Star Citizen's Superbackers

rpmcmurphy · August 2016

A good article into the strange people that have plonked $2000, $5000, $10,000, $20,000 or more into one single game.

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/08/04/who-are-the-star-citizen-superbackers

Rictis · August 2016

Yep, i know someone that has put over $25,000 donating into this game. Not only did he donate but I guess he drank the koolaid too, because if he thinks you are going to bad mouth it at all he will attack you. Not even in a funny way either, he will literally just verbally bash you and make things up in the process.

Sirmatthias · August 2016

The worst part is even if the game will get released long after the next century has passed and 5 world wars , they will still be talking about this game.

Erillion · August 2016

THAT is to me the central message of this article:

"Maybe that’s what’s unique about Star Citizen: that for at least some of its backers (the happy ones) it’s not a product they’re paying for, but the experience of being a backer. Like that age-old piece of advice to gamblers heading out to Vegas for the weekend, the people who come back happy aren’t generally the people who go to win, but the people who can see their losses at the tables as the price of a good time."

Have fun

klash2def · August 2016

here have this L

Octagon7711 · August 2016

Good article, thanks for pointing it out.

I must say that what they're doing is very ambitious. A new studio working two AAA titles at the same time as well as two large side modules. AC & SM. Most new studios have a difficult time just creating one AAA game.

CR has experience in producing games but I think this is the first time he's been the CEO of one from start to finish. Also creating an open world PvP game is a big challenge in itself as there's always griefing and camping to contend with, and the stakes are raised with ships costing two and three hundred dollars and that's not adding on the price of upgraded equipment.

This will be interesting and I look forward to seeing how all of this works out. I'm mainly interested in SQ42 and look forward to that game as I really enjoyed the Wing Commander series.

rpmcmurphy · August 2016

Erillion said:

THAT is to me the central message of this article:

"Maybe that’s what’s unique about Star Citizen: that for at least some of its backers (the happy ones) it’s not a product they’re paying for, but the experience of being a backer. Like that age-old piece of advice to gamblers heading out to Vegas for the weekend, the people who come back happy aren’t generally the people who go to win, but the people who can see their losses at the tables as the price of a good time."

Have fun

That's the message that you choose to take away from the 'experience'. You feel it's an 'experience' because that makes you feel better. You're not just 1 of 500,000 backers or someone who doesn't get game development anymore, you are now an enlightened individual belongng to an esteemed club who understands the cosmic message that Chris Roberts is broadcasting on the space waves of the Milky Way for the ultimate Star Citizen experience.

I'm sure there's some psychological term for it but the only word that springs to mind is delusion
/jk

It's like the guy in the article who says he doesn't even read complaints, he just shuts the article down or puts the complainee on ignore, that's simply narrow-minded, willfully ignorant, head-in-the-sand or whatever you want to call it. How can someone be enlightened to the special experience if they're only allowing themselves to see one side of it?

Have fun

Phaserlight · August 2016

It reads like an addiction bio, to be honest:

"“I don’t know why I caved. It looked cool. So I bought the Rear Admiral package and then it went all downhill from there."

I wonder what the previous guy's wife thinks about the $2,000 he spent as more time goes by.

'There's a new drug circulating the streets of cyberspace: its name is Star Citizen. These are some of its backers' stories.' (/satire)

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_refunds/

Good luck, everyone (whether or not you are trying to get a refund or in for the long haul, I really mean it).

Balmong · August 2016

This reminds me of when I counted up how much I'd payed to Blizzard when I was playing WoW as a teen, came to a total of about $1100 over the 6 years I played. Just goes to show how much people will pay for something they enjoy.

When it comes to SC though, i'm definitely still at Colonel pledge rank, or about as much as a collectors edition copy of a new game.

Erillion · August 2016

To each his own.

Its their money, they can spend it any way they please.

I am quite happy with one account and one ship (Constellation).

