[Megathread] Star Citizen

[masterhorus8]

-snip-

TBF, Something Awful (a certain someone that posts here chills there a lot) is pretty much the worst. But yeah, Frontier's forums are not that neutral. Hell, the actual CMs were parroting a DS on some of his BS points over there when a CiG dev was explaining how the Lumberyard switch was working.

[Odeezee]

TBF, Something Awful (a certain someone that posts here chills there a lot) is pretty much the worst. But yeah, Frontier's forums are not that neutral. Hell, the actual CMs were parroting a DS on some of his BS points over there when a CiG dev was explaining how the Lumberyard switch was working.

oh yeah, i remember that it was truly a sight to behold in sheer narcissism and armchair development, the greatest i have ever seen. DS was telling a dev working on the game how what they said they were doing was NOT possible because he could not do it and no one can program like he can. i was stunned to say the least. i mean wow. but you see that a lot in that thread; "hey i design software for this manufacturing company" or "hey i designed a game that sold a few thousand units" so i know how to develop a game on the scope and scale of Star Citizen, etc, etc the sheer self importance in that thread is sickening, and then when you have a dev actually working on the technical aspects of the game tell you that you are mistaken, misinformed, etc you proceed to argue with him and call him a liar or say he has no clue how to develop a game????!!! i seriously had no words when i was wading through that bile of a thread and to make matters worse these are grown men speaking and behaving this way, in fact i would posit that they are mostly above the age of 40. such a damn shame.

anyway,back on topic, this looks great. looking forward to exploring!



SOURCE

[Karon]

3.0 before the end of 2016 was a goal, yes but after seeing the uproar over Mass Effect: Andromeseas facial and body animations, lack luster story at times and the absence of QoL features i for one DO NOT want them to release anything until it's heavily polished because due to the crowd-funding behemoth that Star Citizen/Squadron 42 are, they attract all manner of attention and people will judge the game, even though it's in alpha very harshly.

You don't want them to release Betas until they look like release candidates. Gotcha.

[1001]

utter and total bullshit! the ED forums are the WORST place for any discussion, it's the complete opposite of the main RSI forums i.e. it is a haven for trolls, bitter backers (current and former), misinformation artists and just all around "special" sort of people. if you do not like the game, don't like the direction, don't like the creator, don't like the community then why spend your days in a thread devoted to it? that thread is full of the biggest hypocrites i have ever seen; they say that people who support CIG are cultists yet they bitch and moan about the game EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. why not just play ED if it's so great. they also judge Star Citizen as though it's a released title and compare it to other released titles and claim that ever AAA title coming out (CoD, NMS, ME: A) will make Star Citizen obsolete, i mean if people are going to be so intellectually honest how can you ever hope to have a substantive discussion about the game with such people? and it's as though they get offended when people spend money on CIG, like they have some sort of interest in how people choose to spend their money, why they even care i don't know, it's not like it's their money. on top of that the moderators are the very people who troll Star Citizen and act as though ED is without fault and is the answer to everything that ails Star Citizen. on top of which anyone showing ANY form of positivity towards the Star Citizen are inundated with a metric shit load of berating from the resident trolls. they verbally try to brow-beat those who like Star Citizen to their way of thinking. and then if they really can't stand someone's optimism towards the project they report the user to get them temp banned. they also give safe haven to the one vindictive dev and his ilk and allow those negative towards Star Citizen to skate on issues that they ban those who are positive towards Star Citizen.

so, NO! the Star Citizen thread on the Frontier forums is NOT the forum with the least contention.

LOL, you sound very angry and personally offended by their forums...

Least contention from people that cannot handle the slightest bit of criticism over their game or the company making it, definitely so.

