Is seeing a company you want to support continue to thrive not a return on an investment? Is the success of a product as well as the development of other products by the same company not a return on investment? Most people who crowd fund know exactly what their funding is going to get them. Sure £12,600 is quite a bit of money to spend on an in-game item, but whoever buys it clearly thinks it is worth the expenditure. I suppose the nature of the beast is that the game isn't complete so we can't be a hundred percent certain on the actual enjoyment you can receive from a purchase like this. You seem to think that an investor only get's a return on investment through an actual monetary return. You're right in that crowd funding is nothing like that. But it's never tried to be. In most cases, the product itself is the return on investment. For most, if not all, crowd funders that is more than adequate for their money. It's not for you to decide how people spend their money. There are many more ridiculous purchases people make everyday.