State of the Titan

[TonyV]

[DrakeGrimm]

My talents, my abilities, are limited, Tony...but you've led us fairly thus far and earned my faith, respect, and confidence. Whatever option winds up being the future of CoH and the community, you have my pen at your disposal, for it is the mightiest weapon in my arsenal.

[Segev]

My tenuous options and connections - and I must stress that they are long shots - will need more information than I now have to be...persuadable. I need to get in touch with either NCSoft or Paragon Studios people who can share a bit more about exactly what the pitfalls facing the current negotiations are. Money is only a problem because I would be asking them for major investment. Their main focus and expertise is not in the gaming industry, but they are very good at getting a company running in an administrative side. From my research and sources, their main success at this is knowing how to facilitate the business administration issues where a property is not adept while otherwise leaving it to do what it did that made them want to buy it.

I want to see CoH continue, and I would love to be involved in seeing it happen because I see tremendous potential for my oh-so-tenuous connection. But I need enough to be taken seriously on all sides. And I am aware that my current position lacks the firm ties that would make me seem a valuable source. So, any suggested contacts who can share information are requested. I will strive again to reach out through the networking tools I have to get this info, but I hope some better-informed forumites might have some suggestions. Until I get some traction, I cannot honestly claim to represent any agency other than myself. I hope to change that with some traction.

As always, I am impressed with what Tony and the Titan Network have accomplished so far. They have been probably the largest source of information I've been able to glean thus far.  If I can help, I hope to learn what is needed so I may offer my skills and my long-shot contacts with the best chance of success. If not...I hope others can help sufficiently with their much more-appropriate resources.

Sincerely,
Segev

[Zolgar]

I have no connections in this industry, nor do I have financial means.. or even the skills to really write.

... but if you ever need something lit on fire, let me know!

[DrakeGrimm]

I have no connections in this industry, nor do I have financial means.. or even the skills to really write.

... but if you ever need something lit on fire, let me know!

...no really, he's a professional! (No. Really.)

[NecrotechMaster]

you guys at titan have been doing an amazing job coordinating this whole rescue effort, i would offer leads if i could but i have basically no connections

[Electric-Knight]

Thanks, Tony.
I'm just settling down after a long day and night, so all I am going to say right now is that I am right there with ya. My outlook and interest is not phased at all and I'll be ready to do whatever we can through November 30th and beyond, if need be.
My own skills aren't much good for us other than possibly some artistic and/or thoughtful inspiration (hopefully I'll have some CoH related stuff finished soon to maybe motivate people a bit and/or keep the word out there).
I've been busy working on a new album and multimedia show of my own, but I am trying to fit in time to get some videos and such done to help our cause.

Anyway, just wanted to show my support and that I'm here for the long haul.

[emu265]

Thanks for the post, Tony.  I was wondering what the state of Titan was, given the recent news.  The three options we have aren't the best.  But... I am comforted by the fact that reverse engineering the game is possible, and I see it as a last resort if we can't figure anything else out. 

Being said, I'd like to see Paragon City in the hands of qualified individuals dedicated to seeing it live and thrive.  I believe the best people for the job would be us, the community, and Titan Network.  However, that seems to me to be the most arduous option.  I believe the perfect middle ground would be acquisition by another studio.  Risky, but I feel it's worth it. 

Again, thanks for calming my nerves Tony.  Back to work, everyone!

[blue storm]

Thanks Tony.

re: solution 3 (reverse engineering)
1/ NCSoft effectively issued cease and desist letters to Infinte Rasa, which was a private effort to create Tabula Rasa private servers after the game had been shut down...

2/ traffic analysis is probably very important in that matter and the more data you collect, the better, should we all start capturing data with wireshark for example (I have a couple of sessions already captured myself) ?

3/ if traffic analysis is important : should we complement each pcap file with a demofile (to ensure proper understanding of what was actually going on ?

4/ how should this information be transmitted to the team in charge of reverse engineering ?

[downix]

It is easy to feel defeated. But no one is ever defeated until they give up.

