TonyV

To be honest, I haven't been pursuing other studios/publishers yet because I want to give our "Plan A"--the former Paragon Studios acquiring the game--the best chance for success that it can have before pursuing other options. The time window on that happening is very short, probably a month or so. After that, we'll be reaching out to other studios, including Valve.

I don't think we tweeted them out, only references to this post. If you know of a tweet with them in it, PM me the link and I'll either delete it (if it's ours) or ask the author to do so.

Hey everyone, please note the update in the top post. I have voluntarily removed the e-mail addresses. I think this project has been successful in its goal, and at this point, I don't think any further e-mails will get read. Also, I want to minimize the possibility of trolls getting the addresses at some future point and using the addresses to grind an ax.

Cross-posted at Titan Network forums
Grrr... I typoed the thread title "Directly" as "Directory" and now I can't fix or delete it. Sorry...

UPDATE (Tuesday, September 18)

Hey all, good news. As I indicated in my update yesterday, I asked for an e-mail address that we could use to send messages to NCsoft without interfering with company operations. Today, I received the following: "I asked about setting up a monitored email address for players to be able to communicate with NCsoft, and one has been created at: COHSunset@ncsoft.com." (Emphasis mine.)

Now I know that some of you are thinking, "But that wont do any good!" but I'd like to point out that 1) you don't know that, and 2) they most certainly did not have to do this; I appreciate that not only did they, but they did it very quickly, which shows to me that they are listening. I honestly believe that someone will be reading these messages. Accordingly, please don't use it to grind your ax at NCsoft or e-mail bomb it. If you do, that will most certainly assure that it gets redirected to a black hole never to be read again, which would be screwing over your fellow players, not NCsoft.


UPDATE (Monday, September 17)

I have received a request from NCsoft to remove these addresses from being publicly posted. I have decided to comply, and I wanted to make sure everyone understands my reasons for doing so.

• I read up on the legalities of the situation before posting this Call to Action, and I am convinced that I am well within my rights to do what I did. However, I want NCsoft to understand that this isn't about exercising legal rights, it is about trying to reach people with the ultimate authority to determine the fate of City of Heroes. I have said all along that this is not a campaign of annoyance or denial of service and repeatedly requested that the community be respectful and positive and constructive. Having read many of your e-mails, I believe that this goal was achieved admirably and that our community was well-represented.
• I believe that everyone in our community who would want to contact management at NCsoft has now had ample opportunity to do so. Accordingly, I do want to minimize the opportunity for others who might have an ax to grind with NCsoft in the future to come along and find this information and use it for ill purposes.
• I believe that by now, executive management at NCsoft has gotten adequate representation of our community, for better or for worse. While we could continue sending e-mails, by now I'm sure that they will likely not be read. If you didn't get a chance to convey your story, I apologize, but such is the nature of some of these calls to action, that they will be time-sensitive.
• Even though it is not an especially positive response, it is not an especially negative or threatening one, either. Frankly, I expected a bit worse than it is. Accordingly, I want to extend them the courtesy of complying with the request as a good-faith gesture.

So I'm going to go ahead and take down the addresses. In return, I will ask for an address or addresses to which we can continue sending e-mail without interfering with the company's operations.

Again, I want to make this crystal clear: I was not threatened by NCsoft; it was a request, one I am voluntarily complying with as a sign of good faith. The intention was never to interfere with company operations. It was to give the NCsoft executive management team an unfiltered glimpse into our community, warts and all, but mostly loyal and dedicated customers making up a community they helped to build and should be proud of.

I'll let you know if I hear anything else. In the meantime, we're going to consider this project closed, and there is no further need to e-mail NCsoft executives. Thanks a ton to everyone who did send e-mails. I've read some of them and they truly were exceptional.


ORIGINAL POST (edited to remove e-mail addresses)

Hey all,

[SKIP TO "TL;DR" TO BYPASS SOME FLUFF]
(but it's worth a read if you think I've lost my mind)

So here's the situation. Two weeks ago today, we received word that NCsoft is closing Paragon Studios and shutting down City of Heroes. Since that time, the community has pulled together with amazing strength and clarity. Our story has been published on over two hundred news sites and blogs, we've gotten notable personalities including Mercedes Lackey (who has unwaveringly supported and promoted this game for years), Neil Gaiman, Sean Astin, Felicia Day, Scott Kurtz, Tara Platt, John Kovalic, and John C. Wright to support us. I personally have been on an Internet streaming radio show, and a pre-recorded interview from yesterday is due to be played on a broadcast radio station tomorrow. Our community has reached out even further through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, through user-submitted articles such as iReports on CNN (one of which was vetted by a producer), posts on other gaming forums to rally our extended community to our cause, and we have touched literally millions of people.