Have fun

Saxx0n · August 2016

rpmcmurphy said:

Erillion said:

THAT is to me the central message of this article:

"Maybe that’s what’s unique about Star Citizen: that for at least some of its backers (the happy ones) it’s not a product they’re paying for, but the experience of being a backer. Like that age-old piece of advice to gamblers heading out to Vegas for the weekend, the people who come back happy aren’t generally the people who go to win, but the people who can see their losses at the tables as the price of a good time."

Have fun

That's the message that you choose to take away from the 'experience'. You feel it's an 'experience' because that makes you feel better. You're not just 1 of 500,000 backers or someone who doesn't get game development anymore, you are now an enlightened individual belongng to an esteemed club who understands the cosmic message that Chris Roberts is broadcasting on the space waves of the Milky Way for the ultimate Star Citizen experience.

I'm sure there's some psychological term for it but the only word that springs to mind is delusion
/jk

It's like the guy in the article who says he doesn't even read complaints, he just shuts the article down or puts the complainee on ignore, that's simply narrow-minded, willfully ignorant, head-in-the-sand or whatever you want to call it. How can someone be enlightened to the special experience if they're only allowing themselves to see one side of it?

Have fun

You guys must be scraping the bottom of the barrel again. Usually you are much more creative in your criticism and attacks.

Balmong · August 2016

Phaserlight said:

It reads like an addiction bio, to be honest:

"“I don’t know why I caved. It looked cool. So I bought the Rear Admiral package and then it went all downhill from there."

I wonder what the previous guy's wife thinks about the $2,000 he spent as more time goes by.

'There's a new drug circulating the streets of cyberspace: its name is Star Citizen. These are some of its backers' stories.' (/satire)

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_refunds/

Good luck, everyone.

I'm not sure if you understand addiction, what you described is buyers remorse. That'll happen fairly often when people make a large purpose, and then fret over getting a return for their investment (i.e. a house).

If he felt the need to compulsively keep buying every new ship that comes out, I would agree.

While I feel $2,000 is way to much to spend on a game, if he has the disposable income, it's his to do with as he sees fit. I've heard worse stories of extravagant purchases.

rpmcmurphy · August 2016

Saxx0n said:

You guys must be scraping the bottom of the barrel again. Usually you are much more creative in your criticism and attacks.

Aww someone sounds offended at my amusement.

There there.

Phaserlight · August 2016

Balmong said:

Phaserlight said:

It reads like an addiction bio, to be honest:

"“I don’t know why I caved. It looked cool. So I bought the Rear Admiral package and then it went all downhill from there."

I wonder what the previous guy's wife thinks about the $2,000 he spent as more time goes by.

'There's a new drug circulating the streets of cyberspace: its name is Star Citizen. These are some of its backers' stories.' (/satire)

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_refunds/

Good luck, everyone.

I'm not sure if you understand addiction

I really do.

Note the common thread of starting small, and snowballing into larger and larger amounts.

I'm not saying all Star Citizen whales are addicts, but the type of rationale and mindset being presented in the article is all too familiar.

It even states in the article that other crowdfunding devs must think: "what makes this game worth ten, 20 or 50 times the investment we received for ours?’"

There's something extra going on around this project that I've noticed since December 2012, and it's beginning to look an awful lot like the unfortunate ways I've seen people behave around other addictive substances as well.

I'm not saying this is 100% the case with all whales, but it would explain a lot. To me, the article really presented it in that light; after all, it was titled "Who Are The Star Citizen Superbackers?". If it was an article on game mechanics I would have walked away with something else.

It's really made me wonder, because without a MVP on the market CIG *desperately needs* these so-called 'superbackers' to survive. The article presents an interesting window on the life circumstances and mindset of some of them.

Kefo · August 2016

Octagon7711 said:

Good article, thanks for pointing it out.

I must say that what they're doing is very ambitious. A new studio working two AAA titles at the same time as well as two large side modules. AC & SM. Most new studios have a difficult time just creating one AAA game.

