Tag: games

Buckle up, Star Citizens

Derek Smart reports that a former backer has defeated the new Star Citizen Terms of Service that tries to deny backers the ability to get refunds from Cloud Imperium Games.

A backer who, like so many that contact me, use my online resources for navigating this farce etc, has been fighting diligently for over a month to get a refund of $3K from CIG/RSI after they changed the ToS and stripped him of rights he already had, has PREVAILED.

It’s only going to get worse from here on out, seeing as I have now been made aware that the LA county consumer protection office is also looking into similar complaints, and complainants (regardless of where you live here in the US or overseas) have been advised to file a complaint on their website.

Notice how Ortwin ( that would be this guy), Chris Roberts’ long-time business partner (and entertainment attorney), basically lied (I have now made them aware of this in detail) to the Attorney General’s office when he stated the following – in writing (!):

i) cited the ToS which the backer never agreed to, hence the whole point of the refund battle

ii) states that the backer has an agreement with RSI; when in fact the backer (like all backers before the ToS change) actually has an agreement with CIG. Note that this is all part of them shifting the liability from the more established CIG entity to one of the several shell corps associated with this train-wreck.

It looks very much as if the pyramid is starting to crumble. Once more, we see that despite the doubters, time has proven Derek Smart to be correct. Don’t be surprised if he turns out to be right about the rest of it too.

Some of the True Believers are already losing their faith:

This game has shown me one major thing: Never back something that strays from its kickstarted objective. Star Citizen was supposed to be some freaking Wing Commander that was amazing and up to date, then it basically fucked its backers by COMPLETELY straying off course and trying to be some end all be all game. CIG basically lied to its original backers and told them “thanks for the money, NOW GO FUCK YOURSELF”. When I heard about this game all I knew was…joy, joy that came from the dream of a supreme space game.

After buying a package, I was officially inducted into the Cult of Star Citizen. Anyone who dared question my holy game would be called a troll, idiot, or not know one thing about game development. After a while I started having doubts in my head after so many delays, but I kept putting them deeper and deeper in my head only to have them resurface with a vengeance.

After I started thinking about the game and what these so called “trolls” were saying, I realized something: This game is already vaporware and a scam. Think about it; its missed constant deadlines, keeps asking for more money for basically concept art, and is completely different than was originally promised…This..is..FRAUD.

The thing is, all of the veterans in the industry realized, around a year ago, that the game wasn’t going to come out. Scope creep, particularly in an already sizable project, is a killer, and Star Citizen suffered from more scope creep than any game I can recall. This is something we cover in DevGame; the combination of a visionary designer and a weak producer is always a dangerous one because the primary purpose of the producer is to rein in the designer and focus on completing the designer’s original vision.

And, of course, the involvement of the principal’s wife is always a red flag in any business. Meanwhile, COD: Infinite Warfare looks absolutely amazing. It’s particularly fun for me to notice the gravity effects, since RMR was the first shooter to utilize turning gravity on and off as a weapon.

This is how bad it is

Contrast and compare. Star Citizen. 2016. 5 years and $117 million in development. Licensed engine technology. Supposed to be well into Beta, if not fully playable.

Rebel Moon Revolution. 1997. 14 months and $600k in development. Homebrew 3D engine. Not even half-complete; this was pre-Alpha development material resurrected and made operable by some Russian fans who requested it.

The state of Star Citizen

Derek Smart provides a detailed, and devastating, summary of the current state of the troubled project:

The exodus of key talent from the four studios around the world has also been an on-going event this past year. To the extent that the project is so toxic, that at this point, anyone working on it has basically earned themselves a Black mark on their resume. Ridicule aside. But, in an unprecedented move, that hasn’t stopped two (John Dadley, Darian Vorlick) recent departures from immediately taking to social media to stress that the sky isn’t falling. Because, you know, it’s perfectly normal to bail on such a high profile project just as the general outlook is that it’s all falling apart, gamers are being screwed etc. A project which, as of this writing, has over 60 positions that it can’t fill. And this month alone, there are rumored to be at least four more high profile people looking to leave. But everything’s fine though. That’s just normal game development turnover you know. The thing about this industry is that we never – ever – forget.

