Soul Train

I am Soul_Train, and I fully support Memphis_Bill's message.

My concerns are pretty much the 'outsourcing' flavor of the situation.

Mind you, I worked for three years as a Quality Assurance manager for a company that was outsourcing their tech support *shudder* which mean I got to be the one to tell the top brass how well (or how badly, goodness how BADLY!!) the outsourced companies were performing. And... it all came back to dollar signs, no matter how many complaints we got from customers, no matter how many 'zero-tolerance' issues and below-service-level calls we documented.

So the whole THOUGHT of shuffling something off to another company, no matter how well-intentioned, is bilious to me. It reeks of cost-cutting and bean-counting.

If you want it to be fan-driven, then allow the FANS to drive it. Right now, Curse-Gaming is just getting started, but as has been stated, their focus is more on WoW and DAoC. So us fans have no real idea that they're up and running. What the fans have been asking for is an NCSoft 'Fan Area' where we can really showcase our passion for this and other NCsoft titles.

It's really hard to be passionate about something when the folks who run the game aren't interested in your passion, or don't seem to be. This is nothing against Curse Gaming, I'm sure they're passionate about gaming (after all, they started a company centered around it!) But so far they don't seem to be passionate about CoH, much.

Now, in contrast, we have DA. DA isn't passionate about gaming, but the folks there ARE passionate about fan-art. It doesn't matter what kind of art you like, you can find it.

I could submit three pieces I've had done in the past month, of the same character, in three separate styles. Anime, traditional comic cover art, and photomanipulation. Plus endless paintings, sketches, 3D renders... you name it. Plus there's all the blog features, journals, watch lists, groups, etc etc etc. And with the way the CoX fan-art community has embraced this site... it really is a place where if I want to show something off OR go looking to see what's new, my friends and I will be able to share it.

Should Curse.com become a game-oriented DA? No. I think you have great ideas for what you want your site to become. And... I might upload a couple of pieces... maybe.

I just didn't get any warm fuzzy feelings about the original announcement, and I still get the impression that NCSoft doesn't really want to support fanart directly... which is a shame.

I'm ok with the comic contest.

Oooooo.....

yeah don't tell TA where you got that done.

Bravo!!

won't she trip over the hem if she's chaste?

....


Alll righty then....

Ah there we are!!



Nice!!!

More specifically:

Not Found
The requested URL /Bleh, still messed up a couple of times, but here is DragonBerry was not found on this server.

DB crashed the server again?

hate?

vas ist das mit den 'hate'?

OK. Analogy. We're like a bunch of teenagers trying to jam in someone's garage. And we get told, "Sorry, can't jam in this garage, the neighbors are complaining about the noise."


So we grumble and mumble and mill about, maybe pluck out half-hearted tunes in each other's living rooms on rare occasion...

then one of us finds a recording studio at the local community center, and we all sign up and have a great time... making strides in improving the music, some folks even cutting albums, brancing out to other genres, etc...

"Oh yeah, I know we booted you all out of the garage... but there's this warehouse you can use."

*blink*

That's.... nice..... *looking at each other going "Wha...?"*

That.... does not bode well for this particular arrangement.

OOO!

Nich work on Juggertha!!

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I am what I am.

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You even get the quote wrong brother!! It's


"I am whatever you say I am...." - Eminem?


:P

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Actually it's from Popeye.

"I yam what I yam, and that is what I yam."

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Athyna, it's not that we don't appreciate the, um, gesture.

But the fan-art community has been the red-headed stepchild of this whole gig for as long as I can recall. And as nifty as this sounds, it IS a day late and a dollar short. It comes off as "Oh yeah, if you want a place to show off your talent, here, Curse has said they'll host it."

We already 'outsourced' ourselves for lack of any sort of recognition or response from NCSoft. And after the slap in the face that Gill Bates got for them NOT putting his CuppaJo tribute in the gallery, a lot of artists are rather leery of anything 'official' anyway.

Unfortunately neither Curse-Gaming nor Lighthouse are familiar with this past history, so this whole conversation probably comes across as a bunch of spoiled brats turning up their noses. However, now that past history has been explained, perhaps they won't be too offended when we tell them DA's working out perfectly ok, and pardon us for not maxing out Curse-Gaming's art area in the first ten minutes after the announcement.

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It does come off as spoiled. LH isn't Cricket, nor is he Cuppa. It's not fair to hold him responsible for 3 or 4 years worth of being ignored. Gods bless Cricket and Cuppa, they had some good qualities, but they weren't no Bridger. Bottom-line, for me, the difference between what's on the EU main page and the US main page.

