Electric-Knight

Another confession from me...

For years, I've gotten confused when I see that the forum handle, Eldritch_Knight has just posted something, as I mistake it for my forum handle.

It's pretty simple. Some people feel like other people are behaving like jerks. Everyone has different definitions, preferences, tolerances and expectations of what exactly being and/or acting-like a jerk is.

I really don't know how I come off on these forums or where people on any side of a debate want to place me, but yeah, I do look at the situation and prefer the spreading of positivity. Not blind optimism or anything like that. However, I also feel like a lot of the negativity I see some people nearly constantly posting is rather lousy, uncalled for and, in most cases, unhelpful and/or detrimental.
Detrimental to the chances of the game being saved (this is the lesser possibility in my opinion, but it still can impact it, no doubt), detrimental to the community overall (who wants to hear someone constantly spewing negativity? And who is the negativity directed at? Is it just to make yourself feel better? So is passing gas, but it's preferred if you move away first, please!) and detrimental to other people trying to deal with their own feelings and issues regarding losing this pastime, game and the community (we know some people have an enormous personal investment in all of this. I'm not going to judge them harshly for it... normal people work every day and then sit in front of the tv before passing out... People all over the place are heavily dependent on silly pastimes... and some people are in far worse situations, through no fault of their own, where their pastimes become much more meaningful and important and I'll gladly try and help them keep this game).

Heh, I imagine that some of the more negative-minded people would think me some follower-sheep or some sheltered, self-appointed adjudicator of morality... And that is rather humorous to me and to those who know me, but... Hey, it's worth the laugh. And, yeah, I've never been one to hold my tongue and it's not always pretty or positive, but I damn well have respect for overall situations and other people's concerns and I can't simply coldly look at this current situation and say, "Nyah... I'll post every day about my negative feelings regarding x, y or z... deal with it, forum fops!".
Nah, I'm just doing what I generally have always done around here... I crack jokes, I speak positively about what I believe is good and I try and confront untruths, rudeness and help anyone in the many small ways that people sometimes are looking for.

What does all this mean?
Nothing!
Carry on. Pat me on the back, kick me in the ***, ignore me, disagree with me... whatever.
Just don't misplace my speaking out against your negativity as anything more than this guy disagreeing with your approach.
And, as others have said... it's not the dissenting message or simple disagreement! Please! We'd all be completely ####'d (and I'd be bored out of my mind) if everyone happily agreed with everyone, hehe.
Most often, it's the manner in which it is expressed. Unfortunately (and I say this with zero maliciousness), most often, the people who express themselves in those ways, truly don't realize that the way they express themselves is seen as negatively as it is by most people.
So, what the hell can ya do about that?


So, yeah... let's all disagree where we disagree... But let's all just have some ####ing fun, eh? Sound good?

For more than selfish reasons, I would love to see this community after going through this and having City Of Heroes remain.

I have no false expectations of some idealistic utopian online community, haha... But I would love to have back what we had before August 31st... yet with the new connections I have made with the people involved in these efforts and all of us with a greater understanding and appreciation of each other and what we believe we have here.

The more I go through this process with everyone involved, the more I refuse to lose this community. I know that is entirely in our hands, but I would absolutely love to see full success for several reasons and one of them is to absolutely have this community back, mostly in tact and see what we'd do with the bonds we've developed and the experiences we've shared through it all.


And, EternalAmethyst, put your words back up, mate.
I am sorry that we did not post in here sooner. You had probably the two most bitter posters around here these days come in and rain on your positivity.
Don't let them affect ya. I know it makes it seem like it's not worth bothering posting in here sometimes... but there are countless more people who like what you had to say than there are dissenters.

And... if you have no dissenters... you know you're not standing up for anything. Haters are gonna hate... But, you know what... there are a bunch of lovers and dreamers here and we're not backing down.

I love it. Every little step anyone mentions or suggests gets criticized by the peanut gallery.

I'm going to be fair and suppose that you just might not fully understand the concepts of multi-branched paths for pushing on publicity, furthering causes and such.
Hey, I get it. When you get right down to it, you can look at it and say, "meh, taking this and applying it to that just doesn't sit right with me". That's fine. Take that, be you and be proud. Nothing wrong with that.
However, when actually putting in efforts to branch out and be heard across multiple avenues, that is exactly what you may need to do.
There are people who have shared their experiences in the testimonials threads and one single idea, which is one tiny facet of the entire effort of reaching more people and more media outlets and gaining more attention is by going off of the various experiences and stories and circumstances that our vast community has shared.
She's not looking to jump on science as the aspect that will save City Of Heroes and Paragon Studios... It is one single avenue that was represented by more than a few stories shared and experienced by members of our community, and she has merely suggested that people with those stories can take them to people and places that focus on such aspects of science. It's not just a tacky attempt at publicity, it's something that some people feel is a true aspect of this game and why they want it to remain.
Whether anyone else thinks that they are right, wrong or are indifferent doesn't change their story... And the person you are criticizing is merely offering suggestions on ways to get their story heard and possibly have it cause traction.

I fully understand and respect that not many people have experience and/or knowledge about publicity, starting and furthering self-driven movements. So, I say none of this with disrespect to those questioning such ideas.
However, that is indeed how a great many things are run and how things do happen. Like it or not.

Okay, please do me and everyone (including yourselves) a favor and stop for a second.
Read this, calmly, from your friendly neighborhood Electric-Knight.

There was a complete malfunction of what was actually being said and some people turned it into something completely different and/or to a greatly different extreme.

Regarding the current negotiations, someone said that the person relaying the news was a questionable source because they were a fantasy writer.

That was being disputed.

