My letter to NCSoft

[Kheprera]

I'd like it proofread before sending it...

Imagine the following:

Your daughter is sitting on the living room floor. Scattered all around her are her Barbie© dolls and clothes, some of them homemade by her own hand after you taught her how to sew, and she's happily playing. Then a stranger walks in, takes all the Barbie's©, including the homemade clothes, and boxes them up and carries them away only saying, "You can't play with Barbie© anymore. With a realignment of company focus we've decided to end the product line and are removing all existence of the doll and related accessories."

Or...

Your son is outside happily building an imaginary town from the dirt and rocks in the yard for his Hot Wheels© cars as they zoom around the city. He's built, out of popsicle sticks and clay, miniature garages and ramps for the cars. Then a stranger walks in, takes all the Hot Wheels©, including the homemade garages and ramps, and boxes them up and carries them away only saying, "You can't play with Hot Wheels© anymore. With a realignment of company focus we've decided to end the product line and are removing all existence of the cars and related accessories."

How would you feel if this was you? You've spent money. You have invested time and energy creating additional parts for the toys so you enjoy them even more. You use them to tell stories, act out your imagination, and enrich not only your own world but that of others as you share with your friends.

And someone shows up and takes them away.

That is exactly how the City of Heroes community feels towards NCSoft. It's not just about the money we have invested in the game (which has been substantial). It's the time we've put into our characters, building them and telling their stories, in some cases we've written enough about our characters to publish entire books. We've written Mission Architect arcs to share with our friends and the community. We've built homes, super group bases, utilizing the tools given to us with amazing creativity. Fish made from air vents. Exercise equipment made from lights. Waterfalls from furniture. Tanks, cars, and submarines from desks. I've seen entire amusement parks, space stations, high tech medical laboratories, magical floating restaurants, and amazing cathedrals built from the imagination of the base builders utilizing the limited tools.

This is a game that transcends real life. We have built relationships with the developers and other players, some to the extent that we've found our life mates. We've mourned when another player dies, even if we have never met them outside of the game. We've rejoiced in the wonder of births, and stood beside each other in hours of need.

And now someone shows up and takes it all away.

Children who have lost the ability to talk have found their voice.

People who live in chronic, non-stopping pain have found a drug-free way to transcend their agony, if even for a short time.

Paraplegics have found they can run, jump, and fly.

All of this is being taken away from us.

NCSoft is taking away, burying forever this City of Heroes, because of a "realignment of company focus."

For all the investment we have put into the game, monetarily and creatively, the stranger has come in, shoved everything in a box, and is walking away from that crying child who just wants to know:

Why are you stealing our world? If you don't want it anymore, why can't we still play?

"Exhausted all options?" No. You haven't really tried. You don't really care. This game means nothing to you. If it did you wouldn't be shutting it down. Sunset? A sunset is a glorious, brilliant array of color that evokes humility in the face of nature's grandeur.

The closing of City of Heroes is no such display. It is a cold, hard shutdown of the imagination of thousands.

It is the silence of a weeping child.

You have the ability to change those tears to smiles. Only you.

The real question is: Do you care?

[Globetrotter]

That .... is a beautiful letter!

[Knightslayer]

A very powerful message indeed!

[Turjan]

A damn fine letter indeed :)

I drafted something with a similar feel, but never got it polished enough for my liking to send. Difference was where you say Barbie and Hot Wheels, I used the analogy of a family pet.

I particularly like your sunset sentence there - very emotive!

[healix]

Deeply thought out....well worded...I say send it, Kheprera. Not only that, post on as many game source media sites as possible.
you deserve honor
https://i.imgur.com/SlhIol.jpg

[Atlantea]

Yes - that is an awesome composition. Straight to the heart.

That needs to go public. That letter needs to go VIRAL.

[Vox Doom]

Hey there, one quick thing I noticed is that you put an apostrophe in "Barbie's" at the beginning.  You don't need an apostrophe there, just type "Barbies" and it's correct.

Other than that, excellent letter.

[Victoria Victrix]

Excellent, excellent letter.

[Aggelakis]

People who live in chronic, nonstop pain have found a drug-free way to transcend their agony, if even for a short time.

Nonstop is the word you're looking for, instead of non-stopping.

[Kheprera]

Yeah, I kinda wrote on the fly and sometimes the right  words just escae me.

That's why I get proofreaders!  :D

Thanks all.

[Atlantea]

Dude - you hit a home run there. Who cares if the ball bounced back onto the field after you got to home plate? If all that's wrong is a single typo, you're doing GREAT!

[Kheprera]

I have sent the email to CoHSunset@NCSoft.com

I have also posted it in three places as an Open Letter:

My DeviantArt Page

and

My Facebook Page

and

Google+

I do not have many followers anywhere.  If there is anything wrong with the links, please let me know.

And please feel free to share.

[Blacjac84]

Your letter is a hit in the Save City of Heroes Facebook group.

[Kheprera]

\^_^/