Kickstarter is indeed pretty weird when it comes to games. I've known about it for a while but I never did anything with it since there was nothing there that I wanted to give to. With that said, I see Kickstarters as more of paying for a service combo'd with a product if you pay enough.
I know some of you folks HATE analogies but I think I have a somewhat close one that I can relate to. I've been around restaurants and seen how they can be run in many different ways. One way is that you pay first and you get the food later. Another one (Just thought about it) is online shopping, especially at places like Ebay. You don't buy from just anybody. You buy stuff from people that can be trusted. To find out who can be trusted, you will have to do some research.
In both cases, you may think you are paying for just a product but you are getting a service as well. That service is them preparing the product for you, it doesn't matter how they prepare it. It could be just packing it or they have to make the entire thing.
Yes there are risks with Kickstarters but like online shopping or even restaurants (as a whole), you should do some research before you jump in. I'm not going to jump blindly into any of those three without knowing anything. In Kickstarters' case, I am not going to open my wallet if I don't see something. The more the better. An excellent example of who I would open my wallet to is these guys:
http://www.sauropodstudio.com/
A few months back they came out with a video and a pretty good concept of what they want to do with the game. If they had a Kickstarter then, I might of given them some money. They haven't done it yet (or will) but they have progressed with the development in some good ways. Slow going but it is good. If they do one now, I would give them money for sure.
So yeah... tl;dr: Folks on Kickstarters are selling concepts. Some of these concepts may involve a products, especially in the case for games. For me to give anything money, first I have to like it and second they have to show concepts and a game plan.