Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly

[Thirty-Seven]

*hugs*
I don't think we've ever played together, but I'll fight by your side without pause.
Thank you for sharing your story.

Pssst... think you quoted the wrong person, but I will take your hug sincerely!  :)

[Horror-Frost]

To whom it shall concern,

My name is Thomas E. Delfi and I had been a customer of NC Soft and a player of City of Heroes for 8 years. I was there at launch, took my breaks to deal with real life, but always came back. Since your announcement of closure on August 31st, I have sent two emails, one to you Human Resources and one to your CEO. I, and many others, have yet to receive a proper responce to our questions regarding the closure of City of Heroes and in that regard I'd like to express a few points. Rather than expressing my love for the game, I'd like to offer my observations.

-First, I would like to thank you for providing this contact email and refunds to players. We, as a community, greatly appreciate this gesture, but feel there is more that can be done. As a more or less loyaly customer base of 8 years, we feel that an explanation for the closure of City of Heroes is not an unreasonable request of your offices. I do realize that it has been only two weeks since the game has been closed and it may be too soon for such a disclosure to be made, but even the promise that some time before November an explanation will be given would be acceptable.

-Secondly, I speak as no economist, but I can atest from basic analysis that the closure of City of Heroes is a huge mistake. While I understand that the Korean import did not take off, the game clearly has a huge following in the United States and Western World, so much so that games like champions online and DCUO pale in comparison. This is in part to the resources that your company and Paragon Studios put into the game, but due to the genere itself and how beautifully it was excecuted and embraced by the community. Look at COH Titan, Virtueverse, or any of the super/villain group websites. Look at the protest videos, Atlas Park 33. There exists a strong loyalty to the game.

My point, short and sweet, is that your actions have not been well received by the community and will not be contained to this game. As I hear, your company intends to introduce a Korean import game, Blade & Soul, to the Western market, meaning you are still interested in doing buisiness here as a part of your company's restructuring. Let me assure you, the 19,000 minimum petitioners for saving City of Heroes (number retrieved from one petition alone) will not be your customers if COH is shut down. We will not move on to Aion, Guild Wars 1 or 2, or Blade & Soul. We will spread word in our markets and undoubtedly it will concern those interested in playing Blade & Soul and will prevent many from buying in. This is NOT a threat, it is a Theory, and a highly probable one at that.

The Western market will not forgive NC Soft.

However...

-There are solutions or there are atleast resources for solutions. Ideas like selling the game or turning it over to the players themselves have been put on the table. Personally, I would prefer the idea of you or a corporate entity owning Paragon Studios (I'm a free market fellow myself). I would also think that if you're already attempting to introduce a new game into the Western Market, you're not derth of resources. I assure you though, simply ignoring this issue will not bode well for your relations with the Western gaming market, even the common man can see that.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you for the time and attention you have given to this issue, but urge you to press on. We certainly will. Because the absolute closure of City of Heroes on November 30th, 2012, will not be a scenario which will bode well for either of us.

With all due respect,

Thomas E. Delfi
@Ol-Blue/Horror-Frost

[AlaikaBalta]

I need COMMENTS, FEEDBACK, GRAMMAR NAZIS, CRITICISM and SUGGESTIONS as to what you all think about this letter before I fire it off to the provided email address.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I'm here to write about the planned closure of City of Heroes by NCSoft and how dissatisfied I am by how this action is handled and announced to the existing playerbase. I am one of those players, but I'm not from USA. I'm just a girl from Indonesia, a superhero lover from the East. I grew up both playing with Barbie dolls and watching Superman and Batman on television. Come high school and I started getting hooked to Marvel heroes such as Spiderman, X-Men and the Hulk. My favorite movies up to now is the Avengers.

I've been subscribed to City of Heroes since September 2011 without fail, admittedly after the game went free-to-play due to the fact that I was still underage prior to that. Despite the old graphics, I love the freedom the game provided me, be it from all the powersets I could try out to the myriads of costumes and themes I could think of (keeping in mind any existing copyrights, of course). This game didn't require me to buy a new computer just so I can play the game at minimum performance and I love the welcoming and friendly community in the game, something I rarely found in most MMOs, even the ones published by NCSoft. I made new friends, I learned new things and I was able to fulfill a childhood dreams of being able to fly (without having to jump off the tree in the neighbor park or getting scolded for trying anyway...).

