[Megathread] Star Citizen

[zealo]

Thomas Hennessy: Definitely not. The overall company finances are not shared or discussed with the employees, and I would imagine, that even if my coworkers and I were given access to some spreadsheets or EBITDA statement, we most definitely would not be qualified to analyze or judge what we were looking at. I imagine that the accounting for a global company of our size is pretty complicated.

Dunno if its just damage control or not, (we will see if its true or not regardless as time passes), but its a pretty interesting contrast to anonymous statements to press saying their almost out of funding.

[Omians]

Whatever, 5 days until Citizen Con.

drops the same day as my birthday. Hopefully somthing good is announced

[Tradewind]

drops the same day as my birthday. Hopefully somthing good is announced

There was some RP heavy "news post" today which might be a leadup to something on Saturday. Whether it's the Idris, or something SQ42 related.

The 1.3 patch upcoming isn't going to have any huge revelations, just switching to the gamedev stream...which means bigger shit after.

[Nerraw]

So what happens tomorrow when Escapist doesn't apologize and Chris Roberts doesn't sue? Will you guys accept that what was published was most likely true?

If at least two of the sources step forward, I'm willing to question my beliefs. Until that happens, I say it's a hoax.

[nocturnus]

I'm no supporter of SC, mostly because I actually think RS's promises can't be delivered on such a relatively small budget. Honestly, this whole project is just too ambitious.

That said, the article in question lacked quality and professionalism. None of the allegations were backed with tangible proof. Heck, never mind tangible, those allegation even lacked realism. "They call me names and don't assume black people or people over 40, my proof is an ID card that might have been from Wall Mart as well"

Seriously, journalists. What a disgusting bunch of slanderous individuals without any moral standards or general ethics. I hope that women loses her job and never finds one in the same field. Like I said, I don't believe in SC, but that doesn't mean I go around defaming its, or its employees, reputation.

[Aberrict]

I'm no supporter of SC, mostly because I actually think RS's promises can't be delivered on such a relatively small budget. Honestly, this whole project is just too ambitious.

That said, the article in question lacked quality and professionalism. None of the allegations were backed with tangible proof. Heck, never mind tangible, those allegation even lacked realism. "They call me names and don't assume black people or people over 40, my proof is an ID card that might have been from Wall Mart as well"

Seriously, journalists. What a disgusting bunch of slanderous individuals without any moral standards or general ethics. I hope that women loses her job and never finds one in the same field. Like I said, I don't believe in SC, but that doesn't mean I go around defaming its, or its employees, reputation.

I shall be the one to dash your hope and link the second article again.

[draykorinee]

I shall be the one to dash your hope and link the second article again.

Still not enough to convince me the article is anything but flawed. I have such a tiny amount invested I couldn't care less what happens, but the Escapists original article and its follow up does not fill me with confidence that 90% of this is total bullshit.

[Rennadrel]

I am not worried myself. Unlike Derek Smart, Chris Roberts doesn't do everything half assed, so even if the game is in development because there are issues with the Persistent Universe, so long as we see Squadron 42 get released, there is always going to be the possibility that the remainder will get released. I hope we see an announcement on Squadron 42s release at CitizenCon though, that would quell a lot of doubts about shit not getting done. Star Marine is super far behind but at least they were able to get it pulled before they put it into live testing.

[stellvia]

I'm not naive enough to believe there hasn't been some amount of financial malfeasance, however small or large, with that amount of funds. But the signal to noise ratio of their claims leans very heavily towards the bullshit category. The number of cases where someone quit/was fired and had an axe to grind against their former employer are myriad. The fact that the publishing of the article was grossly unprofessional and biased (not waiting for a CIG response after emailing them 3pm on Friday before the weekend, then releasing Sat morning) from an author with a history of bias against CIG, working together with Derek Smart whose personal vendetta with CR borders on mental illness IMHO...

The sad thing is, with the Napolean Complex and whatever else you might call what Derek Smart has, I don't think it even matters to him. He knows that as long as he keeps spreading FUD non-stop, regardless of the veracity of the claims, he is hurting CR and CIG. Even moreso if he were to get himself sued and have lawyers suck money out of CIG's funding. All of that would only strengthen his position of undermining in order to make his "goal" a reality.

[1001]

Uhm they did wait but they weren't to know that Roberts was 8 hours ahead in the UK. Besides it was Roberts who chose to remove people from the CC list so his reply ended up not going to the people who should have seen it. I think that combination caused an awkward and unlucky situation rather than evidence of scheming on the Escapist's part.
The author has one previous article that involves CIG, it seems a bit of a stretch to call that a history of bias. Is there any evidence that she colluded with DS?.