Meanwhile, Sandi Gardiner, wife of Chris Roberts and “head of marketing” (<— lol!) was recently posting pictures of staff at the LA and UK studios on social media. Funny thing, some people (including the two aforementioned people) in those pictures are actually gone. And at least four are on their way out. I guess the teams over in Frankfurt and Austin, for all the hype they get for being key parts of the game’s development, don’t get their pictures taken.

Also in the past year, most of the media hype around the project has all but died down, as most (even those gamestar.de Shillizens over in Germany are heading South with their narrative) have started hedging their bets since all of this – sadly – has all boiled down to a “Derek Smart v Chris Roberts” narrative this past year. Even as they completely ignore the plight of gamers who unwittingly put their money into this crowd-funded project, and who previously had the security of refunds and financial accountability. Heck, even with the unprecedented ToS change that happened last month, very few in the media even wrote about that. And as a media contact said to me, simply put, nobody wants to deal with Shitizens descending on their sites and turning it into a war zone. Which to me begs the question: what about when the final collapse comes?

CIG/RSI has fermented so much ill will toward most of its very own backers, that when the Feds finally come calling, it won’t be because of anything that anyone has written, but from the many complaints that are being filed with various consumer protection agencies here and in various countries (Australians have it easy, nobody messes with consumers over there – get a refund!) where backers are frantically trying to get refunds.

And if your warning alarms haven’t started going off yet, recently in a new refund rejection letter template to backers, they have started saying that CIG is no longer the entity that should be reported to agencies regarding this project and/or refunds. They’re saying that RSI – a shell company before the past month – is now the one carrying the liability. This despite the fact that almost every single backer prior to the new ToS of June 1st, 2016, has a receipt for goods sold to them by CIG or one of the other many shell companies associated with this project.

There is more. There is considerably more. The upshot is that Derek and other skeptics were right to conclude, one year ago, that Star Citizen was not going to ship as advertised, and that the project is likely to end in a debacle of proportions that will make famous game industry failures of the past, including Battlecruiser 3000 AD, look like nothing more than modest appetizers to a royal feast.

The project has gradually morphed from overly ambitious project to troubled production to what appears to be an open pyramid scheme. At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if it ended in recriminations, lawsuits, and criminal charges.

VASSAL doesn’t work on Windows 10

I can’t seem to get VASSAL working on Windows 10 with the latest Java. It installs fine, but upon running it, nothing happens. Anyone seen this before?

UPDATE: I tried installing a 32-bit version, Version 8 Update 91. Still no joy.

UPDATE 2: Finally figured it out. There was a VASSAL directory in the hidden User/Name/Appdata/Roaming directory, and the error log was showing old dates, presumably from a previously installed version of VASSAL. I deleted that VASSAL directory, emptied the Trash, then double-clicked on the VASSAL icon. It works like a charm, although I did need to re-select my VASL boards directory in order to get my ASL boards to show up properly.

Thanks to everyone who suggested fixes.

UPDATE 3: I’ve changed the name so it will show up on Google searches. If VASSAL 3.16 doesn’t run on Windows 10 with Java 8, the problem may be a previous installation. Don’t worry, there is a fix.

  1. Go to your C:/Users/YOURNAME directory, and under View, check the hidden items checkbox. This will reveal the hidden Appdata directory.
  2. Go to C:/Users/YOURNAME/Appdata/Roaming. There will be a VASSAL directory there. 
  3. Delete the VASSAL directory.
  4. Now try launching VASSAL again.

Joooooon Snow!


At this point, one would assume even the drooling halfwits at File 770 would be able to recognize that neither Jon Snow nor Ramsay Bolton were exactly liable to give Hannibal or Alexander a run for their money. One would assume wrongly, of course, but it’s understandable that one would be inclined to do so.

Mailvox: no refunds!

MC tries, and fails, to get a refund

Recently tried to get a refund for Star Citizen, and today they sent
back a boilerplate “nope!” with a bunch of “feel good crowdfunding
garbage.”

I’ve backed literally hundreds of Kickstarters, and less than one percent have failed as spectacularly as this train wreck.

Just one more data point, but I agree with your assessment that they’re circling the drain at this point.

Now, I’ve only backed a few Kickstarters, so I am no expert, but this sounds distinctly suboptimal to me.

Mark Kern banned by Twitter

World of Warcraft developer Mark Kern kicked off Twitter:

Twitter has joined Facebook and Reddit in Silicon Valley’s post-Orlando hall of shame. They’ve become the latest social media platform to censor users for discussing this weekend’s Islamic terror attack.

