[dsmart]

I have updated my original Ben-Ghazi post with more links.

[dsmart]

Some will never accept it. Those who have, either got their refunds and moved on, or now resigned to the fact that all they’re going to get for their money is a ganky mPU when this collapses. It’s a tough pill to swallow.

[dsmart]

Well stated.

The thing is that nobody gets to be right all the time; and as humans it is very easy for us to be biased about a lot of things. Those who know me, and have followed my career in the almost three decades that I’ve been in it, know that I have never – ever – professed to be perfect, let alone the pillar of anything politically correct. I tend to be the arbiter of discourse because I stand firmly on the things that I believe in. Regardless, I tend to be fair, try to be unbiased, I admit mistakes, I learn, I move on etc. However, the issue with this Star Citizen fiasco is that it is so polarizing that it is very difficult for people to separate “Derek Smart” from the “facts” as they stand. And that’s the primary reason that so many people are taking such a ludicrous defensive stance, because at any and all cost, they simply cannot accept the possibility that I could be right. About anything related to Star Citizen. This despite the fact that I’ve been right most of the time.

The issue with the UK is they cannot save this project. There is no way that they can complete SQ42. And even if they did, it won’t be enough to save the Star Citizen project or all the four companies associated with it. Yes, they are separate companies, so if the US arm fails, the UK and possibly German ones could stick around to complete SQ42. But that’s not true at all; and it doesn’t work that way. The fact of the matter is that most of the people who would have bought a game like SQ42, are already entitled to it. The sales they did barely made $1m according to our data metrics. And as of this writing, it’s a PC game. Even if they made a console version – which my sources tell me is on the table – it would be too late.

What Erin is trying to do over there, is precisely what he did with Digital Anvil back in the day, in order to save his brother’s ass. Again. They know that there is no way on this God’s Earth that Star Citizen – as promised – ever sees the light of day. That’s a foregone conclusion. And that’s why all bets are on SQ42 because they want to be able to deliver something tangible in order to satisfy some aspect of the delivery promise. But it won’t be enough. They’re all going to get sued regardless of how this ends, and I have no doubt in my mind that someone is going to end up in jail over this project.

The other thing about the UK office is that those guys are royally pissed about what’s going on over here in the US. And they are leaving. Several more are about to leave, including some yet-to-named top tier people. And the more that happens, chances are they will take their friends with them; which is what tends to happen. Nobody wants to be around when this ship sinks.

And the reason that Chris can’t find top tier people to hire anymore is because everyone is talking, and nobody wants to be a part of this shitshow.

And if you read between the lines of the latest Glassdoor reviews (e.g. this one), it’s easy to see that the theme is the same. And now even those in the UK are beginning to write them. Of course some are going to say that they’re fake; this despite the fact that most of things stated in prior reviews, have actually played out. Not to mention the Denison letter, comments by others who have left etc.

[quote]My personal feelings and experiences with CIG aside, I still don’t understand why people are investing so much into this game and such a die hard fan base that is really starting to resemble a cult for some time now. I would say such “dedication” is dangerous and resembles an ideology. My hope that when it does finally end one way or another that it is not as explosive as it appears to be. I have nasty feelings some of the more dedicated fans may be unable to accept loss of the game and become a threat to themselves or others. [/quote]

It’s sunk cost fallacy combined with cognitive dissonance. It’s not supposed to make sense.

 

[dsmart]

@denan You know why I’m not even addressing any of things you’re writing? Because it’s clearly as waste of my time because you can’t be serious, let alone objective.

Saying stuff like “They didn’t start the war, you’ve been highly critical and negative about the project from the start.” is yet another example of what I’m talking about. The project started in 2012. I backed it. I wrote my first blog in July 2015. They closed my account, refunded me, then tried to lie about it, while posting statements about it on their official forum. Yeah, that’s me starting a war.

Nice try.

[dsmart]

OK, that’s some epic level trolling right there.

“Here at PC Invasion we would love to see Star Citizen get finished, but we advise any new players not to buy into the game at this point until more of it is complete.“

[dsmart]

Yeah, OK, maybe if you focused more on the fact that the issue is about Star Citizen, and less about “what Derek Smart says”, you’d be better of. And then we’d – maybe – have a meaningful discussion about the merits.

Everything that a person engages in, is personal. You think I’m spending all my time and resources on this because it’s “business”? No, it’s not.

You don’t have to like my methods – and I simply don’t care. This is not a crusade, nor am I looking for support. It’s a quest for truth and accountability. And simply because they, instead of acknowledging the mistakes for a project a lot of us backed, started a war with me of all people. And one they simply couldn’t win, given the facts of the matter.

So, we fight.

[dsmart]

Yes. These are the people in charge of the Star Citizen community. So now it’s no surprise that it’s a toxic shit can

[dsmart]

UPDATE1: Mere days after this blog went live, Jared Huckaby went on a 2hr melt-down (1, 2, 3) in which he made statements against Chris Roberts, the Star Citizen game etc. Choice quote.

Then Goons uncovered Ben Lesnick’s legacy website, which he admitted (1, 2) to owning, with all manner of creepy stuff and commentary from him. Ranging from rape comments, and racist comments, to stalker-creepy photos of a TV personality.

This is the same Ben Lesnick who posted this about me in 2004. Then this in 2015 after my Star Citizen account was yanked after my first blog was posted.

Both are CS execs for the $112M crowd-funded Star Citizen project. These are the people tasked with running the community, and so it should come as no surprise that it is regarded as being one of the most toxic (1, 2, 3)communities in gaming.

Here are some choice ones:

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=13378

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=14178

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=21258

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=21156

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=17342

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=19792

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=20863

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=19219

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=12828

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?quotenum=19251

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=vietnam

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=minorities

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=hitler

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=nigga

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=jewed

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=jews

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=thirteen

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=woman

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=female

http://trelane.hamtwoslices.net/index.php?query=chris+roberts

UPDATE2: He wrote a “non-apology” missive. And yes, you guessed it, he blames it on Goons. And that he was a teenager. This despite the fact that he was well past mid-twenties, and according to data mined and EXIF data from images, he was working for the public school system at the time.

Here is Lando reacting to the unfolding events during a weekend stream.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] infographic of Ben’s non-apology lies[/caption]

UPDATE3: Then on 16-04-18, this slur (1, 2) ended up in the feed of yet another CS personnel over in the UK. The Tweet was subsequently deleted.

UPDATE4: Ben wasn’t in high school when he made that website. He registered the domain in 2003 and used his work e-mail (domain: https://mc.cc.md.us)

 

 

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