Then others came in to say that celebrities have no greater credibility than anyone else (no duh!). No one was saying otherwise. Her celebrity has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that she used whatever status she has to make our situation public.

She already knew and has had dealings with the people at Paragon and that is how she has been getting and relaying information.

That's it. End of that story.
Believe her. Don't believe her. That's fine.

If some people take issue with her because she got some other things wrong... so be it.

Not a single person was here saying that she does or can do no wrong.
They simply said that she was a trusted source with an inside contact within the negotiations. She's not been getting details... just friendly messages that the talks are going on, haven't ended, still going on, so on and so forth.

If her failings in any other instances make you mistrust her ability to relay simple messages from involved parties, then you don't have to trust her one bit. And no one here says that she is a celebrity and therefore is perfect!

So, there was a mix up of miscommunication going on in here.

It happens a lot.

Someone say something stupid (and often his name is Johnny... haha)...
People refute the stupid remark...
People come in and argue against an argument no one is making...
The refuters continue to refute the stupid remark...
Nitpicks are thrown around, past the opposition, because people are not talking to each other... they are talking at, or past each other.

So, stop.

People, including some red names, are looking to this source for little bits of information when she gets them.
There is no other leak right now.
And we all just have to wait and see what happens with the current negotiations... and then, what comes afterward.

Whether or not you think any particular person is trustworthy, superb, irrelevant or an assassin/spy is really pretty much irrelevant and not an opinion anyone else is going to be forced to share.

So... we have but one source currently relaying information. Do what you will with it. So far, nothing has contradicted the information we have received.
However, when there is actual news, we will all hear about it from clear and open channels.
If you don't trust the initial drips of leaked information... don't worry about it. When there is real, solid news that will give us actual information about what specifically is going to happen... we will know about it.


And, to be fair... this particular novelist does have one thing in her favor above any random community member. Her own personal/public identity is on the line. Unlike most everyone else here.
She's stood up and doing what she is doing for our shared cause and love of CoH. If she messes up in any way, it's her real name and Influence spent.

Now... let's all back off a bit and enjoy the fact that there are negotiations (other red names have said as such) and that a bunch of the developers are out having dinner together tonight!

Long live Paragon City (yeah, and the Rogue Isles too, damnit! Fine... Praetoria, you too!)!!!

Just going to chime in to point out, once again, that clearly we are very far from being done.

Have a blast, everyone!!
If I wasn't stuck in New York tonight (and fighting an evil invasion of aliens within my sinuses, disguised as a common cold) I'd have loved to have joined ya.

And remember... the development team that eats together... stays together!

Wish you all the best, regardless of when and where.

I know things are greatly different right now for CoH and our community, but as bad as things may appear right now, we are just a few weeks after the completely surprising announcement.

Yeah, population is extremely low at regular playing times for all of us and it can be somewhat depressing...

However, for as long as I have followed this game, people occasionally leave, but often come back after one, sometimes two months... Usually citing, "I needed a break, played some other game(s) and found myself realizing... Nothing out there comes close to being as awesome as CoH".

Now, again, I know things are greatly different right now and the point of logging in and playing has been lost or it is just too doubleplus unfun with the end being so nigh and all... But, there will be people who regain some interest in logging in, some who regain their composure and find themselves enjoying logging in again, some who come back simply because they couldn't leave it behind for good, and some coming back because all the cool kids are doing it.

Oh, those numbers will likely not match what we had going on August 30th, but... it is very possible those numbers will be far greater than they are right now today.

I know that many of us are going to remain. And I only will ask each of you that truly wants to see this game continue to keep track of what's going on, to keep abreast of news from here and/or the Titan Network and/or all the other locations around the net that our community is keeping in touch with... And when we do have good news or events that could help the representatives of Paragon Studios or any other potential investors to free our beloved game from the clutches of NCSoft, please come back to us and join in and represent.

I'm not going to ask people to log in and play just because. You either will or won't right now. I only ask, if you do care, to keep updated and come out if we call for you.

You've seen the press coverage around the net, you've seen the videos, you've seen the red names voicing their appreciation and encouraging us and even asking us to keep it up... And those red names are gathering for dinner tonight, because we wanted them to enjoy a dinner on us.
You've heard the reports that representatives of Paragon Studios have been in negotiations/conversations with NCSoft and those talks continue.
That's all good. That's all worthy. And it's simply not over yet.


As far as I am concerned (and I said this elsewhere)... I'm not a foolishly optimistic person (I've had far too many bad things happen to me for that, hah), but I simply do not care, one bit, about the odds. The only thing that matters are the results. And the results don't come in until the game is truly over. And this game ain't over yet.

And Jessie's Hit Streak continues!

That's my usual way of leaving Peregrine, actually, hehe!
And...

I've never been one to use Hasten (except for one character), but you can cancel some powers by right clicking on the buff icon beneath your health/status bar.

I am not positive if Hasten is one of the powers we can do that with. It works for buffs that others cast on you. It was added... hrm... Issue so and so... a couple of issues ago, hehe.

Hit Streak was awesome!
And thanks for the heads up, Unknown_User!

How cool of him to do that!

And he actually answered a couple of questions I thought the community would appreciate:
Remember, he's just speaking off the cuff, but he did answer these:

• He thinks the forums will remain up as long as the game is (through to November 30th for NCSoft's scheduled shut down).
• He wishes there was a way to grant people VIP, but it's unfortunately out of his hands.

So, nothing major, but what could you expect?


He just hopped on because he saw people posting about how they missed the coffee talks.


Very cool.


And his shirt will be getting a facebook page!!

Oh, that reminds me that I never noticed, until recently, that you can see Russia from Paragon City!