Eonwe posted:

i feel that kimsemus should have been freed

personally

Sushi in Yiddish posted:

Hey, congrats man. How long did it take them to get it out to you?

A Neurotic Jew posted:

my question is

does kimsemus even want freedom

DoctorStrangelove posted:

Kicked out of Goonrathi for not being a pedophile apologist.

Tijuana Bibliophile posted:

...so did they free you?

Tijuana Bibliophile posted:

"Free Kimsemus" has become a meme here, I was making a lovely joke

Congrats on your x40 back man, hope you're happy now that you've ruined Chris's dream

Decrepus posted:

That wouldn't even buy a waste bin at the CIG office.

fuzzknot posted:

Bootcha and I talked/argued a lot about that before he found out much of what he's disclosed in this thread. His thinking was that surely some employee would have come forward by now if there were anything that foul really going on. I've had several years of experience in retail and theatre, both industries where complaining gets you nowhere but for different reasons, and I pointed out that there are many reasons employees might not come forward, not the least of which is a lack of legal protection.

In my own bad experiences in retail, my reasons for not coming forward or reporting issues included not knowing my rights, not caring enough because it was a seemingly minor issue, not caring because I knew I wouldn't stay there much longer anyway, fearing retaliation (including firing), not being able to prove anything, not being able to afford a lawyer, etc.

The only times I actually did anything about it were filing a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission issuing a final demand for wages from an employer who casually decided not to give me my last paycheck, and the time a group of female stagehands (including me) complained to HR because the female assistant stage manager wasn't giving any of us calls for work. The former was successful; the latter was not (due to aforementioned failure to actually provide solid proof).

D_Smart posted:

That rear end in a top hat is blocked on Twitter. So what's this about then?

Eonwe posted:

Bootcha is one of my favorite people here because he had the money to invest in a dream project and he did it. If I had the money to do something like that, I would too. But then when things went obviously south he remained objective enough to get the gently caress out.

cool guy overall IMO

fuctifino posted:

Publishing is/used to be like that too.

16 years ago, I worked for a 'black' (as in unregistered) publishing company in Paris that was run by a cokehead. I was one of the only salaried people there, the rest being abused unpaid interns. She never paid her rent or printing bills, nor did she declare taxes. She treated her staff like slaves, yet nobody had the courage to complain for fear of destroying any future career in publishing.

I also worked for a really dodgy (yet relevant and important) medical journal which used blackmail and politics to select which medical journals to publish. Most important studies had to cite the owner's dead-for-30-year husband's very-outdated research before they'd get published, and it had a stupidly high and thoroughly fraudulent impact factor of 9.x at one time. I saw really important studies being binned just because x worked at such and such and y went to the wrong university. Again, nobody complained for fear of being blacklisted. I could write an entire thread about that job now that the owner is dead. lol

fuzzknot posted:

Bootcha posted:

I can! In video format!

In the beginning, I was an optimist and a fan of the Star Citizen product.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVaPhXg17BM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IUrpmnIap0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thp6pyfIa6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_YIS54I2LU

As goons, we were not well received. We enjoyed our infamy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdmbhLDwM1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtTdI9P8l-c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j8q6PyOJWQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppdnbrylevc

At a certain point, Imp zone came crashing in on our hugbox, challenging our faith in CR. I maintained it as best I could, but I knew we were being a bit silly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm1CQ5IDo6Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx6QMm5QDdk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB-__pVlp8Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCVxX00xadQ

At this point, Derek Smart showed up. And we loved it for the pure spectacle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-GCpPJoqrc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BV7rc9CJvc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATX1RxUX0y0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qm8p-sB-PM

But then I started digging into the issues within CIG, and found something stinky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGRsEF953n0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8oZShTkPZU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeVuMMf-jyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBtM5NHqtr8

After putting up a stink, I got out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4-oHfJNrr0

And that's my story.

ZenMaster posted:

Oh, so I am NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN. It took 3 days... 3 freaking days to cut this together...


https://sendvid.com/yucw76yl


Just to make someone possibly laugh on the internet. I need help.

Booblord Zagats posted:

Honestly I do agree with this guy a bit. Elite is an amazingly engineered game and a wonderful proof of concept, but it suffers from the issues EVE did the first few years

Not enough ships, you always feel alone and there's not much to do if you can't make your own fun

Also, Star Marine LARPers are already a thing

beep_boop posted:

It might be ready for me in 2017?

