Star Citizen Introducing a $48,000 Ship Bundle, but Only for Players Who Have Already Spent $10,000 (www.ign.com)
from L4s@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 12:00
https://lemmy.world/post/10379726

Star Citizen Introducing a $48,000 Ship Bundle, but Only for Players Who Have Already Spent $10,000::Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is releasing a ship bundle for its controversial space simulator that costs an eye-watering $48,000.

#technology

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zingo@lemmy.ca on 06 Jan 2024 12:26 next collapse

Yes! Sign me up!!!

Pick me! I’ll be the first in line!

maynarkh@feddit.nl on 06 Jan 2024 12:38 next collapse

Only for Players Who Have Already Spent $10,000

This is so predatory in itself.

ale@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 13:13 next collapse

Meh my sympathy only runs so far.

bionicjoey@lemmy.ca on 06 Jan 2024 13:45 collapse

You don’t have sympathy for people with addictive personality disorders?

Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website on 06 Jan 2024 14:20 next collapse

On the one hand, my gut says “if they have 50k to blow and do so on a game, fuck em”

On the other hand, my experience with addictive personalities knows they almost certainly don’t have that money to blow, but they will do so anyway, fucking their life (and possibly their families lives) over even more in the process, and no amount of lecturing them will change, because they need therapy.

My gut isn’t as sympathetic as my brain is.

Eylrid@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 14:52 next collapse

There was a guy that posted on reddit about how he spent thousands of dollars on loot boxes. The way he totally wrecked his finances and his relationship with his wife was harrowing. Everytime he would get the latest and greatest item, character, whatever, they would come out with something new and he would start all over again.

fubo@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 00:10 collapse

I have to wonder if this is a video game problem, or if it’s a sort of financial self-destructiveness expressed through a video game rather than through some other means.

Like, for every person who spends money they don’t have on video games, how many people spend money they don’t have on fancy cars, or clothing, or expensive pets, other luxury possessions? How many people spend the rent money on sneakers, or the kids’ college fund on fancy vacations, or the utility bill money on anime figurines, or their whole paycheck on partying, or their retirement fund on too much house?

Financial self-destructiveness seems to be a problem that some people have. It gets reported heavily when it’s expressed through video games, in part because much of the reporter’s audience thinks all video games are fundamentally pointless and evil to begin with.

erwan@lemmy.ml on 07 Jan 2024 09:03 collapse

The difference with in-game spending is that they use all the same shady techniques as casinos to exploit those people.

You don’t see sneakers shops offering time limited loot boxes for a chance to obtain limited edition sneakers, they also don’t show you a big grid of their catalog with holes for the sneakers you don’t own. “Just buy those 2 pairs to complete the collection of running sneakers!”

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:21 collapse

You clearly have no idea what “sneakerheads” are, as these tactics and more DO exist and have for decades. Hell, little kids were getting murdered for their Air Jordans not 30 years ago, walking home from fucking school, son.

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:17 collapse

Empathetic, to be fair. Sympathetic is to mirror their emotional state, etc. Empathy is to understand it without inhabiting that space/experiencing it yourself.

ale@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 18:12 collapse

Nah, if you’re going to hide your bad choices behind clinical language, then you need therapy. If you’re not getting therapy and you have 50k to spend, then that’s a you problem.

bionicjoey@lemmy.ca on 06 Jan 2024 18:34 next collapse

Some people don’t realize they have a problem. I feel bad for those people.

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:22 collapse

The problem isn’t that they “have 50k to spend”, it’s literally the exact opposite AND that they don’t know it’s a problem that they spend out on stupid shit like this grift.

ale@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 11:55 collapse

If they spend 50k on a videogame, then they have 50k to spend by definition, whether or not it’s actually their money. If it’s not actually their money, then I have even less sympathy.

I’ll give another example. I have a lot of sympathy for opiate addicts. I have zero sympathy for opiate addicts who steal from their friends and family.

AbidanYre@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 14:08 next collapse

Just being eligible for it is a sign that you need to make some life changes.

Daft_ish@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 03:44 next collapse

If you can blow 50000+ on a video game they are doing something I’m not.

AbidanYre@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 05:56 collapse

A good portion of them are just making bad decisions and ruining their finances.

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:15 collapse

Like: shower, touch grass, rekindle an interest in humanity as a whole.

erwan@lemmy.ml on 07 Jan 2024 09:05 next collapse

Probably a way to avoid costly charge backs for when regular users purchase that by mistake

Blackmist@feddit.uk on 07 Jan 2024 13:10 next collapse

It’s like the scammers who include spelling mistakes, to make sure they only attract the real dipshits.

PersonalDevKit@aussie.zone on 07 Jan 2024 07:26 collapse

It is the Ferrari model. You want a new Ferrari? Well you have to prove you have already owned several other Ferraris. Make people feel special while they hand over stupid money to you

MrNesser@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 13:05 next collapse

Cap’n i see the whale thar she blows

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 06 Jan 2024 13:09 next collapse

My buddy loves this game, but I just don’t really get it.

