickstarter? Crowd-funding for creatives without chances of ever getting traditional credit/investment? Or a launch-platform for companies to run more or less fancy, yet ultimately staged Kickstarter-campaigns that serve marketing purposes above all?

Here’s how Kickstarter describes itself.

Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of ambitious, innovative, and imaginative projects that are brought to life through the direct support of others.

Since our launch on April 28, 2009, over $350 million has been pledged by more than 2.5 million people, funding more than 30,000 creative projects.

Truth be told, Kickstarter hardly ever was the blissful Shangri-La of hyper-creatives transcending the laws of the market as some make it out to be. Kickstarter’s very model of encouraging people to back a particular project through “rewards” has a supplier-customer-like relationship build into it (though “backers” do not enjoy the customer protection of a traditional sales-contract).

Still, I think I am hardly the only one that feels like we’re observing a gradual shift towards more and more hard-nosed commercial Kickstarters with less and less emphasis on creating truly new things from scratch. I’ve blogged extensively about both Reaper Bones and Mantic’s DreadBall on Kickstarter.

Both could be criticized for being “business-as-usual” for these two companies, less truly creative efforts to break the mould in some innovative way. Indeed, over at TheShellCase.co.uk, Phil did just that. Though I can see Phil’s point, I still plunged for both a box of Reaper Bones and a large order of DreadBall.

The Blue Table Painting Kickstarter: Pledge for Store-Credits

Blue Table Painting is a US Miniature Painting Company. They paint your wargaming miniatures against a fee. In their Kickstarter, they essentially offer more of the same. You pledge to get your miniatures painted. Or better yet, you pledge to get a discount on store-credits. The difference to sites like Groupon is getting hard to distinguish here.

Is that a step too far? Or is it double-standards to criticize Blue Table Painting to promote their services (miniature painting) on Kickstarter after endorsing, say, Reaper Miniatures for promoting their product (miniatures) on Kickstarter?

I don’t think I ever would have bought a Reaper Miniature in my life. But Kickstarter made me send US$ 100,- their way. There is undeniably something about Kickstarter that “works” in getting people to spend money. If companies like Reaper or Mantic Games deserve to give the “Kickstarter Magic” a shot, than so does Blue Table Painting.

Kickstarter Dilemma: Where do you draw the line?

Internet forums seem to be full or righteous indignation about Blue Table Painting’s Kickstarter. It admittedly isn’t pretty in how blatantly it just tries to promote what Blue Table Painting does and has done since its founding some 8 or so years ago.

Yet, at the same time, it feels wrong to single out Blue Table Painting now. In a way, they are only taking a trend to its logical conclusion that has started some time ago. The first Kickstarter sin was committed long before Blue Table Painting . “Staged” Kickstarters that really only add hype to a product that would be released either way.

Mantic’s DreadBall is a more recent example (yet hardly the first). There’s little doubt that DreadBall would’ve been produced, even if their Kickstarter hadn’t reached its humble US$ 25.000,- goal. Most of the early stretch-goals were printed in product catalogs for retailers long before the DreadBall Kickstarter actually went live.

Before DreadBall, Penny Arcade kickstarted nothing more substantive than the promise to show less online advertisement (which they haven’t fullfilled), offering some truly jaded pledges such as the privilege to have them retweet one of your tweets for only US$ 500,-

If Kickstarter allowed these projects, I feel that Blue Table Painting can make a decent claim to be “allowed” on Kickstarter as well. Notwithstanding efforts, such as by people on Dakkadakka, to get Blue Table’s Kickstarter mass-reported. Even if Kickstarter takes this campaign down, campaigns like Blue Table’s will probably be back, and soon. Soda Pop famously got suspended by Kickstarter for their offensive pedophilia aesthetics, only to jump right back in for nearly a million dollars with Relic Knights. Business as usual.

Soda Pop Miniatures and the questionable “theme” of some of their products makes for a clearer case than Blue Table and their questionable “marketing” approach to Kickstarter.

Can Kickstarter roll back this type of advertising-campaigns? If so, on what grounds that would – on an unbiased, objective basis – not also disqualify Kickstarter campaigns like DreadBall or Penny Arcade? Do they even want to? Is it even hurting the truly “creative” projects on Kickstarter, or are they benefiting from the greater traffic that comes with Kickstarter’s popularity? Is the “Kickstarter-magic” really being spoiled?

What do you think of Blue Tables Kickstarter? Does it violate a basic principle? Business ethics? Or is it a legitimate (if, arguably not a very enticing) Kickstarter?

I’d love to hear your opinion. Leave a comment!

Z.