It may surprise some people who've read my posts decrying attitudes of taking legal action to try to
force NCSoft and other companies to "treat their customers right," but I agree with TonyV here.
We played this exactly as genteel as we should. We have acted with the utmost decorum without weakness. We started by trying to be polite. We did research into their cultural norms and attempted to follow them, and demonstrate that they were...missing an opportunity. We slowly ramped up the pressure as their attitude remained and became more dismissive. We made effort to understand, but we are
not (as a general rule) Korean, and to smile and nod to protect the
kibun of those behaving in a fashion that upsets us is not our way. In a way, however, we are exercising Korean
kibun by reacting with the anger we are demonstrating.
Unlike the stereotypical
kibun-restoring tantrum of their culture, however, we are products of Western society; we don't get mad and we don't get even: we channel our anger into
making it work.
We MUST keep up the pressure, and we
must continue to make the story new, to keep it in the public eye. NCSoft must feel this as a perpetual drag, and we must actively keep an eye on whether they really are turning to Nexon to do their Western publication from here on out. If they are, Nexon needs to feel the heat every bit as strongly. NCSoft must be made - through nothing but customer-based word of mouth - a pariah in all Western markets. A pariah so stained with shame that no company that wishes to do business here wants anything to do with them.
While I've argued strenuously against passing new laws or taking legal action against NCSoft or companies in general to force them at gunpoint (because, ultimately, that's what the law is; legalized use of force), I agree they've acted abominably and must be made to pay...within the system of market economics. Which is what this effort is, and it's doing a great job.
We've hit the hardest part, now, though: we must keep up the positive pressure on Disney and other TF:HM targets, and we must increase the volume and scope of our anti-NCSoft campaign. We must stay rigorously informed, so we know every move they make in any even semi-public way. NCSoft needs to realize that this isn't just a PR black eye; it's a styptic infection that's never going to heal. Their potential business partners must be made to see that it's contagious.
This isn't a boycott. This is a word-of-mouth campaign designed to make all potential customers aware of the hazards of doing business with NCSoft under their current model.
If they want us to stop, they have but to act like a responsible and customer-focused company, and sell the IP that they no longer wish to support.
Until then, it might be worthwhile to create a foundation, perhaps the "MMO Customer Voice Foundation" or something along those lines. Encourage those who used to subscribe to CoH to donate $15/month to said foundation, which then uses that money to support charities, sponsor public events, and keep the story as fresh as we can so we can mention "...founded when the profitable game, City of Heroes, was closed and its fanbase treated like crap..." every time we show up to support anything.
We should look into next year's Desert Bus, and Child's Play, and other geek-community-organized charities. We should plan for presence at cons - particularly cons NCSoft or their partners in the West will also be attending - and we should act like heroes working to build awareness of the dread villain NCSoft.
Because that's how you do this right; you make them feel it in the market until they are driven to reform...or driven out of it. Not through creating new ways to use violence, but through using the system as it is and thus enforcing the power of the invisible hand.
Ladies and gentlemen, we
are the invisible hand. And I think I have a hero to make when CoH is restored, or the Phoenix Project is released.
