Hi, everybody. I'd like to talk to you about a topic that's been close to my heart since the release of patch 3.0.1. How should we approach Star Citizen? I refuse to get into any controversy that we are just payers, because I am grateful for all the work done by all the CIG teams. However, I can't help asking myself some questions in light of the decisions that have recently been made by our favorite developers. To make my questions clear, let's review the decisions made since the release of patch 3.0. The 3.0 brought its share of new game mechanics, trade, piracy... In this patch, all the players could play (as much as the game allowed) but also try all these new gameplays thanks to the ships rentals (in REC). This allowed the owners of small pledge to enjoy all the game mechanics offered by the game, to test them, and to be able to make a feedback. When 3.0.1 was released, we learned that the rented ships with RECs in the PU was a bug, and had been removed. The majority of the backers then became simple players, not being able to test the game mechanics of the game any more, because they do not possess the ships allowing it. Here is now patch 3.1, which brings its share of new game mechanics. A tougher economy, a more punitive insurance system. That's great! The game must be difficult and punitive. These gameplays only show once again that we are not testers, but players. We cannot test anything, when after an accident, we have lost all our AUECs. We can't test anything when we can't pay for our ships' insurance. All this is very exciting, and opens up countless gameplay possibilities. We can pay our friends to work with (or for) us. We can hire a crew of strangers to accompany us on our adventures... And much more ! We have definitely passed a stage, we are no longer testers, we have finally become players! Only... ALL THIS CAN ONLY MAKE SENSE IF THE GAME IS PERFECTLY STABLE !!! Which is VERY far from it! So, what is Star Citizen now? An Alpha. An alpha on which the less wealthy backers cannot enjoy 3/4 of the gameplays offered per game. An alpha on which the crashes, so numerous, ruin those who have the courage to try to trade, preventing them from doing anything in the game for hours and turning their favorite game into torture sessions. We all know it's only an alpha. Of course, we forgive the fact that the game is not stable... It is in development! But please, think before putting game mechanics that we find in a finished game, in an alpha that can crash at any time. Either we're testers or we're players. We cannot currently be players because of the instability of the game and its current state. It doesn't matter... But then please don't stop us from being testers with some stupid game mechanics. Thank you for reading me