Star Citizen - The E.L.E.

[dsmart]

It didn't take long before the "Derek Smart is that you?" posts showed up. Even as I was writing my tome

Oh, you have to read this post from Ars Technica about an interview they just did with Chris, Erin, Tony

Hey guys! Ended up getting about two uninterrupted hours with Chris Roberts, his brother Erin, and studio lead Tony Zurovec. Will be turning that into a big article in a couple of weeks (my workload right now is heavy with manager stuff because I'm a manager now and we're doing ars employee reviews for the next week), but here are the answers to the questions you guys asked. These are NOT direct quotes, just paraphrasing from memory because I don't have time to go in and transcribe 2 hrs of interview and Ars doesn't give us interns:

1) "When is SQ42 shipping?"
HA HA HA HA LOL. But seriously, it'll ship when it's ready. Not committing to anything with a member of the press sitting there recording us.

2) Any "final" reward for 5+ year backers?
Probably, but nothing's finalized for that specifically yet. But probably something, yes.

3) The recent changes to Arena Commander have made it more arcade-y. WTF?
Working as intended—that's the idea. The intent is to have AC (and Star Marine, potentially) be more arcade-like than actual in-game fighter combat.

4) Do any new "big tech roadmap" features need to be added, or is the game just polish & assembly at this point?
Difficult to answer directly because that's like asking what unknowns you've failed to know about, but the feeling right now is that yes, all of the major underlying systems are in place for both SQ42 and SC. But def more left than just polish & assembly.

5) When can we expect a new character trailer?
"Soon" but no specific event picked yet. CR specifically said the next trailer will be "great."

6) Any updated timeline for being able to do better HOTAS/joystick config?
Not a high priority at this stage, but it'll happen.

Also asked about VR and Vulkan; VR will be a priority but isn't at this moment. Vulkan support will come before DX12 support, but CR and Tony both emphasized that DX12 is still on the table. They just plan to prioritize Vulkan first. Wanted to emphasize that rumors they'd abandoned DX12 are incorrect.

(Also-also asked him if he had Mark Hamill's cell phone number, and if so, could we call Mark Hamill and ask about star wars secrets. CR's answers were "Yes" and "No," respectively.)

Meanwhile over on /r/StarCitizen, they're really triggered that /r/StarCitizen_Refunds/ exists

r/starcitizen_refunds provides unhappy commandos the information they need to get their money back. r/ds offers rationales and a vehicle to express hate a for guy who doesn't matter at all and is not involved with the SC project, yet his statements are archived or something as if he were significant and/or is involved with SC. DS's words are analyzed like cryptography on the Rosetta Stone and assessed for impact on the SC project. In a crazy twist, CR's statements are not similarly archived by the same group who organized r/ds, even though CR is the CEO of the company building SC. CR's comments are neither analyzed with the same scrutiny as DS's, even though CR's words and actions indubitably have a material effect on the SC project.

[StanTheMan]

New referral Programme ...

It is hilarious ....tickets to Shizitencon2017.. for recruiting some poor bastards into the con then getting to pay a shit load of $ to attend Shitizencon2017 to listen to CR lie to you and show a shitty demo after a shitty show.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/referral-contest

[Narrenbart]

Basically 2932 Referrals and there are some that got over 1100 on the second day within 24 hours ...
Referrals ... new people that bought the game ...
I guess we are now in the twilight zone ...

 

[Narrenbart]

And they are hosed now ... the "Hello Kitty" guys won't let slip that copyright infringement unnoticed

Edit: Hello Kitty with a dick ...

[Narrenbart]

The Funding Tracker is not showing up thousands of new purchases ... shouldn't it skyrocket right now?

