Did they offer refunds to those that funded but didn't want the scope to change? Because I see nothing that says they might rescope the whole thing after they get your money. That's the only issue I have with the whole thing. They were funded for something very specific.
In my books:
A first class company will always refund a customer who is honestly not happy with their purchase.
edit: IMHO RSI (since the game hasn't released yet) should refund anyone who is not happy with their purchase no matter when they pledged.
Difference being those customers didn't purchase anything but funded the company, being able to get their hands on perks this company offered in return.
Ugh, this guy is getting irritating. A completion date being set because of a lawsuit would anger the vast majority of backers, and he knows this.
But, as to its merits, there are pretty much none. He is going to have to prove that Chris is actively and maliciously misusing money that was contributed to the game's production. Backers are essentially the 'producers' of the game. Unlike the big-box producers, however, we are not investing money with the intent to get that money back. So, in other words, the game could end up being vaporware, we'd be out the money we put into it (just like a regular producer), and DS still wouldn't have a case.
Maybe I am not reading it right....but weren't those items meant as rewards for when the game would be finished and released? I have seen/read that stretch goals gave out rewards of ingame items, but apart from the exclusive alpha/beta acces in above copy-paste everything else just seems release day items/rewards......
He is stating that he has not received the money back (refund) or the rewards. This is what the lawsuit is about.
Class action lawsuits are not about something that happened only to him. He is making the assumption that CIG is doing this to everyone. Also, if it were only about the refund he would not be demanding 'a forensic accounting of the fund-raising activities of RSI'. He wants CIG's information out in the open, so even if they have done nothing wrong he can possibly turn some people against them.
I am one of Star Citizens early backers and I still support the game, and I suspect majority of people are willing to give the devs more time.
Star Citizen design changed drastically from the first sketches. At the beginning they intended to do a Multiplayer kinda game, an hybrid. With the amount of money they are making with the funding campaign, they now shifted their focus in make it a fully fledged MMO with a persistent world. In order to implement all the new ideas and features they need more time.
ROFL, so many of you are in denial! Did you see the social module? You can't even communicate with it.
They have way too many staff to ever get this completed with the funds they have collected. This is just another copy of the 38 studios collapse, just that we are watching it in progress.
Reminds me of another game development effort where I had good friends involved, Vanguard. McQuaid hired far too many people and basically dumped a half finished game on SOE because the cash was gone.
I think Mr Smart is not very bright, but he does have a point.
ROFL, so many of you are in denial! Did you see the social module? You can't even communicate with it.
They have way too many staff to ever get this completed with the funds they have collected. This is just another copy of the 38 studios collapse, just that we are watching it in progress.
Reminds me of another game development effort where I had good friends involved, Vanguard. McQuaid hired far too many people and basically dumped a half finished game on SOE because the cash was gone.
I think Mr Smart is not very bright, but he does have a point.
So they release a module as promised inside the timeline promised at GamesCom and they are still in the wrong? Ok then.
Also Studio 38 crash had to do with they borrowing from the state of... was it Rhode Island? and then failing to repay that debt.
CIG has no debts that we know of, therefore such a scenario will not manifest. They can still fail to make the game, sure, but there won't be a Studio 38 scenario.
Finally I'm an early kickstarter backer and I'm fine with the game we are getting, furthermore I always had the impression the MMO + Single player campaign was the scope of this project, therefore I did not suffer from any disappointments on that regard (do ask me about the Space Airbus though, that I did not like). Also kindly remember that whoever backed money to Star Citizen is not a customer, but a backer. As such any refunds CIG gives are purely because they want to, not because they have to.
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
Losing faith in humanity once more. How can a single individual be sooooo concerened about one single game or company without having financial interest in it? Simply not possible.
As a backer of SC I do understand why he is so concerned; and we should as well. If and that's a big IF RSI is guilty of these things it would have a negative effect on the gaming industry.
There are a lot of peeps that have spent 100$ if not 1000$ on ships and such and really all they have to show for it is a hanger full of ships they cant fly or ships they can even see beside a concept pic. RSI as set a very high bar for themselves and I think that it's biting them in their ass. For example you watch around the vers you can see that the space marine patch is a long way off, yet but they keep pumping out ships to sale. The whole point is that the tech is not ready for a game (MMO/RPG) that has the fidelity that RSI has committed themselves too. My PC is not a super powerhouse but it'a strong...(i7 4790K, GTX980 SC 32Gb RAM) and when I am walking around my hanger I get about 20+ fps on high setting and that just walking around...... what will happen when you add effects and movement in the mix. Sure I could lower settings but then ask yourself why the need for all the detail? How many peeps can spend over 1000$ for a CPU vid card and memory.... not many. Sure its not fully optimized yet but that still does not solve the latency problems of the network.
