Long story, short summary…I’m an old school gamer who has just updated my old Windows XP gaming desktop for a nice gaming notebook (Asus ROG G752VT-DH72). Don’t worry, I work in IT so I’m not facing a technology learning curve except for the gaming side.

I’m totally confused on how to obtain and play Star Citizen. It seems to be a foreign concept from my old days of buy the box, install the cd and play. I see the wiki article saying a 2016 release date and mentions of subscriptions, pledge donations, etc. But I see that people are currently playing it now. Also, I’m mostly a single player gamer and not much into the online multiplayer stuff where I get my ass handed to me by a 10-year-old in Singapore.

Can someone give me the 100 words or less cliff notes version of this game?

How to get it, or when it will be released to the general public?

I also don’t understand about the Steam versions of games vs store bought boxes but that may be for a different thread.