Chris Roberts' STAR CITIZEN

[MrSaxon]

No joke: I heard Chris Roberts' voice in this video for the first time, realized that he sounded British and suddenly felt ashamed. Luckily a quick check to Wikipedia assured me that he's definitely American, and only grew up over here. Phew! I've got too much national shame on my shoulders as it is. I don't need any more!

[jacob singer]

Sorry, he's yours now - you've adopted him, you're responsible for his behavior.

[commodorejohn]

AIn other "game crowdfunding misadventures" news, a judge in the UK has ruled that pledges to crowdfunding sites count as refundable orders if they're portrayed that way to the backers. Which is going to make things reeeeal interesting for a number of different projects, I bet.

[Reasor]

A[quote name="commodorejohn" url="/community/t/145317/chris-roberts-star-citizen/250#post_4467543"]In other "game crowdfunding misadventures" news, a judge in the UK has ruled that pledges to crowdfunding sites count as refundable orders if they're portrayed that way to the backers. Which is going to make things reeeeal interesting for a number of different projects, I bet.[/quote]

[MrSaxon]

Jacob, move over to London and get your money back!

[jacob singer]

Heh. I wish.

[jonathan parker]

I'm playing the 3.0.1 patch, I thought patches made stuff better. Not this time. I did get jump in performance though.

I'm still having kinda fun.

[Codename]

I'm also having a lot of fun...

...in Elite.

#sorrynotsorry

[jonathan parker]

I've only bought one ship. I have a mate who has spent thousands. He doesn't like to hear you talk shit about the game. Not even one bit. Many times he has rage quit when I start bitching at a bug that is marginally game breaking. Me: "They need to fix this falling out a craft while landing business" Him: *Rage quit*.

I also learned never to bring up ED (not erectile disfunction, which I'm sure he has as well, I couldn't get hard if I spent thousands on SC). He rages when you compare ED to SC, which I can, because I play both. I've known him since childhood, what can I say?

[Overlord]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonathan Parker 
 

I have a mate who has spent thousands ... I've known him since childhood, what can I say?

"Mate, I'd like to talk to you about a fabulous new business paradigm that has made me wealthy due to passive investments, all with only a few hours of work a month.  I think you'd be a great fit for our company.  It's called Reverse Funnel Industries, Inc."

[ska oreo]

ANot surprising. Because actually acknowleding that hes spent thousands on useless bullshit might make his head explode.

[jacob singer]

In the latest email from RSI the second paragraph features:

Also available now is the Aegis Wrecking Crew pack, a collection of 5 Aegis Dynamics ships, hand-picked to rip, strip and dip in decisive cooperation.

And how much will that pack of "hand-picked" ships cost you, oh devoted backer of Star Citizen? Just a measly $900.00! That's just under $200.00 a ship! Why, they're practically giving them away! Be sure to reserve yours today! Get two packs! They make great gifts!

[MrSaxon]

Get one, Jacob!

[jacob singer]

...soooo... ...temptiiiiing...

[MrSaxon]

I wonder if Chris Roberts sleeps soundly at night?

[mondguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSaxon 
 

I wonder if Chris Roberts sleeps soundly at night?

[ska oreo]

Because we haven't talked about this "not game" in a while.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/10/14/17975...windows-pc

Donations to the crowd-funded space combat video game, which has been in development since 2012, spiked on Wednesday, the day Cloud Imperium Games issued a three-minute trailer for Squadron 42 from CitizenCon 2018. Roberts Space Industries (the parent company) reported $379,254 taken in on Oct. 10, plus another $600,000 over the next three days combined.

Putting that in perspective, Star Citizen took in $692,406 seven weeks ago, its best in the past two months. The project’s lifetime funding now stands at $195,768,020. Star Citizen is the most crowdfunded venture — video game or otherwise — of all time.

At this point, why in god's name would you bother to release this then?  Seriously, you have your own personal cult  backers who will pretty much buy anything you sell them because they've convinced themselves that it's in support of the game.  Why release this from alpha when this will immediately put it into competition with other popular online games.  By keeping in this state, CIG ensures that SC will forever exist in its own personal box. Where it can rack up cash, and not actually have to worry about meeting any expectations.

