The space simulator Star Citizen has been in development for almost 8 years now and has raised over $300 million in funding. We asked players from an Austrian community what keeps them attached to Star Citizen.
What is the situation of Star Citizen? Star Citizen was originally announced in 2012 as a new project on Kickstarter and raised $2 million in a successful campaign back then.
Back then, the release of the game was scheduled for 2014, but years went by and the release kept getting further away. At the same time, Star Citizen continued to raise more money for further development.
For many outsiders, Star Citizen is an inexplicable phenomenon. How can one wait so long for a game and invest so much money without the certainty that it will ever be actually released?
After all, some Kickstarter projects have already failed.
- The “GTA MMORPG” Raw was discontinued
- The MMORPG Oath has been silent for a long time
- Some backers of the MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria have filed a lawsuit against it
Yet, despite the beta tests and the release still being far away after 8 years, millions of players still support Star Citizen. We asked a group of them what their reasons are.
Who is speaking? The Imperial Star Fleet of Austria (ISFA) is one of the top 10 largest German-speaking corporations in Star Citizen and currently has over 350 members.
The guys and gals from Austria have built a community that has not only stayed tightly connected online for years but also regularly hosts real-life meetings.
I grabbed some leaders of the ISFA community on a Saturday night and talked to them about their views on Star Citizen.
- Spoonbender is the founder of ISFA. However, he is not the sole leader of the corps but shares this position with 2 other people
- Maxxx is a moderator in Discord and head of the trading fleet. In the future, when the feature will be available, the fleet will transport goods and earn money for the corporation.
- Matt Hunter is the head of the Navy and establishes the military fleet of ISFA. He is also one of the people who train the new players who are inducted into the community.
- Hellraiser is an event manager responsible for organizing ISFA’s real-life events. He also manages the resources of the corps with other admirals.
- FoXy is one of the community managers of ISFA. Her tasks include conducting admission interviews with new members or mediating in case of problems.
The big dream of a space simulation
ISFA was founded shortly after the first announcement and the start of the Kickstarter campaign of Star Citizen. Spoonbender made a post in the official forums back then looking for people from Austria.
Already in the first days, over 30 people signed up, who then founded the community together. Over time, it grew to over 350 members.
The commonality among the players was mainly their love for space adventures, as depicted in sci-fi films and series in the past. Gaming nostalgia also played an important role, as Spoonbender revealed to me:
It was quite an exciting time back then because there was only this advertisement on Chris Roberts’ website. He said, “So, I’m back, I’m doing something new.” And anyone who is a bit older, who grew up with these games by Chris Roberts, Wing Commander […] or Freelancer, those were formative stories for them.
Back then they had nothing but a video and a plan. And that really convinced.
Moreover, there was a long drought. For a long time, there were simply no good and large space simulations that could satisfy the gaming needs of genre fans. Accordingly, Chris Roberts’ announcement fell on fertile ground.
Hellraiser was, for example, one of the people who experienced this hunger period and actively sought new space simulations:
There was a long stretch of time with nothing after Wing Commander and Freelancer. Then my coworker came to me and said, “Hey, there’s Star Citizen,” and we sat transfixed at the phone and checked it out.
Just the vision that was shown. We spun and colored the vision for ourselves and said, “That’s the dream, I would participate in that.” The prayers were answered.
Like the players of ISFA, many other fans around the world seem to feel the same way. According to the official website of Star Citizen, 2,752,955 players have joined the community (as of August 14, 11:00 AM)
Active participation in the development of the game
The guys and gals from ISFA told me that in the years since the announcement of Star Citizen, the community has had a direct influence on the size and content of the game.
Leader Spoonbender is convinced that Star Citizen would have been released a long time ago in its original state from 2012 if it weren’t for the wishes of the community. The players wanted more than the basic concept could offer, and the developers delivered.
If you followed along in the internal forums, you have to really say: Actually, the community has developed and expanded the game.
