Kickstarter - Nine Year Old Raises $24,534

Couchpotato

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You read the headline right it's not wrong. A nine year old named Mackenzie Wilson wants to create her own RPG game. She just successfully concluded her Kickstarter campaign for her RPG, raising $24,534 pledged by 1,442 backers.

I play games on my computer, PS3 and KindleHD all the time and it's fun but I REALLY WANT to create my own games to play. Ultimately I want to learn to program really cool stuff, but since I'm 9 I'm starting with RPG Maker because it lets me create something awesome without having to know how to actually program everything. I'll learn to program more as I get older, but right now, RPG Maker's drag & drop functionality makes it pretty easy for me to create working RPG games quickly. And each time, my games get better & better. I'm having fun playing with the software now and learning how it works. It's given me lots more ideas about how to make the game I'm going to build at RPG Camp even AWESOMER!

Right now, I know for sure that my game will be more age appropriate than the games I'm stuck playing. Sadly there just aren't many cool RPGs out there for kids my age that aren't stupid or silly.

As I said in the video, I want to create an RPG that isn't too violent and isn't filled with bad words, still has a good story line & cool graphics, but has shorter cut scenes, less menus & fewer controls. And most importantly, I want a game that allows team members to face danger together and get hurt but doesn't kill team mates off & eliminate them from battle.

It's no secret there aren't enough females in STEM professions so part of my Kickstarter campaign is aimed at raising awareness and getting girls thinking about careers in technology at an early age. I want to be a role model for kids - but especially to girls so there are more girls in tech because I don't want to be the only girl in the room. My Mom and I created fun messaging about things girls can do followed by "KEEP UP!" which implies that the person who's supporting the campaign is ahead of others and a leader. Both of these items will be built in the game.
More information.
 
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I think she can afford a laptop now. Plus a whole lot of M&Ms. Weeee....
 
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There is plenty of evidence that her mother is a long time scam artist.
She's now playing on gender sensitivities s the main selling point is
"prove her mean brothers that a girl CAN make a video game". This
woman promises to force a public humiliation/apology if anyone
pledges 10 k.
 
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The naivety, hardheadedness, and social exploitation surrounding this project is amazing. An enormous and expansive library of evidence, the details describe a society with more resources than wits by which to use them. I immediately recognized that the project was a violation of Kickstarter.com terms and soon thereafter observed strong evidence of exploiting the emotional sensitivities of gender issues and alleged ambitions of children to feed the greed of adults. It has now become so painfully apparent that this is truly a money scheme that I wonder why it remains a subject of controversy.

I pity the women who believe this is a matter of equal rights and respect, I pity those who have succumbed to anger and thus contributed to the deliberate profit-mongering sensationalism, and I pity anyone who believes that it's healthy to throw piles of money at the parents of a small child on the basis of making an innocently selfish and impractically imaginative dream come true. In spite of the miniscule potential for it to propel a developing young person into something great, the competency and integrity of the parents combined with the questionable parenting tactic of seeking to satisfy their child's luxuries by encouraging and assisting them to exploit feminism and ageism to extract money from strangers is far too alarming for a sensible, responsible, or sane person to throw down even a penny.

That being said, I am now planning to start a Kickstarter to raise funds for a yet undiscovered 7 year-old boy that wants to found his own domestic commercial airline. "Kids can't be at the helm of a multi-billion dollar corporation," they say, but I say that anyone who would crush a child's dream is akin to and should be locked up with those that physically and sexually abuse them. I'm going to need about $400m to get started with leasing a plane or two within small airports, and there will be a stretch goal at $800m and $1.2b to add complimentary drinks and add the purchase option of snacks, respectively. Of course, seeing as how this child would be too young to do it alone I will selflessly commit myself to handling all funds and assuming the challenging position of CEO and CFO on his behalf.
 
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I fully agree that this shouldn't have been on KS, but I must say that the reactions from "the web" were at least as alarming as the project itself
 
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Not to protest this post but it doesn't belong on RPGWatch either, seeing as how it is only loosely associated with RPGs, will at best result in an awful game, and is of no value to the RPG[Watch] community other than a target of ridicule.

Funny thing is that I inadvertently described Richard Garriott's career for what is has been for nearly a decade now. And I don't even dislike him, it's merely a matter of fact...
 
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So a 9 y.o. is disillusioned about the state of the industry? Welp.
 