Fixbeat@lemmy.ml on 06 Jan 2024 13:25 next collapse

Once you spend 10k, you’ll understand.

momocchi@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 17:22 next collapse

I’ve only spent $45 and when it isn’t being a buggy mess (rare) its an incredible game, i just have minimal hope they can ever really fix it at this point.

sharkwellington@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 18:03 next collapse

It gets really good after 10 hours thousand dollars.

sebinspace@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 06:08 collapse

I swear I’ve heard the same thing about NFTs

ryannathans@aussie.zone on 06 Jan 2024 13:36 collapse

Why don’t you get it? Huge fun space game, has more content now than most other games and they’ve only just started working on it properly after finishing squadron 42

CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work on 12 Jan 2024 01:25 collapse

Based on my friend’s description, it’s a perpetual work in progress. It seems like the appeal to him is the idea what it might eventually become, and the anticipation of updates, as opposed to what it currently is. Not for me.

ryannathans@aussie.zone on 12 Jan 2024 04:30 collapse

It hasn’t been the focus of the company, until now. The devs were all working on the squadron 42 game until this month. Now the focus has moved to star citizen

squid_slime@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 13:12 next collapse

I hope an underground software liberation group (cracking) can make this software accessible for everyone.

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works on 06 Jan 2024 15:22 next collapse

It’s $45 to buy the game outright.

frunch@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 16:20 next collapse

It’s a start, but we can do better. Well, someone out there can! I’m patient lol

Sunfoil@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:24 collapse

The gamer careful with his money has already bought Elite Dangerous on sale for less though. Even $45 for what is currently being offered is embarrassing.

PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 18:15 next collapse

It’s an MMO, so that would require hosting private servers and figuring out how to redirect the game to those servers. Not likely to happen.

squid_slime@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 19:19 next collapse

Yea reverse engineering they’re servers would be a lot tbf, but who knows, crazier things have happened

Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 06 Jan 2024 21:47 next collapse

It’s not like every other game out there has private servers or anything…

sebinspace@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 06:08 collapse

Redirecting wouldn’t be challenging. Redirecting in a turnkey manner and requiring minimal effort on the part of the user?

Ah yeah. Shits tricky.

ryannathans@aussie.zone on 06 Jan 2024 13:34 collapse

It is. You don’t need to buy ships with real money, it’s for backing the project only.

LazaroFilm@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 13:51 next collapse

This kind of news really allows me to know which games not to play.

erwan@lemmy.ml on 07 Jan 2024 09:08 collapse

At this point you don’t need to do a lot of research to know to stay away from Star Citizen

dustyData@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 13:55 next collapse

Some poor fuckers are getting fleeced.

RiikkaTheIcePrincess@pawb.social on 06 Jan 2024 15:01 next collapse

Kinda hard to consider them poor if they can afford the $10k it costs to whale out $48k more :-\

sebinspace@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 06:06 next collapse

Kinda hard to even feel sorry for them

erwan@lemmy.ml on 07 Jan 2024 09:07 collapse

Apparently they only pay the difference to 48k for the missing items.

Meaning they’re getting fleeced continually.

They might not be poor, but they could be middle class sinking all their savings and getting credit to fuel their addiction.

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works on 06 Jan 2024 15:15 collapse

If you can afford to spend $48,000 on a video game, how is that getting fleeced?

Like, OK, maybe some idiot mortgages their house for this. Bad spending decision. More likely, anyone who looks at that ticket price and thinks “fair deal” is already a millionaire, and quite welcome to do whatever the fuck they want with their money.

Virtual ships certainly cost a lot less to operate than a Lambo or a boat.

ikidd@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 15:43 next collapse

It’s like any amount, there’s people that can properly afford it, and others that will beg, borrow and steal to buy it for the prestige and hurt themselves and others to do it. It’s the latter where the harm lies.

downhomechunk@midwest.social on 06 Jan 2024 18:52 collapse

Just like leasing a fancy Mercedes to keep up with the Joneses when you’re already approaching six figures of credit card debt.

dustyData@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 13:25 collapse

They’re being scammed. They are getting next to nothing for inordinate amounts of money. They might not be financially poor, but they’re being taken advantage of. Like NFTs, just because the fraud is mainly being bought by millionaires you don’t stop calling it a fraud. And just like NFTs and gambling there will be a percentage of people who can’t afford it who will hurt themselves and their innocent loved ones because con men are willing to abuse their addictive personalities to make them fall into debt and have them pay for nothing.

tory@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 14:03 next collapse

Never play Star Citizen, even if it somehow becomes playable. Got it.

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works on 06 Jan 2024 15:18 collapse

The game costs $45, for the record. For an MMO. With no subscription fees.

WOW costs $155 per year.

Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net on 06 Jan 2024 15:42 next collapse

$45 plus a rig that can play it, I have a decent one and it nearly melted

jballs@sh.itjust.works on 06 Jan 2024 16:03 next collapse

If it’s $45, how are people spending $10,000 on it?

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works on 06 Jan 2024 19:34 next collapse

Same way people spend thousands on games that are “free to play”. What kind of a rock have you been living under? People routinely spend $10,000 on mobile games.

Yes, you can buy spaceships for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You can also buy those same ships using money earned in game. This is not the first or last game to do this, and it’s really weird how every time a pointless article gets written about it for cheap clicks, a bunch of people suddenly want to pretend that they’re only just just encountering this phenomenon for the first time.

