Ashes of Creation's Creative Director Explains What He Thinks Gets Players Hyped | MMORPG.com

System · May 2021

Ashes of Creation's Creative Director Explains What He Thinks Gets Players Hyped | MMORPG.com

A recent thread on Reddit questioning why players are hyped for Ashes of Creation saw a bevy of answers as to why the players are excited for the upcoming MMORPG. However, a telling response from Ashes of Creation's own Steven Sharif detailed why he thinks players are hyped, and he lashed out at those that spread lies about his past with a Multi-Level Marketing company.

Read the full story here

maskedweasel · May 2021

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

sopuku · May 2021

players was hyped 3 years ago... not now..

Shutara · May 2021

maskedweasel said:

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

I'd take self-publishment over a third-party company any day. It might be rough, of course, but it's still better to be solely responsible for Your business, rather than casting a shadow behind wherever You go. A shadow, because of which Your actions will always be questioned and evaluated.

goldboyy45 · May 2021

sopuku said:

players was hyped 3 years ago... not now..

Speak for yourself, we have players hyped 3 years ago and are still hyped now, it's all about tempering your expectations, Alpha-1 proper starts in July and from there we move forward. Your false narrative isn't worth the toilet paper to wipe your ass. No worries, you still have pantheon and New world to be hyped for lol.

goldboyy45 · May 2021

maskedweasel said:

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

Imagine having almost 11,000 posts and having zero clue what you're talking about. My advice is spending less time spewing pointless comments and a little bit more research. That the game would be finished one day? More confidence if a P2W money hungry publisher backed this? You sir are clueless.

goldboyy45 · May 2021

Shutara said:

maskedweasel said:

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

I'd take self-publishment over a third-party company any day. It might be rough, of course, but it's still better to be solely responsible for Your business, rather than casting a shadow behind wherever You go. A shadow, because of which Your actions will always be questioned and evaluated.

You are correct, tough to find people who actually do their research and know what the fuck they are talking about.

Valentina · May 2021

sopuku said:

players was hyped 3 years ago... not now..

Umm....???? What? Lol. People were interested in backing it 3 years ago, but the game still needed to be built so I find that to be a very odd perspective to have.

Champie · May 2021

goldboyy45 said:

Your false narrative isn't worth the toilet paper to wipe your ass.

Ah, an inescapable truth on mmorpg.com and its tiny circle of jerks. Don't be surprised if you get warned or banned for daring to describe the forum users accurately!

maskedweasel · May 2021

goldboyy45 said:

maskedweasel said:

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

Imagine having almost 11,000 posts and having zero clue what you're talking about. My advice is spending less time spewing pointless comments and a little bit more research. That the game would be finished one day? More confidence if a P2W money hungry publisher backed this? You sir are clueless.

Mhmm, not like publishers put in money and give support or anything. I do love fanboys, but mmorpgs without the backing of a stable publisher... that released in the past two decades. Glad to hear about those success stories of which I'm sure you have several dozen since you're "in the know".

Shutara · May 2021

maskedweasel said:

goldboyy45 said:

maskedweasel said:

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

Imagine having almost 11,000 posts and having zero clue what you're talking about. My advice is spending less time spewing pointless comments and a little bit more research. That the game would be finished one day? More confidence if a P2W money hungry publisher backed this? You sir are clueless.

Mhmm, not like publishers put in money and give support or anything. I do love fanboys, but mmorpgs without the backing of a stable publisher... that released in the past two decades. Glad to hear about those success stories of which I'm sure you have several dozen since you're "in the know".

Of course they might provide support, but not for a >100 dev team with an ongoing, fully funded project. Infrastructure and money is always cool, yeah, but to think they haven't started preparing for marketing and maintenance ahead is a silly approach.

maskedweasel · May 2021

Shutara said:

maskedweasel said:

goldboyy45 said:

maskedweasel said:

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

Imagine having almost 11,000 posts and having zero clue what you're talking about. My advice is spending less time spewing pointless comments and a little bit more research. That the game would be finished one day? More confidence if a P2W money hungry publisher backed this? You sir are clueless.

Mhmm, not like publishers put in money and give support or anything. I do love fanboys, but mmorpgs without the backing of a stable publisher... that released in the past two decades. Glad to hear about those success stories of which I'm sure you have several dozen since you're "in the know".

Of course they might provide support, but not for a >100 dev team with an ongoing, fully funded project. Infrastructure and money is always cool, yeah, but to think they haven't started preparing for marketing and maintenance ahead is a silly approach.

All I said was that larger publishers provide more confidence that a project will get completed. Look at the dozens of self published mmorpgs in development.

