In my dream, I was sitting at my computer, on the CoH forums. My parents walked in. My mom was in tears, as was my dad.
"Oh ****, what happened?"
"Ellen?"
"What?"
"We just won the lottery."
The news hit me in the face like a sack of bricks. My parents had stopped at a convenience store on the way home from somewhere and picked up a ticket. They now had about half a billion dollars to their name.
"... Holy crap."
"Honey, we are going to make a lot of changes to our life, but first... that video game that you are all worked up about, what can we do to help?"
And with that, the scene changed to my family getting off a plane in North California. I was welcomed by a horde of Paragon Studios people. They were hugging me, and thanking me profusely. We were driven to the studio, and I sat down in front of the camera for the coffee talk.
"Hello, citizens of Paragon. I know these few months have been hard. All along, we knew we'd need a miracle to pull this off.
Well, we just got that miracle.
I'll start at the beginning. I am Lord Omi, the loudmouthed Warshade who plagues the Virtue server. As of last night, my family lived in a middle class suburb, with no plans of being the heroes in this story.
Well, as of this morning, we're millionaires. $543 million, to be exact. And, well, we're going to buy City of Heroes. It doesn't matter how much they offer, because we're buying the *bleep*ing game. We're buying the engine, too, just in case. And we're going to get the employees of Paragon Studios back. From now on, this game is in the hands of the players, not some oversees tyrant."
I look back, the developers in the background are smiling harder than I have seen anyone smile in their entire life.
"We're getting Zwillinger back, too. And we're going to give the Paragon Studios employees one hell of a raise. After all, they deserve it.
I suppose it's fate, then, that the game made for heroes finally was saved by a hero herself. I'm not going to put myself on a high horse, though. Things will be the same, but with a few differences that I think are completely necessary.
Firstly: We are going to archive the entire forums and host them privately on Paragon's servers.
Secondly: We are going to give this game what it deserves. No more surviving on word of mouth. We're getting a marketing team together and giving this one hell of a relaunch.
Thirdly: Everyone who has an account right now, VIP or not, is getting a big pile of rewards. Anyone who was active after the announcement is getting a permanent badge, called 'Savior of Reality.' They will also get special forum swag, and access to the 'Savior' server (soon to be made). The 'Savior' server will have double XP on permanently, and transfers will be free to and from Savior. All F2P players and Premiums will be bumped to VIP.
Finally: We did it, guys. We got a miracle, and I'll be damned if anything like this happens to us again. We made history, guys. All of us, working together, and it worked. It doesn't matter if we survived on luck or willpower, just know that we made it.
...
I- I- I'm crying, guys."
At this point, tears are running down my face. The devs in the background are tearing up, but still grinning like maniacs. I mean, they are about to get guaranteed lifetime employment with a huge pay increase, AND they get to keep working on CoH.
"I'm crying, and, for the first time in about two months, I'm crying in joy. We did it.
*laughs* All that jerk hacking and duping was worth it. CoH has finally gone to the Americans... and that's right where it belongs.
It belongs with us, right here in Paragon City."
I smile and turn off the stream. I turn around to look at the crowd behind me.
And then I wake up.
@Rien
I am Lord Omi. Now and forever. They can take our City, but they can't take me.
Posted
So your greatest dream is that your parents buy you a $500 million video game?
Just messin' with you. Sounds amazing.
Posted
God dammit, I woke up in tears.
@Rien
I am Lord Omi. Now and forever. They can take our City, but they can't take me.
Honestly, I have never had one better than this.
In my dream, I was sitting at my computer, on the CoH forums. My parents walked in. My mom was in tears, as was my dad.
"Oh ****, what happened?"
"Ellen?"
"What?"
"We just won the lottery."
The news hit me in the face like a sack of bricks. My parents had stopped at a convenience store on the way home from somewhere and picked up a ticket. They now had about half a billion dollars to their name.
"... Holy crap."
"Honey, we are going to make a lot of changes to our life, but first... that video game that you are all worked up about, what can we do to help?"
And with that, the scene changed to my family getting off a plane in North California. I was welcomed by a horde of Paragon Studios people. They were hugging me, and thanking me profusely. We were driven to the studio, and I sat down in front of the camera for the coffee talk.
"Hello, citizens of Paragon. I know these few months have been hard. All along, we knew we'd need a miracle to pull this off.
Well, we just got that miracle.
I'll start at the beginning. I am Lord Omi, the loudmouthed Warshade who plagues the Virtue server. As of last night, my family lived in a middle class suburb, with no plans of being the heroes in this story.
Well, as of this morning, we're millionaires. $543 million, to be exact. And, well, we're going to buy City of Heroes. It doesn't matter how much they offer, because we're buying the *bleep*ing game. We're buying the engine, too, just in case. And we're going to get the employees of Paragon Studios back. From now on, this game is in the hands of the players, not some oversees tyrant."
I look back, the developers in the background are smiling harder than I have seen anyone smile in their entire life.
"We're getting Zwillinger back, too. And we're going to give the Paragon Studios employees one hell of a raise. After all, they deserve it.
I suppose it's fate, then, that the game made for heroes finally was saved by a hero herself. I'm not going to put myself on a high horse, though. Things will be the same, but with a few differences that I think are completely necessary.
Firstly: We are going to archive the entire forums and host them privately on Paragon's servers.
Secondly: We are going to give this game what it deserves. No more surviving on word of mouth. We're getting a marketing team together and giving this one hell of a relaunch.
Thirdly: Everyone who has an account right now, VIP or not, is getting a big pile of rewards. Anyone who was active after the announcement is getting a permanent badge, called 'Savior of Reality.' They will also get special forum swag, and access to the 'Savior' server (soon to be made). The 'Savior' server will have double XP on permanently, and transfers will be free to and from Savior. All F2P players and Premiums will be bumped to VIP.
Finally: We did it, guys. We got a miracle, and I'll be damned if anything like this happens to us again. We made history, guys. All of us, working together, and it worked. It doesn't matter if we survived on luck or willpower, just know that we made it.
...
I- I- I'm crying, guys."
At this point, tears are running down my face. The devs in the background are tearing up, but still grinning like maniacs. I mean, they are about to get guaranteed lifetime employment with a huge pay increase, AND they get to keep working on CoH.
"I'm crying, and, for the first time in about two months, I'm crying in joy. We did it.
*laughs* All that jerk hacking and duping was worth it. CoH has finally gone to the Americans... and that's right where it belongs.
It belongs with us, right here in Paragon City."
I smile and turn off the stream. I turn around to look at the crowd behind me.
And then I wake up.
@Rien
I am Lord Omi. Now and forever. They can take our City, but they can't take me.