Laticauda@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 2024 00:21 collapse

Free to play games with even a sliver of integrity only charge money for stuff like cosmetics, not for important shit or equipment, and I have never ever seen a free to play game charge over 1k for anything ever, let alone fucking 48k, so spare me the “pretending this is unusual” crap. I sure other games that pull this shit exist, but don’t act like it isn’t ridiculous or fucked up or like it’s somehow completely normal. It’s predatory leeching is what it is.

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 2024 00:52 collapse

Please learn the difference between “Stupidly expensive” and “Predatory.”

Lamborghinis aren’t predatory. They’re a dumb purchase for rich people to blow their money on, but they’ve got the money to blow.

Now Lotto Max? Those little one dollar tickets? That’s predatory.

The most blatantly exploitative free to play games are often full of dirt cheap purchases. A dollar here, a dollar there, because when the numbers are small you lose track.

When SC charges you $200 for a ship that you could just unlock by playing the game, that purchase is an informed decision. You know up front exactly what you’re getting, and exactly what it will cost. There’s no loot boxes, no random rolls, no gambling. Just a simple transaction.

Whether or not the person on the receiving end of that transaction is getting a good deal is for them to decide. We could just as easily argue over whether or not spending $250 to go to a fancy restaurant is a good deal; it’s largely down your personal preferences.

Laticauda@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 2024 01:16 collapse

Bro just because something is expensive that doesn’t mean it can’t be predatory. The game has been “in development” for more than a decade and yet is charging thousands of dollars for equipment, if you can’t see the issue with how they’re operating then you are either blind or delusional.

QueriesQueried@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 2024 03:54 collapse

Genshin and league of legends are both free, how do you think people (collectively) spend millions on them year over year?

Laticauda@lemmy.ca on 06 Jan 2024 16:06 next collapse

Apparently it costs up to 48k to get certain ships, so that means absolutely fucking nothing.

stown@sedd.it on 06 Jan 2024 16:25 next collapse

It costs 48k for every ship in the game. The most expensive single ship that I’ve seen was about 1.2k.

Honytawk@lemmy.zip on 06 Jan 2024 19:46 next collapse

1.2k … for some bits and bytes.

I know professional software licenses that are cheaper.

MonkeMischief@lemmy.today on 07 Jan 2024 20:00 collapse

Dude that’s like a month of any Autodesk software! :O

And yes it’s utterly ridiculous, and I just wanted to take a shot at Autodesk because screw them lol.

Laticauda@lemmy.ca on 06 Jan 2024 23:57 collapse

No ship should cost any real world money to buy. If the stuff you can buy in a game with real world money can give you an advantage over other players or unlock parts of the game faster than players who don’t pay real money for it, then it’s meaningless to say the game itself is “only 45$”. The ships make up a huge chunk of the game and you can pay 48k to obtain them all immediately, or rather, not you because statistically speaking you’re probably poor, so you don’t get the same game for 45 dollars, not unless you want to spend a fucking loooooooooooooong time grinding in-game (based on what I’ve seen the time needed to grind for enough money to buy even one high class ship is ridiculous). Meanwhile richer players get to fly in circles around you in their better more expensive ships from the start. You get access to less of the game than them.

Also, 1.2k for a single video game spaceship in a game that hasn’t even been officially released yet is disgustingly predatory enough on its own.

momocchi@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 17:20 collapse

You can buy them in game. honestly i dont know why these people even want to buy all these ships with real money, a big part of these games is working your way up and upgrading your ship or buying new better ones. These people are paying to remove that part of the game which blows my mind

Laticauda@lemmy.ca on 06 Jan 2024 23:47 collapse

The fact that you can buy any ship in the game with real world money at all is the problem.

These people are paying to remove that part of the game which blows my mind

Yeah for people who actually enjoy putting the work in it doesn’t make much sense, but for some people who play video games it’s not about the getting it’s about the having. The problem is that in this case they can use real world money to have better stuff without having to work for it, giving them an advantage over other players who are poor or don’t want to pay for their ships. If this was 48k for just ship skins and it didn’t affect gameplay at all then it’d be pretty stupid still, but I would at least concede that the average person doesn’t have any disadvantages if they only pay the 45$ for the main game and don’t need to pay thousands of dollars to reasonably compete with players who have bigger wallets and less impulse control. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here since different ships have different stats and abilities afaik. This essentially means that rich people (or gambling addicts which are their own can of worms) can unlock more of the game and perform better faster than people who only pay for the base game.

Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 16:20 next collapse

That’s a incorrect comparison. You’re treating WoW and Star Citizen to be similar games. When WoW for more than a decade has been in its own premium bucket.

The average MMO today is free. Then the small percentages of MMOs that require the core game purchased.

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 2024 01:00 collapse

No MMO is free. The question is just how you’re paying.

Servers cost money no matter what.

VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 18:22 next collapse

GW2 is free and FFXIV is also free up to storm blood or shadowbringers expansion. How much content is there in Star citizen again?

DarkThoughts@fedia.io on 06 Jan 2024 19:35 next collapse

I don't like WoW, but that's at least an actual game. SC is still nothing but a glorified tech demo. And I say that as one of the earliest backers.

