EverybodyLovesRen wrote: I kind of don't get why everyone is flipping out. Yeah, I dropped my pledge from 1500 to 1200, but I really like toy capsule reward better. I feel like its a better and more unique value for money. But I love having the options. And I might just make another account and grab another 300 reward. : shrug :
Yeah what's included in confusing, but it seems like the reward description on the main page is completely updated. So it's not THAT confusing to me. It's a little messy, but the only people really considering these top tiers are huge fans like us. So I imagine we'll figure it out.
Well, I cannot speak for every single backer, but for me, personally, I'm not flipping out. Rather, as a fan that is doing the most I can financially to make this a reality (similar to my fellow fans), I am a bit concerned. And it is not that I'm concerned about what stuff I get. I do not feel entitled to any of this. I feel it is good on them for creating rewards that will motivate new backers—and this is where the bigger picture has to be realized...
As a backer, like the 50,000+ other backer, I feel invested in this because I am invested in this—not just emotionally—financially too. Technically, we are all investors/potential investors in this project. The difference between us and a traditional investor like Shibuya Productions (for example) is that we're not looking for financial return for our offerings to grow our business/business interests. Rather, our return is the product. We all want 1 main thing: Shenmue III and not just any Shenmue III. We want a good, solid, Shenmue III that continues the story/series/franchise and communicates Yu Suzuki's vision. A game that we would be proud to share with others just as we have with the first 2 installments. And I know this is the case because we, the community, have done and are doing initiatives like #SaveShenmue, #30onthe3rd, #TheFinalBlow, etc.
So knowing and understanding this situation, it is crucial that the Kickstarter be a massive success (as it has been so far in several ways). Why? Well to put it simply: More funds = More freedom for the development team to fulfill their project goals. And if they achieve those goals, our money was well-pledged. The way we get more funds is to get new backers. Yes, existing backers may put more down; but a Kickstarter campaign cannot assume or even hope that the initial backers will suddenly double, triple, or quadruple their initial pledge. If anything, you have to assume that the initial pledge they make is the max they're going to give you. Anything extra is just that—extra. And you can do things that encourages giving more like add new tiers, which they have. But that shouldn't be taken too far.
Now, when there is a smattering of 30+ (confusing) rewards, it can affect the campaign negatively. And yes, dedicated fans like us who spend hours looking at forums, posts, articles, videos, discussions, the Kickstarter page, etc will eventually
figure all this out and pick out a tier and pledge what we can. But a majority of newcomers will not do that. I guarantee you that.
Ask any marketing and advertising expert. You have a limited window to get the attention of said newcomer, speak to that newcomer, and convince that newcomer to jump on board/take action. We, the Shenmue community, waited 14+ years for this. Our attention spans are pretty solid when we know we're getting our most coveted video game wish. But the new person (who is looking at other appealing games/projects as welland caught drift of the post-E3 hype) may visit the Kickstarter page and immediately navigate out when he sees 30+ tiers, errors on a page, redundancies, confusion, etc.
[tl;dr] Basically, it is not all doom and gloom. I'm personally not flipping out. However, if we're sitting here with 7 days remaining and still asking campaign-related questions and having this discussion—what about the fresh faces that haven't pledged any funds yet? They'll likely hesitate to pledge or leave; and if that's the case,
we all lose, because that is money and potential backers lost. So we shouldn't depend on or be satisfied with just our own perseverance to figure out things that should be simple. We should talk about these things, come up with possible solutions, and send as much constructive feedback to Awesome Japan/Kickstarter team and Cedric/Shibuya Productions. Shenmue III most-likely has 1 chance to be a reality. And this is it.
by EverybodyLovesRen » Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:19 pm 
