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Current position/Update

Started by Ammon, November 03, 2012, 11:51:29 AM

Ammon

We could really use a status report if Tony is well enough to spare the time.

Meantime, let's see where we are, and what needs doing right now, or in the next few days.


As always, priority number one is to keep increasing the volume.  Keep the story of our fight and plight in the news wherever we can.  Everyone can help in this as simply as linking to stories from their twitter, facebook, or Google+ accounts whenever they appear, which all helps make the stories more visible.  Additionally, the appearance of lots of links and mentions actually incentivises more coverage by the media (Let them think: If we cover this story, hundreds of people will link to us and send more readers?  Let's do it!).


We appear to have a confirmation of an asking price, although it still seems a little fuzzy just what that price would include.  $80 million has been stated as the price in question, which while ridiculously high, is at least a starting point, and puts us in a far better position to work from than having no idea whether NCsoft were willing to part with it at any price.


Our efforts to apply pressure to NCsoft where it counts - financially - are looking to be having some effect, but it needs to be clearer to everyone that doubts about the negative press, and NCsoft managerial decisions, are affecting the share prices.  More forums where gamers are claiming doubts about buying into NCsoft, hesitating to buy NCsoft games also help here.


So far we have, at least here, managed to remain determined rather than petty.  We need to keep this going, as we can't afford to alienate future or current borderline supporters by seeming to be sufferers of nerdrage, or unrealistic people with an overdevelopped sense of entitlement.  We need to remain passionate, sure, but it must always seem logical and fair too.  There is nothing wrong with uniting as customers to demand better service, and that's how we should be seen.  The ultimate 'right' of any people is to rebel and change the system.  Sure, ours is a very small-scale rebellion in the grand scheme, but I think we can be seen to be just as concerned about freedom, and being heard as any noble rebels ever were.  Just let's all remain focussed on being passionate rebels, not terrorists.


In general, it should be clear that we do not expect for the closure of COH on 30th November to be stopped.  Its is almost certain, barring divine intervention or similar miracle, that the servers will turn off.  However, this is expected and part of our plan, and better, helps us.  NCsoft's decision makers honestly and fully expect that they only need to hold out til then.  That when the servers go down, the fight is over.  As a result, when that does not happen, our fight becomes far more effective.  It shows them that there is no end to this until it is settled.  It can't be burried.  That then only leaves them reconsidering how to fix the problem, with no doubt at all that there is a problem for them, and one that will require fixing (and that always costs somewhere, whether that is paying for PR, paying for advertising, or writing something off as a cheaper expense).


In general, we can feel quite positive.  We have already pushed NCsoft to make some public statements and otherwise pushed the issue to where someone is being paid to address it (its costing them, even if not much yet).  They will likely try to bury their heads in the sand a little more (trust me, old-school marketing and business loathes to admit that times and practices have changed, and that the customers have a lot more power thanks to the internet).  The thing is that NCsoft are a business, and that makes them pretty predictable.  For them, the motive is always money (short term or long), and we as their market, and gamers connected to all of their markets, have power there.


We have also potentially opened up yet another possibility.  I've spoken about the power of negative PR, and VV has shown an incredible offer of positive PR.  Well, an initial asking price point of 80 million, if this does include the code, could easily mean that with just a little more pressure, NCsoft would more than gladly leap at an offer of $20 million (still a LOT of money), but $20 million is something a large enough company could offer JUST to buy the publicity we've been working on building.  Many of the big companies are spending far more than $20 million each month just in TV advertising for their latest games, so ... this could flag up as a possible alternative method of advertising and promoting.

Again, this is all dependant on keeping the PR rolling, and the publicity growing.


If others have anything else to add to the 'update' at the moment, please do.  If nothing else it may make Tony's job a bit easier when he can give us an official update. :)

Artillerie

Very much agree with all of the above. I have recently posted on Facebook stating my belief that the real fight will start after november 30th. When NCSoft realise that the bad PR is not stopping at this point, a lot of people in the company are going to be asking themselves if the cost of hanging onto the IP is worth it in the end.