The /r/ds guys would have you believe that it is Derek's soap box and he controls the narrative and all that bollocks, whereas in reality it is a place where people can freely express their opinions, likes and dislikes without some mouth-breathing idiot jumping in and saying "Hurr durr don't tell me how to spend mah moneh.."
I appreciate the place because opinions are not censored, the official forums pushes all criticism into their monolithic katamariis or concern threads, the subreddit just dogpiles criticism with the downvote button and creates a self-sustaining echo chamber.

you do realize that the tech supersedes the gameplay, right? so once the tech has all be finalized then they will showcase the systemic interactions between them all. remember as backers we are just crowd-sourced testers, so when the systems are all working and in place we will get tagged in, but yeah the waiting does suck, good thing for me that there are other games to play in the meanwhile.
3.0 before the end of 2016 was a goal, yes but after seeing the uproar over Mass Effect: Andromeseas facial and body animations, lack luster story at times and the absence of QoL features i for one DO NOT want them to release anything until it's heavily polished because due to the crowd-funding behemoth that Star Citizen/Squadron 42 are, they attract all manner of attention and people will judge the game, even though it's in alpha very harshly.

Of course I realise that. My issue is that all we ever see is something by itself with a camera panning around it. Only on the very rare occassion do we see it being interacted with. Consider that 3.0 was meant to arrive by the end of last year, that would indicate gameplay existed and that the 3 months after the announcement would more than likely be used for bug-testing, polishing etc.
Yet here we are 7 months later and we haven't seen one iota of gameplay relating to 3.0. What happened? Where's it all gone?

I see lots of people bring up ME:A as a justifiction but that's just being selective, what about TW:3 which only took 3 1/2 years?

[Malibutomi]

LOL, you sound very angry and personally offended by their forums...

Least contention from people that cannot handle the slightest bit of criticism over their game or the company making it, definitely so.

The /r/ds guys would have you believe that it is Derek's soap box and he controls the narrative and all that bollocks, whereas in reality it is a place where people can freely express their opinions, likes and dislikes without some mouth-breathing idiot jumping in and saying "Hurr durr don't tell me how to spend mah moneh.."
I appreciate the place because opinions are not censored, the official forums pushes all criticism into their monolithic katamariis or concern threads, the subreddit just dogpiles criticism with the downvote button and creates a self-sustaining echo chamber.



Of course I realise that. My issue is that all we ever see is something by itself with a camera panning around it. Only on the very rare occassion do we see it being interacted with. Consider that 3.0 was meant to arrive by the end of last year, that would indicate gameplay existed and that the 3 months after the announcement would more than likely be used for bug-testing, polishing etc.
Yet here we are 7 months later and we haven't seen one iota of gameplay relating to 3.0. What happened? Where's it all gone?

I see lots of people bring up ME:A as a justifiction but that's just being selective, what about TW:3 which only took 3 1/2 years?

No the SC thread at ED forums is a complete poophole, filled with goons and DS himself, who for some reason can vomit his agenda there with obvious lies and half truths.
They are just a hair better than SA forums, but do the same , spit and laugh on anything CIG related without any logical discussion. If CIG shows something really good like last ATV, they just laugh and belittle it.
Just for your information opinions there are censored too, just the opposite way, because the mod of the thread is not better than any of them goons, and many times the meaningful reasoning gets deleted, while the other parts remain.

Lets just agree not bringing that here if that's ok, and discuss SC as we should in this topic.

So on the 3.0 topic, in the 10FTC they said yes the plan was a really basic release end of 2016, but as they worked on it more and mire things started to look like they should be in it+other parts development went better than expected so they decided to put those in as well. For example mining was not the plan, but it will be included. So yeah 3.0 is delayed but will contain more and better polished parts.

My personal opinion above this is they realized that 3.0 is really important, it can make or break the project in reference to backers mindset. If its not working well, lacking on content, too buggy, the backers will lose faith after the years end lack of content. CIG needs a big bang with 3.0 to give a new momentum of trust.

Sadly SC is treated like a complete game in the eyes of most people they seemingly cannot grasp the meaning if alpha and bugs. CIG needs to release 3.0 almost in the manner an established MMO would release an expansion.
If its not good the people will beat it for the problems, ignoring the fact its in development. If its good people will be reassured the project is on track.

