D_Smart posted:

Tweet storm!

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/937691433322020864

PederP posted:

In my son's social sciences class they got asked to give examples of out-of-the-ordinary internet communities for study (and the teacher asked them to please not pick 4chan). As the good boy he is, he mentions "the fans of that scam game, Star Citizen", which was immediately met by "that's not a scam! what proof do you have?" from someone in his class. Turns out he's got a cultist in his high school class. I'm prepping him to mention Derek Smart in any remotely relevant context. This could be good.

PederP posted:

In my son's social sciences class they got asked to give examples of out-of-the-ordinary internet communities for study (and the teacher asked them to please not pick 4chan). As the good boy he is, he mentions "the fans of that scam game, Star Citizen", which was immediately met by "that's not a scam! what proof do you have?" from someone in his class. Turns out he's got a cultist in his high school class. I'm prepping him to mention Derek Smart in any remotely relevant context. This could be good.

D_Smart posted:

They won't. And they can't. That would hit them with a huge delivery liability. So I think that they're going to keep things as-is, while promoting it as crowd-funded early access. They've already laid the ground work for that, and Chris already hinted at it in several interviews these past months.

PederP posted:

In my son's social sciences class they got asked to give examples of out-of-the-ordinary internet communities for study (and the teacher asked them to please not pick 4chan). As the good boy he is, he mentions "the fans of that scam game, Star Citizen", which was immediately met by "that's not a scam! what proof do you have?" from someone in his class. Turns out he's got a cultist in his high school class. I'm prepping him to mention Derek Smart in any remotely relevant context. This could be good.

Dusty Lens posted:

At the risk of exposing my sources I'm going to suggest that if there's anything CIG is extremely competent at it's going to be the law. By virtue of their proliferation of shell companies alone they've bodies on board that are proficient at tax and company law and I'll bet that no small portion of their business model is based on an understanding of what they're actually responsible for with their particular form of income solicitation.

I've no doubt that they're carefully monitoring the status of laws that pertain to how they bring in money, what they actually need to deliver with that money and how that money is taxed in order to avoid undue scrutiny. Star Citizen is routinely noted as being the most successful crowd funding campaign of all time and I'm certain that the laws that govern how such a system operates are as crouched in untested novelty.

Hav posted:

I literally mention the delivery liability the line above. Again, that's apart of the dumbfuck angle of 'Oh, we tried, here's all the good faith, but something this complex would cost any reasonable person more than we had'. People can't be blamed for failing, etc.

They're beginning to stretch reasonable definitions of development time, which means that it'll start becoming a running joke where it actually matters. You might think I mean something other than what I mean; I think they'll attempt to push whatever they have in the hope of getting the press boost when _all else has failed_ to move the needle.

They'll run out of tropes to cycle through at very least, and they're working on that very slippery faith thing that requires acceptance of a few different things, such as 'We're taking money without a deadline'.

In going back to my constant attempts to make this about stellar evolution, they'll have burned all their helium by the time they talk about release. Then it's just a matter of time before the novae begin.

PederP posted:

In my son's social sciences class they got asked to give examples of out-of-the-ordinary internet communities for study (and the teacher asked them to please not pick 4chan). As the good boy he is, he mentions "the fans of that scam game, Star Citizen", which was immediately met by "that's not a scam! what proof do you have?" from someone in his class. Turns out he's got a cultist in his high school class. I'm prepping him to mention Derek Smart in any remotely relevant context. This could be good.

D_Smart posted:

I agree with your assessment. I was only responding to the part of your post that I highlighted.

Hav posted:

Look at you and your understanding of the speed of light.

PederP posted:

In my son's social sciences class they got asked to give examples of out-of-the-ordinary internet communities for study (and the teacher asked them to please not pick 4chan). As the good boy he is, he mentions "the fans of that scam game, Star Citizen", which was immediately met by "that's not a scam! what proof do you have?" from someone in his class. Turns out he's got a cultist in his high school class. I'm prepping him to mention Derek Smart in any remotely relevant context. This could be good.

D_Smart posted:

I am prepared to print, sign, and mail him a signed copy of The July Blog. Such bravery must be rewarded.

Hav posted:

#MGTOW is my goto.

It's literally a group of the saddest people ever.

Dusty Lens posted:

But really I don't know anything about financial arbitration I just imagine that they spent a lot of time huddled around asking each other what they can get away with according to the letter of the law.

quote:

Fahey, as many others before him, points to the inherent risks of crowd funding to badly burn backers as there is currently no ability for backers to distinguish "well-planned projects" from "disasters in-the-making."
....
However, as many commentators have pointed out, if crowd funding is to mature as an alternative funding source for games of all budget sizes, it will ultimately need to include safeguards against insufficient planning or plain abuse.
...
On the other hand, if crowd funding is to mature as a reliable method for customers to support the development of a favorite game via an early pre-buy (as opposed to an enthusiastic donation with uncertain outcome), then this method will require a vetting process of the proposed project to ensure that the development and delivery is properly planned and secured for the proposed amounts. This could indeed be accomplished by completion insurance complete with experts who vet the developer's schedule and budget, not unlike in the field of independent film production.

