Gaming Monetization Sucks & Star Citizen

I must be missing something. I couldn’t care less how many ships anybody else has bought, I’m just glad there’s enough money to build the game.

The difference IMO between SC and other games like Capcom's is that SC has a funding model that is no different than Kickstater with rewards. You fund the game, you get a ship as a reward. But overall, you can pay 50 bucks and have the whole game available to you. With Capcom and others, you pay the game 70 bucks, and if you want the whole experience, you have to pay all of their DLCs. That's a BIG difference I think. All I have is a Titan in SC, I spent 60 bucks, and I can do about anything with it, and buy any other ship in game if I want to. I'm not locked out of some content by a paywall. If you look at it that way, you'll realize that even pre-order exclusive bonuses are more predatory. Especially since that will make you buy a game you don't even know you'll enjoy (because no reviews available) just for FOMO. I'm a 100% sure that if SC was still on kickstarter and that it was like "$50: Aurora as a reward, $70: Titan as a reward, $1000: Carrack as a reward... etc" no one would complain. Now we know that SCs marketing is pretty bad, and the way it's all presented sucks, but still, it's the exact same thing!

Exactly how I feel about SC. I've spent $45 and got 10x that value from gameplay and enjoyment from following development. It's great to see someone pushing the boundaries of technology. No one else will.

It's kind of funny that I became a whale in SC; but it's taken 5+ years to get there. I don't think I have spent more than $60 (typically less) in one single transaction on CIG's web page. The funniest part is after tallying up my game spending, I've noticed I've purchased less over all and spent less on fewer games since I started playing SC. Guess what I am trying to say is that being a whale has actually saved me money over all (in a broad picture kind of way). So I guess the old saying is true. You either play video games; or you play Star Citizen. I can't wait to see all the really cool tech CIG develops get licensed out in future games to increase their immersion and maybe even win me over.

When voidy mentioned total warhammer dlc collection I felt the pain

Pony up that $250 for the PvE portion of Tarkov! Less logic, more wallet!

I stopped buying "Quadruple A" games many years ago, then around 6 years ago I quit gaming all together. I got tired of the industries anti-consumer practices. When I was still spending money on games I contributed about 500 dollars total to SC. Funny thing is, I actually saved money long term by not purchasing any big publisher backed titles. I knew I was going to get a steaming pile of doo-doo from the EAs and the Ubisofts of the world. So, I donated my money to hopes and dreams instead. I remember the days when Derek Smart was calling SC the biggest scam the industry has ever seen. I also remember walking around my hanger for the first time and seeing my first ship rendered in game. The initial release of Arena Commander was pretty neat. But the first and last time I actually 'played the game' was the best. I took off in my newly purchased Hornet F7C-M, which quickly got blown up by some pirates and I had to eject. While I'm floating there in space wondering what the heck I'm going to do next, some random citizen warps in and proceeds to attack the pirates. The ensuing battle was awesome to watch from the perspective of a tiny little space man floating around in space. I contributed with my pistol of course. After all the enemy ships were destroyed, this random player pulls up next to me, opens their rear hatch and, gives me a ride back to Orison. I have no idea where that player came from, or how they knew I needed help, but that experience alone justified the 500 bucks. Seeing what SC has become after all these years, it's been money well spent in my opinion. I'll probably contribute again once the games are released and, I might even get back into gaming once most of the kinks have been worked out.

I had my reservations about SC for years, but as time has progressed, the potential is slowly being realized and its evident that they do want the project to do well. I would love to see this hit the mainstream, because like you say, AAA is more or less creatively bankrupt. Good stuff man

I would buy a Voidy name package because that would be totally worth my hard-earned money.

I do not regret my Grand Admiral standing. Having played video games since the original NES, I have long dreamed of a game like Star Citizen. I will continue to financially support the project so that I may see a dream become reality. Sure, it's a video game at the end of the day, and nothing tangible will ever be owned as a result, but I am happy - and that is all that matters. Another fantastically sarcastic and honest video from Voidy, absolutely loved it!

Frankly, Argo Cargo is pure pay 2 win

All these people saying they're not going to be playing SC because of it's monetization during alpha (who knows if they'll stop selling ships) are the same people that will hop on the bandwagon once it full releases and forget they said that.

Thank you for talking about the Tarkov situation

I love Star Citizen. Its different than anything else out there. It is purely funded by players and I am down for that. And I am a whale. It has given me more gaming pleasure than any other game in recent memory. I don't have a lot of time to play games any more but yet I always come back to SC and always have a good time. Even with bugs and glitches. It's a landmark development that is pushing the tech boundaries in a huge way and I am glad to be a part of it.

Ima keep it real. I spent like 300€ on a merchantman back in the day (that's like 10 years ago which is kind of a joke in itself, given the ship isn't out yet). Nevertheless, I did not buy that because I wanna get an advantage over others. I bought it because I think the Star Citizen project is awesome and I want to support it. Surely, I could have went with a starter ship and if you do, that's perfectly fine. My point is that it's not always about pay to win but about supporting something you think is awesome. As much as I hate getting into the game and spending the better of one hour on a ladder because the server had a stroke, it's still an awesome thing overall and I will continue to stand behind it.

I'd actually argue against him on the "scumminess" of star citizen. You can gift stuff from the concierge store to other players, so there is nothing at all to stop a group of players from making an account, buying everything they want off that account then gifting it to their main account to push the one account into concierge to have access to the store, well nothing but trusting each other. To me GW2 SwToR and other games like them are far more scummy. "Here's some loot you just won, oh but it's locked, here pay us 5 to 10 bucks to unlock it, the item in it may be worth 10 cents or 50 bucks, who knows." SwToR alone lives off $50 cosmetic bundles. People drop thousands on those games same as people drop thousands on Star Citizen, the difference is Star Citizen tells you how much you've dropped and gives you presents for it.

I've described Star Citizen as a psychotic super model. Beautiful and I want to be with it, but it makes me sad, burns my money, and wrecks all my furniture.

🤣🤣🤣 That closing statement was awesome! Even though I took it personally as a baby whale. I will respond with "you're welcome, for everything then and now" with the most snotty tone I can muster. Then tell you, "get a job you bum"! This was the best unbiased out look on game funding I have seen! I really don't understand the mindset that thinks "FORCING" players to pay a subscription, or for expanded content is OK. But allowing players the "OPTION" to pay or play with all the same available content is BAD. I have friends who have never spent more than $45 in many years, who have a much bigger fleet than me. ATS sells state map expansions for funding, and no one seems to have problem with that. Remind me again what Elite Dangerous promised 12 years ago, and how many times players and friends were FORCED to pay for that promised content so they can play together. Have they met those promises even after "releasing" the game 10 years ago? How did that turn out rushing the release before building the tech? Hows that funding model working out. But SC is the scam right? Because optionally buying ships is a scam though. Oh wait...

Being labeled a "handsome viewer" never gets old

That last point is exactly how I managed to convince myself to support the game. If the game ends up in an endless development cycle, at least we should get more and more tech and content over that time. I don't get that feeling from some of the other heavily monetized games. In the mean time, I just try and treat the game like tarkov or the cycle - an extraction looter that has wipes every now and then