No, LH hasn't redesigned the entire website. Heck, that's probably not in his job description. But, he's taken a step to get more involvement from the community and how's he answered? "It's not DA." I can almost hear the smugness coming through some of these posts. And it saddens me. Deeply. Corporations like NC are not *ever* going to bend over backwards for someone. It's just not done. You meet them halfway. Unfortunately, we as players have failed at that. Anything NC had planned for the main page will likely be flushed.

I'm sorry but this is just so damn sad. The thing everyone claims to have wanted and they make an attempt to get involved, that attempt gets shot down.

I can't even log into the <hell no, I ain't saying>... I'm just going to have a glass of wine and go to bed. Blame LH all you want, blame the alignment of Venus. This community doesn't feel very welcoming anymore. And it's not just this little section. It's everywhere. My days are filled with baby stuffs... you guys were my one sane outlet... were... all good things must come to an end...

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That's just it. Lighthouse is just the messenger. He's not to blame. And yes, he's walking into this blind (as is Curse-Gaming.) and for that, hey, I'm sorry.

Shame on NCSoft for not prepping either of the two parties beforehand... or for doing their research into how we feel as a fan-art community about the way we're recieved or represented.

THAT'S the problem... although with DeviantArt's resources there really isn't a problem at all.

Athyna, it's not that we don't appreciate the, um, gesture.

But the fan-art community has been the red-headed stepchild of this whole gig for as long as I can recall. And as nifty as this sounds, it IS a day late and a dollar short. It comes off as "Oh yeah, if you want a place to show off your talent, here, Curse has said they'll host it."

We already 'outsourced' ourselves for lack of any sort of recognition or response from NCSoft. And after the slap in the face that Gill Bates got for them NOT putting his CuppaJo tribute in the gallery, a lot of artists are rather leery of anything 'official' anyway.

Unfortunately neither Curse-Gaming nor Lighthouse are familiar with this past history, so this whole conversation probably comes across as a bunch of spoiled brats turning up their noses. However, now that past history has been explained, perhaps they won't be too offended when we tell them DA's working out perfectly ok, and pardon us for not maxing out Curse-Gaming's art area in the first ten minutes after the announcement.

OO Gratz!!!

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We’ve been talking more with the folks over at Curse-Gaming.com and the features that their game portal has. You’ve probably seen the recent article on the coming Hamidon revamp included in Issue 9. Besides covering a bunch of games, hosting a ton of game downloads and providing user community tools they also allow very easy to use uploading of images. Once uploaded images can be rated by other users and comments left. You can read more about Curse-Gaming here or get involved by setting up a free account here.

Ok, so why you may ask, am I plugging them? Well it has nothing to do with the fact that I think they are a swell bunch of guys. Rather, we can see that the services they offer are pretty nice as a platform for showing off your artwork. While I’d love for us to be offering similar services here on the City of Heroes and Villains websites, the legal issues surrounding it make it prohibitive. So, our thinking goes, why not work with an affiliate site like Curse and spread the word of functionality they have to offer.

So, check them out and let me know what you think!

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I find it utterly amazing that we don't have a marketing group to do something with this game. You have the RED NAMES pimpin other companies to do what they should have done a while back.

Oh well...more proof that this game is slowly slipping into the dark abyss of nothingness.

Well done Lighthouse for once again looking stellar in your job.

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OK now that was just snarky. As was said before, at least they're trying something.

And yes, curse-gaming IS a gaming/MMO oriented site.

I just think that it's painfully obvious that, having NOT been recognized prior to now, the fan art community has found their own venue and are happy with it.

I'd be happy to set up an account on curse-gaming... but DA is where I go for commissions and to see everyone else's work, as well as get tips, read people's journals, and so forth. So I don't see taking much time to do the same thing with curse-gaming.

Katfood, you better hold off on uploading for a bit...

*mirrors DA to one of the IPTV databases in each of 8 cities*

Yanno.... backup purposes... safe-keeping....

... god I hope my boss doesn't do a server role audit...

Yummy yummy!

Except... Rowr wearing a bikini??

Very nice!!!

As for the two things... uh... isn't she in stiletto heels, usually?

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Yeah. Thanks for that Lighthouse! But I think most of us already have an established prescence on Deviant Art. Also it is a good way to bring non-gamers into the mix as well

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... some of which become gamers. Face it, we're infectious.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Juggyball.

yeah he did!!

D is for Daisy Chain

Been a while since I asked Alex to do one....