Then there’s the ongoing release and sale of new ships, and new variants of ships, and ships only on sale for a limited time, and ships which are better than the ships previously claimed to be the best ships in the game, and ships which cost $2,500, and that many of these ships don’t yet exist as more than graphics on a webpage. (Here’s an unofficial progress report on all the known ships so far). Are these the natural consequences of a game being developed in stages and in public, or is people’s optimism being taken advantage of?

Associated with that is accusations of obfuscation, whether deliberate or accidental. Unless you delve deep, it’s not at all clear what’s better than what, and what gets you exactly what. This is, for instance, a game with no less than four different entry-level packages, each of which contains just one ship, and the practical differences between which aren’t apparent until you’re actually in-game. And in any case, these beginner-tier ships are likely to be insignificant against the virtual wonders people are forking out hundreds or thousands for. Will that make this a pay-to-win game? Added to that are ships only put on sale for a short period, arguably promoting panic buys. What do any of these ships and their add-ons really mean?

Then there’s whether hiring Gary Oldman for some lavish CGI cutscenes is a respectful expenditure at this point in time, given that what people want most of all is a game to play now, now, now. Why, they wonder, are the developers so focused on such frippery when the current flight combat is not yet best-in-class, and when there are so many skyscraping ideas yet to be realised?