Over the past two weeks, I have tried my best to communicate with NCsoft. I have been copying upper-level management on our press releases as well as sending e-mails imploring them to talk to us or provide some sign that our Option A--allowing Paragon Studios to acquire the game--is being seriously considered. I presented this not as a demand or even as charity, but in clear terms of how this would benefit NCsoft both financially and in terms of public relations not just to the City of Heroes community, but to the community of gamers--their customers--as a whole. I have tried to convey that I respect their business decision, but that there are alternatives in which we all can win and that our community can avoid being needlessly destroyed as a casualty of a strategic realignment.

Unfortunately, I have heard nothing back from them but silence, the silence is deafening, and now we are at serious risk of losing even if we win. Our development team is a highly qualified group of people with proven talents in developing successful games. We have undoubtedly lost some through finding other employment, and we are at the time now where if we don't fall through to our next course of action, our window of opportunity for retaining the people who made this place great will be irrevocably closed.

TL;DR READERS START HERE (yes, I know it's still long, bear with me, this is really important)

Before any of this craziness was going on, I managed to get e-mail addresses for NCsoft management. Not e-mail addresses you'll find on any public publications. I have stressed that our goal is not to cause NCsoft harm, neither financially nor reputation-wise. At this point, I am convinced that our message just isn't getting through. I still think that they do not understand why this game is so important to us. And it might be my fault; if they have not been seeing the news or our efforts with the rallies or the outreach, what does the word of one random stranger on the Internet really mean?

So for two weeks, I have been desperately resisting doing this because I don't want it to be mistaken as a sign of harassment, but we have to get our message through. I am now asking you all to contact the following people at the following addresses. Let them know what this game means to you. Tell them your stories. Send them your pictures. Stress how much our development staff has meant to us over the years, why they are unique in the industry, the story of how fun it was on Game Night before the Player Summit, how nice the artist was who signed your Blue King #1.

[address removed]: Mr. Taek-Jin Kim, CEO (male)
[address removed]: Dr. Song-Yee Yoon, Chief Strategist (female)
[address removed]: Mr. Dong-Il Kim, CFO (male)

Also note that all three are fluent English speakers; there is no need to translate your e-mail to Korean.

I hope that the e-mails will stress positives, reasons why we believe releasing City of Heroes to be acquired by a third party is a good business move that benefits everyone. However, I know that there are still a lot of hurt feelings in the community, and I suspect that there will be some negative e-mails sent no matter how much I ask them not to be. I will ask that you at least do this for me: Tell them why you are hurt and angry over a game being canceled. Express to them what you're feeling, how in the past five years this makes five games now (Dungeon Runners, Auto Assault, Exteel, and Tabula Rasa as well as City of Heroes) that NCsoft has shut down; why that is having a very negative impact on their reputation; why you have started "Boycott NCsoft" movements and why you are telling friends in the gaming community--their customer base--to avoid titles such as Guild Wars 2 and Blade and Soul, titles they need to thrive. If you are angry over having sunk costs in City of Heroes that cannot be recovered (extended subscriptions, Paragon Points, microtransactions for which you feel you are not receiving the full value of), be sure to point out how these issues go away if the game continues.

Send them e-mails. Tell your friends, supergroups, coalitions, and teams. Post on Facebook. Tweet it. Yell it out your front door if you have to, but get the word out.

I know some of you might disagree with this strategy and opt not to take part, and I understand; it's your choice. Please know that this has been a well-thought-out decision that I've struggled with and I was really hoping that there would be some hint that things would be resolved by now. I wish we had the luxury of continuing our current plan of urging one-on-one communication or waiting until we receive some sign that things are going our way, but we've gotten to the point that now, every day we wait is one more day that our development team is permanently at risk of dissolving through attrition, one more day that we lose players who become demotivated, one more day until November 30 when this all becomes a moot point.

I'll continue posting news and updates on the Titan Network forums. You guys are the best damn community ever. We really need you now.

