Status Update (October 2)

[Blast Lord]

Save City of Heroes

[emu265]

Save City of Heroes

Welcome aboard my friend :)

[TimtheEnchanter]

The messed up thing about this is, if there is an NDA preventing the devs from talking to anyone, then how in the heck are they supposed to gather more investors? And how are investors supposed to know if there's a point in bothering, if nobody knows what the selling price is?

Sounds like NC is telling them to make bricks without straw, as it were.

[emu265]

The messed up thing about this is, if there is an NDA preventing the devs from talking to anyone, then how in the heck are they supposed to gather more investors? And now are investors supposed to know if there's a point in bothering, if nobody knows what the selling price is?

Sounds like NC is telling them to make bricks without straw, as it were.

It's a more intricate and less subtle version of the runaround they gave us with negotiations in the first place.  "Shut up, the grown-ups are talking" has turned into "Go away, no one wants to buy.... NO MATTER WHAT.  EVER....."

[Kosmos]

The messed up thing about this is, if there is an NDA preventing the devs from talking to anyone, then how in the heck are they supposed to gather more investors? And how are investors supposed to know if there's a point in bothering, if nobody knows what the selling price is?

Sounds like NC is telling them to make bricks without straw, as it were.

I read an interesting article on this a while back... let's see...

Why a Venture Capitalist will take a lighter to your NDA

Anyway, NDAs can sometimes be a dance where you have a series before one is willing to admit that they don't already know what they're agreeing not to disclose.

[Rae]

On Twitch TV yesterday Matt said they weren't under NDAs, but that they had contracts that hadn't expired yet, I think?

[Kosmos]

On Twitch TV yesterday Matt said they weren't under NDAs, but that they had contracts that hadn't expired yet, I think?

I believe due to state law and the abrupt closure everyone should be under contract until Oct 31st. The only people likely under NDAs would be those involved in any negotiations. And there's no knowing how restrictive the NDAs might be, or even if they exist, as the negotiations may have simply been treated as internal discussion with people still under contract (and therefore the contract's restriction would apply).

[Aurethious]

On Twitch TV yesterday Matt said they weren't under NDAs, but that they had contracts that hadn't expired yet, I think?

This is correct. That is indeed what Matt said in the chat yesterday. There are presumably provisions in their contract that prevent them from saying anything, but like TonyV said, come November 1st, we're more likely (not guaranteed, mind you) to start hearing things than we have to this point.

[Riff]

Having read the "Press Release" from NCSoft - and had a chance to calm down and digest, and read through some of the thoughts on here, it seems to me that there are a couple of angles we can attack NCSoft with quite legitimately.

Firstly - their complete lack of communication with their market other than effectively two statements: a) we're closing a successful game and b) we're still closing this successful game, go fuck yourselves. No real press, just a poorly worded statement to say they don't care about their customers.

Secondly they are sitting on top of a massive PR disaster if we can get that word out to their shareholders, to the wider non-game press. If their shareholders start to lose confidence in the board of NCSoft there could be blood on the carpet within hours. NCSoft almost certainly don't care too much about their customers - but they do care about their shareholders - so if we can make enough stink...

Could it be they are on the ropes already? I'm not sure I buy into the the "them and us" cultural differences too much. They've been trading in the West a long time and know by now what works and what doesn't - and it's demonstrable that once NCSoft took over the reins of CoH it got much better. So to say "they don't understand that" is to seriously underestimate them. But maybe they felt that running Paragon was too much work. I suspect they took some earbending from Nexxon too. Their share acquisition and this move seem remarkably close to be coincidental. But, if the PR is too bad, maybe they can say "Nexxon made us do it" and reverse their decision or do an honourable get out.

Ok I wrote this last thing last night in the office, then took a call so had to drop it and run so these thoughts are less refined than some I've posted subsequent but might be worth thinking about.

[Triplash]

On Twitch TV yesterday Matt said they weren't under NDAs, but that they had contracts that hadn't expired yet, I think?

He hung around in chat for a while after the stream ended and answered that a bit better. They're not actually under NDAs, as much as regular working contracts that just don't expire. For example back in 2001 I started as a telemarketer and I had to sign an NDA since I had access to things like social security and credit card numbers. I was only there for two years but that NDA still hasn't expired, and it never will. Basically in some jobs there are just certain things you're never supposed to talk about.

He mentioned a possibility for November 1st as well. Under California's laws NCsoft had to give the studio 60 days notice of their jobs ending, so technically their last day as NCsoft employees is October 31st. As I understood it, anything Matt or any of the others create until then would still be property of NCsoft, but if he waits until Nov 1 to start something he would retain rights to it himself. The reason he mentioned that was, he's thinking of starting up a project of his own if the job search doesn't show results by then. But since he would obviously want to retain the rights to it, he's not going anywhere near such an idea until that 60 day notice runs out and he's officially no longer an NCsoft employee. Although of course if a good job comes up first, well hey, man's gotta eat.

[Valjean]

Secondly they are sitting on top of a massive PR disaster if we can get that word out to their shareholders, to the wider non-game press. If their shareholders start to lose confidence in the board of NCSoft there could be blood on the carpet within hours. NCSoft almost certainly don't care too much about their customers - but they do care about their shareholders - so if we can make enough stink...

This is a really good point. I think one of the things NCsoft has going for them in their investors in Korea probably don't know about the negative flack they're getting in America. If they found out.....

[Kheprera]

Okay, yeah..  Posi's explanation makes sense.  I'm personally under severe regulations that if I break any of a number of them I don't just lose my job and get fined...

I go to jail.

So, with *that* in mind I will continue my stance of letting the Devs be.

But I'm glad to see a few popping up here.  :)

[pinballdave]

I have never heard of an employment agreement or non-compete agreement between an employer and an employee with an unlimited term. 1, 2, or 3 years is the usual arrangment.

[eabrace]

I have never heard of an employment agreement or non-compete agreement between an employer and an employee with an unlimited term. 1, 2, or 3 years is the usual arrangment.

Oh, they exist.  The ones I'm aware of generally aren't commercial in nature, though.

[dwturducken]

A non-compete is different from an NDA. I had to sign a non-compete when I was working for a company that had seen a few key employees defect to a competitor about a year before I started. The actual document would not have held up in court, for various reasons, but that's not relevant here.  What is relevant here is that a non-compete would be almost unenforceable in this case because, in many cases, they can't reasonably do anything else that would maintain their livelihoods. 

A non-compete says that you cannot go work for someone who is a direct competitor of your employer, to over-simplify it. But, I'm not a lawyer.

[matt5150]

but I'm just the squishy fender. 

Yes, but not a bad scrapper either. 

DJ Steel...

[castorcorvus]

Been busy with mid-terms the last week or so, not the ideal news to come back to. Last I checked, the forum for Sunset is a mess. Plenty of great ideas, but with no structure, I fear that all the imagination is going to go to waste. It only takes so long before an artist becomes jaded.

[DrakeGrimm]

Yes, but not a bad scrapper either. 

DJ Steel...

Welcome to the party, Steel. :)

[DamianoV]

Well, I certainly hope that if Posi starts a project, he lets us know... I expect he'll have a great deal of support (I know I'd likely be interested to assist financially on some level.)

[Knightslayer]

Well, I certainly hope that if Posi starts a project, he lets us know... I expect he'll have a great deal of support (I know I'd likely be interested to assist financially on some level.)

Mhm, hopefully he'll go for some kind of Kickstarter giving us all the opportunity to help out.