Oh? I didn't know that Shroud of the Avatar was apparently canned? I remember checking in on it's development every now and then. It seemed like it was going to be a humble, low budget game that was achievable, that would be nice for a niche audience. The card game ability system sounded interesting, and I thought that the inventory screen looked immersive (IIRC it was a tetris inventory system like Diablo, and the inventory screen looked like a bag, even if it was a 2D texture but it looked kinda immersive), and I heard that the housing customization options were good. I stopped hearing about it so I assumed that it was just that; a humble game for a niche audience that wasn't really successful?
But now I'm hearing that apparently something went really wrong? What happened?
If that's true, then, well, RIP. It seems kickstarter MMOs are cursed, what with Camelot Unchained in a laughable state after several years, (and the developed running off with the money to fund A DIFFERENT GAME), and Crowfall isn't going anywhere. I think Elite Dangerous and Gloria Victis might be the only decent kickstarter MMOs? Well I haven't heard that much about Gloria Victis so it might have gone bad like SotA but last I heard it was moving into beta on Steam so I assume it's doing well enough?
EDIT: oh wow, I just read up on SotA. That's sad.
Annnnd Life is Feudal is shutting down too.
Seems like Kickstarter MMOs really are cursed.
You can take apart the mystical "cursed" and come up with conclusive reasons as to why most of them fail. Most importingly MMOs today have a lot of features and mechanics that are simply "expected" by default by about everybody playing them. Massive Multiplayer simply isnt enough anymore when high budget games have shaped the landscape for decades by now building up expectations and opinions. You might have a great idea for kickstarter and trying to develop a "real" MMO but the audience will tear you apart if you dont bring the
winning recipee that they are used to having. And the things which make up the winning recipee cost money....a lot of money. Because game development isnt cheap and your idea might be neat but it simply cant be neat enough to outweight a budget of 500 million dollars when you have to run with 500 thousand instead. You will have to cut corners, push or drop stuff and visually you wont be able to compete. Thats not saying you might be successful but games like WoW are the number 1 MMO for a reason and that reason is money.
And the reasons for failure are often laughable. When I dropped World of Warcraft after I dont know how many years I was looking for something different and too many MMOs pushing onto the market tried to beat WoW on their own game, just with a twist. It was never enough. I tried them all back in the days and it always felt like playing a visually inferior WoW, more barebones and lighter on almost everything. I recognized that I wanted WoW but
more and thats pretty much impossible to provide or achieve if you dont have the budget that Blizzard had. This is true to this day.
My escape for MMOs was The Secret World and boy was it a grand and incredible MMO. I loved it but......somehow it never became the success it should ve become or deserved. It was designed for an adult/mature audience, the stories, lore and content was PG18. It was hard as nails forcing you to be creative or rely on groups to get ahead. It was mind numblingly complex with a skill-wheel that made it easy to muck up your character if you didnt know what you were doing or what you wanted to do but at the same time this same skill wheel allowed you to come up with builds that were unique and successful too. The world was filled with H.P.Lovecraft content often suggesting really cruel or brutal events. It was hard....but also filled with achievements making me proud for overcoming all the obstacles. Raiding was a thing but the pleb-wall was so high that only the "elite" really were able to raid. It looked gorgous, it ran smoothly, it offered diversion and variety.
....and then it suddenly switched to Free to play meaning it was struggling to keep players or maintain its income.
In hindsight it looks like The Secret world never bothered with avdertisement relying on the quality of their product (stellar and extraordinairy because of its unique character to this day IMO) to generate attention and draw a crowd. So a lot of people never even KNEW this game existed. Word of mouth is of course a factor but it simply isnt enough to replace a big budget marketing campaign. Additionally while secret world was splitting gamer groups the controversy surrounding it wasnt on the level that Star Citizen does. People liked it or didnt for various reasons. The skill wheel, central focus of the game wasnt to everybodies liking and required vigilant effort to produce the results you wanted and detailed guides were spare as most people (me included) kept their builds a secret. Secret World was a released game and it allowed the world to make a factual list of haves and not-haves. As such discussions or arguments about it were rather boring as mentioned before splitting into "I like it" and "I dont like it" camps.
If you consider how large the percentage of discussions around Star Citizen adress simple facts, dates or "what they are meaning by saying...." compared to the actual unrefutable facts, then add some unrefutable facts that are still being challenged to this day its no surprise that Star Citizen discussions resemble a circus or comedy show.
So kickstarter MMOs aint really "cursed". The simple fact of the matter is that their limited budget is also limiting the creative freedom or product quality that they can achieve. The team skill or idea itself is important but its simply not enough. You need the financial backup to make your dream a reality. Kickstarter projects simply dont have the "muscle" to compete and because gamers of today are simple creatures easily bored they cannot provide what people want. In addition most kickstarter projects allow for insight that makes them compete against the big dogs on the street. If Blizzard sees some no-name kickstarter coming up with an idea that gives them traction or attention you can be sure they will release something similar in no time to squish the competition. They have the bigger teams, more skill and more money.