---
Sometimes I feel there's some perspective missing when it comes to DS which is why this quote seems so apropos.

Attacking Derek Smart as if that bozo gadfly even matters! But apparently to the cult of Star Citizen, it's some magical talisman. All of their enemies are Derek, the press are puppets of Derek, their former employees are all controlled by Derek. He ain't Sauron, he's a mentally ill man with a Tesla and a lot of free time. Do they literally think he's both simultaneously incompetent AND sitting at the center of a giant spiderweb of power able to dispatch his minions as if he were Hassan-i-Sabbah? He does all that AND posts under 23985739457 pseudonyms AND his own name all over the net? Wow, he's practically a supervillain. I find it amazing that apparently one of their stretch goals was reviving the relevance of that 90s relic!

[nocturnus]

I shall be the one to dash your hope and link the second article again.

If this is true, Roberts has a big problem. Saying it's true doesn't make it true, though. I wonder...

I'll closely follow the lawsuit /rubs hands

[stellvia]

Nah, I'm not saying she colluded, but I am saying that running with a "story" brought to you by Derek Smart is a bit like believing the new fraking operation next door when they tell you the sudden methane coming out of your tap water has nothing to do with them.

Nothing about this article was so urgent that she couldn't have given them a few working days to respond. And it still would have ran just ahead of CitizenCon, which seems the more likely reason Smart contacted her now, seeing as he was already beating this drum for months now.

[zealo]

I don't think there is any collusion going on at the escapist end, but whether those employees may have had an axe to grind with their former employer, that's another matter. We will just have to wait and see how this pans out.

[Gorsameth]

If this is true, Roberts has a big problem. Saying it's true doesn't make it true, though. I wonder...

I'll closely follow the lawsuit /rubs hands

I highly doubt a lawsuit will happen over this. Primarily because such a lawsuit from Roberts would most likely involve revealing the actual state of his finances.

[nocturnus]

I highly doubt a lawsuit will happen over this. Primarily because such a lawsuit from Roberts would most likely involve revealing the actual state of his finances.

Why would it require to reveal his financial record? That's nobody's business but his. The lawsuit would be for slander and baseless allegations of discrimination and bullying.

[Gorsameth]

Why would it require to reveal his financial record? That's nobody's business but his. The lawsuit would be for slander and baseless allegations of discrimination and bullying.

Because witness (informant/whistle-blower whatever you wanne call it) credibility is a thing. If they are correct about subject A it's more likely they were correct about subject B especially in situations where physical evidence is hard to come by like discrimination and bullying.

[nocturnus]

Because witness (informant/whistle-blower whatever you wanne call it) credibility is a thing. If they are correct about subject A it's more likely they were correct about subject B especially in situations where physical evidence is hard to come by like discrimination and bullying.

I don't agree. The way they spend their money is irrelevant, especially since they don't owe a financial report to anyone except eventual investors. Backers, aren't investors, they're donators and thereby aren't entitled to information about their books. On top of that, their financial standing and/or expenditures, will not give any relevant value to the allegations about racism/bigotry and/or bullying.

That said, I'm sure certain links in the organisation filled their pockets considerably. Lucky for them it's perfectly legal.

[SirRobin]

I don't agree. The way they spend their money is irrelevant, especially since they don't owe a financial report to anyone except eventual investors. Backers, aren't investors, they're donators and thereby aren't entitled to information about their books. On top of that, their financial standing and/or expenditures, will not give any relevant value to the allegations about racism/bigotry and/or bullying.

That said, I'm sure certain links in the organisation filled their pockets considerably. Lucky for them it's perfectly legal.

I don't see any legal action coming over this. Escapist got their clicks and I doubt CIG will want to open their books to scrutiny to prove the claims are not true. Nor do I think CIG wants their email servers being gone through either. Whether it proves the claims true or proves them false. I also suspect CIG doesn't want to waste money on costly litigation when a win in court is hardly a sure thing either.

Its just a digital spat.

[ramjb]

So Chris Roberts breaks another one of his promises - no lawsuit against Escapist. Chris Roberts is just like his game, all bark, no bite.

[nocturnus]

So Chris Roberts breaks another one of his promises - no lawsuit against Escapist. Chris Roberts is just like his game, all bark, no bite.

Cmon, what the heck did you expect? This 'game' was too ambitious to begin with. Seriously, what do they actually have to show until now? Except a buggy dogfight module and a pointless hangar.

Oh, I forgot the very important chat lobby where you can... chat...