I am Blaster! No matter how many times I may fall in battle, I will pop my tray of rez, I will use Rise of the Phoenix, I will hit the hospital, until the battle is won!

[SithRose]

You know where I'm working, Tony. You've got my red pen and all. (I'd say axe, but that's not so helpful when working with computers...)

[The-Hunter-JLJ]

You know where I'm working, Tony. You've got my red pen and all. (I'd say axe, but that's not so helpful when working with computers...)

You're a software guy, I can tell. An axe is essential on the hardware side...

[Premmy]

Why exactly is the potential for Paragon Studios to go independent with outside financial backing(I.e. not necessarily from a  game  publisher) not on the table at the moment?

[Codewalker]

Why exactly is the potential for Paragon Studios to go independent with outside financial backing(I.e. not necessarily from a  game  publisher) not on the table at the moment?

That's Plan A, the "perfect world" scenario that Tony mentioned he was hoping for, but is looking less likely as time goes on. It's still possible, either with or without the City of Heroes IP, but if it's without then they'd be limited to making other games from scratch.

[SithRose]

You're a software guy, I can tell. An axe is essential on the hardware side...

I have in fact used an axe to demolish a computer before.

It was a non-functional computer and the purpose was to get the obnoxious upstairs neighbors to turn their rap down because I had a migraine....but it worked. For several months.

I like hardware better than software. This may or may not be a holdover from having to tell people to open their cupholder to insert the installation disc for their scanner...more than once. No, it's not an urban legend.

I think I'll stick with the writing, editing, and general "But why is this a good idea" questions over in Plan Z. And sewing capes.

[Mentalshock]

We knew from the beginning that our chances of success were very slim, but all that does is make the effort even more significant.  Whatever comes, we can be content that we tried.

[Segev]

I still think the "Paragon Studios reformed with support from a parent company" solution is the most likely to succeed. I have gotten little to know feedback here to my inquiries, so I will go back to other methods of prodding directly. Unfortunately, I have no clue how to prod the Paragon Studios side of the negotiations, and worry that NCSoft is the wrong side of it to be looking for information from. Better, I think, to see what Paragon Studios needs from a potential partner than to open up what might be seen as a competing bid (which is NOT the goal).

[Moonfyire101]

I will be of no help here becuase coding gives me a headache. I can build and fix a computer but i won't program one...Sorry, if there is anything i can do besides coding count me in!

Also, yes axe, it comes in handy now and again.

[Beodren]

I was troubled by all the problems with IP, and mentioning it would be one big problem... BUT!
As an European i was amused by one term in American law ,,fair use" which allowed to distribution derivative work (including animations and games...) under banner of fair use. One of them being library archivisation and other research.

As insane as it may sound, player driven game is something new, usntable and would we form a common front, typical research project, about social behavior, as many people here noticed it is breakthrough as far as gaming communities go.

Of course, it would be problematic would we aim for profit from the game, but, forming of foundation (as I believe, one of the mods suggested) with following idea in mind, could be an option.

I of course, would be glad to chip in for such foundation. With all tools created by Titan it could be in depth research, gaining a bit of insight into ability of gamers to co-ordinate and create interesting enviromnet based on first hand experience instead of analysis and following market trends. I also think one of the articles noticed how innovative solution it is.

Stil, as an outsider, I am not sure how far we could go with that, but as far as I am concerned, especially backing up our choice of lore picked with great community following (therefore most promising to success) I would dare saying we have a chance. One of law specialists could be very useful here though ^^'

Also, please pardon me if I was babbling or harming english language, as it is my second language. I would appreciate any form of feedback.

[Moonfyire101]

If the game is FTP yes, we can host it as fair use. The second we charge for anything we're in deep trouble. Perfect example of this is the server for Diablo 2 which you can play the "Laz Mod". Laz mods the game to add new content and a website hosts the servers for us to play. That's a nice thought but we wouldn't beable to pay anyone for new upgrades and stuff. Guess playing it at all is better then not though. And i'm not sure how people can afford to keep the servers up and running if they host for free but somehow they do.