Hey all,

I got a kind invitation from "Hollywood Rick Brutal" to join him on his streaming Internet radio show tonight at 8:00pm Eastern (5:00pm Pacific, or a little less than an hour from now--convert to your own time zone as appropriate). It's on Back to Basics Radio. We'll be talking about #SaveCoH and #SaveParagon, while undoubtedly having fun and rehashing memories. If you get a chance, tune in!

Cross-posted on the Titan Network forums

Success!!!

We've met our funding goal! In fact, before I could get the widget shut down, we overshot it by a little! I'll call the restaurant and make arrangements today as well as notify the staff of Paragon Studios to put on their eatin' hats. This is incredible. I honestly thought that it would take at least a couple of days, but this fundraiser lasted less than three hours. This is HUGE, folks, and I really appreciate your participation! Because we met our goal so quickly, if you didn't get a chance to donate, please know that this is going to be presented on behalf of the whole City of Heroes community.

Original message:

Hey all, it's time for our next Call to Action!



When I was at one of the Player Summits, someone leaked to me the name of a restaurant close to the studio where the Paragon Studios staffers went now and then for various occasions. So we got to thinking that a nice gesture on behalf of the community would be to rally up and raise the funds to get them to go again, but this time, the City of Heroes community is picking up the bill. So how can you help? We've posted a PayPal widget on the front page of the Paragon Wiki. You can see it here:

Dinner's on Us!

Just click the "Give" button, and PayPal handles the rest. Note that the contribution is processed via PayPal; we do not get your PayPal username, password or account information. Donations submitted through this widget go to our donations account, but are earmarked specifically for this event.

We want to express our gratitude for building the world in which our imaginations have lived. They've provided an unprecedented level of support and interactivity over the years. They've talked to us, listened to our feedback, even socialized with us, all the while providing a game that has an incredible level of innovation and fun.

Keep in mind that this is a small fundraiser. In the interest of keeping it that way, I've put increments as low as $5 and put a hard cap on the amount of $50 to keep anyone from going nuts on it. I'm also putting a hard limit on the amount of $1,000, which will cover the cost of dinner for the crew. We still might need a large fundraiser later for a possible crowd funding effort, so if you pitch in for dinner, keep that in mind.

Please note: In spite of my best efforts to get two different small fundraising widgets to work, something is causing the total to not update. Even though we've gotten $85 so far, the widget is stuck on $0. I wish I could have gotten that fixed before today, but for now, I am manually updating the number on the home page of the wiki once every hour or two. If you donate, please know that it is going through even if the number on the widget doesn't change. I'm updating the total manually every hour or two on the news page.

That is so full of win, Leandro. Dude, you never cease to stop rocking these pictures and videos.

I hear you, man. For what it's worth, I'm registered on just about all of those Facebook and Twitter pages, and the first few days, I was absolutely deluged with messages to the point where I was missing stuff I needed to know. That's actually been a fear of mine. I want people to stay interested, but I don't want to spam them.

In the interest of helping manage the sheer volume of e-mails people are getting, here's how you disable notifications from groups in Facebook. I'm posting it because I want people joining these groups, but I really don't want to irritate them.

First, on the left side, select the group.


Next, on the right side of the groups' banner, click Notifications / Off.


This will keep your e-mail from getting spammed by them, but it will keep you as a member of the group, and you can browser the updates at your leisure.

We haven't (at least, to my knowledge) been sending PMs to people except of course as replies to people sending them to us. I apologize if stuff has fallen though the cracks.

I can't promise that we won't be yelling less, especially on the social media outlets, since that's kind of the point; however, I probably will post a separate thread a little bit later on opting into the movement but opting out of the noise generated by it so that people can have the level of notifications, low or high, that they want.

Edit: I hope no one is reading my screenshots above as a ding on that particular group; it's just the one I picked for an example. I've done that on all of the groups I joined, and I'm part of the spam on Save City of Heroes.

I haven't read this entire thread, but I did read Ad Astra's comment, and I cannot emphasize how right she is. Please bear this in mind: Right now, we need NCsoft. I'm going to ask this again because it seems that no matter how many times I ask it, folks still are all antsy to go scorched earth on them. Please stop with the negative campaigning against NCsoft. This is doing infinitely more harm than good. The more negative you go, the more they will be convinced that they are making the right business decision by killing off this community.

