Star Citizen Media Musings

[Resin]

Star Citizen - The $45K Refund Debacle

These blog links doesn't work with Tapatalk.

http://dereksmart.com/forums/reply/5807/

Doesn't help.:( Works if I select "Web view", strange...

[dsmart]

Star Citizen - The $45K Refund Debacle

 

Your best blog so far.

Thanks. I put some effort into that one. Though, much to everyone's chagrin, it confirms the CIG statement, I felt that it was the right thing to do.

[dsmart]

The fight over Star Citizen’s production delay is getting dirty - Polygon

The media are still somewhat pandering to CIG. They just can't write an article without somehow adding a positive slant. Charlie Hall used to (or also?) writes for PC Gamer, and they all do this. Only this time, instead of pointing to the ass-clowns parked on /r/starcitizen who attack other backers and try to silence dissenting opinions, he's calling out "haters" over on /r/starcitizen_refunds/

Excerpt:

But for someone to go to the trouble to concoct such a story represents the kind of lengths Star Citizen’s haters will go to in order to discredit the team at CIG. That there is an entire community on Reddit dedicated to helping people pull as much money as they can out of the project as quickly as possible should come as no surprise. That it is filled with hateful imagery depicting members of the Star Citizen team is, frankly, disgusting. So, to, is Reddit’s abdication of any responsibility to police the communities that it hosts, but I digress.

So I fired off a Tweet storm:

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/908813311659175936

Charlie can u point me to ONE such "hateful imagery depicting members of the Star Citizen team" in that refund sub Reddit? ktnx

This is precisely how wars start. Instead of linking to the clowns over on the official sub-Reddit, you have to jab those in opposing group

That they REGULARLY attack & harrass other backers, especially those expressing dissent, goes against the CIG narrative, right?

If they weren't doing that in the game's official sub-Reddit, and with impunity, there would be NO need for a separate refund sub-Reddit

What's next? Blaming "haters" instead of CIG, for the impending collapse of the project, and a total loss of $160m in gamer money?

That they are actively engaged in scamming gamers, isn't news. But the one time they're in the clear, it's a CIG slanted headline

Thing is, we're gamers. We don't forget. And we hold onto shit forever - and a day. We will remember.

It's akin to us calling the guys on official Reddit, "haters", when in fact not all are. Most of those guys just WANT the game they PAID for

There is a fine line between being honest & being unbiased. I wrote an article saying @DavidSwofford was right. I didn't have to, but I did

While you guys were busy writing words about something you have NO evidence of, other than CIG statements, we were doing the WORK

His response:

https://twitter.com/Charlie_L_Hall/status/908816342232465409

Derek, you know how to reach me. I'm eager, as always, to hear from you.

After my Tweet storm at Charlie Hall, the $11K "leaver" posted on Twitter confirming his refund. Some of us Goons know who that guy is, and he comes on the server from time to time.

https://twitter.com/CrushBoss/status/908887907372376064

Some how you have replaced the key word in the subredit from "help" with "hate".

https://twitter.com/CrushBoss/status/908885837852450817

Charlie - I have, with the help of Derek and my financial advisor received a $11,000 refund, your comments in the article are not correct.

https://twitter.com/CrushBoss/status/908496746602311680

Hey CIG how's about a quick media release comment on my $11,000 refund? - I would welcome you to try and deny that.

UPDATE: over on SA:

Combat Theory posted:
If he goes all out on Twitter just after CIGs attempt to debunk the last one... He either has some serious brass balls or he's legit. Or both.

I would like to say both, but as for keeping it honest, we will just say legit refund.

I had lunch with David Swafford (hence the tweet) dressed in my best Goonrathi t-shirt attire (Dark side of the Goon) and listened to all the lies. After the [REDACTED] interviews were finished (I was doing the sound work) I asked about the network code.

A single developer was called into the board room where Lando, Swafford, and myself had been recording. We were asked to turn off all recording devices as the newly arrived developer tried to explain with smoke, mirrors and a white board about network tech they A) Did not have and B) had not coded.

After the session had concluded I promptly flew home to Australia and applied for a refund, which I received 2-3 weeks later.

C.I.G literally saw my refund as a direct Goon attack and held out for quite some time in giving me my refund. This transaction was also discussed with CliffordAKAMiku and CIG representatives; legally I don't know where they stand here as this was a private transaction. In the end, after guidance from Derek, it took 2 Letters written directly to Ortwin Freyermuth (C.I.G Legal) by my Financial and Legal advisers before they gave up the cash.

-End-

[Motto]

So, Relay did an interview with Faceware here

It took them about 2 months to get that face shit into the game. What have CIG been doing for the other 14 months then?

