Star Citizen Online - The search for more money

Tuco_sl said:

One thing they have going for it is they seem intent on releasing the content bit by bit which is a very smart move. I don't know what their full gameplan is but we'll know more after we see the dog fighting module. Of course, it's possible that once they add enough of the game in that you can earn ingame stuff people will play the game, earn what they want, get bored and move on like every other game out there. They have a nice cash cow now and all they need to do is manufacture hope, emails and trailers.

Click to expand...

Except they have a lot of design work videos, planning shown, and Chris Roberts has a nice history in this genre. Most of us have a pretty good feeling what this game will be, and for those of us who are huge Freelancer and Privateer fans, it's worth kicking a few dollars towards. I'm the most anti kickstarter guy out there, and I still ponied $75 bucks, albeit directly to the RSI site for a prepurchase.

Star Citizen has a permanent persistent world. There's no way that can be construed to not be an MMO, Just because there is a single player campaign doesn't change the fact Star Citizen will more likely be more of an MMO than WOW.

Gecko_sl said:

Star Citizen has a permanent persistent world. There's no way that can be construed to not be an MMO, Just because there is a single player campaign doesn't change the fact Star Citizen will more likely be more of an MMO than WOW.

Click to expand...

EVE Online has a permanent persistant world. Star Citizen is going to have permanent persistant characters and assets that are shuffled between various instances. Maybe you dont consider that enough of a difference.

I wont get into the comparison to WoW because I dislike the lobby character it has developed just as much, but SC is unlikely to be any different in that regard. With the addition of offline play and private servers people can mod however they want and limit access to however they want, this is pretty far from the old definition of MMO. Under the new definition where nearly everything that can be played online by more then one player is called an MMO somewhere, sure by that measure it's an MMO.

Its more oldschool multiplayer with lobby gathering and mods on servers mixed with character tier system, than a new mmo style expirience.

Tuco_sl said:

It's definitely worth kicking a few dollars toward, which is why I did it. But there's a substantial chance it's going to be a huge failure and will cause some very distraught people who bought fleets of ships in an unproven game.

As for whether it's an MMO or not, that definition is becoming increasingly gray. But I wouldn't even bother trying to argue whether SC falls in that until they're much closer to release and the details of multiplayer are implemented.

Click to expand...

I agree it's still a lot of hype and vapor, but they've been pretty consistent with selling the multiplayer as a 'persistent' world a la an MMO. My point about it being more of an MMO than WOW where nothing really changes is better outlined below:

Stick and Rudder Extra: Chris Roberts on Star Citizen's persistent world PvE, PvP, and more | Massively

The passage of time is something that most MMOs avoid like the plague. With such an emphasis on lore, history, and current events on the website, do you foreseeSChaving a dynamic universe that actually advances along a timeline, perhaps with GM-run events or things of that nature? Or will it be more of a traditional MMO-type thing where the world and timeline are static and the player characters and/or their ships are the only things that really change?

One of the big draws ofStar Citizenis the fact that the universe will evolve and change, and part of making that happen is that time will pass. One day in 2014 is one day in 2944 in our universe, and the game universe will record changes and accomplishments within that frame of reference. GM-run events from the live team will be essential to our world's continued growth. We want to differentiate from traditional MMOs by having these on an ongoing basis -- smaller, weekly publishes instead of major annual add-on stories.

And everything has to take into account the players' actions. If players discover new jump points or overthrow governments, we are going to be reactive and inclusive rather than prevent it. Beyond this, I really want your player character in the game to have a sense of mortality and lineage. Characters in the game should show the wear and tear of the dangerous lives they lead and be lauded for heroic or dastardly achievements, and when they finally take one too many laser hits, they should leave their mark in the lore of the world that their next of kin can try to add to.

I outlined my thoughts on this mechanic in theDeath of a Spacemanpost, and I'm quite excited to see how it plays out in the game. I have a feeling that it will enhance the attachment and sense of pride in your characters' actions as there will be risk with any significant achievement.

40 million raised and using a webcam from the 90s for the livestreams.

They're just being thrifty. We can start worrying when they start offering to buy houses for employees.

It's been a while since I read through their articles. This game operates kind of like EQ2 right? Each area is sharded? Or it creates random instances anytime something happens but there is no real "shared space" right?

Tuco, that'll turn around when they realize that the $250 per ship they bought a dozen of are only worth 20ish hour in the actual game and that they can only fly one at the same time anyway. Or when they realize that the ship they know nearly nothing about when they forked over $100-1000 turns out less then ideal for their in-game activities then they expected.


It's all on napkins right now Draegan, but from what I pieced together from various interviews and news posts its the latter.

You have some shared areas with population limits (think GW1 districts, not sure if EQ2 was like that) and outer space consists of instanced areas with a pop limit and balancing factors like reserving room in the fight for your friends etc. It's not persistant space where anyone "wander in" as an add so to speak, like it is in EVE. But again, alot of that might be different once this is turned into an actual game.

Most interesting for me are actually Roberts' focus on immersion and having an actual human character to board other ships or wrecks with. I'm hoping to get some Space Hulk action going with a small salvage vessel. In like 2 years, anyway.

Tuco_sl said:

Man the official forums are high on hopium. They're all discussing strategies on how to throw money at the project. I didn't post anything there but if people wanted easy troll-bait that's the place to go. If you say a single negative thing about the site you'll get swarmed by fanboys.

Click to expand...

So pretty much like the Sigil forums before they got shut down.

Are you saying the official forums are the perfect place to test just how much you'll get shouted down for even a polite questioning of "The Vision" ?

Tuco_sl said:

But if Star Citizen turns out to be a disaster and it comes out that the money was blown on bullshit or it was just a mismanaged pile of crap like KoA people will be FURIOUS and it'll probably set the kickstarter idea back a lot.

Click to expand...

This is what worries me the most about this game. There are so many games that handle crowd funding well, and lots of stuff that wouldn't be made without it. I would hate to see people get turned off to the whole process because Chris Roberts knows the exact right sweet nothings to whisper into gamers ears.

Krueger_sl said:

This is what worries me the most about this game. There are so many games that handle crowd funding well, and lots of stuff that wouldn't be made without it. I would hate to see people get turned off to the whole process because Chris Roberts knows the exact right sweet nothings to whisper into gamers ears.

Click to expand...

I've not seen a lot of stellar successes from crowd sourcing, and I'm not really a big fan of it. I think Chris Roberts has the opportunity to actually open up the market for it since I think many people view it in the same light as pyramid schemes.

Kinda hoping they do what they did back in Wing Commander with the HUD determined by the ship you happen to be in honestly. I like customizing my own in WoW etc, but there is something more immersive about it being linked to the ship itself especially in a game where you may well care less about combat much of the time (trading/mining missions etc).