This is the message that we have to spread around as much as we can because a lot of people are going to lose heart come the 30th. Those of us who can carry on will have to take on some of this pressure and offer reassurance to the others who feel that it it all over.

To quote Churchill : Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Knightslayer

Quote from: Ammon on November 03, 2012, 11:51:29 AM
We have also potentially opened up yet another possibility.  I've spoken about the power of negative PR, and VV has shown an incredible offer of positive PR.  Well, an initial asking price point of 80 million, if this does include the code, could easily mean that with just a little more pressure, NCsoft would more than gladly leap at an offer of $20 million (still a LOT of money), but $20 million is something a large enough company could offer JUST to buy the publicity we've been working on building.  Many of the big companies are spending far more than $20 million each month just in TV advertising for their latest games, so ... this could flag up as a possible alternative method of advertising and promoting.

Again, this is all dependant on keeping the PR rolling, and the publicity growing.
I like that, and it makes sense - it would show them as being the heroes of the day, and I imagine a lot of sites would cover the story. :D


Mister Bison

Quote from: Artillerie on November 03, 2012, 02:34:16 PMTo quote Churchill : Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
And look at the name of whom I'm quoting from :roll:

Thanks for the update, especially the price tag.
Yeeessss....

emu265

I agree with all of what you said.  But I was curious about a status update myself.  Tony's been so quiet I actually stalked his most recent posts >.> 

LuchRi

New to the forum, Actually just made this account to add my thoughts and support to the fight. CoH was the first MMO that didn't feel bland and meaningless to me. Te first one where I did not have to worry about keeping level with friends or Grinding boringly for hours on end. Reading this abates many of the things I worried about most. However there is one additional factor that we have to consider.

I have many GW playing friends. They like GW, and many of them seem to feel that we are over-reacting. The argument seems to be that NCsoft owns the IP and we should just find a new MMO. I know many people who may wish to spam or troll at such words, but I think one of the best things we can do right now is to explain to people, individually, why this is wrong.

As has been said over and over anger will get us nowhere. NCsoft right now is starting to see that their call for this game was a bad one, but they also seem confident in the fact that their new and upcoming titles will offset the losses. We need to appeal individually and en mass to those who use or wish to use NCsoft. Try to explain to them in a friendly and rational matter how it could be their game next, how they could lose an investment with little warning. This isn't like picking up a new game with some DLC from a store. If another Megaman or Monster rancher game never comes out I personally would be very sad, but I still have the ones I own. The same is true for others I am sure. With an MMO though if it goes down it goes down for good and few get the nice, dedicated private servers games like PSO may enjoy when the company no longer cares about the IP.

People need to realize that so long as NCsoft behaves like this, so long as they continue to pull games entirly, all the work and all the effort and all the enjoyment could be gone in an instant due to the short sighted whims of those who may not even care about the game itself.

We are the players, and we are the ones this affects most.

TimtheEnchanter

Quote from: emu265 on November 03, 2012, 08:00:41 PM
I agree with all of what you said.  But I was curious about a status update myself.  Tony's been so quiet I actually stalked his most recent posts >.>

I did as well. Noticed most of them were in the Plan-Z forum. Doesn't seem like a good sign.

Ammon

Quote from: LuchRi on November 04, 2012, 03:02:50 AMNew to the forum, Actually just made this account to add my thoughts and support to the fight.
Welcome to the forum.  We're glad you added your thoughts and support to the fight.  :)

emu265

Quote from: TimtheEnchanter on November 04, 2012, 03:04:59 AM
I did as well. Noticed most of them were in the Plan-Z forum. Doesn't seem like a good sign.
I'm not gonna read too much into it, but it could mean anything. I highly doubt Tony would give up on the "save" part without telling us :)

JaguarX

Reply to Ammon:
After checking the link, I hate to say, it don't seem much of a confirmation. It seems to be "I heard from a source that I trust the offer was 80 million." Which raises a few questions of is this source actually a reputable source? Who is this source? If this source has enough cash to offer 80 million why not go direct and say they offered 80 million?

