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maggie's rant, starving artists need to eat too, stop complaining, want some cheese with that whine
Some of you may have seen my post on Facebook. I want to have a little bit longer discussion here because it is something that is important to me and close to my heart.
From Facebook: “Maybe it is because I have some experience in game design (very little, but enough to understand the unfathomable amount of effort that goes into making a game) that comments like ‘it’s not fair I have to pay to get to be a star rider’ or ‘you’re just trying to steal my money!’ that really irk me. I try to be considerate and explain that what you have put into the game is really an amazing feat, to make it all so beautiful. Every little movement of the horse or rider, the change in the scenery, the dialogue, the quests, everything, I can’t even begin to imagine how much time has gone into this. I’ve seen some players who don’t have the patience for a few days to get leveled up, let alone the YEARS I’m sure it took to develop something like this. There are live people who sit at a desk day in and day out and answer our emails, or sit at a computer and physically make the new parts of the game. Now I know many of the players here are too young to understand, and will probably gripe anyway, but I am not one of them. I wanted to say I am more than happy to spend my money on the game, so that your team may make a living and be able to continue to run this wonderful game we all enjoy. The best things in life are not free. I know that. I’m sure you all have families to take care of, and I don’t know if this is your full-time jobs or a side project you do, but it has to pay the bills somehow. I for one am grateful for all that you do, and I hope you share this message with the whole team. I just wanted to say thank you for this, and keep on doing what you do!”
Now bear with me as I explain my point of view. This is directed at the players who post the ‘it’s not fair I have to pay to be a star rider” and that is who I shall refer to as “you.” If you, as a reader, do not do that, please disregard my directed comments. Now:
I’ve seen too much of this complaining to sit and do nothing. I understand that being young, you may not have the money to be able to pay for the game. I get that. I was there not too long ago. But I have to say I don’t think you realize how much time and effort goes into making a game. I also beg you think of any other games of similar scale that are free to play. World of Warcraft certainly isn’t free. And forget about console games.
The entertainment industry is a huge business. And it’s exactly that. A business. To make money. To pay its employees, so they can feed themselves and be able to work to make more games. Like it or not this world is run by money. And while we all would like things to be free, it will never happen.
Now think if the roles were reversed. How long do you spend on an art project? Two, maybe three hours? I spend ten hours, at least, on mine. Two commissions a week (average about twenty hours) is practically a part time job for me, and I get paid for it as such. What you do in your free time is none of my concern, but when it comes to making a living, time is money. And as an artist, the amount of time you spend on a project are your wages. The people who make this game are artists. Their time spent should be rewarded by some incoming cash flow from their creation.
Also, I’d love to hear what your parents have to say about getting things free. I would bet that you don’t have to pay them rent or a monthly sum to live and eat in their house. And I wouldn’t expect you to, because that’s what parents do. But think about it. You’re complaining about having to pay $80 for a year of game membership, when it probably costs at least $7600 to feed you for a whole year (average $7 a meal x 3 meals a day x 7 days a week x 52 weeks a year, I’m assuming you live in a household that can afford food as well as extras like a computer and internet). Being able to play an online game is not essential to life, as eating is, so just be glad you don’t HAVE to pay for something you have to do to live (at least for the moment, enjoy being a kid, adult life sucks sometimes).
There are certain issues in this world that are important to us, especially if it has some value to us personally, and this is one of those things for me. I don’t think I would be able to run this blog or be a part of this community without discussing this topic. It is also why I will remain strict on maintaining such an attitude on this blog. I’m not trying to change the world, but I do want to try to change your perspective on things. While the image of the ‘starving artist’ lifestyle may seem glamorous, it really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Take it from me, it’s really hard to make art when you’re hungry. And if you enjoy this game, I really hope you don’t want its creators to all die of starvation. I’m not saying that you all have to go out and purchase a star rider upgrade now. What I am saying is be grateful you even have the amount of game to play for free that you do.
So, next time, before you complain about having to pay for the game, think about what I’ve said here, because if you don’t, I will find you.
Star Stable Online Ride Through 
Amen to that!
Agreed! 😀
SSO is an amazing game and I know what you mean my cousin plays it and she’s all ‘why do you have to pay for this game that all you do is ride horses and do quests’ (she has no imagination) so she bothers me with stuff like that 😦
same here
it gets so annoying when people come up and say things like:
‘Why do you play that? All you do is ride on horses and talk to people’ or
‘Those graphics are terrible, that horse is so ugly’ (which of corse I STRONGLY disagree with)
And it gets on my nerves too 😐
I just wish the controls weren’t so awkward. D:
I bought 1 month Star Rider with my own allowance, then after it ended, about 7 or 8 days later I bought lifetime with my own money, and then on Double Star Coin weekend I bought 500 star coins with my own money, and I don’t regret any of those 🙂 I want to support such an awesome game company a lot! They have made a wonderful game, and I enjoy it a lot, and I hope many people will enjoy it and those who play already enjoy it already!!! Even though you have to pay for Star Rider to get access to everything in the game, I still like it! And they give free Star Rider too! They do it rarely, but it is still very generous 🙂 They are wonderful game creators who care about the game and it’s players!