[stormgust]

3.0 before the end of 2016 was a goal, yes but after seeing the uproar over Mass Effect: Andromeseas facial and body animations, lack luster story at times and the absence of QoL features i for one DO NOT want them to release anything until it's heavily polished because due to the crowd-funding behemoth that Star Citizen/Squadron 42 are, they attract all manner of attention and people will judge the game, even though it's in alpha very harshly.

Time to polish does not necessarily mean the result will be polished (*cough* WoD *cough*). Also, if you progress to far into a wrong direction during developement, starting over may end up being not possible (or require a tremendous amount of work), and it also doesn't sound smart to polish a system first, if interacting systems, which are added later in the developement cycle, would lead to significant adjustements to it anyway. It's basically an exponential increase in workload without much of a benefit (compare e.g. the flight model, I'd bet it will recieve yet another complete overhaul for 3.0 as the current one doesn't work well within a complete solar system).

[Odeezee]

You don't want them to release Betas until they look like release candidates. Gotcha.

well for starters Star Citizen is still in alpha and no, why should they release something for mass testing if it is not at that stage yet given that people unfairly critique gameplay STILL in alpha?

Time to polish does not necessarily mean the result will be polished (*cough* WoD *cough*). Also, if you progress to far into a wrong direction during developement, starting over may end up being not possible (or require a tremendous amount of work), and it also doesn't sound smart to polish a system first, if interacting systems, which are added later in the developement cycle, would lead to significant adjustements to it anyway. It's basically an exponential increase in workload without much of a benefit (compare e.g. the flight model, I'd bet it will recieve yet another complete overhaul for 3.0 as the current one doesn't work well within a complete solar system).

dude the game is still in alpha so you are just basically saying they are still developing the game, no shit that's why they iterate. i mean do you actually read what you type? how is that even a logical argument, "hey these devs trying to make this game are going to try and improve the gameplay and mechanics throughout the games development, what a fail strategy." not to mention we get to play every single patch that the devs release, so what is your point even? name a game that was rushed to release and was great, go ahead i'll wait. i mean with examples like NMS, CoD: IW and ME: A, gamers should be advocating for devs to take MORE time with the games they are building.

[Puupi]

gamers should be advocating for devs to take MORE time with the games they are building.

Sure, when the game is being tested indoors by the devs. When it's out in the public, the clock is ticking....

[Odeezee]

~snip~

i do NOT like misinformation, period. if people choose to back Star Citizen or not is their business, just don't spread misinformation and don't be intellectually dishonest; Star Citizen is still in the alpha phase of development but people STILL compare it to a released title. that is so transparently biased and definitely does not exercise logic and reasoning. i do not even visit that subreddit you mentioned, i don't rely on second hand information or other people's opinions, i read that devs own words for myself and i made up my own mind, which i won't repeat as i already stated my position on the issue.

Of course I realise that. My issue is that all we ever see is something by itself with a camera panning around it. Only on the very rare occassion do we see it being interacted with. Consider that 3.0 was meant to arrive by the end of last year, that would indicate gameplay existed and that the 3 months after the announcement would more than likely be used for bug-testing, polishing etc.
Yet here we are 7 months later and we haven't seen one iota of gameplay relating to 3.0. What happened? Where's it all gone?

I see lots of people bring up ME:A as a justifiction but that's just being selective, what about TW:3 which only took 3 1/2 years?

so you are going to be willfully ignorant to the fact that things came up and so it was delayed, which CIG have already admitted to. as i said 3.0 at the end of 2016 was a goal, not a promise. the ENTIRE point of CIG crowd-funding Star Citizen/ SQ42 was to afford the devs as much time as they needed to get it RIGHT and NOT out FAST! and then, wow, the sheer irony of your statement; people bringing up ME: A as an example are just being selective yet you choose TW: 3???? haha, both are established IPs with established studios and they even exemplify that there is a large chasm even between established studios with a pedigree, i mean come on. CIG is a new company literally built as they were trying to develop the game as well as starting with a fresh IP, etc and also making two games concurrently.

look i really wish people would actually understand what backing entails and what is to be expected from a game in development and not just jump on the bandwagon if you lack patience and the will to test mechanics and gameplay as it's being developed. the only point of contention, imo, people could rightfully argue against CIG is their communication style and philosophy, but hey they have recently been making strides to make amends in that department too.

