A failed attempt to save the game is still worthwile

Okay, to the half of you who came into this thread with lips turned slightly up in a cynical smile, expecting me to talk about a sense of community or how efforts builds character and a man has to have something to strive towards and similar nebulous banalities: no, that's not where I'm going.

And to the other half of you who came into this thread with clenched fists, muttering "'fialed'? We don't understand the meaning of the word 'fialed.' 'Fialed' does not exist in our dictionary, which is why we have not spelled it correctly in these mutterings," here's the deal: I honestly think there's very little chance to prevent the servers from going dark come November 30th and the campaign from the fan-base to make NCSoft change its mind or find some other solution is a Hail Mary pass. However, the reason why they make Hail Mary passes in football is that sometimes they do go in, against the odds, so there's still a chance.

Now, onto the point I'm actually trying to make: the attempts at saving the game have other benefits that are valuable even if they fail. By talking up the game, by showing the strength of the fannish devotion to the game and the loyalty the fans have to game, by getting stories about the "noble CoH resistance fans" who refuses to lie down and die into the press (for a broad definition of "the press") -- by doing that, we're not just making one, final Hail Mary pass that may save the game. We're also increasing brand recognition and the value of the IP (or rather, in my opinion, we're showing people that the value of the IP is higher than they thought) and the greater the concepts and style of the game will be seen to be.

So, what good will this do if the game closes anyway? Possibly nothing, true, but the greater the value of the IP, the more likely someone will be interested in buying it and the more likely NCSoft will be in selling it. The more we can talk the game up, and show the strength of the fanbase, the more chance that we'll see some new City of Hero game some day -- maybe not a sequel, maybe not an MMORPG, but something. Maybe it won't be an official City of Heroes games at all, but a spiritual sequel, like GalCiv to Master of Orion.

Look to Hollywood, how they're desperate for anything with name recognition or an existing fanbase. True, much of what they make base on that is dreck, but some of it isn't. Look to Star Trek, which was resurrected, eventually, on the strength of its fanbase. (True, it had re-runs to keep the fanbase warm -- but on the other hand they didn't have the 'net and the modern geek scene.) Look to the game concepts and names resurrected on Kickstarter.

The point is: the more we can show people that there is a market for City of Heroes, that there's loyalty and hearts and minds (and, let's be brutally honest, wallets) ready, waiting and eager to be wooed and won -- the greater the chance that someone will try to do just that, and the sooner they're likely to do it.

Finally, give a thought to the developers out applying for new jobs. The more value we can put into the City of Hero game and brand, the better impression we can give of the game and the community the game fostered, the better that one, special entry on their CVs are going to look. When a HR drone or Head of Development browses through the CV of one of "our" devs and spots the three words "City of Heroes", would you want the thing they remember about that game be that it had caused a violent uprising and a mob with torches and pitchforks marching on NCSoft's headquarters, or that it has fiercely loyal fans that sends hero-shaped cookies to children hospitals?

I applaud what you've written here (and frankly I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more comments.) If the current "TF Hail Mary" plan from the good guys at Titan Network, see thread: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index....im2o2q226hoet5 is going to work it will take a LOT of us writing in support. I recommend at least skimming if not closely reading the entire thread, as many points are discussed. We fans can make a difference, especially if we give some thought to how we present ourselves.

I'm one of those holding hope but not holding an expectation, merely hoping and working towards a desired outcome. If you feel positive enough about City of Heroes, I urge you to write and mail letters as Mercedes Lackey and Team Wildcard recommend. Happy gaming!

The cynical crowd will always be there to pick things apart and attempt sabotage. Pay them no mind. It just kills them to see people being hopeful and staying active (even if its futile, its better than moping around and pissing all over everyone else)

People KNOW this is a slim to none chance but it can't hurt to try.

The problem is that there isn't a market for City of Heroes. 50k subscribers isn't a market, it's a minor blip on some spreadsheet. In the corporate world, 50k people is worthless.

If this game was worth keeping alive from a financial perspective, it wouldn't be dead. It has value to some people, but even from the 50k subscribers, how many are actively trying to save it vs just moving on? Maybe 10k tops.

The game has been dead for a while, it's time to put it in the ground.

While yes the game will sadly close on the 30th, the actions of the community even though we couldn't stop the closure we have created waves throughout the internet.

Even if everyone moves on at least there will be a reminder throughout the world that the CoH Community actually TRIED to do something to stop it's closure. In the end we've our efforts have left something other than a huge dent on NCsoft's public image.

I'm not sure why "an 8-year-old game" should be presented as a negative. It doesn't mean the same thing for a MMO that it does for, say, a console game. CoH has constantly had an active dev team and a constant stream of updates (including, lest you forget, a highly-anticipated one still in beta when the game was killed) during most of its life, and those updates were just getting bigger and more frequent rather than slowing down, as opposed to an 8-year-old console game, which is exactly the same now as it was eight years ago.

For example, the I24 beta wasn't just a content update, it was an update to the technology itself, redoing a lot of the game's backend for improved cutscenes, better demo recordings, and customizing character powers. I24 was a huge technological improvement over I23, let alone I1. The game can do things now that the original developer team and early players could only dream of. That's not "an eight-year-old game". That's a game that's been constantly developed for eight years, which is not the same thing at all.

The whole point of MMOs is the long term play. Older but constantly-updated games are the ones with the amount of content for just such long-term player retention. (That's why, for example, the six-year-old Dofus - which gets regular updates every three months, and in fact has an update in Beta right at this moment - is still breaking subscription records in its home country of France, while its newer, shinier, fancier, and, frankly, better-designed sequel Wakfu appears to be stagnating after less than a year)

NCSoft clearly doesn't understand that it's better to have a small but loyal group who will stick around through thick and thin for nearly a decade than to get a bunch of people who play a shiny new game for a few months, get bored, and wander away.

But NCSoft is apparently looking to grab the latter crowd instead of the former. We need to point out the benefits of "an eight-year-old game" over a newer, shinier, fancier, smaller, emptier game.

Newer shiney game =new money.
Shallow game = need for new shiney
Need for new shiney game = chance for new money
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

/em sarcasm

Where was all this passion for City of Heroes (hatred for NCSoft) before the bomb went off?

Anyway, why worry? GG was right. The only thing wrong with City of Heroes for eight years was the lack of flowing hair. Besides, the work on a successor is well in hand. She said so.

Trust the captain of the Titanic when the ship went down, that iceberg was taught a lesson it'll never forget.

Fire off another prayer and let's show them that we care.

The players have unlimited emotional and financial capital to invest in this.

Go Titan!