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Longtime 'Star Citizen' Backers Want Its New Referral Contest to Die in a Black Hole

Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,000
The is an article from Motherboard about some long term backers being upset over the new SC referral program.

New referral program emphasizes high-profile streamers, invites players to wildly unfinished game.

Developers of multiplayer video games often host referral programs encouraging existing players to recruit their friends for a boost in cash flow, and in that regard, the new referral contest from Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games isn't much out of the ordinary. The same can't be said of the reactions from the players themselves. Venture into the Star Citizen subreddit, and you'll find it peppered with highly upvoted threads decrying the competition. Their concerns aren't without merit. Not only do many doubt Star Citizen is in an attractive enough position to lure in newcomers, but they're also pissed that Cloud Imperium seemingly aimed the promotion at prominent streamers rather than the rank-and-file players who've played all along. Considering Star Citizen's crowdfunding origins, the approach comes off as an insult.

Rest of article at the link.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/longtime-star-citizen-backers-want-its-new-referral-contest-to-die-in-a-black-hole

"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

Comments

  • refo18refo18 Member UncommonPosts: 33
    This quote from the article is priceless, yet might be somewhat true.  



    YouTuber General Makaba probably said it best in the comments for the referral contest's official video announcement, which currently has 991 downvotes versus 305 upvotes.

    "I swear to god, there will be no one left to buy the game when it comes out. LOL."


     Such an aggressive campaign before the game releases means the "wow factor" will be gone by the time the game comes out, if it comes out.   People who get brought in now might not care in a year or two...

    image
  • MaxBaconMaxBacon Member LegendaryPosts: 7,765
    edited April 2017
    The biggest issue within backers is that this wasn't made for normal backers, but presented to them instead, that wasn't cool. If they want to create partnerships with livestreamers / youtubers they should have presented this to them instead.

    It has two big flaws, the fact there needs to be more of a game before it justifies more promotion, and how it how it is meant for a small minority.
  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435

    MaxBacon said:

    The biggest issue within backers is that this wasn't made for normal backers, but presented to them instead, that wasn't cool. If they want to create partnerships with livestreamers / youtubers they should have presented this to them instead.

    It has two big flaws, the fact there needs to be more of a game before it justifies more promotion, and how it how it is meant for a small minority.


    Surprisingly critical comments coming from you, must have merit if you agree with them on some points.


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  • rodarinrodarin Member EpicPosts: 2,611

    refo18 said:

    This quote from the article is priceless, yet might be somewhat true.  



    YouTuber General Makaba probably said it best in the comments for the referral contest's official video announcement, which currently has 991 downvotes versus 305 upvotes.

    "I swear to god, there will be no one left to buy the game when it comes out. LOL."


     Such an aggressive campaign before the game releases means the "wow factor" will be gone by the time the game comes out, if it comes out.   People who get brought in now might not care in a year or two...



    Thats the whole point theyre not making a game right now theyre making money (and have been for years) off people buying stuff they hope to sell at some point.

    I really dont think many people are interested in actually PLAYING SC, if they were there would be more than a dozen people on the test bed. People bought ships and sold them on the off markets, but that has dried up because those 'exclusives' became not so exclusive and people stopped buying them (and reselling them).

    SC has basically been a money generating entity for awhile now, for CR and company and the people who bought in early and often. Although I suspect the people who bought in way back when have already cashed out by now.
  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332
    If they are doing it via streamers and it is not being announced as advertising or sponsored,they could be in for some serious legal action,like a LOT of money.FTC has laid out strict guidelines that some simple note is NOT enough.
    I have no problem at all with friends asking friends to join them in games,i encourage it but when the developer starts doing it for perks,something is wrong.
    A good game sells itself,word of mouth,anything else is sneaky tactics and sort of proof the game cannot sell itself but needs misleading/improper ideals to sell it.
    In reality,we should not be surprised by ANYTHING dubious coming out of Cloud Imperium.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • KefoKefo Member EpicPosts: 4,229
    Their true nature reveals itself yet again. Why reward your loyal fans and backers, some since the kickstarter, when you can screw them over in the hopes of making more money.
  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332
    I keep looking at ONE thing and only one thing.

    They ask for money to meet an agenda to fulfill a certain aspect of the design...ok fine.

    But MEET that agenda and FINISH the dam thing BEFORE asking for anymore money.There should NOT be one single aspect of game design unfinished before asking for more money.Even more important is this has gone on long enough,get a FINISHED product out there before taking on anymore  blind faith projects.

    Can you imagine if you were building a house and each and every deadline was missed because the contractor just kept adding something new and kept asking for MORE money?As a home owner you would be absolutely PISSED and likely even take the builder to court and have him removed for a new contractor.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • MaxBaconMaxBacon Member LegendaryPosts: 7,765
    edited April 2017
    Kyleran said:

    Surprisingly critical comments coming from you, must have merit if you agree with them on some points.

    I do work on marketing, so there are points here that grind my gears. It was a bad move.

    It's not even that hard, it would only take CIG to create a system for content creators like others do and apply rewards there, setup this in the form of a contest and promote it to all the backers was ridiculous, it was not meant for them... --'

    They literally could achieve the same thing they wanted by doing it differently, without pissing off their own community.
  • BabuinixBabuinix Member EpicPosts: 4,259
    It was not a bad move it made them money, which it did. Complaints are just noise, come the next ATV/Update/Ship or Gear Sale and nobody remembers it anymore, yet the money is already in the bank ahd CIG reached it's $148million crowdfunded total.
  • BalmongBalmong Member UncommonPosts: 170
    Never bother with referal rewards, not going to start now. Most people I know only used alt accounts to do them, never actually seen anyone refer enough unique people to get all the rewards in one game.
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