# Star Citizen is the Future of PC Gaming, and it \[was\] Free to Play this week (Edit: No Longer Free) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [October 13, 2015, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528 "2015-10-13T06:29:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 37
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/721 "2021-08-27T13:17:17Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > An airport, for example, is going to hire some experts just to place appropriate signage, ensuring that it’s always clear where to head to reach a gate or the baggage claim or whatever. It’s a non-trivial problem to get right. Will persistent universe games (whether Star Citizen or otherwise) also have to hire experts to ensure people can navigate their world? You’d think that out of a $400 million budget they could have spared a few bucks for someone with that sort of expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/722 "2021-08-27T14:00:04Z")
But then you’d have people complaining that the game was “holding your hand” and that payers should “git gud”. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/723 "2021-08-27T14:30:34Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > When you search for new player guidance, one of the [first pages you’re sent to](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/playstarcitizen) suggests that you recruit an actual player to help you. Man, the world has found a less attractive sales pitch for a game than Crusader Kings’ “Just watch these 15 hours of game tutorials on YouTube and you’ll be failing in no time…” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/724 "2021-08-27T14:46:52Z")
I dunno; I’ve played some games where the Help chat channel within the game was, in fact, the easiest way to learn about the game, as a result not of flaws in the tutorials, but because the game community was just genuinely very helpful. …Wait. Does Star Citizen actually have in-game global chat including a Help channel, or was the advice to find a veteran player to individually team up with you and show you around in person? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/725 "2021-08-27T14:50:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > was the advice to find a veteran player to individually team up with you and show you around in person? It literally has a page for you to request the services of an in-person guide to individually shepherd you around. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/726 "2021-08-27T15:17:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I dunno; I’ve played some games where the Help chat channel within the game was, in fact, the easiest way to learn about the game, as a result not of flaws in the tutorials, but because the game community was just genuinely very helpful. City of Heroes is like that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/727 "2021-08-27T15:41:40Z")
Yes, it was in fact CoH I was referring to. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/728 "2021-08-27T17:06:10Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > But then you’d have people complaining that the game was “holding your hand” and that payers should “git gud”. People will complain about anything. Good game design, however, will make it something people want to keep playing. Generally speaking, tutorials aren’t what makes a game EASY, they’re what make it ACCESSIBLE. World of Warcraft has always been very good at getting you into the game, but the game has changed very dramatically in terms of difficulty; it used to be moderately easy and now it’s preposterously easy, but the tutorial points haven’t really changed much and have nothing to do with the ease of the game. Really complex strategy games like Hearts of Iron have extensive tutorials but they’re still really, really hard. You couldn’t dream of playing games like that without a tutorial. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/729 "2021-08-27T17:37:05Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Generally speaking, tutorials aren’t what makes a game EASY, they’re what make it ACCESSIBLE. Agreed with that. City of Heroes was mentioned and I agree that the community was helpful (likely still is but I’m not active in the revival servers) but even when I was starting, I never felt like I was going to catastrophically fail by playing the game. Maybe some aspects weren’t clear or a particular skill choice was a bit of a trap and you’d learn this stuff from the community but you didn’t need someone assigned to you to guide you through how to play the game. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/730 "2021-08-30T20:48:23Z")
_Another_ new ship. > **[Star Citizen Gets New Videos Showing Upcoming Content as Crowdfunding Passes...](https://twinfinite.net/2021/08/star-citizen-videos-upcoming-content/)** > > Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games released new videos about the growing space sim, mostly focusing on upcoming content and systems. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/731 "2021-08-30T22:17:06Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Man, the world has found a less attractive sales pitch for a game than Crusader Kings’ “Just watch these 15 hours of game tutorials on YouTube and you’ll be failing in no time…” Well, it has that too. The page I linked to (on the official site) has buttons for “Play”, “Watch”, and “Read”. “Play” (slightly misleading) gets you the instructions on finding a tour guide. But you also have the options of watching 15 hours of videos, or reading endless FAQs on how to operate the elevators. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/732 "2021-08-31T19:38:07Z")
I was beginning to think there was no recent game-bashing when those videos were released. Turns out there had been, just not in English. > **[Star Citizen: Por que o jogo é tão polêmico?](https://observatoriodegames.uol.com.br/pc/star-citizen-entenda-a-polemica-em-torno-do-jogo)** > > Star Citizen não é polêmico por sua história, mas sim por todo o seu bastidor. Entenda. Google translation of headline & subheadline: > Star Citizen: Understand the controversy surrounding the game > > Star Citizen is a game that should(should) be revolutionary, but in strange ways the title is more famous for other reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/733 "2021-09-09T05:44:56Z")
