I cannot emphasize this enough. As PO'd as we are, there's no way CoH is going to live again unless we can appeal to their own self-interest.
Quinch, the problem with that is, there's only about 20 or 30 of us left who are checking in, keeping up with the situation and actively showing a willingness to chip in however we'd be able to. Most of those people, based on their posting habits, I wouldn't imagine they would ever grovel for NCSoft's favor or step near any plan like that with a ten foot pole (or even a hundred foot pole).
You don't know me from Adam, but anyone who does, they could tell you that I've been a supremely annoying optimist here and elsewhere, unwilling to see or listen to any idea that doesn't include a reason to keep going. I just want to get that out of the way before my tone turns a little grimmer below. Please listen to me and don't confuse me for some wimpy naysayer.
Our "perfect storm" has passed.A few weeks ago, we had a big surge in eyeballs and interest return to these forums and elsewhere over Jack's "Call me" remark, and then a couple of weeks ago, Gamasutra's candid interview with Matt kept the steam going at an uptick. At seven months since the closure's first announcement, this represented an amazing, probably unprecedented amount of interest in a closed-down MMO. Some people thought Gamasutra's timing was more than just a wonderful coincidence. Regardless, in my "Perfect Storm" thread I referred to that gift of circumstances as possibly our last burst of ammunition and I had good reasons for doing so. I figured we'd have about a week to show all those eyeballs how we were going to focus their energy into one last, big vocal campaign. I was right, and now we're back to the same few voices around here. Dedicated fans of the game, ready to chip in at a moment's notice, but for most of us, without the resources and industry or press contacts to make something big happen. Some of our most influential voices seem to be moving on from the fight, including Tony, based on the frequency and tone of his posts.
I'm not saying it's time to quit. There's only one person fit to make that decision, and that'll be the last man or woman standing. But if we want to keep on fighting, then we need to accept a few realities, just for the sake of having (and most importantly, adapting to) a sound strategy.
Smaller army, tighter objectives.Let's just get the first big issue, the taboo one, out of the way. For anyone who is still here and has some fight left in 'em, the reality is that as time drags on, as usable ammunition runs dry, we risk fighting more for principle, less for victory, unless our strategies change significantly (and maybe even then). There's a difference; and that difference is so big that most people have already become demoralized by it and moved on. This has always been a long shot, but when there's 20 or 30 active people, that's not an army. Big Calls to Action, like mail-in campaigns, require a massive amount of participants in order to be noteworthy in the press or to a publisher. That's what I'm talking about when I suggest adapting. Our army's size and configuration has changed, and so too must every idea we generate for solving our problem.
An ad campaign might still be a good idea, but again, there's a reason why I titled my big post on the subject "
We're in a perfect storm. We need an advertising campaign now, this week, today." Well, that was almost two weeks ago, an eternity considering how quickly most people will lose interest in a cause which doesn't seem to need anything from them, and we're still discussing possibilities for banner art. I'm not knocking the great ideas I've seen, but I have a feeling this is going to be a little like showing up late to a party which wrapped up several hours ago. If we were going to effectively organize and show NCSoft and Jack how much we want that call to be made, we would have already done it. We didn't. Whether or not that call ever gets made is up to other factors now.
No more illusions--are ads the best way? Brainstorm.We can still go ahead with the campaign, but there may only be a handful of us to dig deep and pay for it, and its purpose may need a more general (less timely) bent to it. Maybe that would turn out alright, and maybe it wouldn't. At this point I'm leaning toward "it wouldn't", and I think we risk souring people on throwing their money at this cause into infinity. If you're wondering why my mind changed after only two weeks, I'd only like to ask why yours hasn't. No "army" with a disadvantage can afford to "stay the course no matter what". NCSoft is clearly the immovable rock in this situation, and so we ought to be as fluid and adaptable (and as weathering) as water.
We may want to consider whether some other monetarily supported strategy would be worth more bang for what little buck is left. Any kickstarter-style website that would allow donations toward the
mere possibility of purchasing the IP might help us to gain enough interest from the press (and therefore a renewal of player interest, which always follows) to help us approach some other publisher to match our donations and then some (emphasis on "and then some"). The popular Kickstarter.com would not allow this, but maybe some other site would.
Conversely, maybe we ought to consider shelving any mobilization efforts outside of Hail Mary, and waiting for some opportunity to present itself in the future. One problem that I'm sure you're aware of Quinch, is that the City of Heroes IP
is a valuable asset in NCSoft's portfolio (not
was). Publishers who deal in the business of creative properties are measured in worth by the properties they own. Sounds kind of "duh" when I say it like that, right? It doesn't matter whether they're sitting on it or profiting from it in the current moment (or ever). It represents an asset which adds to their worth. If they sold it, they'd be selling off something which--I mean, look at all the noise and controversy over it. We've helped add value to the property. We like to say that shareholders ought to be shaking their heads at NCSoft for not selling the IP, but the opposite would more likely be the case if they did sell it now (or any time remotely close to now).
On the other hand, how hard do you think it would be to buy the Earth and Beyond IP from EA by comparison? Not saying you could buy it with the money in your wallet, but a publisher who wanted it bad enough (for some strange reason) might be able to talk 'em out of it. We may want to consider waiting until such a time comes when NCSoft would wonder why anyone would
want to buy the City of Heroes IP.
Those are a couple of ideas off the top of my head. The point I'm reaching is, if we want to win, then we want our discussions to be more zoomed-out, bigger picture, top-down at ALL the options and possibilities before us. The Save City of Heroes! sub-forum ought to be full of zany, stupid, and smart threads for ideas about what we should be doing or thinking of doing.
Save ourselves first, CoH second.Personally, however, I hope the "togetherness" of the community can shift away from primarily "SaveCOH", and toward something in addition, something that does not have at its core a sense of loss and stress. I don't know what Tony and his team have in store for the Titan Network. But the main talk of the day here, every day, is provably not enough fun to keep people comin' around. If there's no one left to save City of Heroes, it will only be sheer coincidental luck that has any chance to bring it back someday. (And be careful what you wish for if it's NCSoft's vision of a sequel.)