OK, what now? I need a private server or the ability to run my own.

[Harpospoke]

We all know that private servers are a long way off. Talking about other things is a good way to wait and keeps the forums active. Don't worry about things going off topic as long as it doesn't upset people or cause an argument. If a breakthrough for private servers or plan Z happens, i'm sure things will return to the original topic almost instantly.

Agreed.    Keeping everyone engaged is the thing.

As for autodriving, the biggest problems would hit tourism and road trips. The preprogrammed routes would likely not cross small rural areas without major advertising. Back when the first highways were built, many small towns died because people had no reason to go through them and stop there anymore. The same thing would happen with auto driving technology. Yard sale? What's that? Not to mention that routes could be changed by corporations or government desires. Pitstops could be routed based on corporate brand name desires. Routes could be changed by government to avoid protest and prevent protesters from gathering, which would affect free speech. Auto driving could be great by lowering accidents and nearly ending traffic problems but it could also be bad. The human element needs to always remain an option.

I don't see why it would not be an option for people to decide what route they wished to take.   Seems like a no-brainer really.   Some people might just want to punch in the destination, but others would choose the exact route for reasons you mentioned....things like a preference for a pit stop.   People aren't going to suddenly not care about paying more at 7-11 for the same items.

[Arcana]

We all know that private servers are a long way off. Talking about other things is a good way to wait and keeps the forums active. Don't worry about things going off topic as long as it doesn't upset people or cause an argument. If a breakthrough for private servers or plan Z happens, i'm sure things will return to the original topic almost instantly.

Well, if private server technology did materialize, the thesis of the thread would be somewhat mooted.

As for autodriving, the biggest problems would hit tourism and road trips. The preprogrammed routes would likely not cross small rural areas without major advertising. Back when the first highways were built, many small towns died because people had no reason to go through them and stop there anymore. The same thing would happen with auto driving technology. Yard sale? What's that? Not to mention that routes could be changed by corporations or government desires. Pitstops could be routed based on corporate brand name desires. Routes could be changed by government to avoid protest and prevent protesters from gathering, which would affect free speech. Auto driving could be great by lowering accidents and nearly ending traffic problems but it could also be bad. The human element needs to always remain an option.

The difference here is that the interstate highway system *created* new paths to take which were capable of bypassing the original paths.  Self-driving cars aren't nearly as much of a threat because they can only use the paths that are already there, and most likely the paths most people already take.  The advent of GPS navigation systems already do as much damage as automated driving technology could have possibly done.

Most of what you're talking about is not automated driving, but allowing external entities to actually dictate where you go.  I'll bet anything anyone wants right now that sort of technology doesn't get mass deployed in my lifetime, or the lifetime of anyone who could possibly be reading these words now.  Its one thing for an automated driver to avoid traffic congestion because of some protest activity: that sort of thing is what I *want* my car to do already, regardless of the cause of the traffic congestion.  But there's no way automated driving technology will actively prevent me from reaching a protest site even if I direct it to drive there, just because the government doesn't want me to go there.  The government already has a way to do that: its called roadblocks.  They are significantly more effective than attempting to hijack control of all the automated cars on the road.

[MWRuger]

Here's to the thesis being mooted! Huzzah!

[Minotaur]

Somebody is shooting their mouth off in one of the CoH FB groups that there is a private server. I call BS but ...

Examples

"There is a private server out there."

"Um no I've seen and played it with my own eyes And hands last month. It's invite only and was suppose to a huge secret."

"The people that run the private server had inside help from a few devs and help with server storage. It is the full game with all events and content."

[Eoraptor]

typical maladjusted troll baiting you'd expect to find on facebook.

[Aggelakis]

I want in on this mythical private server.  :( I'm entitled as Titan's resident zilla.  >:(

[Blondeshell]

I'm entitled as Titan's resident zilla.  >:(

As long as you don't destroy it with your atomic breath while hunting MUTOs! :)

[JKPhage]

I don't believe for one second that there is an invite-only private server out there and it magically had nothing to do with and no exposure on these forums. It's one of those completely incomprehensible people that somehow gets a kick out of confusing people and causing trouble. I will never understand that kind of behavior.

I fully invite them to prove me wrong and shoot me an invite to this supposedly 100% authentic server with all content and events running, but I highly doubt that kind of claim. Especially saying that it was "suppose (sic) to be a huge secret" and then proceeding to spout off about it on facebook.

