One thing that's been getting to me lately is my other gamer mates saying "SC is a scam" These guys have all played SC for varying amounts of time in the past. My typical response is as follows :- 1. You can buy a SC starter pack for $60 and easily enjoy 200 hours of content and easily get your moneys worth right now how is that a scam? 2. SC gives 30 day refunds. Steam, and all big software houses offer "2 hour" played time or "2 week" refunds. SC has more than double the refund period of the industry - scammers don't give refunds so how is this a scam? 3. Big titles take time. Starfield claims to have taken 15 years. The Starfield team wear 15 years as a badge of honor. Diablo 4 took 7 years and clearly that was released 3 years too early. Lots of AAA titles are taking 7-15 years - the reality is big games take time. 4. On a free fly event twice a year you can actually play for free. What other game lets you do that? 5. CIG are transparent with progress trackers, monthly updates, contributed pledge funds and expenditure which I would argue is better than most publishers. Scammers wouldn't bother with any of this. In summary while I agree SC is taking a long time to develop I think its pretty clear that it's not a scam given there is a live beta to test and given points 1 to 4. But honestly I find it draining and sometimes even I start to doubt myself. I don't mind constructive criticism but sometimes the stuff they come up with is utter BS. It's annoying because these guys I have played with for more than a decade. I won't bother regurgitating their commentary but I was also curious what other backers said to their friends to debunk the negative commentary or at least help their friends see a more balanced perspective. Cheers!