I paid the 50 quid through their sales site for Beta access. Partly due to nostalgia from playing Elite on the Amiga years ago and partly to try out Oculus Rift support.
Generally I'm pretty cynical at Beta testing and frankly £50 was way beyond what I would normally pay but I made an exception in this case. My main objection is that I'm paying a premium for a acknowledged half finished and buggy game leveraged solely on my enthusiasm as a customer. In return the developer gets to save a fortune avoiding having to pay for actual PAID professional testers. I'm sure there was a phase once where Beta testers got free access but those days are long gone.
Yes this kind of funding can make games a reality that traditional funding will not allow but the issue is that those kickstarters and Beta testers that are paying a PREMIUM well in advance of any finished product are your most fanatical fans. Alienate your core fan base and risk the wrath of the net.
Personally I tried Eve Online when it was first released hoping for an Elite experience and was disappointed, the X series nearly deliver but the universe is very limited.
This was supposed to be Elite for the modern area but a MMORG is not the old Elite so I feel mid-sold. As with other commentators I want to live in MY universe and I don't want to share with griefers, raiders, pvp gamers etc.
Still, it looks pretty through the Rift but then so do 1001 Rift demos.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
