Hi, I'm Ethan Casner; Lead Developer of Divergence: Online. And I'm the worlds greatest scam artist.
As suggested, I had a long history of personal and professional failure before 2013. I spent the better part of seven years, cleverly disguising my evil plans to cheat people out of their money by making it seem like I was trying to gain financial support and resources requisite to create the best MMORPG ever made. I named it "Divergence", as in "I want to Diverge you from your money".
The big break came in 2013 when I first heard about IndieGoGo. Here was a way of fooling people on a grass-roots level into giving me some chump change to finally jump-start my career as a professional con-man. My plan to trade eight years of my life for $30,000 would soon be complete, Mwahahahaha!
After the first IndieGoGo success, I constructed a scrooge-mcduck-style money bin to contain it all so I could go for a swim, but sadly, that amount of money didn't even line the bottom so that dream had to be put on hold. I deconstructed the money bin back into it's original form; the pile of cardboard sheets I was sleeping on, and got back to work.
But $26,000 wasn't enough. Oh no. That money-bin wasn't going to fill itself, so i hatched another glorious scam to fill our coffers with even more pocket-lint. This sinister plan involved spending the absolute entirety of that money building a totally-sweet and hideously powerful prototype game, then dubiously releasing it in it's entirety to everyone who had contributed. It was so stupid, it was brilliant... Certainly no-one could suspect such a devious scheme as this... Again, aforementioned "Mwahahaha etc".
And my plan worked perfectly... Foolish fools, unaware of the financial ruin that would befall them threw their delicious monies at our Kickstarter... Inflating it to a grotesque $19,626... Seriously how could anyone ever hope to be wasteful or incompetent enough to spend that much money making a game, much less an MMO? Who am I, Richard Garriott?
Even after Amazon and kickstarter malarkey resulted in us receiving only $11,000 of the kickstarter money, it was obvious that the scam was complete. With $11K, I could retire for up to six months before I had to get a part-time job at Denny's. It was more money than I knew how to spend, and I was flying high with actual meat in my ramen-noodles which filled my stomach now utterly-entirely. As I stretched out long on the new couch i bought brand new from Big Lots, living the life of a baller, frivolously spending $200 of my contributors money and relishing the hedonistic pleasures of knowing a bed wherein only the frame was now made of cardboard, I remember thinking, "This must be exactly how Sean Puffy Combs feels".
But fate however, had different ideas.
One day, watching players build entire cities in the virtual world we'd created, happy as clams in their ignorance, I came up with the crazy idea of, what if, I ported the game to a new engine and made it even more powerful... More expansive...
If instead of choosing a character, you could design that character... And instead of building your stuff out of props, a system that made everything you did relevant and different from everything else around you... My fevered brain swam with possibilities. If i played my cards right, I could double, maybe triple the amount of money coming in... Maybe even enough to move out of the unairconditioned closet I was renting from a friend for $150/month in order to afford things like "lines of code" and "actual game features".
Such a con though would require months, potentially years of preparation and extreme personal discipline. Could a human being really survive on less than $3,000 of personal income for a year of their life? What am I, @#$%ing Gollum?
I decided that I did in fact posses the mental and physical fortitude to accomplish such a feat. I could... Become the greatest scam artist of all time, and cheat potentially another 100 people out of their life savings. If their life savings was like.. $100 each or something.
Sure, people who've actually invested their money will likely tell you it's legit, but that's all just a part of my elaborate rouse to steal their money by cleverly providing a quality product, with personal support and a proven track record.
I, the maestro of deceit, the author of dark ingenuity, use our credibility of "actually providing what we promised " not once, but twice before as black currency to seed our evil plans... Players will be having so much fun that they won't realize how I'm victimizing them... It is, as they say, the perfect plan.
A plan that could make me a multi-thousand-aire... If only but for the stubborn, occasionally meddling three, or four, people on "public forums"...
Because these righteous holy-men of virtue... These brilliant paladins sling their arrows and make their posts of hatred before actually ever trying the thing of which they speak so ill, they render themselves completely immune to the dark spell i weave over all who actually try our product and go, "Oh. Yeah it's actually pretty good. How much did they spend making it? Yeah... ok... No seriously, how much?"
But evil will find a way into their hearts. By Beelzebub as my witness, I shall have your souls and your $20 bills. No human being can talk trash about a person they know nothing about, and about a product they've never tried indefinitely without giving in to the original sin of curiosity sooner or later... And when that day comes...
We'll be glad to have you with us in the game. We don't care about pride. We don't care about winning arguments on internets. We care only about growing a great community and every day making this game better than it was yesterday.
We show you exactly what we're about, what state the product is in, and precisely what you can expect out of with no gloss, exaggeration, or optimism whatsoever.