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 2024 00:58 collapse

Yes, it is nothing but a glorified tech demo right now. You’re absolutely correct.

That $45 price (or whatever you choose to spend on the game) is a pre-order.

If you don’t like owning incomplete products, don’t buy incomplete products. This seems pretty simple.

DarkThoughts@fedia.io on 07 Jan 2024 16:59 collapse

That's all cool and dandy but they blew several release dates over the past decade already and can't even get their second system out while waiting for that glorified network tech and magical performance increases.

chitak166@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 19:53 next collapse

Yeah, this is what I keep telling people but nobody wants to listen.

Once the snowball effect has taken hold, it’s next to impossible to reverse.

I fully expect us to see SC detractors to vanish into thin air like those who voted for George Bush Jr. once the game launches and everyone is playing it.

[deleted] on 06 Jan 2024 22:48 next collapse

.

EdibleFriend@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 23:19 next collapse

It’s fucking Stockholm syndrome with you people and that game. I tried it for a few weeks. You constantly run into huge game breaking bugs that, when you google it, people say ‘yeah its been like that for years here is the 20 minute work around’.

ITS ALPHA OF COURSE THERE ARE BUGS GAWD DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND GAMES?!

There. I got that argument from you out of the way. Games aren’t in alpha for over a decade and rake in half a billion dollars and not manage to crank out a working product. Thats not how this works. There are 2 options. Its a scam or they are morons.

Laticauda@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 2024 00:12 collapse

This game could be the second coming of Jesus, Robin Williams, and Mr. Rogers all in one and it still wouldn’t excuse the shit the devs have pulled. This isn’t a case where its reputation will be fixed with an amazing final product. The moment you charge thousands of dollars for fictional video game ships in an unfinished video game that has been in development for more than a decade is the moment you cross a moral event horizon as developers and can never recover your reputation as anything other than leeches. This game will never have a good reputation, it could jerk you off to the tune of the Imperial March and it would still be worth less than a glamorous prostitute. At least a prostitute would charge more appropriately for their services.

gwildors_gill_slits@lemmy.ca on 06 Jan 2024 21:02 next collapse

To be fair, WoW is an actual complete game, while SC is very, very unfinished. And I say this as someone who occasionally plays it and gets some enjoyment out of it.

EdibleFriend@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 23:15 next collapse

WoW works.

vsh@lemm.ee on 08 Jan 2024 08:45 collapse

iRacing easy costs $200-$300/year + paid tracks + paid cars

Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net on 06 Jan 2024 15:44 next collapse

According to a friend of mine that plays, the whales were asking for this feature so they didn’t have to go through the purchase process for each ship

1984@lemmy.today on 06 Jan 2024 15:48 collapse

Fucking billionaries… :)

billwashere@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 15:57 next collapse

I just want to know who would buy this shit so I can do a few things:

1: bitch slap some sense into them 2: buy them lots of hookers and balloons 3: make sure they understand that a real world does exist

Laticauda@lemmy.ca on 06 Jan 2024 16:05 next collapse

This isn’t real money is it? Please tell me it isn’t. I don’t play this game but that would just be fucking sad.

squirrel@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 06 Jan 2024 16:23 next collapse

Because there are lots of people in this thread who paint whales as “rich schmucks” who can afford to spend $48k without thinking twic. This is a myth that lots of the gaming industry itself loves to perpetuate, because it absolves them of taking responsibility for ruining lives.

Research has shown repeatedly that whales are much more likely to be people with mental health problems and/or gambling addicts. That Star Citizen isn’t a freemium game with loot boxes makes it marginally better than - let’s say - Genshin Impact, but offers like the bundle in the article is still predatory.

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:14 collapse

And yet? Nothing will be done. This is a target market that is more than acceptable to disdain, abuse, and otherwise fuck over.

It might be “cool” to be a nerd now, my fellows, but only on the surface. Don’t get suckered into believing they accept you. They’re just commodifying our interests for their gains. They are not us and they don’t want to be. They just want us to like them enough to pay them more than we otherwise would.

Fuck the poseurs.

CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 09:53 collapse

What is one supposed to do about this? Genuine question.

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 17:08 collapse

Stop acting like they’re doing us all a favor by paying attention to our collective interests? It’s all marketing.

MyOpinion@lemm.ee on 06 Jan 2024 16:42 next collapse

The biggest scam in gaming continues unchecked.

deegeese@sopuli.xyz on 06 Jan 2024 16:44 next collapse

They don’t want to risk such a large chargeback or lawsuit over “accidental” purchase by a new user, so are only trying to sell to proven whales.

carl_dungeon@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 17:28 next collapse

Well I guess if anyone had doubts before about SC being a giant fucking scam, they can put those to rest. I was on the fence previously, but this answered it for me.

CheesyGordita@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 17:56 next collapse

I know it’s not the same, but you could just play elite dangerous which is an actual game, and you can get new ships through a crazy new innovative mechanic called “playing the game”

Eezyville@sh.itjust.works on 06 Jan 2024 18:35 next collapse

My man. We live in the age of OnlyFans, TicTok, and Twitch. People out here getting money for feet pics, doing stupid pranks, and pretending to be NPCs. You should know that people will spend money on everything. Just go with the flow and figure out how to make some money.