This goes for projects that of course
attempt to create a game in the first place. And sadly it doesnt look like Star Citizen is such a game anymore. It has a grand idea, an idea that people can rally behind. Even tho media interest has all but vanished it still maintains sufficient financial backing leading to suspicion or analyzing that is less then beneficial (money laundring, third party investors, sunk cost, addiction) and all signs lead to the probability that CIG can keep going for years to come while providing next to zero results for the money going in. Its communities readiness to excuse everything, explain everything and protect SC from all kinds of criticism is incredible and extraordinairy. Its unique really. Other games have hardcore fanboys as well but the SC toxic core group is really unheard of. So Star Citizen
does generate attention....just for the wrong reasons. Its known for its grand ambition but at the same time their inability to come true on those dream is also well know. Its known for its rabid, almost cult-like followers and its well known for under-delivering or failing to hold dates.
People have different tastes and even with SCs visual asthetics there will be people who dislike what it has to offer or are simply not impressed. SCs graphics are neat but they are not outstanding and CiG isnt the first company trying to produce high fidelity assets. The graphics simply are not a major factor for a games quality. Many people are capable to understand this and discuss the core issues of the project. Star Citizens current snapshot manages to "capture" some people but thats nothing special and goes for pretty much every other game as well. Star Citizens appeal works on some people, thats it. Its appeal simply cannot be applied reliably to a large audience. Its too extreme, too niche and simply not good enough for that to work. The graphics help of course. Visual ffuff helps to turn heads allowing for a closer inspection but Star Citizen simply lacks too much upon closer inspection to hold that interest.
And thats really all that is to it isnt it?
After 8 years and 400+ million dollars Star Citizen simply isnt good enough to come through on expectations.
For about most other games this point would be the end-point. There isnt anything else to discuss, to wait for, to analyze. But Star Citizen provides another resource that keeps people engaged. And we have identified this resource years ago. This threadnaught has thrived on this particular resource after project facts and events have dried up. Yes, its the toxic community. With varying levels of toxicity there is so much to observe and watch. Drama, delusion, desperate faith, hope, drama, shilling, aggrevated replies, witch hunting, drama, misdirection, manipulation, the probability of SC being a scam.
Star Citizen is a reality TV show by now and sadly CIG cannot meet demand and has lost control of this beast a long time ago. When CIG first failed to keep their hands on the steering wheel a lot of people made it their job to "help" Star Citizen without any incentive or prodding (debatable). other games have this phenomenom as well, pretty much all fanboys across all games share the behavior or mental markers SC fanboys have. The difference is that other games keep these extremists in check either by moderation or by distancing themselves from these voices. CIG
enforces its fanboys and supports them. Many of them admit to feel a sense of "duty" to pick up the banner and defend the project against criticism. And because hardly anybody of these people is qualified for that (most qualified people have a rather negative opinion about SCs development) it produces quite a lot of hilarity and comedy. Its most likely not a controlled system. CIG simply fears the toxic fall-out it would receive if its most loyal backers would pull a 180. So they stay as vague as possible and play the long term trying to "adjust" expectations and opinions to keep their core group excited and on the right side of the fight. Which means CIG pretty much REACTS to feedback these days instead of following their own plan. This explains the lack of long-term plans and it explains all these mysterious game modes coming out of the woodworks. Star Citizen works on whatever interest or attraction currently runs hot. Some of these things havent changed for years but equally CIG has failed to make any progress on those things for years as well.
So when people praise CIG for "listening to their fanbase" thats probably the truth because CIG desperately looks for stuff to keep the people on the hook so if the mob wants circus and bread, you give them circus and bread. And by doing so you stay at the top because people love people who give them what they want.
Sadly the "want" doesnt include a high quality game or meat on the bone. Its also a losing road because people having their wants met will continue to want and they they are going to want MORE. You can never meet your quota or fill the thirst. The best you can hope for is to give people more than the other guys can. With SCs current list of problems (outdated game engine the most prominent among those) its only a matter of time before other games provide the demand that SC promises. Gamers aint loyal. Its a simple fact. The truly loyal are instead ridiculed when they refuse to jump ships as soon as the next best thing comes along. Star Citizen keeps its position by promising the impossible, they have already demonstrated that they specifcally are unable to achieve what they promised. Maybe another company would be able to do it but most of the available money has gone into SC already and face it, other games dont do
exactly what SC does. They might have more content, more complexity, more gamplay or even better graphic
but they are different. The WoW formula at work ^^
I believe that CIG has long since gave up on making Star Citizen a reality. Their half-hearted attempts rely mostly on chance, throwing mud at the wall, hoping some of it will stick and it all comes together in something playable, something
resembling a game. But CIGs main focus is on staying in power to bank the money. The longer they can survive the bigger the roberts retirement account will be. Passing time and their exit plan will be CIGs biggest concern, not the making of Star Citizen.
And even IF CIG would suddenly decide to "get serious" and "do this for real"....I dont think its possible anymore. Lets assume management changes, the roberts get kicked off the project and some "real" developers take charge. What can they possibly do? Just like the trump phenomenon most MAGA supporters devoted themselves to the individual, not the party. Star Citizens core people remain because of Chris Roberts. This is the man they can believe, they will listen to. Chris Roberts knows what hes talking about. He does have the experience, the insight and the vision to achieve the impossible.
If Chris Roberts would leave the project I think Star Citizen would die overnight. I m sure some desperate souls so deep in that they really have no choice will remain but the balloon will go puff in an instant on that occasion.
