I have one of those Tumblr things, and although I don't post much on it, I had to post to share some of what I am feeling with this announcement and everything going on here at CoH.
My Tumblr page is http://pheonyx.tumblr.com if you want to follow it, but I am going to copy/pasta my latest post here.
Quote:
As most of you know, Im a big player of City of Heroes. On Friday August 31, the announcement came that City of Heroes and Paragon Studios, the studio created to work on the game after NCSoft bought the rights from Cryptic Studios, would be closing. That same day, everyone in Paragon Studios were let go of their positions right at the Labor Day holiday. Through press releases to various gaming sites, we have learned that the game will close November 30th, 2012 (whether that means 12:01AM or 11:59 PM, we do not know as of yet). To paraphrase a line from Doctor Who, on November 30th, the universe will sing City of Heroes to its sleep.
People in City of Heroes, and the Virtue server specifically, also know me as DJ Pheonyx of http://thecaperadio.com , The Cape Radio, a completely volunteer, player-run online radio station for the Virtue community specifically and the CoH community generally. This news hit all of us hard, since we have made so many friends no, family in this game and to see it end the way it is ending (sudden announcement, immediate firing of all staff) is just heartbreaking to the community. We are all reeling from this blow dealt to us, and will for a while.
I went on the air that Friday afternoon before a scheduled show, taking over for DJ Valor (who had decided to come on air and help people cope with the news), and I was coming to the end of my time and handing off to DJ Shecky, who was covering for DJ Angels normal show, and I played my normal ending; my favorite quote from Babylon 5, and then the song Show Me The Way by Styx, a way I honor those we have lost past, present and unfortunately future. The prospect of losing this family I have ingame for years was tearing me up inside. Then the comments came first in private messages and then in the Cape global channel, and then when I mentioned it later in a Skype chat room which a LOT of people were part of, it was then I realized something I had never really though of me or my being a DJ: I felt so much love and felt like an important part of The Cape. Between the private messages thanking me for introducing them to The Cape came a comment in the global channel Ill paraphrase what was said: Your ending should be the last thing played on The Cape when CoH shuts down.
I had never thought that I made that much of an impact on peoples lives in the game and on the Virtue server. I became a DJ to share my love of music with everyone, just as my parents wanted all their children to do (which is why the last song is always dedicated to them) I didnt do it for ego stroking or to be a cool kid, I did it because music has always been a joy in my life and wanted to share that with people in this way. So, when people wanted my ending to be a fitting end to the closing of City of Heroes and The Cape Radio as we know it now (the station staff is figuring out what we are going to do with the station when the game closes, so there is no news on that front), I went from blubbering fool to I cant read the screen anymore from all of the tears (and Im tearing up as I write this, even). But there is a little bit of hope; petitions, requests for the game code to be open sourced for private servers, and so on. Whether any or none of these will bring City of Heroes back remains to be seen.
However, for the next three months until the game closes, as much and as easy it is to become sad and depressed, go into game and get as many screenshots as possible for yourself and others, show everyone you know what is being lost by this closure, achieve as many goals as you can before the game goes dark, but I and many other Capesters will have this in the back of our minds, as now all City of Heroes players should as these months go by. Next time you log into game, think of the quote that ends my shows, because the words that were presented to us by the late Andreas Katsulas, who played Narn ambassador GKar on Babylon 5, have become even more meaningful:
You see I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Go anywhere in this station, when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word weve exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit that the part of me that is going will very much miss the part of you that is staying.
I have one of those Tumblr things, and although I don't post much on it, I had to post to share some of what I am feeling with this announcement and everything going on here at CoH.
My Tumblr page is http://pheonyx.tumblr.com if you want to follow it, but I am going to copy/pasta my latest post here.
People in City of Heroes, and the Virtue server specifically, also know me as DJ Pheonyx of http://thecaperadio.com , The Cape Radio, a completely volunteer, player-run online radio station for the Virtue community specifically and the CoH community generally. This news hit all of us hard, since we have made so many friends no, family in this game and to see it end the way it is ending (sudden announcement, immediate firing of all staff) is just heartbreaking to the community. We are all reeling from this blow dealt to us, and will for a while.
I went on the air that Friday afternoon before a scheduled show, taking over for DJ Valor (who had decided to come on air and help people cope with the news), and I was coming to the end of my time and handing off to DJ Shecky, who was covering for DJ Angels normal show, and I played my normal ending; my favorite quote from Babylon 5, and then the song Show Me The Way by Styx, a way I honor those we have lost past, present and unfortunately future. The prospect of losing this family I have ingame for years was tearing me up inside. Then the comments came first in private messages and then in the Cape global channel, and then when I mentioned it later in a Skype chat room which a LOT of people were part of, it was then I realized something I had never really though of me or my being a DJ: I felt so much love and felt like an important part of The Cape. Between the private messages thanking me for introducing them to The Cape came a comment in the global channel Ill paraphrase what was said: Your ending should be the last thing played on The Cape when CoH shuts down.
I had never thought that I made that much of an impact on peoples lives in the game and on the Virtue server. I became a DJ to share my love of music with everyone, just as my parents wanted all their children to do (which is why the last song is always dedicated to them) I didnt do it for ego stroking or to be a cool kid, I did it because music has always been a joy in my life and wanted to share that with people in this way. So, when people wanted my ending to be a fitting end to the closing of City of Heroes and The Cape Radio as we know it now (the station staff is figuring out what we are going to do with the station when the game closes, so there is no news on that front), I went from blubbering fool to I cant read the screen anymore from all of the tears (and Im tearing up as I write this, even). But there is a little bit of hope; petitions, requests for the game code to be open sourced for private servers, and so on. Whether any or none of these will bring City of Heroes back remains to be seen.
However, for the next three months until the game closes, as much and as easy it is to become sad and depressed, go into game and get as many screenshots as possible for yourself and others, show everyone you know what is being lost by this closure, achieve as many goals as you can before the game goes dark, but I and many other Capesters will have this in the back of our minds, as now all City of Heroes players should as these months go by. Next time you log into game, think of the quote that ends my shows, because the words that were presented to us by the late Andreas Katsulas, who played Narn ambassador GKar on Babylon 5, have become even more meaningful:
You see I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Go anywhere in this station, when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word weve exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit that the part of me that is going will very much miss the part of you that is staying.
Ashes to ashes,
Pheonyx
The Cape Radio
"It's good to have friends. Wish I did." - Troy Hickman