In this Neverending Story, Jason Appleton the former person behind the ill-fated Greedmonger and such gems as the ill-fated
SwingEasy App (removed from the app store) and who was part of the ill-fated
Neighbors With Benefits TV show... is now bashing backers that are upset that they still haven't gotten their refunds for the game originally abandoned in 2015 despite his promises. Here are some of his recent comments:
Here is his refund spreadsheet:
http://bit.ly/2nkUz0aFor a guy that claims to have made a fortune in CryptoCurrency he sure seems to have a lot of trouble simply paying back these folks. He has a new "Crypto" show that is supposed to be coming out. Anyone want to take a bet that I can soon use the prefix "Ill-Fated" when discussing it?
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Comments
He has Zero Obligation to repay the Money.. yet.. has chosen to give a refund.. out of his own pocket no less.. and a bunch of crybaby entitled audacious jerks.. are calling him the bad guy?
/Cheers,
Lahnmir
Kyleran on yours sincerely
'But there are many. You can play them entirely solo, and even offline. Also, you are wrong by default.'
Ikcin in response to yours sincerely debating whether or not single-player offline MMOs exist...
'This does not apply just to ED but SC or any other game. What they will get is Rebirth/X4, likely prettier but equally underwhelming and pointless.
It is incredibly difficult to design some meaningfull leg content that would fit a space ship game - simply because it is not a leg game.
It is just huge resource waste....'
Gdemami absolutely not being an armchair developer
I think that @Vrika hit it on the head. He's looking for publicity.
Pretty sure his Crypto show will end up alongside Neighbors With Benefits in the garbage heap.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
Well, I'll be honest, I am not going to dig though anything, as this sounds like drama for the sake of drama, and I think I would rather drink molten glass then actively look for that kind of stuff.
But, let me ask you a question. Just one question.
Is this person required by law, to provide a refund at all?
I'll await your answer.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2015/06/dont-let-crowdfunding-be-your-doom
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
How long ago was this and we still see millions thrown at Chris Roberts.Last time i tried SC i spent like 5 minutes and thought wtf is this pile of crap and logged out and never cared to ever look at the game again.Yet here we are and people STILL throwing money at the game.
I just spent a few minutes to go look at Reynad's self made card game as well i listened to him talk about it in Twitch.It is CRAP and he talks about how people will look at the beta version and be turned away not realizing it's full potential.NO to excuses,you are considered a young millionaire,hire some real artists,put some real money into the game like YOUR own instead of just ripping off naive people.
I will spell it out ,yet again,if a game is good enough the developer will fund it or via real investors,if the dev has to go to the people to get free money then that dev is NOT confident in their own product and it is then NOT good enough.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Oh and his line about the so called "self fulfilling prophecy of the haters, trolls and flamers" that caused his project's failure is just classic.
Greedmonger was among the most famous kickstarter scams that forced KickStarter to change their campaign policy a couple of years ago.
I'm not a backer of Greedmonger but I found the history of this "project" very interesting, instructive and alarming at the same time.
But the game gained less than $100 000 in Kickstarter, and apparently no-one ever took the risk of legal costs to sue him and try to obtain that money.
But he doesnt even have the backbone or intestianl fortitude to do that , he would much rather take the weak approach of detract, blame ,excuses and or avoid ..
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
This is is why I said “One does not negate the other”. Feel free to demonize both if you want. You can certainly make the case that people who gave thousands of dollars to this guy should have known better. That doesn’t let the originator of this effort off the hook.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
I don't think we can rope the whole of crowdfunding into this, and that's coming from someone too cautious to crowdfund anything.
Appelton is a unique individual, his whole approach said "do not fund me" from a very early stage. I would advise posters to never have anything to do with one of his projects again.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
'I may be a charlatan but it's your fault for believing me... therefore not guilty'... Really? In what twisted world does that make sense?
That's like the Arrested Development argument of "you can't arrest a husband and wife for the same crime".
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
The courts can freeze his assets until he makes repayments. His lack of free time becomes irrelevant.
Now of course, if the people don't have a legal recourse, meaning they had no legally binding contract, they might as well forget about ever seeing that money again.
Whether the man is a charlatan or not is irrelevant. It doesn't make you guilty of a crime. It may make him morally reprehensible, but not a criminal.
As far as I am concerned, not a single kickstarter is any different. It's a loot box per se. You're hoping your investment results in the ultimate loot box. And like all loot boxes, most are filled with junk.
Do you really need the Government to protect you from stupidity? Because that is essentially what you are asking for when you participate in these things and the outcome is less than expected.
They should sue the man... with the monetary reward to each participant being $1 to teach them a valuable life lesson. They obviously are In desperate need of one.
Contracts are broader than you think: if it's above a certain value it must be on paper, but if you walk into Bloomimgdale's and buy a pair of jeans this too represents a contract.
That stated, I wish Jason Appleton the best and hope to see a peaceful resolution to all this. I hope he is as good as his word and former backers don't have to sue him. It doesn't make the grand standing Slapshot highlighted any less childishly petulant.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
The possible gains are too small. People who'd have spare money for suing are normally working adults and most of them don't think it's worth the risk or the time spent to argue in court over what is less than a day's wages to them.
It may seem to you that in the US suing is national pasttime, but that's more in cases where you get physically harmed and can demand absurd compensation, not in a case like this where even if everything goes well you'd only get your refund and court costs.