Ah, there’s nothing wrong with this game that $100 wouldn’t fix.
– Tom Waits
That is pretty much when I got the impression that the project was starting to sound like a case study out of The Mythical Man Month.
I lost faith much sooner: circa February 2013 after the KS ended and it began to rain jpegs (begin at 10:34):
The man had discovered a gold mine. Here’s a post I wrote in November 2014 on Ars Technica, suggesting CIG’s current tack would one day result in a lawsuit:
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1184666&start=2400
This was well before the words “Derek Smart” meant anything to me, and I was used to being vigorously shouted down regarding the topic of Star Citizen.
To be fair, what game there is looks much better than I expected but that’s the nice thing about having low expectations.
You still won’t see me around for as long as I expect some wallet warrior to look me in the eye and say “I helped make Star Citizen”.
This post of you is superb
I can see dropping that kind of cash on a certain title over a lifetime. Certain games require subscription fees, and the idea is that these games will receive a Kaizen type treatment over their lifetimes as well, and generally you get to try the game first to see if it’s a good fit. I’ve spent close to $800 on a title myself, so I’d be a hypocrite if I criticized someone for spending 3x that. The important difference is that this $800 has been spread out across a decade, for an already released game. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics and finance knows that the net present value of $800 today is a lot more than $800 across a decade. For me personally, if I were to consider dropping $2,500 on Star Citizen, I would want assurance that this would still be a relevant title in… 2060*, due to what else is on the market right now.
Here are just a few other things you buy with $2,500 right now:
-Several years supply of infant formula
-An elaborate snowboarding vacation to Colorado, or SCUBA vacation to Florida (including certification and rentals)
-A balanced investment portfolio
-A gaming laptop and an entire library of AAA titles
Far be it from me to tell you what to do with your money, but spending this on a game that might be good and might be out in a couple years is nothing short of Quixotic (<- that’s me trying to be nice). As to the argument “well, 2.5k isn’t much to some”, my reply is that if this is the case, then Star Citizen is a game for the over-rich, in an invented market.
*For those without a sarcasm detector, this is tongue-in-cheek. There is no way someone could offer me this assurance, although I’m sure some would try, given creepy things I’ve read from other Star Citizens like “I Trust Chris Roberts” or “Don’t underestimate the power of faith”.
Aw, thanks blushes
That was a good post. It’s amazing that a LOT of people saw this train wreck coming a mile away - and most of them weren’t even developers. This is why when I jumped into the fray back in July 2015, everyone lost their minds because I remain, the only living insane person on the planet, to have ever attempted a game of this scope. And I know what failure looks like - right from the ground floor. If people look back to 2015 and compare to now, it should be easy to see why they all freaked out when I wrote that blog. They secretly feared that I was right. Heck, even the execs at CIG freaked out, came after me, and subsequently made it worse. Meanwhile, a bunch of loons stuck in Sunk Cost Fallacy came up with the best idea ever: give them money until they can achieve their goals. Except they didn’t take tech, experience, and expertise into consideration.
Hey, new schedule is out. We’re in 2019 territory now. And we’d still be stuck in Stanton (which still won’t be finished) system. Which is 1 of 100 they promised.
Remember back when I said this “game” was never going to see the light of day, and that the 2016 schedule was bullshit?
Chris Roberts’ Kickstarter is the 419 letters of the 21st century.
Jul 15, 2014 3:28 AM
Just saying ;)
Sounds like you’re saying, in the fine tradition of posters here, that you predicted this on your blog!
Most respected poster, by far!
Indeed my good man, i felt it my duty to remind the committee here gathered that my monocle had popped ere long years before!
Hello again old meme. We missed you. :)
It’s a great meme.
I enjoy you guys bringing up old posts. Interesting to note that you can still buy SC stuff on Ebay (676 items as of this posting).
I wouldn’t sell my account, but I did have some extra ships with lifetime insurance I sold for a tidy profit.
minutes 3-6 of that video made me , almost, want to invest in Starcitizen,.
Roberts is a promotional genius; the spaceship ads I’ve seen since 2013, starting with the 300i commercial, seem more or less handcrafted to drive right to the bottom of the male lizard brain in the 21st century. But, you know… admiralackbar.wav
Maybe if more of the roles each ship were meant to fill actually existed inside the game I’d be amenable to the proposition. However, CIG seems to be too tied up with things like getting procedural fried eggs right instead of a functional economy or stable network architecture.
Something I don’t understand about those roadmaps. Why in the world are they dedicating time and effort to redoing characters and armor? Is it just that their artists have nothing better to do?