Call to Action: Write to NCsoft

[cohvictory]

NCSoft, Please rethink your decision, to shut down COH, over the years, it has allowed me to hang out with my Dad who lives 10 hours away, hang with my kids and wife, and play something we loved. This decision seems rash and not well thought out, alot of people I know have spent alot of time and money being loyal to you guys. I have referred two best friends, a wife, a son, a father, all have paid you. Please don't sit on your product, either reopen this, sell it. If you do sell it make it public enough so that we cohers who have money can maybe buy this and keep it going!!!  SAVE COH!!!!!

[raine84]

Dear Mr. Kim:

I started my first City of Heroes account in 2007 at the insistence of a very good friend and I was devastated when I heard that the game was going to be shut down.  I'm writing to ask you to please reconsider your options and don't let this wonderful game come to an end. 

Over the years, I have become somewhat anti-social and extremely self-conscious in real life but City of Heroes gave me a place where I could meet new people and express the real me without fear of rejection or judgment.  During my time as a superhero in Paragon City, I've met many good friends with whom I have become very close.  City of Heroes has become a sort of second home to me and while aspects of this game can be found in others, none have kept me so captivated for so long. 

As a player, I don't want to see this game go.  As a businessperson, I understand that sometimes one must make decisions that may not be popular.  However, from a business perspective, I also understand that many times, other options are available.  All I ask is that you reevaluate all the options whether it is reinstating the development team and letting everything go back to the way it was or selling the game to another company, or some other option that has been suggested by countless others.  Please don't just give up on a game that's been around for nearly a decade and come to mean so much to so many people.

Sincerely,

Tiffany Jarboe
@Shahara Wade

[Taki]

Sacred  bovine!  I love your letterhead/paper!  I wish I'd thought of going into such detail but I wanted to get it out quickly so just used some fancy paper.  My printer is glitching and I can't get a decent pic of Jord to come out and I can't draw for dookie so I couldn't include a pic.  :(

I really hope that folks keep making an effort.  I had a friend tell me last night that he didn't think that writing letters would do any good but like Soundtrack said:

I cannot justify not writing the letters to try to save a game and community that I love.

Beautiful work, Taki!

Crymsin Lilly

Thanks! I really hope that it gets his attention!

As suggested I sent it with signature confirmation (2310 3280 000 2636 0242) this morning... I mean when they went to unlock the door mine was the first face they saw standing there waiting for them to open the door.

For those who want to go the route I did it was only $7.70 to send it in the large priority envelope with signature confirmation

[Nazarrii]

To everyone who has posted there letters, I just want to say thank you.  So many of your stories ring home to me as well.  I even started crying over some of them.  ;)  My husband and I are in the process of writing our letters as well.  I will probably post mine after it is done, it may take me a few days, but it will be done.  Also, Tony thank you for posting a few guidelines about how to go about doing this.  You are very organized and are doing a great job of handling this situation.

Sincerely,

Nazarrii

Liberty Server

[Myriade]

Dear Mr KIM and NCSoft,

I'm writing from France to tell you how I disapprove your decision to end City of Heroes and how it impacts me and the whole community around that game.
It was a shock to me when I learnt about your decision. I was browsing the official site looking for news about the long awaited issue 24 like I did daily for a month. Sadly the top new was not about a date of release but about a date of death for the game.

I remember I found out first about that game in 2004 on a french video game site. The reporter was talking about a weird project of a super heroic MMORPG. The kind of thing that never existed before City of Heroes.
I was very doubtful about this. MMORPG were about fantasy and it was a pretty good idea but i was questionning myself how the developper team could produce a good super heroes multiplayer game.

I forgot about it then found out later on that the game had been released and had a bit of success in the USA. Then i joined the european beta and when it ended I was just amazed. I had never played a mmorpg before. Except Neverwinter Nights but that doesn't count (you can't compare a 30 persons server game with a 500 people game).
I always hated mmorpg and their subscriptions, having to pay after buying a game was something I had promised myself to never do. But when the game was released I remember I was struggling with myself not to buy it. But I was hooked. By the game. By the community. I decided to break my oath and I remember I had to travel from my 25 km far surburbs to buy it at 11 p.m. in a well-known big shop Avenue des Champs Elysées.
When I had finally installed it, I played it 38 hours in a row. With just bathroom stops and sandwich/coffee ride.

