Tag: games

Remember, women NEVER LIE about rape

I cannot believe this. I am LITERALLY shaking with rage right now. This woman was RAPED and yet neither her husband nor the police believe her. WOMEN NEVER LIE ABOUT RAPE!

Police say a young woman has lodged a formal complaint that she has been raped – by a Pokemon. She told officers that she had been sexually assaulted by a giant Pokemon in her apartment in the Russian capital city of Moscow.

The married woman, whose name has not been released, had reportedly been playing Pokemon GO before she fell asleep. She claimed that she woke up to find a huge Pokemon lying on top of her body and says it was raping her.

The woman says the Pokemon disappeared when she jumped out of bed – but says the Pokemon GO app on her phone could still detect the same virtual character’s presence on her bed.

She woke up her husband to tell her what had happened who told police officers that he did not believe her and told her to see a psychiatrist. Russian news website Bloknot reports that the police did not believe her either.

If you don’t believe that Pokemon rape is real, you are part of the problem. Pokemon is rape culture.

Star Citizen: a backer’s perspective

An old school Wing Commander fan explains why he backed Star Citizen and why, despite being a critic of Derek Smart, he has reluctantly come to conclude that Derek appears to be more or less correct:

After the initial crowdfunding campaign they kept promising more and more stuff. Not only had the game gone from being the “spiritual successor of Wing Commander” (a single player game), it was blowing up to be a full MMORPG. And I was fine with that. At first. I was so fine that when they showed off the Retaliator bomber I loved it and dished out $225 for one. And the idea of being information smuggler sounded cool so I dished out money for that too. But then as they continued to get millions of dollars every month I kinda saw it getting out of hand. I fully realise I know very little of what it actually takes to deliver a game and I know it takes a lot of time to make a game. A delay can easily be a year. But when they were promising new features, new ships without actually releasing much I kinda saw the problems of this ever being released. If they take two-three months to get a ship to “flight ready” and they keep coming up with 7-8 new ships every year, how are they ever to get done? If they add new feature to the scope before releasing the basic ones promised during Kickstarter like trading, how are they ever gonna get done?

And during July of 2015 Derek Smart happened. He’s a game maker who has tried to pull off these grand space games for years and never really made it. Which means he knows some of the pitfalls of even trying. He started criticising the “Star Citizen” project – very vocally, bullyuishly, annoyingly, contrived, “deliberately wanting to turn everything into a bad thing” way. And he got very personal against Chris Roberts, his wife and his lawyer (that all co-founded the studio) in a way that was really uncool. But he always stopped right at the border of lying or making shit up. Yes, he twisted everything into a negative thing. And I was right there to point out the actual facts. But the problem of trying to argue with him was the fact that “CIG” (the studio making the game) never managed to prove him wrong. They never managed to shut him up by stepping up to the plate and deliver. Instead, they made his case stronger by coming up with more irrelevant features (plants anyone?), more subscriber flare, more ship-concept sales, more of everything except actual game content. An all this while constantly missing “estimated” release dates that they themselves estimated and set.

Then they went ahead and wrote a new Terms of Service that we have to accept. Which is fine, Blizzard does it all the time. But I actually read those things, it’s a result of working with lawyers for 8 years – I actually read before I sign. And in this Terms of Service they had removed any accountability what so ever, every chance of demanding a refund. It was basically a carté blanche for them to sail away with the $117+ million they had gotten from backers and as long as the company CIG was still “active” and stating the game was still being worked on (without ever actually delivering anything) then we had no rights at all as consumers. I really wasn’t OK with that. So I refused to accept the terms of service. That had the side effect of me not being able to login to the so called “game”.

 Hey, I assumed Derek was full of it too at first, but that was a consequence of my complete ignorance about what he’d been up to since the Battlecruiser 3000 AD days. After he appeared on Brainstorm last year, and convinced a number of game devs, who were far more dubious about him than the average gamer can likely understand, that he knew what he was talking about and that there were intractable problems designed into the development plan, I freely admitted I’d misjudged him.

I even invited him to speak at DevGame, which he did, and where he was a hit with many of the larval game developers there.

The ironic thing is that I’ve known and liked Chris for a long time. I even tried to help him get funding for the Wing Commander reboot, and I could have easily been an early team member of Star Citizen; he was very interested in using my psychological AI approach for the AI-controlled wingmen back when it was still going to be a Wing Commander-style game.

But no amount of doubts about Derek or respect for Chris changes the facts on the ground. They are what they are. And repeatedly, they have demonstrated that Derek is correct, the skeptical industry observers are correct, and the final meltdown is coming into view. This TOS fiasco looks exceptionally shady to me, and likely marks the beginning of the end.

However, Chris may have one last maneuver in him. Derek and I were discussing this – Derek was initially of the opinion that there is no way out – but it’s what I would do if Chris unexpectedly asked me to rescue the project.

  1. Freeze all game development and release all game dev personnel.
  2. Take the massive amount of footage and effects and turn them into a movie.
  3. Release the movie and pray for sufficient success to provide the funding for developing a new Wing Commander-style game of the sort that people wanted in the first place.

It’s a Hail Mary, but it’s the one approach for which Chris still has the resources, and perhaps more importantly, which still has the capability to provide outcomes that will keep everyone more or less happy, employed, and out of prison. Movies are much simpler than games, particularly big budget games, and although the chances of Chris making a good movie that will be successful enough to kick out the $25 million needed to remake Wing Commander are slim, slim is always a damned sight better than none.

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.