Call to Action: Thank the media
Speaking of Human Interest stories, I don't know for sure how/if it could be played, but what about some kind of comparison between the Paragon City situation vis a vis financial woes and the real life financial viability of many cities out there now (some of which that have had to declare bankruptcy)?
Again, I'm not sure how it could be framed- obviously, we don't want to minimize the real economic struggles of people- but in terms of paralleling the idea of being dispossessed from a community, maybe? (Just spitballing.) |
It will depend upon how deep the reportage goes at various outlets for what goes to press. It also will depend upon where the actual story goes as it really unfolds before us and which way the Titan Team steers our collective will.
But to continue with some spitballing, here are some existing threads in the zeitgeist that could in some way be connected to our story's "angle":
- Collective action
- Main Street vs. Wall Street
- Alternative ownership
- Online existence
- Crowdfunding
- Social media
- Open sourcing
- Corporate governance vs. little d democracy
- Super heroes, living mythology, and escapism in economically challenged times
- Disabled and alternate identities
- Returning veterans
Already, some of these topics have poked their way into a few of the articles we've seen come out thus far.
Faith Manages was what I suggested as a title. The rest was background info for those who were curious.
If we had a COH equivalent in-game somewhere, I'd wholeheartedly recommend that instead. Michelle aka Samuraiko/Dark_Respite |
A press release is like an "elevator pitch." The header is the first (and for some the only) thing they will skim if it's not brought to them by a source or off the wire. I've been around press releases for decades now and seen ones that work and ones that don't. There is a lot of luck involved with getting a good press release to stick. But there are a lot of missteps that can sink one before it even has a chance.
Personally I disagree. A press release should be as tight and straightforward as possible, pared down to the bare minimum of necessary information.
The title of the press release and the first paragraph should both be written in such a way that they tell the entire story in as few short sentences as possible. And it needs to be clear and concise enough that it could be reprinted verbatim should an outlet choose to do so or to quote it directly. Remember, most the people reading this may not have ever even heard of CoH. Taglines like: Everyday Heroes International Online Community Fights to Save Their City etc. "Faith Manages," though touching and loaded with history for some misdirects the 15 seconds most people will give your press release. Besides, we don't need to appeal to external validation such as Babylon 5. Hiding behind a "similar" effort to justify our collective efforts rarely makes for center stage publicity. Short of it: Press release should be about the now growing effort to save City of Heroes. Nothing else. |
Dead Calm's Defender Manifesto
found this article posted about 35 minutes ago, it doesnt look like it mentions any of the activism going on though
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/0...shutting-down/
![](http://i.imgur.com/90o12.jpg?1)
found this article posted about 35 minutes ago, it doesnt look like it mentions any of the activism going on though
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/0...shutting-down/ |
That's what comments are for, if they neglected it. ;-)
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found another interesting article on massively which was posted today, not directly about coh but definitely of the same concept which is the driving force behind our campaign
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09...-destroy-mmos/
![](http://i.imgur.com/90o12.jpg?1)
On a tangent, ow. Ow-ow-ow.
Now, I remember why I stopped writing letters the moment keyboards, printers, emails, and such became viable: they hurt! CSB: I've been writing programs since around 1982. I've been PC gaming with the mouse/keyboard since about 1992. Somehow, to this day, I don't have RSI and I'm incredibly grateful for that fact.
I write one letter by hand, and my thumb is still cramping. My natural handwriting, printed or script, has always been a grotesque scribble. These thumbs, which operate with such precision for hours at a time when gaming, protest after a mere twenty minutes of letter writing to the NCSoft CEO. For some reason, writing legible text by hand is something I do only with intense physical focus.
And of course, it may not help. Still, one more written and mailed. Maybe it will be the one that made the difference.
Please try MA arc ID 351455, "Shard Stories: Scavenger's Hunt." Originally created for the Dr. Aeon contest, it explores the wild potential of one of the City's most concept-rich but content-poor settings: the Shadow Shard.
