The Community Server Shouldn't Be Central; Shouldn't be Massive Multiplayer

[Illusionss]

They didn't steal anything though. They simply took the game that they owned and chose to no longer operate it. This decision was entirely in their rights to make.

1. I paid for their game.

2. They took it away from me, for no reason whatever except whim.

3. They took my game. Enter: The Repo Man.

...or so I hope. Let this be a lesson to all who decide on a whim to take away s*** people invested themselves in FOR YEARS. 

Before anyone starts in with a bunch of legalistic crap, allow me to state that "legal" and "the morally right thing to do" are trajectories that only occasionally intersect. I do not see them intersecting on this issue. Maybe some do, that's their business but I DONT.

[Mazz vs The World]

Honestly this was the first MMO many ever played, myself included. I actually bought the physical game, not a digital copy. I honestly thought the game would always be playable, silly me!! I think if I had known up front that the game could/would close permanently, I wouldn't have invested the time I did in it. I do feel like something was stolen from me in some way. If we were just renting the game, then why did we have to buy it in the first place?? It should have just been available online where we paid a monthly sub?? Instead you had to buy the game then the expansions so I thought, this was me OWNING the game?? I know that I did not own the IP or anything like that but I honestly thought I owned the game. How is it that PC gaming is totally different from console games?? Like, if I buy a console game I own it and can play it whenever, even if it's meant for online play. I mean yes they could shut down the server for the online play but I can still play the game and it can't be taken away and I can't be sued for playing it or even having friends over to play it. So this just goes over my head, yes I know I don't own the IP but didn't I at one point own the game?? I did buy it!!

[Ironwolf]

I have purchased since the first day the game went live:

1. box copy of City of Heroes
2. box copy of City of Villains
3. binders of City of Villains and City of heroes help and reference
4. Going Rogue
5. All powersets except Street Fighting (just didn't like it)
6. spent nearly $1000 in goods in the market
7. Kept my account live since the first day and paid my $14.99 a month for 8 years.

I believe this gives me a little leeway in what I can do with this game. I didn't buy a $39.99 box set of a game on a one off. I spent literally THOUSANDS of dollars over the years for this game. I refuse to go quietly into the night.

[JennSpace]

I have purchased since the first day the game went live:

1. box copy of City of Heroes
2. box copy of City of Villains
3. binders of City of Villains and City of heroes help and reference
4. Going Rogue
5. All powersets except Street Fighting (just didn't like it)
6. spent nearly $1000 in goods in the market
7. Kept my account live since the first day and paid my $14.99 a month for 8 years.

I believe this gives me a little leeway in what I can do with this game. I didn't buy a $39.99 box set of a game on a one off. I spent literally THOUSANDS of dollars over the years for this game. I refuse to go quietly into the night.

Absolutely Ironwolf and while my resume ain't as heroic as yours ^^; , I DID buy

1. box copy of City of Heroes
2. box copy of City of Vilains (I'm still searching for my precious Ghost Widow figure I lost, 5 years ago XP XDD)
3. box copy of City of Heroes/Vilains + Going Rogue
4. I spent over $500 in CoH/CoV by keeping my account live for a long, LONG time and buying a LOT of costume sets (which is WAYYY more than ANY other game I ever played).

So yeah, I do believe this gives us the right to fight till' the bitter end! Not everyone has to agree with us but personally, I don't really care : P XD and CoH has grown during the years, to become a part of me ...I will NEVER surrender  

 

[JaguarX]

Absolutely Ironwolf and while my resume ain't as heroic as yours ^^; , I DID buy

1. box copy of City of Heroes
2. box copy of City of Vilains (I'm still searching for my precious Ghost Widow figure I lost, 5 years ago XP XDD)
3. box copy of City of Heroes/Vilains + Going Rogue
4. I spent over $500 in CoH/CoV by keeping my account live for a long, LONG time and buying a LOT of costume sets (which is WAYYY more than ANY other game I ever played).

So yeah, I do believe this gives us the right to fight till' the bitter end! Not everyone has to agree with us but personally, I don't really care : P XD and CoH has grown during the years, to become a part of me ...I will NEVER surrender

never in the history of man have everyone agreed with everything. :p



There are many sides and many definitions of investment. Many of them are intangled. Many people invested with their heart, their mind, their creatitivity and time. Intangible stuff.

Other with money.

Some emotionally.

Many a combination of all above.




Others, it was no more of an investment than blowing $1,000 at the casino. The main friend I introduced to this game in i6 bought over $187,000 in NCSoft in 2009. Her husband thought she went bat shit crazy t oinvest that much into a game company instead of their usual more "professional" and "serious" investements. Although I must say, the look on his face was priceless but I did feel sorry for the bottle of vodka he attacked. She stayed until the lights went dim but then walked away like nothing happened. SO I asked her, "did you feel that all that subscription money was a waste?" She replied "No. I payed for a month and got one month of enjoyment and repeated process. It was money well spent that I dont think I would have found a better use for it."