After the fever went down, I 'was more a casual player (2 h of play every evening). I remember everything. I remember Atreid, the first french Community manager. I remember the first victorious Hamidon raid. I remember all those friends I had.

Then we had a first fear when Cryptic decided to sell the game to you. I was like, errhhh... how will it be handled?

7 Years after that, I can say that it must have been not so bad cause i'm still a VIP subscriber. I 've been at the helm of three supergroups where i found real friendship, i've been to three "IRL" meeetings, been travelling to Belgium just to talk with City of heroes friends (and to drink beer, ok I admit!).

I've been in love with the game mechanics, with the background. It's one of the rare community i've been into who was keen on roleplaying.
It's been a real blast!  I've tested many mmorps since then but there's something they're missing : a soul.

And now that we're not so far the end of the high-level content (still lacking some incarnate slots, still lacking to fight the batallion or eventually the praetorian Hamidon), now that we have been teased by your free to play annoucement claiming "City of heroes! Play for free forever!", now that we know that there could have been a content until Issue 32, you brutally crush our dreams.

City of heroes is like a family. It's a great way to cast off the problems we have in our lives. City of heroes is not a game. It's an entity.
And it's under threat. Hence why the online petitions and its 12000+ signatures in three days showing i'm not the only one affected by this future loss.

Curiously it's not a financial disaster because from the figures i know it is still profitable in some ways. Maybe it does not need so many game servers. Maybe a merge of servers could have been a solution. I dunno.

But when i see other mmorpgs none has the taste of City of heroes. And there are some very old mmorpg that are still around despite they don't produce more income for the company who owns them.

Considering the amount of time, energy and roleplay I've put in this game, considering i'm far to be alone (see the online petitions : 12000+ signatures in 3 days!), considering the numerous ideas the guys of Paragon Studios have still in stock, I really implore you to find a solution to avoid this end game tragedy.

Sell the concept or bring back paragon studio in some form. Reduce the servers by a merge to three- four servers. Slow the rate of new issue release, whatever!

But we want to play this game until it's really fully done. Which means when all the high leverl content is done and release and the story arcs really ended normally (with a victory of our forces against the batallion for instance). Please don't make it be unfinished business.

This so innovative game has to die sometimes but please, seriously, do it properly. When all that has to be experienced is done.

We're far from that.

Thank you in advance for your future decision to save the game.

Myriade. French player on Vigilance and Virtue Server.
Former leader of "Les Gardiens de l'Equilibre", "Les Traqueurs de Chaos", "Les Disciples de l'Equilibre" Super groups.

Cheers."


Letter to Nc Korea here we go!
Registered letter with recorded delivery just to piss them a bit.

France métropolitaine
Destination :
COREE DU SUD
Nature des envois :
Document Prioritaire
Recommandation / Option :
Recommande R2 + AR
Poids en grammes :
20
Coût total de votre envoi depuis une machine à affranchir

Total : 7,45 €

[zybron]

Below is my letter to NCSoft. I'll send it this weekend when I can get to a post office.

Dear Mr. Kim,

It was with great sorrow that I read the announcement last week that NCSoft had made the decision to sunset City of Heroes and dismiss Paragon Studios. I have played City of Heroes since September of 2004. There have been times when I have tried other games and let my subscription lapse, but I have always come back to this one game - a game that has held my attention and passion for eight years now.

This past year has been particularly exciting. I was skeptical when the Freedom expansion was announced and the game was set to go free to play. I wondered if this would mean that the game I love would change in some way and that I would no longer enjoy it. I really had nothing to worry about. Not only was the game vastly improved by this move, but the explosion of new content was amazing. The extra revenue was obviously a driving force for a better City of Heroes. I decided shortly after Freedom launched to renew my subscription for the entire year. Honestly, at that point, had a lifetime subscription been offered, I probably would have purchased one without any hesitation.