This sort of stuff is great. It is unlikely (except maybe the BBC thing above) that we'll get major interest, but these sorts of sites are exactly the right people to spread the word. However, it is estimated that 9 million people have played this game, so I'd guess that if we can get enough 5% of those to voice their concerns we could really cause NCSoft to at least rethink about selling the IP.
Anyone thought about translating these sorts of stories for a broader audience? I'm concerned that some of our European fanbase may be left out of the loop do to the language gap (admittedly, there aren't many European/Asian players that can't speak English, but I'd guess that quite a few read non-English sites more frequently than English ones). This might be especially important because NCSoft is planning on shifting to a different market, and may take more heed if we can get some help from media sources in that market.
TW/Elec Optimization
Hey all, added several more articles in the OP that have been pointed out to me. Great job, and keep an eye out. We've had our coordinators scanning all of these forums and the Internet at large to collect media organizations, and tomorrow we plan on firing off our first official press release. I've made contact with several good media folks, and we're hoping that within a few days, this will be plastered over most gaming, comic, and tech news sites, and after that, possibly even hitting some mainstream news outlets, too.
We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)
Massively is sympathetic. Let's see if we can get them to tell our story.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09...oes-character/
Newton: I observed Mercury's perihelion moving 43 arc-seconds per century more than it should. Is this WAI? --Einstein |
Massively is sympathetic. Let's see if we can get them to tell our story.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09...oes-character/ |
We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)
Good to know there's more sites covering our fight! This is somewhat a rehash, but I told somebody I know about the ongoing efforts to get the word out about City of Heroes' death and the player base's attempts to stop it from happening. I showed him some of the articles that have been published already, from Game & Guide and Addicting Info.
His response was,
"So that's two articles from one site I've barely even heard of, and one I've never heard of. Where is Kotaku? Where is The Verge? Where is Ars Technica? FFS, where's Slashdot, even?"
If anybody knows how to get ahold of (or post articles to) Kokatu, The Verge, Ars Technica, or Slashdot, they oughta try.
Hey all, added several more articles in the OP that have been pointed out to me. Great job, and keep an eye out. We've had our coordinators scanning all of these forums and the Internet at large to collect media organizations, and tomorrow we plan on firing off our first official press release. I've made contact with several good media folks, and we're hoping that within a few days, this will be plastered over most gaming, comic, and tech news sites, and after that, possibly even hitting some mainstream news outlets, too.
|
Honestly, if this catches fire, it could potentially become embarrassing for NCSoft in North America...which is bad for NCSoft's shareholders and changes the business logic slightly.
Newton: I observed Mercury's perihelion moving 43 arc-seconds per century more than it should. Is this WAI? --Einstein |
I sent a mail to TotalBiscuit's mailbox either the day of the announcement or the day after.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUv-aR7_wdY&feature=plcp
mailbox@cynicalbrit.com
He has a fairly popular youtube channel where he gives impressions of (mostly new) games, and mailbox is something he does where he gives his opinion on game related questions sent to him by viewers.
Culex's resistance guide
"So that's two articles from one site I've barely even heard of, and one I've never heard of. Where is Kotaku? Where is The Verge? Where is Ars Technica? FFS, where's Slashdot, even?"
If anybody knows how to get ahold of (or post articles to) Kokatu, The Verge, Ars Technica, or Slashdot, they oughta try. |
http://kotaku.com/5939855/
edit: the few comments that are there weren't kind, either.
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
I feel like the enormous success of The Avengers somehow also plays a role in commenting on how ridiculous it is to dump a popular, profitable and quality super hero mmo.
Also, the tie-in of Joss Whedon, his oddball and not always understood approach, the loving fans and what they managed to accomplish when his beloved Firefly show was canceled, and his big-time success as writer/director of this years super hero blockbuster... could all also tie-in for some nice stuff, if anyone is looking for more.
I'm really only mentioning these things as further extrapolations and commentary and angles for this.
The bare bones is simple and obvious and effective, but I'm just tossing these out in case it kindles anything more.
