Author Topic: And NC says...  (Read 74700 times)

DrakeGrimm

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #200 on: October 03, 2012, 08:02:15 AM »
Not after only 33 days. Negotations can take months to settle on a price. No price has even been introduced so I understand, and investment groups have been ignored. If they set a price, they did so without ever offering it to those able to meet it.

* DrakeGrimm spittakes


Wait, HOW many days?
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downix

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #201 on: October 03, 2012, 08:05:32 AM »
* DrakeGrimm spittakes


Wait, HOW many days?
33. That is how many days since the announcement.

DrakeGrimm

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #202 on: October 03, 2012, 08:08:00 AM »
33. That is how many days since the announcement.

...and nobody finds that number auspicious?
We are the crazy ones, the mavericks, the dreamers, the forgotten sons. We color outside the lines for fun. We are the crazy ones! - "The Crazy Ones," Stellar Revival

"We put ourselves in "the attitude of heroes"--and we all became a little more heroic." - VV

emu265

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #203 on: October 03, 2012, 08:14:22 AM »
...and nobody finds that number auspicious?
Well, yes.  Obviously.  But even if they did do it on purpose, what would it possibly mean?  That they -really- hate us?

DrakeGrimm

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #204 on: October 03, 2012, 08:16:23 AM »
Well, yes.  Obviously.  But even if they did do it on purpose, what would it possibly mean?  That they -really- hate us?

Yes. >.>
We are the crazy ones, the mavericks, the dreamers, the forgotten sons. We color outside the lines for fun. We are the crazy ones! - "The Crazy Ones," Stellar Revival

"We put ourselves in "the attitude of heroes"--and we all became a little more heroic." - VV

Quinch

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #205 on: October 03, 2012, 08:25:12 AM »
So... you're uninstalling Guild Wars, a game you already paid for, thus giving them money for a service that costs them nothing to provide? I say play the hell out of it 24/7 without paying a dime extra.  Consume server resources.

...or were you going to uninstall it, download it again, uninstall it again, etc, etc.... driving up their bandwidth costs? That might work as well... *



* I do not encourage malicious attacks like this- solo, organized, or part of a botnet storm.  As others have said, wait for word from the official parties and stay as positive.

Another, possibly better way to use it is to tell people in GW what happened to CoH - because it's a NCsoft game, and because it will happen to them probably sooner than later, they should know. Just, y'know, don't be obnoxious about it.

johnrobey

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #206 on: October 03, 2012, 09:07:25 AM »

NCSoft,

We wanted to let you know that your message has been heard and your concerns have been taken into serious considertion.  We appreciate your response and acknowledgement of our emails, notes and packages we've sent in support of the game.  Closing Paragon Studios and shutting down City of Heroes should not have been easy. Bad decisions never should be, and this was a monumentally bad decision.  Bad for your creative teams, who now operate under the uncertainty of an overseer that doesn't seem rational or consistent. Bad for your shareholders, who have been deprived a positive revenue source, both current and future. Bad for your players, who have entrusted you with the custodianship of the social network.  Bad for your reputation, which continues to be tarnished by your demonstrated lack of the consistent and stable behavior a successful service provider must offer. Bad for the individual players who have brought our own creations to life within this online world.  You have been given options that would dissolve your relationship with City of Heroes and Paragon Studios in a way that preserves that community, reassembles as much of the development team as possible, leaves our creative contributions intact, and possibly even provides compensation for your shareholders.   You have continued to make bad decisions by rejecting those options. 

You say your options are exhausted.

We have not exhausted all our options.  We will provide opportunities to save yourselves from your own folly.  We will celebrate the work of the development studio you so abruptly dissolved.  We will demonstrate the value and strength of the community you are working to destroy. Should NCSoft come around and find an amicable resolution, we will recognize the merits of your actions.  Should you not, we will warn everyone we know everywhere we go of the hazards of placing any trust in NCSoft, protecting others as best we can. 

We are heroes. This is what we do.




(at least, this is what I was going to post.... not sure if I should use TonyV's signature line.)

I very much like what you said in your post, ChaseArcanum.  While NCSoft may be all business, so are we!!  And our motivation is not maximizing our portfolios or profits but the love all enthusiasts have for their chosen hobby.  (Note, one definition of "hobby" is "obsession".)   I imagine NCSoft did NOT anticipate this reaction to their decision to "sunset" City of Heroes, and callously laying off the Paragon Studios development team late Friday afternoon of Labor Day Weekend (U.S.) with no warning probably made sense to bean-counters (accountants) with no vision or thought to the harm NCSoft is doing to its reputation as a MMO publisher, nor what impact this decision and how they handle the on-going situation may make to their future financial prospects in this industry.