CR has experience in producing games but I think this is the first time he's been the CEO of one from start to finish. Also creating an open world PvP game is a big challenge in itself as there's always griefing and camping to contend with, and the stakes are raised with ships costing two and three hundred dollars and that's not adding on the price of upgraded equipment.

This will be interesting and I look forward to seeing how all of this works out. I'm mainly interested in SQ42 and look forward to that game as I really enjoyed the Wing Commander series.

CR has been the founder, and CEO of a game company before. I won't beat the dead dog some more since its been discussed over and over.

Point is this isn't his first rodeo as the founder and CEO of a company. We will see if he learned his past lessons or if his ego is keeping him thinking he's on top of the world

CrazKanuk · August 2016

Kefo said:

Octagon7711 said:

Good article, thanks for pointing it out.

I must say that what they're doing is very ambitious. A new studio working two AAA titles at the same time as well as two large side modules. AC & SM. Most new studios have a difficult time just creating one AAA game.

CR has experience in producing games but I think this is the first time he's been the CEO of one from start to finish. Also creating an open world PvP game is a big challenge in itself as there's always griefing and camping to contend with, and the stakes are raised with ships costing two and three hundred dollars and that's not adding on the price of upgraded equipment.

This will be interesting and I look forward to seeing how all of this works out. I'm mainly interested in SQ42 and look forward to that game as I really enjoyed the Wing Commander series.

CR has been the founder, and CEO of a game company before. I won't beat the dead dog some more since its been discussed over and over.

Point is this isn't his first rodeo as the founder and CEO of a company. We will see if he learned his past lessons or if his ego is keeping him thinking he's on top of the world

I tend to agree. I want to say he has learned his lesson. Scope creep aside, he's handed over the reigns to someone who has actually released a game in the past decade. Same goes for Pantheon. Brad started out on the same road, but quickly handed over control to someone who can manage people (since his first go around was equally awful). Let's hope that's enough.

Kefo · August 2016

CrazKanuk said:

Kefo said:

Octagon7711 said:

Good article, thanks for pointing it out.

I must say that what they're doing is very ambitious. A new studio working two AAA titles at the same time as well as two large side modules. AC & SM. Most new studios have a difficult time just creating one AAA game.

CR has experience in producing games but I think this is the first time he's been the CEO of one from start to finish. Also creating an open world PvP game is a big challenge in itself as there's always griefing and camping to contend with, and the stakes are raised with ships costing two and three hundred dollars and that's not adding on the price of upgraded equipment.

This will be interesting and I look forward to seeing how all of this works out. I'm mainly interested in SQ42 and look forward to that game as I really enjoyed the Wing Commander series.

CR has been the founder, and CEO of a game company before. I won't beat the dead dog some more since its been discussed over and over.

Point is this isn't his first rodeo as the founder and CEO of a company. We will see if he learned his past lessons or if his ego is keeping him thinking he's on top of the world

I tend to agree. I want to say he has learned his lesson. Scope creep aside, he's handed over the reigns to someone who has actually released a game in the past decade. Same goes for Pantheon. Brad started out on the same road, but quickly handed over control to someone who can manage people (since his first go around was equally awful). Let's hope that's enough.

He handed things off to his brother but from what I read and how people talk is still sounds like Chris is micromanaging the project to its detriment.

Balmong · August 2016

Phaserlight said:

Balmong said:

Phaserlight said:

It reads like an addiction bio, to be honest:

"“I don’t know why I caved. It looked cool. So I bought the Rear Admiral package and then it went all downhill from there."

I wonder what the previous guy's wife thinks about the $2,000 he spent as more time goes by.

'There's a new drug circulating the streets of cyberspace: its name is Star Citizen. These are some of its backers' stories.' (/satire)

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_refunds/

Good luck, everyone.

I'm not sure if you understand addiction

I really do.

Note the common thread of starting small, and snowballing into larger and larger amounts.

I'm not saying all Star Citizen whales are addicts, but the type of rationale and mindset being presented in the article is all too familiar.

It even states in the article that other crowdfunding devs must think: "makes this game worth ten, 20 or 50 times the investment we received for ours?’"