If you'd prefer to continue to give your money to big-name game franchises whose soul purpose is to spend millions on flashy CG sequences and advertising trying to trick the money out of you, then you are more than welcome to.
If you would, however, like to take a different path and support a developer who shows you total transparency about themselves and their plans, whom you can actually speak with on a personal level about your issues and concerns and treats you like a human being, whose purpose it is to continually re-invest the money they have coming in, resulting in the best MMO ever made, and that's ALL they want to do, then you should go to our IndieGoGo and sign your name to the cause.
I'm Ethan Casner, and I got your money, sucker.
Exactly the kind of professionalism that produces great games!
If only anything we could see about your "best MMO ever made" indicated you put as much thought and effort into it as you did this wall of sarcastic deflection of legitimate suspicion and doubt of your intents and abilities.
I really hope that *insert game name here* will be the first game to ever live up to all of its pre-release promises, maintain a manageable hype level and have a clean release. Just don't expect me to hold my breath.
I literally crapped my pants some after I read this post! I laughed so hard I sharded myself. Game looks interesting though, I hope you guys can complete it. I for one will be throwing you guys a few bucks for sure!
Hi, I'm Ethan Casner; Lead Developer of Divergence: Online. And I'm the worlds greatest scam artist.
As suggested, I had a long history of personal and professional failure before 2013. I spent the better part of seven years, cleverly disguising my evil plans to cheat people out of their money by making it seem like I was trying to gain financial support and resources requisite to create the best MMORPG ever made. I named it "Divergence", as in "I want to Diverge you from your money".
I think you're mistaken. No one is accusing you of being clever or great at anything. If anything, the rather unanimous assessment is that you don't really know what you are doing and are unaware of your own level of competence at the task you've chosen.
Thanks for the snarky diatribe, though!
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The beginning of the video is unprofessional as well as the verbiage on the installer (I dare you to download it and click cancel). It may have been a good idea but I won't give it a second thought at this point. Listing this so-called crafting "game" on this site is only going to hurt MMORPG's rep. If this site is trying to shed some corporate butt-kissing perception this isn't the kind of game to accomplish this with. Stick with quality indie games with some integrity.
I'm excited to see where it goes, but I will never give money to these crowd funded projects. I'm happy to pay for finished projects, but not for promises.
Very smart...I'm really surprised more don't take the same approach......I guess once people started paying for alphas and betas that it opened the door for Kickstarter.
indiegogo + only 2 devs + swg claim= bullshit. The thing that made swg great was the systems that promoted community. I miss the people I played with more than anything else.
Roses are red Violets are blue The reviewer has a mishapen head Which means his opinion is skewed ...Aldous.MF'n.Huxley
As soon as I seen the first screens, I said to myself it looks like they took it from those guys that run private servers for swg pre-cu. I just laughed and closed it up thinking another scammer.
I don't know. The graphics in the video look better than anything I've seen come out of a crowdfunded fantasy MMO, many of which raised vastly more money. Granted maybe the standards for fantasy setting graphics are lower because WoW.
Nothing against Divergence or its graphics, but both Gloria Victus and Pantheon are considerably better graphically. Those are just two off the top of my head with the least funding not even taking some of the bigger "crowdfunded" games into consideration.
As soon as I seen the first screens, I said to myself it looks like they took it from those guys that run private servers for swg pre-cu. I just laughed and closed it up thinking another scammer.
I don't know. The graphics in the video look better than anything I've seen come out of a crowdfunded fantasy MMO, many of which raised vastly more money. Granted maybe the standards for fantasy setting graphics are lower because WoW.
Nothing against Divergence or its graphics, but both Gloria Victus and Pantheon are considerably better graphically. Those are just two off the top of my head with the least funding not even taking some of the bigger "crowdfunded" games into consideration.
I must be mistaken because for a moment there I thought I read where someone said that Pantheon had better graphics than Divergence lol. Because Pantheon literally looks like someone slightly upped the resolution of Everquest 1. I mean there's like no comparison at all.
Come to think of it, Pantheon looks and plays exactly like EQ1 doesn't it. Hmmm
I'm excited to see where it goes, but I will never give money to these crowd funded projects. I'm happy to pay for finished projects, but not for promises.
Very smart...I'm really surprised more don't take the same approach......I guess once people started paying for alphas and betas that it opened the door for Kickstarter.
It goes back well before that. It started as a way to secure a physical copy at brick and mortar shops.
Pre-ordering then upgraded to deluxe/collectors/special pre-orders then to different perks/versions in different stores (sometimes the difference was simply the box art) then digital reared its head and the two increased side by side. From Age of Conan to SWTOR, we saw the high end jump to the 120-150 range but then the beta access came along with perks for beta which lead to all sorts of crazy tiers
but they found that the average gamer wasn't buying betas. they waited for the finished game.