The collected funds should be handled by a collection agent or the insurance company itself, to be paid out pursuant to an approved cash flow. Any unforeseen changes in the development process would be reviewed and approved by experienced specialists who monitor that process - something very familiar in the film production process as well. The completion guarantor would assure that the project will either be delivered to the early buyers as promised, or return the funds. Based on the fees charged in the film business, the insurance premium for such a completion guarantee and associated monitoring would probably be around 5 to 7 percent of the development budget.

BeefThief posted:

So is the game out yet?

Raskolnikov posted:

Worse than incels? Incels are pretty horrid.

AP posted:

How indie film financing could shape the future of games

Ortwin actually wrote about what they can get away with, a lot of it was focused on imagining future mechanisms that might eventually exist to prevent "plain abuse".

AP posted:

How indie film financing could shape the future of games

Ortwin actually wrote about what they can get away with, a lot of it was focused on imagining future mechanisms that might eventually exist to prevent "plain abuse".


The only issue I see with everyone involved at CIG walking away from the burning studios without a care in the world, is that it would require a basic level of competence that I've never seen them display in any area, other than taking money from idiots.

tooterfish posted:

Are you sure you read this part right?

Time dilation doesn't change your subjective experience of time. If you spent 10 years travelling from Earth at close to light speed, while 20 years might pass on Earth you'd still only experience 10 years subjectively.

If "the old man" is biologically 10 years older than the recruit, it's only possible for him to have 10 years more experience.

aleksendr posted:

I may have got my numbers wrong. The scene in question happen in the last part of the novel, when the main character turn out to be the only non-homosexual member of the unit and a fight break out over the recruit calling him "An old queer". The recruit think William Mandella is an old decrepit, due to being over a few century old (relative) but in reality he is just 10 year older than the recruit and those last 10 years have been spend fighting on various missions and in intensive officer only virtual training, meanwhile the recruit is fresh out of boot camp.

i realise my first reference was not that clear. Sorry for the weird/bad english, its my 3rd language. I implied the advantage was that Mandella had a century of training, but in reality its the recruit who made the mistake of thinking a few century of relative time meant Mandella was very, very old and assumed in horrible shape, so an easy win. The reality being they only had 10 years difference, and those 10 years Mandella had spent in active deployment or training, despite him being nearly 700 years old (relative) by that time.

The whole thing was probbaly an allegory to "gay bashing" that was happening in the 70's and 80's before the aids epidemic where "strong, virile young men" would seek out fight with the gays to reasure themselve of their masculinity.

OhDearGodNo posted:

Last version for now

Golli posted:

This is good for gaming.

Ortwin is teaching them a lesson. Once he walks away with all the cash, he's gonna say "I told you guys, but no one listened. Might as well be me who makes the money."

Hav posted:

#MGTOW is my goto.

It's literally a group of the saddest people ever.


righty ho.

OhDearGodNo posted:

Toops posted:

"Welcome to NBC news, I'm Brian Williams. Our top story, Chris Roberts and Star Citizen. Congress has just passed sweeping consumer protection legislation regarding the sale of digital goods on the heels of the biggest crowdfunding scandal in history. Our own Peter Williams has more..."

"Thanks Brian. In what is being called the a massive victory for consumer protections, beep beep beep beep BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP"

*wakes up*

PederP posted:

In my son's social sciences class they got asked to give examples of out-of-the-ordinary internet communities for study (and the teacher asked them to please not pick 4chan). As the good boy he is, he mentions "the fans of that scam game, Star Citizen", which was immediately met by "that's not a scam! what proof do you have?" from someone in his class. Turns out he's got a cultist in his high school class. I'm prepping him to mention Derek Smart in any remotely relevant context. This could be good.

Daztek posted:

those all had big studios already, CIG started from scratch and needed 4 years to build their studios so development of Squadron 42 only really started in 2016, furthermore

PederP posted:

In my son's social sciences class they got asked to give examples of out-of-the-ordinary internet communities for study (and the teacher asked them to please not pick 4chan). As the good boy he is, he mentions "the fans of that scam game, Star Citizen", which was immediately met by "that's not a scam! what proof do you have?" from someone in his class. Turns out he's got a cultist in his high school class. I'm prepping him to mention Derek Smart in any remotely relevant context. This could be good.

aleksendr posted:

I may have got my numbers wrong. The scene in question happen in the last part of the novel, when the main character turn out to be the only non-homosexual member of the unit and a fight break out over the recruit calling him "An old queer". The recruit think William Mandella is an old decrepit, due to being over a few century old (relative) but in reality he is just 10 year older than the recruit and those last 10 years have been spend fighting on various missions and in intensive officer only virtual training, meanwhile the recruit is fresh out of boot camp.

i realise my first reference was not that clear. Sorry for the weird/bad english, its my 3rd language. I implied the advantage was that Mandella had a century of training, but in reality its the recruit who made the mistake of thinking a few century of relative time meant Mandella was very, very old and assumed in horrible shape, so an easy win. The reality being they only had 10 years difference, and those 10 years Mandella had spent in active deployment or training, despite him being nearly 700 years old (relative) by that time.

The whole thing was probbaly an allegory to "gay bashing" that was happening in the 70's and 80's before the aids epidemic where "strong, virile young men" would seek out fight with the gays to reasure themselve of their masculinity.

Hav posted:

This is pretty much what I mean by 'reasonable definition' of development time. That's the kind of thing you submit as evidence, along with the rough dollar budget for each and massive caveats regarding marketing budgets. A single axis arguments go, it's pretty funny.