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:10 collapse

Gramps, did you just spell that “TicTok”? 🤦🏽‍♂️

Retrograde@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:38 next collapse

To be fair, who gives a fuck how that shitty platform is spelled

veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 03:36 collapse

Ikr? He clearly never ate tictacs

PeterPoopshit@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 19:01 next collapse

I like elite dangerous but I don’t like that you have to spend hundreds of hours grinding just to accomplish even the most minor gameplay advancement. No Man’s Sky and Starfield are more playable space games that that grindfest. I wish someone would just remake elite dangerous for normal people.

NOPper@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 19:25 next collapse

It really depends on what you want from your game. I happily spent hours in my lil hauler playing space trucker, and the only real thing that’s changed since then is I have access to bigger space trucks. I’ve been on a big exploration run for the last 80 or so hours of playtime and I’m enjoying being able to just relax and exist in my lil virtual spaceship. I don’t need to feel like a number goes up every session, but I’m a weirdo.

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:08 collapse

I used to hunt griefers in my Black Friday skinned Mur-de-Lance w/ a Huge Particle Cannon and tuned yaw slip to kite and atomize those assclowns for profit. Hit my first Elite that way. The second was Void Diamonds, grinding for those “gonna be SO cool” flagships. I nearly made it the full trip with the whole gang doing the massive trek to the edge and back, but RL got in the way, so I’m not Triple Elite, and you know what? If it weren’t for the Silverbacks group (OGs, chill and welcoming, no pressure, from for RP and what TF ever, but always got your back), I don’t even know if I’d have played as long as I did.

You keep truckin’, space cowboy. 🤙🏼

Fisk400@feddit.nu on 06 Jan 2024 19:41 next collapse

I want someone to make Elite dangerous but with single player progression. You get to pew pew in a bunch of increasingly fancy ships and at the end you fight an alien ship or something. 200 hours to complete and then go play something else with a nice experience.

villainy@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 22:59 next collapse

Have you played the X series?

Fisk400@feddit.nu on 07 Jan 2024 00:03 collapse

No,but I am definitely checking it out.

reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 13:04 next collapse

The learning curve is annoying, but it scratches the itch.

MonkeMischief@lemmy.today on 07 Jan 2024 19:52 collapse

That’s the toughest balance to strike:

Make me feel like I’ve gained a skill to become a competent pilot/trader/whatever in a complex world…

…But also in a way that feels rewarding in the context of having a real mortal life to live, because in the end it’s still a videogame.

Tangent example: I hate how badly I want to try and grokk Dwarf Fortress, but I can’t make more time from nowhere lol.

But thankfully Rimworld is really cool. :)

Just wish we could have an eighth day of the week nobody else was allowed to know about!

PersonalDevKit@aussie.zone on 07 Jan 2024 07:29 collapse

200 hours to complete… you never finish an x game. I generally finish when my computer can’t keep up anymore.

One of the best economic systems in a single player space game that I have come across.

NOPper@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 19:41 collapse

Evochron, Dark Star One,X series (you may bounce off a few times but they’re extremely unique and deep games), older Elite titles, Freelancer!

To a lesser extent and a bit more survival crafty: Space Engineers or Empyrion with mods. Both have some additional community made content that adds stations/factions to progress against or for and are pretty good if a little janky.

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:01 next collapse

As someone who logged an unhealthy amount of hours in E:D, tricked out the computer chair with vesa mounts for a Warthog HOTAS and coded hundreds of macros and voice attack triggers (and a whole set up for an Index) only to give it all up when Frontier dropped the ball on atmospheric landings (their initial offering was complete shite as they thought that the “community” wanted political intrigue and inter-factional complexity — which we did, honestly, but they delivered shit there, too). Hell, I even came back for a minute, hoping the flagship update was gonna be The One… But, they locked that into a fucking grind with specialized fuel, etc., too.

Shame on E:D, but fuck Star Citizen.

Retrograde@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:35 collapse

I can’t overstate how disappointed I am in Frontier for completely abandoning Elite in the name of making more zoo simulators. Such a fucking cop out and I hate it.

Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 2024 09:55 next collapse

Too bad NMS is boring and Starfield is even more boring

RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 13:48 collapse

Mile wide and an inch deep. That’s Elite. Beautiful game, huge grind.

chitak166@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 19:52 next collapse

It’s not even comparable to Star Citizen, and I feel bad for anyone who gets suckered into believing otherwise.

adrian783@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 2024 20:31 collapse

I know right, they’ll never those 2 hours back

ripcord@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 03:28 collapse

They could have spent it mindlessly doomscrolling.