What I'm getting at is that if we are trying to get media attention to that we need stuff that is solid. Last thing we need is to hear a toilet flush. Meaning that we don't need to say that NCSoft turned down 80 million to find out either no such offer was ever made, or yes, the source did offer 80 million but come to find out had no way to put up the cash and etc.

I mean we need solid proof instead of just taking the word off someone that know someone that know someone that heard someone that heard someone say the offer was 80 million. What is the company that offered 80 million? So far it's still just a rumor. And if we run with that and it turns out false, then that toilet flush I mentioned earlier are our credibility with any media source that pick up our information and possibly their credibility with it. If that person actually know someone or someone that is part of a company with that much cash, why not have them come forward themselves and make that statement so that the report can actually say "(insert company/person) offered 80 million and NCSOft still turned down the offer."  Instead of someone saying "Someone got word from a third party source that the offer was 80 million."

Not to mention, anyone can say that they heard from someone else that the offer was x amount. I could say that "I heard through a source I trust  that the offer was 40 million." and that is just as credible as anyone saying or claiming they heard through someone else that the offer was 80 million. Was this person in on the negotiations or what? What was their role? Or is it just information that they heard from someone else to that they could have heard from someone else. Right now it seems that there are too many layers to the rock bottom bare facts.

And yes 20 million is pretty decent sized chunk of change, but I don't think its money they are hungry about and they may not leap at that. Remember that any corporation that has been around for more than 4 years is probably used to the stock cycle of going up and down. Look at most stock graphs and most of them look like an earthquake monitor print out. Lots of  ups and downs. "Buy low sell high."

reply to LuchRi's statements:
And I think someone mentioned the apathy in GW saying we should just move on. Well, being on the end of game closure that may be hard to stomach or hard to see why they would say that. Well think about all the games that have been closed while COX has been running since 2004 and how many, still to this day, and say that there was a good reason for those games to close. In hindsight, I wish I could go back and fight for every game that was closing to stay open. I don't think their statement is wrong and if it is, most of been wrong for years now, including myself for thinking of other games that shuttered their doors and thinking and or saying "Well, I'm not sure why they are fussing. The game wasn't making money so they should just find another game they like." I think that is karma. I should have done more even when the game was one that I never played before but heard about. If I did, then those people of the other games probably would have gladly gotten on board with the cause, even if it was merely for the fact that we helped them when a game they loved was sinking.

And to convince these people of the plight and why they should be aware, remember to try to not force it down their throats. I won't lie, some people on these forums need practice with that. I don't think they are doing it intentionally but are just used to presenting information in that manner that some view as off putting even when they have brilliant and very logical things to say. Present the information and let them take it however they wish to take it. People tend to appreciate that and even if they don't believe immediately they might think about it and understand and or join later. DO NOT ANTAGONIZE them because they don't immediately hop onto the idea like someone lit their pants on fire. That looks bad, and the people that see this will be hesitant to jump on board and may turn some people off to the idea even if it was a good one. Not to mention that approach tends to put people on the defensive and make it less likely that the point gets across. If they agree, that is very good. If they don't, that is ok too,  just move on. As some people already mentioned, keep it rational. Understand their view too. They play an up and running game and this plight may not have an immediate direct effect on them. Then you may run into some people who just don't care and it's just a game to them. DO NOT ANTAGONIZE them either. Don't waste the time trying to get them to change their view or trying to prove how "wrong" their view is. Just let it go and keep it moving. Then there are some that been waiting for COX to crash and burn. Do not bother with them. Just put the information out there and let them decide whether to join or not. Remember not every gamer is blind to the fact that a game can be closed at any moment so don't treat them as such. For some, that game may be their first MMO and never been through or heard about a closing about another game and the information that can be offered may enlighten them greatly. Others have been through more than a few shutdowns and to some of them, it's not even a big deal. To others in that category, they have been itching for a cause to form up and we may be just the cause they are looking for. Remember the main point is that we are trying to get people to become aware of what can happen to them, maybe get them to join the cause, get them to spread the word, and or never know, find people that have skills that we can use for Plan Z. We can't hinder those goals by coming off as "my idea is logical and your idea is dumb."



