Star Citizen Ads Were Misleading? Player Reported Them to ASA
Star Citizen certainly stirs many emotions - from admiration to irritation and even indignation. This time, one of the fans decided that he's had enough of the game's opaque advertising policy and decided to do something about it.
IN A NUTSHELL
- Forum user known as mazty shared on Reddit the story of his fight against misleading ads of Star Citizen;
- The fan felt that selling ships that are not yet in the game should be more clearly described;
- He reported the situation to the Advertising Standards Authority, which shared his opinion;
- After the agency's letter, the developers decided to put an erratum on the vessel offers.
Star Citizen is a game that has a chance to become something big, and the devs have very ambitious plans. However, not everyone likes the path they are taking to achieve them. One of these people is a fan known as mazty. He shared on Reddit the story of the victorious fight against misleading ads for the game's content.
Cloud Imperium Games (CIG), the devs of Star Citizen are selling spaceships that are unfinished and are to be implemented into the game in the future. They are advertised with catchy descriptions and concept art. This is a way to raise additional funds for the development of the title. Until recently, the advertisements for these ships were not properly marked, which could have misled many players.
This is what the ads looked like before the change.
Mazty decided to do something about it and reported the situation to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). It's an organization from the UK that monitors the quality of advertising in various media. As it turned out, they also found such actions misleading, and sent a letter to CIG. As a result, the ship's offers are now accompanied by a correction. It says that work on them is in progress and they will be added to the game only in later updates, so they are not ready for use yet, and people buying them have to settle for substitute machines, which are supposed to have similar parameters and functions.
This is the response mazty received from ASA.
Although mazty still finds the ads misleading, the Reddit community has reacted very positively to his actions. Many people have gathered under the post describing the whole issue, thanking him and praising his actions. This is another example of how fans gathered around Star Citizen can do some pretty impressive things. It also shows that we don't have to agree with everything the developers do, and that the efforts of even one person can make a difference.