I'm not the only one that feels this way, either, my wife plays the game and so does my son. He grew up watching me play City of Heroes and couldn't wait until he could make his own hero. For quite some time, he's had a few characters on my account that he would play from time to time, running around Atlas Park, "catching bad guys." When Freedom launched, I decided he was old enough for his own account and set one up for him. He was thrilled that he could have his own City of Heroes, though, admittedly, a bit disappointed that he couldn't play the characters he had made on my account.

As you can see, what started as a simple game or hobby has evolved into something much more than that over the years. My story is not unique. I'm sure by now you may well be aware that many among the player base have expressed the same sentiment as I. That we are working diligently to try to save this game - a game that has become so much more to us than simply a game. It's a community. It's a creative outlet for so many talented artists. It's a family past time in my house and many other players.

I implore you to reconsider your decision to sunset this product. Or, failing that, please consider allowing the studio or the fans to purchase the property. All I ask - all we ask - is that we be allowed to let our community continue, that our heroes continue to have a home.

Please consider this. You can be a hero.

Sincerely,

Nathan Brown
@Zybron in City of Heroes

[Gothica]

Here's my letter, which will be going out tomorrow:

Dear Mr. Kim,

I am writing to request that you continue to offer and support your popular online game CITY OF HEROES.

I have been a constant paid subscriber to this game for nearly six years, owning not one but three subscriptions. I've been extremely satisfied with the game, and I have every intention of remaining a paid subscriber until it is discontinued, whether that happens this November or thirty years from now.

I've put in a great deal of time and effort developing not only my online characters, but real friendships within the community of players in CITY OF HEROES. This product is thus much more than a mere game to me; it is an important part of my life, and it simply cannot be replaced by any other product on the market. I imagine it has special value to those customers who, like myself, do not socialize well in person.

Since I understand that CITY OF HEROES remains profitable, and since it is such a valuable product to me personally and to a great many other paid subscribers, I here most emphatically request, as a long-time customer, that you reconsider your decision to discontinue the game. Should you continue to offer CITY OF HEOES, you may certainly count on receiving my business as long as the product lasts.

Thanking you in advance for your time and kind consideration, I am



Sincerely,

[Victoria Victrix]

What's that sound you hear?  It's my agent having a cardiac arrest.

I am going to offer my "fame," such as it is (well I am allegedly a NYT bestselling author, or at least that is what they put on the books) in uncompensated advertising for ALL NCSoft games if they will make it possible for the game to continue.

"I'm New York Times bestseller Mercedes Lackey.  Creating fantastic worlds is hard work, and when I relax, I like to relax in someone else's.  I play NCSoft games.  Anything else is unimaginable."

[dwturducken]

What's that sound you hear?  It's my agent having a cardiac arrest.

I am going to offer my "fame," such as it is (well I am allegedly a NYT bestselling author, or at least that is what they put on the books) in uncompensated advertising for ALL NCSoft games if they will make it possible for the game to continue.

"I'm New York Times bestseller Mercedes Lackey.  Creating fantastic worlds is hard work, and when I relax, I like to relax in someone else's.  I play NCSoft games.  Anything else is unimaginable."

I want to put this on my fridge!  You are a kind and generous lady, if maybe as crazy as the rest of us. :)

[Soundtrack]

What's that sound you hear?  It's my agent having a cardiac arrest.

I am going to offer my "fame," such as it is (well I am allegedly a NYT bestselling author, or at least that is what they put on the books) in uncompensated advertising for ALL NCSoft games if they will make it possible for the game to continue.

"I'm New York Times bestseller Mercedes Lackey.  Creating fantastic worlds is hard work, and when I relax, I like to relax in someone else's.  I play NCSoft games.  Anything else is unimaginable."