EightAce posted:

To put a myth to bed, most of the grunts in the UK actually really like Sandi and think she's a nice person, I'm being serious, and I know different ,but just saying ....
As you can see 'Im catching up on the thread and last I was around I think Sandi hate was still raging?
Also bare in mind that UK residents are the most cynical bastards on the planet so she is clearly doing something right , she just doesn't seem to be able to transfer this likability over to the colonies.
Our Hun friend has not yet announced to the general populace that he is leaving but it will be out there soon enough.

runsamok posted:

My question is though is how much of this added complexity is from using CryEngine as the basis of this unified experience. Would Unreal Engine 4 or Unity or something be better?

I know nothing about game engine featuresets, but can only extrapolate how bad CryEngine must be as they seem to be gutting almost everything except the renderer to make it work & endlessly blame the engine's weaknesses for reasons their bodge jobs don't quite work out.

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

Braben also keeps all his people in a single building, has a well defined plan for his release schedule, has steadily monetized his game in a manner that isn't hilariously abusive, and seems to underpromise and then overdeliver.

Meanwhile Roberts seems to set up new studios on a whim, routinely fails to maintain a schedule due to his own ineptitude, has constructed his business model around exploiting gullible idiots, and can't stop hyping his utter failure of a product.

Sperglord posted:

Speaking of White Knights, if you read the reddit thread posted above, about a youtuber pledging to Star Citizen, you can see that they're already consoling themselves if CIG fails.

Examples:
DragonTHC- Golden Ticket 24 points


Kant_Lavar- Vice Admiral 6 points


The White Knights are already planning for a failure, they're already preparing their mental landscape to handle the incoming blow.

Tijuana Bibliophile posted:

From my perspective, having only been in the loop since about August, it seems crazy that seemingly reasonably sane people went on believing for so long

The crazy must have slipped in very slowly and successively

quote:

Hello,
My name is [Kimsemus], I was a very early backer (2012) for Star Citizen, but I am now requesting a refund for the money I have spent. The game I was promised then, and since then, is not the game that is being delivered now, and it is not being delivered on the timeframe promised. As such, I feel that the money I have spent is not in line with CIG’s current vision or for what is presently being advertised. I understand that making a game takes much time and effort, however, what I agreed to back in the past is not what is being delivered now. I would like a full refund, as none of the products I’ve purchased have actually been “used” in a meaningful way, or been privy to function or application in the game that was promised.
Since I’ve been backing over several years, I know longer have access to some of those original bank accounts so I hope they can be refunded to my current Visa or Paypal.

The relevant order IDs are:

[Several order IDs]


The total amount should equal $400.00 USD.
My current paypal address, if relevant, is [my paypal address]
Please contact me with any further questions.
Regards,

[Kimsemus]

quote:

Hey there,
I'm happy to confirm that we've authorised your refund request. I just need to run you through the process and receive one last confirmation before I proceed.
First of all the following things will not be refundable:
• Pledges/packages received from other users
• Pledges/packages sent to other users
• Pledges/packages purchased with store credit that came from gifted pledges
• Subscription payments
• Delivered physical items
With this in mind I have researched your account log and history and determined that the amount you are entitled to comes to $400.00 USD. If you would like to see a more in-depth breakdown please let me know and I will detail how I came to this value.
I will also need you to confirm your PayPal e-mail address in case your orders are too old to reverse. Any order which is older than 14 days is not normally eligible for a refund and the payment handlers we use do not support reversals after this grace period. In these cases we will issue a PayPal Send Money order manually. If you do not own a PayPal account would you be averse to creating one for this purpose?
Given the above information and refundable amount. Would you still like to proceed with the refund? Note that this is your final confirmation and the refund will be actioned as soon as I receive your reply (or not, should the case be retracted by yourself). This refund should appear on your statement with 7-10 working days.
Additionally, this will result in a full account closure. We will not be able to leave any remaining pledges active, nor will we be able to leave the account open. These actions, whilst unfortunate, are mandatory and permanent. This is the primary reason I require one last confirmation that you wish to proceed.
Thanks,
Mike

quote:

Hey [Kimsemus]
,
Refunds past the initial grace period of 14 days, or such longer grace period as required by applicable local regulations, are entirely exceptional. Our TOS entitles you to a refund if requested within this grace period but not for any refunds requested thereafter. In accordance with our TOS we are not legally obligated to offer a refund in this case.
However, as a goodwill gesture we have made an exception to offer a refund despite these facts. There will be no entry for this in our TOS because of the exceptional nature of this offer. The condition for this is that we do not offer partial refunds or allow refunded accounts to remain open in these cases. Without this measure, the system would be open to abuse.
This stance allows us to counter abuse inherent with making goodwill gestures of this kind. This is as much for our protection as it is to honour your request.
Let me know if you'd still like to proceed.
Thanks,
Mike

quote:

Hey there,

Sorry for the delay and thank you for your patience thus far. I am happy to confirm that I have actioned the refund for $400.00 USD via PayPal Send Money. It can take 5-10 working days for the funds to appear.

Your old account has also been permanently de-activated. This account has also been re-activated.

Should you have any further questions or concerns let me know.
Thanks,
Mike

fuzzknot posted:

:iamafag:

Chalks posted:

"Star Citizen won't be going to PAX aus because Ben doesn't want to fly there"

Ben is Star Citizen confirmed.

Tippis posted:

I'm going to say yes. With two caveats: a choice has to be made to resolve the incompatibilities between some of the things that have been promised. aleksendr points out a couple of ideas that don't really work together on a conceptual level. So we probably have to allow the team to take the promises and jettison some that don't can't be done for that reason. The other is that we probably, somewhat paradoxically, have to buy into CRobber's narrative of being free of the nasty ebil publisher. It's paradoxical because I think that the only ones who could pull it of are some of the top development houses attached to said publishers — companies that would never be insane enough to try something like this.

It would have to be an Ubi or EA game, where they make an unholy alliance with some of the properly insane milsim teams: people like Eagle Dynamics or Bohemia. Guys who have their own engine expertise combined with guys who have enough OCD to care about the fiddly bits.

But that's assuming you want to do it all at once. If you allow it to grow organically over time, with more and more features added, then we're basically looking at a longer-term, and slightly differently focused CCP or Frontier…

Eonwe posted:

fuckin lol

cocaine dad show posted:

https://imgur.com/a/vCHI9

Toops posted:

Ok, few pages back, but I'm gonna try to answer this honestly. I've thought a lot about it. I'm not sorry about the length.

No, I don't think it's possible to make a game of Star Citizen's scope today. It's not because game engines can't do it. It's because we lack the communication and dev tools required to break the art-code boundary.

There's a huge problem in game design that's been there from the start: 3d art assets are tightly coupled to the code that controls them, but they are developed almost completely separately by people with very different kinds of brains. Artists operate in the visual control space. Programmers operate in the logical control space. These modes of thought aren't very compatible. This problem becomes magnified by scope, which is another word for complexity.

The pressure on the art-code boundary rises exponentially with increased complexity. This is why simple games with limited scope have been hitting so hard, and why large projects with unbounded scope keep falling flat. Fallout 4 is a good game, but you can see right where the vision and the execution exploded and had to be walked back to feasibility.

No one can deny CIG has brilliant artists, and very talented programmers. But we can all see what's happening: Some senior 3d artist takes specific vision for an asset and works hard, using every ounce of their technical and creative knowledge to build that asset. Then, through a primitive and largely un-evolved process, they "hand it off" to the engineers, who have poured out every ounce of their capability into a complex framework to control those assets, which meets the technical requirements. Without fail, when the engineers are handed the assets, they go "gently caress. Well, that's not gonna work with the system we've designed." So they hack apart their logical framework, or send it back to the artist to hack apart their visual framework, or both (usually both), and generally squash and dismember the original intent just to get the loving thing to work at all.

Now, throw into this the third wheel, the "visionary," who sees this compromised end-product, and says "Guys, this isn't good enough. Do it again." The artists and engineers know that in a way he's right. He's just an idiot for asking for it in the first place, and not giving them the tools to succeed. But gently caress it, they're still getting a paycheck so they embark again to get it right, and end up make the same exact mistakes.

This is the precise loop that SC is in right now, and the only solution is to reduce complexity. That's the only possible way anything will ever be playable. This is why Derek is spot-on when he says this game won't be delivered as described. But Chris won't do it.

The bottom line is, Chris Roberts is a loving fool for having such hubris and ignorance. You think it's "revolutionary" to take every feature you think is cool and throw it in a soup?? That's the opposite of vision. A visionary sees what other don't, and everyone has seen what he does, and said "nope, that's a terrible idea, because it's not feasible."

