• Aidinthel@reddthat.com
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    10 months ago

    Every time I read about this game I wonder who the hell is giving them all this money.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      When I was in sales, I was always told “you can’t sell it unless you offer it”. There exists people who blow $48,000 on stupid stuff daily. What’s the harm in offering a product to that very small demographic? Maybe you get lucky and make a $48,000 sale doing literally nothing.

      • azertyfun@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        They’re not selling a product, they’re selling promises. The “product” is only worth something because it is supposed to materialize into in-game assets in the most ambitious, technologically advanced video game ever made.

        Future will tell if those are empty promises. I personally believe that they are, and if the publisher knows for a fact that they are building vaporware, then it’s called a scam (though it’s essentially unprovable until the publisher “finishes” their game or goes out of business).

        I know that salespeople aren’t usually big on ethics, but I believe that what RSI is doing is both unethical and (probably) illegal. They’ve gotten half a billion from their lies though so what the fuck do I know.

    • Chozo@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      I used to work with a guy who spent several thousand dollars on ships, most of which were scheduled for release 3+ years away from when he gave up the money. I think he still hasn’t received some of them yet, but for some reason he keeps preordering even more ships. I would not be surprised if he spent $10k on this game already.

      • Aidinthel@reddthat.com
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        10 months ago

        Sounds kind of like gambling to me. Put a lot of money in and maybe get something cool out of it. Thinking of it that way at least makes some sort of sense.

    • yata@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      They have a very dedicated flock of whales (the industry term for microtransaction addicts). They know they have them hooked, and they are obviously intent on bleeding those whales dry for everything they own.

      I don’t care how much I liked a game, if any publisher acted in this way I would never consider touching any of their games. This is absolutely criminal behaviour.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Idiots that will die on a hill defending the game, calling everyone who doubts it a “hater”.

      Useful idiots to the Star Citizen devs, that’s for sure.

      • soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz
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        10 months ago

        I don’t think there’s many of those people, are you imagining up someone to hate or have genuinely experienced someone like that?

        • teddy2021@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          Mandaloregaming did a video on Star Citozen a few years ago that had a lot of discussion on the (bacterial) culture of the community of star citizen at the time. I don’t know if it is relevant to the current community, though.

  • filister@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Isn’t it time to get some regulations on m(i/a)cro transactions? This seems very illegal to me and it is exploiting people’s addictions.

    • Allero@lemmy.today
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      10 months ago

      What really is probably illegal at this point is officially calling it all “pledges”, i.e. “donations”, and calling ships and stuff a “reward for the generous donation”.

      Dudes, this is literally what a purchase is. If I don’t donate, I don’t get a ship (or even a base game).

      This seems to be a ground to sue the hell out of them.

      • leftzero@lemmynsfw.com
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        10 months ago

        You can purchase the base games (Star Citizen and Squadron 42) for around $40.

        Or you can wait until they’re released.

        The larger packages are 100% unnecessary to play the games once they’re released, or the alpha versions now, and practically every ship they’re selling is also obtainable in-game, without paying for anything else than the base game (there might be a few limited edition exclusives, but those shouldn’t provide any significant gameplay advantages).

        Hell, you can even play for free every once in a while (granted, whenever that happens it’s to stress test the servers and engine to the breaking point, so it’ll probably be a suboptimal experience, but still, it is an option.)

        Any money you give CIG after that base game price is 100% out of your own volition, and won’t get you anything you can’t get in-game (and last time I checked CIG were pretty clear about that).

        It’s basically giving them money in exchange for nothing of any real value (again, with the arguable exception of any exclusive or limited edition ships). Sounds an awful lot like a donation to me.

        • Allero@lemmy.today
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          10 months ago

          I never said it’s not voluntary. The decision to buy the game is voluntary as well.

          But it being voluntary doesn’t mean it’s not purchase. When you buy, idk, jewelry, or something to the same extent of not-survival-necessity, it’s still a purchase.

          And here it is as well. It is not a pledge, it is not a donation. When you’re explicitly asked to “pledge” to get a ship, it’s a purchase.

          You’re not asked to “pledge” to the jewelry shop and get a “kind owner’s gift” of your earring? You just buy it.

        • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
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          10 months ago

          Of their own volition? Do you think the complaint is that people think these purchases are done by players held at gunpoint?

          • leftzero@lemmynsfw.com
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            10 months ago

            No, but some are arguing that they might be due to peer pressure (which I find unlikely in this particular case, but if someone can be peer pressured into wasting $48,000 on digital assets, they probably can easily afford it), or gambling addiction (which also seems unlikely to apply in this case), since those are common causes of people (especially children) wasting money on microtransactions.

      • spez_@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Plus making people pay for essentials by gatekeeping everything behind the owner class

      • ByteWizard@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Addictions like food, clothing, shelter… and capitalism is the best system we have for providing those things.

      • Night Monkey@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        The great thing about capitalism is that I can choose where I spend my money. And use my money to make money. If people wanna be stupid with their money, that’s on them. I don’t give a shit if they go broke because that is on them.

    • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      The government is not your parents and they do not exist to protect you from your own bad decisions.

      • HATEFISH@midwest.social
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        10 months ago

        Why am I paying them to allow consumers (which I am a group member) to get fucked over?

        • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          If you’re paying almost $50k for video game items the only person fucking you over is you. Grow up and learn a little bit about personal responsibility.

            • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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              10 months ago

              I just couldn’t resist, the devs showed up at my house with guns, it was a whole thing. If only the state would step in and regulate stupidity!

        • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          They exist to protect you from other people. You can waste your money on whatever dumbass shit you want.

          • pflanzenregal@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            But what if you don’t actually want it, but you are addicted because other people exploit the psychology of humans?

            One could argue that it’s “their fault”, but then everything is ones own fault. Furthermore this wouldn’t change the fact IMHO, that we shouldn’t prevent people from exploiting or harming other people, yk what I mean?

            Anyways, as this doesn’t seem to be a loot box or such, I think I agree with you here mostly.

            • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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              10 months ago

              Addicted to what? This isn’t a loot box, there’s no gambling seratonin rush. This package unlocks stuff you could earn by simply playing the game. It’s an expensive cheat code. How many people are addicted to that? Does your crime have a victim?

              I don’t think they expect anyone to buy this. I think this is a marketing move. “Our game is so big that if you were to buy all these items individually they’d cost as much as a new Lexus. What a value!”. Pure PR stuntery. And here we are, discussing it, so it worked.

  • Computerchairgeneral@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    I think the craziest thing for me, if I’m reading this right, is that the pack includes all ships released and concepted. So you’re paying for ships that aren’t even in the game yet? You just have concept art and the promise that they might be in the game?

  • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
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    10 months ago

    I don’t get why someone would do that to themselves.

    Congratulations you have all the content of an exploration and building game right away. You cannot seek any enjoyment anymore from working towards and achieving anything in the game. You paid for not playing the game.