3 German professors are doing a researchseminar on Star Citizen and crowdfunding and stuff 'Star Citizen': The Art of Going Beyond Crowdfunding in the Video Gaming Business".
Although I am fluent in German too (yes Sandi, I am, really) I just leave the quick translation to Google. Maybe I'll take out real errors, but it's the basic that matters anyway:
An official release date for the full version of the online game "Star Citizen" is far from in sight. And yet, the game universe has nearly two million virtual inhabitants. They all have spent real money on spaceships in the game they can not fly yet. Thanks to these spaceship bonds, however, the game can be completed - at any time.
The development of the most expensive space simulation of all time is fully paid by their fans and users. More than 150 million US dollars (125 million euros), "Star Citizen" inventor Chris Roberts was able to collect a record by Crowdfunding. But how did Roberts succeed in fomenting a world-wide euphoria, which seemed to be eclipsed for years, for a game that was not yet played properly and kept waiting for its completion? And more than that: how could the developer turn the fans' interest into a million-dollar loan?
Three German economists are now looking into these questions: Jan-Philipp Ahrens, Dennis Steininger and Andrew Isaak will hold a research seminar at the University of Mannheim in the upcoming winter semester, entitled '' Star Citizen '': The Art of Going Beyond Crowdfunding in the Video Gaming Business ". Translated, this means: "On the art of going beyond crowdfunding in the video game industry".
"Star Citizen" as a piece of community buildingWhat results the researchers will come to, of course, is still open. However, the Crowdfunding experts already have a few theses to explain the success of "Star Citizen". "We believe that there is a special and particularly good form of community care behind," says Ahrens. "We hope to be able to establish this statistically." Regardless of the game, the "Star Citizen" founder would have emerged as a visionary leader and made the video game an interesting piece for future founders and company managers. "Star Citizen is the most successful crowdfunding project ever," says the Crowdfunding researcher Isaak. "We are interested in the management and leadership performance that has led to this success."
From previous investigations it is known that an emotional response of the fans is important. "The name 'Star Citizen' suggests: Here you get the opportunity to participate in something bigger." Approximately 50 euros cost it to become a citizen of the virtual starnation. This is the starting price for a starter package, which gives you access to the five available game modules and a space ship. As early as 2012, inventor Roberts had announced his own campaign site from the platform kickstarter and the established gamesbranche. He began to make donations on his own behalf. "Star Citizen" should be a space epic produced independently of the big publishers - an open world with almost endless possibilities. Over five years, the funding objectives have been steadily increasing. Each one was reached. From the money the developer studio behind the game is to finance Cloud Imperium Games, new features or advanced game worlds.
Interesting data available on the netBut work on the game continues. A trial version has been available since 2013. Now the fans are looking forward to the release of the single-player campaign "Squadron 42", which was announced already for 2016, but then was postponed to this year. Roberts does not want to publish the game, as long as it is not "perfect". Interesting for scientists, "Star Citizen" also makes the fact that a lot of data about the project are available on its own website. "Since the beginning of the campaign, everything the company has done or announced has been documented here," says Ahrens: money amounts, user numbers, funding goals, press releases and milestones. "The homepage is a huge database that we can use as a researcher, which is unique."
And what does the developer think of the project? A spokesman for Cloud Imperium Games said on request that they could imagine a collaboration with the researchers. "It sounds like an interesting idea," the speaker said.
There will not be an examina tion on "Star Citizen" in the Mannheim seminar, instead the seminar participants will write academic dissertations. The goal is to publish the results. If no scientific journal were to be of interest to the topic, the research work would be published independently. Interest in the cultural heritage of computer games and in the phenomenon of "star citizen" reaches into "the middle of society", believes Ahrens.