[Narrenbart]

In Conclusion

• They ripped of the "Hello Kitty" IP > Copyright infringement
• Not only that - it looks like it has a dick ...
• They build a Hello-Kitty-esque clownsmobile Dragonfly > Immersion breaking
• Thus >90% adult male customers they went for a (stolen) girly theme
• They advertised a few big Streamer Refferal code in their own Video (yes the Video that is introducing the contest) rendering the contest useless for >99% of the customers
• The Community is pissed of cause of this - the referral program does more harm than anything else
• The funding tracker is not reflecting thousands of new referral sales though after <24h some users have over 1000 NEW referrals
• As expected the Top list is filled with advertised streamers in the CIG Video (that introduced the referral program)
• Expect many paid advertisement now from customers to push their referrals
• The contest is only counting NEW referrals so if you have advertised the game now to friends for years you are fucked
• The lifetime referral price (Ticket to GC) is 2932 referrals which is not achieveable to a non Spamming/Hacking/Blackhat Customer
• 2932 Referrals is breaking down to ~$600.000 (>$150 Mil funding / ~750.000 backers = ~$200 per customer) for the GC Ticket
• Want to visit Germany? Get over 2932 Referrals so Refer yourself 2932 times, enjoy the price and get refunded (2932 times) <<< This in particular is one of the worst marketing practices in history and could ruin your ponzi scheme very fast

Dr. Smart - Please investigate

Edit: Wait ... the referrals don't have to buy the game to be counted as referred? - or do they ....  :psyduck:

[StanTheMan]

Good work.

I am sure it will all become clearer over the next 48 hours or so.

I am an experienced salesman.  That Community Manager is an obsequious twat who should never have put himself in this position in this (or any other sales) video!

[Beexoffel]

In Conclusion

• They ripped of the "Hello Kitty" IP > Copyright infringement
• Not only that - it looks like it has a dick ...
• They build a Hello-Kitty-esque clownsmobile Dragonfly > Immersion breaking
• Thus >90% adult male customers they went for a (stolen) girly theme
• They advertised a few big Streamer Refferal code in their own Video (yes the Video that is introducing the contest) rendering the contest useless for >99% of the customers
• The Community is pissed of cause of this - the referral program does more harm than anything else
• The funding tracker is not reflecting thousands of new referral sales though after <24h some users have over 1000 NEW referrals
• As expected the Top list is filled with advertised streamers in the CIG Video (that introduced the referral program)
• Expect many paid advertisement now from customers to push their referrals
• The contest is only counting NEW referrals so if you have advertised the game now to friends for years you are fucked
• The lifetime referral price (Ticket to GC) is 2932 referrals which is not achieveable to a non Spamming/Hacking/Blackhat Customer
• 2932 Referrals is breaking down to ~$600.000 (>$150 Mil funding / ~750.000 backers = ~$200 per customer) for the GC Ticket
• Want to visit Germany? Get over 2932 Referrals so Refer yourself 2932 times, enjoy the price and get refunded (2932 times) <<< This in particular is one of the worst marketing practices in history and could ruin your ponzi scheme very fast

Dr. Smart - Please investigate

Edit: Wait ... the referrals don't have to buy the game to be counted as referred? - or do they ....  :psyduck:

[dsmart]

I am working on an article about this right now. Should be up later this afternoon.

[Flashwit]

In Conclusion

• They ripped of the "Hello Kitty" IP > Copyright infringement
• Not only that - it looks like it has a dick ...
• They build a Hello-Kitty-esque clownsmobile Dragonfly > Immersion breaking
• Thus >90% adult male customers they went for a (stolen) girly theme
• They advertised a few big Streamer Refferal code in their own Video (yes the Video that is introducing the contest) rendering the contest useless for >99% of the customers
• The Community is pissed of cause of this - the referral program does more harm than anything else
• The funding tracker is not reflecting thousands of new referral sales though after <24h some users have over 1000 NEW referrals
• As expected the Top list is filled with advertised streamers in the CIG Video (that introduced the referral program)
• Expect many paid advertisement now from customers to push their referrals
• The contest is only counting NEW referrals so if you have advertised the game now to friends for years you are fucked
• The lifetime referral price (Ticket to GC) is 2932 referrals which is not achieveable to a non Spamming/Hacking/Blackhat Customer
• 2932 Referrals is breaking down to ~$600.000 (>$150 Mil funding / ~750.000 backers = ~$200 per customer) for the GC Ticket
• Want to visit Germany? Get over 2932 Referrals so Refer yourself 2932 times, enjoy the price and get refunded (2932 times) <<< This in particular is one of the worst marketing practices in history and could ruin your ponzi scheme very fast

Dr. Smart - Please investigate

Edit: Wait ... the referrals don't have to buy the game to be counted as referred? - or do they ....  :psyduck:

I get that we like to hate on Star Citizen around here (for good reason) but this post is absurd.

