Star Citizen Citizenship

[dsmart]

What hurts fundraising and refunds more is...I believe...the lack of progress from CIG and the flawed presentations.

 If there was good progress every year, then today we probably had very playable SC and SQ42 versions to play...
 And instead of writing blogs or getting refunds Derek and many others now would be enjoying the game...       

 I have no idea how much money CR lost because of Derek, but I think its at least several millions...

I would very much like to think that the only effect I have is in my documenting things as I see them.

At the end of the day, much like everything you read online, it's up to you to make your own determination as to the veracity of such opinions. It's no more to say that I had some effect based on my opinion, than to blame a reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes for a movie tanking due to bad reviews. That's why you simply cannot sue people for having an opinion. You CAN sue if you have reason to believe that they have written (libel) or said (slander) something that had a negative effect. Therein lies the rub. As much as I'm sure Chris, Sandi, and Ortwin (my attorney keeps wiping the floor with him) would love to have sued me, they have no leg to stand on because in doing so, they would have to show two simple things 1) that I knowingly made false statements, which they can prove were false 2) that they incurred damages as a result. And of course the Achilles heel there is that it will all go right back to the money; and that's something they're not bloody likely to want to have to deal with in court, due to the ramifications.

Let's not forget that the only reason I even went down this road is when they drew first blood. Then foolishly assumed that I would just lie down and take it.

[dsmart]

Man, these guys are a few raisins short of a fruitcake.

So another CIG employee announces that he's leaving end of Oct.

https://twitter.com/JoeKinglake/status/913321383521914880

Its been an exciting venture and it was a tough decision. I can't wait to see where Star Citizen goes in the future. All the best, team <3

https://twitter.com/JoeKinglake/status/913322214493126657

I'm excited & proud to announce my next venture will be joining the @SumoDigitalLtd team as a Senior Game Designer at the end of next month!

Then comes this...

https://twitter.com/starnivore/status/913396671383523328

He was a Squadron 42 level designer. His services are no longer needed! You know what that means!

I guess he didn't notice the "tough decision" which implies that he made a decision to quit; and didn't leave because they didn't have work (on SQ42) for him.

[Motto]

It was a tough decision. Do I stay for a company that will never release anything with that the moronic big boss chief manager and lose every last bit of self esteem I have left, with the big chance that the company will go bust very shortly, or do I start working for a more reliable and stable company where my talent and skills are actually valued? I don't know really. See, there still are some people expecting SQ42. But the again, since we haven't worked on that in two years now, maybe I just should go. Yeah, let's do that.

[dsmart]

It was a tough decision. Do I stay for a company that will never release anything with that the moronic big boss chief manager and lose every last bit of self esteem I have left, with the big chance that the company will go bust very shortly, or do I start working for a more reliable and stable company where my talent and skills are actually valued? I don't know really. See, there still are some people expecting SQ42. But the again, since we haven't worked on that in two years now, maybe I just should go. Yeah, let's do that.

Tough decision I think.  :allears:

[dsmart]

Meanwhile, over there, you won't believe what they're using as a "coping" method for dealing with a game critic.

Yeah, that's not messed up at all. :laffo:

[nightfire]

Meanwhile, over there, you won't believe what they're using as a "coping" method for dealing with a game critic.

Yeah, that's not messed up at all. :laffo:

True cultists with OCD, vitamin D deficiency and possibly a whole lot of other pathological behavior anomalies caused by spending life in front of a PC in a dark corner of mom's basement, removed from real-world society.

Whenever I read those threads, I'm glad that those maniacs are safely tucked away in their little busy self-referencing game universe, instead of causing havoc and crime on the streets, or eating hikers in the woods.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Motto]

I'd prefer they go eating hikers in the wood though, rather than having them on the Internet. Man, I hate hikers.

[dsmart]

Well, apparently the cycle of attorney-->Reddit-->admin-->mod is in full swing, resulting in yet another policy change over at the harassment enclave.

The mods pretending that they give a shit, and aren't part of the problem, is always a hilarious thing to watch. That jester86 mod, who btw along with other mods also part of the /r/starcitizen_trades/, is a hypocritical piece of work. Of course since I'm apparently "hurting" their Grey market, they have every incentive to condone the harassment.

They're their own worst enemy; but wait, judgement day is coming. I told them that I was going to pick one, set an example, then tie CIG to it. As with everything else, they really think I'm joking.

[dsmart]

 A concierge has refunded. You should read his parting "The Dream Is Dead" post.

TL/DR:
Just got a full refund after 18 days for approximately $2K.

Refund Process:
Very similar to what has been described here lately. I sent an initial refund request via email earlier this month. There were a lot of emails back and forth and I found it slightly absurd how much information they requested to verify my ID, but 18 days later and I had a full refund sent to my PayPal account. The staff that I worked with were polite and other than reminding me of the ramifications of my request, I didn’t feel they were trying to pressure me into keeping my money in the game.

Backstory:
Like many of you, I grew up playing the original Wing Commander and Privateer games. I didn’t know much about what Chris had been up to after about Wing 4, so all I had were good and somewhat nostalgic memories of those early successes. When the initial campaign kicked off in 2012 I was psyched. I had a couple other friends who were just as excited at what was being pitched. Our excitement fed off each other and we all put up decent sized pledges right off the bat. Supporting the great space combat sim comeback was a no-brainer with the likes of Chris and the veteran dev crew that was originally involved.
I remember following things fairly closely in the early days because everything just kept getting bigger and (seemingly) more promising due to how much money was coming in. At the time that seemed like it could only be a good thing. Who wouldn’t want more ships, more star systems, more ways to play the game, yada yada, etc.? And with every new vaguely defined feature, everyone filled-in the blanks and question marks with their own vision of what this dream-game would actually be like. The possibilities seemed endless, and the promises tried to keep up.

I have fond memories of sitting down with my friends and watching those early Around the Verse and 10 With The Chairman videos. Again, it was all too easy to hear Chris describe any number of different features and fill in all the blanks with this idealized version that you wished for it to be. I can’t recall exactly when, but eventually we all started to realize how widespread and dangerous this wish-fulfillment was getting in the community. If I had more time I’d go back and find some of those Chairman videos because it wasn’t too long before they were getting laughably absurd.
Question 7: “If I’m sitting on the space-shitter in my Constellation when I get boarded unexpectedly, will I be able to hit a button in order to pinch it off prematurely so I can defend my ship faster or will I have to wait for the full bowl movement to finish first? Follow-up Question: Will I be able to put experience points into quick-shitting, or will deuces just naturally speed up over time as long as I stay on a regular potty schedule and eat a high fiber diet?
Answer: Well, uhh, errr, we umm, we want to make sure the fidelity is just as precise in this instance as in any other and that everything will be to scale as well, so it will most likely depend on a number of factors, including but not limited to how long it has been since you last duked it out, what your diet has been over a period of time, how many extreme G flight maneuvers you've made lately, and of course if you have chosen to get any shit-mod-bio-implants.
Bottom Line, the whole project is a failure because Chris is a Designer, not a Producer. You certainly need the creative designer type to bring the ideas and give the rest of the team something to shoot for, but you also need the producer to prioritize and basically say "No" a lot in order to actually get a game made. Very few people have the aptitude/skillsets to do both well, which is why most successful large games will have different people filling both of those roles. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like Chris has (and maybe never had) anyone to say "No" to him.

The situation reminds me of George Lucas in the making of the Prequels. Both men had great initial success that granted them massive resources for subsequent projects. By the time George got around to making the prequels, he had so much money and cred in the industry that he could make anything he wanted. But just watch some of the behind the scenes footage from the prequels and you'll see how no one is able to say "no" to him, despite him bringing up one terrible idea after another. Granted, not every idea he had was horrible or else Star Wars wouldn't be the pop culture phenomenon that it is, but no one has good ideas 100% of the time, and Lucas had many more of the terrible sort make it into the prequels because no one was there to say no to them. Well, people were there that could have challenged him, but they didn't, because he was Motherfucking George Lucas dammit, and no one questions G to the L when it comes to Star Wars right?!

Anyway, without a big Dev Studio holding him accountable, all Chris had to do to get more funding was delight the overanxious fans with JPG ships and promises of trivial features that shouldn't even be seriously considered until years after release, if at all. I don't know if anyone ever did/does challenge Chris on some of the crazier stuff he promises, but it certainly doesn't seem to be working if there is.

So, if this game ever is completed in some form or fashion, I'm not hoping for anything more than a Phantom Menace type of let-down. Feels good to be out.

[dsmart]

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/914882232011108357

BREAKING!! Star Citizen streamer admits making money from game content. I've said this for months now; but they kept denying it. With backer unrest at an all-time high, well, they know any 3.0 going to Evocati, is getting LEAKED IMMEDIATELY.