As others have pointed out, NCSoft upper managment did NOT work with Paragon Studios; there was no hint that anything was amiss, or that NCSoft needed more profit from CoH (if in fact that's the issue).  Nor were steps taken or even explored that I know of to work with the CoH Community to make CoH a product still considered viable by NCSoft.  As we all know, new Powersets and other market items were released just 10 days prior to the shutdown notice.  Maybe I'm naive, but this seems a very strange way to  run a business.  I've worked for and gotten laid off from companies that went out of business, but always we employees knew/were told by management that things weren't looking good, and everyone worked harder to save our jobs and the business.  Steps could have been taken.  Certainly the dev team should have been in the loop that their jobs were on the line.  NCSoft and the Studio could/should have explored via Community Relations ways to reach NCSoft's goals.  But no one with enough clout at NCSoft did this.  I hope NCSoft gets a clue, quickly, that stonewalling us with silence is counter-productive since it leads only to speculation (some quite unflattering) in how this business decision was reached.  They also should clue in that their recent actions are opposite to and fly in the face of their stated Core Values:  http://global.ncsoft.com/global/aboutus/visiongoals.aspx   Rather than promoting Happiness (or even mere Enjoyment) what NCSoft did and HOW they did this has provoked Grief reactions ranging from sorrow to anger, and turned the publisher into the biggest Arch-Villain ever to menace Paragon City.  Joy-killers! Sorrow-bringers! are epithets NCSoft is earning by its actions.  Yet, they still have a chance to turn this around and salvage this debacle, if only they have the wisdom to do so, and demonstrate with integrity the values they profess.

Pessimistically, I expect NCSoft to revert to more silent stonewalling, especially now when today's PR tactic has backfired and encourages us to continue our efforts to save City of Heroes.  Stonewalling would be a mistake typical of Top-down management.  Despite the fact that we fans are remain upset, NCSoft still has a Golden Opportunity to reach out to us, to work with us, to craft a Win-Win scenario so that we CoH enthusiasts can continue what we love in a way that helps NCSoft reach corporate objectives. 

I can imagine articles published months from now about this our "darkest hour",  about the creative and constructive Community response (in addition to our fan outrage and unhappiness), and how NCSoft rose to the challenge courageously and worked WITH the Community of fans (and previously loyal customers!)  If NCSoft has the vision and foresight to do this, I can imagine them coming out better than ever, re-establishing trust, and adding a layer of patina rather than deeper tarnish to their corporation.

Meanwhile, the pessimist in me believes they'll "raise the drawbridge" and retreat further into their corporate castle of isolation.  That said, What are the next steps Tony and Mr W for figuratively storming the castle walls?  I was rather impressed with the CNN iReporting and Cresting Twitter Trends, as well as other suggestions on these forums--but then, I may be easily impressed.  ;-)
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Dr Shadow

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #207 on: October 03, 2012, 12:13:15 PM »
To everyone that is saying we should boycott NCsoft...

I'm not suggesting boycotting them, by all means, if you want to buy their products do so. However, I may buy one or three items  of their biggest competitors products to show my displeasure. With the biggest shopping season OF THE YEAR approaching, I would think the PR  nightmare of being the Grinch that stole Christmas isn't going to do their bottom line any good.
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Frostyfrozen

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #208 on: October 03, 2012, 12:41:17 PM »
Hello all just wanted to throw this you're way. On a idea I checked out South Korea  national holidays and they have 2 in the first 4 days. So maybe the talks did stop but not for said reasons lol For they really out visiting family and friends? And hoping to demoralize us in this window?

chaparralshrub

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #209 on: October 03, 2012, 01:07:56 PM »
Anyone know anyone at Chicago's Oriental Institute?  Or just in Chicago?  They are usually really good at answering questions like this over the phone.

The University of Chicago's Oriental Institute is an archeology museum focused on the ancient Middle-East (Egypt, Mesopotamia). I don't think they could help us.

dwturducken

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #210 on: October 03, 2012, 01:21:01 PM »
I don't know. One of the things on my list is to email the guy who was best man at my wedding. He works at UofC while finishes his disertation. He's spent a few months a year in China for the past ten years and has a fresher perspective on this than my book learnin'. :)
I wouldn't use the word "replace," but there's no word for "take over for you and make everything better almost immediately," so we just say "replace."

