Why you have an amazing community, and opportunity, right here in SotA

So on the day Release 4 becomes available to us, you should all be too busy playing than to read this post, however, I thought it was timely, given that next step forward is being taken today and these words relate to it.

The following is a long-form version of two things. The first being some comments I've made to my wife (also a gamer), in recent times. The second is something I've said to people I know in the Star Citizen community.

First, a little bit of back-story. As soon as I heard about the SotA Kickstarter last year, I was all over it, like a fat kid on cake. I was there, day one, ready to see what RG had cooked up. And, to be honest, I was quite underwhelmed based on what I thought I'd see, versus what I saw. Me, of all people -- someone who's been gaming since the 80s (since before PC gaming was even "a thing"), including many of Richard's games -- and yet even I couldn't find it in myself to pledge at the time.

In hindsight, and through later interviews, the pieces have fallen into place. Most notably how all the original game assets were "off the shelf" and not even designed by the team. No wonder it gave off "that look" and, in hindsight, perhaps the Kickstarter would have gone further had the game looked like it does now, for example?

But that's not the point of this piece. I just wanted to give you some background to where I was a year ago with SotA while simultaneously watching another game I'm backing, Star Citizen. Although it's a $40 million-plus unstoppable behemoth now, back in March 2013, Star Citizen was sitting "only" around $7 or $8 million (as far as I recall), and in some ways still felt like a smaller, friendly, "us against the world" sort of thing.

And that's really what I want to talk about here.

In this community, have no fear, you have all the issues of every other pre-game crowdfunding community -- the odd bods, the complainers, the entitled ones, the people who pass their time by wanting to argue anything and everything for no apparent reason... you've got all of them. There's really no escaping them, wherever you go.

But... you also have something else that many communities don't have. Not even Star Citizen has this attribute anymore.

What you have is a development team (starting from RG and Dallas down), and a community, that are both at a size where things feel extremely intimate. You also have a determination, from both sides of the fence, to really work together and do amazing things. This was brought home to me in the New Britannian State of the Realm this past 12hrs and watching the musicians and College of Arms doing their volunteer work, directly with RG. You know, even when Star Citizen was at half it was a year ago (so when it was only $3 or $4 million; not far from where we are now), there was nothing remotely like those volunteers going on.

There's still water to flow under the bridge... in another $500,000 we've sailed past $4 million... in another couple of Releases we'll be seeing the game really take shape... yet the groundwork has been laid in such a way that, even with growth and advancement, the things that make SotA special now, aren't going to disappear.

That excites me more than anything.

In short, I'm getting drawn more and more into Shroud of the Avatar. I'm actually finding it more interesting that Star Citizen at the moment; in the sense that SC is a $40 million plus behemoth that is going to be fantastic, but still has a long way to go and the community gets more and more impersonal. SotA, meanwhile, is playable now (I'll see you all in testing later today, for example), and is a game which INTRIGUES me. And I'm kinda in a place where intrigue is more interesting than something being a sure thing; like Star Citizen is now.

SC can look after itself. SotA, meanwhile, feels way more community oriented and warm and "real" if I can put it that way. They will both be great games, in totally different ways but, right now, my interest is firmly here.

So when you are out and about in Release 4 today, take a look around, breathe it in and remember, it's not always about the best graphics or biggest budget. Not even those odd bods, complainers, entitled ones, etc, can take away from where this game has been, where it is now, where it's going... or who's taking it there.

All of you.

 

Yes, i know SC isnt the small sworn-in community anymore. sadly.
Somewhen after thr end if LTI, the mood in the forums switched from "what ship should i take" to "wääääh, its not ready yet", mostly from newcomers.
Many older Forum Users stepped back a bit and let the devs do their job, in creating a fine dogfighting module, or switched to the Subscriber Forum corner, mostly because we are tired of the retard fear arguments.

SOTA feels a lot more like a bunch of idealists right now.. wich might have to do with the game not aiming to the graphic-freak easy-wanting MMO Crowd. I like it here

 

I feel in a similar way. We have the virtues amongst us here in the SotA community.

 

I have pledged for both games a considerable amount. Royal Founder Lord here, post KS Vice Admiral there. But I find me always hanging here in the forums and only all 2..3 weeks I visit the SC website.
The community and the developer team here play a huge role in this fact, for sure.
*Salute*
Olahorand

 

I’m away from home right now and have been unable to play any of the recent versions of the game. I live on what happens with it through the forums. If we could get a lot more postings from people of ideas and impressions beyond just PVP stuff I would be extremely grateful. I too am excited for the release and seeing many of you online.

 

you nailed it doc. this community grows on you. nowadays i visit this place daily and SC only monthly. and even then i just skip the public forum and go straight for the subscriber section. sadly enough the only place where the original spirit from the early KS somewhat remains. in retrospect the big bang SC made financially didnt give it the time to form a community like we have here.

 

SC is definitely a AAA behemoth that has grown far beyond its original scope. Chris Roberts always intended for it to be a blockbuster, and that is the atmosphere it has created. Not so much a bad thing, just how it is for Star Citizen. SotA definitely has a more grass-roots feel, where Portalarium engages directly with the community to source ideas.

