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.
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?
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 The outdated ideas about sex and sexuality – and they are outdated – that Slaanesh represents are simply not appropriate for the game any more.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.
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.
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!”
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.
In case you didn’t know who that is, Mark Skelton was, until now, the Art Director for Star Citizen. I also understand that at least one top-level suit will be announcing a similar departure soon.
But don’t worry. There is always Elite Dangerous. To say nothing of what looks like the incredibly exciting Goats In Space.
Derek Smart chronicles the growing industry awareness that not all is right in the Star Citizen universe:
For Star Citizen, the elephant in the room in terms of tech, is this notion that somehow a twitch-based game designed to be instanced, and which can’t even get more than 10 clients in a session without very bad things happening, is going to turn into an MMO. But back in Nov 2012 (when he was seeking funding for the project) when Chris Roberts wrote this missive about multiplayer and instancing, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that this guy – who hadn’t made a game in almost 15 years at the time – really believed that what he was writing and dreaming about, was in fact possible. Hint: it’s not. Like over 90% (at last count) of everything he has said/promised about this project in order to get funding, it’s pure and utter horse shit. And back in July 2015, one of the devs actually added his own thoughts which then made it painfully clear that not only were they winging it – which is the basis for R&D btw – but that they also had absolutely no clue how they were going to actually do it.
As of this writing, not much has changed since then; neither in the underlying network architecture, nor the instancing part of it.
As an experienced software engineer, I tell you – flat out – that inter-instance communication described in this manner – and for the game pitched – is not only improbable, but it’s also the sort of thing that fairy dust is made of. And we’re not talking about the ability for a database in one server instance to talk to another database (e.g. user) in another instance. That’s pretty trivial (we’ve done just that in Line Of Defense btw) and rudimentary. No, we’re talking about the ability for one game instance (A) with players, to communicate with another game instance (B) that also has players. As that is the only way that you’re ever going to get Tom on A to see/communicate with Harry on B. Before you even go that far, know this, in order for that to even work, you need to have a unified and persistent universe that acts as the “play” area for Tom and Harry.
Before you say Eve Online has done it; don’t – they haven’t. If you’re a programmer, go ahead and read up on the EO architecture (1, 2) – which btw has been drastically improved upon over the years. That EO bespoke architecture was built from the ground up as part of the engine and for a specific game. A game that’s not twitch-based or anywhere near the fidelity of the seamless architecture that Star Citizen is shooting for.
Simply put, without a seamless inter-instance communication backend, there is no Star Citizen MMO. Like ever. And while Chris was flat out of his depths and just making shit up, Alex on the other hand outlined how it could be done. Theoretically. See the difference between those two accounts of the same thing? While you’re at it, this is the list of games made with CryEngine. Count the number of standard MMO games which have actually been completed and released.
As I write this blog in the middle of May 2016, not only do they not have a persistent universe to speak of, but they still have serious issues with instances hosting more than 10 clients. Not only that, as an instanced game, the chances of you and your buddies to be in the same instance are next to impossible. This is not a game whereby you fire up a server browser, join a server, then tell you friends to come to that server before it fills up. Nor is it a game whereby you can spin up your own private server – which they also promised btw.
The sad part of all this? They were never supposed to be building an MMO to begin with. Somewhere along the line, despite saying it wasn’t an MMO, Chris decided they were going to build one after all. Just like that.
The first session in the DevGame 2.0 course begins tomorrow at 12:30 Eastern. I’m concerned that I don’t have the emails for the two of you who paid at the White Bull site, so shoot me an email if you did and you haven’t received an invite yet.
Above is a screenshot from a game that one team of our DevGame 1.0 attendees has created; the game is very close to completion and the lead programmer and the lead artist will be making appearances to discuss how they applied what they learned to Elveteka, which is a remake of the classic Apple II game Karateka.
