Today is August 31st, the anniversary of the shutdown notice of City of Heroes. With that notice, NCsoft believed they had ended their commitment to us. Severed the ties. Burned the bridges. In some ways it's true - they have made it very clear that they're done with us, and done with this whole situation.
But we're not done. Oh no. Not by a long shot.
I am reminded of a quote by Isoroku Yamamoto, Admiral of the Japanese Navy, about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve.
Well, NCsoft's done about the same thing. One year ago, they woke up a sleeping Titan. And now they've dealt with us rumbling ominously in their direction for a solid year. The time is drawing closer when we are going to sever
our ties with
them, and we're going to do it in spectacular fashion, as only superheroes and supervillains can.
We
will have a home again. By hook or by crook, we will have a home again. Let the doubters moan, let the naysayers whine, but we
will have a home again. And once we do, we will kick NCsoft to the side, and tell them, "we have had a reevaluation and realignment of our goals as a community. You no longer matter to us any more."
Best-case scenario? They learn shame and humility for their mistreatment of us. Worst-case scenario? Their accountants still bemoan the fact that our money isn't filling their bank accounts. I'll be fine with either.
In the meantime, each and every one of you needs to keep that torch held high. Do not stop, do not give up. Yeah, it's been a year, but I've seen other communities suffer longer and keep faith, and I'm pretty damned sure we're the best out there. If it makes you feel better, needle NCsoft a little - don't be rude, don't be crude, but a little reminder that CoH's not dead so long as its community survives is a beautiful thing. Maybe throw a few comments @ncsoft on twitter, tagged #SaveCoH or #AvengeCoH. Make yourself heard on their Facebook wall.
It wouldn't hurt to remind them that when they thought they were just killing a game, what they were really doing was wounding a community. I hold little hope that those blasted executives learn shame from it, but at the very least, we can show them that mistreating your playerbases tends to have consequences down the road.