Well I have not pre ordered the game, and I wasn't around for any of the past trouble makers, so I have remained completely quiet on this topic. I don't want to try guessing whether it is, or is not, a scam.
I just wanted to comment on the idea that $1000 or $2000 isn't enough of an incentive to scam the community. Please remember, this is only theoretical, and I am not trying to link this to any of this Airik the Cleric business! If the guy is sighted, people are correct who have noted, he probably wouldn't have realized how small it is. I, myself, am sighted and I imagined the community here was much larger when I first showed up. I'm the first to admit I'm poor, and man, a thousand dollars is a huge incentive to do something, though stealing that from people is not how I would want to obtain it. Yes people have bills, and car insurance, and so forth, but a person running a scam would be making this money on the side. There would be no reason to believe the guy actually had to support himself on profits from a scam, he presumably has a day job that does that. Yes, to some it seems like releasing a demo, and bug fixes, proves this is not a scam, but I believe when we theorize about what a real scammer would do, it seems logical. I know how I would have done it, if I had a different sense of morality, and I certainly would have released a demo to "prove" to people something was coming. So you take an afternoon, or a day, and you punch out some type of game demo. That's really quite simple to do, and you can then write about all of the amazing things the game will have. I wouldn't have to cover the cost of sound libraries, since I could just steal them from other sources. If someone is scamming the community, why would they feel the need to pay for sounds? I think the low pre order price is another thing that actually makes sense. It's all about balance, of course. Since this would all be "free" money to the scammer, this is not the time to be greedy. Offering a lower price means more people will be willing to pay in advance. This is also the reason I, if I put myself into the mindset of a scammer, would push back the release date several times. The longer things delay, the more people will wander in and pre order. Even with all of this Airik debating, I'm sure some people have still placed orders after the first release dates came and past. In the end, the scam artist, using a fake name, could invest little more than a few days work to pull off the scam. Now I'm sure a sighted stranger would have expected 3 or 4 times as many pre orders, but as I've said, a thousand dollars is still more than enough money to make it worth it. Boy, when I got near the end of what I wanted to say, I felt like I had just written a "how to scam the audio games community" manual! Sorry if that's what it sounds like, and it wasn't my original intention. I suppose the lesson to take away from all this, is that you should probably trust a developer before you're willing to hand them money early. I also want to end this by, again, reminding everyone I am not trying to say anything about the current Airik the Cleric situation. I don't feel it would be fair for me to guess on that, either way. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