- - - Updated - - -

Sure, when the game is being tested indoors by the devs. When it's out in the public, the clock is ticking....

ok, please explain your logic here. are you saying that a game in development behind closed doors should be treated differently from a game in development open to backers who are literally testers at this point? because if so, then here is an example of intellectual dishonesty. /sigh

[1001]

No the SC thread at ED forums is a complete poophole, filled with goons and DS himself, who for some reason can vomit his agenda there with obvious lies and half truths.
They are just a hair better than SA forums, but do the same , spit and laugh on anything CIG related without any logical discussion. If CIG shows something really good like last ATV, they just laugh and belittle it.
Just for your information opinions there are censored too, just the opposite way, because the mod of the thread is not better than any of them goons, and many times the meaningful reasoning gets deleted, while the other parts remain.

Lets just agree not bringing that here if that's ok, and discuss SC as we should in this topic.

And as I said above, that is what I appreciate about it. The guy is entitled to his opinion even if I disagree with it, also he has been temp banned a few times from those forums for stepping outside of their rules. As long as he keeps inside those rules he should be allowed to post like everybody else and it is up to other people to ignore him. Personally I don't give him the time of day, I see a dsmart post and I just scroll right on past it because he is too self-aggrandising for me.
They laugh because it's 5 years and they are still only prototyping things and creating assets, they laugh because of the pedestal they have put themselves on and repeatedly failed to reach, they laugh because some of the fans are absolute loonies, they laugh because people have donated tens of thousands of dollars to the dream of a stupid computer game, they laugh because the only target CIG ever achieve are the ship sales etc.
I'm a backer myself but that doesn't mean I should start making excuses for a company being crap, one that talks the talk, but trips on the walk.

So on the 3.0 topic, in the 10FTC they said yes the plan was a really basic release end of 2016, but as they worked on it more and mire things started to look like they should be in it+other parts development went better than expected so they decided to put those in as well. For example mining was not the plan, but it will be included. So yeah 3.0 is delayed but will contain more and better polished parts.

My personal opinion above this is they realized that 3.0 is really important, it can make or break the project in reference to backers mindset. If its not working well, lacking on content, too buggy, the backers will lose faith after the years end lack of content. CIG needs a big bang with 3.0 to give a new momentum of trust.

Sadly SC is treated like a complete game in the eyes of most people they seemingly cannot grasp the meaning if alpha and bugs. CIG needs to release 3.0 almost in the manner an established MMO would release an expansion.
If its not good the people will beat it for the problems, ignoring the fact its in development. If its good people will be reassured the project is on track.

But that should not affect everything that was reportedly done prior. If CR claimed it would be coming within 3 months of Gamescom they must have had gameplay... yet we have not seen gameplay, we still haven't seen gameplay. The more scrutiny it is given the more it seemed like a pack of fucking lies.

SC is questioned for the things that CIG say and then mysteriously skip back on and that is fair, they are being paid money on their lofty 'promises' and not achieving those promises. It would be no different whomever the company. For some reason there's this attitude in the SC community that the rules should not apply to CIG and everyone should be more patient, ask less questions and bow down to the brow-beating "You just don't understand game development" bollocks that gets bandied around by people that don't understand game development.

- - - Updated - - -

i do NOT like misinformation, period. if people choose to back Star Citizen or not is their business, just don't spread misinformation and don't be intellectually dishonest; Star Citizen is still in the alpha phase of development but people STILL compare it to a released title. that is so transparently biased and definitely does not exercise logic and reasoning. i do not even visit that subreddit you mentioned, i don't rely on second hand information or other people's opinions, i read that devs own words for myself and i made up my own mind, which i won't repeat as i already stated my position on the issue.

