Warning: Elite Dangerous Online Store Purchases

[Droolguy]

FD didn't go on the market until after the KS had finished July 15th 2013.

Unfortunately the company had several extremely successful games under their name before that, establishing the company.

As well as the fact that KS rewards were offered for another year after the KS ended which was well into the public offering.

So people still had no "won't be produced" risk, they just didn't do their research before investing and so they didn't realize it.

Kind of like how I didn't do enough research into the Alpha package on the Online store.

 

[Faerie]

Unfortunately the company had several extremely successful games under their name before that, establishing the company.

As well as the fact that KS rewards were offered for another year after the KS ended which was well into the public offering.

So people still had no "won't be produced" risk, they just didn't do their research before investing and so they didn't realize it.

Kind of like how I didn't do enough research into the Alpha package on the Online store.

So now we see the true nature of the OP. And I got a warning for being 'rude' to this poster ? I expect an apology.

 

[JeffRyan]

As well as the fact that KS rewards were offered for another year after the KS ended which was well into the public offering.

I made a point of stipulating that I and Others have been lucky enough to have taken advantage of the extension for a year of the KS rewards. My argument and yours was about those who backed DURING the KS. They took more of a risk than I or you did. Quit shifting the goalposts man. I DO sympathise with spending 200 quid and not getting what you thought.

 

[MortVader]

So now we see the true nature of the OP. And I got a warning for being 'rude' to this poster ? I expect an apology.

Yeah I agree. That was really not in it's place, set in context of the OP.

 

[Memnoch]

I don't see this thread going anywhere nice. The OP has admitted that they should have read the fine print before purchasing and no matter how many people try and say otherwise he still believes that he has somehow been mislead.

Perhaps this is something the OP should take up by private e-mail and this thread be closed before it gets ugly?

 

[Stoo]

Ask for a refund and back away with cap in hand... sorted

 

[Maxeren]

I don't see this thread going anywhere nice. The OP has admitted that they should have read the fine print before purchasing and no matter how many people try and say otherwise he still believes that he has somehow been mislead.

Perhaps this is something the OP should take up by private e-mail and this thread be closed before it gets ugly?

Yeah.. have to agree with you there.

 

[Squicker]

I am somewhat confused and saddened by some of your words. You say

"Response: Alpha and Beta access are not "valuable" in any way, you are actually doing something for Frontier that the company originally had to pay people to do and still does in the form of Q&A personnel."

If they are not "valuable" in any way why purchase at that level you did?

Whilst I see a contradiction in the other poster's words, he's right on the button here. A customer paying to do the work of a tester has always been a weird one. It's like me turning up at a restaurant and paying extra so I can clean my own dishes!

I am a Founder so will have beta access, but I can't see myself really having more than a cursory look.

So yes, there is no true *value* from the customer perspective.

 

[Droolguy]

Response to Yaffle.

1. No, it is valuable for Frontier, it is not valuable (outside of pure desire) to the consumer. Which is why they pay Q&A personnel and their Q&A personnel do not pay them.

2. Learning mechanics and systems is not exclusive to participating in the Alpha and Beta since there is no NDA. Which means you can research all of this on the internet without investing a dime. Just because you can't actually perform the actions before release matters very little depending on the learning methods of the player.

3. Really.

4. The calculation is completely independent of inflation rates and was purely in reference to the value of todays dollars. If you want to be specific though then continuing past inflation rates it would be roughly $480.94 and $553.54.

5. This statement almost in totality has very little value since funds raised through Kickstarter remove the vast majority of risk from funding a project. That's the whole point of the system, to allow things that a company ordained too high of a risk to produce to be produced because instead of the company investing it's own funds in the project, they invest yours. Nice try at an inaccurate deflection though.

6. This does not actually apply to the current situation, since there is no product to forecast yet. The existence of an Alpha does not prove anything since it currently shows an extremely small portion of the game. As more parts of the Alpha and Beta are released then a persons knowledge of the game mechanics at release will naturally go up, reducing the risk for them of being a game they don't enjoy, I agree. But there isn't enough information to draw and kind of inference as to the release state of the game. Therefore, everyones risk at this point in time is still the same.

As for the comment about businesses avoiding bankruptcy, in what way does that effect the current conversation? This is already an established concept and has no value.

7. I don't need to say anything here.

8. See my answers to 5 and 6 as to why your rendition of closeness to completion does not matter at this stage in development.

9. I share the same opinion, and thank you for your response.

 

[SuperG]

The solution is make the fine print a big huge bold underscore print.
It must stand out.

Also I thought there is no Risk involve. It's just backing up a collective green light on a project. If it fails no pledge. The real Risk start wenn it get into full production. As there is no game it is somewhere mid or pre production. That the risk. It can fail. Also famous dev occasion fail more or less. The past is no garanty to sucses.

And with that the risk is as high for every one who preorder.

But it seams it looks good for now. But there are games who did look good in previews but still did fail some how.

 

[Droolguy]

So now we see the true nature of the OP. And I got a warning for being 'rude' to this poster ? I expect an apology.

I don't see how my statements were rude at all, I was purely stating facts that whether or not a person realized it or not there isn't, and never was, a non-completion risk.

As for "the true nature" of the OP I have no idea what you are trying to infer from this statement.

 

[Memnoch]

A customer paying to do the work of a tester...has always been a weird one. It's like me turning up at car dealership and paying them extra so I can service my own car!
So yes, there is no true *value* from the customer perspective.

It might seem odd but lots of people do it. Every time you buy that early access title from Steam you are Alpha/Beta testing something for the devs, and paying to do so. Nobody forces anyone to do this and you enter into this arrangement eyes open.

The value as you get from this is, as you say, from the customers perspective. Ask yourself this: Is it worth £100 to buy early access to this game and help beta test it. Or wait a few months and get it for a fraction of the price? Once this decision has been made there is little point complaining about it afterwards as you didn't have a gun to your head.

 

[ianw]

I don't see this thread going anywhere nice. The OP has admitted that they should have read the fine print before purchasing and no matter how many people try and say otherwise he still believes that he has somehow been mislead.

Perhaps this is something the OP should take up by private e-mail and this thread be closed before it gets ugly?

Thanks a bunch!

I spent ages composing a reply to five people - tried to post it twice but the browser cocked up.

(maybe I should take that as a sign.....)

 

[Cody]

<nods>

 

[Memnoch]

Sorry Ian! <looks down and scuffs shoe to and fro>

 

[JeffRyan]

Yeah I'm done here.

 

[ZeeWolf]

OP does have a legitimate point about Alpha though, he's laid out the maximum amount FD will currently allow him to put on the table and he gets no long term souvenir.

When Mindscape came to my school to show us "Alfred the Chicken" on the NES they gave me a t-shirt and all I did was play it once and say "I like the chicken".

 

[Geraldine]

Well, Droolguy has had his chance to reply as have the rest of you who contributed to the discussion. So this thread has now reached it's conclusion. Closing.