Are People Here Really Ok With This Sort of Thing?

That's not really the angle I was coming in from. For you (and for jammaplaya), what I'm getting at is the continuation of the perception that SotA is a money grab instead of being a great game.

So when the reality is shown that the team is grabbing free items, working on them a little, then selling them for what must become pure profit pretty quickly, it really doesn't help that perception.

And why is perception important? Because as the old saying goes, perception is reality. The more the game gets a reputation for this, the harder it will be to dial back among the wider gaming community.

 

Cheeky

 

I'd rather just stick to the facts. The title of OP asks if people are OK with this. I am, because there's nothing morally wrong with it, and they aren't breaking the economy at the set price.

The artist who put it up for free likely did so with the hopes that someone would use it. I'm sure they're happy someone liked and is using their artwork.

It had to be priced to match similar items for the sake of the economy, which of course is related to the survival of the game.

Like I said, the only thing they could have done that would have been wrong would be to start pricing new items based on the cost to develop, instead of pricing them to fit into the established economy. It just doesn't work that way.

By the way if perception was reality, then delusion wouldn't exist.

 

I don't know if that was meant to be a mic drop moment for you, but delusion is actually related to mental illness 99% of the time and is not the norm. The norm in society is that perception equals reality.

 

Actually, saying delusion is related to mental illness 99% of the time is completely incorrect. The human brain actually deludes itself as a survival mechanism. Your brain doesn't want you to think you're wrong about anything, ever.

I hate to derail the topic though. I can provide sources via PM if you'd like.

 

they have 11 Million, which is I don't know 10x more than what they wanted at the start, it just make selling items that actually cost them nothing a joke, AND an insult to actual backers because of the fact that they have yet to deliver , and even stated they are NOT going to deliver, some Pledge items is just pathetic.

 

So what would be the cost to make an item that would not be a joke nor insult to actual backers? Is it not everyone best interest that the team is trying to gain more cash flow to keep the operation going?

Perception doesn't mean jack if there is no substance to it and since when people listen to what other says anyway?

Here are some examples to consider:

- "Hey cigarette is bad, it give you a cancer." Do people stop smoking when they hear that?
- "Hey alcohol is bad, it's killing your kidney." Do people stop drinking?
- "Apple products are overpriced, don't buy them." Here they're making billions in sales.

If someone were to steer away from something just because someone says so, then may god bless their souls.

Also, if the asset were to cost some license fee, people will still be complaining anyway. We might even have a different version for "Are people here really ok with this sort of thing?" except this time someone will complain about the dev used backers money to buy assets and resale them.

 

No Man's Sky?

 

That's a good example of great perception with zero substance. The guy over-promised and couldn't deliver.

 

I was wiiiith you all untill here.
Utilize an asset for better of game? Meh fine. Easier for you? Fine. 20 / 50$ .. fine if your into that.
Perception is important. Less so for decoration items and their origin.
Perception in general is very very important. We had this discussion in a thread about the perception of moderation on the forums, and how it has led people away from these forums, and actually caused / increased the validity of hate groups and bad reviews. Of coarse this was deleted, leading to yet more people privatly on discord basically calling it quits with a bitter taste.

Why is this relevent?

Perception of sota is what its ranked on in general opinion and direclty reflects the energy and amount of people willing to reccomend the game.

The idea that perception is unimportant, means your okay with the steam ratings being 50%, and thinking this wont hurt the game. Will there still be people who ignore this? Clearly. But the idea that it wont prevent people from not only buying, but being able to activly reccomend, the game is naieve.

Im generally okay with them copy pasting assets into game. It doesnt effect people who dont want it, and props to the people who do. It is not an item that adds an advantage, so it matters little.
The perceotion of using free assets availible and implementing them in game for extra funding is a small megative, if at all IMO.
The idea that because of this that perception of SoTa in other areas are unimportant? Is simply false.

* just my take on it, no offense to person quoted intended. *

 

Maybe perception just isn't as important as the game itself.

Take UO freeshards for example. There's plenty of free scripts/items etc in the runUO database, and plenty of freeshards that are nothing more than a compilation of those free scripts.

One in particular has been selling free to download items from RunUO for over $150.00 per (in MANY cases) for over 4 years now, despite the best efforts of a group of haters, and they still are a complete MONSTER in terms of population, shadowing even the people who own the rights to the game. Why? Because the shard itself is pretty fun.

So as far as the argument 'perception matters' goes, there's a little precedent that proves it's at least not always as important as one might think. It is all about the game after all.

 

The tone and identity of the game suffer for having generic assets throughout.

As for pricing a free asset (Which isn't really free by the time it makes to to SOTA's front store), it's hard to fairly answer that when I already think there is a huge imbalance between items added to the core game versus items added behind the store front and Coto vendors.

That is, even if they were doing everything from scratch, their pricing and proliferation of RMT is far too high for my preferences.

Using free assets to populate a store with a 'premium' price point is why I no longer make any purchases.

 

So what are you suggesting then? Don't integrate any assets because if they don't have license fees? I don't see anyone complain about McDonald selling a $2-3 fries that costs them ~$0.25 to make. Do think they will be riot if it costs McDonald $0 to make fries? Personally, I think people care more about how much they have to pay rather than how much it is cost to make one.

I also find it more problematic that people would like to stir up the drama just for the sake of having one. Instead of just logging in and play the darn game, people would rather making $0-license fee asset become such a magnitude of social injustice issue.

Don't like the price? Don't like the asset? Don't buy it. Hey maybe they will reduce the price?

 

This is what Im talking about right here:



Yeah, thing in the red circle? $150.00 USD. In fact so is the big 'ice pond' in the middle. Hint: It's all overpriced for the ''effort'' that went into any of it.

I can't say for sure that some of these items were free to download, but incase they weren't, they were 99.9% surely made with a script downloaded for free. I could probably find it in 5 mins.

Not to mention that the shard owner has never coded a single thing in his life.

Anyways, just trying to put things in perspective. Despite how incredibly 'shady' people say this is, nothing has stopped this shard from growing into one of the top freeshards of all time.

So does perception really matter?

 

That Bear attack sound. Every time I hear the sound I think of the game Grizzly Project.

 

I think it's time to admit that they did what zillions of other game projects have done in the past, drastically underestimated the budget needed for what they wanted to do.

So they rolled with it and came up with a (pretty normal) income stream instead of shutting down. I appreciate that. It's going to be a long time before another game like this one comes along, and I like what it's got going for it.

 

HEROIC FANTASY CREATURES FULL PACK Volume 1
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/5730

And number 2 please.

 

I realize this was stated rather early on in this thread but I think Selene has the right perspective.

A few folks need to let Portalarium develop this game in the best way they can and quit complaining about every single thing.

 

Mandatory subscription fee with equal access to all in game content for all. Would be awesome. Maybe that's just me. I fully realize that's not the game being made here, but since you asked

 

It ultimately doesn't matter who the artist was that creates the asset, only that it fits appropriately into the game being developed.

Whether you buy an asset directly from an asset shopfront, pay someone a commission, hire a contractor or put someone on a salary it all amounts to the same thing in the end.