Post Your Letter to Disney

[Colette]

Here's mine.

I'm certain Disney's mailroom has been flooded with the "save CoH" letters by now, and you're well aware of the situation. I'm of course writing to add my voice to that growing chorus, but also to appeal to a particular concern of Disney Studios: art and culture.

City of Heroes, having accumulated eight years of updates and fan-created scenarios, represents a nascent version of what future years may well name "digital online art." Just as the Disney company commissions and preserves traditional fine arts of cel and painting, and pioneered the "environmental art" of Disneyland, so is City of Heroes a pioneer and perhaps the best exemplar of an embryonic new art form.

City of Heroes was, sadly, sold to very poor caretakers, a Korean firm which has itself admitted to having no understanding of or appreciation for what it has purchased. The Disney company knows what it means to be caretakers and curators. As only one example, I have had the joy of attending the magnificent El Capitan theater, purchased, revitalized and preserved by the Disney company. "Paragon City" is much like that. The game engine and graphics are old-fashioned by today's standards, but then so are paint brushes in our scan-and-print age.

Art, as you understand, must be cared for, preserved and cherished. Yesterday's generations did not think of comic books as art worth preserving, but today we shudder at the thought of a '40s issue of Batman or Uncle Scrooge consigned to the dumpster. Soon, a corporation of Philistines will consign an American original to the digital recycling bin, unless we find a better patron. Future generations may mourn the loss as we bewail the loss of the plays of Aristarchus of Tegea, silent films like those of Melies or Chaney's London After Midnight, the early Disney cels, or the Great Library of Alexandria. What lover of art and culture can contemplate such losses with dry eyes?

Therefore I urge you, as a fellow member of the Hollywood community, to carefully consider acquiring City of Heroes, before this young, noble art too falls into eternal oblivion.

"It followed then that when Hitler burned a book I felt it as keenly, please forgive me, as his killing a human, for in the long sum of history they are one and the same flesh." – Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

"There are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends." – Brad Bird, Ratatouille

Thank you for your time,

Jack Nolan

(And since VV has gone public, I will too. See below.  :) )

[Colette]

In addition, here's what I posted over on Star Trek.com.

Hello, fellow fans of Star Trek.

First, allow me to introduce myself. I've loved Trek for ages, and as an actor even had the honor of performing (in a humble but important capacity) on the shows. (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Jack_Nolan)

I don't normally announce myself or use my involvement in this way, but this time I'm calling on my fellow Trekkers for help. I apologise to everyone here if this is an inappropriate place to solicit, but as Princess Leia said, "this is our most desperate hour."

Back in the 1960s, Star Trek was saved from oblivion through a concerted effort by the fans. Due to fan pressure and an extensive letter-writing campaign, NBC executives gave in and renewed Trek, thereby ensuring it had the episodes needed to go into syndication and find new life and new fans. The rest is history.

Many of you play Star Trek Online, and can imagine how upset you'd feel if your game was summarily and without notice shut down. Well, that's exactly what happened to your fellow gamers over on City of Heroes. Though still profitable, the Korean firm to which the game had been sold decided they no longer wanted to do business in the west.

We at the Save CoH movement are trying to find a new patron. The Korean firm, NCSoft, responded to our initial letter-writing campaign with a flat "no" and, frankly, cold contempt. We are now attempting to persuade the Disney company to acquire City of Heroes. http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,6354.0.html

The more letters of support, the better our chances, so I'd like to ask you, my fellow Trekkers, to continue our proud tradition of letter-campaigns, and take a moment to dash off a quick note to the addresses listed in that link.

Thank you all for your time and support.

---------------------

(Yeah, I just gave up my online anonymity, for what it's worth.)

[dwturducken]

Here's my first, to Mr. Nicolai (I may have taken a couple of liberties in the interest of painting a picture, and for that I apologize.):

Dear Sir,
I understand that you have been approached by members of our community with a proposal. No doubt you get this kind of thing all the time. Every time a cancellation is announced, there is talk of rallying fans, trying to save whatever is on the block. You know the drill.

