A bit of background here. So Goblins is a webcomic (link). The creator of the webcomic licensed his brand to an indie game developer to make a game based on his webcomic. That game developer chose to go to Kickstarter for that (link). The KS raised around 180K USD but since then, the game developer has gone AWOL. He has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth and no one can find him, not even the webcomic artist. The KS page has since been taken down due to an IP dispute but the Facebook page is still up (link).
I mean, this sort of situation isn't exactly new to KS. Just look at the Doom that came to Atlantic City, where some random schmuck used more famous personalities to scam backers. However, the artist tried to get KS to give him the names of the backers so he could contact them or find some way to get a mass-message out to them and KS...kinda fucked him over. In his own words (link)
Dear Kickstarter. Let's recap...
I told you that the project was a scam that ripped off thousands of people in my name by taking their money, disappearing forever and forcing me to face everyone. I explained that no backers would ever receive any rewards or product. I asked for the backer list so I could send all of them 'something' to try and make this as right as I can....You refused to help in any way at all and told me to talk to the person whom you know disappeared forever with the money.
I further explained that none of the backers would ever receive any rewards or product and asked for your help in the form of advice, discussion or somehow removing or altering the scam project page....You refused to help in any way at all and told me to talk to the person whom you know disappeared forever with the money.
I sent you a DMCA take down notice, explaining once more and with great care, that no backers would ever be receiving any rewards or product....You took the page down and sent a blanket email to every backer, explaining to all of them that they will indeed be receiving their rewards and product. Then you gave all of them a link to a page with my home address on it.
I understand that I'm talking to a business and not a single person, but whoever is reading this right now, please think about this for a moment. You promised over 2000 people that they can expect the non-existent products that they paid for... that have my name on them... and then you gave all of them my home address.
Please stop this. I honestly can't take anymore.-Tarol Hunt
Yes, KS, I'm sure giving hundreds of disgruntled backers someones home address is a good thing. Especially when they think that someone owes them money. Add in booze and guns into the mix, and I'm sure that everything will turn out fine. There isn't even the slightest possible chance that there's a loony in those several hundred backers.
I mean, like WTF KS? What on earth made you think this was possibly a good idea? And if it slipped by you, how on earth did it slip by you? I know I was suggesting that KS do more to help backers but I didn't mean they should send an angry mob to the creators house. Once again, I find that this is yet another issue of KS being too quick to pass the buck around to other people and avoid responsibility.
Overall, this is an egregious error on KS part and if anything does happen to the artist, they would probably end up facing some very harsh lawsuits. As it is, they might be liable for a lawsuit already with this stunt.
For a more thorough view on this issue, there's also a video by the artist explaining what went wrong with this whole KS (link).
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