Questions continue to surround the validity of many video-game crowdsource funding projects on Kickstarter but as players continue to question the integrity of the developers and their projects, truly awe-inspiring games are falling through the cracks unfunded. One of the latest crowdsource additions that I fear will fall victim to the negative trust trends of today is Asylum Entertainment’s innovative open-world MMORPG, Identity.
Kickstarter represents the perfect opportunity for groups of developers to see their innovative ideas come to fruition but with widespread press coverage highlighting the shocking level of mistrust and dishonesty, it comes as no surprise to see that the gaming community may be losing faith. Has the presence of greedy scam artists in past crowdsource campaigns threatened the potential success of those yet to come to light?
During one of our regular Grand Theft Auto Online stream events on Twitch.TV a seemingly random individual asked permission to post a link to a Kickstarter project. Upon granting his request I was expecting to see waves of phallus related material flood the chat, but on this one occasion the individual and his request were just. This is where we were introduced to Identity.
It’s very rare that I let myself get too excited when investigating games prior to release. It’s a combination of past experiences and the fact that I’m a miserable bastard, but to say I find most Kickstarter projects to be mildly appealing at best, wouldn’t be far from the truth. However, Identity managed to capture my gaming heart and imagination almost instantly.
As a hardcore SA-MP (San Andreas Multiplayer) player back in the day, I thoroughly enjoyed the immersive RP based experience that allowed for players to pursue their own dreams by any means possible, and many of the same principles that powered SA-MP are visible in Identity.
I won’t attempt to sell the features, the developers offer far greater insight and information than I could hope to do. Simply check out the video below and come to your own conclusion:
Identity is a modern-day open-world MMORPG for PC and Mac with complete freedom to do almost anything you can imagine at any time in first or third person views. Live as an honest civilian, a criminal, police officer, paramedic and many more. There are no levels or skill grinding, but talent and perk progression so that it’s the actions of you, not your character, which matter most.
- An enormous online and persistent world controlled in almost every aspect by the players living within it.
- Player-driven gameplay and economy with dozens of jobs and epic careers.
- Action and fun around every corner with a player police force, gangs, cartels, businesses and more.
- More casual games than we can list, from karaoke and cinemas to paintball matches and more.
- Play on the official servers or host your own with your own rules and options.
- No subscription fees and never pay-to-win.
I’m not naive to the point of blind faith and stupidity. Plenty of developers have constructed Kickstarter pages filled with empty promises, and plenty have been funded. My concern with Identity is that even with the vast array of eye-candy and jaw-dropping features on display, it may still fall short of its funding goal. If we pretend for a minute that every Kickstarter page was a fake, Identity would still be one of the very best fakes on display, yet it still wouldn’t meet its target.
I can’t pretend to know anything more than anyone else that’s been following the Kickstarter progress but if we are to take developers at their word in crowd-sourcing, why in the hell has such a unique and immersive opportunity been left to the last few days?