Star Citizen devs [get in a little trouble](https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-09-08-advertising-standards-tells-star-citizen-dev-to-make-it-clear-for-sale-concept-ships-dont-exist-in-game-yet) with the UK Advertising Standards Authority over concept ships not in game > The Advertising Standards Authority has told Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games to make it clearer that for sale “concept ships” are not yet available in the game. > […] > The ASA told Eurogamer that the complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading because it wasn’t sufficiently clear the ship was a concept design that may never materialise. > > The ASA assessed and “considered that the fact the ship was a concept product could have been made clearer”, a representative told us. > > “On that basis, we issued an Advice Notice advising the advertiser, in future, to ensure that its ads include any material information and significant limitations.” > > The ASA issues an Advice Notice where it considers there are potential problems under its advertising rules, but does not consider the issues raised are so significant as to warrant a full formal investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2021, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/734 "2021-10-10T05:53:23Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I did figure out what I was supposed to do in Star Citizen after watching a video. There are apparently some terminals near the hangars that I can interact with to summon my ships. Now, I get the vibe they’re going for; they want all the in-game interfaces to be actually in the world itself, so any terminals or whatever are “virtually physical”. All well and good, except that there’s no hint in the game as to which terminals I had to go to. And there are zillions of terminals that are just decoration, with some tiny subset that matter. There should have been some guidance as to where to go. > > When you search for new player guidance, one of the [first pages you’re sent to](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/playstarcitizen) suggests that you recruit an actual player to help you. That seems… ridiculous to me. The game is so opaque that you need people to explain in real time how to do basic things? > > I’m sure I’d have gotten farther in if I watched a bunch more videos or found a tour guide or something. But no other game I’ve played requires this level of commitment just to play around. I was reminded of that post upon trying the demo for the early access single-player city-state builder [Songs of Syx.](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1162750/Songs_of_Syx/) There is a tutorial of sorts but mainly it says to look up guides online. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/735 "2021-10-10T12:57:30Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > There is a tutorial of sorts but mainly it says to look up guides online. This sort of thing is becoming more common, especially among the ‘early access’ side of gaming, and annoys the hell out of me. I don’t like watching video guides to games, and if a game wants me to do so as part of (or, indeed, the entirety of) the tutorial, I’ll likely move on. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/736 "2021-10-11T05:49:51Z")
“Hey fellas, this game is REALLY interactive! We like to get the community involved! So how about you create your own guides and support each other?” “In other words, we do your damn job for you?” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/737 "2021-10-13T20:26:01Z")
> **[Big Star Citizen event shows new system, new ships and new clouds - but no...](https://www.eurogamer.net/big-star-citizen-event-shows-new-system-new-ships-and-new-clouds-but-no-release-dates-and-no-squadron-42)** > > Cloud Imperium Games has held its CitizenCon event - albeit in digital form - and it showed off a number of new feature… > Cloud Imperium Games has held its CitizenCon event - albeit in digital form - and it showed off a number of new features coming to the space game. > > However, there was no live gameplay demo and no release dates offered for any part of the controversial, long-in development game. > > And Squadron 42, the story-based game set to star Hollywood actors, was a no-show. > CitizenCon failed to deliver a headline-grabbing announcement such as a release date - or even a release window - that CIG is targeting in order to deliver what it considers the “definitive” version of Star Citizen, as Roberts described it in the opening remarks. > > [Star Citizen’s current roadmap](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/roadmap/release-view) pegs the 3.15 update for release during the third quarter of 2021 - so it’s already late. > And what of Squadron 42? A year ago, in October 2020, [Roberts admitted](https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-10-10-as-star-citizen-turns-eight-years-old-the-single-player-campaign-still-sounds-a-long-way-off) CIG “still have a ways to go” before Squadron 42 even hits beta. Squadron 42 is currently seven years behind its original delivery target. [What happened to _Squadron 42_ being “in close out mode”?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/583) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/738 "2021-10-13T21:41:03Z")
Are the suckers still buying imaginary ships? Well, there you go. Their existing business model works great, why change it? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/739 "2021-10-13T21:45:08Z")
This thread is six years old today! 🎂 🥳 🥳 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528/740 "2021-10-13T22:15:51Z")
And yet defenderofjustice hasn’t answered our questions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528.md?page=36) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-citizen-is-the-future-of-pc-gaming-and-it-was-free-to-play-this-week-edit-no-longer-free/734528.md?page=38)