Moogle posted:

Speaking as a developer; if you're in the industry and you can't see the giant red flags visible from space, (both the common ones and the less-so) you're a terrible developer. No ifs, buts, or maybes. You're useless at your job and I would fire you in a heartbeat.

Moogle posted:

Not talking about the developers earning a penny - that's life. I'm talking about outside; the ones putting money in - not those poor crunching buggers keeping food on the table.

E: Hell, at least lots of the developers at CIG are doing great work on their portfolios for later

Baller Time posted:

Solar Plebian merchandise starter kit: Utilikilt, trillby, hand crafted drinking glass. 427,99 USD

Eonwe posted:

Wafflz posted:

3 words: procedurally generated fish

mrking posted:

You guys have this all wrong. This is the new version of the Persistent Universe. CIG is breaking ground in new persistent systems.

G0RF posted:

One of the biggest unknowns right now is CIG's cash position. We've heard they're flush with cash (EightAce) and that they're nearly out (Derek).

We have no line of sight into this matter-- only gossip, and the gossip is contrary.

What we do have-- imperfect as it is-- is a possible means of gauging revenue via their Stretch Goals tracker. And we've watched that pretty closely for a long time-- trying to make guesses about any emerging trends, wondering when we might see capitulation, curious about whether splitting their IP into two sellable assets would be accretive or destructive.

We've also made guesses, Beer most specifically I think, about monthly overhead costs for the entire operation(s). It's hard to believe it's less than $100k a day (~$3M a month).

Recent sales have been lackluster to alarming. Demand refuses to be sustained over the durations of past glory sales. Even without elective spending on $15,000 coffee machines, upgraded international airfare, and new MoCap shoots (already rumored to be running at 12x their original budget) -- CIG may be entering a time of relative famine.

This is why the question of "How much cash do they have?" is especially interesting. Because if they're running on empty, then a bankruptcy or distressed sale is potentially right around the corner. If they're fat with some unknown investor cash, then some shortfall months don't really matter.

We are seeing more and more circumstantial evidence that CIG is blocking the exits and widening the doors. Refunds are denied as a matter of policy when once they were accommodated quickly. The change -- which had no official explanation beyond "sorry no more refunds read your ToS" -- suggests some degree of concern about husbanding cash.

Now-- we also know that, as of the beginning of the year, CIG had NO ROADMAP at all for PTU development. None. They admitted as much on AtV-- happily, in fact. As if that was entirely commonplace as opposed to a warning sign. It IS commonplace at CIG but atypical elsewhere. Then we heard rumors (from Derek and EightAce) that they'd devised their new development priorities after a big confab with senior management. And the order of the day? Making in game asset sales a reality ASAP. Yet back ended by what? Earnable credits? Or actual credit cards (as with their web based means of selling).

Now-- looking at the "unmelt" token policy in particular, it too is very telling. CIG claimed that, for technical reasons, they had to greatly limit the supply and not allow them to be accrued over time. What this really means is quite obvious-- if they granted backers easy means to melt/unmelt they would be potentially damaging the sale of new ships to those same backers.

They are giving more and more signs that they need to restrict their users and plan to continue doing so. What makes matters worse for the backers is that, over the last half of last year, they effectively poisoned the gray market as an outside means of true liquidity. Formerly exclusive ships might've commanded a high price on the traders market- but CIG reintroduced many and thus flooded supply and destroyed demand. Similar gambits took place with LTI.

What is very telling in all of this is that it is so bloody ad hoc. They are making things up as they go-- everywhere-- and this tells us probably that all their thinking is tactical (if that). It's in response to changing conditions on the ground.

If capitulation is really here, and cash is really low, then we are going to see more and more obvious signs of it from a panicked CIG. And if the gambits they devise over panicked meetings don't work, then we will start seeing telltale signs of cash panics. Major cost cutting / office shut downs / layoffs.

All that said-- we still do not know what their cash situation is. To hear Chris and Erin talk, they haven't a care in the world's they e got time to spare. There is not sword ranging over their heads.

Sorry this was rambly but I'm in a hurry and on a phone. This is just meant to help you understand why these little signs-- like stores EVERYWHERE in game as the latest reveal-- might be telling us something. "Alpha UEC" is telling us something (because it will not be permanent).

It seems like they're telling us -- and backers -- quite a bit. And it's good news for people that like bad news.