A) Who's Joe? The reporter?
II) This has a much softer spin than the vibe I got off of VV's posts. Hers made it seem like it was NCSoft's item stores specifically rather than a wider potential problem in the industry as well as a implied intent on how the stores handle the monies passing through them. As if they were intentionally designed with illegality in mind rather than gamed for nefarious (I seem to like that word tonight) purposes.
A) Yes. Well, sorta. It's the name he told us to call him, probably so he didn't have to deal with me mangling the spelling of his name when we were conversing.
B) I can't really answer for VV on whether that's what she believes, but in passing the information on, I was as careful as I could be that we weren't accusing people of ANYTHING, just that it was something we were concerned could be misused. In the correspondence VV and I had, she was worried about it coming off like a 'tin hat conspiracy theory', but the confirmation from the Korean journalist that it was something other people had speculated on, as well as the recommendation that VV had that it was worth reporting her concerns was enough for me to feel that it was worth passing on for someone well above my pay-grade to take a look into.
Obviously VV has been really vocal in the campaign, and I think (but please don't quote me on this) that it might have been why she ran it past my eyes - to make sure that her feelings about the closure of COH hadn't coloured her concerns that this was a good way to make money disappear. Obviously, I'm here, so I'm not NC Soft's biggest fan in the world, but I've tried to be rational and non-venomous towards them as much as I can be.
VV's been battling for us non-stop for three months, she's been the go-to chick for interviews, she's been the person with the line to Paragon Studios and the person that people are seeking answers from on a non-stop basis, every single day.
It's a lot of pressure for anyone to deal with, and she's intelligent enough to know that her view of NC Soft has been skewed by this which is why she contacted the Korean journalist and the PI first, to see if it was worth taking further and then once she had taken information from them, she ran it past me as well. I suspect she may have asked me to submit the information because I've tried to avoid being too venomous towards NC Soft and also because I'm reasonably used to dealing with the police, government agencies and all the rest of it through my day job.
I also believe her concerns were worth raising with people who are equipped to investigate such things, but I put it across in a way that didn't point fingers at anyone. I know I'm just one of many voices here, and you don't have reason to believe me over anyone else, but I hope you can believe that more than anything, I don't want to see the SaveCOH campaign, or City of Heroes' legacy damaged.
I work as a journalist in the UK (..not one of the red-top, phone hacking, Rupert Murdoch ones) and I know that it's a spectacularly bad idea to accuse people of things without proof, and that sometimes it's really just best to raise concerns with the right people, even if it's just to set your own mind at ease.
I really hope it sets peoples minds at rest a little.
I'd now like to propose a big group hug, and perhaps a rousing rendition of Silent Night, which I've always found to be rather calming.