Also, it’s fair that people have to pay if they want to be a Star Rider or access everything. I thought that it’s unfair, until I realized about 1 or 2 years ago that they need money to make a game, keep it open and update it. The reason Star Rider costs is because when you buy it, you support the game and depending on what you bought, you get it as a thanks for supporting the game creators and giving them money to continue the game and eat, own a house, get clothes to wear every day, get furniture to use in the house that they need, and other things that are necessary. The world isn’t free, but at least when we pay for something, we get the thing we paid for as a thank you for your support.
I was just looking at some comments on one of SSO’s posts on Facebook, and I found this comment:
“I guess it for star riders only URGH I hate being a non star rider and Sso don’t think about non star riders what is they can’t buy a star rider at lest give us a chance with a big quest once a month and 50sc once a month”
Actually, SSO thinks about non Star Riders. They give them a chance to do something. Think about games like Minecraft. You need to buy it to play it, at least to play the full version and choose game modes and have a world with un limited time. You can play SSO without having to pay, but it is actually fair that Star Riders access more, since they pay to get their better fun. They pay to jump, to get free SC, to do all quests, to go everywhere. They PAID for it, and they get their thanks. Star Riders can do all of the things available in the game because they help SSO afford the costs of the game and they also help them pay for their needings. They help them pay for food, for their families. So, when I bought Lifetime Star Rider, for example, I gave them some of my earned and saved up allowance money to help them earn a living and afford the game. Buying something is what gives them money to make the game exist. If no one pays, the game doesn’t exist. Yes, there are games that you can play for free WITHOUT paying at ALL, but they still need money to make that game. Think about it, they are taking time out of their own lives to make entertaiment for us, and a place for us to go somewhere and chat with kind friends. Thank them for it, don’t just make the game shut down. You don’t have to pay if you don’t have the chance, but you should pay when you get the chance. I paid for my 1 month and lifetime Star Rider and my 500 (Double SC weekend so I got 1000) SC and I did that because I appreciate all the hard work that was put into this. I just love what they did for a lot of kids to enjoy.
I completely agree with this. I don’t think I can ever thank Star Stable enough for giving us this game 🙂 – I’m a lifetime star rider and I still don’t think that’s enough to repay them!
Amen to that!!
True, i think its rediculous that people want FREE star rider membership, they go so far they make generators. but that does not help the game. P.S sso is fun even without membership you just have to learn to enjoy the game 🙂
I agree with this…i paid $40 for 6 months….and now i am buying lifetime membership…i love this game and i would never stop supporting it! I help give someone a life and a meal and a job…i feel good about it too! i am also a
SSO promoter. I post promotional videos for sso! My name is Anita Silvergren
I agree with you 🙂 I don’t regret supporting such awesome people who make awesome entertaiment for little kids! They are very kind, and the time it took them to do this should be thanked for! They are living creatures (And I mean humans, not horses sitting at a computer.) who make entertaiment for little kids, and they spend a long time doing it. They have to feed theirself and their own families. Plus, they also have to spend money on keeping the game. I just couldn’t bear losing the game.I paid for and which I spent a lot of time in. This game deserves to be titled as the world’s best horse game (If not the world’s BEST game, at least the best horse game.), especially with how much work has gone into this.
I think an important part of this issue that should always be remembered is fair value. If you are someone who spends time on the servers, using up the company’s resources and server space, then doing your part to pay your share is only fair. It’s the right thing to do. You shouldn’t go so far as being obligated to give your food money or medicine money or whatever to a game, but the point is that we should all give BACK when we are able to do our fair share.
There are too many people in the game today who have already taken up resources, used up server space, cost the company maintenance, and never even say thank you. Instead, they get mad because someone won’t give them more.
If the game is good enough for you to want to keep being in it, then it’s a fair value. The fair thing to do under circumstances like that, is to do your part to help pay for the costs you cause by being in the game and playing it. When you want or even expect more and more and more beyond what you’ve already gotten for free, that is unfair on your part – and yes, it is unreasonable.
It’s not right to be this way, people. The right thing to do is be fair and reasonable. If you can’t or don’t have money then it can’t be helped – but getting mad at them because you want more is both unfair and wrong. Any time you get extra, say thank you. It’s really, REALLY rude to ask for more.
There is a problem though, and it’s about using paypal… Thing is when I tried to buy life time star rider last time, it didn’t trust the website and kept cancelling my order. I’m not sure why it’s not letting me but I hope there will be another way to pay other then paypal. If this keeps up, I might as well give up on ever getting star rider. I can’t even find the problem.. why it’s blocking it… If anyone, ANYONE can tell me how to fix this. Please tell me soon so I can help support Star Stable.
I cannot help with technical issues so I would suggest you contact the Paypal support.
I strongly agree with you , Maggie, I buy the reoccurring three month membership and I’m very great full towards it. One of the main reasons it costs is because of the lack of ADVERTS, there are no adverts ANYWHERE on sso, companies pay websites to have their adverts on them, although, look around for a while on ss- 0 adverts, know one seems to realise that to keep up a game with no adverts star stable relies on those people who pay for star rider 🙂 and that’s why they have more quests, places and free sc 🙂
The game is awesome and i dont think its fair to make generators. its not supporting the game and it is not letting them be able to update the game cause money is what helps the website keep going and helps them keep the game online instead of taking it off forever :)))))