Remember that blip from Wikipedia that said that COHTitan is an active smear campaign? Sure it was only one statement and maybe it was a regular detractor or maybe it was someone who just been passing through and went to the wrong part of the site or caught one or more "I hate NCSOft let's get back at them statements" here. Remember they are outside looking in and those type of statements can give a first impression that we are just trying to get back at NCSoft even though that is not even close to the majority of the feelings here. We  do not want to water that seed of Smear campaign. Even if someone get word of that and check us out, we don't want them to come here and look around and say, "That guy was right, they are a smear campaign." We want them to come here and say, "That bloke had no idea what he was talking about." So while we spread the word, keep it rational, nice, and accept the fact that everyone will not agree with us no matter what we do. But that doesn't mean we have to make it a truth. We are doing a good job at that overall, but like a said, there are a few people on here that could use a little work in the way they present information and deal with people that may not have the same thoughts about this game as them. Even if it's illogical, leave it be. When a person online tries to prove how illogical the other person is and or how wrong their view is, to those outside looking in, both parties look stupid. While they probably have nothing to lose with people looking at them as ranting idiots, we are actively trying to get more spotlight so we cannot afford to look like ranting idiots, especially since we have shown that we are not just ranting idiots. 


Reply to Ammon's After Nov 30th:
After Nov. 30th, that is when the real test will begin. Right now, it's just a warm up. Even after Nov. 30th, we must remain positive, firm but not crazy, and also we have to refrain from coming off as "do this or else". Threats do not lead to solving a problem when the other side has the upper hand. If it was twisted, they could say, prior to Aug 31st, "Make us more money or else we close the game." and they could have well done that. If the goal is to open a line of communication, or get them to sell the IP now or later, we have to STOP with the petty threats of "Sell the IP or else" tone because it makes us look bad, makes us hostile, and any other company that may be on the fence about buying may walk because they don't want to face that type of trouble if they make a decision that may not be liked by a few. No more of this smear stuff. So far it's been minimal, let's keep it that way and make it even more minimal than it already is. I understand some may not give another penny to NCSoft and that if fine and may the right thing to do for some. Yet on the flip side, more people that say that the more it seems that the player base is done with NCSoft and COX under them. This of course would have minimized the chance that NCSoft would relent and either reboot the game into he future or do anything with the IP if they keep it because then they will think that the player base is gone and the money that it would cost to restart it would be wasted.



My reply and what I hope for:


What I hope they get from this is that it would not be wise to repeat the process that they did with the closing of this game. What I also hope they can get from the cause is that the line of communication is open, we are listening to them, we have questions that we wish to be answered, and we can come to some sort of understanding.

NecrotechMaster

Quote from: emu265 on November 04, 2012, 03:30:16 AM
I'm not gonna read too much into it, but it could mean anything. I highly doubt Tony would give up on the "save" part without telling us :)

/this

its very possible that tony could be busy with RL stuff as well and just havent had the time to comment everywhere even though hes doing more behind the scenes

downix

Quote from: emu265 on November 04, 2012, 03:30:16 AM
I'm not gonna read too much into it, but it could mean anything. I highly doubt Tony would give up on the "save" part without telling us :)
Absolutely not. Shoot, if NC Soft makes an offer for the IP without engine we would jump. Plan Z has lots of options on the table, including making NC Soft completely redundant.

Mister Bison

Quote from: downix on November 04, 2012, 08:28:19 AM
Absolutely not. Shoot, if NC Soft makes an offer for the IP without engine we would jump. Plan Z has lots of options on the table, including making NC Soft completely redundant.
You're right, maybe Tony is just approaching Plan Z to use some things for plan B (which should be more along the line of saving City Ourselves rather than waiting for NCSoft to do it, which is Plan A).
Yeeessss....

eviella

Thank you.  I've kind of figured there's relatively little to do at this point; other than actually play the game and keep in touch with friends.  This changes on Dec 1, but right now the big thing is establishing out of game communication with people and making sure people know that the fight is going to continue- and needs to continue.