Ashes is a "self funded" crowdfunded game, where intrepid studios isn't beholden to investors... which means... the "investors" are the players that put money in. So when they decide to do something like... make a battle Royale game, or to change direction when intrepid decides, at least they don't have any recourse from investors.

Hey if that's the way you prefer your games to be made, there's plenty out there. Star citizen. Camelot unchained. Pantheon.

I just told it how I see it. Until one of these crowdfunded "self published" titles makes it to release, my perspective will stay the same. There's a far greater chance of mmos backed by big studios to release. Not sure why people attack me for that opinion, but... okeydokey

koyutakota · May 2021

so heres my question if the game is fully selffund and is dependent on the player base would that mean if they do somthing say that the player dont like that may cause people to leave (iv seen players leave games for the pettiest of reasons before) wouldn't that push them to possibly add p2w stuff to their cash shop if not enough people are spending money to sustain the game?

Markn · May 2021

Personal opinion New World test last summer had more content and was a better game compared to the current state of AOC Alpha One. I do find AOC fun but if people go into alpha expecting anything near a finished game they're setting themselves up for disappointment this game is 2 years away at the very least.

Shutara · May 2021

maskedweasel said:

Shutara said:

maskedweasel said:

goldboyy45 said:

maskedweasel said:

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

Imagine having almost 11,000 posts and having zero clue what you're talking about. My advice is spending less time spewing pointless comments and a little bit more research. That the game would be finished one day? More confidence if a P2W money hungry publisher backed this? You sir are clueless.

Mhmm, not like publishers put in money and give support or anything. I do love fanboys, but mmorpgs without the backing of a stable publisher... that released in the past two decades. Glad to hear about those success stories of which I'm sure you have several dozen since you're "in the know".

Of course they might provide support, but not for a >100 dev team with an ongoing, fully funded project. Infrastructure and money is always cool, yeah, but to think they haven't started preparing for marketing and maintenance ahead is a silly approach.

All I said was that larger publishers provide more confidence that a project will get completed. Look at the dozens of self published mmorpgs in development.

Ashes is a "self funded" crowdfunded game, where intrepid studios isn't beholden to investors... which means... the "investors" are the players that put money in. So when they decide to do something like... make a battle Royale game, or to change direction when intrepid decides, at least they don't have any recourse from investors.

Hey if that's the way you prefer your games to be made, there's plenty out there. Star citizen. Camelot unchained. Pantheon.

I just told it how I see it. Until one of these crowdfunded "self published" titles makes it to release, my perspective will stay the same. There's a far greater chance of mmos backed by big studios to release. Not sure why people attack me for that opinion, but... okeydokey

I agree that being backed up by a big player means more confidence, but I think there are some things being confused. It is self-funded, yes, but not crowdfunded, since Steven had stated multiple times, that the funding of game itself was already covered, which means the backers only provide further support (more hiring power or more bought Unreal assets, whatever) in exchange for unique perks/game time/testing. Noone is forced to pay yet, and the development is somewhat controlled by backers' feedback corresponded to the original vision of Steven.

If we want to see AoC as being crowdfunded, then WoW should also be called as a crowdfunded game to some extent, because over the years players and their wallets have made it possible for Blizzard to carry on with the development of additional content. Am I wrong? The main thing that differs is, that Blizzard wasn't on Kickstarter and the company was already well-estabilshed for years.

Anyway, doesn't it work the very same way with playerbase as "investor"? Game has a monthly sub, so, if let's say Steven decided to fuck things up and add p2w/BR mode, He will most likely end up with a backfire of considerable % of playerbase money to stop sinking into his wallet. I think this is better solution, since traditional investors are calibrated for earnings over enjoyable game. We, as a playerbase receive our "earnings" by having an enjoyable game to play.

maskedweasel · May 2021

Shutara said:

maskedweasel said:

Shutara said:

maskedweasel said:

goldboyy45 said:

maskedweasel said:

Can't say that working without a publisher makes me hyped for the game. At least if they were backed by a real publisher, I'd have a little more confidence that the game would be finished one day.

Imagine having almost 11,000 posts and having zero clue what you're talking about. My advice is spending less time spewing pointless comments and a little bit more research. That the game would be finished one day? More confidence if a P2W money hungry publisher backed this? You sir are clueless.

Mhmm, not like publishers put in money and give support or anything. I do love fanboys, but mmorpgs without the backing of a stable publisher... that released in the past two decades. Glad to hear about those success stories of which I'm sure you have several dozen since you're "in the know".

Of course they might provide support, but not for a >100 dev team with an ongoing, fully funded project. Infrastructure and money is always cool, yeah, but to think they haven't started preparing for marketing and maintenance ahead is a silly approach.

All I said was that larger publishers provide more confidence that a project will get completed. Look at the dozens of self published mmorpgs in development.

Ashes is a "self funded" crowdfunded game, where intrepid studios isn't beholden to investors... which means... the "investors" are the players that put money in. So when they decide to do something like... make a battle Royale game, or to change direction when intrepid decides, at least they don't have any recourse from investors.

Hey if that's the way you prefer your games to be made, there's plenty out there. Star citizen. Camelot unchained. Pantheon.

I just told it how I see it. Until one of these crowdfunded "self published" titles makes it to release, my perspective will stay the same. There's a far greater chance of mmos backed by big studios to release. Not sure why people attack me for that opinion, but... okeydokey

I agree that being backed up by a big player means more confidence, but I think there are some things being confused. It is self-funded, yes, but not crowdfunded, since Steven had stated multiple times, that the funding of game itself was already covered, which means the backers only provide further support (more hiring power or more bought Unreal assets, whatever) in exchange for unique perks/game time/testing. Noone is forced to pay yet, and the development is somewhat controlled by backers' feedback corresponded to the original vision of Steven.

If we want to see AoC as being crowdfunded, then WoW should also be called as a crowdfunded game to some extent, because over the years players and their wallets have made it possible for Blizzard to carry on with the development of additional content. Am I wrong? The main thing that differs is, that Blizzard wasn't on Kickstarter and the company was already well-estabilshed for years.

Anyway, doesn't it work the very same way with playerbase as "investor"? Game has a monthly sub, so, if let's say Steven decided to fuck things up and add p2w/BR mode, He will most likely end up with a backfire of considerable % of playerbase money to stop sinking into his wallet. I think this is better solution, since traditional investors are calibrated for earnings over enjoyable game. We, as a playerbase receive our "earnings" by having an enjoyable game to play.

Well.. I mean.. ashes did create a kickstarter campaign that funded over 3 mil, and took two PPP loans for around 3 mil. I mean sure the PPP loans are government sponsored.

I mean self funded means self funded. You would think they wouldn't be charging people for alphas or in game items every few months or whatever, or even needed the kickstarter.

The main difference is.. of sharif waffles on the project, there's not much consumers can really do. Sure there are cases where kickstarter backers got their money back, but there's also quite a few cases where they didn't.

In this case, players are on the hook.

Now I've funded several kickstarters in the past, some became great games. Others failed horribly. Not a single MMO I backed has ever released in a state comparable to what they promised. Will ashes be an exception? Maybe... but... we have a long long way to go.

Slapshot1188 · May 2021

This video was made in 2014. That would make him about 28 at the time. Not 18. So maybe he started at 18 but he stayed there for a decade or so.

Also, these are his own words from Reddit:
when I turned 18 I decided to start working for a company called XanGo. I wasn't the "CEO" of XanGo as some people are saying, nor did I help create the company... I was just a normal sign up, and I created a website that, I used my marketing company to help promote and sell their juice and vitamins with.. By the time I was 20, I was selling a lot of the juice and vitamins, and rose to be one of the top sellers of the company. About 7 years ago I moved into investments and real estate, which is the source of a majority of my success. Many people consider the MLM industry to be a pyramid scheme, but there are actually good MLMs out there, that can provide people with good incomes. I was lucky to find a good one that had great products, and that allowed me at a young age to become successful enough to begin investing and buying real estate.

Compare those comments with the ones in the article... I mean, he LITERALLY says he started working at a company called Xango. Then he says they were an MLM company. In the OP News article he says "I was never an employee of an MLM company" He is LITERALLY contradicting his own words. But nobody ever challenges him. They ask a question, he gives an answer and they move on.. This is just one example of it. Stuff that is easy to find (took 5 minutes) but nobody wants to look. Just believe what he says.

Then... if you go to this site it shows (at #78) Steven and Sharon Sharif as having made $7,000,000 from the company XANGO. Maybe he doesn't consider $7,000,000 to be a fortune, but that says a lot about him I guess. I'd sure consider $7,000,000 a fortune, even if I split it with my Mom.

Maybe this MLM tracking website (which shows 2011) was made 10 years ago just to smear him? I dunno.... That doesn't seem to be the most likely answer to me though.

For reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XanGo#False_advertising_claims

https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20061004/fda-warns-xango-juice-maker

Update to add:
Here's a video from 11 years ago. She is thanking Steven and his family BY NAME for recruiting her into Xango. She talks about how much money they make. She says millions a year or even monthly. She then goes on to state she is looking to recruit 2-3 of her own people (just like they did to her). So yeah... maybe this video for Xango was planted 11 years ago to try and smear Steven today. Maybe. Or maybe he actually did make "a fortune" in MLM and Xango. Which seems more likely?

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xf7muj

Slapshot1188 · May 2021

koyutakota said:

so heres my question if the game is fully selffund and is dependent on the player base would that mean if they do somthing say that the player dont like that may cause people to leave (iv seen players leave games for the pettiest of reasons before) wouldn't that push them to possibly add p2w stuff to their cash shop if not enough people are spending money to sustain the game?

As he took out multiple million dollar CoronaVirus loans, it can no longer be described (even liberally as prior) as being "fully self-funded". Now every American taxpayer has paid for some part of this development.

Talemire · May 2021

I'd like to see someone without sin cast the first stone. If Ashes were a scam, anyone would have the right to tell me they told me so, but it's not a scam. Sure, I saw the confirmation above for myself, but we don't know the whole truth about his past in its entirety. If there's dirt somewhere in there, so be it. We all have some dirt in our past, some more than others, but in the Intrepid Studios chapter of Steven's life, he has shown both honesty and competency throughout the development of AoC. Which one among you would want your dreams crushed by the shadows of your past, knowing you're a different person now?

Wizardry · May 2021

I can't say that what he mentions isn't good but it is also a vague statement with nothing to back it up but his say so.

Risk versus reward,how so?

"world that develops around the player"Well i know of only ONE system and that is the town node.I also question weather that system is even good,i don't think so or at best a ho hum idea.

I think his town node idea is good on paper but not the way he is implementing it.

Risk versus reward,well to me RISK means you have something to LOSE and i have wanted that type of system to be enhanced for years.

Typically the risk is SHALLOW,you lose some xp and death is fake so there has been VERY little risk in these rpg's.

Social systems,sure i have no complaint but does his game really have that?

Like all of the chit chat has MANY layers to discuss to decide weather the systems and ideas are deep enough ,good enough.I don't want to replay same old from 15-20 years ago,i need mmorpg's to be MUCH better,with MUCH better worlds and NOT just a bunch of systems to make a ho hum game.

Wizardry · May 2021

Pvp will ruin this game and is an anti social mechanism.
Pvp is game disruption,again NEVER a good thing.

"RISK",pvp typically has ONE sided risk,the weak side absorbs ALL the risk while the zerg side has literally NO risk.This is NOT a risk versus reward system,this is a zerg side and a weak side and is a fail design for gaming.

Scot · May 2021

Launching?

Scot · May 2021

"Unfortunately criticism seems to be an inherent feature in the gaming industry these days."

Stephen Webber made me laugh here, like the gaming media has no part in overly criticising games. Sure social media is worse, but then it is always worse so that's hardly a high bar to set yourself against. Look no further than Cyberpunk 2077 and you will see how steeped in hyped up criticism they can be.

Slapshot1188 · May 2021

Talemire said:

I'd like to see someone without sin cast the first stone. If Ashes were a scam, anyone would have the right to tell me they told me so, but it's not a scam. Sure, I saw the confirmation above for myself, but we don't know the whole truth about his past in its entirety. If there's dirt somewhere in there, so be it. We all have some dirt in our past, some more than others, but in the Intrepid Studios chapter of Steven's life, he has shown both honesty and competency throughout the development of AoC. Which one among you would want your dreams crushed by the shadows of your past, knowing you're a different person now?

Crowdfunding is based on trust. IMHO this interview and his statements, which he JUST MADE, did not build trust. This isn't just about the past. It's about what just happened.

Scot · May 2021

Champie said:

goldboyy45 said:

Your false narrative isn't worth the toilet paper to wipe your ass.

Ah, an inescapable truth on mmorpg.com and its tiny circle of jerks. Don't be surprised if you get warned or banned for daring to describe the forum users accurately!

If you give other posters denigrating comments because you don't like what they are saying, you may well get banned. Notice that no one who disagrees with you has made use of any such terms, they have been polite in their posts.

Posters on here will know I am totally against banning, what I do is posts like these asking posters to consider if they really need to use words like that? You are a fan, we get it, we applaud passion but there is no need to use such language.

This may surprise you but we all want AoC to be a roaring success because we are MMORPG players and that's what every one of us wants. But people got their fingers burnt with CoE last year, don't be surprised if you see a lot of cynicism.

rensta · May 2021

No hype from me... used to be hyped about the game, not anymore.
These days I feel like its just another scam. Game is getting dated. If it doesnt release by the end of 2021, I feel it wont have anything to offer (it barely has at it is).

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