The victim is Mark Kern, a highly prominent video game developer who worked on the original edition of Blizzard’s highly acclaimed World Of Warcraft, who was suspended from Twitter earlier today.

Kern currently runs the League For Gamers, a consumer advocacy group fighting censorship and moral panic in the video games industry. Kern, who had more than 61,000 followers on Twitter prior to his suspension, was a frequent critic of the platform for its drift towards censorship over the past two years. Now he’s been censored himself.

Unbelievable. The thought police are running completely amok in the wake of Orlando. Too much dangerous thinking!

UPDATE: And after stories on Breitbart and Drudge, he’s back.

No more Star Citizen refunds

Derek Smart correctly anticipated Star Citizen’s new Terms of Service:

I have been making a lot of noise about the ToS and the fact that RSI/CIG are required to provide refunds and financial accountability to backers for failure to deliver the promised game, 18 months from the expiration Feb 2015 ToS v1.2. Those clauses triggered on May 31st, 2016.

I wrote about that extensively:

A lot of Shitizens said I was wrong, that I didn’t understand it, blah, blah, blah. Yet, with the latest 2.4 patch disaster hurriedly pushed to live (conveniently ahead of E3 which they recently backed out of attending), they have done precisely as I said they would.

They released a new ToS. And if your scam alarm bells aren’t going off already, well, you may be suffering from Sunk Cost Fallacy.

And it came to pass that the new June 2016 ToS has been released with the latest 2.4 “patch” going live. I am working on a blog post for it; but the highlights are:

– You can’t sue them – like ever
– Under no obligation to deliver anything – like ever. Oh and delivery date and clause removed
– No refunds – for any reason – like ever
– Can ban your account – for any reason – delete it, and not refund you

In the meantime, if you ever want legal recourse, do NOT download the 2.4 patch and do NOT do ANYTHING on their site and/or services in which you are required to agree to this new ToS.

That sounds like a company with tremendous faith in its own offerings, doesn’t it?

SJWs attack Warhammer

Social Justice Warriors declare war on Chaos:

Maturity is the ability to respond to the environment in an appropriate manner. This response is generally learned rather than instinctive. The outdated ideas about sex and sexuality – and they are outdated – that Slaanesh represents are simply not appropriate for the game any more. They’re not appropriate for younger gamers; they’re insulting to women, to trans and intersex people, as well as to any man whose sexuality extends beyond five quick pumps whilst thinking of England. The mature response would be to acknowledge this, and avoid the instinct to avoid change. Change terrifies people, especially members of the geek community, who loathe retcons with a passion that could eclipse suns.

But, in my opinion, Slaanesh shouldn’t be part of things as they are. So how could we deal with this?

Well, contrary to what you might think, I don’t actually believe we should Squat it. For better or worse, Slaanesh is a longstanding part of things, and it’s would be simply unfair to those gamers who’ve got Slaanesh armies. As well as this, 40K isn’t just a wargame any more; Fantasy Flight Games’ excellent lines of tabletop RPGs enable the discussion of some very mature themes, especially in more investigation-based games like ‘Dark Heresy’. A Slaanesh cult could be an intriguing way for an appropriately mature group of gamers to look at all kinds of ideas to do with the aforementioned sex, sexuality and other adult issues.

So what to do? Well, in my opinion, the best solution would be to ‘retire’ Slaanesh as a GW-produced faction and make the army Forge World’s property. If you’ve not read any of FW’s books, I can attest that they have demonstrated time and again that they can do nuance. Not to mention, FW’s models are NOT targeted at children, but explicitly as adult collectors, meaning it’s possible to completely ignore that issue of inappropriateness. GW as a company can completely take advantage of this, having its cake and eating it, and they should. Obviously, this does nothing to overcome the inherent problems of sexist models, or the deeply embedded homophobic and transphobic imagery, but that’s something which can be looked at over time in Black Library books, Forge World supplements, and FFG RPG supplements.

Slaanesh has already been replaced by the Horned Rat in AoS, which clearly shows it can be done in 40K too. To be honest, this is the ideal opportunity to do something exciting and new for Chaos players, giving them a whole new Chaos power to deal with. They could bring back Malal, or they could choose something else to fill the gap more naturally. Either way, it would be a step towards turning 40K into an actual, truly mature environment, and that can only be a good thing.

But it isn’t going over as well as earlier incursions in other areas, since the at least part of the Warhammer community is apparently aware of the driving force behind these demands for change.

  • You want to rewrite 40k (or something else) to evolve it into something more than caricatured meatheads in power armor and one-dimensional demons, that’s great, more power to you. You want to rewrite it because someone somewhere might use it as an excuse to glorify their imagined victimhood, hell no, f*** you. We have, as a society, been walking on eggshells for years, cringing in fear every time the Manufactured Grievance Industry opens its maw, and shamed into reflexive self-censorship. That’s not a path to maturity, that’s perpetual infantilization.
  • The longest article bols has ever produced and its basically puritan garbage.
  • Screw this politically correct noise, I don’t play warhammer to
    facilitate a discussion about sexuality and politics. I got enough of
    that in my sociology degree. I don’t really care if the aesthetic of
    Warhammer and Slaanesh is “immature” because maturity is not a virtue I
    associate with playing with plastkc soldiers with a heavy metal
    aesthetic.  
  • Social justice gaming. 
  • Usually the “Sexist” Complaint Mob are the most racist/sexist/Immature.
    And they are never happy with any response to an issue they have raise.
    They could Retcon the Emperor into a Asexual Gender queer Arrow and They
    would take issue with Emperors armor being “Male armor” Or The fact he
    has 20 sons Or The he a colonizer. The best Way to Be Mature Is to Say.
    There are Slaanesh Models If you don’t like them Then Don’t Buy them for
    your Children. Your “Moral” views should Have Zero on what I use my
    Money to purchase
  • Today’s achingly sensitive souls are like the high-minded moralists of
    the Victorian era; always taking offensive just for the joy of being
    offended. ‘Look what a kind, intelligent, sensitive person I must be,
    I’ve opened your eyes to a load of crap that yesterday no-one with more
    than two brain cells had ever taken remotely seriously anyway.’  The article has nothing to do with morality and everything to do with the author’s own ego and sense of himself.
  •  Don’t like it? Don’t buy it. Don’t watch it. Don’t listen to it.
    SJWs often forget, that we’re kinda living in a free world, where everyone have a choice of what they want to do/see/feel. Oh, wait, I forgot – SJWs are the ones who try to use theme of “protecting someone’s rights” to simply stomp other’s freedom.

By this point, it should be obvious that #GamerGate was never just about video games, it was merely the first battleground. As explained in SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police, SJWs will NEVER stop until society is fully converged. No organization, no interest, no activity, and no individual is safe from their thought-policing. Neutrality is not possible because they do not recognize it. Submission or resistance are the two available options.

    More Star Citizen shenanigans

    Derek Smart has news about CIG’s unusual approach to customer support:

    Here is what happened over the weekend.

    A backer whale with over $40K “invested” in Star Citizen, discovered
    that he was tagged (essentially Blacklisted) in the CIG customer service
    dB.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Starcitizen_trades/comments/4mmg4y/psa_cigs_blacklist_categorization/

    In a hilariously inept (it’s CIG!) move, they didn’t realize that Zendesk tags are public facing.

    If you had been tagged, you could find out by going to the support page
    and opening a new support request. the dropdown should be there if you
    have been tagged.

    https://cloudimperiumservicesllc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

    Some people were calling it a fake.

    So others (including myself) went digging. What we found was rather startling to say the least.

    Then one person confirmed it; as did several others less than an hour later.

    http://i.imgur.com/THVmlKH.jpg

    Someone with a tag made a video of it because some Shitizens (abusive
    & toxic anti-social Star Citizen fans) were claiming the whole thing
    was fake.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXD7JKT6bcE

    In my case, they gave me a special tag. This is a dump direct from the
    page via Javascript and JSON. From the main CS page, you could just go
    to the page > View Source > search for “Greetings sourcecode
    lurker!”

    https://i.imgur.com/o0UJmfc.png

    A forum thread “Publicly tagging customers in CIG CS?” that appeared on
    the CIG website was not only closed, it was completely removed.
    Archive.is capture: http://archive.is/L2G1k

    Not only was CIG caught using customer information given to them, then
    matching it against information (e.g. a Goon is a denizen of the SA
    forums) they pulled elsewhere, but they were also using it to determine
    the level of service and attention given to backers who have thus far
    given them almost $115 million.

    This just keeps getting crazier and crazier….