I was contacted by a Korean Journalist to comment on CoH

[Victoria Victrix]

Here's what I sent him.  I HOPE I covered everything in a way that you all approve of.

Dear Joe;

Thank you for asking me for an interview, I appreciate the chance to speak with someone who represents the media in Korea, where I think our story is not being heard.  You may call me Mercedes; I am a reasonably well-known fantasy author here in the US, where I have over 80 books currently in print.  I have been the Guest of Honor at over 200 science fiction conventions all over the US, in Toronto Canada, in Perth Australia, in Auckland New Zealand, and have been a special guest at the Festivale Imaginales in Epinal France.  My website is www.mercedeslackey.com .


1.  What kind of game is City of Heroes that it has loyal followers like you?


The passionate and loyal followers of City of Heroes love it because it is not like any other MMORPG currently available.  The game mechanics favor cooperative play, rather than competitive play.  The User Interface is easy and intuitive to use, and does not rely on fast reflexes and the "twitch" control of console games.  The player base tends to be older and more mature; people who find something they like and stick with it, rather than burning through to the endgame and going on to something new.  Because of all this, it is very easy to find a large group of people within the game that become friends and share interests and concerns outside of the game.  It is VERY rare to hear things like "LRN 2 PLY N00B!" in broadcast chat, or to be kicked from a team because one is a beginner and making beginner's mistakes.  Families can play together with their young children, or their grandparents.  My husband and I regularly play with with his father (a retired Army Special Forces Sergeant-Major), who lives 1500 miles away from us, and has a very ill wife who needs constant care, limiting his options for recreation.  This is not so much a game as a huge "town" of 100,000 people who have intersecting interests and neighborhoods, and who play together and care deeply about their "town."

2.  Tell me some of the cultural and social significance of the game to you and the game community.


No one is entirely certain how this came about, but the people who were attracted to and stuck with City of Heroes were those who are "builders" rather than "users."  Rather than wanting something already created that they can just use and discard, when they are finished with it (such as the ready-made characters in DC Universe Online), they prefer to have something that they themselves have put together.


They invest their time, energy, and money in making things that are unique to them, whether it be their characters, the background and personal stories of those characters, the online radio stations and their DJs, or the incredible super group bases (I have seen an entire castle, complete with moat with water in it, landscaping, dungeon, wizard workshop, Great Hall, dining chamber, library, and rooms for every member--a space station--an undersea laboratory--a headquarters that deliberately looked as if it had been put together from two old warehouses and a retired fire station--and much more).


I truly think that in City of Heroes we were witness to the blossoming of a real, functioning online community of the sort that Second Life could only dream about.  Second Life seemed to me to be largely about display and showing off what you could buy for your avatar.  The City of Heroes community evolved over time to become one in which sharing was the norm, helping was second-nature, and cooperation was commonplace.


This extended to outside the game.  The City of Heroes community has raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity over the course of eight years.


It was a place where, no matter what time of day or night it was, when my poor head was tired with all the writing, or when I was struggling with a problem, I could log on and either play to relieve my weariness and tension, or just chat with people on one of my global chat channels who would certainly be sympathetic, and who might even have some solutions for me.


I know I was by far and away not the only person to find that there, as our SaveCoH movement has collected many testimonials saying the same thing.  Some of those testimonials are heart-rending. There are many in the City of Heroes community who are crippled or disabled in other ways.  City of Heroes provides their ONLY social contact with the rest of the world, a place where it doesn't matter how much pain they are in, that they are bald and sick from radiation or chemotherapy, a place where, though they cannot walk, they can fly--and a place where the people they team with every day understand that they are sick, and are willing to help them along within the game so they can enjoy it too.



3.  How did you first get your hands on the game?


My husband tried it and thought I would like it, so he got me the Valentine's promotion of a 14 day free trial just before Issue 5, about seven years ago.  I had never played an MMORPG before, and I was pretty terrible at console and PC games, so I wasn't sure I would like it.  I tried it, and I have to say, I still wasn't sure about it.  Then I started connecting with other people than my husband, and I suddenly found myself with a huge group of new friends, and at that point, it became one of my main recreations and my main social outlet.  We live in farm country, 20 miles from the nearest town, and to be a writer and artist out here is considered a very strange way to make a living.  We just do not have too many people around here who are willing to be friends with us--but in City of Heroes we are quite ordinary and normal.