Humor me. Just give us three or four more weeks to see how this plays out without calling for NCsoft's head on a platter. I'm trying my best, but I really need you guy's help on this. It won't take many "NCsoft doesn't give a crap about us!" posts before that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm not asking you to ingratiate yourself to them, but for just a little while longer, please at least be civil. If you can't say something nice, just hold it in a little bit longer.

I'd be playing the hell out of it, but I've been a bit busy lately.

Seriously, I'm not naive enough to think that people aren't checking out other games. But I'm also just as serious when I say that I really, truly believe that we have a good chance of pulling our Save Paragon City! campaign off successfully.

I know you guys are still coming to terms with NCsoft's announcement, but please, for the love of cheesecake, please don't give up on us yet. If you absolutely, positively have to check other games, then at least check in on news and information regularly. Please help us out in our Calls to Action. You may think they're pointless, but I'm telling you, they're not. Please take part in our rallies. Not just as a show of support for each other, but for Paragon Studios.

I really believe that at some point, the tide will turn in our favor. I really believe that there's a good chance that it has already. We have built up such incredible momentum. We have 200 articles on gaming press sites and blogs. We have famous people in our corner spreading the word out even further. For crying out loud, just a couple of days ago, Felicia Day put us out there in front of two million of her followers! And before that, Neil Gaiman put us out there in front of 1.7 million of his followers!

We have some fun events planned to keep everyone's morale high. We have some projects in the pipeline that focus on Paragon Studios, the players, and our creations. All of this stuff is coming together really, really well, and it's a PR force that NCsoft is going to have to face, and I honestly believe that they will do the right thing; it just makes good business sense.

So if you try other games, make sure you stay up-to-date on what we're doing, because when this is all over, that's half the battle. Once our game is safely in the hands of a company for which it is in their long term plans, we want you back. We need you back. And I for one will truly appreciate probably greater than ever what we've been so lucky to have.

I really want to convey to our Paragon Studios staff how appreciative we, the community, are for their dedication and hard work over the years. I think I speak for almost everyone when I say that I have never been involved in a game in which the staff of the development studio is more communicative with the player base. They talk to us, they socialize with us, they listen to our feedback even when they don't agree with us, even when it means doing some major redesign. While most development studios are a black box into which hardly any information gets feedback, Paragon Studios has consistently kept in touch with us not just through official news announcements, but one-on-one with us individually.

Accordingly, we at the Titan Network are going to start posting some salutes and tributes about the people who worked so hard to build the world in which our imagination has lived, who defined a genre and created industry-changing designs and technologies, who have run a fun and profitable game for eight and a half years and counting. We invite everyone to join us and do the same.

Check for our Twitter updates under a new hash tag we'll be using:
#SaveParagon.

Also, if you haven't already joined, please pop by the Save City of Heroes group on Facebook and post your pictures and stories about the Paragon Studios staff!
Save City of Heroes

I wish I had exciting news or information to share with everyone, but so far, everyone is still on radio silence. I'm hopeful and optimistic that that means that they're still carefully considering options going forward. We like options. I really do think we're having a big impact on NCsoft and really, the gaming industry at large, so hang in there, keep your spirits high, and keep up the great work!

Cross-posted on the Titan Network forums

Hey all, it's time for our next event! The coordinators at the Titan Network have been discussing what we can do to keep fans engaged and having fun, and I think we've come up with a pretty good follow-up to the Unity Rally this past weekend. I'm going to let Maressa, purveyor of our last project, announce and give the details of this one as well. I know I'll be there, and I hope you will be able to come, too!

Hey all,

I'd like to make the Paragon Wiki more of a news and information portal on our campaign than it is right now. The problem is that right now, all of us are totally swamped with various efforts. So I want to put the call out for a new Paragon Wiki editor who will be responsible for maintaining the front page of the Paragon Wiki and make it more portal-like.

What you'll need to be doing is keeping up with various press articles and major milestones (like tweeted by Felicia Day--I'm still recovering from that one!), posting interesting things supplied by the community, maybe linking to or embedding a video now and then or posting a particularly relevant picture (after sizing it to fit!).

Anyway, if you're at least passingly familiar with wiki markup and you've got some time to haunt the forums, Twitter, and Facebook pages, please give me a holler at tonyv@cohtitan.com and we'll see if we can get things rolling.

Someone should design a stylized "33" logo or "AP33" to remember this event. Something that we, the players who were there and participated, would instantly recognize. Our little signal to say to others in the know, "I was there." I'd do it, but I have the artistic talent of a two-by-four.