[headless fett]

It really is the perfect con. Evil of course but impressive at the same time.

[ska oreo]

AI don't think that's going to happen, especially since there's no way of getting rid of the scope without alienating the backers.

The fact that SC is supposed to be this all-in-one dream package is exactly the point. So this cycle is going to keep happening until something forces them to either release the game or cancel it.

Honestly, I think they're just going to release Squadron 42. And when that doesn't become the gigantic hit they're gambling on, they go silent on Star Citizen entirely.

And yeah...I guess I was right.  Roberts got money from a South African billionare and the focus is now to release Squadron 42 sometime in summer 2020.

heh. right.

[headless fett]

Any takers on when Roberts and Co. get charged with something fraud related?

[cd underbelly]

I just recently started the Waste of Space add-on for Goat Simulator. One thing that the npcs say when you hit them is, "Star Citizen took all my money!". I thought it was just a funny line about micro transactions or subscription fees, but apparently it's about the game jacking people's money...? Can someone please summarize? I haven't really been following SC's development saga.

[commodorejohn]

Star Citizen's development saga is as follows:

• Chris Roberts promises a bunch of nerds everything they ever wanted in exchange for money.
  
• Chris Roberts is showered in piles of money.
  
• The nerds never get what they were promised.
  
• Chris Roberts asks them for more money.
  
• They give it to him.
  
• Chris Roberts starts selling them imaginary goods and property in a game that does not yet and may not ever exist, then selling them insurance on that property.
  
• They give him even more money.
  
• Star Citizen's development cycle is now a stable time-loop. This will continue for all eternity and begin again in the next universe after the current one ends.

[cd underbelly]

Lol wow, epic fail.

The other line npcs sometimes say when I hit them, "I thought it was free to play!", may be a jab at this too, I wonder.

Thanks for summarizing CJ!

[superlaser]

I’m sure this will get released right around the same time Trump’s Wall is finished.

[ambler]

"Yes, an entire, new trilogy of Star Wars films has gone by, and Star Citizen is still in development."

https://www.thefpsreview.com/2020/10/11/...-its-done/

[kyle reese 2]

I expected the thread bump to be "Chris Roberts suffers heart attack while on his bi-monthly tropical vacation. All Star Citizen development materials to be shot into space, as per his will."

[headless fett]

It's unbelievable that this has essentially been in beta for nearly a decade and still continues to rake in money.

[ska oreo]

I’m sure this will get released right around the same time Trump’s Wall is finished.

Yeah...about that.


I've been watching a lot of "Wha Happun" and "Death of a game" on youtube, and essentially nearly every game featured in those series run into the exact same problem that Star Citizen is running into. If it weren't for the mass amounts of crowdfunding the game received, Star Citizen would have been cancelled by now.

[kyle reese 2]

Feature creep plus no hard deadline from publishers is a classic combination.

[Fafhrd]

It's unbelievable that this has essentially been in beta for nearly a decade and still continues to rake in money.

It's in alpha. Beta means 'feature complete,' as in you could actually play every level in the game.

[Nooj]

"Yes, an entire, new trilogy of Star Wars films has gone by, and Star Citizen is still in development."

https://www.thefpsreview.com/2020/10/11/...-its-done/

pretty funny that the article's reference to cyberpunk sounds soooooo innocent now

[ambler]

If it weren't for the mass amounts of crowdfunding the game received

Hmmmm.

[kyle reese 2]

The psychological dynamics of crowdfunding make for an interesting emerging field of study.

In the case of more delicate artistic mediums like film and music, the dynamic can unintentionally become similar to the one between movie studio/record label and artist. Let's say a 90s rock band with a small dedicated fanbase asks for help crowdfunding a new album. The majority of fans wouldn't be giving money so that the band can make whatever they dream of, there would be a specific expectation for how the album would sound. If it ended up being an experimental jazz record, the fanbase would revolt and torch the band's social media. It wouldn't matter how good of a jazz album it was.

Even if that expectation isn't directly conveyed by the fanbase during the crowdfunding, there would still be the general expectation that any crowdfunded new album is "one for the fans". That creates a massive roadblock for artistic expression and exploration of new sounds.

(Sorry, a little off topic. I know the quality of video game products is generally agreed to be more quantifiable than that of music.)