Grargar: You might not like comparisons, but at its simplest level, you give money lo someone with the promises that you will get a product. The rest are semantics. It's worse because your money are taken long before the product is delivered.
JMich: Funding. I say I think I can make product X and ask funding to see if I can actually pull it through. It is quite possible that I'll fail, and the chances of success have to be evaluated before anyone decides to fund me. At no point do I make a definite promise of delivery.
Research lab btw, with quite a bit of outside funding. Kickstarter is equivalent to R&D, not pre-order.
All of the games I have backed have made promises of sale. I give this much... I get this much. While "funding" is more than a pre-order, I don't agree that I didn't enter a contract with the seller. All of the games I backed had strong efforts towards completion before the KS began. It wasn't a gamble to see if they would complete the game, its a gamble to see how good or bad the game is (same gamble as any game purchase). What my funding did was get me access to "extras":
Better access to devs.
Alpha/beta access.
Promised updates.
Wallpapers, diaries, screenshots, videos, etc.
But most of all, to the people that like to fund in advance, it gives your favorite devs money in advance (rather than the typical in arrears) to make the game you love. Some companies wouldn't manage if they didn't have a cash infusion first. This grants them that.
I know what you are talking about. Some lesser known companies might start off with a blank canvass and ask for money... but if its not a blood relative, I wouldn't back them that way.