I understand that all things must come to an end someday and MMOs are no exception. I only ask that NCSoft and the head executives and board members consider letting City of Heroes live as a private server for us players who still love this game. If this game no longer suit NCSoft's long-term goals, it's alright. I understand that view-point as a university student currently majoring in Marketing and Economics and I understand how NCSoft might view private servers as competition to the existing MMOs it carries. However, I will be frank from this point on. Knowing NCSoft's bad raport with the number of MMOs it had shut down, its battle with Mr Garriott and, now, how this game's sunsetting is handled from NCSoft's side, I have to say that I, as a customer and a consumer, isn't satisfied with how our problem is handled. The refund is a welcome change to NCSoft's rumored policy of exchanging unused fee with time for other games (I have no stake on this because I have only added a one-month sub fee prior to the closing announcement and I'm willing to let that fee slide), but I wish to see NCSoft do more and work together with the dedicated fanbase. Surely showing that you care for the players would give you a good publicity, wouldn't it?

I will end this electronic letter with a brief summary. I ask that NCSoft show willingness to work together with City of Heroes players who wish to keep this game alive and are shown to be willing to go above and beyond to do so. For the time being, my current dissatisfaction with NCSoft means that I wouldn't spend any of my saved money for anything NCSoft publish. I have faith that you can change my perception of this company.

Yours truly,

Geovani Natalie

[dwturducken]

I'm really not the type to do this, but everyone else is, so here goes:

Good afternoon.  I hope that this email is not seen as an intrusion, and that you and those you hold dear weather the coming typhoon without incident.
The news of 31 August that Paragon Studios was being shut down and City of Heroes put on a schedule for decommission has sent a shockwave through a community.
I do not choose that word lightly. We are a community. We are friends, spouses, parents, children. We have come to know each other in a way that would not have been possible without this medium.  Old friends reunite across great distances to relive gaming experiences from their youth. Mothers and fathers log on with their children to connect in a way that is relatable to all ages. Spouses can look back to when one proposed to the other within the game.
The initial anger and resentment was not the cry of rage one would expect from an addict being denied his "fix." No, it was the confused call for answers from a community. The decision, handed down with no explanation, appeared capricious in the face of previously steady support. This place that has become so close to our hearts was being taken from us and the friends who had built it for us cast onto the street, discarded.
Unlike other games, this one was a world like what we saw out our windows, but, unlike the world outside, in this world we could fight injustice, make a difference. It was well crafted, and it worked. Other games have come along, trying to capitalize on the success of City of Heroes, and others have not even made it to testing because they could not measure up. Those that are out have been derided by reviewer after reviewer as inferior to City of Heroes.
Efforts are currently underway to negotiate with your representatives, to try to reach some understanding that will allow this amazing creation to continue. Starting is half the task. I implore you, on behalf of all those who I know who draw enjoyment from this game, reconsider the decision to close the studio and the game.  You will not regret it, and you will secure the good will of more than just the community of this game, but of so many more throughout the game industry who are watching so very closely as this unfolds.

Humbly,
[redacted]
[minor metropolis], [Midwest]

This is what I sent to the original addresses.  I will be editing it for the new address and sending it along.

[Justaris]

Resent my email to the new address.

[ThorsAssassin]

Resent mine email to that one.

Sorry for making people cry though :(

[Flying Code Monkey]

Ahh ... email.  So comfortable compared to hand-written letters.

Changed mine slightly for a different audience, and sent.  It's remarkably positive and respectful, all things considered. :)

That's just how I am,
FCM

[Mindscythe]

Resent my emails to that address.

As did I.

[LT. Couper]

Regardless of wheather it helps or not, I've decided to create and send 1,000 origami cranes to NCSoft, with just the simple message we're trying to send them; Save City of Heroes

[Segev]

I think that's more a Japanese than Korean tradition, but it should get the message across. Research into finding out if there's a similar Korean tradition might be effective, as well.

[LT. Couper]

I think that's more a Japanese than Korean tradition, but it should get the message across. Research into finding out if there's a similar Korean tradition might be effective, as well.

Honestly I wasnt even thinking about any sort of ethnic connection to the cranes. I was just thinking about how i could put my origami skills to use in our dire situation.  ;D

But I like your idea of finding a similar korean tradition, I'll definately look into it. :D

[Rae]

Has anyone had a reply after sending emails to that address? I only ask because I haven't...

[rookery.]

Email has been sent.

[LT. Couper]

Regardless of wheather it helps or not, I've decided to create and send 1,000 origami cranes to NCSoft, with just the simple message we're trying to send them; Save City of Heroes

Following up on this; After about six days, I'm at only about 150ish cranes, but I've recruited some of my friends to help so that should speed things up. In the meantime, I'd like to finalize the details of this plan.