I can understand that, I am very against misinformation myself. So when you said things like people getting banned for being positive or mods warning posters for positivity I had to correct you. It is plain misinformation. Mods that contribute to that thread are not allowed to moderate it, a simple but effective rule to avoid the issue of favouritism and bias. The only people that get banned are the ones that behave like idiots.

so you are going to be willfully ignorant to the fact that things came up and so it was delayed, which CIG have already admitted to. as i said 3.0 at the end of 2016 was a goal, not a promise. the ENTIRE point of CIG crowd-funding Star Citizen/ SQ42 was to afford the devs as much time as they needed to get it RIGHT and NOT out FAST! and then, wow, the sheer irony of your statement; people bringing up ME: A as an example are just being selective yet you choose TW: 3???? haha, both are established IPs with established studios and they even exemplify that there is a large chasm even between established studios with a pedigree, i mean come on. CIG is a new company literally built as they were trying to develop the game as well as starting with a fresh IP, etc and also making two games concurrently.

What did they admit to exactly? I have not seen them address anything regarding the status of 3.0, that's not a case of being wilfully ignorant.
CR lied about the status of 3.0 purely so that he could dip his hands into people's pockets, plain and simple.

look i really wish people would actually understand what backing entails and what is to be expected from a game in development and not just jump on the bandwagon if you lack patience and the will to test mechanics and gameplay as it's being developed. the only point of contention, imo, people could rightfully argue against CIG is their communication style and philosophy, but hey they have recently been making strides to make amends in that department too.

Any time I need to remind myself of what backing entails I look at what CIG said about how they would keep their backers informed, simple as that.
This assumption that it comes down a lack of patience or understanding says far more about the person saying it than it does anyone else, who gets to declare what is the right amount of patience is anyway? That just sounds like an appeal to authority primarily to shut people up.
To me this is about holding a company up to the standards that they set themselves. If they cannot achieve something then the courteous thing to do is say why, what the fix will be and give a new date if applicable. That's perfectly fair.
What isn't fair is radio silence and muppets defending their position.

----

I have said my piece about CIG and I'm going to leave it at. I have no desire to continuously bang on about it.

[Odeezee]

~snip~

why make such unsubstantiated claims? people have been banned for being positive in that thread like Brightguy and i find the inconsistent moderation there laughable to say the least; banning someone positive towards Star Citizen for defending him/herself against personal attacks from those who are negative towards Star Citizen without the same repercussions for the majority of times instigators of said personal attacks. don't you find it strange that someone can go to that forum and say they are looking forward to x, y, z or enjoy what's available currently in Star Citizen but be met with vitriol and debate over whether they are allowed to or should feel that way towards the game. it's like people feel if you don't like what i like then you are an asshole, i really don't get that mentality smh.

you cannot say that CR lied about 3.0 release date when he gave caveats that could impede or gave qualifiers as to the release of the patch. come on man, that right there is misinformation, so why perpetuate it?

as for your last point people need to take personal responsibility for what they use their money for. you are NOT OBLIGATED to pledge (please if you are not interested in testing the game to improve it, fund the game's development, or are patient enough to see it to completion (there are many innovations and tech that needs to be built from scratch not to mention there is no blueprint for what they are trying to achieve at their level of granularity), then PLEASE WAIT until release before pledging as you will be doing yourself a great disservice), you are not obligated to test, there is no guarantee of success or even completion for that matter, hence why i said people need to understand what a pledge is. and yes, CIG set the timeline and they set their own standard for it, NOT us. if you do not like that, then you should wait until the game is at a point you agree with, but the whole taking their time to develop was in the fucking kickstarter ffs, so if you did not understand that when they said a publisher would not green light this game due to ambition, scope and the time required to realize it, you have NO ONE but yourself to blame. yes it sucks to wait on what could potentially be a great game, but i go into it hoping for the best game possible, but fine if the worst comes to pass too, that is a risk i chose to take, you are NOT owed anything.

[Deleted]

sleep easy @Odeezee . people who say the bad truth about star citizen are getting banned, a lot.