[Ohioknight]

Somebody is shooting their mouth off in one of the CoH FB groups that there is a private server. I call BS but ...

Examples

"There is a private server out there."

"Um no I've seen and played it with my own eyes And hands last month. It's invite only and was suppose to a huge secret."

"The people that run the private server had inside help from a few devs and help with server storage. It is the full game with all events and content."

Yeah, I want in on the mythical server too -- but the larger question is what kind of IDIOT would this guy be if he were invited to an "invite only" "huge secret" private server and was bragging about it on FACEBOOK!!!

[TonyV]

Somebody is shooting their mouth off in one of the CoH FB groups that there is a private server. I call BS but ...

Examples

"There is a private server out there."

"Um no I've seen and played it with my own eyes And hands last month. It's invite only and was suppose to a huge secret."

"The people that run the private server had inside help from a few devs and help with server storage. It is the full game with all events and content."

This is around the third time I've seen someone who I don't know claim something like this.  (Not you, Minotaur, but I did get word this was posted and saw a screenshot of said post.  I mean that I don't know the guy who posted it.)

I seriously doubt that any developers at Paragon Studios would risk such a thing.  Believe me, I wish they had.  First of all, back around the time of the shutdown, I remember openly inviting any developers who might want to leak whatever that they could contact me and be assured of anonymity.  Or even if they didn't want to contact *me*, I could put them in touch with others who could facilitate such a transfer in a way that offered plausible deniability.  Needless to say, no one contacted me, and to be honest, I'm not surprised.

Second of all, if a developer did risk such a thing, it would be a huge risk.  For one thing, they would almost certainly be sued by NCsoft, and possibly other companies (such as Cryptic) if NCsoft used any third-party licensed code that was leaked.  For another, it would be a criminal offense punishable by jail time.  For another, their professional reputation would be utterly destroyed right at a time that person or those people needed new jobs.  (If you were a game company, or for that matter, any software development company, would you hire someone who has a history of leaking proprietary code?)

Third of all, I've heard from multiple sources within Paragon Studios that during the meeting in which everyone was being laid off, someone from NCsoft was physically at their building on Leghorn Street shutting out accounts.  If I recall correctly, there was even a police officer at the building to make sure everything went smoothly.  I've actually had a couple of former artists contact me because they got locked out of their own artwork and needed copies of assets from the game for their portfolio to interview for other jobs.  I just find it really hard to believe that during the chaos of what was going on, someone managed to secretly make a copy of dozens of gigabytes of code and assets or else walk a hard drive right past NCsoft and law enforcement.  (That would take immense balls, though, and would be a GREAT addition to the book/movie of our story once we get the game back!)  I will concede that it is possible that someone might have chunks of code or even a complete copy that they may have, for example, taken home with them in the past to work on at home, but a lot of companies crack down even on that kind of thing, and who knows what kind of state such code would be in.

That's just the developer angle of this story.

From a community angle, I find it really hard to believe because I'd like to think that I'm plugged into enough people that if something like this were to happen, I'd find out about it.  I mean, it is a significant development (no pun intended) in the Save CoH movement, to have such a server up and running.  And if I had anything worthwhile to report on this front, especially something of that magnitude, I wouldn't be keeping it a secret.

Which sort of begs the question, if someone else does have the code and is running a private server, why are they keeping it a secret?  Why not just release the code on bittorrent or something?  I mean, maybe I'm just being overly optimistic, but I know if I had a copy of the code, I'd be uploading it anonymously to various sources to ensure that it is out there in a way that NCsoft could never rein it in and available to whomever wants to run it.  And that's just the altruistic motive; if the person who supposedly got the code is some kind of hacker type, there's the whole ego factor in bragging that they are The Guy™ (or The Gal™) who pulled off the feat--running City of Heroes--that we at the Titan Network and various other third parties have been trying to do for coming up on two years now and been unable to do.

Which brings me to my final point.  If there is a private server out there, and if someone is keeping it secret, and if there's only a small group of people playing on it, and if they're determined for it to stay that way, then is this information even relevant?  If you haven't gotten invited to it by now, there's a pretty good chance you're not going to.  Whoever's running it is obviously not interested in releasing it for public consumption, and whoever's playing it is doing a really damn good job of not letting anyone know about it.  I suppose that eventually it might come out as fact and you can be pissed off at whomever is keeping it a secret, but in the here and now, it's not like knowing about it or not knowing about it will make a difference in whether you actually get to play it; that answer seems to be a pretty firm no.