-What adress should I send the cranes? (Since I dont plan on doing this more than once, I want to make sure it goes to the right place.)


-What do you think about writing a Toon's name on each crane?



Other than that, I'll keep up the crane folding.  ;D

[DrakeGrimm]

I humbly supply "Hawthorne Grimm," "Front Lines," and "Grimrose" if you're going to stick names on them. I don't have an address for you, I'm sure someone around here has it...

[Segev]

Lt. Couper, would you be willing to disclose the city in which you live? Perhaps you have fellow-forumites who would be willing to get together with you to fold cranes faster. Shipping them to you first from further afield might be a bit much, so I don't suggest a unified effort in quite that way, but getting more people involved can't hurt.

[SithRose]

Email sent.

I revised my original letter slightly from what I posted in the Testimonials thread.

The City of Heroes game is a unique game in many ways. It has a very strong, positive community. It is an easy game to engage in, and friendly to the casual player. It is also friendly to the physically handicapped because of the ease of play. The players are generally extremely supportive and friendly. Because of that community, this game has shown clear and repeatable benefits in use for communication and social therapy in autistic children. This is not something which I have been able to find in any other game, ever.

I'm going to tell you a story now. It is the story of my eldest son, and how City of Heroes, both the game and the community, helped him rediscover his voice. I am telling this story in many places, in an effort to convince NCSoft to change their plans to cancel the game, or to release the game for further development by the former Paragon Studios staff. This is not only for the sake of my eldest son. It is for my second son, who is moderately autistic, and for the sake of many other autistic children like them.

In late 2004, a friend introduced me to a new game called City of Heroes. He was having a blast with it, playing a Fire/Fire Blaster, in a supergroup with some of my other close friends. My husband started playing about a month before I did. It took experimenting with the costume creator after watching him play, and then I was hooked. This was May of 2005.

We had a toddler at that time. As first-time parents, we were slow to recognize that he wasn't speaking quite the way he should be. His few words were complex ones, and he couldn't say them properly. When he was about 18 months old, he told us that he couldn't say the words right. And then he stopped speaking. Faced with an uncooperative early intervention program in the state we lived in, we were unable to get speech therapy for him that was covered by our insurance. About six months later, we were still struggling with a nearly non-verbal two year old and a new baby.

He was, however, absolutely fascinated by watching Mommy and Daddy play superheroes. The little boy who wouldn't sit still to be read to, and who wouldn't talk, who sometimes wouldn't meet our eyes and acted like he didn't hear us, would happily sit and watch City of Heroes. He even insisted on "helping" to play by pushing movement buttons and moving the mouse. He pointed at things on the screen, and showed a deep interest in the character creator. We started having him sit on our laps while we talked to him about what our characters were doing and the areas they were flying through.

Slowly, the words started to come. "Tree" "Rock" "House" "Door" "Book". He started counting groups of Skulls and Hellions. I let him take my Scrapper and run around through the city and he started telling us what he saw. My husband and I started DJing on The Cape Radio, and our son was fascinated by hearing us speak to other people through the computer. He said "hello" to people he had never met, who responded with encouragement and praise. He saw them on the screen as brightly colored heroes, and they gave him more reasons to speak. He could talk to real heroes and they talked back to him!

In 2007, he was finally able to count aloud from 1 to 10, with a notable exception. When he counted to ten, he said "One, two, three, four, five, six, Superman, eight, nine, ten." He laughed when he said it, and met our eyes with gleeful happiness. We recorded him counting so he could hear what he sounded like, and he was thrilled. We played it on the Cape, and he heard himself speaking to heroes. A door opened for him. For his heroes, the words came. "Mommy, play Heroes!" "Mommy, play Heroes with me."

He was four years old. Two years later, he was diagnosed with severe ADHD and a speech/language processing disorder. A year after that, he was diagnosed with autism. He will turn nine the month City of Heroes goes dark. He still plays his heroes, with Mommy and Daddy, but less frequently. He's in school now, progressing with his class, at the appropriate grade for his age. He now qualifies for speech therapy, after we moved to a new state.

