I get where people’s angst comes from. It’s been in development forever, it’s made mind-boggling amounts of money, and the way promises have been routinely made and then broken erodes a huge amount of trust. I can’t blame anyone for thinking of it as “Scam Citizen.”

But despite all that, Chris Roberts has created something that nobody has ever seen before. Even in its current incomplete state, there has never been anything else remotely like it. Maybe it’s the buddhist in me, but I have had so much fun with the game over the years as-is, rather than being upset with what it’s not or what it’s supposed to be.

Comparing it to other “normal” games, the optics of buying stuff can definitely seem pay-to-win, but for anyone that had played it, it’s clear that’s not how things work. And since the game is early access and wipes have been so frequent until now, buying components at this stage is really just a bit of a time saver. You can save a day or two of playing to fund and source the components in-game. I don’t see the problem with that, especially if it keeps development progress moving.