Mirificus posted:

quote:

This is addressed to whomever is standing outside my compound shouting "go outside nerd". Show yourself coward, I will never go outside!

Mirificus posted:

What regularly performed medical procedures or practices do you think people will look back at with disgust in 75 to 100 years?

Biplane posted:

Pisscat finally starting to unravel. Wonder when he'll shoot up Rockstar's offices?

TuxedoOrca posted:

One wonders what would happen to pisscat when Star Citizen eventually goes under.

Mirificus posted:

Mirificus posted:

What regularly performed medical procedures or practices do you think people will look back at with disgust in 75 to 100 years?

Sarsapariller posted:

Christ alfuckingmighty can we not let the transphobia creep into one loving space please can I just go a day browsing video game poo poo without some dipshit loser who should never go within 100 miles of a child crying crocodile tears about genital mutilation and sterilizing children.

argh

Worf posted:

GBS is where you go for this?

quote:

'Friends'?! I scoff at the very concept! Pfah!

oof posted:

Anyways... So, the Star Citizen devs have actually invented new networking/server streaming tech for their game actually got it working. They've been doing stress testing and scaling lately with plans to implement the replication layer in the next patch. Just wait till other devs start using Star Engine to carve one hallway in a gameworld, or any other space they want, between as many servers dynamically spinning up and down automatically as needed. They've recently tested 400 players on one "shard" successfully. This tech will likely revolutionize what is capable in online multiplayer gaming in general.

And no, that's not the same thing WOW did with their "phases" or w/e. It's hard to explain.

Essentially, they demoed splitting one hallway into 3 different servers and you could shoot or launch something between the servers/spaces completely seemlessly... completely getting rid of most limitations of server hosting an MMO world.

Network engineers have been losing their minds about the tech ever since it was demo'd, because it's basically the pipe-dream of networking a virtual world for players. CIG has no limitations on what they can produce do to their monetization method, so they've taken the time to engineer the next evolution of MMO networking tech. They're networking and server guys have been working on that for like 3-5 years and finally got it working about a month before the last CitizenCon.

D1Sergo posted:

Hey y'all, honest question: My friend has been going off, how much of this is actual BS? I said "sounds.... optimistic" and he is incensed

D1Sergo posted:

quote:

Network engineers have been losing their minds about the tech ever since it was demo'd,

D1Sergo posted:

Hey y'all, honest question: My friend has been going off, how much of this is actual BS? I said "sounds.... optimistic" and he is incensed

D1Sergo posted:

Oof. Alright good to know. He's always been like this, I thought he was becoming more self-aware but uhhh oh well lol. Good guy with bad video game opinions. His previous fix was New World, I'm going to choose not to ask how that's going for him.

Songbearer posted:

I'm reminded of a quote from like, a Destiny 2 dev who wanted the legendary drop rate to be crazy low so people would talk about how epic and cool the stories were about how they got the gun and gee willikers it's like being part of history guy. Really all players want to do is get a cool gun every now and again and most are thrown in the bin or forgotten lol, if the premise of your game is "Something cool might happen" not "Something cool will happen/is always happening" nobody's gonna care

It's like forcing esports, designing your game around potential spectacle is dumb when the systems that make the game what it is creates that spectacle for you. It's why those Battlefield vehicle montages are so good and why RDR bug videos or the GTA swingset glitch goes viral for decades, you see cool poo poo because the game just happens to do it

D1Sergo posted:

Hey y'all, honest question: My friend has been going off, how much of this is actual BS? I said "sounds.... optimistic" and he is incensed

quote:

They have spent the last 10+ years making tools that allow them to make content in volume so that once the core tech is in they can churn it out faster than players can experience it. Every time the game expands it's user base grows. Only those who doggedly stick to the idea that is cash cow whales that have driven funding might think a subscription is needed when actually it has always been the case that game packages bring in the majority of funding. Is there a saturation point? Only if you limit yourself to 'a game'.