5 years, 145 millions and look at their latest dev schedule , "we started to think about how basic mechanics should work". 3.0 as pitched in 2017 ? hahahaha. I will be amazed if this game releases before 2020. that if they get more money cause atm they burn a lot more than the collect from whales captives in the sunk cost fallacy (just look at ED's expenses with a sightly lower crew and with lower expenses because they are gathered in 1 place not in 4 studios over whole world) .

[stormgust]

dude the game is still in alpha so you are just basically saying they are still developing the game, no shit that's why they iterate. i mean do you actually read what you type? how is that even a logical argument, "hey these devs trying to make this game are going to try and improve the gameplay and mechanics throughout the games development, what a fail strategy." not to mention we get to play every single patch that the devs release, so what is your point even? name a game that was rushed to release and was great, go ahead i'll wait. i mean with examples like NMS, CoD: IW and ME: A, gamers should be advocating for devs to take MORE time with the games they are building.

Because you're always answering rudely and the like, I'll do a similar style now. You're apparently incapable to see a reply in context of the quote it was given to, as you apparently get overly emotionally involved whenever anyone voices any concern or critizim towards Star Citizen and it's development, so I'll state it as a whole:
YOU said that you'd rather wait them for POLISH things prior to releazing them, to which I replied the above. Whence, the meaning of what I said is, your stance of how they should polish in alpha, prior to most of the systems being in place, is totally ridiculous. It will just yield a lot of additional work without benefit, as all the polishing you want to see will get overthrown later own when you have feedback of a more complete picture.

Just because you have, after long research, found the best tomato soup recipe and favorite kind of chocolate, doesn't mean that a chocolate-tomato soup prepared out of those would be anything special (or good at all). But that's exactly how you want star citizen to be developed. Consequence being, the time in between major patches will get longer and longer, as they have to redesign a lot of stuff whenever fundamental systems get added to make them fit together, not shorther as a lot of people believe it will be (reason here being, that technical limitations are resolved and everything is in place now).

[Deleted]

If there's one thing the development of this game has taught us, it's that the internet will do what the internet does best. Pretty much anywhere the game is discussed, there'll be those one or two people who are overly critical or overly protective of the game who make it very difficult to have a proper discussion about it. (Just to be clear, I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, it's just a general observation)

One thing is for certain though, the development of the game has had it's set backs. I've followed the project from fairly early on and I feel it's fair to say that for the first couple of years the developers didn't really know whether they were coming or going.

I think the sheer amount of the early work that has been redone makes that fairly evident. Most (if not all) of the early ships have had a redesign to some degree, most of the FPS development carried out by Illfonic was redone and that's not taking into account the constantly shifting goalposts as more and more features were added as the money rolled in.

In a way, it feels that those first couple of years or more of development were a bit of a write-off. I've seen a lot of criticism directed towards CIG for that, and rightly so in my opinion.

However, on the flip-side, I think it's only fair to recognise that they have steadily pulled themselves together over the past year or so and every studio seems to finally be pulling in the same direction.

The problem though is that because of their early stumblings setting them so far behind, they simply need more time to get to where the fanbase wants them to be, where they should be and in a perfect world, where they would already be.

While it'll certainly be interesting to see what 3.0 has to offer, until we see more I think it's still too early to predict what the quality of the final product will be. I do think some people need to rein their expectations in a fair bit though, I just can't see us having anything substantial to play before 2019. (I'd be more than happy to be wrong though!)

With much of the back-end tech starting to come online, getting the game mechanics designed, implemented, tested and balanced (let alone bug-free) is going to be one hell of a task, especially considering how many of the systems are planned to interact with one another. Get smashing those Bugs!

Mind you, it would be nice to see some things a bit earlier, the SQ42 vertical slice demo for example, but I can certainly see how CIG might think it'd do more harm than good to show an unfinished and bug-ridden mission after such a long wait. You can see all of the "lol, that's all they have to show after all this time #vaporware" comments from a mile off.

Personally though, I'm happy to wait it out and do hope they take the time they need to get the game up to standard - I've experienced more than enough rushed disappointments for one lifetime! Besides, it's not like there'll be a shortage of games to play in the meantime (not to mention a backlog that keeps growing!)