Ok I have rambled on to long already but we have to think of all the other crowed funded game out there and to come... If peep get burned by RSI how likely would they be willing to fund other such games?....... This is the point that all gamer's should think about.
ROFL, so many of you are in denial! Did you see the social module? You can't even communicate with it.
They have way too many staff to ever get this completed with the funds they have collected. This is just another copy of the 38 studios collapse, just that we are watching it in progress.
Reminds me of another game development effort where I had good friends involved, Vanguard. McQuaid hired far too many people and basically dumped a half finished game on SOE because the cash was gone.
I think Mr Smart is not very bright, but he does have a point.
What do you mean you "can't communicate"? There's a chat window just like any other online game. Press your god damned F12 key.
How do you know they've hired too many people? Do you have some sort of evidence of this claim? how many is too many? Where do you get this metric?
How is this like 38 Studios when it has nothing in common with it?
At least the last bit was a closer comparison, but once again how do you know this is the case?
Derek Smart's point is what? Most of the critiques he has levied have turned up dead wrong or inaccurate. Hell the entire Gamescom demo was one big demonstration that his list of things RSI couldn't pull off was a load of malarkey.
What are you even on about?
Look I get people are on both sides of the fence on this but it'd make your side of the argument look a lot less silly if you'd stop just making random accusations without any facts to back them up. Could Star Citizen fail? Absolutely. Could CR and co have bitten off more than they could chew? Completely possible. Is it unreasonable to refuse to back the game till there is more there? Fuck no it isn't.
Outright fabricating grievances just hurts the legitimate criticism that people have brought up about Star Citizen and even crowdfunding as a whole, thus destroying any real discourse that could be had on the subject.
Yet another grandstanding stunt. One wonders where he is getting all of the money for his antics? Knowing him, he certainly isn't the type to spend his own money on his stunts.
I'm hoping that Chris Roberts isn't allowing this clown to distract him. Just assign it to his lawyers and go back to work.
Comments
I am one of Star Citizens early backers and I still support the game, and I suspect majority of people are willing to give the devs more time.
Star Citizen design changed drastically from the first sketches.
At the beginning they intended to do a Multiplayer kinda game, an hybrid.
With the amount of money they are making with the funding campaign, they now shifted their focus in make it a fully fledged MMO with a persistent world.
In order to implement all the new ideas and features they need more time.
They have way too many staff to ever get this completed with the funds they have collected. This is just another copy of the 38 studios collapse, just that we are watching it in progress.
Reminds me of another game development effort where I had good friends involved, Vanguard. McQuaid hired far too many people and basically dumped a half finished game on SOE because the cash was gone.
I think Mr Smart is not very bright, but he does have a point.
Also Studio 38 crash had to do with they borrowing from the state of... was it Rhode Island? and then failing to repay that debt.
CIG has no debts that we know of, therefore such a scenario will not manifest. They can still fail to make the game, sure, but there won't be a Studio 38 scenario.
Finally I'm an early kickstarter backer and I'm fine with the game we are getting, furthermore I always had the impression the MMO + Single player campaign was the scope of this project, therefore I did not suffer from any disappointments on that regard (do ask me about the Space Airbus though, that I did not like). Also kindly remember that whoever backed money to Star Citizen is not a customer, but a backer. As such any refunds CIG gives are purely because they want to, not because they have to.
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
How do you know they've hired too many people? Do you have some sort of evidence of this claim? how many is too many? Where do you get this metric?
How is this like 38 Studios when it has nothing in common with it?
At least the last bit was a closer comparison, but once again how do you know this is the case?
Derek Smart's point is what? Most of the critiques he has levied have turned up dead wrong or inaccurate. Hell the entire Gamescom demo was one big demonstration that his list of things RSI couldn't pull off was a load of malarkey.
What are you even on about?
Look I get people are on both sides of the fence on this but it'd make your side of the argument look a lot less silly if you'd stop just making random accusations without any facts to back them up. Could Star Citizen fail? Absolutely. Could CR and co have bitten off more than they could chew? Completely possible. Is it unreasonable to refuse to back the game till there is more there? Fuck no it isn't.
Outright fabricating grievances just hurts the legitimate criticism that people have brought up about Star Citizen and even crowdfunding as a whole, thus destroying any real discourse that could be had on the subject.
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1snct8k
I sure hope NASA restarts our space program soon, because I'm going to need a mission to retrieve my sides from orbit.