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That being said, I am now planning to start a Kickstarter to raise funds for a yet undiscovered 7 year-old boy that wants to found his own domestic commercial airline. "Kids can't be at the helm of a multi-billion dollar corporation,"

As already stated in the thread I reported this piece of news, that nine years old wants to developp an old style RPG, on RPG maker or something.
Better to think the same way to achieve the same kind of success. Go for an old school multi billion dollar corporation.
 
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Hmmm people gave her money they could have pulled their support if they wanted to. It is their fault if they feel ripped off because they were to stupid to see it was a bad investment.
 
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KS projects are barely an investment.
Especially as they are most of the times about redoing what was already done. And that never wore out or disappeared.
 
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Scam. Scammy-scam scam. Go check out the mother's previous Kickstarter, the Cape project.

Both violate KS's term of service (this one to send a girl to camp, the previous one so her husband could start a game store so their boys could have a place to play CCGs.)

Both are a bad joke.

The thing that bothers me most, however, is not the suckers who fell for the whole "9 year old wants to upset her bullying, misogynistic brothers" line--but the fact that Kickstarter didn't pull the campaign when numerous people pointed out how it violates their TOS on several levels.
 
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Might be because none of the projects violate KS TOS.

Kickstarter doesn't allow "fund your life" projects. No school costs, no training costs, no business start-up costs.

Cape was giving virtual capes to people, or stitching your name on a towel and calling it a cape for like $100 a pop, to raise money for opening a store. Not to make the towels, the project wasn't about selling the towels… no, those were the rewards, the incentives, to raise money to open a game store. Clear violation.

The KS for the 9 year old daughter was to send her to camp. Which is essentially the same thing as paying for school or training. Clear violation.

I had a friend try to start a Kickstarter to support a podcast he and his associates do, and was told "no" by Kickstarter because that's not a project but an ongoing program. Seemed very strict interpretation when web series are a go, but ongoing podcasts programs aren't. You would figure that kind of strict interpretation would be across board to be fair.

She needed less than $900 to sent her daughter to camp, but he she donation packages at the $1000 to $10,000 level. Seriously. Go look.

The mother is a con artist and she's damaging Kickstarter's reputation.

---- From Kickstarter's guidelines:
Kickstarter cannot be used to raise money for causes, whether it's the Red Cross or a scholarship, or for "fund my life" projects, like tuition or bills. (or camp)

Creators cannot promise to donate a portion of funds raised or future revenue to a cause (such as the mother promising to donate the extra $19k to fund STEM programs for girls, as good a cause as that is)

Kickstarter cannot be used to fund e-commerce, business, and social networking websites or apps. (or game stores, you know, a business)

Kickstarter cannot be used to fund software projects not run by the developers themselves. (even if you buy the "this campaign is to raise money for my daughter to make an RPG she will sell", the software project uses RPG Maker and is run by the camp, not the girl or even the girl's mother)

Kickstarter cannot be used to buy real estate. (I guess they could have rented the store front)

----
 
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Maybe I should Kickstart to fund my next drive home from the bar with a taxi. There's alot of bad people out at night. Racists, rapists, and whatnot. It will be a no-violence-for-me project. Great success.
 
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Or someone could start a kickstart to get a decent, high-powered sniper rifle! Think of not having to deal with all that peskiness involved of driving or walking down to your local post office to wack a few obnoxious people, now you could do it from the comfort of your own home!! BTW, if anyone takes this idea, I expect credit and such.

You wouldn't even need training and such, after 20 rounds or so hitting in the area, people would probably get an idea that something was going on. =))



-Carn
 
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Kickstarter doesn't allow "fund your life" projects.

Oh, you can get around it…

Case in point: a guy I knew in college; he's apparently a loser these days, despite having two advanced degrees from prestigious schools. He set up a Kickstarter so he could go gallivanting across the globe. But you'd get postcards in the mail for your investment. It was a sad joke, and it wasn't going to succeed as a Kickstarter project until the remaining 2/3 of funding magically appeared on the last day of the project (likely from himself or family).

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/267106577/the-30-postcards-project
http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/267106577/the-30-postcards-project/

But yeah, there will always be scams, and suckers who gladly spur them along.
 
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The inventiveness and impudence of these con artists never stops to impress me. And there will always be suckers who will support their lifestyle. :)

This ain't good pr for legitimate projects though.
 
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