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.