They absolutely didn't rip off any IP, that's just unarguably false. Obviously it's a reference to Hello Kitty, but god, this is not how copyright infringement works. The likeness is not anywhere close enough to Hello Kitty to matter and clearly 'Sally Star Kitten' is not the same words as 'Hello Kitty'. Not to mention your weird phallic obsession...(what penis???). Immersion breaking? It's a product line that only exists in the game. Yes, it's new lore, but it's part of the Star Citizen lore.

A girly theme? The horror! (Also not stolen). It's just a fun visual variation.

Now of course, the whole contest is ridiculous as it's obviously unwinnable for anyone but streamers who would probably get flown out by CIG for favorable coverage anyway. People should rightly be upset about that. What a garbage contest.

[dsmart]

In Conclusion

• They ripped of the "Hello Kitty" IP > Copyright infringement
• Not only that - it looks like it has a dick ...
• They build a Hello-Kitty-esque clownsmobile Dragonfly > Immersion breaking
• Thus >90% adult male customers they went for a (stolen) girly theme
• They advertised a few big Streamer Refferal code in their own Video (yes the Video that is introducing the contest) rendering the contest useless for >99% of the customers
• The Community is pissed of cause of this - the referral program does more harm than anything else
• The funding tracker is not reflecting thousands of new referral sales though after <24h some users have over 1000 NEW referrals
• As expected the Top list is filled with advertised streamers in the CIG Video (that introduced the referral program)
• Expect many paid advertisement now from customers to push their referrals
• The contest is only counting NEW referrals so if you have advertised the game now to friends for years you are fucked
• The lifetime referral price (Ticket to GC) is 2932 referrals which is not achieveable to a non Spamming/Hacking/Blackhat Customer
• 2932 Referrals is breaking down to ~$600.000 (>$150 Mil funding / ~750.000 backers = ~$200 per customer) for the GC Ticket
• Want to visit Germany? Get over 2932 Referrals so Refer yourself 2932 times, enjoy the price and get refunded (2932 times) <<< This in particular is one of the worst marketing practices in history and could ruin your ponzi scheme very fast

Dr. Smart - Please investigate

Edit: Wait ... the referrals don't have to buy the game to be counted as referred? - or do they ....  :psyduck:

I get that we like to hate on Star Citizen around here (for good reason) but this post is absurd.

They absolutely didn't rip off any IP, that's just unarguably false. Obviously it's a reference to Hello Kitty, but god, this is not how copyright infringement works. The likeness is not anywhere close enough to Hello Kitty to matter and clearly 'Sally Star Kitten' is not the same words as 'Hello Kitty'. Not to mention your weird phallic obsession...(what penis???). Immersion breaking? It's a product line that only exists in the game. Yes, it's new lore, but it's part of the Star Citizen lore.

A girly theme? The horror! (Also not stolen). It's just a fun visual variation.

Now of course, the whole contest is ridiculous as it's obviously unwinnable for anyone but streamers who would probably get flown out by CIG for favorable coverage anyway. People should rightly be upset about that. What a garbage contest.

If you knew anything about the various IP infringement laws, you'd know how ludicrous your post sounds.

[dsmart]

My latest musing is up.

[StanTheMan]

These sad Shitizens are whining like 7 year old girls over kitty.

They are being taken from behind with hot crumpet over and over again and they can't see it.

Read the crap about Marketing being bad and letting down development . .etc...

[dsmart]

Meanwhile, over there, even as the latest fiasco is in full-on revolt mode.

[nightfire]

Q: "CIG why are you pushing backers to bring in more and more players now when you lack any form of New Player Experience?"

A: "Because it's not about your player experience. This is about our banking experience."