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‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

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Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#61

Post by fcarraldo »

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #53
shusson wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a closer comparison is Elite Dangerous.

I regret backing Elite Dangerous, it's underwhelming.

And this is the unfortunate problem with the agile “release an MVP and iterate” approach when talking about a game. Unlike a SaaS product that might initially solve a problem, a game needs to be compelling, make a good first impression, and be fun, all out of the gate, to retain player interest. The Early Access model has continued to fail because people try the early version, dislike it (because it isn’t finished), then leave bad reviews and never return to see the game’s progress.

Elite continues to get better all the time and will likely eventually be a pretty good game, but it’ll never have the audience it would have if they had the budget to release a full and finished product on day 1.

Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#62

Post by macspoofing »

serg_chernata wrote: post #38

I'm a backer and I have no problem with this. Many AAA titles take a decade or more from start to finish. For example, between Diablo 2 and 3. I want the best space sim and I like what RSI is doing. I'm not holding my breath, just living my life and when the game is finished I will be happy to play it. Although, I also did not drop 5 grand on this game.

> Many AAA titles take a decade or more from start to finish.

AAA titles that take a decade or more to develop are usually stuck in some sort of development hell.

>I want the best space sim and I like what RSI is doing.

You like that instead of making the best space sim, they are adding focusing on adding an first person combat? It's clear as day that Roberts and Co. lack any sort of discipline. It's a perfect example why sometimes constraints on creative freedom (usually forced by eviiiil publishers) are a good thing.

Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#63

Post by serg_chernata »

macspoofing wrote: post #62
serg_chernata wrote: post #38

I'm a backer and I have no problem with this. Many AAA titles take a decade or more from start to finish. For example, between Diablo 2 and 3. I want the best space sim and I like what RSI is doing. I'm not holding my breath, just living my life and when the game is finished I will be happy to play it. Although, I also did not drop 5 grand on this game.

> Many AAA titles take a decade or more from start to finish. AAA titles that take a decade or more to develop are usually stuck in some sort of development hell. >I want the best space sim and I like what RSI is doing. You like that instead of making the best space sim, they are adding focusing on adding an first person combat? It's clear as day that Roberts and Co. lack any sort of discipline. It's a perfect exampl…

Unfortunately, I do like it. To each his own.

Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#64

Post by onion2k »

ramblerman wrote: post #19

I was 25 when I backed this game. Not only am I hugely disappointed in the waterfall approach, and feature creep that pushed this over the edge. But I am 33 today! My desire to play MMOs has also slowly evaporated.

But I am 33 today!

Happy birthday.

Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#65

Post by deadbunny »

the_snooze wrote: post #54

That sucks, but it seems almost inevitable with these new funding/purchasing models: the risk necessarily shifts from the developer and onto the consumer. This is a big reason why I'm a "patient gamer:" why should I be the one exposed to uncertainty when there are plenty of other complete and patched games out there vying for my attention?

> why should I be the one exposed to uncertainty when there are plenty of other complete and patched games out there vying for my attention?

Because sometimes if you don't fund an idea that idea doesn't happen. Of course I'm not suggesting you jizz $4500 into a promise of a game like the guy in the article but throwing ten or twenty bucks behind an idea you wan't to see happen isn't always a bad idea.

If it happens and it's bad? nevermind it was only 10 bucks, nice to see the idea attempted though.

If it happens and it's good? awesome.

If it implodes and I get nothing? meh, never mind it was 10 bucks.

Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#66

Post by cornholio »

He lost because of a forced arbitration clause. This massive privatization of justice where any boilerplate service or product now comes with forced arbitration is making my blood boil.

The justice system should always be an option when arbitration fails, and arbitration should take no more than a reasonable time to fail (say, two weeks for this $5000 amount). The whole point of a small claims court is to handle such cases, not offload them to a dodgy corporate lawyer masquerading as a judge.

If the public service of justice is slow and expensive, we need to fix the public service, not replace it with a free market simulacrum. That's always the case with non marketable but essential public goods.

Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#67

Post by [deleted] »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #30
ramblerman wrote: post #19

I was 25 when I backed this game. Not only am I hugely disappointed in the waterfall approach, and feature creep that pushed this over the edge. But I am 33 today! My desire to play MMOs has also slowly evaporated.

Wait, that's 8 years. Article says they didn't start the kickstarter till 2012; 6 years ago.

[deleted]

Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#68

Post by jrochkind1 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #46
jrochkind1 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PACER only has federal court documents. Small claims court decisions probably don't end up anywhere. I doubt there is an "opinion" even written, just a judgement.

> Small claims court decisions probably don't end up anywhere. I would think in the usual case they would at a minimum be public records held by the court and subject to the usual mechanisms for accessing public records.

Yes, the judgement. There is almost certainly no written opinion.

Re: ‘Star Citizen’ Court Case Reveals the Messy Reality of Crowdfunding a $200M Game

#70

Post by JTbane »

lykr0n wrote: post #11

I've dumped about a grand into Star Citizen over the course of 4 years. I've followed updates and developments with mild interest, and ever once and a while I jump back into it to see what's changed. It's always amazing to see the progress they have made, wither it be the engine tech or just the game play. Do I think it will come out in the next year or two? No, but I think it will. Development is on going and active…

> Do I think I've gotten $1k of enjoyment from the game back when I was playing it? Yes.

Not trying to be negative, but this sounds like rationalization. There are better games for much less money.

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