Here's the thing. This is not about why City of Heroes is different; you hear that all the time, I'm sure. Never mind that it was, and is, the standard by which other games were measured, regardless of genre. Never mind that we are a worldwide community, and the caretakers of our virtual world have decided to cut ties with the West. Never mind that, without warning, they put eighty of the most talented people in the industry out of work. This is about family.

I was never big on the idea of buying a game, then paying a monthly fee for the privilege of playing it. This became even more the case when my son was born. A friend introduced me to World of Warcraft, and it was interesting, but, even though I had played other, single-player games in the series, it just did not hold my interest enough to make me want to pay a monthly fee. Then, one of my friends from high school, whom I had played pencil and paper roleplaying games with back then, mentioned that he and some of the guys, all scattered across the US, were playing this online game where you played a superhero. I had tried a few single-player superhero games and been unimpressed, but this one was different. I still cannot articulate what it is about the gameplay that had me hooked, but I was nearing my fifth anniversary playing the game when the day we in our community call Black Friday came.

To make matters worse, both of my sons have been fans of comic book superheroes for as long as they could read. We have had to replace our copy of The Incredibles on DVD twice, in fact. I am hoping that, now that they are older and more careful, our copy of The Avengers on BluRay will fare better; I have no idea how many times it has been played since we bought it last month.  Both boys had characters on my account, thanks to the large number of what we call "alts." (One of the best parts of City of Heroes was the large number of available "character slots" across multiple servers.) As soon as the game went "free to play," I set up an account for my younger son, so that we could play together. When Black Friday hit, my wife and I had just figured out how we could afford a second paid subscription to give him for his birthday, this month.

Since "free to play" has become the industry norm, I have tried most of the available options, including the most recent major addition, Star Wars: The Old Republic. None has captivated me, or left me feeling comfortable letting my children playing it, the way City of Heroes has. Part of that is in the community, but also the gameplay is lacking. And, at the end of the day, even with something that is as much a cultural bedrock as Star Wars or the DC Universe, City of Heroes had a richer back story and better story arcs. In fact, the missions were more of a storyline than the grinding, "fetch me ten things" missions that make up the bulk every other game. The variety of mission arcs made the game less linear, even before the alignment system was introduced. This, coupled with the rich customization of the character creation, made the game nearly infinitely replayable, the key to longevity.

City of Heroes was never the subscription juggernaut that WoW has always been. The fact is nothing ever will be. Games appeal to gamers, and WoW is an anomaly. But City of Heroes is an anomaly: it let players be heroes, something every child wants to be from the time they first begin to understand the concept. Out of that has grown a community. In the early days, there existed a group of players who called themselves the Helperbots whose sole reason for logging into the game was to aid other players, be it by escorting them through difficult zones or just by what came to be called "drive-by heals." In real life, one of our members set up the Real World Hero project, an organization that coordinates charitable giving, which has raised thousands of dollars to help those less fortunate.
NCSoft thought that this was something that they could just turn off, and we would just move on to the next shiny. The western cultural landscape of the last fifty years is testament to how incorrect an assumption that was, from Star Trek to Cagney and Lacey to Firefly to Doctor Who to Arrested Development, fans have made themselves heard. We're not just fans. We're heroes. This is what we do.

Thank you,
Aaron Ring
The Darkwing Turducken

[Graphite]

This isn't my letter to Disney, but rather what I posted on my Facebook wall for my 200+ Friends to see.  It will likely serve as my first draft.  Social Media is a powerful resource.  It helped bring down a Dictator in Eygpt and is a tool we can greatly benefit from.

