They know who's shelling out for just the comic and who's showing interest in the entire package. If only 10 people want the game and 40 people pledge for the comic, there is data to draw accuracte conclusions. People want a neat comic book, not a party game.
However, with a staggering 349 people backing the comic+game package (and rising), and only less than 40-50 people for the individual packages, that tells them that people show more interest in the game.
I get what you're saying, though. I feel that my contribution is going toward something I don't want to obtain something I DO want.
I'd totally prefer for >G to get all of my $10 rather than Kickstarter taking a chunk of it. I'd also prefer not to have my Kickstarter profile look like I backed Story War. I already look like I bought Dungeon Roll when all I did was throw $1 at them…
Not trying to argue or make a point here but simple curiosity - I wonder how many people who were only really interested in either the game or the comic have actually pledged for both because what the hell, it's only $20/15?
Games and hobbies thrive on impulse buys. People buying a game because they really, really want it and people who buy a game because they really, really want to buy a game don't make much of a difference when it comes to sales. How the players react to the game may be quite different, of course, but if someone is so disinterested in the game that they don't want to throw fifteen to twenty bucks at it when it's bundled with a comic they really want, then they're voting with their dollars. I've sold plenty of SotM sets at the FLGS I work at, but I don't really differentiate whether the buyer was really interested in superheroes, co-op games, card games, or anything else. I tell them it's a great superhero co-op game, describe some of the mechanics, and then they buy it or they don't and I see what else they my be interested in. That curiosity of "was this an impulse buy or a calculated, deliberate purchase," is rampant in this field, and it could be applied to nearly any game when someone has some cash burning a hole in their pocket.
Of course this doesn't have much bearing on the quality of the game, but I don't know that it matters much if people are getting it just to have it. If they get it and it isn't their thing they took a calculated risk and didn't really lose out on much because their expectations weren't high. If they got it because they really wanted it and they didn't get what they wanted then that's way more disappointing.
Hurray for Impulse purchases! That's how I got Sentinels of the Multiverse, which in turn got me more into board gaming! Just think, if the coin toss landed on the opposite side, none of you would of ever heard the name Ronway! You lucky people!
For me, SotM was a very calculated decision, mostly because I knew it was going to be a big investment. After the expansions, I made decisions down the road, such as "do I bother sleeving every single card to keep it nice and shiny?" and "do I invest in printed out promos or hunt for them on eBay (a financially simple choice to make...)?" And so on.
Yeah. I'm just interested because while I used to be an impulse buyer myself, I now rarely buy anything that I don't actually need without extensive research. Is this thing any good? Does it do what I want it to do? Is it worth the money? Can I get it (or an acceptable equivalent product) cheaper? Is there a better alternative? Can I try it out first? Will it still be available later if I don't get it right now? Can I persuade someone to buy it for me for Christmas or my birthday? I have to be frugal with my own purchases because I have no actual income being unable to work, and most of my game purchases are for my RPG club using club funds so I can't exactly fritter away money that isn't mine - everything I buy has to be considered.
Off topic, but yeah, I'm interested in these alien "yeah I'll drop $200 on this game because it has zombies/warthogs/steampunk unicorns on the cover even though I know nothing about the gameplay" behaviours…
Calculated for me too, although I didn't take completionism into account. The thought process was: Our RPG club has spare money for a boardgame. A couple of the guys pointed out we don't have a superhero-themed game. SotM looks the best out of the available three, with the added advantage that non-comic-fan-me won't be disadvantaged by not knowing reams of existing lore like many of the guys. Let's buy that one.
Ha! That's totally how I got into SotM too. I have quite a few board games but didn't have a super hero themed one and SotM had some good buzz so I went for it.
Tell me about it! My friends have taken to calling me Sentipedia, despite my protests that there are people on here who know a vast amount more lore than I do…
I'm still confused as to how the SotM story will be continuing in Conflict, when it doesn't appear that there's anything more on the cards than a simple description. Is it because new characters will have cards in Conflict that we don't have decks for or something? Or there will be alt versions of characters in Conflict that we don't have in SotM?
I think it's really found in the comic book. From what it looks like, the story and unvierse will be more fleshed out in the TPB and less so in the cards.
From the Q&A, the story won't be continuing in Conflict. The whole point of Conflict is a vehicle for folks to tell their own stories, not to progress the cannon.
So then I'm detecting zero reason to buy the game if I don't think it will be fun, and zero reason to complain if other people want to buy the game. I'm all set.
