Well the title says it all.
I purchased the game for about $100 AUD, before it was released, so I could support the game and gain early access for what I have been anticipating since I stopped playing with my c64.
I also recommended the game to a number of friends, (people in my 'clan'), as we were looking for something new to play as a group, co-operatively and occasionally as adversaries, as we have done over the last 15 or so years.
As most of my friends could not gain access until the main release, I played with just one or two others with Early Access. I put up with the many resets that can be expected from a game in development, no problem with that. The move to online-only DRM was expected, but was a pity to see so many people being 'hood-winked'. I also put up with deteriorating quality of the community, the griefers, the forum heroes, the haters, and of course the care-bears as they are so affectionately called by this community.
Then I crashed my ship and lost lots of money. Yep, just like many others, all that hard work lost in an instant. I had read the many other threads from so many others, and always agreed that you need the insurance to pay for what you fly.. And I had the insurance, but after the crash it left me almost penniless in the scheme of things, and I lost many weeks of farming/grinding.
So it was time to put it down for a while, and I did, and played something else. My friends were a little baffled that I had stopped playing a game that I was raving about for ages. I had to admit that a terrible crash (which was my fault) had wiped weeks or months of farming, and I was essentially back to square one. Big deal huh?
So I thought I would have another look at it. But upon return I noticed a lot of changes. Firstly, the Mobious group had become infected by griefers that had a work-around from getting banned by conducting non-consensual pvp. (pvp goons you can stop reading here and blurt out the usual rubbish, and go read another thread). Secondly I noticed that an upcoming idea is about to be implemented; 'reputation' or 'alliance' will now decay, and all the work I had done will also be lost, putting me back to square one in that regard.
So here's the rub :
- Your 'punitive' game design regarding money/insurance/crashing (or being griefed) has wiped months of playing.
- Your 'punitive' game design regarding reputation decay will also wiped months of playing.
- Your gaps or omissions in coding and have allowed griefers to run rampant, in everywhere but solo play.
- Your control of the haters in the forums has made it a 'not very nice place' to read of an evening, full of vitriol and scorn, trolling and sarcasm.
But I get it, you are trying to exclude all players except for the 'Elite' who have hours to burn on this one game (and possibly not much real life 'work') and plenty of hatred to spread in forums and in-game.
Its ok I get the point, you want to make it "hard" for people to play this game. But not in the traditional sense of writing a game that is enjoyable but challenging, but more in a sense of making it difficult to get anywhere unless you have many hours to spend grinding away with most of the 'storyline' just being a figure of your imagination, and thick skin to deal with the monotonous loop of hater fanboys.
Stuff that. I have taken my experiences, your game mechanics, and some shining examples of the trolls that this community holds high, and explained them in great detail to my friends, clanmates, facebooks friends, steam reviews, and other usergroups I attend regularly. The result isnt very spectacular, but it is effective :
I definately stopped 9 people in my clan buying the game, based on my experiences. ( $900 AUD )
I only have 74 FB friends, only half of them are gamers, and only half of them would be into a space game, so lets say only 15 people heeded the message ( $1500 )
My steam review isnt trending, there are many other negative reviews so mine ust got lost in the roar, so not sure how effective this was, but just added a little more weight to the 'dont buy this game' argument.
I have also put you in the 'EA Games Category of unscrupulous or bad game companies' from which I will never buy another game from ever, and will sully your name and reputation for the rest of my life. No big deal, EA still has plenty of cash despite being universally hated, and FD does too.
So basically I have only 'cost' you $2400 in lost revenue, and possibly a little more, but that is hard to identify.
Big deal, who cares, you've got plenty of fanboys who love you and will troll me in your defence. Its ok, I already knew that. (see their troll comments below)
So I'm done, yes, this is another 'stuff this game im out' thread.
To the 10-15 people on this forum who were civil, nice, welcoming, had integrity and some self respect; thanks, but the game just isnt good enough, and the community is full of really bad people.
(Its ok I wont let the door hit my butt on the way out, its been torn off its hinges with the exiting traffic anyway)
My prediction is the game will be dead within 2 years, could be 3, not sure, but there are so many other well made games, full of content and challenges that your already struggling to compete with.
TLDR : Game is bad, community is worse, catchya later.
Thanks, but no thanks.
This strip never stops being relevant:
