“Scam Citizen”: Why players have paid $1 billion for an unfinished game

[Redaktion]

Star Citizen has surpassed $1 billion in crowdfunding revenue – even though the game has been in an unfinished alpha state for more than a decade. Reddit users think they know why.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Scam-Citizen-Why-players-have-paid-1-billion-for-an-unfinished-game.1306173.0.html

[Bruce Gordon]

SC is breathtakingly ambitious. An alternate anarchic universe that takes years to explore. Your avatar is, upon frequent death, easily regenerated though demise requires non trivial effort to get back in the action. Ship operation requires considerable practice And the control panel/HUD becoming a fair analogue of how future actual spacecraft will be fitted out. AI pointedly missing and the autopilot rudimentary for the era. There is no levelling other than better missions as reputation increases with various employers. Armour is only marginally effective against damage and serves more as a place to carry equipment and loot.

The cons: steep entry fees in the powerful computer needed, a couple of hundred  dollars to sign up and more for ever more elaborate ships. Repetitive 'dungeons'. Weak NPC AI.  Requires a computer capable of at least 60 FPS. Server glitches common. Completing a contract often not possible due to key NPC failing to spawn. Log off facility awkward except the ability of some ships in deep space to bed log off with the game restarting at that point. Recent nerf of looted equipment value. Building an in-game fortune now has to focus on assassination, cargo hauling, rescuing or mining. Space combat tedious and difficult. There is no proper holo radar and the full screen HUD lacks functionality. Frequent wipes occur for game updates where you loose everything but what you paid real cash for and what you have on your back.

Despite all this it is by far my favourite game. It is fun to see them wrestling with if and make it behave. It is intricately crafted with love, not greed, and if some of that billion has found its way into the developers pockets, I say good, live well and keep working.