Greg Lloyd

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #211 on: October 03, 2012, 01:29:49 PM »
The University of Chicago's Oriental Institute is an archeology museum focused on the ancient Middle-East (Egypt, Mesopotamia). I don't think they could help us.

Maybe they can send a swarm of mummies or something.
What's the collective noun for mummies? Pride, nest... a preservation of mummies!
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Segev

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #212 on: October 03, 2012, 01:38:27 PM »
Business card, with a six-sided die in each corner, each with 4 pips showing.

In red ink, the text on the card reads, "NCSoft.\n The Game Killer has taken the Left-Hand Path."



Better still if somebody can re-arrange the text into a haiku. Or, if Korea has a similarly iconic poetic form, better still in that form.

Vulpy

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #213 on: October 03, 2012, 01:48:47 PM »
Business card, with a six-sided die in each corner, each with 4 pips showing.

In red ink, the text on the card reads, "NCSoft.\n The Game Killer has taken the Left-Hand Path."

Better still if somebody can re-arrange the text into a haiku. Or, if Korea has a similarly iconic poetic form, better still in that form.

That sounds more like an organized crime death threat than a message of protest to this little fox...
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Segev

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #214 on: October 03, 2012, 01:50:53 PM »
Hm. Perhaps you're right. I am not sufficiently versed in the subtleties of the symbols to know exactly how to nuance them. But concern over sounding like a threat of violence is a reason I deliberately do not suggest putting any persons' names on there. We do kind-of want to threaten NCSoft's reputation's health.

Rae

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #215 on: October 03, 2012, 01:59:15 PM »
It's..bull, isn't it? How do they figure they 'exhausted the options to sell the studio' when they dismantled it the same day they announced they were closing COH?

I'd love to know what they did to try and sell Paragon Studios, or to try and sell the IP, like they claim they have. And if they were 'options' not 'option' they didn't exactly give it much time for other negotiations to take if they had managed to 'exhaust' one route.

I bet it took them a week to write that press release and get it signed off, too.

Ugh. I don't know whether to cry or kick things.



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Segev

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #216 on: October 03, 2012, 02:03:25 PM »
Neither! There are numerous calls to action (And I know you've volunteered in at least one event), so participate in those or, if you've done all you can think of for them for now, there's always /em holdtorch.

Actually, that's one of the calls to action, if you can get a torch-like icon to hold aloft IRL and take a picture!

StarRanger4

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #217 on: October 03, 2012, 02:31:24 PM »
I'm guessing option #3...they've likely gone into panic mode, not anticipating the entirely negative reactions they've been getting...and they now know just how big a hornet's nest they've stirred up....  :D

 Well, at least part of what we're seeing here seems to be an offshoot of this:

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/south-korea-country-profile.html

The Concept of Kibun

. Kibun is a word with no literal English translation; the closest terms are pride, face, mood, feelings, or state of mind.
. If you hurt someone's kibun you hurt their pride, cause them to lose dignity, and lose face. Korean interpersonal relationships operate on the principle of harmony.
. It is important to maintain a peaceful, comfortable atmosphere at all times, even if it means telling a "white lie".
. Kibun enters into every facet of Korean life.
. It is important to know how to judge the state of someone else's kibun, how to avoid hurting it, and how to keep your own kibun at the same time.
. In business, a manager's kibun is damaged if his subordinates do not show proper respect. A subordinate's kibun is damaged if his manager criticizes him in public.
. Nunchi is the ability to determine another person's kibun by using the eye.
. Since this is a culture where social harmony is crucial, being able to judge another person's state of mind is critical to maintain the person's kibun.
. Nunchi is accomplished by watching body language and listening to the tone of voice as well as what is said.

It seems that the key here is that they have, in fact, told what they see as a little white lie in order to try and restore Kibun between us and them.

The problem is that they've really gone about it the wrong way.

Vulpy

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #218 on: October 03, 2012, 02:35:07 PM »
It seems that the key here is that they have, in fact, told what they see as a little white lie in order to try and restore Kibun between us and them.

To reject such an attempt risks damaging social harmony. Assuming for a moment that the statement is, in fact, not entirely true, evidence of falsehood would be very awkward for all parties involved.
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DamianoV

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Re: And NC says...
« Reply #219 on: October 03, 2012, 02:39:22 PM »
If there are negotiations going on under confidentiality agreement or NDA (and NCSoft signed any that were binding upon themselves), they may just have broken said agreement... which could be valuable to any of the other parties negotiating with them, in terms of how they might proceed with their own PR posture.

Just a random thought.