Call to Action Information: Our message
By
Bad_Influence,
Posted on: 2012-09-05 09:34 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
A couple metaphors I've used, in terms of relating this to people outside of gaming:
It's similar to visiting your favorite neighborhood park one afternoon to find several bulldozers there and a sign asserting that it will soon be closed to accommodate a new condo development.
Or it's similar to seeing your favorite indie bookstore or coffee shop shut down.
CoH is not just a game, it is a place where people come to relax, get to know eachother, participate in a community grown around common interests.
Thank you, Tony. You're calm, reasonable, and eminently sensible. I hope people listen and support your efforts!
Heh. I've been using American football (NFL) as a metaphor, because a lot of people understand that sort of fandom, even from their fathers, and it's not regarded as a loser geek interest.
Having your favorite team go out of business would break many fans' hearts -- people have resented for decades teams that merely moved to other cities. But that would be analogous to COH closing down one's favorite server.
Losing the entire game is like having all of professional football end. Forever. As in, "you never get to see it again."
"But there are other games out there!" = "There are other sports out there!" = "Try watching curling. Or shuffleboard."
"What about those other superhero games?" = "What about Arena football?" = Not even remotely the same thing.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
I'm 61. It's not my parent's basement, it's MINE. I pay for it in the mortgage!
My scrapper doesn't need an AoE. She IS an AoE.
Quote:
Thank you. We really are hopeful, too. I really hope this post helps to rally the community and drive our communications home.
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Originally Posted by Feycat
Thank you, Tony. You're calm, reasonable, and eminently sensible. I hope people listen and support your efforts!
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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.)
sounds like a good overview of the plan tonyv
you guys at titan are doing an amazing job
Also, another thing to mention to possibly help outsiders relate: relating this community based around this pastime can be paralleled with the fanbase around a professional sports franchise. Ask Cleveland Browns fans and Baltimore Colts fans how insignificant that was, just on an emotional level.
Thanks!
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
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Indeed. |
Originally Posted by Electric-Knight
relating this community based around this pastime can be paralleled with the fanbase around a professional sports franchise. Ask Cleveland Browns fans and Baltimore Colts fans how insignificant that was, just on an emotional level.
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If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
Tony, you and I have had plenty of words in the past, and I am certain you do not think much of me. But be that as it may, I appreciate what you are doing now even as I admit I would not havethe slightest idea how to go about doing it.
Your efforts are our last and only hope. Sending positive vibes your way.
Ok...first off....don't eat sweet tarts and then drink soda...
That being said, I've been doing what I can reaching out to many of my contacts and friends on facebook and twitter to see if they will help us spread the word.
A suggestion for people on places like DA, or who know artists/comic authors/etc, is see if you can get them involved! Joyrock and I were brainstorming last night, and it kind of hit us, that if we as players can make this more than just "a game" to other people, it might have a better impact and might get the word out farther than just the gaming community itself.
(Sorry if this reads kind of weird, haven't been sleeping a whole lot, and a bit brain dead from letter writing.)
Fun w/slogan:
You want end game? This is it! #SaveCOH
Cross-posted at the Titan Network forums
(Note: The following is representative of our efforts at the Titan Network to Save Paragon City!. My intention is not to tread on or speak for any individual or group who is spearheading separate efforts, but I really feel this is helpful for those who are following our campaign and I'm posting it here for visibility. If you want to join, please visit the Save Paragon City! forum at the Titan Network site.)
Hey all, I wanted to expound on our message that we want to convey to various audiences. When you're discussing what we're doing with press, notable personalities, or communicating directly with NCsoft, other players, or just your friends and family, keep the following guidelines in mind. Hopefully it will help put into words and give you ideas of how to express what you're thinking, feeling, and doing in a way that allows us to speak as a community. (Though you are very welcome to add your own thoughts and ideas; after all, we want your message to be personal and accessible, not just a form letter!)