Release 4 is going to be a treat!

Also that video was some of the coolest dev interaction I've seen in a long time. Keep up the good work LB!

 

Yes, that is totally correct. It didn't get a chance to be a "scrappy little fighter" that had a community pulling together and feeling like there was something to fight for. It was like, "Oh gee... we're gonna be huge... oh gee... we just got bigger... oh gee, we just passed the maximum amount of money Chris Roberts thought he needed... oh gee, that was $10 million ago now, where does all the time go... oh gee... another $10 million... aren't we massive?"

Star Citizen -- as much as I love it -- is like someone getting a No.1 song after being on a reality program for 12 weeks. SotA is a bit more traditional; we're doing the pubs and clubs and growing before we hit No.1.

 

You've summed thing up well, for me, The Doctor.

I'm in the same position (boat? starship?) you are though not bought in to quite the level you are; Royal Founder Knight in SotA, and Rear Admiral Original Backer in Star Citizen.

Star Citizen will be, and it will be what it will be, and I have very little control or input on the outcome and spend almost no time there following the progress (In fact, I've just now logged onto the site for the first time in probably 3 months). On the other hand, Shroud of the Avatar has become a second (virtual) home, and I've become active in the College of Arms, and feel that I have the opportunity to help (at least in some small way) shape what is to be.

It's a very satisfying experience.

With Star Citizen, I'm just waiting for it to release. My ships will be there.

Thank you for your thoughtful post.

 

It's my pleasure. I've had it brewing for a few days (the conversations with my gamer wife, and my SC people), and I thought now was a good time to mention it.

Hey, it's given people something new to read before the server goes up. As for me, it's 12.30am, so I'm off to bed. I'll join in the fun over the 24hrs ahead

 

Here here! Great post. Being on a lot of Kickstarters this is DEFINITELY something to point out. No other game has been this way with this much involvement from the team. There is a passion around this on both sides that exists no where else, and I agree this is the most anticipated and exciting project I have been involved in. This will be a great product because of all of it.

I almost backed Star Citizen, but when SOTA came in I dumped my money here instead. I will probably get SC on release as I was a huge Wing Commander fan, but it was clear they were going to fund and do well so it made more sense to ensure the SOTA KS succeeded.

 

I like hearing it from this perspective. I've never backed any other kickstarter so I have nothing else to base my opinions on.

 

Great post Doc!! I love the community here.

 

I very much enjoyed reading this post and agree with your opinions. Thank you.

I just came across SotA today via the Star Citizen websites and found myself pledging within minutes.

 

Welcome Knight-Errant. Nice to have you here.

 

Hail and welcome Knight-Errant,
I hope you got a founder pledge from another founder, as it would be necessary for getting the cross promotion item in SC?
*Salute*
Olahorand

 

SotA is definitely unique. RG has a lot to do with that. I think a look at the financials explains a lot, but not only in the way the OP points out. For instance, SC at $40 million vs SotA at $3.6 million is not a straight comparison of proportionality in terms of community participation. Nor is it an equivalent measure of necessary or desired funding. RG spent $30 million of his own money to go to space, for god's sake. He could probably drop that cash on SotA if he was so inclined. But he doesn't. It would not have a worthwhile impact. There is a reason for that:

The SotA Kickstarter and development philosophy has almost nothing to do with raising capital (obviously money is necessary because there are people working and everyone has to eat). It is 95% about acquiring an interested, invested and involved community that will stick with SotA. In my mind the total amount of funds raised has a diminishing return at a certain level. That diminishing return could probably be measured in the aggregate quality of the community, which could probably be measured somehow.

(Number of backers with 3 or more forum posts per month/total number of backers, or something similar. I would expect that at a certain size that ratio declines. Think about typing a message in a chat room with 10 other people, versus a chat room with 10,000. The latter chat room would have so much text input you wouldn't even have time to read an individual post. The same is true on a forum, the greater the size after a point the less the individual member can have a meaningful impact on the forum. This is another reason why the selective system in SotA is a brilliant idea).

Long story short, the quality of the community here is due to the way RG and the rest of the team have elected to connect with and support the community. This level of connection has a limit, where getting too big of a community would prohibit such connection, and thereupon produce negative externalities. Thus due to natural limitations probably stemming from the fact that we are humans with human brains and human attention spans and human memories, etc., there is a limit to the size of a high quality community. Once that size is crossed things happen, such as being bought by Facebook. This kills the crab.

 

Quite right. That was my line about, "What you have is a development team (starting from RG and Dallas down), and a community, that are both at a size where things feel extremely intimate."

That vibe can totally change if the size of the community skyrockets in the future. Given the style of game, however, that seems unlikely. The niche for this style of game just isn't big enough for that, IMHO.

(Even in testing this past day, I've seen plenty of, "What do I do?" and "Where are the quests?" and so on. Some of those folk will adapt; others won't. It's a defiantly acquired taste, SotA.)

 

Yep. Also because of the game selectively filtering out too many players, each experience remains relevant no matter the total numbers. Pretty neat stuff.

 

So... RG intentionally capped the money raise to keep a small and participative community, selecting only people with real interest?

uhmm, that would explain a lot xD