Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

pcgamer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 253 posts

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#41

Post by dredmorbius »

tobr wrote: post #10
tptacek wrote: post #6

You're not meant to editorialize titles like this on HN. People who submit stories have no more claim to their viewpoint than any commenter does. The title here should be: "This MMO that promised an 'infinite open world' has become a giant fiasco"

If the reason for the rule is to avoid the submitter pushing through their viewpoint, this particular case shouldn’t be a problem. The “Y Combinator” part is a reason why it’s relevant to this site, and it’s not a viewpoint.

It's possible to submit stories and a comment simultaneously (fill in both the URL and "text* fields on the submission form).

An early-entry comment carries a lot of weight in steering conversation, and quoting the portion of the story citing YC's involvement as well as the alleged fraud would be proper.

Unless unclickbaiting titles or working with arbitrary text (e.g., a Twitter stream submission), changing titles is strongly frowned upon, especially where the source does in fact have a viable title.

I'd lose the preemptory "This" from the original source, but otherwise recommend the original title be used.

(Meantime, the discussion is now derailed by title discussion, which dang will have to clean up.)

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#43

Post by mattnewport »

dvt wrote: post #8

I've been following the DreamWorld saga on YouTube for a hot minute now, mainly because I find it so interesting how they got through the YC vetting process when I myself have applied twice (maybe 3 times) and I also know plenty of people -- brilliant, motivated, entrepreneurial folks -- that applied many (many) times as well and were rejected (YC is mega-competitive after all). IMO, it's a bit insulting to the strug…

Part of the scandal mentioned in the article is the accusation that they got in through nepotism and bypassed the usual vetting process.

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#44

Post by [deleted] »

qzw wrote: post #30
tptacek wrote: post #6

You're not meant to editorialize titles like this on HN. People who submit stories have no more claim to their viewpoint than any commenter does. The title here should be: "This MMO that promised an 'infinite open world' has become a giant fiasco"

What about the video embedded in the article with the title "DreamWorld - Exposing the Scam Game" and "Ultimate Scammers" in big yellow 60pt font?

[deleted]

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#45

Post by sombremesa »

The big issue relevant to YC is "[DreamWorld] wasn't vetted. They apparently had nothing to show on demo day, and they were still allowed through" (if true), but the people being affected are the LPs who were likely aware such things would happen to their money.

Edit: removed the word scam from my comment since I expect the title will be changed and then my comment won't make sense.

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#46

Post by serf »

cbsks wrote: post #5

Previously discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26898266 If a company promises more than they can deliver, is it a scam? What if they believe that they actually can deliver it?

>If a company promises more than they can deliver, is it a scam?

I think I can squeeze water out of rocks. Pay me now to do it, and i'll figure it out. Everyone around tells me I can't, but I know I can.

>What if they believe that they actually can deliver it?

I absolutely believe I can do it if I set my mind to it. Fund my company so we can find out.

Do you see any possible issues with this style of transaction?

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#47

Post by runawaybottle »

dvt wrote: post #8

I've been following the DreamWorld saga on YouTube for a hot minute now, mainly because I find it so interesting how they got through the YC vetting process when I myself have applied twice (maybe 3 times) and I also know plenty of people -- brilliant, motivated, entrepreneurial folks -- that applied many (many) times as well and were rejected (YC is mega-competitive after all). IMO, it's a bit insulting to the strug…

If you have to ask, I’ll go ahead and take a wild guess. I looked at the founder’s bios. A couple of white guys, think one worked at a few FAANGs - textbook archetype for ‘certainly people of this type know what they are doing’.

Yeah, we do live in that world. This shit might be the most valid textbook case of white male privilege ever.

Edit:

I usually have a very high bar for throwing around while male privilege thing (I’m talking Joe Rogan levels of defense against the claim), for what it’s worth.

But my spidey senses are tingling on this one from a mile away. This shit looks worse than the Asian mmo’s that are still being built on the Unreal3 engine.

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#48

Post by aeturnum »

sanxiyn wrote: post #26
aeturnum wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do think calling this a "scam" is difficult to defend from an intent perspective, but it does not appear like it has any realistic chance of succeeding. At some point projects cross a line from being optimistic to being negligent and deceptive. YC should know better and I think using hyperbolic rhetoric is a legitimate counter to a company that seems to be sleepwalking into failure with other peoples' money.

I am all for investor protection, but "other people" here are supposed to be accredited investors. Caveat emptor etc.

I can see why you would say that other investors should do their own research, but many people view a YC investment as a vote of confidence in the company in question. Your view makes me curious about how you think about the role of an incubator. Like...are there any lines YC could cross? Does their investment in a company reflect on them at all? What value do they provide other than seed money to companies?

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#49

Post by dumbfoundded »

KuiN wrote: post #7

If you're thinking "how bad can it really be?", please treat yourself to watching a couple minutes of "gameplay". It's incredible to me that this project got any VC backing. 2 man team with barely any background in game-dev are going to build an exceptionally ambitious MMO? The red flags ignored are just absurd.

VC seed stage backing is based on two things: the team (or who they know) & the addressable market. VC backing is not some meritocracy. YC is better at bridging the gap but it's certainly not perfect. uBiome is another pretty blatant YC-funded fraud

Re: Y Combinator backed MMO metaverse game is a blatant scam

#50

Post by elliekelly »

runawaybottle wrote: post #47
dvt wrote: post #8

I've been following the DreamWorld saga on YouTube for a hot minute now, mainly because I find it so interesting how they got through the YC vetting process when I myself have applied twice (maybe 3 times) and I also know plenty of people -- brilliant, motivated, entrepreneurial folks -- that applied many (many) times as well and were rejected (YC is mega-competitive after all). IMO, it's a bit insulting to the strug…

If you have to ask, I’ll go ahead and take a wild guess. I looked at the founder’s bios. A couple of white guys, think one worked at a few FAANGs - textbook archetype for ‘certainly people of this type know what they are doing’. Yeah, we do live in that world. This shit might be the most valid textbook case of white male privilege ever. Edit: I usually have a very high bar for throwing around while male privilege thi…

I (woman without CS degree) once pitched to an investor and his first question was “Okay, but who’s going to build it for you?”

Um... me? I _built_ it. It already exists and I have users and I said that several times but apparently the idea of me being able to do that on my own was simply too confusing for him to understand. His next question? “Who’d you hire to build it?”

facepalm

Post reply on HN