Ms. Lackey, this is extremely generous of you. I thank you and your heart of literary gold! :)

[Mister Bison]

What's that sound you hear?  It's my agent having a cardiac arrest.

I am going to offer my "fame," such as it is (well I am allegedly a NYT bestselling author, or at least that is what they put on the books) in uncompensated advertising for ALL NCSoft games if they will make it possible for the game to continue.

"I'm New York Times bestseller Mercedes Lackey.  Creating fantastic worlds is hard work, and when I relax, I like to relax in someone else's.  I play NCSoft games.  Anything else is unimaginable."

All Hail Mercedes !
https://images.weserv.nl/?url=vsrteam.power-heberg.com%2FALL_HAIL_VICTORIA.jpg

[eabrace]

What's that sound you hear?  It's my agent having a cardiac arrest.

I understand that the folks at the Cleveland Clinic just up the road from here are pretty good with that sort of thing.  :)

[emu265]

What's that sound you hear?  It's my agent having a cardiac arrest.

I am going to offer my "fame," such as it is (well I am allegedly a NYT bestselling author, or at least that is what they put on the books) in uncompensated advertising for ALL NCSoft games if they will make it possible for the game to continue.

"I'm New York Times bestseller Mercedes Lackey.  Creating fantastic worlds is hard work, and when I relax, I like to relax in someone else's.  I play NCSoft games.  Anything else is unimaginable."

You, my darling, are a hero.  Thank you so much.

[Victoria Victrix]

Oh don't get too impressed.  99% of this ploy being successful is going to depend on them buying that I am just that impressive.  I'm not that impressed with me, but I am going to get the spouse to ramp up the *dazzledazzle BS jazzhands* factor in the letter.  And I am going to cross all possible digits that it works.

EDIT:  This has the jazzhands seal of approval.

                        Mr. Taek Jin Kim
                        Chief Executive Officer
                        NCsoft Corporation
                        1501 4th Avenue, Suite 2050
                        Seattle, WA

Mercedes Lackey
_____________
_____________
_____________
_____________
www.mercedeslackey.com

Dear Mr. Kim;

This, like so many other letters, is a plea to save Paragon Studios and the City of Heroes, City of Villains, and Going Rogue games.  And like so many others, I could tell you about the thousands of hours I have spent there with friends, the thousands of dollars I have spent within the games, or even how this game allows my husband and I to "meet" and play nearly every night with my father in law, the retired, and multi-medaled Master Sergeant Jim Dixon formerly of Delta Force.  I could even tell you how this game is the only one ever to interest him.

Instead, I am going to make you an offer.  I am a multi-award-winning, New York Times bestselling fantasy and science fiction author.  And I will offer myself and my likeness to endorse and advertise, exclusively, all NCSoft products for a minimum term of five years and a maximum term of ten years, for no compensation or payment, if you will make it possible for the game and Paragon Studios (even in a reduced capacity) to continue to function, either once again under the NCSoft umbrella, or until a new owner comes forward.

I had in mind something like this:  Advertisements with a photo of myself, imposed over a transparent image of one of my more striking characters, both of us in the same pose.  Text: "I am New York Times bestselling fantasy author Mercedes Lackey.  Creating fantastic realms is hard work, and when I relax, I like to play in someone else's world.  I play NCSoft Games.  Anything else is unimaginable."   The tagline for the ad campaign would be "NCSoft: anything else is unimaginable." 

I hope, sir, that I have caught your interest, and you will consider this proposition.

Yours truly




Mercedes Lackey

[Vulpy]

Oh don't get too impressed.  99% of this ploy being successful is going to depend on them buying that I am just that impressive.  I'm not that impressed with me, but I am going to get the spouse to ramp up the *dazzledazzle BS jazzhands* factor in the letter.  And I am going to cross all possible digits that it works.

I hope those were your "Jedi-mind-trick-I'm-really-that-awesome" jazzhands...

Honestly, your humility is encouraging to an aspiring creative type like myself.

