Thread by @dsmart

It's Fri and I'm in between builds, emails, and general weekend fuckery which I've mostly been ignoring all week. So here's a little diversion based on this earlier tweet.

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/1266376494357438464

{thread}

1st, let me start by saying that in the 8 yrs since I backed Star Citizen, I have yet to come across a *single* gamer who wants to see it fail. Not one. Not even in 2015 when I wrote that first blog about why I felt it was destined to fail due to Chris Roberts inflating its scope

Most of the angst can be summarized into the following categories of gamer backers who:

1) want out via refunds (most didn't get one)
2) want to see it to the end, but are still disgruntled
3) think they're part of "something" else
4) just want to lol at the ensuing train wreck

Gamers are very passionate because at the very core, passion drives creativity; and there's no better pool to look for creativity than in the gaming community. We build shit. We break shit. We lol. Rinse. Repeat. It's precisely why we tend to get a bad rap when shit hits the fan.

This sort of passion is what generates the opposing forces needed in any social discourse that involves gamers. Seriously, most just argue, fuss and fight, go against the grain etc for no better reason other than to illicit lols amid the outcry. And no, that's not even trolling.

The advent of Star Citizen in 2012 created the perfect petri dish for gaming discourse. By the end of 2014, after most of us had seen through Chris's insane proclamations, we'd all picked sides because we knew back then that we were in for the long haul. So we dug in.

In early 2015 when people I knew on the project reached out to me about the project, my first thought wasn't "Right. I'm gonna to go write a blog about one of the most infamous figures in gaming history". It was just a series of back & forth discussions among peers. Usual stuff.

I even reached out to Chris and some of our peers because as a gamer, backer and someone who had chased the Holy Grail of all-encompassing space sim (a lofty goal that not even the venerable Elite Dangerous has achieved), I really needed to know why he changed course.

It wasn't until others who saw my [private, friends only] Facebook post to Chris reached out to me, that I was convinced that something really bad was amiss. So I spent over a month on that, then published that blog in July 2015. For completeness:

dereksmart.com/2015/07/inters…

It created a massive shit-storm in all corners of gaming. As a Usenet refugee and participant in many a flame war (I still hold the crown as having generated the largest and most notable one in all of gaming), trust me when I tell you that it caught me completely off guard.

That storm was amplified by the fact that literally every gaming mag reprinted it. Some are of the opinion that most of those mags just made me (of all people) the scapegoat and mouthpiece for what they themselves were speculating but wouldn't (not until much later) dare print.

Regardless, it ignited a massive war that was already fermenting since Chris failed to meet his first milestone delivery of Nov 2014. In fact, rather than focus on, you know, building the game, he was focused on raising money via lofty promises and lies. You know the story.

When that controversy was ignited, backers then started to solidify their commitment, picked sides etc. Remember, gamers rarely need a reason or motivation to stage an uproar. Then they get handed this one on a platter. The die was cast - and so, war it was.

That passion to pick a side and defend it to the very end, even amid incontrovertible evidence that at least one side had chosen poorly, is what has sparked such controversy and angst these past 5 years. I can't even believe that we're having *this* discussion 5 yrs later.

The angst on both sides stems from one side truly believing that Chris could one day deliver on promises, and that giving him money was the only way to help him. While the other side are now just engaged in a protracted lol riot, much to the chagrin of the opposition.

Thing is, even most in the opposition have their original cheap game packages, couldn't get or didn't want a refund. They don't actually want to see the project fail; but in the event that it does (it will - trust me on this), they just get to lol harder and that much longer.

Amid all this, there are those engaged in profiteering. Like most, I firmly believe that some parties are engaged in blatant money laundering from Star Citizen. In fact, back in 2017 I wrote a blog about that, which some discounted as hyperbole.

dereksmart.com/2017/03/star-c…

Once Chris went from making a game to making money, nothing was off the table. Even when backers would melt JPEG inventory to buy better ones, he came up with a cash money - warbonds - to extract even more money because you know, redeemable coupons don't translate to revenue.

He has sold in-game plots of land, all kinds of JPEG ships, features etc for which, 8 yrs + $300m+ later, NO in-game functionality exists. And someone besides CIG has got to be profiting from that. I mean, here is the most recent example..

A few days ago, as part of the on-going disastrous Invictus free-fly event, they had a massive sale. This are the prices for some of that inventory. Just look at this. No, seriously, look! Then ask yourself how that's normal.

i.redd.it/786p5gtou5151.…

i.redd.it/ys2ygi6ru5151.…

If you're why you're "sold out" for JPEGs and in-game items, it's how they drive angst and anxiety by faking demand. Below is a current snapshot of their funding page reflect this latest cash grab.

robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals

i.imgur.com/Dvuo9U8.jpg

In order to launder money, you have to put in bad money and extract good money. In this regard, the bad money is buying JPEGs, given their high value. You then convert that to good money by reselling those JPEGs on the Black market.