If you are a Brainstorm member or took the DevGame 1.0 course, you are welcome to attend. It’s not too late, so if you want to attend, you can either sign up for the course, or just shoot me an email with DEVGAME in the subject if you qualify for a free seat.
Don’t fret if you don’t receive the registration link right away. I’ll send another batch out tomorrow morning.
Speaking of the Hugo Awards, it’s downright hilarious to see how completely the SJWs reject Sun Tzu’s admonition to know oneself as well as one’s enemy. Their problem, you see, is that they are just too decent and good and pure and naive to discuss politics or even be in contact with anyone who refuses to submit to their Narrative.
renepavan With guys like Vox Day throwing their weight around, and Trump supporters and alt-right dudes becoming increasingly more common in the Internet, I find myself staying more and more away from anything having to do with political discussions.
We Liberals have a tendency to be too idealistic and naive when dealing with sociopaths like Vox Day. We think adhering to the laws and customs and moderation and good manners and common sense will eventually win the day. I don’t think so anymore.
When you face sociopaths, you should either go to war with them and beat them, or you should just go away and avoid any further contact. Honestly, dudes that actually preach genocide and purging the human species from the “weak” scare the crap out of me (I’m not necessarily talking about Vox Day here, but alt-right dudes that have started to proliferate online, Vox Day’s brothers and sisters).
I never thought I’d miss the Bush supporters. 🙂
So yeah, I’m staying well away from anything having to do with politics from now on. I tend to get too angry and frustrated. And I think “our” side in this Hugo mess is being too moderate in dealing with VD and his cohorts. He will not go away by himself, and I feel the Hugo “brand” is doomed.
grrm It is sad but true that often liberals are handicapped by their own liberalism and sense of fair play.
It’s good to see SJWs rediscovering the benefits of segregation, anyhow. It’s even better to see that they remain entirely clueless about themselves. I have to admit, it is certainly informative to learn that shrieking “racist sexist transphobic bigot anti-semite global warming denier” at those who disagree with you and attempting to discredit and disemploy them is nothing more than “adhering to the laws and customs and moderation and good manners and common sense.”
Regardless, watching SJWs try to play the naive liberal is like seeing a cannibal answer the door while wearing the skin of his most recent victim.
Speaking of segregation, one author has withdrawn his book from a competition because the reviewers are SJWs who are more interested in “who, whom” than anything to do with the actual plot, characterizations, or writing style of the book:
There’s been a trend swelling in the last few years among book reviews, fueled by the “outrage cliches” of the interweb. This idea that a book, a story, should be judged largely based on several things which matter more than anything else: The color of the main character’s skin, their sex, and their sexuality. Then the same for the author.
How bad is it? Last week the Nebula awards were swept by female authors. Which would be totally fine … except for how the news presented it, which was best summed up in the i09 article I read that didn’t discuss the books that won at all, but only that the winning authors were women.
Since there is no place for us where they are, there can be no place for them where we are.
If you’re a Brainstorm member and want to attend, email me with DEVGAME in the subject. If you’re not and would like to attend, please sign up here. The course starts next Saturday and will continue for 10 weeks.
There will be the opportunity to work on actual game projects, such as Elveteka, the game from which the screenshot above is taken, which is nearing completion and was developed by a team of DevGame 1.0 attendees.
Derek Smart explains why he believes Chris Roberts’s statement about a “minimum viable product” is an extinction level event:
WHY I BELIEVE THIS TO BE THE FINAL NAIL IN THE STAR CITIZEN COFFIN.
None of the arguments people are making are relevant. And White Knights, Shitizens, and Shillizens are doing what they always do: obfuscate, attack, confuse, distort.
These are what’s relevant; all the points from my latest blog.
1) The game he originally pitched simply cannot be built once he increased the scope. Period. All the features already cut out, are evidence of this. 2) The CryEngine which he chose to build the game with, is simply not capable of building it. And yes, even though they now have a custom version of it, that’s more about re-inventing the wheel, than it is about making sure the wheel is still round. The latter being the basis of using a core engine from which a custom engine is derived. 3) Following my first July 2015 blog in which I made the statements I said as:
“Without disrespect to anyone, I’m just going to say it: it is my opinion that, this game, as has been pitched, will never get made. Ever. There isn’t a single publisher or developer on this planet who could build this game as pitched, let alone for anything less than $150 million. The original vision which I backed in 2012? Yes, that was totally doable. This new vision? Not a chance. The technical scope of this game surpasses GTAV, not to mention the likes of Halo. Do you have any idea what those games cost to make and how long they took? Do you know how many games which cost $50 million to make took almost five years to release? And they were nowhere in scope as Star Citizen?“
“You all know that already; you’ve lived that. You’ve seen Star Citizen evolve and start to come together. You’ve watched our atoms form molecules, our modules form a real, playable game (that you can boot up and play today!). There are people out there who are going to tell you that this is all a BAD THING. That it’s ‘feature creep’ and we should make a smaller, less impressive game for the sake of having it out more quickly or in order to meet artificial deadlines. Now I’ll answer those claims in one word: Bullshit! Star Citizen matters BECAUSE it is big, because it is a bold dream. It is something everyone else is scared to try. You didn’t back Star Citizen because you want what you’ve seen before. You’re here and reading this because we are willing to go big, to do the things that terrify publishers. You’ve trusted us with your money so we can build a game, not line our pockets. And we sure as hell didn’t run this campaign so we could put that money in the bank, guarantee ourselves a profit and turn out some flimsy replica of a game I’ve made before. You went all in supporting us and we’ve gone all in making the game. Is Star Citizen today a bigger goal than I imagined in 2012? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not: it’s the whole damn point.“
As with all his previous statements and promises, you can flush this one down the toilet too. Chris evolved to be more of a salesman, than a game developer/designer. And a patently dishonest one. How coincidental is it that – again – shortly after my latest blog dropped, and which I said this:
“And as I have stated before, Chris being a dreamer, I don’t believe that he set out to scam gamers. However, the only right thing that he can do now is to come clean, explain to the backers what he can and cannot do, what went wrong and how, provide the financials to the backers who are entitled to it, and stop taking money for a project he knows all too well that he simply cannot deliver as originally promised.”
He does this latest 104TC in which he reveals that the short-term goal is to deliver a MVP.
“So, really what we’re doing with Star Citizen is we’re working on the game, adding features for an incredibly ambitious design – I don’t think there is any other game that is trying to do as much as we’re trying to do. So, degree of difficulty 11, not 10. And, we’ll have what we determine is a minimum viable product feature list for what you would call Star Citizen the commercial release which is basically when you say, “Okay, we’ve gotten to this point and we’ve still got plans to add a lot more cool stuff and more content and more functionality and more features…” – Which by the way includes some of the later stretch goals we have because not all of that is going to be for ‘absolutely right here’ on the commercial release. But we’ll have something that we’ll think, ‘Okay yeah, not everyone can play it but it doesn’t matter – you can load it up, it plays really well, it’s really stable, there’s lots of content, there’s lots of fun things to do, different professions, lots of places to go, we’ve got a really good ecosystem.’ So, when we get to that point that’s when we would say, “Now it’s not alpha, it’s not beta, it’s Star Citizen 1.0.”
We spent two hours discussing this at Brainstorm a few months ago, and considering the way in which Derek managed to impress even his most inveterate skeptics and haters with his expertise and technical observations during that session, I see absolutely no reason to doubt him now.
If anyone wonders what side of the cultural divide that Chuck Tingle, author of Rapid Puppy pick “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” , falls on, he’s having Zoe Quinn, Gamergate patient zero, make his video game.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful. I very much doubt any of these SJWs have ever actually seen Depression Quest. It should be absolutely fascinating to see what Locke Valentine does with Mr. Tingle’s inimitable oeuvre, given her almost unbelievably limited skill set.