[Terwyn]

Oh don't get too impressed.  99% of this ploy being successful is going to depend on them buying that I am just that impressive.  I'm not that impressed with me, but I am going to get the spouse to ramp up the *dazzledazzle BS jazzhands* factor in the letter.  And I am going to cross all possible digits that it works.

EDIT:  This has the jazzhands seal of approval.

                        Mr. Taek Jin Kim
                        Chief Executive Officer
                        NCsoft Corporation
                        1501 4th Avenue, Suite 2050
                        Seattle, WA

Mercedes Lackey
_____________
_____________
_____________
_____________
www.mercedeslackey.com

Dear Mr. Kim;

This, like so many other letters, is a plea to save Paragon Studios and the City of Heroes, City of Villains, and Going Rogue games.  And like so many others, I could tell you about the thousands of hours I have spent there with friends, the thousands of dollars I have spent within the games, or even how this game allows my husband and I to "meet" and play nearly every night with my father in law, the retired, and multi-medaled Master Sergeant Jim Dixon formerly of Delta Force.  I could even tell you how this game is the only one ever to interest him.

Instead, I am going to make you an offer.  I am a multi-award-winning, New York Times bestselling fantasy and science fiction author.  And I will offer myself and my likeness to endorse and advertise, exclusively, all NCSoft products for a minimum term of five years and a maximum term of ten years, for no compensation or payment, if you will make it possible for the game and Paragon Studios (even in a reduced capacity) to continue to function, either once again under the NCSoft umbrella, or until a new owner comes forward.

I had in mind something like this:  Advertisements with a photo of myself, imposed over a transparent image of one of my more striking characters, both of us in the same pose.  Text: "I am New York Times bestselling fantasy author Mercedes Lackey.  Creating fantastic realms is hard work, and when I relax, I like to play in someone else's world.  I play NCSoft Games.  Anything else is unimaginable."   The tagline for the ad campaign would be "NCSoft: anything else is unimaginable." 

I hope, sir, that I have caught your interest, and you will consider this proposition.

Yours truly




Mercedes Lackey

Ma'am, you just passed Asimov in my rankings of favourite authors. This is an incredible offer, and I really hope it works.

[Vulpy]

EDIT:  This has the jazzhands seal of approval.

Madam, I won't forget what you've done for our community. Will the person that hands out jazzhands seals of approval mind if we distribute this document around the main forums? Possibly clean it up and give it a blog post somewhere? It could raise morale and convince outsiders that this is a story worthy of gaming news sites--and possibly assorted geek sites, too.

[Victoria Victrix]

Madam, I won't forget what you've done for our community. Will the person that hands out jazzhands seals of approval mind if we distribute this document around the main forums? Possibly clean it up and give it a blog post somewhere? It could raise morale and convince outsiders that this is a story worthy of gaming news sites--and possibly assorted geek sites, too.

Quote me wherever and whenever you like.  *jazzhands* is my husband Larry Dixon, I generally run everything I do that is official past him because he is the diplomat of the family.

[Blitzwing]

What's that sound you hear?  It's my agent having a cardiac arrest.

I am going to offer my "fame," such as it is (well I am allegedly a NYT bestselling author, or at least that is what they put on the books) in uncompensated advertising for ALL NCSoft games if they will make it possible for the game to continue.

"I'm New York Times bestseller Mercedes Lackey.  Creating fantastic worlds is hard work, and when I relax, I like to relax in someone else's.  I play NCSoft games.  Anything else is unimaginable."

Madam, I now shamefully admit to not having read any of your books prior to the events of the last week taking place....  *gets buried under an avalanche of large blunt objects thrown at him*

...however, the instant I acquire the funds needed to purchase your books(stupid lack of employment!!), I shall immediately set about to meeting your coh-inspired characters in print....

Ya' hear that, NCSoft?  That's the sound of a VERY LARGE hornet's nest you've stirred up....  *evil cackle*   ;D

[Heavy Ion]

I'm just gonna go ahead and volunteer to keep the pigeons off of the Mercedes Lackey statue that will be erected in Atlas Park when this is all over. You, madam, are a saint.