To all who read this,

The Titan Network has determined that the best hope in saving City of Heroes is to petition the Executives at Disney to purchase the property from NCSoft.  A 31 page proposal detailing the games history and why the Mouse would best benefit from the sale was delivered on Monday.  A massive letter writing campain has begun and we are asking for YOUR support.  That's right, you.

If you are reading this then I am personally asking as a favor to me to write Disney.  This is not just about saving a game.  It is about preserving a community.  The most talented collective of roleplayers, artists, and writers I have ever seen have taken part in this social experiment.  Further more, it is a fellowship that I have been blessed to be a part of for the last 10 years.

It has been a creative outlet, often subconciously, on dealing with my own personal issues regarding work, the military and the deadly accident I was a part of my first year of college.  These friendships have spanned across multiple contenents and people have been there for me in my hour of need.

Now our City is the one in need.  The game was profitable and expanding.  The devs amazing.  NCSoft's treatment of us as customers is questionable.  In a sense it feels like one large family... and now our home is burning to the ground.  No world has ever existed like the one we have created and I personally feel it is an injustice to just be thrown away for no clear reason.

Disney has the tools, the resources, the loyality to its customers and the commitment to quality worthy of respect.  It is perhaps the one company that can truly Save City of Heroes.  Likewise, we are a tremendous untapped potential that could bring large profits to their portfolio.

Help bring about a new Renaissance.  Help save a City.  Help a friend in his hour of need.  We are Heroes, this is what we do.

The Future is never set in stone,

Jeffrey "Graphite" Martinez

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,6354.0.html

[Lily Barclay]

Dear (Insert Executive here),

Please consider purchasing City of Heroes. Our beloved family game is set to be discontinued on November 30, 2012 by its current publisher, the South Korean company NCSoft. The only reason the company gave our community for the cancellation of the game was  that it was "a realignment of company focus". We are not sure if this realignment represents a focus away from the Western market, or away from family friendly games in general. Perhaps both. Regardless, I feel Disney understands how important superheroes are to Americans and how widely marketable they can be across the globe. To me, Disney is the definition of entertainment that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

I do have a personal stake in this. City of Heroes is the only MMO I feel comfortable allowing my eleven year old daughter to play. This is because of both the appropriateness of the game content, and because of the generally friendly, polite, and mature nature of the game's community. I also like that this game gives my daughter a tremendous outlet for her creativity. Even at nine years old she wrote a biography for each of her characters.  She gets excited every time a new costume is available for her to create for her character. (Extra costumes are available every 10th level starting at 20.) She loves the music in the game and wishes it were for sale.

We play this game together and have fun for hours.  She also plays with my husband. I am easily frustrated by console games, and we just don't have fun playing them. Please help this wonderful game to continue. City of Heroes was not well cared for under NCSoft. It received a marketing budget of $0 for two years and still remained viable enough to fund itself, other projects, and still turn a profit. I can only dream of what it would do in Disney's capable hands. I would love the chance to buy City of Heroes products and toys in our local Disney store. The fans of City of Heroes usually have to make our own City of Heroes knick knacks, because there is so little out there for purchase.

I also think that City of Heroes is so rich in lore and character development that Disney could make some excellent movies out of it. I would love to see this! I also dream of buying tickets to a Paragon City theme park. I can think of no studio more capable of doing justice to the IP.

Disney takes care of its IPs. Disney loves every IP it owns and is an excellent steward to all of them. Please consider becoming the steward of our game as well. As a community we have done everything we can to save City of Heroes. Now we turn to you and humbly ask you to help us save the #1, triple A, superhero MMO City of Heroes. We are Heroes, this is what we do. We are Parents, this is what we do. We are Children, this is what we do. We are Families, this is what we do.

Save CoH

Thank you for taking the time to read this. That alone is another example of how much Disney cares about its customers. I am already one, but would love to be an even bigger one by paying Disney for everything City of Heroes.

Sincerely,



And here is what my daughter wrote.

https://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h196/Liliana_Warsaw/daughterdisneyletter.jpg