Without his heroes, he would not have had a reason to start talking again. Without the community City of Heroes has, he would not have been able to hear his own voice speaking to the heroes on the screen, and heard those heroes answering him back. In the City of Heroes, the heroes and the players, helped find a little boy's voice. He has never lost his love for his heroes. In recent months, as City of Heroes went free to play, he had started playing again, infrequently. We were encouraging him to play, and to talk with the wonderful community we know there. He can read now, and he can make himself understood when speaking...which he could not do when he started sitting on my lap to play. 

I've had to tell him that it will all be gone on November 30th. He heard this news with tears and cries of "Why? Why are they taking the heroes away? Are they villains? Do they hate heroes? Mommy, tell them they can't do it!" Understand, these are the questions of an autistic, ADHD 8 year old. He knows nothing about corporate needs and goals. He does not understand that refocusing of corporate interests sometimes requires change. All he can understand is that his heroes will be gone, perhaps forever.

I hope, with NCSoft's support and understanding, that an avenue will be found to allow City of Heroes will remain open to players past November 30th. I ask that NCSoft hear a little boy's voice and find it a reason to keep City of Heroes an active game. I ask that if they cannot do that, that they make the game available to the community in some form, that we may ourselves find means to keep the City of Heroes an active, functioning game and community.

Please, don't silence my son's heroes. They helped him learn to tell his mother that he loves her. They gave him back his voice. There are thousands of parents whose autistic children might benefit from this game and this community. Please give those children a chance to hear their heroes speak, and to speak back to them. I can not find the words to express my feelings, and my tears, the first time my son asked me to "Play Heroes, Mommy!". The first time he found something that he wanted to do WITH us. Please, help other parents hear those words too. I believe that NCSoft can find a compromise that will fit their new corporate direction, and will still allow other autistic children to benefit from everything that the City of Heroes has to offer.

For me, this is not just a game. It's the portal that opened to the door to my son's voice. It's the game that gave him the courage and desire to finally say "Mommy, I love you." I want other parents to feel that way about it, and I want to be able to tell them that NCSoft enabled this game to continue despite a change in corporate direction. I want to be able to tell them that I support NCSoft, because they found a compromise, because it is a corporation that supports the hopes of parents, the autistic community, the elderly community, and the disabled community.

[Knightslayer]

There we go.

Greetings,

My story with Ncsoft began around the year 2000, when some online friends directed me to a game called Lineage, a game which had hundreds of players online at the same time, an MMORPG.
Like many first time MMO gamers I immediately got hooked on it, but as time went by I wandered off to play many other MMOs – with the occasional trip back to Lineage.
A few years (and a credit card) later I bought City of Heroes, the game I had been wanting to try for a while now – it had Super Heroes and was made by a reputable publisher I had previous, positive experiences with.

From the moment I first made it into game I knew this was something unique, something special.
After taking my time with the amazing and (still) unrivaled character creator, I started to explore the City of Heroes – every step revealing more and more amazing things that no other MMO had done before ("Whoa, that NPC citizen over there just talked about ME!").
I went on to revive some childhood idols that had gotten buried when we all eventually grow up, and enjoyed taking them through new adventures, much like the successful remake of an old favorite tv show.

Over the years I tried many other MMO's, including all of Ncsoft's titles, but City of Heroes, and by extension Ncsoft, was always my home, the place I always kept returning to.
Ncsoft has always been a bold company, daring to go where no others had before, bringing innovation to the MMO industry.
I speak of features such as CoH's (Super) Sidekicking system, the leveling pacts, and even letting players design their own content through Mission Architect, in the turbulent seas of an MMO environment!
Recently Ncsoft and ArenaNet took it even one step further with Guild Wars 2, a game that is rightfully being praised as the next-gen of MMORPGs.

Sadly for me and many others, this newfound joy was overshadowed by the announcement of City of Heroes' closure, and it is this subject that prompted me to write this email.
Much like myself, many in the CoH community have been loyal customers of Ncsoft for many years, supporting this great company throughout the years that MMO's were still a little known thing in the West, the people who put their faith in Ncsoft and its games and took pride in seeing the company grow, knowing they had a small part in that.

While I fully respect the decision that CoH no longer fits into Ncsoft's longterm vision, I still want to implore you to show the people, who have been with you for so many years, the kindness of not destroying the game that has become something so special to them over the years, and to continue working towards other solutions that are beneficial to both parties, restoring the faith that so many of us have in you.


Sincerely,

(name)

[Valjean]

I'm willing to be money that any email that gets sent to that cohsunset email address goes into someone's trashbin.

The only ones that were working were the ones that were posted earlier.

[Rae]

Anyone speak Korean?

https://twitter.com/taekjinkim