Slogans (or, Our Message in a Nutshell)
I've been using two primary slogans for our effort. The first is intended as a tagline to catch people's interest quickly: "We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time." The second is what I consider our internal rallying cry; not necessarily for outside consumption, though it wouldn't hurt my feelings if it made it out there: "We are heroes. This is what we do." Also, I've unofficially dubbed the name of our efforts here at Titan as "Save Paragon City!" (with an exclamation point, in spite of it being kind of a pain in the *** grammatically, and with all three words in initial capital letters). For example, in communications I'm writing, I refer to the Save Paragon City! effort we are undertaking and on web sites, I'll link the entire phrase, including the exclamation mark.
One semi-official slogan (but not really a "slogan" per se, more like a nutshell explanation) I've been using is that City of Heroes is more than just a game, it is the world in which our community's imagination has lived for eight and half years, a work of art into which we have poured our creative invention. It is our Mona Lisa.
Our goal, stated in a neat and tidy phrase, is to ensure the continued existence of City of Heroes. To expound on a few more thoughts, we want to work with NCsoft to explore whatever options are available to keep the game running and our community that we've worked so hard to build together. Whether this means that NCsoft retains ownership of the game and continues operations of it or allows the property to be sold to a third party who can continue its legacy, we are open and eager to discuss what we can do to save Paragon City.
As a side note, some of you have probably been keeping track of our reverse engineering efforts, and there are also other options available such as working to get a community-funded and/or developed project that would be the spiritual successor to City of Heroes. To be clear, these and others are longer-term goals that are definitely on the table if our initial goal cannot be reached. But as longer-term goals with a much greater time window in which to plan and organize our efforts, I really don't want to get bogged down in the details of those options yet. Please believe me when I say that we will explore those options if the time comes that those are the only options left to us. But right now, we need our full focus and attention on the more immediate goals of working with NCsoft, because the time window in which success in that engagement can be achieved is much, much shorter and it is by far the optimal solution to our situation.
Dealing with other players
Please realize that this news dropped like a sack of bricks on all of us. Different people are reacting in different ways. Some people are having a hard time getting out of the mourning phase. Some people jumped straight to the anger phase. Some are desperately trying to move on as quickly as they can to avoid the emotional burden of having to admit that they love this game and are just as affected as the rest of us. Some, like us, honestly believe that the game can still be saved and are doing all we can.
But the one thing that binds us all together is that we are one community. Please be respectful of people, because if the worst case scenario comes to pass, we don't have much time left, and I don't want to waste it bickering among ourselves, that would be tragic. I've been genuinely touched by posts and messages from people who I've fought vehemently over the years saying stuff like, "I always thought you were a jerk, but I really appreciate what you're doing," or, "I hate your guts, but I really respect your efforts." I've also been communicating with people that I never imagined that I'd want to talk to again because of grievances in the past. The point is, if someone posts or says something you don't agree with, please don't be so quick to jump into a fray with them. Let it go, we have more important things to worry about now.
In particular, when I see posts that boil down to, "This is useless, you all are wasting your time," I try not to be argumentative. I might post something letting them know I think they're wrong and why, but that is in the spirit of trying to keep everyone's morale up and keeping our front line soldiers in our efforts motivated to keep helping us out. Please don't treat anyone--even someone who you think is being dumb or who is peeing on our parade--as if they're stupid. Stay positive. Even when you disagree with someone, throw in a "...but I understand how you feel, I felt that way for a while too. But now I really think..." and say something positive and motivating.
Dealing with the public-at-large
As avid gamers, I'm sure you're familiar with the stereotype of gamers as a bunch of dorks hanging out in their parents' basements wasting their lives away. To some people, spending so much time and effort trying to save a game, getting so worked up about it and acting like it's the end of the world must seem increcibly silly.
To fight this perception, I try to relate how we feel about the game to people's passions in general. No, if the game is permanently shuttered in November, it's not the end of the world. But you have to consider (the public, not you the reader; hopefully you already understand this, even if you haven't expressed it in words--that's my goal here), any hobby that you have poured eight and a half years of your creativity into will mean a lot to you. It's not "just a game," it is the world in which our imaginations live. (See what I did there?)
