Rubberlad

Correction: There are a lot of people who *want* to like COH/V. And then there are others (like me) who *love* COH/V but got tired of waiting for some fresh new interactive game mechanics to play with (that goes beyond the whole "zone/instance content vs. QoL improvements" argument that has plagued this community for the past two years).

Don't get me wrong: I love how everything's been redressed to look new again (animations, power customization, new "booster pack" costumes, new Fifth Council TFs), but underneath it all its still the same old game mechanics that we saw in 2004.

No doubt, Going Rogue is going to be something special but its got the stage dressings of content folks wanted 3 or 4 years ago - not now. I'm glad to see NCsoft has reinvested in the game, but being able to play in a third-world "Praetorian Earth" zone wasn't at the top of many people's list. Find a way to raise the bar on the "I'm a hero/I'm a villain" gameplay interaction to all new levels in the current city/isle zones, and then you'll have a runaway hit that'll last for at least another five years...

And truth be told, unless you're a fan of the game who can appreciate the "Praetorian Earth" references, the average mainstream gamer who's never experienced COH before will look at this retail box on the shelf and give it a pass because its not exactly clear *what* genre experience Going Rogue is trying to sell them - but oh look, there's APB, WoW, Aion and many other titles that make a little more sense.


Me personally, I don't need Praetoria to sell me on "going rogue" between all points good and evil. I need the game as it currently stands to sell me on the experience of being extremely villainous vs. superbly heroic - and I'm still waiting. Get this dual environment fleshed out a bit more, and *a lot* of folks will come running to subscribe. Sadly, I get this kind of immersive experience more out of many console games than I do on a PC game like COH. Its not that PC games *can't* do this (because they can), but rather that they *don't* (ie. it's easier/cheaper to port an innnovative console game over to PC than it is to compete an innovative PC product against a console game) which is a serious mistake.


Feel free to dismiss me as a "hater" if it makes it easier for you, but I swear that I've been playing COH since 2004 until recently and that the only reason I'm taking the time to post this at all is to tell you that I (as do many other former COH subscribers) *love* this game - and I love the Devs for staying on and maintaining its evolution through since 2004 - but the original core premise (or "promise" if you will) of providing a "superheroes vs. supervillains" gaming experience has really gone off the rails by quite a bit - enough so that we don't really feel comfortable coming back as long-term subscribers until it's fixed.


Five years on, what's it going to take for people to stop being so dismissive of critical commentary and start realizing that its all said and done out of love and heartfelt nostalgia for the best superhero game ever made?


(EDIT: Man, I feel like such a [CENSORED] for even logging in to post this but sometimes you guys just really don't get it...)

I have lesbian friends who prefer the term "queer." Its not everyone's term of choice of course, but go figure.

Of course, whenever I hear the word "queer," I think of this wonderful childhood book I used to read:

http://www.childhoodbooks.com/si/81589.html

Just to clarify:

I said "moderators" can't do it - the plugin mods you're talking about on vbulletin.org are for "super admin" privileges. In vBulletin, there's different tiers of administrative group permissions (and custom user groups can be added/deleted at any time) - these mods are meant to be restricted to the highest administrator setting (aka "superadmin") and used sparingly in cases where members are using vBulletin's PM system to spam/harrass other members. That alone is a valid use of the plugin - if installed.


That said, keep in mind the following:

1) This plugin is not a standard ability packaged into the vBulletin's retail software product.
2) As this is not a licensed plugin, its unlikely NCsoft would incorporate it in their business products (its not impossible but definitely unlikely as it might affect site stability issues or potentially open up a new "back door" hack depending on how the plugin was scripted).
3) Moderator 8 (and others) have better things to do than read your PMs.

Hope this helps.

Moderators cannot view a user's "PM mailbox" contents in vBulletin.

The best thing you can do for yourself at this point is take a deep breath and relax.

Fair enough, we agree to disagree.

As do I. I asked Nivene about this the other day and she acknowledged they're working on this but it could take some time to fix.

There really are too many Dev names to run post searches on, but I say either check the "Announcements" section or just run searches on Castle's or BAB's posts and you'll be good to go.

Whatever, Mary.


Getting back on topic, does anyone have credible referrals for an openly gay European SG to share with the OP?

They're cool, they're awesome, they're amazing and leave it at that. "Straight acting" is acting as an adjective - just switch it out for something else less discriminate. You don't try to qualify a person of color's particular shade of skin tone so why would you do it with someone's sexuality? Seriously, the term "straight acting" is just rude - and offensive.

And in reply to an earlier post that the term "straight acting" is not derogatory, let me tell you now: I'm gay and I take exception to the term "straight acting". That said, I know plenty of LGBT folks who are very insecure with their sexuality that need the "straight acting" badge of honor to help them feel better about themselves - but that's a symptom of internalized homophobia and poor self-confidence.

Trust me, nobody's doing anyone any favors by describing an LGBT person (or themselves) as "straight acting."

"Straight acting" is a derogatory term, and its not anyone's responsibility to tone down their sexuality just so they appear more socially acceptable to a predominantly heterosexual community. I personally wouldn't consider anyone a friend if they always had to justify me to themselves and to others as "straight acting."

Tolerance sucks, acceptance rocks. Tell 'em your LGBT friends are "awesome" rather than "straight acting" and move on.

Additionally, there's plenty of openly gay SG's on the US servers, and its not an issue for the Devs or NCSoft. If anything its just one more "themed" supergroup amongst a dozen others - and there's nothing wrong with that. I commend the OP for inquiring about openly gay SGs; keep asking around. I'm sure there's more than a few SG's out there that'll be glad to help you. Unfortunately I don't know the EU LGBT player base well enough yet to make a recommendation.