Edit: it's not intended to say negative things in the comments. Mine got deleted and I immediately got banned 
And I only said that it was too bad that SC would never see the light of day.

I'm guessing they will remove that whole article as soon as CIG crashes  :cop:

Update: never mind, Relay is a fansite  :doh:

[premiumnugz]

So, Relay did an interview with Faceware here

It took them about 2 months to get that face shit into the game. What have CIG been doing for the other 14 months then?

I raised my eyebrow but nobody else seemed to notice when Chris himself said on stage during Gamescom "this technology has taken a lot of hard work from our developers to integrate". It was in that exact moment, like I'd had an enlightenment, that I realised what was wrong with this project and it's endless delays, and eventually lead me to this forum.

[dsmart]

So, Relay did an interview with Faceware here

It took them about 2 months to get that face shit into the game. What have CIG been doing for the other 14 months then?

Edit: it's not intended to say negative things in the comments. Mine got deleted and I immediately got banned 
And I only said that it was too bad that SC would never see the light of day.

I'm guessing they will remove that whole article as soon as CIG crashes  :cop:

Update: never mind, Relay is a fansite  :doh:

The story of Relay. They are the ex-INN guys who, through me, found out that their boss was apparently getting money & gifts from CIG while stiffing them.

So barely weeks after I wrote this INN Conspiracy expose blog, they pulled off a mutiny (it was nasty) which had them and their boss slinging stones at each other on Reddit for weeks. Left by himself to run INN, I guess the money dried up - so it's dead now.

The scheming reprobates then went on to form Relay carrying out the propaganda business as usual.

That's why you got banned. They're de facto Shitizens; and one of them, an ass-clown named Trevor Noblitt (aka Dolvak), is a mod (he was booted before, but he's back a few weeks ago) on /r/starcitizen

[Beexoffel]

Guinness generally puts effort in verifying world records.

https://www.engadget.com/2014/10/01/star-citizen-earns-guinness-world-record-for-crowdfunding-effort/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Citizen#Funding_Milestones

Would they be able to verify the funding tracker?

[dsmart]

Guinness generally puts effort in verifying world records.

https://www.engadget.com/2014/10/01/star-citizen-earns-guinness-world-record-for-crowdfunding-effort/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Citizen#Funding_Milestones

Would they be able to verify the funding tracker?

Yes. But that would require CIG provide access to their books, as well as the data for the funding tracker. Neither of which they are going to do.

Remember that when Guinness included it on p17 of the 2015 edition, they used the data off the website. So nobody knows how they actually verified it, if they did at all.

[Beexoffel]

Yes. But that would require CIG provide access to their books, as well as the data for the funding tracker. Neither of which they are going to do.

Then I think Guinness should remove the entry from their records.
Maybe an actually delivered crowdfunded project could contest the entry and prove their funding with their own books, giving Guinness a more substantiated record to list.

[dsmart]

Those German Shillizens over at GameStar are at it again. It's almost as if they're scared. UPDATE: Reddit thread locked.  :lol:

The War About Star Citizen - GameStar [German]

English Paraphrasing GoogleDoc

C.S: The communities surrounding Star Citizen are kinda in a war. There are people who feel connected to the game and they support it with thousands of dollars. There are also people who try to actively sabotage the project. Today, we wanna take a look how it could get so far. – The situation surrounding the game almost feels like a holy war.

M.G: Yes, this is how I perceive it as well. On the one hand, you have the supporters of the game, the convinced supporters. They aren’t naive, they aren’t entangled. Everybody can check the progress the project has made in the last couple of years. CIG is to a great extent transparent about the process. So, Chris Roberts just doesn’t disappear for six months and then returns, there is a steady stream of updates. These updates also discuss what problems they currently have. – Supporters of the game believe in the project and its vision. This is faith. – Regardless of the progress, they have shown over the time, there is still no proof that it can be done for sure. They have done technological progress, some of it really impressive and something you should have respect for but they also say that there is still a lot of work left to do and who knows, maybe they will hit a problem which they cannot solve.

C.S: I understand this point of view. It is really enjoyable to see how a project comes along. How it makes progress. – I think the more problematic position is that there are people who try to actively sabotage the project. – Also, people shouldn’t care how other people spend their money, it’s none of their business. I wouldn’t spend thousands of dollars in this way, but hey, not my business. – Why do you think is there this big counterreaction? Is it the big numbers? It is a big target and it is becoming bigger.

