I think the OP has made some excellent and valid points and to the naysayers who keep bleating on about the "longterm" and "10 year plan"; please all of you list all the games that you have played for 10 years consistantly that IS NOT AN MMORPG ! (all of which which by the way have more linked together content by many orders of magnitude)
My initial reaction to the reasons why most of what was promised has not appeared was down to money, or lack thereof generated by the kickstarter; I think DB thought he'd get the kind of initial sums that SC got in the first few months or so, somewhere around a few millions or double the 1.5ish it actually got. Now some will say "but that's what he asked for" but the truth is if he had asked for $5mill the kickstarter would have failed, so he had to ask for a reasonable sum and hope it'll be smashed - just as SC was afterwards.
The money was and still is out there for the space sim genre, judging by the sales of ingame extras STILL being sold for SC, and with pricetags of hundreds of pounds.
But the problem with that thought is he (and others involved) made the majority of the design outlines from the OP AFTER the kickstarter had ended and the money had almost stopped flowing, so DB & FDev brewed up a batch of snake oil, then oversold it any way they could - assured in the knowledge they have carte blanche to cut out any or all of it under the EULA - because he had to to generate the necessary money to finish the project. It still wasn't enough though, otherwise why else would FDev get into bed with 3rd party companies with their own agenda's after saying the whole reason for the kickstarter route was to avoid this.
But again for all the "10 year plan" hecklers, I absolutely guarentee; not a single one of you (who also have a lifetimes free pass for the expansions) even with the best of intentions, will still be playing E: D to any degree 9 years from now other than a "lets see what this next bit does" for a few days or even weeks before dropping it for Final Fantasy 21 or whatever, and of the ones without a free lifetime expansion pass, barely a handfull will get past buying season 5 or 6.
So sure am I of this I'll make a statement: if any non development team affiliated player can prove, via hours played, places been and assets earned that they have an average playtime that equates to an average 600 played hours per year over a ten year period I'll give them, PERSONALLY, wherever they are in the world, at my expense, my Original Elite Badge from my avatar because they will most definitely have earned the right to carry it more than I. This might not seem much to you, but for reasons explained in some of my other posts here; this badge, to me, is the most precious thing I own.
Make note, the time on it's own is not enough, the assets owned is not enough and the places visited is not enough - it has to be a career playing E D spanning 10 years to be valid because each on its own can be manipulated.
Games are still played 10 years after the launch all the time, but there isn't a single one of any of them that is both still under development by the original developer, and NOT AN MMORPG. I'm also not including any of the long running franchise games like call of duty or fifa / tiger woods golf where each new iteration is a DIFFERENT and separate game)
I'll part with this, I know games and I know gamers, not the individuals but the psychology of gamers, I've met and conversed with tens of thousands of them. My personal gaming "career" goes all the way back to PONG and the binatone machine some 40 years ago, the intellivision console, my first "proper" computer the BBC B in 1986 and thenceforce I've been playing games via electronic media probably averaging over that entire period at least 1 day per week playing one form or another and my "multiplayer" career started with MUD's in the mid 90's with an Archimedes (and ranked Elite on that too),
Over all of that time there hasn't yet been a game made that has been able to captivate and hold a player for the length of time FDev is talking about to see the full magnitude of the development plan they have set out before the game was even launched.
Not even Eve Online, the longest running MMO still under development, has been able to do that and it's had almost 13 years in which to do it, with some of the most skillfully applied game assets that are just beyond staggering in their depth and scope for "emergent gameplay".
Oh PS - even Star Citzen hasn't said it wants to take 10 years to fully develop, and they HAVE the assets and finance to be able to do it. Fdev is, frankly, delusional to think in the games industry they can keep the kickstarters and original backers waiting 10 years to get what they were promised.
PPS - just remember kids, the FDev EULA states they can pull the plug at any time for any reason, and there's no legally iron clad promise the game will even still be under development in 10 years, only their word and we all know how much that is worth.
Enjoy.
PPPS - where's my artbook and free ship?
