I have revised mine slightly in a more "allow NCSoft to save face" theme, and sent it on directly - even though I know Mercedes has probably already sent the original one, I thought the revised one was...more conducive to allowing NCSoft a path to save face by making a compromise.
Here's the revised version. It requires slightly more kleenex than the original one.
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.