4.  You personally seem much attached to your in-game characters: tell me about them how them or the game have affected your life.


As a professional writer, of course, I am always much attached to the characters I create, because I put so much work and so much of myself into creating them and their stories.  I put the same amount of work into the in-game characters, but there, I was interacting, not just with the stories and lore written into the game, but with the stories other people had created for their characters.


So the ongoing storytelling became interactive and cooperative, and for a writer, this is very stimulating and exciting.  When you write alone, everything goes just as you planned it.  Your characters do what you tell them to.  But when you are writing interactively and cooperatively with other people, what their characters do can have a profound impact on your story; it is a surprise, you have to react to it, and I would say that in most cases, it makes the combined story much, much better.


As a writer, I can say that I have become a superior writer because of this.  My dialogue has become much better, and more realistic.  My plotting is better.  And also, out of this interactive storytelling, three of my fellow players and I have created and sold a five book series, The Secret World Chronicle, which started (and continues) as a free podcast at www.secretworldchronicle.com and on podiobooks.  So not only did my writing improve, but I got more book contracts out of the game.


5.  What are some of the request for the City community from NCsoft?


At this point, less than a week from the shutdown date, it is clear they are not going to reconsider their decision to shut the game down.  So realistically, since they clearly are not even remotely interested in supporting it, what we want them to do is this.


Sell the IP, game code, the server code, and the customer account information at a reasonable price to one of the several interested parties that came forward in the first month after the announcement.  Retain all of the customer/character account information, do not delete it, and sell it along with the game package, so that people can bring back all of their old characters with a revived game.  Given all of the time (up to 8 years), effort, and money that people have poured into those characters and accounts, that only seems reasonable.


6.  City community seems very large: what possible action to revive the game are you planning. How far would you go?


At this point, we are looking for a new home for City of Heroes.  Among other things, four of us (an Internet Marketing Specialist, a UK Journalist, a UK Senior IT Tech and myself) are working on a plan.

We literally do not intend to stop until we have exhausted all potential owners.

There are some who are quite serious at attempting to raise the required several million dollars it would take via crowdsourced funding.


7.  What kind of reputation did NCsoft, as a game developer and publisher, had on the United States or outside of Korea?


For that, allow me to link you to some images.


http://gamespeopleplay.smackjeeves.com/comics/1587704/fool-me-six-times/


http://i.imgur.com/4frLV.jpg


https://dl.dropbox.com/u/33551029/aG-ADxIdeUODDt0JnVAALA2.jpg


http://www.repeat-offenders.net/savecoh/Stockwatch.png


http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o714/MMOKiller/NCsoft%20the%20MMOKiller/NCsoftGollumisnotlistening_zps698a4259.jpg


http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/534526_4097202620635_365088681_n.jpg


http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o714/MMOKiller/NCsoft%20the%20MMOKiller/NCSofttheFamilyKiller_zpsb6486f8d.jpg


http://i1339.photobucket.com/albums/o714/MMOKiller/NCsoft%20the%20MMOKiller/simplykillMMOs_zps9b8d119b.jpg


Starburst Magazine, with over 250,000 subscribers, has called for an entire boycott of NCSoft products


http://www.starburstmagazine.com/editorial/3869-boycott-ncsoft


And on the page, "What Does The Internet Think"   http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/  if you enter NCSoft, you get
                                     Conclusion

                                 The internet is very negative about ncsoft.


                                       With a disapproval rating of 84.3%

         

In short, the shutdown of CoH has proven to many gamers and game magazines that NCSoft is not to be trusted, and that the time, effort and money you put in an NCSoft game can be made to vanish on a whim.


8.  As you know, the gaming platform is moving from PC to mobile in recent years: can you see yourself, if NCsoft decides to preserve City and make it available on mobile, playing it on a smartphone?


First of all, this is a complete fallacy.  It is probably much more realistic to say that "gaming has expanded into mobile operations."  There are just as many expensive gaming PCs being used now as there ever were.  There are just as many PC gamers as there ever were.  Big, powerful PCs are not being sold as much as they were in the past, because PC gamers are not buying new computers, they are upgrading their existing ones instead.  If you want a real number of PC gamers, as opposed to what the "common impression" is, you should look at sales of advanced video cards, not PCs as a whole.


