@bigsocrates: I mean, @spacegg was right in that there are different kinds of customers. As someone who wanted squadron 42, I give zero shits about buying a virtual ship that maybe someday I can have a party on in vrchat or whatever they are up to. And I do think it is a huge issue for those who actually backed when SC was a game and I have quite a few issues with how the "no questions asked" refunds rapidly started having questions once people noticed it.
But in terms of the modern consumer base? You get some folk who do a free weekend or who want to try it who buy it and maybe they have fun and maybe they are miserable. I am not sure if I would really consider that too different from stuff like Escape from Tarkov in that sense. Folk very much don't know what they are getting in to when they see a streamer gush about it but you pretty rapidly learn and, unless you are an idiot, you are buying at the "I guess I learned a lesson about supporting storefronts without refund policies" level.
But as for the die hards? They kind of ARE just buying that girlfriend experience (I was thinking more "strippers' but people get really hung up on that and think comparing twitch streamers to strippers is a bad thing). They are coming back month after month to keep doing that stunt actor training. Maybe they'll eventually spend enough money to sign a bunch of waivers to get set on fire but most likely they are going to be rolling around on the ground and play disarming each other.
And yeah, it is definitely shitty that there are a LOT of people out there who genuinely think they are going to be Shatner commanding a forty person space ship or that they'll get to go into space with Tom Cruise or that that prostitute really DOES love them. But for the most part, it is people who are spending some cash to have a good time and a good reminder that Fortnite et al competes more with Netflix than anything else. If that time is them rolling in the park while little timmy has his bar mitzvah then cool. If that time is them talking on a message board about how great it will be and how they have so many plans for how they are going to use their cargo ship? I don't get it, but cool? And if that time is them getting their rocks off with someone who is willing to cuddle for the rest of the hour then... as long as there is no trafficking involved, cool.
I dunno. I have a lot of issues with it but I also have a lot of issues with game monetization in general and every time there is a discussion of addictive loot boxes I remember when we had those same concerns over skinner boxes and diablo and how many people have stories of almost failing a class because of Everquest.
But putting aside my desire to actually play squadron 42 some day: Its really interesting in the same way that the realization that most of Dwarf Fortress's audience will never play the game is. And if you consider the product to be The Dream then CIG are actually doing a good job. If you consider the product to actually be a game then holy fucking shit.
As for actual promises: That gets into a legal mess where I am sure CIG covered their asses but I also don't care. When you see an ad with forty giant beefcakes jiggling a shakeweight, the implication is that you too can get swole if you buy a shakeweight. When I check facebook to see what construction is going on downtown and see that soap ad about the girl who is sniffing a guy in the shower I understand that the implication is that this soap will get you some sex. I am sure they all have fine print text making it very clear that there is no guarantee of that in the same way that SC almost assuredly has some text saying "You are buying this as is and there is no guarantee you can ever do anything meaningful with this". And all of that is nonsense that exists solely for legal purposes and has nothing to do with anything close to reality.
And I do think Star Citizen is a fascinating case study in when a crowd funded project's scope increases so drastically that there is no way to actually satisfy everyone. If they focused on what a lot of us actually paid for, it would piss off all the people currently throwing dollar bills on the stage. I would personally prefer that to be the priority but I can definitely see the arguments for "We gave you a chance to get a refund. Sorry but you are now riding with us". And similar to spending some money to learn about refund policies: I would say my 70 bucks or whatever squadron 42 was taught me to actually read all the stretch goals and be ready to re-assess my pledge the day before things finalize. Like, I do think that if they had focused on that vertical slice it would be easier to support S42 and not-destiny at the same time. But that ship has sailed and is unlikely to ever come back barring a bankruptcy.
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