There are lots of ways they can make money as well as selling game packages. You might ask yourself - what is the point of Arena Commander? Why have a small scale modular product in a large scale MMO? Just because we've gotten the AC modules for free until now doesn't mean it will always be that way and those modules work very well on a digital download gaming console platform for those who want the quick casual experience. "We've made it so we can lift any part of the persistent universe out and put it directly into Arena Commander". Do you see? They make content for the PU and it almost instantly becomes available as a standalone AC module.

This is an MMO and every game package allows the creation of 1 character slot in a game that has perma-death and persistence of reputation for your game character. This is the key point - you only get to create 1 game character per Squadron 42 game package which you can transfer to the PU, or 1 game character per Star Citizen package. Once Squadron 42 is released people will understand. Star Citizen is the same, I know it doesn't really sink in right now because the game keeps resetting, but once it no longer resets then the only way to get a new character is to kill the old one... or buy a game character slot (that is what a game package is, the 'free ship' is incidental, it's the perk of being an early adopter). They have never hidden the fact that you can play as many characters as you like on the same account.

Like all other gamers who have experienced a 1 dimensional approach by other gaming publishers it's hard to understand a multi-layered approach to a multi-modular multi-experience multiplayer franchise.

What brings in repeat sales?:

UEC sales

Squadron 42 Ep 1 and future expansions - hasn't anyone noticed they haven't limited Squadron 42 Ep 1 packages to one per account? Read DoaSM and the multiple game package clarification. Being able to continue your character from Ep 1 onward and into the PU doesn't mean much to anyone right now, but in the future it will.

Extra Squadron 42 character slots.

Star Citizen game packages (they decide what a 'starter ship' is for each SC package sold, they don't have to be limited to small ships). It's the standalone ship sales they plan to discontinue, not the higher value game packages. You can buy as many game packages as you like on one account and there has never been any indication that that will change in the future.

Star Citizen character slots. Not all players in this game universe will want to fly ships, and they don't need to.

Arena Commander modules across multiple platforms including mobiles - this is potentially the biggest money-spinner. Notice how 'console-like' the new AC front end is? It's played on the in-game lore version of a console.

Companion apps for mobiles.

Cosmetics microtransactions - this includes Spectrum content which could be by subscription or pay per view, it's Netflix / Youtube in a game universe. The Spectrum will be literally everywhere in and out of the game.

You think access to the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo will always be free? Or any other non-essential in game experience. Why would you assume that? Why do people think there are so many annual in game events? (there's more to come!). FOIP and VOIP doesn't just allow players to be present live in the game, it allows actors and performers too. This is an intangible that many don't understand, what is it that draws someone back into a game again and again? Change, something new, an event. 5 million players buying a $10 ticket to a week long extravaganza IAE plastered over all social media platforms is a good money-spinner, and a chance to sell other stuff, and it's just one event in a yearly repeating calendar of events. That's why they only require you to buy the game once for life, once you have a game package you're in, you have a lifetimes opportunity to spend more whenever you feel like it. Whenever the hype hits you. Would 'not going' to the IAE stop you from experiencing the Star Citizen universe life? No, it wouldn't. It's not Pay 2 Win, it's Pay 2 Experience. There is nothing to stop them hosting a mirror of the IAE, or any other event they can dream up, in Arena Commander.

In a recent monthly report there was something that went barely commented on, even by those who read those reports as Youtube content. They are putting Object Container Streaming into Arena Commander. That means unlimited map sizes per AC module, just like the PU, seamless traversal. Every module can become a multi-stage, multi-location game experience on it's own, a multi-mission campaign with no loading screen. The PU has large RAM load requirements because players spread out around the game space, but if the AC module has all the players grouped onto one ship going to one location, as they move from location to location, then the game server RAM requirement (and CPU workload) is much less than the PU. You have the 'small team' but full linear progression seamless game universe campaign experience. They can just keep streaming in and out locations while players are en route. It's a big deal.