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/73t9ha/psa_evocatti_leaks_hurt_content_creators/?st=J8ABEYOM&sh=1cd28875

I am well aware of the revenue from streams; but that's NOT what my commentary is about. You would think that it would be fucking obvious, but no. So here we go:

CIG setup a system whereby they segregate backers. Part of that is Evocati where backers, and streamers, gain access to new content before other backers do.

As a result of getting access to that content before backers, said streamers then FINANCIALLY GAIN from it because they stream said content. To wit, in the past, some of them did in fact stream builds ahead of PTU and final release.

It's no different from CIG routinely revealing new material to the media (e.g. GameStar, PC Gamer) ahead of backers knowing anything about that same content. And those mags also benefit from that via their online viewership and print magazine subscriptions.

Streamers, on the other hand, have long held that they don't make any money from the game, that I was full of shit for suggesting that etc. In fact, my INN expose arguably let to the complete collapse of those shills over there.

This comment by AstroPub confirms that, they DO make money from the game. They're not content creators. They're not creating anything. All they're doing is broadcast the game. Yes, of course they can monetize it. But the elephant in the room is that, by merely suggesting that leaks "hurt" them, they admit to having access to exclusive material which they can make money from. Otherwise, how exactly does it hurt them?

[dsmart]

LOL! Who wants to go tell him?

Average 2.59 Million in Pledges a month.... Is it enough going forward?

[dsmart]

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/914882232011108357

BREAKING!! Star Citizen streamer admits making money from game content. I've said this for months now; but they kept denying it. With backer unrest at an all-time high, well, they know any 3.0 going to Evocati, is getting LEAKED IMMEDIATELY.

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/73t9ha/psa_evocatti_leaks_hurt_content_creators/?st=J8ABEYOM&sh=1cd28875

I am well aware of the revenue from streams; but that's NOT what my commentary is about. You would think that it would be fucking obvious, but no. So here we go:

CIG setup a system whereby they segregate backers. Part of that is Evocati where backers, and streamers, gain access to new content before other backers do.

As a result of getting access to that content before backers, said streamers then FINANCIALLY GAIN from it because they stream said content. To wit, in the past, some of them did in fact stream builds ahead of PTU and final release.

It's no different from CIG routinely revealing new material to the media (e.g. GameStar, PC Gamer) ahead of backers knowing anything about that same content. And those mags also benefit from that via their online viewership and print magazine subscriptions.

Streamers, on the other hand, have long held that they don't make any money from the game, that I was full of shit for suggesting that etc. In fact, my INN expose arguably let to the complete collapse of those shills over there.

This comment by AstroPub confirms that, they DO make money from the game. They're not content creators. They're not creating anything. All they're doing is broadcast the game. Yes, of course they can monetize it. But the elephant in the room is that, by merely suggesting that leaks "hurt" them, they admit to having access to exclusive material which they can make money from. Otherwise, how exactly does it hurt them?

So he deleted the above thread. Then created another one. Which is subsequently deleted as well. :laffo:

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/73v1xh/my_recent_post_made_me_rethink_this_community/



Then he deleted it shortly afterwards

[dsmart]

MOVED

So, Astopub did a reply on Reddit:

I deleted my most recent post because of the pure vile BS that was coming at it from both long term fans and trolls. When both team up on you for a discussion topic it's an odd feeling. Having DS call you a shill and white knights saying you suck for an opinion about a video game has made me rethink participation in the sub. I'm not here to argue my point, as even the people whom I was thinking about told me I was wrong, but to discuss how this community has slipped into pure toxicity. There is no discussion, point counter point or any kind of civil discourse anymore. I won't stop being a fan but thought I might need to explain why I deleted my topic and will no longer be part of this subreddit. Downvoted, hate, call me anything you want here because I am done. Good luck redditors.

[Flashwit]

LOL! Who wants to go tell him?

Average 2.59 Million in Pledges a month.... Is it enough going forward?

Hooooly shit, look at this reply.

I seriously doubt that the players that are going to play SC in the long run are already here as backers.
We are looking at ~10+ million players in the long run.

The delusion is unbelievable. Black Ops sold ~25 million worldwide and they think a niche space sim could reach close to half that? This is so laughable.

[dsmart]

And there you have it. Paul was on a CIG broadcast today. Yup. And now they mention plans for an in-game AstroPub. Because yeah, that's totally OK and normal. Not making that up. Here, watch.