I suppose the main deciding factor for the time they have (fanbase patience aside) will be financial, one things for sure though, I'm happy enough with my basic Avenger package and certainly won't be giving them any more money.

Anyway, I think I've rambled on a bit too much now (this is what happens when you lurk for too long!) - That's just my 'few' thoughts on the game so far.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

Ever since No Man's Sky, I have to say that I have an itch for true space exploration games. Star Citizen seems fairly promising, but I am interested in what others think about it. There's also the fact that I've only seen a few videos, so I'm really curious about this.

What're your thoughts about Star Citizen up to now?

[Puupi]

What're your thoughts about Star Citizen up to now?

Vaporware until it launches as a fully functioning MMO.

[MrAnderson]

Ever since No Man's Sky, I have to say that I have an itch for true space exploration games. Star Citizen seems fairly promising, but I am interested in what others think about it. There's also the fact that I've only seen a few videos, so I'm really curious about this.

What're your thoughts about Star Citizen up to now?

In short: It's a highly ambitious game in active development, and if you are just looking for a finished "beginning, middle and end" polished game save your 45$ bucks.

If you like the "idea" of the game and want to know more you don't need to spend any money, watch some youtube videos, twitch streams or just wait for the free-flight weeks that they do often and see if it's something you want to get behind.

I don't think everybody should buy the game right now but feel that everybody should support what they are doing.
If there's something that people cant complain is that they are not being ambitious enough.
Ambition is a good thing imo, it pushes and drives the genre forward, it's been a while since a PC focused game really pushed the boundaries of the industry standards.

Concerning the SC thread in the Frontier forum... Avoid it if you are looking for a meaningful discussion about the game SC.
It's basically a branch of somethingawfull (goons forum for those that don't know) now, filled with bitter sociopaths that cant handle the fact that Star Citizen is not being developed as they wish.
And yes the reason there's hardly any positive posters in that thread is because most of them got banned for bullshit reasons like trolling or harassment when engaging with the regular trolls while others just left because they got tired of being constantly mocked and attacked for liking SC.
Stay away, that thread is just a SC hatefest mosh pit, moderators included.

[Malibutomi]

So far it's still barebones as it is in development.
You can run around and fight in FPS, fly your ship, do a few missions, try multicrew, all seamlessly in the PU, or try racing in another mode but all of them are early iterations of the mechanics.
If you are interested in it there are free fly weekends almost every month, so you can try it yourself. Be advised its in alpha so bugs, and glitches are common. Theres a good chance there will be a free flight weekend around Easter again.
We are waiting for the next big patch to drop in a few months, which will be a more gamelike form, and a significant step towards the finish. That will include the basic professions(trading, mining, bounty hunting), the planetary landings, new netcode, animations,etc.

These are the things you should know.
How i feel? Its freak*n awesome even in this early form. When you run out from a stations airlock to the landing platform, and look up to the huge rotating rings, its a sight. When you go to the edge of the platform, and step out to the black nothing, start floating and only hear you own breathing...its a feeling no game ever gave me.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

In short: It's a highly ambitious game in active development, and if you are just looking for a finished "beginning, middle and end" polished game save your 45$ bucks.

If you like the "idea" of the game and want to know more you don't need to spend any money, watch some youtube videos, twitch streams or just wait for the free-flight weeks that they do often and see if it's something you want to get behind.

I don't think everybody should buy the game right now but feel that everybody should support what they are doing.
If there's something that people cant complain is that they are not being ambitious enough.
Ambition is a good thing imo, it pushes and drives the genre forward, it's been a while since a PC focused game really pushed the boundaries of the industry standards.

Concerning the SC thread in the Frontier forum... Avoid it if you are looking for a meaningful discussion about the game SC.
It's basically a branch of somethingawfull (goons forum for those that don't know) now, filled with bitter sociopaths that cant handle the fact that Star Citizen is not being developed as they wish.
And yes the reason there's hardly any positive posters in that thread is because most of them got banned for bullshit reasons like trolling or harassment when engaging with the regular trolls while others just left because they got tired of being constantly mocked and attacked for liking SC.
Stay away, that thread is just a SC hatefest mosh pit, moderators included.

