Star Citizen is the Future of PC Gaming, and it [was] Free to Play this week (Edit: No Longer Free)

[Skywatcher]

Star Citizen Is Really Pushing The Patience (And Wallets) Of Its Community

Polygon reported on the release of the “Legatus Pack” and some of the comments from outraged investors. Reedit poster Strykerx88, a self-described “fence-sitter” regarding the controversy surrounding the game to date, described the Legatus Pack as “ridiculous” and wondered if “maybe the guys calling this game a scam are on to something.”

There’s more from Strykerx88 at Polygon:

Close your fucking ‘donation’ shop and finish the god damn game, if it even can be finished and become playable in any current fan’s lifetime.”

[Ike_Witt]

I just wanted to give props to this:

@TimeWinder

Yeah, but that “real life” game sucks. For one thing, it’s perma-death, which seems extreme for something so expensive.

[Skywatcher]

Evidently they’ve run out of original ideas for ship designs.

[Johnny_Bravo]

Apparently isn’t the first time they’ve lifted art from Eve Online.

[DigitalC]

@Johnny_Bravo

Apparently isn’t the first time they’ve lifted art from Eve Online.

What are we supposed to see here?

[Johnny_Bravo]

The main image is Star Citizen art. The overlay is from Eve Online. It’s the exact same nebula.

[Atamasama]

@DigitalC

What are we supposed to see here?

At the very top of the page, the picture that looks like a moon surface or something.

[Skywatcher]

Maybe they should actually finish the core game before enhancing the character creator and adding the ability to create pretty pictures.

[Johnny_Bravo]

This early backer tried to get a refund in small claims court, but a judge ruled that all transactions are bound by the game’s current TOS, which doesn’t let backers sue for refunds.

[Telperion]

@Johnny_Bravo

This early backer tried to get a refund in small claims court, but a judge ruled that all transactions are bound by the game’s current TOS, which doesn’t let backers sue for refunds.

“We have altered your agreed-upon Terms of Service. Pray we do not alter it further.”

[Skywatcher]

@Johnny_Bravo

This early backer tried to get a refund in small claims court, but a judge ruled that all transactions are bound by the game’s current TOS, which doesn’t let backers sue for refunds.

From that article:

According to the game’s original pitch on Kickstarter, it would be a space sim with a co-op multiplayer game, an offline single-player experience, and a persistent universe. It’s since become a massively multiplayer online game and a separate single-player game with first-person shooter elements called Squadron 42, which RSI originally pitched as “A Wing Commander style single player mode, playable OFFLINE if you want.”

For Lord, it’s no longer the game he thought he was getting. The first person mode is an especially hard sell. “I have [multiple sclerosis],” he told me. “My hands shake badly. I have tremors…They just recently confirmed that you have to do the first-person shooter thing to get through Squadron 42. I can’t do that, I just can’t do that. So my money’s stuck in a game I can’t possibly play.”

Along with the game—which originally had a targeted release date of 2014—Lord was supposed to have received numerous bits of physical swag. “So aside from [the game], I’m supposed to get a spaceship USB drive, silver collector’s box, CDs, DVDs, spaceship blueprints, models of the spaceship, a hardback book,” he said. “That’s the making of Star Citizen, which—if they end up making this game—might turn into an encyclopedia set.”

“Encyclopedia set”!

[Skywatcher]

Roberts rationalizes Pay to Win in PvP.

[Czarcasm]

I love this line: “In the video above, Chris Roberts spoke up how the game is not pay to win and never will be since it’s an open ended persistent sandbox universe that doesn’t have an end or a win-state. Another thing it doesn’t have is a release date, but that didn’t come up.”
So there is a daily 25.000 UEC purchase cap…but if things go on as they are, enough money could eventually be raised to make his whole freakin’ universe up for sale to the first bidder in.

[Johnny_Bravo]

Ship sales must be on the decline.

[Skywatcher]

Crytek’s lawsuit continues to move forward.

@Johnny_Bravo

This early backer tried to get a refund in small claims court, but a judge ruled that all transactions are bound by the game’s current TOS, which doesn’t let backers sue for refunds.

CIG has removed almost all backer’s rights through their revisions to the TOS. This includes CIG’s obligation to be financially accountable to their backers, something that they explicitly promised during the project’s initial drive for funding.So, Roberts & Company could very well be using backers’ funds to pay for vacations where they all laugh it up on some beach.

[control-z]

It’s a damn shame, I tried (with difficulty) their free plays a couple times and it was evident there was some talent and a smattering of great ideas, but they were light years from a playable game.

[Skywatcher]

Roberts found a new way to squeeze money out of fans: put CitizenCon livestreaming behind a $20 paywall.

[Ike_Witt]

Does Roberts ever provide accounting for how all the money raised is spent?

[Atamasama]

@Ike_Witt

Does Roberts ever provide accounting for how all the money raised is spent?

To whom?

[Ike_Witt]

@Atamasama

To whom?

The investors who are funding the company.