A response to NCsoft

[Rejuvenatrix]

TonyV...once again, I applaud you!  You are a special kind of awesome, and we are most fortunate to have you spearheading this effort.  Very well said! *standing ovation*

[P51mus]

Or Nexon will sell it to us.

Right, something.  If we can't negotiate with current leadership, then perhaps we can hurt them enough to force new leadership of some sort that will.

Getting the notice of shareholders and getting noticed in Korea would help with that.  And just spreading awareness in general.

[aerom13]

Thank you!  I've linked this on my tumblr.

[MacGuyver]

I am uncomfortable about the idea of hurting them big and then expecting to get CoH out of it at the end. We are not talking about a U.S. company. There are numerous intercultural and international issues potentially at play. Of course U.S. businesses buy and kill competitors and/or their products all the time.

Not to mention if you tick someone off they might just shelve the CoH IP indefinitely just to spite everyone.

[DrakeGrimm]

I am uncomfortable about the idea of hurting them big and then expecting to get CoH out of it at the end. We are not talking about a U.S. company. There are numerous intercultural and international issues potentially at play. Of course U.S. businesses buy and kill competitors and/or their products all the time.

Not to mention if you tick someone off they might just shelve the CoH IP indefinitely just to spite everyone.

On the flip side...NCSoft has to be careful, lest they rouse a sleeping giant.


(Yes, I know, it was Japan who said that in WWII. The point sticks.)

[P51mus]

I am uncomfortable about the idea of hurting them big and then expecting to get CoH out of it at the end.

They're already in the process of killing CoH.  Really, it can't get worse.

[eeek]

I think it would be great if we went old school. Get a full page add in a major korean paper "Dear NCsoft, You forgot an option! The City of Heroes community would like to buy their game back." 

HAHAHA!  I would totally donate money to this fund!   In my imagination, I'm seeing full-page ads coming out every 3 days or so:

2nd ad:  REWARD FOR SAFE RETURN!
              City of Heroes game last seen in vicinity of NCSoft.  No questions asked upon safe return!

3rd ad:  Dear NCSoft, apparently your reply to us has been lost in the mail.  Please resend to... (copy list of 20,000+ signatures.)



(Ok, my imagination apparently doesn't continue much further than a week at 6:48 am)

[Vulpy]

My memory for names is bad to begin with, so forgive me for not recalling...

Does anybody remember who was doing the "1000 cranes" project? THAT might be best sent to Nexon, in Japan, rather than to NCSoft, if we're going to double-prong this next effort.

Good thinking! Unfortunately, I only make origami snowballs.

Edit: Found the post in question.

[OzonePrime]

On the flip side...NCSoft has to be careful, lest they rouse a sleeping giant.


(Yes, I know, it was Japan who said that in WWII. The point sticks.)

 Yes, they could fill them with a terrible resolve!

[Manga]

Or Nexon will sell it to us.

I believe the tactic you and P51 are referring to could be a *hostile takeover* - the forced buyout or replacement of board and/or management by stockholder vote.  Usually just the threat of it will change the behavior of a publicly traded company; the risk is that their behavior will become worse in order to poison the stock.  Since they've already done the worst to us CoH players, though, it's not likely to affect us badly at all.  But whether or not it affects the stockholders badly is what would drive that kind of decision.

In short, that kind of threat could lead to NCSoft selling CoH to anyone just to get rid of its toxicity.  Or if they're illogical and stubborn enough, it could lead to them digging in even more, and clinging to it as it drags them to destruction, just to prove that they're still right.  The risk is, if they're willing to go that far to prove they're right, they will drag all their other titles down with them.

[Segev]

If they went the route of dragging their other titles down with them, the problem for them becomes that the "poison pill" strategy only works if the hostile takeover force wants them in good health. If the hostile takeover force wants a particular property that they can't make any worse, it just makes them all the cheaper to forcibly buy out.

[Atlantea]

The risk is, if they're willing to go that far to prove they're right, they will drag all their other titles down with them.

Well then, that's THEIR fault, not ours.

And the observation that we would be able to pull the COH IP out of the wreckage applies to all the OTHER games they've killed as well!