But they DIDN’T KNOW! They just didn’t know…

lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee on 07 Jan 2024 14:44 collapse

How is elite dangerous these days? I was playing no man’s sky which has been continually updated since release yesterday and my bf was badgering me that I could play that instead. I was trying to explain to him that I was having fun playing this and want to play this and he was insisting that elite dangerous has been updated and is so much better. Honestly it was so annoying but I wanted another opinion on how it is as a game lol

CheesyGordita@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 00:07 next collapse

Honestly I haven’t played in quite a while and was just a space trucker so my opinion really probably doesn’t count for much but if you already own it I would definitely boot it up and give it a few hours and see if it works for you

vsh@lemm.ee on 08 Jan 2024 08:43 collapse

It’s at the dying phase. Developers turned around to develop other games instead. I have counted 1500 hours on steam and while the fun lasted, broken odyssey was a final nail in the coffin.

badbytes@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 01:09 next collapse

Game cancer

nifty@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 01:41 next collapse

That $48K can get you a real plane though, or boat. But maybe someone paying that for ships in Star Citizen has both already 😅

waterSticksToMyBalls@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 03:50 collapse

48k for a plane or boat? Good luck with that.

nifty@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 03:56 collapse

Something like this, there are more selections within that range on that site,

yachtworld.com/…/1991-hunter-35.5-legend-9163237/

Or these

hangar.flights/…/affordable-personal-aircraft/

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 08:54 next collapse

So, you’re not accounting for the required training and licensing to operate those, I take it? FYI, even if you “fast track” the training and go straight for the written exam that precedes logged flight hours (sim and real, both), you’re still looking at ~$30k just to be allowed to fly. Then, there’s the routine (& frequent) maintenance, storage, fuel, etc.

Sure, you can buy a cute li’l death trap for <$50k, but it’s a lawn ornament without licensing.

Don’t get me wrong: fuck Star Citizen sideways with an alien chode tumor. Just, don’t point to garage-tier aviation “solutions” as a fair comparison. 🤗

nyctre@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 12:11 next collapse

If you can afford to spend 60k on a video game, you can afford to get a license and a plane, I’m pretty sure…

FlorianSimon@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 2024 19:01 next collapse

The parent poster was correct: you can buy a plane for that kind of money. Respectfully, your point about training and maintenance is irrelevant. The truth is the parent poster was right, and the comparison is an eloquent one that furthers the point that the offer from SC’s developer is ludicrous.

Nobody actually wants to buy a plane or a boat, don’t worry! 😜

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 21:06 collapse

To be fair, I’m uncertain whether you can actually complete that purchase legally without being licensed yourself or a licensed pilot under current contract. 🤓

tagliatelle@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 01:50 next collapse

To be fair…

flynnguy@programming.dev on 08 Jan 2024 13:37 collapse

You can, you just need to hire a pilot if you want to fly in it. How do you think rich people fly around in their jets? Do you really think the pilots own the planes?

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 17:07 collapse

Did you even read my comment? 🤦🏽‍♂️

flynnguy@programming.dev on 08 Jan 2024 19:15 collapse

yes? you can legally purchase a plane without a license… did you read my comment? purchasing != using. You don’t need a pilot “under current contract” you could buy a plane and taxi it around the airport if you want without any licenses.

MonkeMischief@lemmy.today on 07 Jan 2024 19:46 collapse

Inb4 Star Citizen tries to feel more exclusive by instituting spaceship pilot training and licensing that requires logged hours and such…

…you know, so people don’t ruin their “investments”! D:

wolfshadowheart@slrpnk.net on 08 Jan 2024 03:13 collapse

Don’t forget, you gotta pay for those licenses and classes

waterSticksToMyBalls@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 14:24 collapse

www.aerotrader.com/aircraft-for-sale?sort=price%3…

Neat you can get a shitty plane in need of a major overhaul.

[deleted] on 07 Jan 2024 02:29 next collapse

.

Xavier@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 2024 03:02 next collapse

I wonder if games that require such farfetched amounts of money should be included in the Luxury tax?

A lot of those “whales” have cognitive difficulties and/or gambling addictions issues. Since many if these game developers/publishers have no qualm blindly milking and profiteering. It should be no surprise if some sort of tax is levied to help societies (à-la-tobacco or sugar tax) attenuate the ravages of gambling addictions.

Moreover, Star Citizen has been released over 10 years ago while been continually updated.

At what point is it just senseless greed that has taken over the game?

Retrograde@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:33 next collapse

Released is a strong word, lol. Agreed though, it is completely unprecedented

lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee on 07 Jan 2024 14:41 next collapse

It’s one thing to drop a few bucks here and there into a game you enjoy but when you start spending 10k on a fuckin game you have a serious issue. Even if you’re ultra wealthy, do you really have nothing else you could waste that money on? I think it’s time for a serious crackdown on predatory gaming.

CulturedLout@lemmy.ca on 07 Jan 2024 15:25 next collapse

Luxury tax doesn’t apply to dealers/retailers. It would just get piled on the final user. Which would be fine for the “richer than god” types, but not so great for some poor bastard with an addiction who can’t help themselves.

Womble@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 22:08 collapse

You’re right, in that the customer would pay the tax. But also its not like they could be charging an extra 20% and be getting more money. They will have put significant effort and research into finding out what the optimal level of pricing is to get the most grift, which means the fall in “sales” from putting things at a higher price would outweigh the increased profit. I’d rather them scam less and let the government get at least a slice of it. Though really, more regulation to stop this kind of exploitation would be better.

