CIG CAUGHT raising money using artwork without permission...

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So over the weekend, the customer service brain trust at CIG were caught disparagingly tagging backers in their Zendesk CS backend. http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1soosem

The dust hasn't even settled on that one yet, and last we checked, the CS site was still offline and being sanitized.

So, less than 24hrs ago, someone noticed that the image used by CIG to peddle the latest Buccaneer JPEG ship concept - for which they raised almost $500K - was based off artwork used without permission. btw, that's for an image - of a ship - that is yet to be created - for a game that doesn't exit, and never will.

Anyway, the post by an artist first appeared on mmorpg.com

http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/452023/tutorial-how-you-make-promo-artwork-for-spaceship

Rapidly, others jumped in to prove that the image was in fact sourced elsewhere.

http://i.imgur.com/bDMtapr.gif

http://i.imgur.com/GorQW1L.gif

Then the CIG damage control kicked into full gear - again - even as Goons got involved and once again, came across a cliff they simply couldn't resist jumping over. And so jump it was.

First, it was reported to the image owners. Because why not?

http://i.imgur.com/cfL7R7o.jpg

Naturally, an argument broke out on Sandi's Facebook page where the image first appeared.
Amid the usual Shitizens denying everything, blaming (http://i.imgur.com/Ab9gfLg.jpg) Goons for doctoring the image and fighting a proxy war for CIG - like they usually do - it was clear that the image in question had been used and doctored.

http://i.imgur.com/Xz8VH5D.png

Less than a few hours of the social media frenzy, the original Facebook page (above) where Sandi first posted the Buccaneer image, was taken down. Since it is her page, she obviously took it down.

https://www.facebook.com/215475438505750/photos/a.429027047150587.107566.215475438505750/1049223538464265/?type=3&theater

But of course, as these things go, there's a screen cap. There's always a screen cap. Always.

http://imgur.com/pvBNDmm

They also scrubbed it from the RSI website:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/ships/drake-buccaneer/Buccaneer

Here's the Google cache of that page. If you scroll left, the "show floor" block is where it used to be:

https://goo.gl/BWdgxr

..and is now a 404 page after being scrubbed

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/1a1di25lu5rh1r/source/Presentation-Bucc02-Sandi-Version.jpg

But there's always an archive. Always:

http://imgur.com/a/cAtlV

They scrubbed it from the Pinterest page. If you click on the thumbnail, it goes to the 404 page on RSI server where the original resided.

https://uk.pinterest.com/foxhavendesigns/star-citizen-buccaneer/

They scrubbed it from the RSI forum post where it was first posted

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/330945/sandi-is-the-new-drake-showgirl

They also scrubbed the video segment where - again - Sandi was thanking the CIG artist, Jim Martin, for the work. Again, someone already had it extracted and archived.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9qgrOmopTQ

Which brings me to the part where Goons do what Goons do best in the never-ending quest for lols....

http://i.imgur.com/oMl6vAQ.png

This is the part where you ask yourself this. Why would a CIG artist do something like this? How hard is it to create a female model. Oh wait! Considering that five years and $115 million later, there are still no female models in Star Citizen, not to mention the Godawful character models in the game (and in Squadron 42), this probably makes sense.

Companies buy and use stock footage all the time. So normally this won't be a big deal. But it is. Why? Well scroll up and read it all again. That's why.

This is CIG. There's always more; and it's always worse.

It's the culture.

And backers gave them $115 million to make a video game; even as the wife of the CEO and a best marketing exec since she was a leetle gurl, continues to pursue a failed film career while taking a large paycheck from CIG and shooting said movies on company premises - paid for with backer money.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1soosn4

The E.L.E is in full swing. These small meteors are just a distraction. It's only a matter of time now. And Goons will be right there on the ground floor when that final asteroid (trust me, it's coming - fast) hits.

http://www.dereksmart.org/2016/04/star-citizen-the-ele/

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