Call to Action: Team Wildcard needs YOU! TF Hail Mary LFM

Cross posted at the Titan Network forums

Hey all,

I wanted to repost this here since some folks are still keeping up with the official forums but not the Titan Network forums. Mercedes "Victoria Victrix" Lackey, Ammon, Rae, and Quinch have been working on a plan to pitch acquiring City of Heroes to Disney. I know it might sound like a long shot, but there are several reasons why I think it's possible. I'll let her explain by quoting her post verbatim here:

--- (From Mercedes Lackey) ----------------------------

Today a 31-page pitch package aimed at persuading Disney Interactive to acquire City of Heroes arrived for both the CEO of Disney Productions and the CEO of Disney Interactive via Express Mail.

Ammon, Rae, Quinch and I--Internet Marketing Specialist, UK Journalist, Senior IT Tech and writer--put together a 31 page pitch package aimed specifically at Disney, to attempt to persuade the Mouse that picking up City of Heroes is in their best interest as well as ours. We had the advice and oversight of two senior members of the former Paragon Studios team--mostly to tell us what we could and could not say. Should there be an answer, it should be directed to Brian Clayton, the Paragon Studios manager, since we specified that we four had no power to do anything, and he is the man with all the answers.

Now it's your turn.

We have to impress the 900 lb gorilla--The Mouse himself--that buying the City is going to be good for them. We have to show them that we are loyal, passionate, dedicated, and mature. And we have money to spend. Remember, these are executives who are not impressed if genuine movie stars approach them with a pitch for something less than amazing.

We have to show the Mouse that in the right hands, City of Heroes can become the crown jewel among their electronic games.

We need you to write, avalanche with cards, letters, screenshots. We need a letter writing campaign that is ten, twenty, a hundred times bigger than the one we fired at NCSoft.

Go big, or go home, right? We have to go big.



Senior VP, Global Production, Disney Interactive Media Group
Jean-Marcel Nicolai
SaveCoH
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521

Chairman of the Board of Directors
John Pepper Jr.
SaveCoH
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521

CEO Walt Disney Company
Robert A. Iger,
SaveCoH
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521

CEO Disney Interactive
John Pleasants
SaveCoH
500 South Buena Vista Street,
Burbank, CA 91521-8139

We are asking you to put "SaveCoH" in the address, because we want the mail clerks to be able to sort out our letters quickly. We want them to see the ever-increasing pile, but in a way that helps the clerks do their jobs too.

Remember, these are people that get thousands of emails and letters. We have to impress them. We have to show them the City is something special. Write letters, recruit your friends, your relatives, anyone who might be sympathetic. Write as if this is our only chance. And good luck to all of us.


But don't think that we're done if nothing happens. Should we not hit the mark here, we've only started, and we have a second target in our sights.

--- (Helpful advice from Ammon) ----------------------------

I noticed a few saying they were not sure what to write, well, here's a few points you might want to think about for ideas, if it helps:

1. Tell them not only how much you love the game, but also how much you have spent on it over the years, including each month of subscription, plus the extra packs and points many of you will have bought, and tell them how much longer you'd like to keep subscribing and paying.

2. Tell them why CoH is a game anyone, but especially Disney should be proud to own, and don't be afraid to mention how cool it would be if you could buy iconic Marvel costume pieces at last because an owner now didn't have to worry about legal issues of ownership.

3. How about mentioning how diverse and unique the game is. That you can create any character from virtually any genre, so you could make characters that paid homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Storm of the X-Men, The agent from the Hitman games, Robin Hood, Rambo, Van Helsing, and The Terminator, and put them all in a team together playing in the style of any of those genres, or others.

4. Tell them how many hours you've played for, or what average hours a week you spend in game. Disney, like most companies spend a fortune to put advertising in front of your eyes for just seconds, and here's something they could have your attention on for hours a week, where we'd be quite happy to see some Disney movie posters at the cinemas, etc.

[Tony's note: You might also want to point out that the City of Heroes community has raised over $41,000 (ref 1, ref 2) the past four years to help sick kids, support our troops, and aid the hungry, especially if you have taken part in these charities!]

Thanks for the information, Tony! I'm so impressed with all the hard work of everyone at Titan and the surrounding circles that have been championing our survival. You are incredible people and I hope that Disney recognizes that our community at large is the same and hops on one of the white steeds they have in their stables and rides to our rescue. Nicely done.

PS. I'll be sending a letter today, as I'm sure my righteously indignant teen will be as well. She's just as angry about this still as she was the day of the announcement.

I'm actually on my way to the post office this morning, so I'll take a few extra letters. Having a community of such passionate and well-reasoned players has made SaveCOH an amazing effort. I'm proud to do my part and participate. As I have learned through the Real World Hero charity drive, small actions really can add up to an amazing outcome!

Already posted Here

I very much appreciated the acknowledgement of "the grimy side" of things. At least that was considered. I mean Disney... ugh. Promise me that you won't be turning to big tobacco next to help the cause since they need to "improve their image" (and no I'm not impling Disney = Big Tobacco so relax a little ok... just that there is some dirty laundry in Disneyland corporateland too).

Huh. From a Disney/Marvel standpoint, I wonder if the IP might be more worth a look than the game. Maybe they wouldn't do anything with the characters, but hey, the option would at least be there. You wouldn't have any creators to deal with either.

You have GOT to be kidding me. You want to pitch this game to DISNEY, of all entities?

Ugh. Frankly I would rather watch CoH die than see what Disney would massacre it into.

It would be nice if we could put the thread titled "What my 5/6 year old learned from CoH " in the letters but probably can't due to the legalities of it. Also who has the time to read all the post. I remember it being a very large thread.

I have to say I 'm a bit disappointed that it wasn't a pitch by George R.R. Martin and the wild card mafia to buy it...teach me to think the name was a give away.

At what point will the 31 page proposal be available for us to read?

Did anyone look at what Disney Interactive - the group in charge of Disney's video games - is actually doing?

Here's the Joystiq article, but in short: running at a loss and gutting projects while also moving away from PC and consoles and towards mobile and social platforms.

Disney's dabble in the MMO space was also generally a failure.

CoH/V is a poor fit for Disney's current approach to video games.

Any port in a storm I guess.