While I agree with the spirit of the above comment, and am not upset when projects I fund are delayed or cancelled, you're not technically correct:
Is a creator legally obligated to fulfill the promises of their project?
Yes. Kickstarter's Terms of Use require creators to fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This is what creators see before they launch.) This information can serve as a basis for legal recourse if a creator doesn't fulfill their promises. We hope that backers will consider using this provision only in cases where they feel that a creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the project and fulfill.
If a project creator takes the money and disappears then it's fraud, that's what that quote is referring to.
From that same FAQ: "Kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creator's ability to complete their project. On Kickstarter, backers (you!) ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it."
In court it's probably about as valid as a Terms of Service agreement on a website or a "by reading this you must keep the contents of this email confidential" at the bottom of an email.
What if project creator takes money, then over thinks it and uses money to sponsor his ambitions? Is Kickstarter ego boost fund, or actual project funding?
Most users sponsor project to get early and discounted access to cool stuff - if you fund Kickstarter projects for other reasons - good for you. But dont expect others to follow. Some people hard earned money are in stake, they expect to get something from it and when creator just blatantly changes what he has to offer while sponsoring his high lifestyle from money received - thats just bad.
You got money for something - do it.
You want to develop something different, better? First finish what you have promised, then move on for money your company earned itself.
"Most users sponsor project to get early and discounted access to cool stuff"
There is a reason why KickStarter forbids calling a reward a pre-order.
I think a good solution would be to forbid the product being developed from being offered as a reward and instead allow a coupon (free, half-priced, whatever) to be the reward with the understanding that the technology product might never be produced.
Kickstarter has many other products that are not technology focused, these kinds of development issues and product delivery issues are less of a problem when you don't have major technical challenges to overcome.
Look at Lockitron, it seems like such a simple concept and device, but as they've shown, making it a reality is difficult.
There is a high chance of failure in the startup world, investors should be aware of this. Kickstarter should make this very clear to people and limit the types of rewards so that people (who arguably shouldn't be "investing") are not disappointed if the project just doesn't work out.
> There is a reason why KickStarter forbids calling a reward a pre-order.
Plenty of people do it anyway. For example: http://earin.se/ -- "We are live at Kickstarter. Order your Earin and help us get the world’s smallest wireless earbud to market."
I think this disconnect is a result of some drift from what Kickstarter's early examples envisioned. They had in mind rewards being more like tokens or thank-yous, taking up a smallish part of the actual funding budget: more like giving tshirts or little hand-made art things to backers to thank them for their support. The kind of thing you get at different membership tiers when you join EFF or another nonprofit. So by the terms, you had to deliver the tshirt regardless, but whether the project succeeded or not was separate and not guaranteed. But now many rewards are essentially preorders for a product, which cannot be delivered unless it's produced, so people are effectively making a binding legal promise up front that the project will succeed (which in many cases they cannot really keep).
Is a creator legally obligated to fulfill the promises of their project?
Yes. Kickstarter's Terms of Use require creators to fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This is what creators see before they launch.) This information can serve as a basis for legal recourse if a creator doesn't fulfill their promises. We hope that backers will consider using this provision only in cases where they feel that a creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the project and fulfill.
https://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter+basics
This isn't just hypothetical: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2150780/firstofakind-kickstar...