I recall a demonstration I took part in at university many years ago. It involved occupying a campus building, and lining several flights of stairs with students to provide an intimidating gauntlet for our opposition to walk through.
We were all in place, students as far as the eye could see...and a group of suited people came slowly up the stairs, receiving cold, silent, withering stares from every pair of eyes as they ascended to the conference room.
Once they had passed, a student rep appeared on the stairs to congratulate us for the intensity of our 'welcome' ...and added that the opposing group would be along shortly, so could we get ready to repeat the performance?
Yep, that's right - we'd unknowingly welcomed our own side with a battery of cold stares. But the thing is, they didn't take offence because they knew what we were doing was not aimed at them.
And so it is with the current situation with NCSoft I believe.
If there are secret negotiations going on, then any actions on our part are unlikely to compromise them because by definition if a negotiation is in progress, the game's future is undecided. Protests are expected, and if a save plan is on the table, those protests will be remembered as being parallel to the issue at hand.
If however there are no negotiations, no talks, no hope of saving our game, and NCSoft's continuing silence is simply them sticking their fingers in their ears and saying "la-la-la, not listening, can't hear you!" because they want this embarrassing problem to go away as if it never happened...well, then our protests are not parallel to the issue - they ARE the issue, because as far as the decision makers are concerned, the closure is a done deal, so all we have left is our right to let them know what we think of that decision.
A gauntlet of icy stares is quickly forgotten in the warm light of reconciliation...but if there's no light, then the chill will linger, and the memory of that chill will stay.
