Star Citizen Woes

[Slashman]

Of course not. And what is more, rabid fanboys will threaten to eat you alive if you even hint that RSI might be in financial hot water. They all parrot that the project is in no danger of running low on funds because it can still bring in a couple million a month. They all say everything is fine even though there is only one star system present out of the 100 the game is supposed to launch with. Everything is A-OK in RSI land.

I'm no expert, but I can't imagine that even if each of that 250+ dream team was only being paid a VERY modest 2.5K per month, that they are somehow managing to make things like utilities, office space, building upkeep for their own mo-cap studio etc. vanish into thin air.

Then we have the events, Roberts flying from studio to studio each month, marketing (boy oh boy do we have marketing) not to mention whoever gets paid to make those god-awful space suits he wears at said events.

[Azrael Ultima]

Of course they aren't in financial hot water. The pot melted months ago and the water had already evaporated at that point.

[Mecron]

at some point someone should ask even if you get a game out of this, was it worth a 100 million?

[Space Voyager]

I'll ask myself if it was worth 15 or 20 Euro - whatever I contributed.

[Slashman]

FWIW SV, I hope that you and others who contributed do get a game out of it. A really good one.

[Cpt. Awesome]

at some point someone should ask even if you get a game out of this, was it worth a 100 million?

Is any game "worth" 100 million? It all depends on who you're asking and for what reason.

For example, while on reddit, I made a quick mention how I don't blame the dude for getting his $3000 back and immediately this other guy jumped in saying that he was tired of all these "crybabies" and that he has every right to be annoyed by it; he then proceeded to post a screenshot of his donated $25,000+ ?!?!?!

Will the game be personally worth it to individuals who threw in less than $100, perhaps. Could any game be personally worth more than a couple hundred bucks/year?

[PocketNerd]

Well at least it's in Alpha now, though looking at the feature-list it just seems like it's way too big in scope.

[Space Voyager]

FWIW SV, I hope that you and others who contributed do get a game out of it. A really good one.

Thank you. I'm not really burdened by the outcome as I was fully aware that I was not going to be able to play the game when it comes out anyway. I backed it for the same reason I backed many other games; to support a good idea. But for many people who wanted a game they want to play, I hope for the same.

[Azrael Ultima]

Could any game be personally worth more than a couple hundred bucks/year?

Eh, I've been springing the half year fee for WoW ever since it was released(well, until they introduced the tokens for ingame money), although that's only about 150 bucks + expansions a year. Still, it's been around for over 10 years.

But WoW also provided me with plenty of actual game during this time and a way to socialise despite some mental issues(phobias are no fun), so IMO it was a fair trade.

Now, shelling out 25 grand for what is very fancy condensed vaporware? No thanks.

[Mecron]

The issue here is not that someone paid 20 bucks and someone else paid 25 grand. It should be how the funds have been put to use.

[Erinys]

Agreed. Looking at this from the developer's standpoint, the ethical and sane use of funds that were donated to the production of games is critically important.

--Arinn

[Space Voyager]

The issue here is not that someone paid 20 bucks and someone else paid 25 grand. It should be how the funds have been put to use.

From the view of gaming industry, consumer rights and - most of all, probably - the future of crowdfunding, I agree completely. From the view of my personal loss, I got off lightly. Seeing how much money people were ready to invest into this was scary. Really scary, as with that money they could help a lot where it matters. It makes you wonder what such people actually want from a computer game.

[Cpt. Awesome]

Fair enough. Although I didn't back either game, I found the contrast between the developmental strategies employed by Elite:Dangerous and StarCitizen teams to be very apparent. I also remember that nobody else seemed to really care. I just found it very reasonable how ED focused on core features and built on top of it (although some say they've gone too far recently).

I agree that there have been questionable or outright irresponsible spending of the money. However I wouldn't discount the effect of the whale donors. The problem when people are donating 1000's of dollars to a project is that it is a powerful talking point and really allows the developers to not only drink their own koolaid, but pretty much get it hooked up intravenously. Had they only raised a few million total (for example), they very well may have kept things more lean and practical; although I suspect Chris Roberts would've done the same regardless of budget.

[Cpt. Awesome]

It makes you wonder what such people actually want from a computer game.

Everyone, not just Chris Roberts, has been dreaming of a game like that for decades. People just got swept away with the idea believing it would finally happen if only they throw some money into the pot. The problem is it was in that heady and magical phase where they only talk about the feelings and ideas where anything is possible. Honeymoon is definitely over after all this time and missed deadlines.

[Space Voyager]

People just got swept away with the idea believing it would finally happen if only they throw some money into the pot.

But people kept throwing money into the pot even after the game had all the funds it needed... Why would somebody give 200€ for a digital ship that may never see the light of day? And even if it will - isn't the sense of achievement why we play games? Buying stuff so that you already have all (well, most) you can get in a game at release is beyond me. Why play the game?

I am surely getting a bit too psychological here as I'm not qualified but man, it seems that people are starting to confuse real world with digital one. Pokemon GO storm is just another example. I'm not sure enhanced reality is where we want to go. I can see how we could have incredible applications of it in many areas, but I'm not sure we can handle it. Our brain just didn't develop for such cases and we might need a whole lot more time to slowly adapt to technologies that keep coming faster and faster.