Take o Wild guess, what might have prompted them to think of putting OCS into Arena Commander?

If you think Star Citizen is just a game like other games, you've missed the point, it has always been planned as a multi-access point virtual gaming franchise experience. Star Citizen is not just a game, it's a platform for selling experiences in a virtual universe, it's far more like Zuckerberg's META is/was planned to be than it is WoW. It has a big advantage over META, it's hardware agnostic.

onesixtwo posted:

It’s 4:30am and we’re going to record a short 30 minute video

D1Sergo posted:

Hey y'all, honest question: My friend has been going off, how much of this is actual BS? I said "sounds.... optimistic" and he is incensed

Internetjack posted:

Every time I read a pisscat screed I end up thinking, "All of these amazing features... didn't they do that in Ultima Online back in 1997?" Heck, Even Anarchy Online (after a year of debugging) was more creative/innovative than this.

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There are so many things still missing and the main one is relevant to what you just said there... The Spectrum. It will change the game experience completely, when it arrives people won't be alt-tabbing out of the game. It is the facility that will allow people to find those connections they can't find now except outside of the game.

What Chris has said, that simply has never been the case up to now, is that information will be the most valuable commodity, it will be the thing every player spends the most time doing and acting upon. Until that happens it cannot be the game they said it would be. Long travel times won't seem so long when you have to spend most of that time information gathering, sorting, prioritising and planning on. Information was planned to be our greatest protection against disaster.

Too often information is thought of merely as a 'thing' to move around for a price, the same as invisible cargo. It was never intended to be that simplistic.

Many have gotten used to the way things are assuming that is the way things were always meant to be "For your sake I hope they don't gut combat gameplay the same way." It depends what people mean by 'gut' or 'nerf', it will change, we won't get the big score so often as now we'll have to work for it - some won't like that adjustment. Same with mining and salvaging, making millions in 20 minutes is not sustainable. Having no money sinks except ever larger or more deadly ships is also not sustainable.

When they have conducted polls and surveys the majority have said they want to explore, that means there has to be information about what to explore, there has to be ways of gathering and trading that information, you can't plan without it. There have to be pastimes to divert people. Tourism.

As I've said before it was never planned to be Pay 2 Win, but it was always planned to be Pay 2 Experience. Content is the currency that gives Star Citizen it's legs. A sense of achievement of broadening horizons coupled with a sense of connectedness to those relationships, to characters, factions and places have to be there, that comes from the Spectrum, that is what is going to make it all seem real. Just like real life, you work to acquire things through others that let you choose what experiences you want to prioritise in a world of possible experiences.

For Star Citizen to work you need 3 basic things - a home, a job and a reason to leave both of them and go out discovering things.

A home is not just a structure at a location, it is a community, it's all those familiar things that bring you back. It's the ties that bind.

A job is not just some repetitive grind, it is a sense of progression, investment of time and money. Growth.

Again we have to return to what was always given as the prime experience but has not yet materialised, a living breathing universe full of characters all going around doing stuff making a history, not just churning 'things'. There's not much point in global persistence without that. Why do people want to see more of Jax McCleary and Jimmy? Because it's the characters like that that make it all seem real. Whether we want to become them, or just spend our time following them, the entertainment is the relationships they (and we) make along the way. We need friends, followers, crew, those we need to be careful of, those we need to find to trade with - that is as much a part of the exploration and discovery as new places are. Global persistence is not about coffee cups, it's about relationships to characters. That is the point of having an always running fully persistent Quantum simulation, so that large parts of the games population aren't just shut down and dormant when no player is around.

The things that are finally going to make it all seem real are locked behind a no spoiler wall in Squadron 42. That's the first experience of the living breathing universe people will get, until that universe experience reaches Star Citizen it will all continue to seem 2 dimensional. Merely minute by minute transactional with no history to look back on, no real and lasting connections.