Kickstarter Implements New Set Of Rules For Project Creators

The world seems to have gone a little Kickstarter crazy lately, with new and interesting projects popping up all the time on the crowd-funding site. It seems that things have gotten a little out of hand though, as Kickstarter has announced that it will be implementing a few new rules those hoping to get a project funded need to follow. The new rules were announced in a Kickstarter blog post titled "Kickstarter Is Not a Store," so right away we get an indication of the problems Kickstarter is facing.

Obviously, one of the biggest issue is that many people pledge money thinking they're buying a product, when really they're helping fund the development of that product, and that development process may end in failure. To counteract this notion that backers are buying a product, Kickstarter now requires that all projects have a "Risks and Challenges" page. It's there that project creators have to talk about the risks associated with their project, letting potential backers better determine if the project in question will ever see the light of day.

The next new rules only apply to hardware and product design projects, but they're big rules nonetheless. Staring immediately, product simulations are forbidden, meaning that creators can no long show video of what their product could potentially do. Instead, Kickstarter says that products "can only be shown performing actions that they're able to perform in their current state of development." Creators can no longer show renders of their product too, and have to show images of the current prototype instead. That one is pretty big, considering that all of the images we saw of OUYA during its Kickstarter campaign were renders.

Finally, hardware and product design Kickstarters can no longer offer multiple quantities of a reward. Kickstarter has put this rule in place to combat the implication that products seen on the site are "shrink-wrapped and ready to ship." All of these rules have gone into effect already, so Kickstarter obviously wanted to get them on the books as fast as possible. Have a look at our timeline below for more posts on Kickstarter!