One good effect we've had, and think we'll continue to have, is I'm SURE other companies are watching how this is going down.  Even if we can't save our city, I think our actions will have a major impact on how future game shutdowns happen.  Somebody made the Batman comparison- our parents may be dead, but the response to than can keep the same thing from happening to others.


Artillerie

Please, let us try to stay focused on this thread - which is to realise that the fight is only starting, that we will have to continue beyond november 30th, and that a calm and reasoned approach to this is having an effect.

Focus on spreading the word, networking, keeping up the pressure and offering reasurrance to the people who think that there is no hope.

Jordan_Lee

I'm trying to keep up optimism but we don't seem to have a snowball's chance to keep the game as we know it up and alive. Even if we could the devs were laid off and many have already taken new jobs. I want this game to continue. Plan Z is enticing but I don't understand much of it at all and to be honest I sort of doubt my old computer can handle a new game.

I hate to think that in less than a month my characters will be gone. My main with 1100 badges, 3 sets of purples, the 3 first Incarnate powers slotted. Until I took a break from the game. Now I can't even renew my VIP to play with all that stuff and I feel terribly left out :(

To be honest I never participated in the community. My Supergroup pretty much died out so I only soloed or did pick up groups. I'm not going to miss the people (though you are all very nice, nothing against you), I'm going to miss the stories, the work and sense of accomplishment after gaining a new ability or badge. And all that work, all those little accomplishments, will be erased, gone forever. Buh-bye.

So anyway, my morbid rant. An update would be nice. All I can offer is myself as a number and a rather small voice, if I can do something to save my little part of the city of heroes world then please let me know.

Artillerie

Quote from: Jordan_Lee on November 04, 2012, 03:14:31 PM
I'm trying to keep up optimism but we don't seem to have a snowball's chance to keep the game as we know it up and alive. Even if we could the devs were laid off and many have already taken new jobs. I want this game to continue. Plan Z is enticing but I don't understand much of it at all and to be honest I sort of doubt my old computer can handle a new game.

I hate to think that in less than a month my characters will be gone. My main with 1100 badges, 3 sets of purples, the 3 first Incarnate powers slotted. Until I took a break from the game. Now I can't even renew my VIP to play with all that stuff and I feel terribly left out :(

To be honest I never participated in the community. My Supergroup pretty much died out so I only soloed or did pick up groups. I'm not going to miss the people (though you are all very nice, nothing against you), I'm going to miss the stories, the work and sense of accomplishment after gaining a new ability or badge. And all that work, all those little accomplishments, will be erased, gone forever. Buh-bye.

So anyway, my morbid rant. An update would be nice. All I can offer is myself as a number and a rather small voice, if I can do something to save my little part of the city of heroes world then please let me know.


A lot of people are feeling much the same way Jordan, it is to be expected.

But the point of this thread is to highlight that NCSoft is expecting us to all just fade away. Their silence is a tactic that they have no doubt used before to good effect. So read the stuff here, see what people are doing to save the game and let it keep your optimism up.

It can be difficult because they consequences of our actions are hard to percieve and interpret but to make it work we need every possible person involved. Check out the 3rd paragraph of Ammons post above, we can all do these things.

Codewalker

Agreed, they're hoping that if they hold fast and shut down the game on the 30th, that we'll all give up and go our separate ways, and not cause any more trouble for them. That's why they haven't made any other statements, they think they can wait us out.

We need to make it clear that's not going to work. Even after it shuts down, we need to be campaigning hard that they need to sell or otherwise release the IP so that it can come back.

Colette

"Now I can't even renew my VIP to play with all that stuff and I feel terribly left out."

Another reason I'll never deal with NCSoft again. Yes, selling us a major powerest three days before the announced closure was fraud, but I was with this game since soon after it opened, and have just over five years of active subscription. For them to just shut off the ability to resubscribe, cut me out of the majority of new content with no warning whatsoever... that was just plain mean and inconsiderate. And I'm far from alone here.

Those who say we're just trying to "smear" NCSoft don't know what they're talking about.

"Even after it shuts down, we need to be campaigning hard..."

And continuing our so-called smear campaign to let players know what sort of jerks they're giving their hard-earned to.