There's something extra going on around this project that I've noticed since December 2012, and it's beginning to look an awful lot like the unfortunate ways I've seen people behave around other addictive substances as well.

I'm not saying this is 100% the case with all whales, but it would explain a lot. To me, the article really presented it in that light; after all, it was titled "Who Are The Star Citizen Superbackers?". If it was an article on game mechanics I would have walked away with something else.

It's really made me wonder, because without a MVP on the market CIG *desperately needs* these so-called 'superbackers' to survive. The article presents an interesting window on the life circumstances and mindset of some of them.

In any walk of life you'll run across people who delve into excess. I agree that there are probably some whales who struggle against the Fear of Missing Out, but i'm not sure if this goes as far as addiction. As I mentioned earlier in one of my posts, I used to play WoW for about 6 years. During that time I can most definitely tell you I had an unhealthy addiction to the game, I was always chasing that next piece of gear. You see this present in plenty of games, though those usually don't come with as big of a price tag as SC does.

Take any League of Legends holiday sale. I had a buddy who dropped $60 to get the current years skins, as well as the previous. He doesn't even use most of the characters they're for, but he felt the overwhelming need to grab them while he could.

But it comes down to dopamine levels. If they truly derive a pleasurable feeling from purchasing the ships, as I did while grinding gear in WoW, it could always lead to addiction. This has been a prevalent problem in gaming recently, and one that some developers are willing to exploit (looking at you mobile games).

Octagon7711 · August 2016

I said it somewhere before, it kind of reminds me of this...

Image: http://godsbreathpublications.com/images/churchofscientology.jpg

Image: http://mygaming.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Star-Citizen-preview-header.jpg

rpmcmurphy · August 2016

The subreddit has its say https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/4w3wn7/kotaku_who_are_the_star_citizen_superbackers/

Oriphus · August 2016

Octagon7711 said:

I said it somewhere before, it kind of reminds me of this...

That's interesting, it reminds me a lot of this -

scorpex-x · August 2016

rpmcmurphy said:

A good article into the strange people that have plonked $2000, $5000, $10,000, $20,000 or more into one single game.

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/08/04/who-are-the-star-citizen-superbackers

I'm not sure what country you are from but you don't seem to understand that to many people 20k is chump change.

When you're making well over 6 figures a year, you're practically looking for things to waste money on.

When you're making good money, it's just there to waste honestly. If people want to spend it on a game, more power to them. No more or less wasteful than designer clothes, a car well above what you need or anything else people throw money away on.

rodarin · August 2016

It took on a life of its own. I suspect that a vast majority of these so called super backers have little to no intention of actually playing the game. They simply made a calculated risk that it would get made and it would be everything (or at least something resembling) the developers claimed it would be. Then they planned on cashing in on these ships they bought. I am sure many have already ejected out of them already fearing they have to cut and run. And those that cant sell their ships are now seeking refunds.

These comments about all these closet millionaires to whom 20K or more is 'nothing' are fairy tales. Sure there are people that DO have that money but most of them are smart enough not to waste it like that. Thats why they have it in the first place. Nor do they have time to (eventually) play videos games let alone research and do their due diligence to figure out if backing it wold be worth it in the first place.

That is of course if you believe everything that has been claimed about how much money they have 'raised' 100%.

But this article does prove one thing I have said all along, the longer they go without releasing the game the more money they will make because even now with all the issues and questions and problems people still continue to give them money, and more money than they will if it ever gets completed.

CrazKanuk · August 2016

Octagon7711 said:

I said it somewhere before, it kind of reminds me of this...

That's not even a really good analogy. I could just as easily say: <insert any hyped game> reminds me a lot of <insert any religion> and it would pretty much be accurate.

BeansnBread · August 2016

He was referring to their symbol.

Erillion · August 2016

BeansnBread said:

He was referring to their symbol.

???

One is a star.

The other is a cross.

Have fun

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Star Citizen's Superbackers

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"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

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Star Citizen's Superbackers

Comments

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey