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So, why did you cherry pick that post in particular out of the thread? Why not one of the more recent posts, maybe my response to Winterminal? Would you rather have seen me stay in the frame of mind that produced this thread? Yeah? Nice try, but you've got to be quick if you want to catch me down on my luck.
Just a bit of advice, dude. Joining the ranks of Lulipop and Kitsune Knight is not exactly what you ought to be striving for right now.
The rest of us have our sights set just a bit higher. -
You're not really cross-posting, since the other thread's getting a nuke up its rear. And your message deserves its own OP anyway.
There's enough crap flying around, so thanks for the reminder, and thanks again for keeping your eye on the ball, Winterminal. This makes sense; the devs won't forget about us. There are a lot of things I don't trust about this mess, but that's not something that's up for debate. I trust our team.
We may not get through this in the way that we want, or, maybe we will. But one thing's for sure, some people out there are trying to do something, and we need to hold it together, keep making noise in unison, and keep doing our calls to action as a community.
I'm very angry at NCSoft's decision. But I feel the most anger when I don't feel like there's anything we can do about it. But, we've been encouraged by our team, it's been said that our efforts ARE making a difference. How big a difference or in what way? We don't know. But since we've been told that our game's continued existence is worth a try, then it may very well be up to us and our continued antics in the press. The devs may be watching our efforts with as much hope as we have for their efforts. -
Quote:You know what? You're right.So let's give our Dev team a little credit: As many of us forum-frequenters know, the quieter the Devs and Community team are, the harder they tend to be working.
Still hoping the mods will nuke this thread for me--I don't think it's helping, which means I wasn't helping by creating it.
But if you see this, Winterminal--thanks. Exactly the swift kick in perspective that I needed. -
Whatever, Kitsune Knight.
Mods, Zwillinger, whoever's watching tonight, please just nuke my thread. All it seems to be doing is entertaining people who find it mildly amusing how upset I am over all of this. Tomorrow I'm sure I'll have my ordinary optimism back.
Quote:I'm all for being angry really, but this is a bit of a flip flop on the OP's part. I am just curious if he read something or what have you.
And, it was the article that Golden Girl posted today. Like people are saying elsewhere, we really shouldn't be taking it as any kind of new information. But, while reading it, I just got to thinking about how NCSoft has had no qualms with doing really shady business in the past; and I started to wonder how tightly they've gagged Paragon's former staff as far as the content of these "talks" go--or if maybe the content of the talks have nothing to do with Paragon's continued existence. My gut tells me we're being manipulated into sitting more patiently than we ought to, while the clock ticks. I just don't trust that these people have our best interests in mind. -
THIS IS WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME!!!
(Original post has been edited for clarity and brevity. Just a little.) -
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Well, last night and tonight, I've watched some gameplay videos and read some game information and lore and commentaries; and I'm really interested to know if this sprung from the mind (partly at least) of one of our community members. It's really a very impressive looking game, even more so when you consider how rich and full-bodied it appears even in its alpha stage. In some of the city area fly-through videos, I got a strong sense of inherent personality and just, well, tender loving care that few MMOs come out of their generic boxes with these days. I'm also curious whether "City of Steam" was inspired by the name of our currently embattled game universe here. That would be a nice touch.
I'll definitely be giving this a more thorough look-see, after November at the very earliest. For now, I'm going to log into City of Heroes and play some missions.
I'm not a die-hard fan of all things steampunk, but the aesthetic does entertain me. Enough so that several of my characters in City of Heroes have steampunk alternates...even if I've never seen fit to graduate most of them from the editor to a costume or character slot, I spent quite a bit of time on making them for my own personal amusement; and a couple of my characters are known ICly to have visited steampunk-themed dimensions via Portal Corp. -
Quote:This.Just so you know though... South Koreans are probably the most active protesters in the world. Protests happen in Seoul on a weekly basis and if it were not for these protest many of the democratic reforms and changes in labor laws would never have happened. Unity and standing up to a perceived problem are both accepted in South Korea (and constitutionally protected) and heralded as a means of change.
South Koreans are not like the Chinese in this effect where one does not protest; especially the government.
I think people here are confusing South Korean culture and etiquette with some of the other Asian cultures.
Those of you who are openly demeaning this latest effort are casting us in the WORST possible light, holding us back, keeping us down, and letting less respectful letters slip by ahead of yours.
Those of you who are speaking your mind directly and concisely are giving NCSoft's management exactly the kind of respect that South Korean business etiquette demands.
Write your emails and letters and STOP insulting our South Korean friends by confusing them with isolated and close-minded cultures.
Edit: And before anyone chimes in with their Team America perspective, I've already received private messages from South Korean-American players thanking me for saying this. So everyone with their foot in their mouth, have some humility for everyone's sake and join our ranks.
Our enemy (time) gains more ground while we argue among ourselves in the trench. -
Quote:Well, obviously there's another big letter-writing campaign going on at the moment, so, we'll discuss this later I hope.I happen to live but an hour's train journey from their Brighton office. I doubt anyone works at the weekend though.
But, I do appreciate you showing interest. Those ideas I mentioned a few posts up NEED to happen, or else something similarly showy. Seriously, writing angry letters just isn't that showy compared to things that could get us coverage on the evening news across the country. We have the people and resources to make something BIG happen out there in the real world, right at NCSoft's real-life doorstep. We have almost 20,000 signatures from Change.org that could be printed and used to help create a paper mache sculpture. Perhaps we could deliver sculptures to Seattle AND Brighton simultaneously? Handwritten letters and masks and capes are a great start, but we need bigger news coverage, but that would require bigger, crazier antics!
I mean, what the heck, you only live once, right? Other MMO communities are watching us with pride right now. If our community isn't crazy enough to do something zany, then all hope may be lost, not just for us, but for gamers throughout the industry! -
Going to repost part of a message I just gave someone privately.
I've said it a lot, lately: we keep arguing about whether we should be civil or angry customers toward NCSoft, an argument that misses the point. We have a window of opportunity to make NCSoft a witness to our passion. I hope people will take it in whatever way they see fit. I don't care how people get through that window. I just want to see them take it while it's there. You can't hurt a multibillion dollar corporation's feelings. You can only measure whether you've been loud enough, not only for them to hear, but for the entire industry to hear. This isn't my first sunset. I know what we're up against. These behemoth corporations do not play nice, either with each other, or with disenfranchised customers. The odds were already against us. Our odds are IMPOSSIBLE if we don't make noise.
So make noise. Be nice about it. Be mean about it. Be emotional about it. Be constructive. Be devastated. Be what you are: Passionate City of Heroes customers who know what you want: MORE CITY OF HEROES. -
Right beside you, Tony.
To everyone who's been walking on tiptoes around eggshells, STOP TRYING NOT TO ROCK THE BOAT. You'll only wish you HAD later. This is your chance. Your ONLY chance. MAKE. NOISE. NOW.
Sitting quietly is what the decision-makers behind Paragon's closure would WANT from us. -
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...Yeah, and that's supposed to be the tip of your pitchfork? The light on your torch? Puh-lease.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I am trying to be a bitter pill. A pill that I want you to swallow. A pill that will make you want to take all of your sick-and-tiredness and put it someplace where NCSoft will see it more clearly.
One thing I've realized by watching our friendly neighborhood iReporter, and our Titan-organized events, is that passionate action walks; passionate forum posts only talk. Maybe we have eyeballs from in high places here, maybe we don't. But even if we do, what does that amount to? A hill of vaporized beans after November, probably.
We all keep arguing whether we ought to be displaying anger or civility right now. You know what? We're missing the point, and with it, a window of opportunity.
We should rage, plea, and do whatever it takes, down as many avenues as we can find, to make NCSoft see our passion. Anywhere but here. Stop thinking your passionate forum posts are making an impact on NCSoft. They aren't. They won't.
Now that we have some media contacts listening, how about organizing A GIGANTIC SIMULTANEOUS FLASH MOB ACROSS ALL OF NCSOFT'S GAMES? How about contacting real-world flash mob organizers to GET A CROWD TO SHOW UP COSPLAY STYLE OUTSIDE NCSOFT'S NA OFFICES? How about ERECTING a giant paper mache Statesman mask right outside NCSoft's NA offices, covered with 20,000 SIGNATURES?
Does anyone have any contacts, any idea where it's best to start putting those three ideas into action and make them a reality? Anyone? Or are we, as a community, just trying to make sure the wider news media won't ever find our antics interesting enough to show on the evening news?
How badly do we want NCSoft to pay attention to us? The answer to that question is, "How far are we willing to go to make them pay attention to us?" -
Watched another Unity Rally video earlier and it punched me in the gut. I've logged in every evening since the news broke; but I found it really hard to log in last night and tonight. When I did log in last night, I stood on a ledge overlooking the city and stewing: many of my friends have been scarce around Paragon City this week. I've had to explain to some of them that I'm not installing other MMOs on my computer right now. I've had to hold my ground against some surprisingly disparaging remarks about my choice to stick around, delivered by people I had looked forward to playing with till sunset. It's frustrating.
I guess there are also a few thousand others out there who still like it here, too. Not the worst consolation. But I wouldn't enjoy going out of this game the way I came in, a total stranger. My last sunset, in Earth and Beyond, we were all there till the end, having a blast. Different era, I guess!
Eventually, I flew down off my ledge, and made two new friends, who both had recognized me from our forums (this magically starts happening after 1,000 posts). A lone hero, soloing his missions, and a torchholder who wasn't AFK, who had coincidentally encouraged me here on the forums to mail my open letter to NCSoft, handwritten.
So, yeah. Moral of the story? You can jump off a ledge in Paragon City, not die, and meet super heroes. #SaveCoH -
See, this news is related to why I can't decide whether I want to be a civil angry customer, or an angry angry customer. Every time I read a bit about NCSoft's business decisions post-Nexxon buyout, I get this painfully sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach. I'm not exaggerating. It's a real physical sensation that I'd never expected to feel about a matter like this. I feel like I'm watching some careless schizophrenic who just walked in out of nowhere, made some really harmful decisions that affected thousands of people, and who then walked out just as suddenly while mumbling some crazy line like, "This is good...this is good...I'm so focused..." every time you went and tried to shake some sense out of him.
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With respect to Hyperstrike--I agree that civility is not only polite, but in our best interests during the negotiations you linked about--but all it takes is one poster to effectively say "No." (Not naming names but he's ALL OVER UR THREAD.) And your plea for a well-meaning thread is on its ear, for days and days and days, accomplishing much the opposite of what you sought. And you better believe that we have more than enough disenfranchised posters to fulfill that scenario.
What's more is, I'm not even sure if that's a bad thing. And this is coming from a guy who really feels best when he's got his Optimism hat on. Excuse my language, but NCSoft has royally pissed this community off. They ought to know about it. And just when they think they understand how pissed we are, maybe we ought to take that opportunity to let them know that we are, in fact, even more pissed than they ever imagined. (I'm aware these first two paragraphs seem to present a conflict, but in the end, ya'know, NCSoft should expect to see a variety of reactions--we're probably doing well by showing how passionate we are, in any case.)
However, while all of this anger might be somehow productive for building momentum, it's not going to sustain it. Different people deal with anger in different ways, which is what makes it unreliable. Past a certain point, most people will get sick and tired, and they'll want to feel good again.
Purpose makes people feel good, and it sustains momentum. You'd have been better off taking a different tact; perhaps finding a bit of good news to post, in order to lift morale around here. Again, I'll cite that great bit of news from Brian Clayton you linked to. You mentioned it as if it was some kind of footnote, dude. What the heck? I've got news for you. It's the best thing to happen in this thread so far.
My three years here are a drop in the bucket, but, long enough to know this community doesn't take well to having a finger wagged in its face--not even for a great reason. Take this advice with a grain of salt, of course. I'm just another poster with an opinion. Maybe I'm wrong. -
Quote:This was a stupendous missed opportunity for a community-wide morale boost, Titans.
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We had some similar problems, yeah (Time Warner Cable here too), but I'd have to check with the roomie about when that occurred. I don't remember if it was in that exact time frame, and there are always local issues that can pop up if a line goes down somewhere. There's an old program called UOTrace (originally made to trace problems between players and Ultima Online servers, the first MMORPG). But you can stick any addresses in there. I still use it to this day when trying to figure packet loss problems out, and support techs generally appreciate (and are sometimes surprised by) all the data you're able to feed them up front. It's pretty easy to find out there with a Google search.
Anyway, off to work. *Salutes everyone.* -
Yep, same here. Small world!
(I say this because me and Atlantea just became global friends last night LOL.)
No kidding! One of the many, many reasons I always felt so spoiled by this game. It's always run smooth as glass! -
Quote:Boston, I think my roommate said.Really? Because City of Heroes has no problems.
*IDEA*
Wait... The server farms for CoH ARE IN TEXAS...
Where are the servers for CO?
And this is actually a specific area in Texas, but, not going to announce your location on the forums. -
Atlantea, scroll up and read my post.
A LOT of players in our area have already done the leg work. -
Atlantea, it's because you're in Texas. My roomie and some other CO players did some trace-route research, and there's an issue with two pipeline providers, Time Warner and Cogent, who are for some reason losing a crap ton of packets in their data hand-off. A Time Warner engineer (not a support tech) has the trace route data from the players and has opened an investigation as of last night.
(I can't believe I'm helping with CO problems, but you're pretty awesome so I guess it's okay. But still, LONG LIVE CITY OF HEROES!!!) -
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You can also download all of that as a single zip file, full of all the PDFs for easy/mobile reading and saving. Just click File in the upper left-hand corner, then Download. If you don't have a PDF reader, Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader are good choices (Foxit is tiny and fast).
Email it to yourself, save it to your own Google or portable drive, but save it for the future. You might think you won't appreciate these documents as much years from now, but that's an awfully grand assumption you're making about your future self, and the future of the game.