M.G: Maybe, it is really this «holy war»-thing. If somebody is so invested into something, it may cause them to react in this way. There is definitely a group of people defending things about the project that are completely indefensible because this group has most of the time no proof for their statements, that’s why it is just «faith». This is where you can say it is just greenness. On the other hand are the people who can easily attack these positions because the other side can simply not proof it. – Star Citizen gets a lot of «esoteric» support. The support of the fans is real. I have experienced it myself at various fan events. – I think that most people get upset about people who say that they are just following Chris Roberts blindly, however, I think that the supporters can differentiate between what Chris Roberts says and what can be done, what is currently in-game and what is still a long time away. I have talked to people who have spent thousands of dollars and to people who just bought the starter package for 30$ and all of them say that they think it is a project worthwhile supporting.

C.S: We already have seen other crowdfunded projects selling goals for thousands of dollars on their campaign page. We have experienced the rise and slight descent of Kick Starter in the gaming sector. It is not unusual for projects to have extremely expensive packages, but no other game draw this much attention to their funding model. Why is Star Citizen so controversial in this regard? Is there another component challenging it?

M.G: I think it is mainly the size of the project because we have seen other large games drawing the same sort of attention e.g. World of Warcraft. WoW was played by many players and there were always people saying that it just has «stupid quests», «stupid story», «only about loot» and «you have to pay a monthly fee for that» resulting in «are you stupid?» but yet there are many people who say that WoW was the best MMO they ever played, the best time of their life and they don’t regret it. So Star Citizen isn’t the first polarizing gaming project, we have already seen some in the past. – Star Citizen has drawn a lot of attention just by having numbers like 160$ million in funding. They have done also a lot of things correctly e.g. marketing and addressing the right audience. – The current culture of dialogue on the internet is predestined and kinda known for this sort of controversy.

C.S: Do you think that Star Citizen is damaging crowdfunding or doesn’t it matter at all?

M.G: I think that Star Citizen is already in its own category, so currently it doesn’t really matter how successful or unsuccessful right now is. There are positive examples in crowdfunding. There are negative examples in crowdfunding. He states that it is more important how the games in the middle-range (a couple of millions of dollars of funding) perform. However, he is certain that if Star Citizen would completely crash that nobody would invest more money into it. - People are sceptical about the game because of its delays, there is from time to time drama surrounding it (stuff leaving, Chris married to Sandi and so on). He points out that they are open with their development process, but you never really know what is happening internally right now, so this causes some uncertainties.

C.S: but most of the time you haven’t paid beforehand for the project.

M.G: correct. This is the big difference. - This is how these polarizing groups arise. On the one hand, there are many people focusing only on the negative things about the project (refunds, they have heard something about Chris Roberts which they don’t like, somebody leaving the team and so on). On the other hand, there are many people focusing on the positive news (milestone hit, technical problem solved, new ship announced etc.). He also thinks that it is inevitable for a project of this size to only have positive news. This is what is causing this polarization.

C.S: and as you already said, there is almost no evidence for statements made by both parties. - Thanks for watching.

[dsmart]

Star Citizen partnering with Intel for Optane SSDs. Reveal at CitizenCon - PC Invasion

"With backers continuing to plough cash into Star Citizen despite slow progress, Intel will have spotted a captive audience with a lot of expendable income so why not use it to help shift what will likely be expensive SSDs for the consumer market."

[Motto]

But I still don't get how this one works? When you buy that SSD, you get a copy of SC? Or can you buy that SSD with a discount thru CIG? Or when you buy that SSD and give your CIG accountnumber, you get a discount or does CIG get a couple of dimes?

Besides that, SSD's aren't supposed to be used with high disc access. I'd guess that a game like Scam Shitizen reads/writes the HDD pretty heavily so using a SSD would be stupid to begin with. So, what's in it for Intel? Do they actually believe CIG has a potential of 1.8m backers that will buy that SSD?

[dsmart]

But I still don't get how this one works? When you buy that SSD, you get a copy of SC? Or can you buy that SSD with a discount thru CIG? Or when you buy that SSD and give your CIG accountnumber, you get a discount or does CIG get a couple of dimes?

Besides that, SSD's are supposed to be used with high disc access. I'd guess that a game like Scam Shitizen reads/writes the HDD pretty heavily so using a SSD would be stupid to begin with. So, what's in it for Intel? Do they actually believer CIG has a potential of 1.8m backers that will buy that SSD?

Nobody knows the details yet. It's probably going to be one of those coupon type things as they did with graphics cards awhile back.,

[Motto]

Well, the one thing that won't work for sure if give them a free starter pack in the hope of selling them more ships, upgrades and pretty pictures afterwards. Five minutes of playing this horrible piece of crap and they'll never go back to it. So Chris needs to collect the money before they enter the shithole that SC is.

And that Subcriber Program needs some updating too. I think a lot of those perks are long gone...

[dsmart]

LOL!! PC Gamer trusting CIG schedules and releasing an Oct article (from Aug) thinking 3.0 was going to get released in early Oct as stated.