Don't worry about that. I know a lot of people can be very emotional when it's about games, and even more so when something as polarized as No Man's Sky was and how it was a commercial disaster (although I liked it, personally).

I'll keep an eye out for that game. I'm patient when it comes to these things. Right now I'm impressed, we'll see how things keeps going.

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why make such unsubstantiated claims? people have been banned for being positive in that thread like Brightguy and i find the inconsistent moderation there laughable to say the least; banning someone positive towards Star Citizen for defending him/herself against personal attacks from those who are negative towards Star Citizen without the same repercussions for the majority of times instigators of said personal attacks. don't you find it strange that someone can go to that forum and say they are looking forward to x, y, z or enjoy what's available currently in Star Citizen but be met with vitriol and debate over whether they are allowed to or should feel that way towards the game. it's like people feel if you don't like what i like then you are an asshole, i really don't get that mentality smh.

What unsubstantiated claims? It would help if you were a little more specific here? The only unsubstantiated claim I can see is "on top of that the moderators are the very people who troll Star Citizen and act as though ED is without fault and is the answer to everything that ails Star Citizen. on top of which anyone showing ANY form of positivity towards the Star Citizen are inundated with a metric shit load of berating from the resident trolls."
Mods do not behave in this way, as I said they are not allowed to post in an official capacity if they partake in the thread, which for all intents and purposes means they are just another poster. People who post positively in that thread sich as Mr.Nowak, Rolan etc regularly get thanked for his participation by the so-called "resident trolls".
It is people that enter that thread solely to troll, make comparisons with other games, refuse to stay on topic, act combatively and so on who get the shit-pit, people like prokar_garlic, MaxLexandre, Hi-Ban et al. If they cannot abide by forum rules they get banned, it has nothing to do with positivity, that would so stupid.

I cannot find a user on the forum called Brightguy.

you cannot say that CR lied about 3.0 release date when he gave caveats that could impede or gave qualifiers as to the release of the patch. come on man, that right there is misinformation, so why perpetuate it?

Sure I can, what matters is that a lot of the stuff required for 3.0 is still in design / prototype stage at this point in time. If that's the case then how the hell was it meant to be finished 3+ months ago. If CR is all too happy to take people's money on the back of his so-called "over-optimism" then why should he be immune to criticism for that same over-optimism? It's a regular thing with CIG, do a convention, show off some shitty bullshot demo, give vague dates, cash in, fail to deliver and then have people like yourself making excuses and apologising for them. Lame.

as for your last point people need to take personal responsibility for what they use their money for. you are NOT OBLIGATED to pledge (please if you are not interested in testing the game to improve it, fund the game's development, or are patient enough to see it to completion (there are many innovations and tech that needs to be built from scratch not to mention there is no blueprint for what they are trying to achieve at their level of granularity), then PLEASE WAIT until release before pledging as you will be doing yourself a great disservice), you are not obligated to test, there is no guarantee of success or even completion for that matter, hence why i said people need to understand what a pledge is. and yes, CIG set the timeline and they set their own standard for it, NOT us. if you do not like that, then you should wait until the game is at a point you agree with, but the whole taking their time to develop was in the fucking kickstarter ffs, so if you did not understand that when they said a publisher would not green light this game due to ambition, scope and the time required to realize it, you have NO ONE but yourself to blame. yes it sucks to wait on what could potentially be a great game, but i go into it hoping for the best game possible, but fine if the worst comes to pass too, that is a risk i chose to take, you are NOT owed anything.

I agree that people need to take responsibiity for their choices, devs also need to take responsibility for the shit that they say as well.
I disagree that being a crowdfunder means you just have to shut up and sit quietly for the ride, even if that ride takes an additional 10 years. If the project you have backed is failing to meet their targets then they deserve to answer why that is. What;s irrational about that?
I also hope it is a good game, it damn better well be tbh.