So it then got renamed. VIP, Founders, Early Access. The velvet rope sales pitch worked very well.
Now it gets to the 120-150 range without any physical product, which is insane but GENIUS because that's 3x-5x the release price from a customer before the game is even shipped. And for a F2P game? That's just... holy cow!
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I'm excited to see where it goes, but I will never give money to these crowd funded projects. I'm happy to pay for finished projects, but not for promises.
Very smart...I'm really surprised more don't take the same approach......I guess once people started paying for alphas and betas that it opened the door for Kickstarter.
It goes back well before that. It started as a way to secure a physical copy at brick and mortar shops.
Pre-ordering then upgraded to deluxe/collectors/special pre-orders then to different perks/versions in different stores (sometimes the difference was simply the box art) then digital reared its head and the two increased side by side. From Age of Conan to SWTOR, we saw the high end jump to the 120-150 range but then the beta access came along with perks for beta which lead to all sorts of crazy tiers
but they found that the average gamer wasn't buying betas. they waited for the finished game.
So it then got renamed. VIP, Founders, Early Access. The velvet rope sales pitch worked very well.
Now it gets to the 120-150 range without any physical product, which is insane but GENIUS because that's 3x-5x the release price from a customer before the game is even shipped. And for a F2P game? That's just... holy cow!
Yes, but I don't see it as a trend that is going to continue much longer.
The "average gamer" might do this once or twice, but after they get the shaft a couple times, no more of the paid alpha/EA BS.
For instance, the $150 founder pack deal with AA pissed off a lot of people, and the next game Trion is trying the $150 for alpha access BS with, is not doing nearly so well, by all accounts.
I think both the "paid alpha" and crowdfunding craze will not last and has probably already peaked, in terms of video/comp games at least. Once a few more failures or straight up scams (Greed Monger and the like) become well-known and widespread, it will move back to the "old way" of development to a degree.
For myself, I have bought my last early access title and refuse to ever buy a founders pack or lifetime sub to any MMO. It is just stupid from the consumer/gamer standpoint and does nothing to encourage companies to continue development with their product at a reasonable rate once they have our money (ask the devs/customers of H1Z1 about that one).
Once the younger customers of gaming are burned a couple time by the BS, they will become wiser customers of gaming.
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Life IS Feudal
If only anything we could see about your "best MMO ever made" indicated you put as much thought and effort into it as you did this wall of sarcastic deflection of legitimate suspicion and doubt of your intents and abilities.
I really hope that *insert game name here* will be the first game to ever live up to all of its pre-release promises, maintain a manageable hype level and have a clean release. Just don't expect me to hold my breath.
Good luck kid, you're gunna need it.
Thanks for the snarky diatribe, though!
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Playing: varies every day it seems.
The thing that made swg great was the systems that promoted community. I miss the people I played with more than anything else.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
The reviewer has a mishapen head
Which means his opinion is skewed
...Aldous.MF'n.Huxley
Come to think of it, Pantheon looks and plays exactly like EQ1 doesn't it. Hmmm
Pre-ordering then upgraded to deluxe/collectors/special pre-orders
then to different perks/versions in different stores (sometimes the difference was simply the box art)
then digital reared its head and the two increased side by side.
From Age of Conan to SWTOR, we saw the high end jump to the 120-150 range
but then the beta access came
along with perks for beta which lead to all sorts of crazy tiers
but they found that the average gamer wasn't buying betas. they waited for the finished game.
So it then got renamed. VIP, Founders, Early Access. The velvet rope sales pitch worked very well.
Now it gets to the 120-150 range without any physical product, which is insane but GENIUS because that's 3x-5x the release price from a customer before the game is even shipped. And for a F2P game? That's just... holy cow!
So how far does it go? Well, we're up to four digits and climbing.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The "average gamer" might do this once or twice, but after they get the shaft a couple times, no more of the paid alpha/EA BS.
For instance, the $150 founder pack deal with AA pissed off a lot of people, and the next game Trion is trying the $150 for alpha access BS with, is not doing nearly so well, by all accounts.
I think both the "paid alpha" and crowdfunding craze will not last and has probably already peaked, in terms of video/comp games at least. Once a few more failures or straight up scams (Greed Monger and the like) become well-known and widespread, it will move back to the "old way" of development to a degree.
For myself, I have bought my last early access title and refuse to ever buy a founders pack or lifetime sub to any MMO. It is just stupid from the consumer/gamer standpoint and does nothing to encourage companies to continue development with their product at a reasonable rate once they have our money (ask the devs/customers of H1Z1 about that one).
Once the younger customers of gaming are burned a couple time by the BS, they will become wiser customers of gaming.