Call to Action! Team Wildcard needs YOU! TF Hail Mary LFM

[eabrace]

I love it!

You know, now that I think about it, I do remember someone creating a Mr. Incredible character in CoH and standing on the steps to City Hall in Atlas the day before the film debuted telling everyone to go see The Incredibles.  It would be funny to see that come full circle.

[Surelle]

I think there is a number that will clinch this.

100k letters.

It is a truism in business, an accepted business practice and statistic, that for every person who physically writes to a business, either to complain, to request, or to praise, there are 100 more who did not. 

To Disney that would mean if we manage to muster 100k letters, there are a million people who would potentially be interested in the game.  And that is not only enough for the game to break even, it is probably enough to pay off the whole investment in a year or less.

Can we do that?  I don't know.  I think we should damn well try.

If you are a member of any other fangroup that has brought its property back from the brink (or from death) please contact them and plea for their help.  Browncoats.  Trekkies.  Galacticans. Anyone who might see us as a reflection of them.  Please.

If we need 100k letters, then we should definitely link this Call to Action thread to all the MMO news sites like Massively.com, etc.  Even getting 100 posters from this site to write letters would be a lot.  And there aren't many active members left over at the official forums, either.

There's Eliot's final CoH column up on the front page at Massively right now.  I'm going to link this thread in it, and we should send Eliot and/or Bree info about this thread to see if they'll link to it in its own article, too.  Now what other sites would be interested?  Penny Arcade?  CNN, Tomshardware and MMORPG.com again?  C'mon, peeps, time's a-wastin'!

[JWBullfrog]

I've been watching the net and the news about the appeal to Disney is getting around. In addition to our allies at Massively and Starburst, the story- including links to the original thread-- is being repeated and cross linked all over the world.
I have to say that, overall, the mood of the coverage is overwhelming positive with a general theme of  'It's a long shot but more power to you.' We appear to have the support of the gaming community and perhaps some of that will translate into more letters.
What do we do now? Keep fighting. Keep writing letters. Do not let the message die. We might be fighting a foolish battle but, in the words of my own SG The Lemming League, 'We have a cause. It might be a losing one, but it's ours.'
 
 
 

[Tanglefoe]

I just sent an email to a lady I used to work with who grew up in Florida and spent several years at Disney and asked if there was any chance she still knew anybody there with string pulling abilities.  I highly doubt she does or I would have probably already heard about it but I'll check my email later and see what she says.

[Ammon]

I didn't want to imply copyright infringement in trying to convince them why the IP was a good buy.

There's a guy on the Union server who has made lots of characters based on the Disney Princesses, and had them for a long time before the closure notice.  Like you, he's safe really because there's no intention to gain or profit.

Marvel sued ages ago because the game was making money and profit from being able to make clones of their intellectual property, and certainly, they had some grounds with regard to the Claws melee set.  You simply cannot think of a superhero with metal claws without thinking of Wolverine, and the original only costume option for said claws looked a lot like his.  The important bit was the intention to make gains or profits though.  The fact that the GMs actively took steps to prevent infringement (genericing some names etc) meant that the game was not guilty.  There was never, ever an option to sue the players, not unless they started selling screenshots or otherwise using the IP for gain.

I mention this because I think it might even highlight just how amazing in flexible CoH is that it can recreate almost any character of any heroic genre.  I think Disney would be struck by how players of the game could pay homage to their favourite Disney characters (among other heroes).

[dwturducken]

Doing a little bit of digging on these guys, I'm actually more optimistic. Pleasants is big into acquiring studios, though it primarily feeds "social gaming," like the "*-ville" games on Facebook. Nicolai was a high muckity-muck at Atari and Infogrames back when Sid Meier was doing Civ3 and 4. Also, Pleasants is "co-president" with a guy named James Pitaro, who had a pretty good history with Yahoo before going to Disney. He might be worth writing to in lieu of Pepper.

[Quinch]

A note about Mr. Pepper - he's not with Disney anymore, at least not in a very high capacity.

Our primary targets are Iger, Disney's CEO, and Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interctive. If you have resources to send packages to others as well, go for it, but these two are the ones we need to convince, so focus there.

[blackjak]

The flexibility is because the game stepped outside the boundries (in my mind, not necessarily yours) of "Superheroes" (Although yes, there were super heroes who work chainmail/used hammers/great swords etc.. Thor springs to mind, some of the more "fantasy" settings of Spawn), and into the more open "Comic book" setting, where sub-genre is *not* an issue. Does this mean that everyone was an antihero, superhero, villain?

No, but there is *no* singular correct answer.

I do remember seeing in the early days of the game on EU servers Optimus Prime, Yumi and Numinor (Ulysses 31) characters and numerous other "clones" from non super hero genres. Strangely enough, I never saw a smurf... although I did see them when I went over to Aion.