[deleted] on 08 Jan 2024 08:29 collapse

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Womble@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 08:39 collapse

Oh look you’re now stalking me though comments and decided I’m a libertarian. In some places more regulation is good, in others poor regulation is bad. For example placing regulations on when unions are allowed to strike is an example of bad regulation, is that ok with you? Or would you rather I just played into your fantasy of techno-bro and just say “government bad, ubermen smash!” more?

[deleted] on 08 Jan 2024 09:02 collapse

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n3m37h@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 2024 17:27 next collapse

It’s been a demo for over 10 years, not a game.

Games have story, star citizen is a glorified tech demo as far as I am concerned.

FlorianSimon@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jan 2024 18:55 collapse

Games don’t necessarily have stories… But your point still stands. This feels unfinished, empty and unpolished. Not remotely worth 50k

n3m37h@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jan 2024 23:56 collapse

I boufh a ship beginning of 2014 just to test it out, worst $200 (supposed to get a usb ship, bunch of squadron 42 stuff)

And most games have a point, the only point to star citizen is for YOU to spend money

Heavybell@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 23:49 collapse

That level of buy-in is not required. You can get a game package with a single starter pack for US$40. The one in the article includes every variant of every vehicle currently in the game or in development or announced as planned. IMO it’s for people who just want to support development because it literally removes a bunch of reasons to even play.

It’s hard to definitively say if greed has taken over or if they’re just trying to fund development as legitimately as possible without a publisher. They have done some groundbreaking things (64 bit coordinate system, object container streaming, etc) and are working in more (replication layer, server meshing, etc). That is why it has been so long and expensive, why the game is still alpha.

bezerker03@lemmy.bezzie.world on 07 Jan 2024 03:05 next collapse

To quote Thor. Star citizen is a storefront pretending to be a game.

Ddit@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 06:33 collapse

The god Thor?

CaptPretentious@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 06:46 next collapse

He’s talking about Jason Thor Hall @ www.youtube.com/@PirateSoftware

Who’s behind store.steampowered.com/app/567380/Heartbound/

His middle name is Thor and that’s what he goes by (who wouldn’t)

He’s recently gotten a lot of attention because his YT Shorts have just exploded.

PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks on 07 Jan 2024 06:46 next collapse

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://www.piped.video/@PirateSoftware

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.

mosiacmango@lemm.ee on 07 Jan 2024 08:00 next collapse

His shorts are great. Thanks for sharing them.

asyncrosaurus@programming.dev on 07 Jan 2024 13:12 collapse

Oh wow, I’ve seen this guys shorts start popping up constantly. He seems like he understands the algorithm enough to explode

dustyData@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 13:33 next collapse

He’s a really good streamer and a great programmer and game developer to boot. He also has ferrets for pets and live streams them. Dude is the whole nerd entertainment package.

Plopp@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 18:37 collapse

I banish you all for watching YouTube Shorts

MonkeMischief@lemmy.today on 07 Jan 2024 19:44 collapse

Whaaat? C’mon, it keeps us from making TikTok accounts. …and this Thor guy is really cool. Lol

AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 12:55 next collapse

You can get some pretty good gaming info during thunderstorms.

bezerker03@lemmy.bezzie.world on 08 Jan 2024 11:55 collapse

Lol might as well be. Thor. The former Blizzard security dude who turned game Dev and live streams now.

pineapplelover@lemm.ee on 07 Jan 2024 04:15 next collapse

Not real life money right?

Evotech@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 06:27 next collapse

Wrong

littlebluespark@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 08:46 next collapse

I can only assume you’ve no idea what Star Citizen is. 🤦🏽‍♂️

ours@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 13:32 next collapse

Bless his heart.

pineapplelover@lemm.ee on 07 Jan 2024 23:14 collapse

Is it that one bad game where you explore random planets?

nightwatch_admin@feddit.nl on 08 Jan 2024 01:27 collapse

That’s Star Field from Bethesda and you can say a lot about it but at least it exists.

pineapplelover@lemm.ee on 08 Jan 2024 03:30 collapse

Too many things with “star” in their names. Star wars, star trek, star field, star citizen

papertowels@programming.dev on 07 Jan 2024 09:51 next collapse

Padme_meme.jpg

AeonFelis@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 10:10 next collapse

I’d be willing to pay with real life money if they were real life spaceships.

vsh@lemm.ee on 08 Jan 2024 08:40 collapse

Galaxy dollars /s

menemen@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 09:40 next collapse

Remembering when it was not yet released, thinking “This looks kinda cool, but the business model looks terrible”. Seems it got much worse.

asyncrosaurus@programming.dev on 07 Jan 2024 13:08 collapse

Seems it got much worse.

Seems like it’s going great for the developer.

banneryear1868@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 14:51 next collapse

There are no married people playing this game

nightwatch_admin@feddit.nl on 08 Jan 2024 01:26 next collapse

*random oil sheikh with 50 wives enters the game

SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 12:40 collapse

I think whats scarier is that there probably definitely are some who are married and their spouse has zero idea how much they’ve spent.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 14:54 next collapse

If you are rich enough to afford to pay for this, you’re too rich.

