NCsoft is NOT our enemy

Enemy or not Tony, I can not allow myself to give NCSoft money again. I agree with Coyote, they no longer care about western gamers. I feel my money would be better spent else where.

More than anything, they way this was handled was horrible. I am sure the person you met from NCSoft was nice. There are a lot of nice people working at crappy companies.

Your dad gives you a puppy. You grow up with the puppy. Your puppy grows into an adult and is your constant companion. He is still in the prime of his life and he's your best buddy. Then your dad drags him out behind the woodshed and kills him.

Why? Because he wants to put an addition on the house and the money he will save on future vet bills and food will help out a little bit.

Oh yeah, your dad is a great guy for getting you that puppy isn't he? Everything is all peaches and gravy because he let you keep the dog for 8 years before he decided to kill it.

"Hrm, my shoulder has been kind of sore lately. I think I'll hack off one of my legs and see if that helps."

Logic. NCSoft does not haz.

I agree. NCSoft has been a good shepherd for the game.
But, as all shepherds know, eventually some of the sheep get eaten.

I'm sure this wasn't a decision they've come to easily or with little forethought.
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, they're a company that's in the business of making money. They're obligated to their investors and The Bottom Line.

Smaller, wholly owned companies can sit there and operate break-even year over year. But when you're beholden to investors, you pretty much HAVE to show a REAL profit.

I know this for a fact.

My company spent several years operating hand to mouth. We're doing a lot better now, but we can still get away with SOME modicum of shooting from the hip. Because it is a privately owned company and the owners are ALL outright fans who want to see the game continue.

For us, it's all monopoly money. We get to go to cons for, essentially "free", we get lots of nice swag, still waiting on the swooning fangirls though... If we ever actually see a dividend I'd be stunned.

We DO make money. We're a multi-million dollar company. But any profit is reinvested into growing the company or sitting in the bank, guarding against a "rainy day".

For public companies with "investors", well... The rules are COMPLETELY different.

They want to see a return on their money. Period. They don't care that "Game X is the raddest thing since nuking the magnetosphere!" They want to see their money grow. Otherwise they'd put it in the bank.

Nasty things happen to companies, and company officials, who ignore this tenet.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

NCsoft has pulled some gross moves before so I don't think they're the friendliest as a corporation, so the general reaction is understandable. Personally, I'm pretty mad at them because of how drastic and radical their moves were. I also worry about what happens next because they've been real spiteful about things such as Dungeon Runner's case (holding onto IP etc. despite closing it).

Eugh. So yeah, I have some distaste for them. I'm honestly not for defending them as "good" because I'm pretty sure another company could have handled ownership of CoH better. I think protesting and tellin' 'em we're mad is fine as long as it's not threatening (I doubt anyone has done that but just in case!) We are mad, better be honest about it. ...Yeah, I'm biased...


What I will say that if we're nasty to them it's not gonna help them cooperate. Yes, being mad is part of it and will show something but we do want them to cooperate because they still have some holds on CoH and we would like them to cooperate... so yeah, we need them on our side 'cause they still have control.

I don't think boycotting or giving them a Bad Image is counterintuitive though, that's more likely to make them rethink than be even more spiteful, 'cause the public's involved and that'd be something they'd care more than getting revenge on us. I dunno though.

They may have had no choice but NCsoft have done no favours to the MMO genre, the lack of trust I show towards MMO's will not allow me to subscribe again. They have cast a big black cloud above the MMO industry and now most pro gamers will be looking over their shoulder before investing a long length of time into a specific game with the prospect of something like this looming over them.

Tony, sounds like you're in the bargaining phase of grief.

I doubt very much the outcome will be different whether or not we talk nicely about NCSoft.

My opinion:

NCSoft retained unprofitable Aion because it's an eastern hemisphere game with eastern hemisphere jobs at the expensve of profitable COH because it's a western hemisphere game with western hemisphere jobs and . It would have made more sense to shutter Aion. They didn't.

They could have given the staff notice and treated them with respect. They didn't.

They could have given the customer base notice so as we didn't spend money on PPs we'll not use. They didn't.

I am grateful that NCSoft gave us City of Heroes. I am angry about their recent actions and I have a right to be. My decision to boycott stands until the death sentence against COH is rescinded and everyone at Paragon Studios gets their jobs back with an apology.