Star Citizen

[Robert Maxwell]

There will be books written about this fiasco someday.

Normally, I would say it's a shame that this happened because it might kill the genre (again). But you know what? It won't and it hasn't. We're not going to get space combat games with top-quality cinematics, sure, but we're getting good space combat games nonetheless. You don't need $100 million to put one together, either.

We've got space games appealing to all different styles now, too. We have Elite: Dangerous. There's Rebel Galaxy. Evochron Legacy just came out, which is excellent (and made pretty much by just one guy). Everspace is in development, and looking great. No Man's Sky is going to come out this year.

If anything comes of this mess, I hope it's that people will be a bit more skeptical and careful with their money when it comes to projects like this. I also wouldn't object if some kind of regulation comes out of this, either. If Roberts had been selling ownership stakes in his company rather than imaginary spaceships, he'd have run afoul of all sorts of investor protection laws by now. There's just not really any legal framework around crowdfunding at this point. I don't want to see it killed, but the recipients of crowdfunding cash (at least past a non-trivial amount) should be a lot more accountable.

 

[FPAlpha]

If this tanks (very likely) at least one good thing will come off it.. Chris Roberts will never be responsible for anything again. It's a shame that so much money had to be burned to get that result but it may also be a good life lesson for all the people who invested heavily that pretty graphics and promises don't mean you really have something.

Let's see what happens in the next months.

 

[Timby]

I can't believe Roberts doubled down on dumb yesterday,

"It still drives me crazy that people keep thinking that Star Marine is a separate game or Arena Commander is a separate game."

WE CAN PLAY ARENA COMMANDER, CHRIS. (It sucks out loud, but we can play it.)

YOU TOLD US STAR MARINE WAS GOING TO BE THE FPS EQUIVALENT OF IT. YOU SAID IT WAS GOING TO ANNIHILATE CALL OF DUTY. YOU CALLED THEM GAME MODULES. YOU BUILT THE INTERFACE, SHOWED US MAPS, ELECTRIC SHOTGUNS, GRENADES AND THE REST.

This is a man who never gets called on his shit, ever.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

What I want to know is where Derek Smart stands on all this!

 

[SPCTRE]

I can't wait for the post mortem

 

[{ Emilia }]

Chris Roberts and Brad McQuaid should collaborate on a game and let Curt Schilling fund it.

#StarCitizenVanguardCopernicus

Oh, and the guy who created the alleged Ponzi scheme to fund the failed Stargate Online game should help them.

 

[Timby]

Cloud Imperium is backing out of E3 entirely, saying that Chris Roberts is busy at the Foundry 42 studio in Manchester.

Meanwhile, his wife tweeted a photo of Roberts surfing.

 

[Amaris]

Clearly, they've moved the studio onto a mobile aquatic frigate, where they can code in peace in order to bring you the best game ever no srsly.

 

[SPCTRE]

Meanwhile, his wife tweeted a photo of Roberts surfing.

it's called work. life. balance!

 

[Timby]

 

[Timby]

So, CIG has been caught being a little naughty (once again).

Hi everyone,

I've recently raised an issue with CIG via Customer Support and when I logged into my Request I was quite surprised to see that my account is flagged as the following:

Grey Market Trading
High Maintenance
Snowflakes

Here's the zendesk access to monitor progress of your Request history: https://cloudimperiumservicesllc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

If you're interested in seeing how CIG has labelled you in their system it will be clear when you access any open Request. Here's a screenshot of my latest one:http://imgur.com/5S1NIYE

Enjoy!

Cheers,

BH

https://www.reddit.com/r/Starcitizen_trades/comments/4mmg4y/psa_cigs_blacklist_categorization/

So not only do they classify users they don't like as "special snowflakes," but CIG is profiling their customers regarding their activity on other third-party websites, and it has an influence on how you are treated as a customer.

This is illegal under UK consumer protection laws.

 

[SPCTRE]

oh wow, that is a level of fuck up you rarely see surfaced to the public

talk about contempt for your customers

 

[Timby]

This is a company that has a $20,000 coffee machine in its breakroom in Santa Monica. I don't think anyone's ever accused them of being smart at this point.

 

[Amaris]

So, CIG has been caught being a little naughty (once again).

https://www.reddit.com/r/Starcitizen_trades/comments/4mmg4y/psa_cigs_blacklist_categorization/

So not only do they classify users they don't like as "special snowflakes," but CIG is profiling their customers regarding their activity on other third-party websites, and it has an influence on how you are treated as a customer.

This is illegal under UK consumer protection laws.

For some reason, seeing this makes me very angry, and I'm not even a donor.

 

[Timby]

They've now taken down their Zendesk implementation.

 

[Timby]

CIG has changed its Terms of Service; now they're basically saying that any pledges now are non-refundable until CIG has ceased development. Delivery date can be extended as long as they never admit they have stopped trying to ship the game. Then after that, any pledge amounts applied against pledge item cost and game cost (isn't that *all* of them?!) is "non-refundable regardless of whether or not RSI is able to complete and deliver the Game and/or the pledge items".

Also: "You acknowledge and agree that the Game and the pledge items delivered to you may differ in certain aspects from the description of the Game and those pledge items that was available on the Website at the time of your Pledge."

Translation: "We can't deliver what we promised."

I've never seen a company so openly hate its consumers.

Edit: By downloading version 2.4, you agree that you cannot sue CIG for failure to deliver its product. (That clause is illegal in the UK and Australia.)

 

[Amaris]

Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing. The deck has always leaned like this.

 

[Timby]

They also removed a clause from the old TOS that said they would provide a complete and public accounting of their financials if they didn't deliver by June 1, 2016.

Lawl.

Edit: I should say that if anyone is still invested in this Ponzi scheme, file a chargeback immediately. PayPal is ending the ability to do chargebacks on crowdfunded projects later this month and I have no doubt that Star Citizen is the cause.

 

[USS Triumphant]

This is a company that has a $20,000 coffee machine in its breakroom in Santa Monica.

I hope that thing at least makes really good coffee, and isn't just some very high end Keurig.

 

[publiusr]

They just need to do an ET game. That'll sell well.