DJ Ginger from ParahonRadio and friends had a Smurf day in AP on virtue.

[no hero]

A note about Mr. Pepper - he's not with Disney anymore, at least not in a very high capacity.

Our primary targets are Iger, Disney's CEO, and Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interctive. If you have resources to send packages to others as well, go for it, but these two are the ones we need to convince, so focus there.

So just to verify, my next round of cards and notes go to
Robert A. Iger and John Pleasants,
but
not Jean-Marcel Nicolai and John Pepper Jr.

I have already assembled enough cards, screenshots and such for six waves of four
The first wave shipped out Tuesday evening and the second wave ships Friday morning.

[Ammon]

Strangely enough, I never saw a smurf... although I did see them when I went over to Aion.

Poor twisted Lord Borealis was nicknamed 'Papa Smurf' by the legendary Big Game, so I know of at least one 'smurf' on the Union server.   Thankfully he had no clue of the reference.

[Knightslayer]

I mention this because I think it might even highlight just how amazing in flexible CoH is that it can recreate almost any character of any heroic genre.  I think Disney would be struck by how players of the game could pay homage to their favourite Disney characters (among other heroes).

For some reason that gave me a mental image of a "Key" sword costume piece on market =P
Though there's probably more iconic items out there.

[CapaDevans]

Sent via altoholic monkey who kindly offered on FB to post letters for those of us outside the USA.

Thanks alto!!

[Occultist]

My seven year old and I have both sent letters.  Thank you for all your efforts.  The game has been an valued shared creative experience for us and we had been very much looking forward to sharing it with his baby sister in a few years.  We will continue to contribute when and where we can.

[PseudoCool]

Greetings All,
 
First off.. Thanks Team Wildfire for getting this initiative moving.  I sent my letters off this morning

Secondly...
I'm not sure what server ya'll play on, but I started back in Issue TWO (yes, that long ago) on Justice server, then after Issue 13, switched to Liberty server.  I've been getting the contact information for my old friends on both for the last couple of days, and am about to go log into the game for what appears to be the last time (unless it's saved).  That being said, for the better part of the last 8 years, on and off unfortunately, CoX has been my mainstay, it's been my shining light and outlet for a LOT of issues.  The friends I've made there have helped me out with many things in my real life, and been there to help me bash the tar out of something, no matter what mood I'm in.  The community is what makes this game great, and after trying many other games (WoW, SWTOR, and Aion all come to mind).. there is no better community.  So to each of you out there, I say, with everything I am.. Thank You.

Let us hope with all we are and work with all we can, to keep our game, our community, alive and well.  Let us remember bashing on Circle Mages, Slicing and Dicing Carnie's, Shooting a large dose of "energy love" at Malta Sappers, Wrapping our hands in netherworld energy and sending Hellions to the rapid pit of tenebrous tentacles, or any of our other more favorite things.. like launching a radiation attack on Recluse that allowed us to stand next to him and laugh as he threw one ineffectual blow after another!  Let us not only remember those things, but the people we shared them with, both good and bad times, both joyous yells of triumph (I know I'm not the only one who did this after the Dr. Q) or the boisterous yells at team-mates that we know they'd never hear, in most cases thankfully.

Let us remember that WE are the Heroes and Villians that made CoX what it IS.. the best damn MMO ever.

/em soapbox off

I will be around the forums from time to time looking at what's going on

Kris
aka PseudoCool, Max Radmore, Coolshade, Roffal Mao, and many others....

[Quinch]

Stick a fork in me, because I'm done.

With my package, that is. Still plenty of work to do.

Thirty-one screenshots {it was a coincidence, I swear! I forgot to print the base indoor shots}, each with a writeup of what they depict {archvillains, AE, revamped zones, costume sets} plus a three-page introduction about myself, what CoH means to me and a brief rehash of #savecoh as a whole.

Time to mail this puppy off.

[Segev]

Quinch's coincidental 31 screenshots took me a bit to realize he meant in comparison to 31 pages of their pitch. I initially was thinking, "but we had AP33, not 31." That gave me an idea, though: Do we have, between all the people who participated in that first Unity Rally, screenshots of all 33 Atlas Parks at that time?

[dwturducken]

Found this, but I can't find the video that shows each instance of AP in sequence.

[Biidi]

My dad works at Disneyland, and when I saw that blue image with the merge of the CoH and Walt Disney logos I was wondering if I should try to talk him into using it as the wallpaper on the tablet he takes to work with him. I will also do my best to get a couple letters written up in my atrocious hand writing and send them off.

[Segev]

Hey, it can't hurt to ask him. See if he has any ideas on spreading the word amongst his co-workers and up the chains to bosses' bosses' bosses.

[Profit]

Should we let them know how much we absolutely loved this game...



And played it during the very early years of gaming supporting the Disney brand?