MaxVoltage@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 22:19 next collapse

Landowner class spends that kind of money on larks its nuts but like those people should be seperated from their money imo

Allero@lemmy.today on 08 Jan 2024 00:02 next collapse

The most scary part is, it’s not only the rich. I knew people who have put their life savings into the game.

dezmd@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 02:02 next collapse

A few of the most broke-assed people I know in my gaming circles are all in on this game. The rest of us tried to gently prod them away but it’s like a cult.

It is 100% a multi-level-marketing feeling I get from the active players that keep trying to reach out and get us in on it. I’m talkin late 90s Quixtar MLM pyramid scam feels.

FellowArmadello@monero.town on 07 Jan 2024 19:15 collapse

Either you’re too rich or bad at investing.

crystalmerchant@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 15:49 next collapse

Wait, in real money? Or like video game money?

Trono@reddthat.com on 07 Jan 2024 17:23 next collapse

real money

sukhmel@programming.dev on 07 Jan 2024 19:35 next collapse

If this is a genuine question you have some epic story to treat yourself to about how the bestest game of all times was made promised

crystalmerchant@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 21:29 collapse

Genuine question my friend lmao

Allero@lemmy.today on 08 Jan 2024 00:01 collapse

You’re up for a ride if you have a read.

Game is 11 years in alpha development, still a buggy mess that requires a supercomputer to work smoothly, only recently got a second star system (dozens more are pinky promised, and hundreds promised since beginning of development), is constantly exploited in all ways possible, barely has any actual content…

…which absolutely didn’t stop it from earning over half a billion dollars (yes, billion) by selling in-game ships for hundreds and sometimes thousands of very absolutely real dollars, as well as such monstrous packs.

Basil@lemmings.world on 08 Jan 2024 02:10 collapse

It’s weird, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone actually playing this game. Hell, I don’t even know what gameplay looks like, and honestly I’m happy keeping it that way

Thirdborne@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 08:55 collapse

It’s an ethically shitty and exploitative funding model, but if you look at the gameplay, you’ll see the appeal of buying the $45 game package. Very few people stop at though. No matter how much you hear that spending more is unnecessary, they’ve built a system of incremental spending and incentives that draw people ever deeper.

The insane thing is that the supposed final vision sounds incredibly tedious in a way that I doubt most people would ever actually play it. For the sake of immersion, you will have to physically move every item from spare sets of armour to bulk cargo for transport jobs. There is a light survival mechanic of hydration and nutrition, but personal hygiene is also planned. Upgrading ships will mean physically pulling components and replacing them, but the real gains will be in the subcomponents!

Maybe that sounds fun as a vision statement, but I assure you, after losing that hand loaded, hand upgraded ship to bugs or exploits for the third time, the joy will all be gone.

I suppose it’s lucky that none of their vision or promises ever come to pass. Anyway. You want my referral code?

systemglitch@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 19:42 collapse

Real cash.

TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 21:36 next collapse

Honestly, at this point, if you buy this you and SC deserve each other, have fun.

Nacktmull@lemm.ee on 07 Jan 2024 21:54 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://i.imgflip.com/8bl8dv.jpg">

MaxVoltage@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 22:18 collapse

unfortunately by todays late stage mercantile economy this is just a bad deal

BrownianMotion@lemmy.world on 07 Jan 2024 22:50 next collapse

WTF!

At the time of this article’s publication, Star Citizen had raised $658,161,596 from more than five million accounts.

The game has not even officially been released!!

Allero@lemmy.today on 07 Jan 2024 23:52 collapse

Yeah, Star Citizen is world renowned master of squeezing immense amounts of cash from its userbase.

First, they have many ship tiers, and as the most basic ones cost $40+, they feel comfortable charging more for bigger ships, with some ships costing well over $1000.

Second, they commonly introduce wipes in updates, and those wipes only affect everything players accrued in-game, not purchases made with real cash. So you either accept having your entire progress wiped again and again, or you give up and buy your fleet for cash (and any meaningfully gamechanging ship costs hundreds of dollars). The developers claim that this is due to bugs and exploits being found, and that eventually everything will stay forever, no matter how you bought it, but they are obviously aware of the situation and will probably make sure this never happens.

Third, the game does a good job at immersing you into the universe, so some players really go for a second life there. For them, it is the successful counterpart of the Metaverse.

And just like that we end up with people spending insane amounts of money on in-game ships. Half of the players I know spent over $300 on the game, and I personally know people who spent upwards to $8000.

Scary part is that many of them aren’t rich, and one of the people I know literally saved for years and hid $8000 from their family to buy a ship pack. He is living in Ukraine, a country with GDP per capita of $4350.

angstylittlecatboy@reddthat.com on 08 Jan 2024 03:31 next collapse

Star Citizen is what iRacing players look at to feel better about themselves

Actually that’s too mean to iRacing players since iRacing works

puppy@lemmy.world on 08 Jan 2024 12:36 next collapse

Is this real world dollars or some kind of in-game currency?

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip on 08 Jan 2024 13:32 next collapse

OK, I understand EVE and I understand Elite Dangerous, but this is not normal.

lazynooblet@lazysoci.al on 06 Jan 2024 12:31 collapse

This isn’t a game anymore, it’s just blatant money grabbing.