Translation Since spectrum has limited size of post and only one space reserved, this text has been translated in Français, Español, Deutsch here if you need it : https://wiki.frogswarm.fr/NoPvP Introduction If anything, Star Citizen’s development will have taught us two things: patience and high standards. We have learnt patience as we want to see this project come to fruition and to fulfill our expectations. Our high standards derive from this patience: we will stand for Star Citizen on the condition that we know exactly where this project is going. Today, we wanted to share our worries about where the game design is going, notably on the topic of PVP and its place within the game. We wish for CIG to define and clarify their goals on the topic instead of some vague statements meant to reassure players without committing to anything specific, all meant to increase the public reach of the game. Each backer has placed some hopes in Star Citizen that will never be fulfilled, but ultimately it does not matter. What matters is that we found in Star Citizen a common promise; the promise of a game through community interactions that will be without any real limits (except the ones we put on ourselves). Various interactions and most notably confrontations, whether individual or collective, are unavoidable conditions for that promise to become reality. We are fully conscious that the various influencers, youtubers, streamers are a key part of any marketing operation in the video game industry. But the flip side of this strategy is the now common occurrence of warnings sent to some players due to their interactions with those same influencers. Those warnings all share the same and exact cause: when streamers are killed, it is because they have obviously been stream sniped. We have observed those same actions in various communities (whether they speak French, English, Spanish, Russians or any other language). De facto, “stream sniping” has become the generic keyword to get the protection that you, CIG, have created and guaranteed for them. This protection does not protect the streamers from any harassment but from the emotional consequences of losing face in front of their audience, therefore deflecting the blame from their failures to something outside of their control. It is as simple as that. It begs the questions: What is this game promoted through those streamers, protected through a mechanism created for them by your own people without any proper investigation of those complaints? Is it still a fair PvP game? What is this game which protects a few individuals who make the choice of broadcasting their position in real time in an open world game to an audience of potentially millions? Is it still a MMO sandbox PvP? What is this game backed by hundreds of thousands of players for so many years, where one of the core tenets seems regularly corrupted by the frustrated responses of a few? Our worries We wanted to share our worries on the path that Star Citizen is now walking, as we are worried that you are sacrificing the hopes of thousands of players over the whims of a handful. While CIG has communicated over its planned vision of PVP several times over the years, it seems that the actions of a few community managers are contradicting that planned vision. At this point, we do not want to start again an endless and ridiculous debate over PvP against PvE, but to ask the developers some legitimate questions over the rules that have been applied to define what PvP practices are acceptable or not. 1. Definition Stream sniping: CIG put in place a mechanism allowing to protect individuals who are streaming in real time their games. By sending warnings to PvP players who attacked those streamers, CIG is shifting the responsibilities of those streamers upon themselves. Why can’t streamers be forced to stream their games with a time lag? Failing that, can CIG provide any information on which criteria a “stream sniping” complaint is considered valid and will therefore send a warning? Has it been considered that an influencer is the sole person responsible of the consequences that come with streaming in real time? 2. Denunciation Based on our own observations, those “stream sniping” complaints are just mere tools used regularly by streamers to take revenge for their own destruction and to retaliate against the players who killed them. In many cases, their complaints are amplified by members of their communities, which are then mobilized to make the complaint even more effective. Those situations are evidently creating a major unbalance between the various players in the game. Furthermore, based on our own observations, there are no proofs that the players who have received those warnings have used those real time streams to get information. In fact, any inquiries to community managers about those cases have been dutifully ignored. Similarly, akin to the mechanism in place to report “stream sniping”, do you think there should be a similar mechanism to report the abuse of those influencers? 3. Validity According to you, based on the current state of the game, do you really think it is technically and physically possible to perform harassment and griefing? More importantly, can you provide concrete examples of what you consider griefing? 4. Accountability Finally, once you have officially established and clarified your position regarding the responsibilities of a player when he is streaming, can you officially advertise those positions so they can be referred to by all players? Conclusion It seems that one of the reasons why the community keeps dividing itself over and over about the purpose of PvP is a lack of a clearly stated set of rules. CIG is the only legitimate entity to create those rules. In fact, CIG is the only entity that can create them and be responsible for them. We do not pretend to be “THE community” or to represent it in its entirety. We simply want to hear that this project (that we have been following for so many years) is still disposed to deliver on its promises of fights and battles. We also believe that it would be helpful if those promises were to be restated to everyone and especially to those who pretend to represent “THE community”. The following people participated in the writing of this text: @Agency @Drangon_Lee @geeksy @Iker_Z @Jake88 @LethaK @Madjet @Melaskia @nephelia @Rafi_Stolage @Mesis @SandwichTriangle @SCrat-Crimson @Shesa @Shynin9 @Silmerias @tazh5 @Zero-Tolerance @Zvonimir