I know what I say here will make no difference as the whole of this site seems to be intent on this "$30 dollars on the 3rd thing”.
I came up with the idea, so I’ll tell you where I’m coming from and hopefully that will give you a better feel of why I think this is a good idea.
1. Most Shenmue fans aware of the kickstarter will have already have pledged as much as they can afford
3. The whole thing is insulting for the fans who can't afford to up their pledge
Anywhere that I’ve posted a big explanation of the campaign I’ve tried to be clear about this: If you’ve pledged all you can, you’ve done an awesome job and you are highly appreciated in your efforts to help us fund Shenmue. The last thing I want someone to do is to feel discouraged because they can’t give more than others. And I definitely don’t want anyone to let their household’s finances slide or go into debt just to help video game. Real life is so much more important than a video game. So I hope no one thinks I, or anyone else, is pressuring them into squeezing any more money out of their budgets. I only speak from my finances in that I can give up a few fast food meals here and there to get just a few more dollars.
5. Since this new initiative is essentially hijacking the long established tweetathon which uses #SaveShenmue, a slogan Yu Suzuki and his team now also embrace, people may assume this initiative has Yu and his team's blessing (when it doesn't), or was even organized by them themselves, and as such, this runs the risk of reflecting badly on them.
Hijacking? I don’t have a problem with #SaveShenmue but concerning Twitter you’ve got hardly any space to explain anything and half of it is used for @’s. We have #SaveShenmue to thank for just that, saving Shenmue. But now it’s time to look beyond that. We’ve got essentially 30 days to raise as much money as we can for Yu.
As I said, I'm sure no one here will listen, but this idea smacks of desperation and lack of forethought.
Desperation, probably. There’s not one of us on this forum who isn’t desperate for Shenmue. And you’re right, it took no forethought because all the forethought required was “I bet people can add just a few extra dollars on the top of what they’ve pledged.” There were a lot of ideas in the first few days after the announcement. I, and many others, felt like this was the best shot we had to add to Yu’s warchest. And we’re dealing with so little anyway. I had two followers on Twitter when I started this: my wife and my cousin. Now I’ve maybe doubled that, maybe even tripled. I’ve always relied on the Dojo and 500k to do the heavy lifting.
I guess if you can think of another idea that would be more beneficial, by all means, get the ball rolling. $30 on the 3rd was meant to be simple, easy to promote and have a clear deadline.