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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Refer & Win! Question and Potential Issue
I have a friend who referred me to the game and specifically told me about the referral system, which I've read over.
The problem I have with the system, has actually nothing to do with actually referring someone. I'm more worried about unsubstantiated hype. So, my friend found out about this game from a youtube video which hyped the game, who then told me about the game. My friend used the youtuber's referral link and I used my friend's.
I'm kinda worried about actual representation in the reviews for this game. I definitely fell trap to No Man's Sky, which was hyped by all the media outlets and did not deliver on their eventual goals. It seems like this could be a similar situation but exacerbated by the fact that the media outlets now have a potential for making a return on their reviews.
How do you intend to keeping the reviews of the game fair, if the reviewers are going to be interested in the financial investment in giving a good review for the game.
This is what is keeping me from purchasing anything on kick-starter or other venues, as there is not an actual demo of the game, and the game seems to be potentially hyped by video game reviewers who are trying to rush to the top of the view count to get more referral links.
I would suggest to suspend the referral system until the game is at least in a playable state.
The problem I have with the system, has actually nothing to do with actually referring someone. I'm more worried about unsubstantiated hype. So, my friend found out about this game from a youtube video which hyped the game, who then told me about the game. My friend used the youtuber's referral link and I used my friend's.
I'm kinda worried about actual representation in the reviews for this game. I definitely fell trap to No Man's Sky, which was hyped by all the media outlets and did not deliver on their eventual goals. It seems like this could be a similar situation but exacerbated by the fact that the media outlets now have a potential for making a return on their reviews.
How do you intend to keeping the reviews of the game fair, if the reviewers are going to be interested in the financial investment in giving a good review for the game.
This is what is keeping me from purchasing anything on kick-starter or other venues, as there is not an actual demo of the game, and the game seems to be potentially hyped by video game reviewers who are trying to rush to the top of the view count to get more referral links.
I would suggest to suspend the referral system until the game is at least in a playable state.
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Comments
So basically you're worried about people hyping the game because they want others to click the referral links, therefore they get free in-game stuff over time when the game goes live.
However, the only thing everyone can do right now is just keeping the hype alive. No one reviews this game because the game itself doesn't exist nor it's demo. The earliest review will be about alpha tests that will happen Q4 of 2017 (depending on how alpha will look like. They will probably test parts of the game one by one before closed beta).
The referral system is just brilliant marketing move to encourage people to talk about the game before it's release so the fanbase starts growing in very early stage of the development. You've mentioned that is a financial investment for a player but it's not completely true since they will receive only in-game currency. I assume it will be possible to buy subscription fee for that but if that won't be a thing player does not receive any real life resources for that.
It might mean the whole game is just a cash grab because referral system greatly helped Kickstarter campaign but I find it unlikely. It's too early to contemplate if the game is scammy when there is 0 gameplay shown by other players. I'd advise you to wait and check out how alpha/beta is looking if you're afraid to spend your money. If you want to go deeper check out dev team history ( I mean individuals). I can assure you they have resources to make this game great.
After all, the Kickstarter is just an investment and by the definition, it always comes with a risk.
I just get nervous because my friend appears to be extremely hyped, and the first thing I noticed when signing up was all this information regarding a referral program.
It seems some have already discussed why/why not it seems like a scheme, but that's not really what I'm discussing. I'm more talking about the video game review community. It puts a weird slant on any information coming from them if I notice that they are listing their referral link in a "check out the game here" type link. It creates a feel of missing trust, before I even know anything about the game.
It just seems like a bad PR move, since I know almost nothing about the game, but the first thing to introduce me is to sign up for their referral program when I make an account.
In general however I don't have an issue with it since it's in place of actual advertisement as far as I am aware, so an advertising company would also lie about the game for financial gains. This is a different way of doing it and allows regular people to help advertise and benefit from it in addition to the bigger name Youtubers and Twitch streamers.
If the game does bad then the Youtuber or Streamer who lied about how great the game is will be able to make a sum of money based off how many people play. Anyone who continues to sub and play is enjoying the game and thus the youtuber or streamer will be making money off of advertising the game to someone who enjoy its. If the game is good then that person is making money off multiple people enjoying the game and thus didn't falsely advertise how good the game is.
In my opinion there is no way to stop people from lying about how great a game is if you want to advertise the game at all. Whether it be the advertisement company who could give a crap about how good the actual game is or the youtube person who lies to make extra money through this referral system. Some people are just jerks who only care about money and not the game. The referral system is trying to benefit the people who do care about the game by opening it up to everyone instead of just advertisement companies. Yes there will be some who will just care about the money and benefits, but there are also plenty who will be informing all their friends who might enjoy the game(like myself) who will also benefit from the system.
Basically in my opinion this system is a better advertisement system as it let's the community be part of and benefit from advertising the game as opposed to some random company benefiting from advertising the game without a care about the game at all.
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Before Youtube how did you find out about a game? Gaming magazine reviews, TV ads, etc?
Those are also biased because they are getting paid to "review" the game. Basically this is just a different form of advertisement. You should never go solely based off what someone said you should make that decision up for yourself. Obviously in this case someone is getting paid for your first month sub if you use the referral system, but that is no different then you watching a TV ad about a game or finding out about the game through a gaming magazine. The company is using the referral system and allowing anyone the ability to benefit from it to advertise their game and not using normal forms of advertising.
There is always going to be bias when money and advertising is involved. This is actually better then normal advertising in my opinion since it allows the little guy and community member the ability to benefit from it in addition to the big guys like youtubers, streamers, advertisement companies.
What you, as a consumer, can do to protect yourself is do your research. Get your information from multiple sources and research the credibility of those sources.
It's not Intrepid's responsibility to control what an independent reviewer says about their game or whether they use the referral program for financial gain. The only thing they have control over is direct sponsorship.
Anyone who believes that big channels are giving unbiased reviews all the time is seriously ill informed. These days companies actually pay reviewers to give bad reviews to the competition as well.
Source: I'm a marketing guy.
Also as CrowSplat said, "It’s not Intrepid’s responsibility to control what an independent reviewer says about their game or whether they use the referral program for financial gain. The only thing they have control over is direct sponsorship.".