Crowd funded games - Do backers understand them?

Look at any forum for a crowd funded game and you will see frustrated players. Sota, Crowfall, Chamalot unchained, Star citizan all have one thing in common. They are crowd funded games.

Crowd funding is a relatively new concept for the gaming industry. Without crowd funding many many games would not have seen the light of day. So I'm going to put it out there that I believe players are not able to understand the relationship of crowd funding and game development.

We have been spoiled (in a sense) by previous game developers where alpha testing was open to a select few. Thus players never had a chance to burn out or see first hand the challenges the devs face when creating such a huge game but it has also opened up new opportunities for players to have direct impact on the game and the progress it makes to an extent.

Shroud may or may not be the game I was looking forward to but regardless I think it's important for people to understand the relationship that we have with the devs of crowd funded games be it Shroud, Star citizen or any other crowd funded game for that matter.

In conclusion I just want to put it out there and say that you have already backed Shroud of the Avatar and maybe one of the many other projects out there. With your financial commitment you have directly contributed to the development of the project you backed but your commitment doesn't end there. If you want to see a successful, completed product contribute in any way you can. If you're like me playing alphas burns you out fast and may contribute to your frustrations of the state of the game find another way to contribute. Make suggestions, post solutions and try to handle frustrations tactfully rather than angrily or just sit back and let the game progress and wait for the final product. We can all see progress in the updates the devs are releasing.


Cheers,

 

I don't think the problem is the crowd-funding so much as the access we have and the experience of the struggles up-close. If a game was crowd-funded but didn't have the kind of access we have here, I think the level of frustration would be much lower. People just aren't used to so many rough edges and the trial and error that goes into making a fun and balanced game.

 

Also bit of a downside you see the game advertised on something like kickstarter and you have to hope it turns out as promised. Hence the frustration if it starts turning out differently

 

Bought my citizen pledge in April 2013, only started playing a week before permanence. This way I get a pretty decent game right off the bat... you just have to be patient

 

OMG, if only this worked out in real life and on the /r/shroudoftheavatar sub-reddit. Especially there. Seriously, there, where sycophants rule.

 

I've harped on this a lot on the forums, but I think that there are parts of it over all that are a failure. the failure is in the thought that you can let the average player join an alpha and even with a *lot* of information saying "hey, this game is alpha and being heavily developed with things that just dont work yet", you have a player base who then spams reviews saying "this game is so clunky and unfinished, I give it a 2 outta 10 yo". In the future I hope they learn that they probably should keep to a normal alpha/beta schedule.

 

To be honest I don't see a lot of difference between the angry venting on these forums and the angry venting on UO Stratics, years before SotA existed with no crowd funding involved. People just get wound up about games and will use any rationale available to support their case.

 

Yes true Vaentorian if there's 10k players or more someone will be angry.. not a big chance of that

 

I get what you are saying except it hasn't turned out yet We still have a chance to affect that by our constructive feedback

oops correction

 

Everyone brings their own unique, unknowable experience to crowd-funded games and their communities. Blanket statements like people don't get it, or can't handle it, or whatever, are ultimately... just blanket statements.

Take me, for example. Been here for ages. Wildly passionate for what could be. Started a guild with another bloke. Go back to the early video Q&As and Richard's regularly reading my questions off the chatroll.

But then years went by and the game, as it emerged, didn't seem like it was for me. Gave it the benefit of the doubt yet, as more time passed, stuff that needed changing hasn't changed, or has for the worse. IMHO, of course.

So when I say, "I don't like this..." or "That looks like amateur hour..." or whatever it is... NO, it's NOT because I don't get crowd-funded games, or their community, but because the game has driven me to this point.

I have no doubt that while some people don't get it, or can't handle it, or whatever, you cannot label everyone who's not into SotA with the same label and put them in the same convenient box. Reality doesn't work that way.

 

We are testing alpha in persistence mode, that's main problem here.

 

And here you are again, give us some examples as well. Please don't give up. You might not think this is the time, or that maybe you've said it all before and they didn't listen, but guess what, whatever you said before is lost in the archives and cannot help the game now. They are in the archives because it wasn't the time in development to add many ideas. Or if you were lucky it is on the long 'to do' list. (just added this lol)

The scope of the game was not known or even imagined at that time perhaps. More is fleshed out now. More opportunity to get the touches in that will make a good gaming experience. I was watching Pantheon, when someone is stunned there are stars around his head, well that is one way to show what is going on. We are just now seeing some things happening to our characters. I know they are working on it. We need tons of touches and additions to the game to make it 'feel' right and connected. I say you have the chance, well we all have the chance to make a difference, and that is if you care anymore, other wise perhaps you continue in your negativity (well some of it is), that makes no difference. Do I care if people say get a grip Majoria? No I don't. I am not here for being popular thank you very much, I am here for the success of this game, and to help if I can to see that it is a game worth playing. I don't think I have been been here for over 3 years to allow it to not be great, and hopefully you feel that way too.

edited

 

I am not sure it is a lack of understanding.