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
Tony, is Forbes on your list of media contacts? If not you may want to contact one of the gaming/entertainment contributers over there. Paul Tassi comes to mind and I did enjoy his coverage of the Mass Effect 3 ordeal. I could not find a direct email contact but he does have a blog over on the Forbes site and is on Twitter and Google+.
on the day the bomb dropped there was an article on slashdot with a link to the petition
on a more recent note, this was found by a friend of mine
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-8373...feeds%2Flatest
![](http://i.imgur.com/90o12.jpg?1)
There was a follow up on Kotaku following the news, but that was a couple of days ago and it cycled through really quickly. I don't know if there has been more since.
http://kotaku.com/5939855/ edit: the few comments that are there weren't kind, either. |
I think Addicting Info had the right angle, even if they wound up meandering off into politics. They didn't just slap on a brief notice about the petition. It was a full-blown article about the community's full range of efforts.
Double posting here, I know, but I wanted to just point out, I caught this within the past hour:
Rumor: Paragon in Discussions to Save City of Heroes
Alpha Wolf's words have been picked up by the press. It also goes on further to detail the community's efforts to prevent the game from getting killed off, listing the vigil, letter writing campaign, and petition.
I like this bit the most:
"This example of gamers banding together for the forces of good is a lot like the kind of quests you'd find in City of Heroes - funny that..."
I know a lot of folks are showing excitement over "hitting CNN"...but that to me looks like a write-up posted by an amateur (likely a player). I assume just about anyone with a login on their iReport site can do that.
iReport receives, on average, 500 iReports a day, and a fraction of those are vetted and approved for CNN's non-user-generated networks and platforms, which involves fact-checking and verifying the details of a story. When a story is approved, the "Not Vetted for CNN" bar disappears and is replaced by a red "CNN iReport" bug that lets the community know a story has been verified. Our producers also give iReport stories extra context, by adding producer notes with further details, CNN reporting, and/or additional quotes from the iReporter. |
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
Newton: I observed Mercury's perihelion moving 43 arc-seconds per century more than it should. Is this WAI? --Einstein |
Tom's Hardware, the global, mega PC hardware site (link here http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Par...oft,17315.html ) features a photo of a very depressed and shocked looking writer, who not only wrote an article about CoH and its closing but solicited NCSoft for further info, which I have re-posted here:
UPDATE: Here's the response we received from NCSoft: Both NCsoft and Paragon Studios are incredibly proud of the success of City of Heroes, but unfortunately, the continued support of the franchise no longer fits within our long term goals for the company. All employees at Paragon Studios are affected by this decision, including the management team. We will begin the City of Heroes sun setting process immediately with the goal to officially stop our service offerings for the franchise on November 30, 2012. This was a very tough decision to make and wish the best for all Paragon Studio employees in their next ventures. |
I know Business-ese.
They are withdrawing their financial support from Paragon Studios. Pretty much If we can get the IP, or another PUBLISHER can get the IP and all that it contains, it can still go. The Server infrastructure, I have no idea if that can be part of the deal too.
Cmon NCsoft, please sell our subdivision to a great landlord instead of turning us into a parkinglot!
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The title of the press release and the first paragraph should both be written in such a way that they tell the entire story in as few short sentences as possible. And it needs to be clear and concise enough that it could be reprinted verbatim should an outlet choose to do so or to quote it directly.
Remember, most the people reading this may not have ever even heard of CoH. Taglines like:
Everyday Heroes
International Online Community Fights to Save Their City
etc.
"Faith Manages," though touching and loaded with history for some misdirects the 15 seconds most people will give your press release.
Besides, we don't need to appeal to external validation such as Babylon 5. Hiding behind a "similar" effort to justify our collective efforts rarely makes for center stage publicity.
Short of it: Press release should be about the now growing effort to save City of Heroes. Nothing else.
If we had a COH equivalent in-game somewhere, I'd wholeheartedly recommend that instead.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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