Does anyone here even LIKE comic books?

[Deleted]

First, welcome to the game and the forum

CoH is a very instance-heavy game, so the zones don't get that much use, as almost all the missions are on instanced maps accessed from various doors in the zones - there could be several teams in one zone, but one they're on their mission maps, you wonät be able to see them.

If you're looking for more "real" comic book types, you should try Virtue server, which has a high population, and has a lot of RPers on it.

There's also a role playing section on these boards. This is more of a general interest forum and although people discuss bios and "Will your character want to go rogue?" type questions here, you're also going to get a lot of non-rp related stuff.

If you haven't, you can try playing on Virtue which is the unofficial "role playing" server. It's also one of the heaviest populated servers in the game (not everyone is there to role play of course). Even there, you'd be best served to get into a RP-oriented supergroup rather than expecting everyone in a pickup group to role play their way through radio missions. Check out the Virtue server forum on these boards for more information.

As has been mentioned, I suspect one of those servers you tried wasn't Virtue, because I don't really see the problems you mentioned when I play (which is exclusively on Virtue). So give that a shot.

Yes, people here do like comic books, but clearly, a lot of people here are here because they like MMOs. Very broadly speaking, I think you are looking for people who have some role-player in their soul, and honestly, an awful lot of people don't. Just to be clear, I don't think that's a bad thing, but it sounds like maybe it's not what you expected with this being your first MMO.

First, let me explain a couple of things about the game. There is nothing meaningful to do in the open zones. All the goals and actions are in missions, which are instanced. So most of the people playing are not in the common areas. This is both a good and a bad thing. One bad part is the thing you've noticed - that makes the common areas look dead. One good thing is that no one can interfere with your instances. There's basically no such thing in CoH as someone "stealing" your kills or other objectives in a mission. It also helps keep load under control in the various zones.

The monster heads and most of the spikey "dark" costume pieces you're seeing were added specifically for City of Villains when it was a completely stand-alone game. They were then proliferated to both sides if you owned both games. So what you're seeing are villainous costume pieces that people have outfitted on what I am presuming are heroes. More, better animal heads have been requested for a long time, and are actually planned to be coming sometime in the foreseeable future as a micro transaction pack (which usually cost around $10 or less).

Remember, this is, first and foremost, a video game. Most of the people on the forums are there because they're engrossed in the game. Lore and role-playing are only a part of the available scope of the game. Moreover, most of the people here on the forums are probably more obsessed with the workings of the game than most. It's why a lot of them are here. However, there are sections of the forums fairly dedicated to roleplay concepts. In terms of role-play in-game, the Virtue server is the unofficial role-play server. Be warned, that may not mean the people there are more comic focused. Role-play means a lot of things to a lot of people, so you may be as likely to find someone playing a vampire as a golden-age super hero.

Finally, don't assume that because you met someone rude that most people here are rude. This is, by and large, one of the friendliest MMO communities out there. (In fact, if you stick it out and still think people are rude here, my advice is to stay away from most MMOs. ) Stick around and try to ignore people doing stuff you don't like, because odds are you can find people who do stuff you do like and hang out with them instead of those ignorable people.

Anyway I hope that helps. Welcome to the game, and here's hoping you find something worth sticking around for.

Looks like everyone has covered the pertinent bits here already

1) Not a lot to do in open areas, people are in missions
2) Check out Virtue, also check out the Virtue forum and introduce yourself there. Could make it even easier to find like-minded people.
3) Just randomly offering to correct people's characters (bio, name, power-choices,etc) is something I'd suggest avoiding.
4) Welcome aboard

I love comics. I actually don't particularly care for capes-and-tights superhero comics, so I'm glad this game is not only about capes-and-tights superheroes. I like this game because it lets me play powerful people who punch dudes for various reasons, and look cool doing it.

I agree that it is silly that some costume pieces must be unlocked on each character, while other less generally useful ones are available by default.

Also, check out the Comic and Hero/Villain Culture board. While it is in some senses a 'general discussion' place, there is a fair amount of comic discussion that goes on there. A quick glance at the first page suggest 8 comic-book realted threads right now. (I make no guarantee about tangents.)

I was born in the 60's and grew up on comics. I honestly don't read them regularly any more but I'm a huge fan of the medium.

Listen to what the others have suggested, they are right on target. As someone who's been playing MMORPGS and gaming from back in the day of 300 baud modems and local BBS games... this is indeed one of the best communities of any current MMORPG.

Make the effort, you'll find the right people to spend time with and you won't regret it. CoH is an amazing game played by a pretty damn cool group of people.

well pen, first, remember that there are a number of different styles of comics out there, I have to confess to not really caring for the silver and golden aged stuff, and am much more of a fan of manga and more modern graphic novels. so comics yes, but remember that comics doesn't have to mean tights and capes. I loved the crow, i enjoy a good segment of manga, big fan of ronin and the sandman series. not all comics are 4 color tights affairs.

now as for the ghost town thing, as has been discussed, this game, unlike most on the market heavily uses instancing, that way in "your" experience you can beat dr. vahzilok without having him re-spawn 3 seconds later in the very same spot you just stopped him. it allows fora more personalized experience and reinforces that you, as the hero/villain, are accomplishing things, this was improved in going rogue, as certain actions can cause a contact to vanish entirely.

finally, you know, to many people, offering unsolicited grammar corrections can appear condescending. you may not have meant to, but you very likely appeared just as rude to that player. (plus the bio cursor is sometimes hideously unweildy) so, you know, maybe try to get to know someone before you offer that sort of assistance, because it could very easily be taken as you belittling their intelligence.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Are these pronouns used in RL at all? I had never seen them used.

I agree the English language needs some genderless pronouns.

I like comics!

Unfortunately, I am EXTREMELY far behind on most of mine because instead of reading, I'm usually playing CoX.