Trying to get a refund (within 30 days) from CIG used to require some identity verification. So buying $5K worth of ships, then suddenly wanting a refund is sure to raise some alarm bells at CIG - assuming they give a shit.

Most MMO games thrive on this sort of thing, but nowhere near the extent to which it happens in Star Citizen because it remains one of few [non] games with this sort of pricing for in-game items.

Meanwhile, most backers are just happy to ignore this while extolling the virtues of the project's ability to raise funding. So, the end result is that aside from wanting the game, there are those who have every incentive to continue defending it because? They're making money.

The other side of the coin is that much has been written about CIG's abusive practices and general attitude against dissent. Here is the latest example which happened just days ago..

"As of typing this Star Citizen currently has $286,551,911 in funding from backers wanting to play 'the best damn space sim' ever known. But I have to ask myself: When will it end?"

robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/commu…

His original post was edited by a moderator, and he was issued a warning. So he did what most backers faced with this have done. He went to Reddit - and posted the edited material.

reddit.com/r/starcitizen_…

imgur.com/dPLYF72.jpg

Another thread was lamenting the lack of news about the Squadron 42 companion game which CIG had promised a video update back on May 19th. That too went sideways rather quickly.

robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/commu…

These are the backers who then leave the confines of the official game forum and venture into the world to lament, and then met with massive opposition. Even the official Reddit is a cesspool of fanboys who will down vote and shoot anything that even looks like dissent.

As this went on, and since creating anon accounts is what gamers tend to do, both sides found safe haven in their own corners.

Backers who are true believers go to the official Reddit which is just a facsimile of the game's official forums.

old.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/

Backers who want to make fun of the true believers, even if they themselves own the game but just want to watch it all burn, go to other Reddit which came about as a result of my past advocating for refunds for those who wanted one.

old.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_…

From time to time, that other Reddit can erupt into a free-for-all because both sides engage in sniping seemingly while behind enemy lines.

These sides tend to also meet elsewhere e.g. Joe Blogger is a known "believer" who appears in literally EVERY media article's comments.

Even some of those who ended up getting a refund, engage in anti-social behavior just like the believers because, you know, escaping from a scam doesn't make you a better person. You're still a shitty person who happened to have refunded and escaped from the aforementioned scam.

While one side still holds me primarily responsible for the "uprising", while making up all kinds of stuff crap in their heads to justify otherwise insane reasons, the other side wants to believe that "they all saw it coming" and that I just happened to amplify it.

e.g. one of those true believers appeared in a YT video to proclaim that I am "against" the project because I'm jealous, Chris had sued me, won etc. And he was serious too. So...

i.imgur.com/mqWi7Bq.jpg

Amid all this, 3 yrs ago this week, Squadron 42, over which Crytek sued CIG, seemingly fell off the radar.

https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/868192690554458113

When sources told me what was going on, that the dev was unlikely to see light of day by 2021, I got a lot of heat for it.

dereksmart.com/forums/topic/s…

CIG, again, did what they do. They lied and lied and lied. Then the media - as they normally do - went ahead and printed those same lies. Again. And again. All of that helps to stock the flames of dissent between both sides.

tomshardware.com/news/squadron-…

pcgamer.com/roberts-space-…

Here @ 17:40 one of the QA team members, back in 2016, claiming that he had in fact played through all the SQ42 missions. We know now that to be completely FALSE as per not only the game’s own public dev schedules, but also by the fact that, well, FOUR years later, it’s not out.

And so it goes. To the extent that so many from both sides have resorted to making fun of the project. This series of hilarious shorts shows Star Citizen as it exists TODAY. Watch.

Back in Dec 2018 when they disclosed having raised $46m in investor funding for it, they claimed that it was totally going into Beta in Q1/2020.

It’s almost end of Q2/2020 and it was since pushed back to “later in 2020”

It was anon sources who told everything I have written about in my blogs. Including the biggest one from 2015 shortly after my blog and The Escapist article: That they were in financial trouble.

This fact was proven when they released their first public financial “brochure” in Dec 2018 which showed that they were in the Red since month one, were burning more than they were making etc.

And then came the $46m investor bailout - which btw - sources told me about in Jan 2018 and which I wrote about. The deal closed in Summer 2018 and they didn’t disclose it until Dec 2018.

There are people on this project who KNOW how it's going to end. And they're talking.

Chris has ZERO incentive to release a game. This person's post on a dev forum that I frequent, pretty much sumarrizes where it's all headed.

imgur.com/DWeDiHk.jpg

For my part, while I don't follow the project as much as I did back when the critical things I had predicted came to pass, my next blog this coming July will mark the 5 yr anniversary of that first blog. You can catch up on all of them below.

dereksmart.com/2015/07/star-c…

5 yrs since, and over $250m raised since then, for a total haul of over $350m, Chris still hasn't shipped a SINGLE game; let alone one that even resembles one. Why? Because they're focused on running a "confidence scam" on backers & investors under the guise of game dev.

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