The Daily Grind: Do you use Kickstarter to pre-order MMOs?

In MJ's interview with TUG's Peter Salinas last week, Salinas said that the most interesting thing about the community reveal of Nerd Kingdom's sandbox MMO was just how many people consider Kickstarter to be a pre-order system instead of, you know, a way to kickstart a game they want to see made. This jibes with Massively columnist Brendan Drain's observations earlier this week that "the most popular reward level for video game Kickstarters is almost always the lowest-priced tier that provides a digital copy of the game."

I'm so guilty of this. I put exactly as much money into the TUG and Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter pots as I had to in order to secure myself the cheapest pre-order copy of the games I could, but I didn't chip in for an Android game Kickstarter from a dev who couldn't offer the game .apk in any tier. I don't know whether I feel bad. I want to see the games made, and I willingly pay for my copy; I consider my discount a fair tradeoff for paying them years before I'll download a client. But that's my personal limit: a pittance and a vote of confidence, really. I'm guessing most gamers aren't so fabulously wealthy as to heavily fund indie games even if they wanted to, and those who could do so probably have a lot of other worthy non-gaming causes that take precedence.

So do you also take advantage of cheap pre-order tiers on Kickstarter? Do you hunt for the tier with exactly the right combination of swag? Or do you approach each Kickstarter knowing you want to donate a certain amount, regardless of what you get in return?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!