It's actually more positive piece than I thought. If it was neutral they'd interview that derreck guy and/or some confirmed refundees.
On one hand I understand the frustration this game is. Just think about it, how many backers might be dead now before being able to fully play the game.
On the other hand, the scope of this game merits the long cooking time imo. It's basically released but in early access form.
But I kinda don't get the pay2win gripe people have with outright buying ships. In real world, rich people have advantage. Same rules apply here.
Totally agree apart from the p2w aspect, there are ramafications to that and they influence the game experience even for those that have no interest in accruing lots of power or wealth. Its a pitfall many many MMOs have fallen into. Even without P2W there will be lots of asymmetry in the game economy and faction strengths etc. just because people have varying amounts of time to invest in it.
The presence of great asymmetry in faction power and influence may be intentional, but still, introduce a direct monetary conversion into gameplay advantage and what you get is all the filth that belong to power and money; it corrupts, and it makes things a tad too real for many who think their presence in a video game can be a substitute for whatever they lack in the real world; that is what games intend to do, but that is also why any ties with that real world are dangerous, volatile psychology.
I still say the very first backers on kickstarter, aka me, should be granted like a bonus ship or two for making all this possible when no one ever heard of this game to begin with, and for them lying on when the game would ship. I have been waiting x amount of years now and no end in sight. I deserve some bonus ships.
But just like you said, the real world is corrupt, and so is this game, so eh I doubt that ever happens for me.
Not really. Your bonus ships are the same urge to 'cheat' in a multi player environment and the fact they sell them is also paid cheating. Its the axe on the roots of the PU as a fair playground.
The lifetime insurance on its own was bad enough already.
This whole topic comes down to: do you want whales to govern the game economy and progression rate, or would you like it tailored to healthy and sane investments of time? If you want the latter, you should oppose any and all P2W influences. If you support the former, what you will get is yet another bot infested grind and zergfest and rat race plus massive evonomy inflation and a constant race to the next best exploit. And a game that is not immersive, but feels like a rat race.
As a student of philosophy, you cannot possibly miss this..
Its a neutral piece, neat! Title is a tad misleading