PC gaming is not going to go away, or even drop that much.  In fact, as those inclined to game in the West get older, they are MORE likely to move to PCs.  Quite frankly, for those of us who are older (I am 62), gaming on a small screen is next to impossible.  I need as big a display as I can afford.  I have tried even simple games on a smartphone, and never went past the free trial as they were impossible and frustrating.  Nor am I the only one to say this.  The older a player is, the MORE likely he is to want a powerful PC with a big display to game on.


Judging by the reaction from the players on the Titan Network, NONE of them would be even remotely interested in a 2D sidescrolling version of City of Heroes.  Apps for a phone--checking the Marketplace, for instance, or simple chat on one of your global channels--those would be welcome.  But the players reacted to the idea of a 2D sidescrolling City of Heroes with disgust--and at this point, frankly, if NCSoft offered the core playerbase free beer for a year and a brand new car with their game, we probably wouldn't buy it.  If this is NCSoft's plan, it is a very bad one.


There also seems to be a fallacious assumption in Korea that everyone has 4G connectivity with unlimited airtime.


No.


In the US there are very few places with 4G connectivity.  I can't get it for instance, anywhere in my area.  Even 3G isn't the norm.  In fact, at my house, I can only get 2G service, which only allows texting and phone calls.  And US customers have limited plans with limited airtime.  There are many recent news stories about parents who absent-mindedly handed their child their phone to play an online game to keep him busy only to find themselves with a shockingly high bill at the end of the month.  This was not a bill for the game, which was free to play--it was a bill for the data download.  Many people have been switching to texting rather than calling, despite the fact that texting is less convenient because unlimited texting is still cheaper than using phone minutes.


The hype about smartphone games ignores this.  Evidently the writers of this hype live in an alternate universe, where 4G service is everywhere and costs nothing, rather than the reality I live in, where 4G service is confined to large cities, and data plans begin at $30 a month extra, with additional charges for every meg downloaded over 2GB a month.  ($30 for 2GB per month, $50 for 5GB, and $80 for 10GB.)



9.  City seems a not a game made of the most recent technology: there are many such classics games that seem to continue to attract users. Do you think game companies responsible for making and publishing such games should sustain the lives of such titles?


I would be more inclined to call it a "mature" technology; I think the graphics hold up very well, even when compared to newer games.  Certainly the graphics are superior to many brand new console games.  In the hands of the skilled developers, the old game engine was made to do things no one every believed it could.  Furthermore, when I visited Paragon Studios about 3 years ago, plans were going forward for a City of Heroes 2, based on a new graphics engine.  It was NCSoft that canceled that, despite great player anticipation.


And, again, as the West gets older, we are attracted to those things that made us happy when we were young.  Just as an example, you can see how popular movie remakes are, and the revival of nostalgic toys.  Everquest is still alive, as is Ultima Online.  In fact, the number of old games that are still holding a steady customer base far outnumbers those that were canceled.  The only reason Star Wars Galaxies was canceled was because the license was lost.


My personal feeling is that as the population gets older, old games will become more, not less, popular.  I think that a company that ignores this, is a company that is setting itself up for failure.


To be honest, I believe that World of Warcraft is a freak, a fluke.  Every game company sets up unrealistic ambitions of being the "WoW killer" that are never going to happen.  In the current weak economy, which shows no signs of improvement, not even WoW is sustaining its old numbers.  They have lost so many customers that they are laying off 600 customer service employees because there is not enough work for them.  They are still making a great deal of money, obviously--but the idea that any other game company will be able to muster tens of millions of customers is an idea that belongs ten years in the past.


Companies should be satisfied with a robust customer base that provides a profit.  Many of these old games still do.  I think game companies owe it to their stockholders as well as to their players to continue to support a game as long as it provides a profit.   I think canceling a game that is making a profit, along with destroying jobs and an online community, is entirely unethical.  And I believe that companies that do that are going to get exactly what they deserve, as customers revolt over "greed killing cool."

[Golden Girl]

Do they work for a game magazine, or a general news outlet?

[Vyx]

Tsk tsk. I saw the post before the edit. :p

And no, I'm not going to spill what was edited, all I can say is "impressive" :)

[Victoria Victrix]

Do they work for a game magazine, or a general news outlet?

Korean newspaper - the guy that wrote the article ""NC Soft at a Crossroads" for the Korean Times.

