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Scam Citizen passes half a billion dollars and still no launch.
diffusionx
Gold Member
I maintain that this isn’t a scam but more of a cult, where Chris Roberts has built this community around a bunch of old boomers are spending their retirement money chasing the Wing Commander dragon of their youth. In this sort of setup, they are the “true believers” that this game will deliver and we are all just haters who don’t get it. Ironically with every passing failure, with every new announcement of some new JPEG or feature that will never be implemented, paired with the implicit request to pay up, their belief is further reinforced.
The important thing to note is that this game is really never going to come out in any state that resembles what they are selling. They are already in the DNF death spiral where they have to go back and remake their old shit to make it up to the new shit’s standards. Yet unlike DNF where they need to convince managers and companies to fund it, here they just need to hit up the cult members.
The important thing to note is that this game is really never going to come out in any state that resembles what they are selling. They are already in the DNF death spiral where they have to go back and remake their old shit to make it up to the new shit’s standards. Yet unlike DNF where they need to convince managers and companies to fund it, here they just need to hit up the cult members.
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Rambone
Member
Do you really think they will stop selling concept ships after the game has 'launched'? Fear not, these 'helpless' gamers wallets will continue to drop their panties the moment a new ship is announced. Better figure out how to put a Chastity belt on it now before it is too late!
D
Deleted member 1159
Unconfirmed Member
Why? All they have to do is keep selling ship skins for thousands of dollars a pop. No game release required
After all, it has proven to be an effective business model. Just as every ship can be bought in-game after launch. Everyone has to know for himself how much he is willing to put into a game.
bitbydeath
Member
The game makes way more money than what’s needed to pay his employees.
Where do you think the rest goes?
Rambone
Member
Agreed and it sure has been an effective business model. They have been making steady money each year, with each year being better than the last.
Dr.Morris79
Gold Member
Thats not a memory issue, thats how much of a donation you need to send to carry on.
16777215.9 TB (Total Bucks)
The point of money laundering is to disguise an existing revenue stream. As it says in the article you linked to:
"Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source."
So money laundering would be them "pretending" they are selling the skins to finance the game, when really they are say funnelling profits from drug dealing. But the expectation for game development funds is that they are used to fund development. And if there's no evidence of these funds going into employing people, you're "disguising" the revenue stream as a scam! It's much better to launder money in a way that doesn't attract attention. And if you're really making money off fans by selling skins, and not using it to make a game, that's a scam, not money laundering.
If the revenue stream is "genuine" the money isn't being laundered.
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AngelMuffin
Member
I though it was known as “Star Scam”?
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
On the plus side, you're helping Chris Roberts and gang have a job.
Thebonehead
Gold Member
Well I got a bit further yesterday..
Having a look using process monitor it seems that it didn't like riva tuner. Updated that and it started to behave.
Well that's if you consider 12 to 55 FPS as behaving.
I had to watch a video to find out where my ship was. I then had to watch anther video to work out how to retrieve it.
I managed to get on board but couldn't work out how to retract the ramp or start it.
At that point I gave up because I couldn't be bothered to watch anther video.
Ugly graphics.
Terrible performance. GPU at 30%
Constant bugs.
Constant crashes.
Useless memory utilisation. Was using 26gb according to rtss. Loads more committed to page file as well
Unfriendly introduction.
I took the hit so you don't have to
Having a look using process monitor it seems that it didn't like riva tuner. Updated that and it started to behave.
Well that's if you consider 12 to 55 FPS as behaving.
I had to watch a video to find out where my ship was. I then had to watch anther video to work out how to retrieve it.
I managed to get on board but couldn't work out how to retract the ramp or start it.
At that point I gave up because I couldn't be bothered to watch anther video.
Ugly graphics.
Terrible performance. GPU at 30%
Constant bugs.
Constant crashes.
Useless memory utilisation. Was using 26gb according to rtss. Loads more committed to page file as well
Unfriendly introduction.
I took the hit so you don't have to
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Tomofdahook17
Member
No, they would still sell it for $60+ and people would still complain about the price.
Dr.Morris79
Gold Member
anothertech
Member
Man, I invested in this game.
Take breaks from time to time. fired it up today, and still plays like shit. Dammit.
Take breaks from time to time. fired it up today, and still plays like shit. Dammit.
PixelatedBeast
Member
Some people will have graduated, had kids and moved on in life by the time this releases.
Snake29
Banned
Star Citizen isn’t really a game that you just buy and start playing. You really need to do some research before you enter Star Citizen. It’s not going to hold your hands.
The facts that you say “ugly graphics”, meh i don’t think you have seen much yet. Looking at your list of complaints. It sounds like you are doing something wrong. Up your Nvidia sharder cache to 10GB. Disable volumetric clouds and Motion blur. My system is a 5800X3D, 2080 Super and 32GB and i go well over 80fps or even above 100+ fps in space scenes. The upcoming 3.18 performamce is even better in the current 3.18 PTU build with the new Gen12 renderer.
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lefty1117
Gold Member
I'm having some fun with it, there's some good tech and ambition in it, but the pace of development just seems too slow. It's hard to see right now how they will tie the systems together into a cohesive experience. There are a bunch of individual game loops, most pretty barebones but others actually pretty good (mining and salvaging, both pretty good rn). Nothing really ties them together, there's no narrative, limited rep, the economic simulation stuff isn't in, etc. So a collection of tech demo game loops is probably the best description of the game right now, which I guess is what an alpha really is. But it's difficult to see the end. It feels like there's excessive waste; it has the sense of a meandering, decadent project; of people just throwing money and trying things out rather than working to an ordered program. It doesn't feel like a scam to me, but it does feel like they're in a vicious cycle of needing to raise more money to keep going but they aren't sure where they're going so they need to raise more money to keep going ... and on and on. I wish them luck!
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Bragr
Banned
The reason why people call it a scam is because they promise the moon to boost the crowdfunding, only to push it back and change the goal. It's dirty and it's done on purpose.
lefty1117
Gold Member
I see what you're saying. I suppose there is truth to that, but I just don't get a sense that it's done maliciously or exactly "on purpose". I think they keep stretching the goals and making the game more ambitious because of the money coming in, and now they've lost the plot. Scam seems like too harsh a term because it conveys a sense that the deception was planned from the beginning; I just don't believe that. If that's ever found to be the case, with proof, then yes I agree that's absolutely terrible. Rather I think it's just gotten out of hand and now it's mis-managed.
Bragr
Banned
Well, it's on purpose in the sense that they sit down and brainstorm what they put on the docket. Even if they know it's a small chance they will manage to produce the content they list, they use it as propaganda to keep the game alive and funded. They have been doing this too long now. I can forgive some delay, but it's been too long now, they know exactly what to say to hype fans.
Just look at Squadron 42, they said that it was gonna be released in 2014, then added a bunch of stars and whatnot, made players fund it separately from Star Citizen, and revamped it. They have been saying it's gonna come out in a year or two for 6 years now. It's still far away. They hope to get it out around 2024 now, apparently.
They release tidbits like "we have added clothes for the soldiers" or "we developed a new scanning method" and stuff like this to keep players paying. They have perfected giving little updates every month to drip-feed everyone who wants it to be great.
I find the whole thing insidious.
Snake29
Banned
Everything is developed for SQ42 first and wil carry over to the PU. But not everything is needed for Star Citizen.