So every ounce of logic is telling me that no, there is no private server conspiracy, for about eight different reasons.  And my heart tells me that even if by some really weird confluence of events it turns out that there is one, I don't particularly want to know about it unless I could actually get to play it with my friends.

So seriously, from now on, whenever someone claims yet again that there's a private server out there, my advice is to ask for an invitation to play on it.  If you get one, woot!  I'm wrong, have fun on your super secret private server.  If for whatever reason such an invitation isn't forthcoming, then tell whoever it is that says there's one out there that in that case, whether you believe them or not, their assertion is useless and irrelevant to you, and stop trying to stir up trouble.  Our community has been through enough.

[Cinnder]

Well said, Tony.  Thanks for weighing in.

I think I've been watching too many movies lately, cuz when you said this:

... I just find it really hard to believe that during the chaos of what was going on, someone managed to secretly make a copy of dozens of gigabytes of code and assets or else walk a hard drive right past NCsoft and law enforcement.  (That would take immense balls, though, and would be a GREAT addition to the book/movie of our story once we get the game back!)

...I pictured a couple devs making their way through a network of sewers beneath the Paragon offices, with perhaps one staying behind to sacrifice him/herself so that the one carrying the code could escape.

And when you said this:

If there is a private server out there, and if someone is keeping it secret, and if there's only a small group of people playing on it, and if they're determined for it to stay that way...

...I pictured you as a different Tony in his apartment talking to Loki.

Yeah, I gotta turn off the DVD player and go outside or something.

[Tahliah]

Hear, hear, Tony!  If there's a super secret COX server with only a handful of super secret players, then it doesn't do me much good at all.  I'd rather not even know about it if I can't play on it.  (heh, that seems to need a "so there" foot stomp, but I mean it more as sad than foot stompy)

[Eoraptor]

actually it's bst not to respond to those types of people at all, because it simply feeds them. Because they are most likely sadistic sociopaths on a clinical level; and any kind of interaction or validation of their troll baiting merely feeds their behavior. Calling them out is like smacking a dysfunctional kid around... to them, any attention is good attention.

[Angel Phoenix77]

I agree with Tony, unless you see it for yourself I wouldn't put much into what someone says. I would rather wait and hope the new effort is successful, that way I can team with friends again. :)

[Noyjitat]

Offering anything to get invited to this server!

**even my body**

[Aggelakis]

As long as you don't destroy it with your atomic breath while hunting MUTOs! :)

I have *very* good aim, I'll have you know! I only knock over buildings I don't like the looks of. (Seattle's music museum, the EMP, is the first one to go.)

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

I don't believe for one second that there is an invite-only private server out there and it magically had nothing to do with and no exposure on these forums. It's one of those completely incomprehensible people that somehow gets a kick out of confusing people and causing trouble. I will never understand that kind of behavior.

I fully invite them to prove me wrong and shoot me an invite to this supposedly 100% authentic server with all content and events running, but I highly doubt that kind of claim. Especially saying that it was "suppose (sic) to be a huge secret" and then proceeding to spout off about it on facebook.

In my opinion the likelihood of them being even slightly truthful is almost imperceptibly small and i suspect i'm being generous.

[BenshowSly]

Well, I don't want to say who is right and wrong on here since I prefer to be on the "I don't know" side but...

If it is true, I know some people who will bite their fingers for having brushed away the possibility  ;D

I'm not gonna risk voicing my opinion on if it exists or not, just in case ;)

However, I admit that I wish it would be true...

[downix]

Super Secret Server, invite only....

And being bragged about on Facebook.

I roll to disbelieve.

[LadyVamp]

Tony is quite correct.  There's no such server.  But If such a server exists, it's in one of the dev's homes on his/her personal server and only he/she plays it.  I could believe Matt has his own copy.  Probably a few others too.  Invites his friends?  doubtful.  Invite any of us?  You'd have a better chance sleeping with your favourite actor/actress than get that invite.

As for this person who was invited to a super secret server, he's out for kicks, and he's picked coh players to be his victims.  I have to admit I would consider ringing up NC's lawyers and turning this guy over to them.  I'm sure he'd get all the attention he craves in court.

LV