Star Citizen Thread v6

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No one is buying into a game at this point, they are buying into a *world*.

What happens with the game and the tech is mostly irrelevant.

It isn't enough in 2017 to market a product, people want more - they want the experience and to feel involved in bringing something into existence that they feel the world needs. CIG understand this better than any critic of the project imo.

By design or good fortune CIG have nailed this ideal of contemporary marketing. That it has carried them this far without having produced anything of quality is mind-bending.

This game seems more like a life replacement than an actual game, which makes it more of a religion than a way to enjoy one's downtime.
 
This game seems more like a life replacement than an actual game, which makes it more of a religion than a way to enjoy one's downtime.

It's a belief system evidenced by the hostility received by both critics and those backers who become doubtful of CIG's intentions and abilities.

The majority of discussion online is around the tech/progress but the most interesting parts (to me) of the whole enterprise are:
1: How the money has been spent
2: The social phenomenon that is the Star Citizen community

I mean the tech is a lost cause - discussion in that area is circular and mostly redundant given that you can get your hands on what they have built. There isn't any information on financials (there were rumours floated in private discussions in late 2015) so that leaves you with the marketing and social aspects, which are the biggest, most public and most successful elements of the entire project. This is to my mind where the discussion would be interesting and fruitful - that discussion is yet to be had.
 
It's a belief system evidenced by the hostility received by both critics and those backers who become doubtful of CIG's intentions and abilities.

The majority of discussion online is around the tech/progress but the most interesting parts (to me) of the whole enterprise are:
1: How the money has been spent
2: The social phenomenon that is the Star Citizen community

I mean the tech is a lost cause - discussion in that area is circular and mostly redundant given that you can get your hands on what they have built. There isn't any information on financials (there were rumours floated in private discussions in late 2015) so that leaves you with the marketing and social aspects, which are the biggest, most public and most successful elements of the entire project. This is to my mind where the discussion would be interesting and fruitful - that discussion is yet to be had.


How to sell fake stuff and make people stick to it? I hear these successfull marketing activities can even make demented morons claim presidencies.
 
so that leaves you with the marketing and social aspects, which are the biggest, most public and most successful elements of the entire project. This is to my mind where the discussion would be interesting and fruitful - that discussion is yet to be had.

The problem there is that we can't play at Star Citizen marketing and social module any more than we already do :D

Sure - we could engage in meaningful Referral Code Warfare - but look where that got them. We could sign up for the Star Citizen Merchandising Militia - but look at all the nonsense well-known video creators are slopping out on video media. We could join the hordes of Them Vs Us screamers on various social media channels and hope that brings more attention to the project - but it's purely empty posturing and handbaggery from both "sides" until 3.0 is in our hands and eagerly vivisected.

It is still, of course, definitely worth keeping a steady supply of lulzbuckets - because if nothing else - CIG are absolutely guaranteed to continue filling them.
 
The problem there is that we can't play at Star Citizen marketing and social module any more than we already do :D

Sure - we could engage in meaningful Referral Code Warfare - but look where that got them. We could sign up for the Star Citizen Merchandising Militia - but look at all the nonsense well-known video creators are slopping out on video media. We could join the hordes of Them Vs Us screamers on various social media channels and hope that brings more attention to the project - but it's purely empty posturing and handbaggery from both "sides" until 3.0 is in our hands and eagerly vivisected.

It is still, of course, definitely worth keeping a steady supply of lulzbuckets - because if nothing else - CIG are absolutely guaranteed to continue filling them.


I get that, honestly.

The bigger and (to me) funnier story is how the most successful crowdfunded project of all time with some of the best marketing anyone has ever seen, has created a militant community promoting (mostly to each other) a product which has so far failed in every technical manner it possibly can. That's my best attempt at staying out of both sides and trying to grasp a bigger picture for discussion.

My feeling is that a discussion at that level, rising above the two entrenched camps, out in the open, may bring to light a lot of information and people to fill in the blanks.

Having said that let me say this - I am very much looking forward to 3.0 being laid out on the slab for all to see.
 
Given the utterly unrealistic expectations some of the citizens have about the 'awesome netcode', it isn't in CIGs interests to prioritise actually working on it - because the sooner they deliver what is actually achievable, the sooner it will become obvious that it isn't going to be any different from any other multiplayer game in this regard. Game developers have been struggling to make the best out of what is an inherently unreliable and erratic system for years, and the idea that 'magic Germans' are suddenly come up with groundbreaking new solutions just because CIG want them to doesn't make sense.

Yep. Right now SC backers are looking at the plate of turds they've been served up but in their minds it will somehow transform into a Michellin star 5 course meal, even though the kitchen is on fire and the head chef is clearly bonkers. Until the restaurant burns down they believe in it's potential to somehow transform into a plate of truffles. This will only end when the restaurant is a pile of ashes and Roberts has to say, "Yeah, what you've got on your table? That's what you're getting."
 
Given the utterly unrealistic expectations some of the citizens have about the 'awesome netcode', it isn't in CIGs interests to prioritise actually working on it - because the sooner they deliver what is actually achievable, the sooner it will become obvious that it isn't going to be any different from any other multiplayer game in this regard. Game developers have been struggling to make the best out of what is an inherently unreliable and erratic system for years, and the idea that 'magic Germans' are suddenly come up with groundbreaking new solutions just because CIG want them to doesn't make sense.

+1 rep.

And the only netcode "ideas" I've seen them have is to send diffs rather than full result sets - something I'd call common sense. Much like their announcement about upgrading starsink... err starsync, whatever, so that players won't need to download 30GB each release.
 
Is it still pre-alpha? Has development officially started yet?

No, not yet. They're still setting up the fidelity pipelines and diffusing the back-end infrastructure and subsuming the physics grids and itemising (2.0) the netcode and hand crafting the procedural generation, and then once that's done they'll be able to pump out systems and biomes and Big Benny's and Nyx and mocap and grabby hands and farming and sataball and sand worms at an amazing rate which will put other AAA developers to shame.

It's taking a little longer than expected, because of the incredible scope and fidelity which has never been attempted before, but when it comes it will be bigger and better than the more feature-rich version they originally planned to deliver a year ago. But that's how game development works, and everything's fine because the schedule has been updated to push all the deadlines back, so technically it's not late. Weeks, not months.
 
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No, not yet. They're still setting up the fidelity pipelines and diffusing the back-end infrastructure and subsuming the physics grids and itemising (2.0) the netcode and hand crafting the procedural generation, and then once that's done they'll be able to pump out systems and biomes and Big Benny's and Nyx and mocap and grabby hands and farming and sataball and sand worms at an amazing rate which will put other AAA developers to shame.

It's taking a little longer than expected, because of the incredible scope and fidelity which has never been attempted before, but when it comes it will be bigger and better than the more feature-rich version they originally planned to deliver a year ago. But that's how game development works, and everything's fine because the schedule has been updated to push all the deadlines back, so technically it's not late. Weeks, not months.

But how much is the price for a "Retribution" super dreadnought with LTI?
 
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I get that, honestly.

The bigger and (to me) funnier story is how the most successful crowdfunded project of all time with some of the best marketing anyone has ever seen, has created a militant community promoting (mostly to each other) a product which has so far failed in every technical manner it possibly can.

Well, step two now is to weaponize the militant community. Step three is unclear but step four is obviously profit! :D
 
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