*DING*

*/em LIGHTBULB!!!!*

I wonder... I'm not sure if it's been mentioned before. But has anyone thought of contacting Richard Garriott?.

The guy got 32 MILLION dollars from NCSoft over the whole Tabula Rasa debacle. But he didn't get his GAME back.

I wonder if he'd be willing to join with our cause?

What level of involvement would be best for him? Would he be most useful as a vocal supporter of the cause who can provide a cautionary tale that dovetails with our own?

Would he be willing to provide FUNDING for efforts at Public Relations for our efforts? 32 Million dollars - surely he has at least half of that money after taxes? Assume he's got at least 5-10 million he can use towards interesting projects... like - oh, say, gleefully putting a stick in the eye of the company that killed Tabula Rasa? Or putting enough money in the hands of people like us that we can have a bigger stick (bigger stick = HUGE advertisements in newspapers and gaming magazines in both America and Korea, or maybe enough money for those stock options? )

Assume one of our arguments in contacting him would be the possibility of getting Tabula Rasa back at some point as alluded to above? Or at the very least, in making himself look good by being a "White Knight" that makes sure what happened to T.R. doesn't happen again? Hey - the man's a wacky dude with a wacky size ego. Enlightened self-interest after all DOES make the world go around!

(In Bill Murray Voice)
 
"If we're wrong, nothing happens! We go to other games - peacefully, quietly. We'll enjoy it! But if we're *right*, and we *can* stop this thing...  Richard... Lord British... you will have saved the characters and accounts of hundreds of thousands of paying customers...



(Yes, yes, I know that it would mostly be TonyV who got the ball rolling on this whole thing and no implied disrespect intended etc. Instead, think of the above as an example of the "appeal to ego" I was talking about. As well as combining humor with inspiration. ^_^ )

[TonyV]

[Segev]

Alright. If we're going a bit more aggressively negative, then we have VV's letter in another thread which we should make sure has a sort of "time bomb leak" built in so they're aware it will get published in, say, a major Seoul or national S. Korean newspaper as a full-page ad.

The suggestion of contacting Richart Garriott in conjunction with the idea of buying enough stock to "make ourselves heard" made in another thread could have some traction, but those who participated in THAT action would have to be willing to risk the stock plummeting in value and even gaining a 1% voting bloc would still get ignored. Though admittedly, a unified 1% voting bloc would be enough that other shareholders might at least pay attention. (I should note that, using some very rough guestimates and a few numbers I had available, it would cost 20,000 people an average of $3,800 or $7,600 each to obtain that 1% share, which I'd bet most of the 20,000 petitioners can't afford.)

But it's something to consider.

[Quinch]

"If we're wrong, nothing happens! We go to other games - peacefully, quietly. We'll enjoy it! But if we're *right*, and we *can* stop this thing...  Richard... Lord British... you will have saved the characters and accounts of hundreds of thousands of paying customers...

Does anyone know if there's ever been a point in history that didn't have an appropriate Ghostbusters quote?

[Rae]

I wonder... I'm not sure if it's been mentioned before. But has anyone thought of contacting Richard Garriott?.

The guy got 32 MILLION dollars from NCSoft over the whole Tabula Rasa debacle. But he didn't get his GAME back.

I wonder if he'd be willing to join with our cause?

I did think about it, and I got as far as finding a contact page for him, and no further. Hope this helps.

http://richardgarriott.com/contact/

Yes, I googled. I am both useful AND technologically awesome.

[Atlantea]

Does anyone know if there's ever been a point in history that didn't have an appropriate Ghostbusters quote?

If there is, I haven't found it yet.

[Segev]

I did think about it, and I got as far as finding a contact page for him, and no further. Hope this helps.

http://richardgarriott.com/contact/

Yes, I googled. I am both useful AND technologically awesome.

Thank you! This could be quite useful.

[Atlantea]

*DING*

*/em Lightbulb!* (yes - again)

Would it help in contacting Richard Garriott if we got our own wordsmith Mercedes Lackey to lend her talents putting together an intro letter to him? TonyV is no slouch in that department AT ALL, in fact he's fantastic! But hey - a little celebrity never hurts either!

(Maybe if we're lucky he or some of his family or friens have read her books?)

[Atlantea]