[Victoria Victrix]

Tsk tsk. I saw the post before the edit. :p

And no, I'm not going to spill what was edited, all I can say is "impressive" :)

GAH!  No worries, in an hour it will be Monday and I am going to post anyway.

[TonyV]

/e swoon

[Dollhouse]

What an outstanding, compelling response...my compliments.

[Terwyn]

I think this could only help us.

Who knows, they may end up finding the whole Voices thing I've done based on searching on your name in relation to City of Heroes...

[Victoria Victrix]

/e swoon

Tony, can I make it a Call To Action and would you sticky it when I post?

[Red_Valkyrie]

Well written responses to his/her questions, Mercedes.

Also:

Korean newspaper - the guy that wrote the article ""NC Soft at a Crossroads" for the Korean Times.

They are at a "crossroads" and can't play a guitar for crap.

[Golden Girl]

Well written, Mercedes.

Well, that's kinda her job :P

[mikoroshi]

Awesome, well-written, and drives the point home hard.

I just hope the guy doesn't go "TL;DR LUL"

[LuchRi]

I hope that this article will help give at least some traction to our cause over there. I can't agree more though with what you said, especially about how differnt it is. Every MMO after WoW seems to want to copy aspects of it in order to 'beat' it or at least be like it. CoH was created at the same time, and shows little if any real influence from WoW. The funny thing is that when I personally tried the one expansion with the big evil mind controlled dragon and the Lovecraftian wannabe monsters and such... I finally found it fun and interesting, but the main WoW fanbase seemed to hate it. We play CoH because we don't want grinds and instances and premade characters we can dress up somewhat. We want to create, we want to write.

Personally I think I am going to make a nice short story right now, in honor of my main and the alts connected to him. Thank you VV. You inspired me.

[Mentalshock]

As I said to my brother, this is such an incredible opportunity, it's like comparing a guy on a bicycle to something travelling at relativistic speeds.

[Chaos Ex Machina]

Spectacular

I would suggest though another point responding to the 'old technology' question.  Simply saying it was 'mature' sounds like prejudiced spin, BUT, explain how it was mature.  It has developed rich feature libraries that are increasingly rare and could never be found in a new MMO, specifically a huge library of costume pieces, a hundred thousand arcs by the community, thousands of custom bases in the community built minecraft style, thousands of animations, hundreds of emotes, and hundreds of skills you could mix and match.

The technology has had numerous upgrades and while you might see an old zone and think the game is low tech, observe the newer zone library and newer costume sets.  The content includes thousands of quests and recent technology has improved the features of the newer quests dramatically.  Hundreds of complex arcs in recent years include player choices and scripted situations.  Most importantly, a lot of improvements the community has wanted were finished and about to be released but the company cruelly cancelled the launch of those features.

[TonyV]

Tony, can I make it a Call To Action and would you sticky it when I post?

You bet.  Set the message icon to the exclamation point and start the subject to Call to Action: and I'll sticky it as soon as I see it.

[LuchRi]

You bet.  Set the message icon to the exclamation point and start the subject to Call to Action: and I'll sticky it as soon as I see it.

If anyone else here has tried FTP TOR then they know how true this is. some orange crystals and a few sets of armor that you can get in game... that are all purple. Not even augmented orange!

I know, I prefer orange, I'm odd. Point is CoH had more than most other MMOS ever will and was built to grow

[Sleepy Wonder]

I liked a lot of the details, especially about the number of PC Gamers and video cards sold. I put together 2 $2,500 PC's last year for myself and a buddy. I'd much rather buy my hardware than purchase from a vendor.

[downix]

My "PC" hasn't been replaced in 8 years. Seriously upgraded, yes, but not replaced.

[Xieveral]

The part with links on the opinion of NCSoft outside Korea seems kind of lacking. I don't think links to the MMOkiller meme images does much to effectively demonstrate how poorly they have done here. Also, whatdoestheinternetthink.net isn't a very credible source of opinion (according to the site Nazi Germany is  seen as a good thing)

There should be more articles concerning NCSoft's poor customer relations, business practices and shortcomings floating around that can better paint a picture of how bad they are and were long before the CoX closure.

Other than that section, It looks good and I look forward to seeing the finished article!

EDIT: a link to Terwyn's voices page would also give an impression of how they're seen outside Korea as well