In a lot of ways the crowdfunding experience is just a bit of a disapointment. Not SOTA, crowdfunding.

While the SOTA team are quite good to their players, in general the idea is often just as much about outsourcing the large time investment of bug logging. Instead of paying people, or geting interns to do it, we can get people to pay for the privelage of working on the alpha test team. It is damn genious, but it sometimes bleeds through that you are not always having fun, sometimes you are just working for free in a job that is often quite enjoyable. Loving the COTOs we are getting for testing here, it is suprisingly pleasant to be getting paid for the work.

I bought into SOTA as a gift to the dev team. The game was so alpha at the time I didnt even bother playing it and wasnt entireley convinced it would ever go to production. Games made for gamers by gamers often fail, I have beta tested before and seen many go. Crowdfunding can bite me, if it was the 80s and they had put an add in Dragon mag for donations I would have sent them the same. I wont ever be disapointed because I gave a gift thinking I probably wouldnt get anything back.

Even if this project pays out it doesnt sell me on crowdfunding, it is still a dissapointing experience. I prefer a game to be complete and functioning if people are charging money for it, selling a product you know is faulty is essentually fraud, but we have all gotten premium games with known bugs that were never fixed. I straight up pirate most of my games, and if a game is buggy it is not worth the money I wasted downloading it, I will uninstall it before you blink. I paid for all my software as a kid, sucker that I was, and never again. I have been burnt too many times over the years to keep buying software that doesnt work, crowdfunding is like buying a product before you even see screenshots, you have no idea if it is good and most games arent. If you backed every game available for funding you would almost certainly be dissapointed more often than not, there are many more failed games than good ones.

I backed this as a gift on the basis of a bunch of Ultima games, some of which I paid for, some of which I paid for a second time when I got the boxed set years after playing them. I could back more games, I dont, its a suckers bet. Lateley if the game does not have a free or downloadable version I just dont play it, and lose no sleep over it while I play my many many many downloaded games. It isnt because I dont have money, it isnt because I dont know what effort goes into a game, it is because I have had a lifetime of experience with the software industry and know now not to have any part of the foul thing.

 

It reminds me of Occulus Rift (I'm so glad I didn't back that)

The backers expected one thing - an open platform free of big corporations (sort of like publishers) and got something else.

They still got a VR product that works. That is even pretty good. But everything around it wasn't what many people wanted.

SotA is a bit like that. For example I never expected to end up backing a game which is essentially just another MMO that endorses RMT, has an expansive cash shop, and a premium currency. I can get two of those things from any F2P game.

 

Agreed.

But wondering if this is what OP meant by people not understanding crowdfunding.

People are always talking about this being pay to play, not freemium. We all actually backed a kickstarter, at the moment it isnt pay or free it is kickstarter. Later the design of the currency, the cash shop, and some casual remarks from the dev team make it clear there will likeley be at least a free play component, in my opinion it will not be subscription based given the currency being so cash shop orientated.

And I hope that is the case, hybrid pay styles would work best for this game and make the most money long term, plus give the best incentive to make a good product.

 

The RMT bit still really sticks in my craw too. Most companies recognise how destructive it is to a game and do their best to stop it even if they can never stamp it out completely. SotA just says "come on in!" and even offers forums to facilitate it. Like that is supposed to stop farming and botting and the resultant impact on the ingame economy when you can freely sell stuff on the official forums.

 

You lost me right there. If you want to know what a game is like before you buy it, read reviews. Watch YouTube videos. If you buy it on Steam and don't like it, get a refund.

Pirating games is supposedly easy, and yet the vast majority of people who play games are honest. If that weren't the case there would be no games industry.

 

I am one of those who had entirely no idea what crowd funding was. In fact this is the first forum I have ever participated in . I have played games with no thought as to their creation, so I have learned many many things from the entire experience.

Also my crowd funding was gifted to me from family members, so I really have nothing invested but my time. I enjoy this process. I have seen the best and worst and have only made one forum goof that I am aware of. I still have some confusion as to the expectations backers perceive as theirs, but eventually I will get that all sorted out.

I have to confess , I never knew whom Richard or Starr were. I played Ultima Online for more than 9 years too. Now I know what crowd funding is.

Also this will be my first and last crowd funding experience. I would never ever do it again. For the record, I have participated in betas and enjoyed those as well.

 

Every ones got an opinion... Vote "Libertarian", Hillery is a criminal...

 

Game over