Matt Hunter agrees with him. He has been following the development of Star Citizen almost since the earliest days and remembers how the stretch goals of Star Citizen were extended further and further.
When we started contributing money, we were at 12 million dollars. We were right in the phase with all the stretch goals. […] At 21 million, I think for the first time it was discussed whether to dissolve the goals, whether to stop it. And there were always pushbacks from the community when it was said, “Get rid of the stretch goals.” […]
The community has been actively involved in the development of Star Citizen since the early beginnings, according to the ISFA members. And one can also observe the constant progress.
Star Citizen has been playable by backers for about 3 years now. Although far from all game features are available, one already gets an impression of how it will look in the end.
It was a belief in a bubble, but it is no longer a bubble. We are active, it is being played, and every 3 months there is an expansion of the game that takes us a step further towards the dream. You are live in the development.
Spoonbender
“We are the game” – The community as a common anchor point
At the center of my conversation with the folks from ISFA was almost constantly their community. Over the years, the group has grown closely together, and although there is still a lack of content and features in Star Citizen, the guys and gals have found their own ways to have fun together.
On one hand, of course, there are the real-life meetings of Bar Citizen, which, according to the community manager FoXy, take place almost weekly in some cities.
On the other hand, players regularly do things together in-game, with the ISFA leadership ensuring their own entertainment. Events and joint activities are organized. FoXy told me:
ISFA has become so much like a family for many of us. You can talk to the people, you do something, events are held. […] And we also have our Bar Citizens, and you can always talk about the game, keep up with the developments, and when you have the desire and time, try out the updates together. What’s new?
FoXy herself did not even know Star Citizen before her contact with ISFA. She met some community members at a LAN party and only later got into the game through them. Like most other players, she only bought the basic package.
The in-game events are devised by the community leaders and implemented with the resources that the current build of Star Citizen provides. Scripted events and scripts are written and then played together.
As an example, Matt_Hunter mentioned the Invictus Flight Week. It is an event where an NPC faction in Star Citizen presented its fleet of military ships. Our colleagues from GameStar reported on it. The ISFA gathered its players and engaged the ships of the NPC faction in a battle.
Other examples included
- Races where players land with buggies or ships on a planet and compete against each other. Time measurements take place, and sometimes the winners also receive prizes.
- Flight training where new members of the ISFA community are shown how to pilot the large ships.
The activities and the communal experience of the game in its current form have united the ISFA players. For leader Spoonbender, this is one of the main reasons to be satisfied with his investment in Star Citizen.
When you look at what fun and community experience have already arisen from this happy coincidence, I have to honestly say, I believe nobody has invested their money poorly in Star Citizen.
It’s not all perfect
Is there criticism as well? Of course, there are aspects of Star Citizen and its development that the folks at ISFA are not happy with. Recently, there was discontent in the Star Citizen community regarding the long silence on Squadron 42. This refers to the single-player part of the game.
Matt was also not happy about it. According to his own statement, he is always the first to start complaining when problems arise:
CIG still needs to practice in announcing dates and deadlines. […] I am not satisfied with the communication in the last months, they [the developers] have been pretty silent at times.
Communication is not just about saying that everything is great. From time to time, one needs to say: “Look, we have a pretty stupid problem here.” This took them quite a long time to say this time.
Further criticism is often directed at the bugs and errors of the currently playable version of Star Citizen. Players get frustrated when something is fixed in one area, and another bug pops up at the same time.
It is particularly annoying when a new error locks or makes unplayable content that previously worked fine. There is complaining and grumbling in the Discord chats as well.
Maxxx believes, however, that no one in the ISFA community has ever completely stopped because of this:
The ones who complain are always the ones who stay. Because the game is important enough to them that they get upset about it.
In general, players trust that Star Citizen will be finished sooner or later. Especially those who have been waiting for 8 years have a “certain relaxed perspective,” according to Spoonbender.
It will come when it comes.