Whether your passion is cooking, baseball, travel, cars, mountain climbing, the stock market, gardening, model railroading, or any of millions of other hobbies that people lovingly obsess about, to have someone suddenly flip a switch and tell you, "You cannot have this any more except as fond memories" is a gut-wrenching experience that anyone can imagine and hopefully relate to. If you explain our situation in these terms, hopefully the it's-just-a-game crowd will connect and finally "get it."
Dealing with NCsoft
This is a delicate issue because I know that a lot of people are still angry and hurt because of NCsoft's announcement, its suddenness, and how it seemingly makes no sense to us. I know that a lot of people have either given up on the cause because they think it's impossible and are seeking some sort of cathartic release, and directing it at the entity that's most responsible for the predicament we're in is natural and understandable. However, I cannot emphasize this point enough: for now, we need NCsoft. They own City of Heroes, they hold all of the cards. Even if you hate their guts, please at least act civil until we get through this. If we get to the point where I think that all hope is lost and dealing with them is useless, I promise I'll let you know so that we can move on to our next options that don't involve NCsoft and you can go as scorched earth on them as you want (though in the interest of representing our community well in the face of adversity, I personally would prefer you not...).
The next couple of weeks in particular are going to be very delicate. I have contact information for people at the highest levels of the company that I'm using to talk directly to the movers and shakers in the company, and I will be prevailing upon their graciousness. It's imperative that if they actually go looking at and talking to our community, we make them WANT to help us.
So here is the framework in which I am addressing NCsoft in all of my communications: You want to allow City of Heroes to keep running. It will make you look really good to your investors and the gaming community. Framing the issue in this manner, I've come up with two ways in which this is true, but I'm also welcome to other thoughts people might have to reinforce this notion that saving City of Heroes makes NCsoft the good guy:
If NCsoft allows City of Heroes to continue though, it is a very tangible and powerful message to players. Even after NCsoft decides that a game does not fit within their business plan, the company is willing to help the community ensure that the hard work and imagination that a player pours into an NCsoft game lives on. Frankly, I find that an extremely shrewd and compelling marketing point, one that I haven't seen from any other company, one that would clearly set NCsoft apart as a noble leader in the industry and encourage players to embrace their games knowing that they are investing in a company that will not abandon them if at all possible.
Dealing with the press
We already have some coverage in various media outlets. In the next couple of days, we're going to be launching an all-out media fury (please keep an eye out for Calls to Action!). There's a very good chance that you're going to start seeing more articles on gaming sites, comic book culture sites, tech news sites, and even some mainstream news media sites. When you see these articles and write-ups, please make yourself visible! Post comments in the comment section. E-mail the writer and editor and let them know that you appreciate his or her coverage of our efforts. Like on Facebook and link it on Twitter.
Most importantly, spread the word. A lot of people don't read the forums, so me posting links here will only reach a small percentage of the player fan base. Tell your supergroup. Tell your teammates. Tell your coalition. Post it on your fan site. "Hey everyone, did you see that article at [name of publication]? You should check it out, it's at [URL of article]!" (Hint: when you post links in-game, you might want to use a service like http://bit.ly to shorten them so that it's easily copied-and-pasted or typed and doesn't overrun people's chat windows.)
When you post comments, or if someone from the press contacts you, please be a good representative of the community. DO NOT be negative, including saying negative things about NCsoft. You know how sometimes things get twisted in the media, how good people sometimes come off sounding like nuts or nuts come off sounding like reputable professors conducting academic research? Try to preclude this happening by staying positive and on focus, no matter how much you want to complain. I don't want to see any article headlines reading something asinine like, "Gaming Community Unites to Threaten International Corporation" because you just couldn't suppress the petty urge to say that you wish that someone would show NCsoft what it's like to have everything they hold valuable taken away from them.
If you want, you can direct anyone who wants more information to me, Tony Vazquez. I'm at tonyv@cohtitan.com, on Skype at tonyv.paragonwiki, and depending on exactly who it is who is asking, I'd be willing to give out my phone number as well.
Thank you all again, and I cannot express the gratitude for your continued support. I really think we can pull this off, and when we do, it will be epic.
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.)