To her it was no investment anymore than blowing $1500 at a casino. Pure entertainment. Same for alot of my friends that I introduced to the game. Except one, he was a bit more irked at the closing and losing the investment.


Me, I dont know. I think I knew too much with how MMOs worked to feel much about it personally as far as loss of money. I knew in my mind, my mind, that every dime I spend is not one that I can expect monetary gains from or anything beyond that month that I paid fore and anythign else I buy is like gambling that one day, as soon as tomorrow will be gone. Thus it was money that would have been gone anyways even if it was leakage (aka money that is misplaced and not bothering to investigate where it went or care).

But there is one main thing in common, they all and I miss COX and would like to see it back in one shape form or fashion. And I hope one day that the one that I introduced COX to first and known the longest thick and thin will see beyond the Titan stuff and just come home to the COX community. But alas that is a choice that she and the others out there like that have to make on their own. And what ever game happens to somewhat fill COX shoes, I hope people can gain that old confidence back, of course with new wisdom that have been gained whether it's be careful of investments or cherish stuff BEFORE it's gone by listening to the pulse and not dismissing the possible warning signs as DOOOOOOOOM! sayers without so much of an investigation even if on the surface everything looks hokey dorey, and play like thye used to play with clear minds. 

[Illusionss]

I have purchased since the first day the game went live:

1. box copy of City of Heroes
2. box copy of City of Villains
3. binders of City of Villains and City of heroes help and reference
4. Going Rogue
5. All powersets except Street Fighting (just didn't like it)
6. spent nearly $1000 in goods in the market
7. Kept my account live since the first day and paid my $14.99 a month for 8 years.

I believe this gives me a little leeway in what I can do with this game. I didn't buy a $39.99 box set of a game on a one off. I spent literally THOUSANDS of dollars over the years for this game. I refuse to go quietly into the night.

I only have three boxed sets, a digital copy of GR and various other stuff, including a really cool art book I got somehow.... I don't even remember how. Half is heroic, half villainous and the two halves are upside down to each other. I think its all the costume packs and power sets that irk me the worst.... especially Nature, released five minutes before the shutdown announcement. And all the purple enhancement sets.... bought a bunch of those. ~big sigh~ I was a subscribing player until the end.

[Ironwolf]

What I am saying is with your monthly stipend that they take they let you invest time and money to keep a game alive.

They then shut said game down out of the blue and this is even when they say - Play for free forever. I paid - I was happy to pay and if they kept the game going I would still be paying.

The fault is theirs and not mine. They made very little effort and yet said they exhausted all. No they didn't they lied. I will NEVER pay to play an MMO again unless it has a built in closure plan, period. So all new games out there realize - you lost a paying customer - forever due to NCSoft.

[JennSpace]

To me, it was all the TIME I invested in CoH that hurt me the most  That I paid ANY amount of money during my 9 years superheroine career doesn't bother me too much, it was VERY well spent and... I can't say the same about all the decisions I made in my life  But ANYWAYS XD, it's rather that ...you spend 9 years of your life on something and then, because of very stupid reasons, you lose almost EVERYTHING!! D8 If NcSoft would have given me 5 billions dollars as reason for closing City of Heroes, I would have said ''fine, do what you wish...'' and that would have been a good enough reason because In the End*, with all that money I would have bought them XD and reformed Paragon Studios XDD but they had NO excuses. The game was making money and Paragon Studios wanted to buy back CoH so their lousy excuse that no one wanted it or could have supported the game in a way fans would have found satisfying takes the door! It wasn't working in Korea and blablabla, that they were heartless enough to do that for such childish reasons made me lose all my respect for them.

At least Batman was able to wear the cape once more when Bane threatened to make Gotham City explode in The Dark Knight Rises. He swore he would NOT wear the mask again but in face of such danger and destruction, he re-became the Dark Knight. Imagine if his leg would just have been completly destroyed and he would have been obliged to witness the end of his city, live to see the day where it wouldn't exist no more and continue living after that as if nothing happened and just forget it. Unfortunately, there was no happy ending for any of us and that's what we get...  But I will never forgive NcSoft for what they did and I will never forget my city. 

[Energy Aura]

Going back to the OP.  I think going as broad as possible in releasing the server code for individuals to create servers is the way to go.  I personally would run 2-3 servers myself.

Here are some odd thoughts on deflecting a legal recourse. 

1.  Instead of connecting to the server as we did in CoH, how about the method used in Diablo 2 for connecting.  To me this would essentially make anyone "not invited" to my server a "trespasser", and thus their actions to "see if we're doing something illegal" are illegal to begin with.  Like police busting into a home to see if something illegal is going on.

2.  I don't know if this would help defer a legal attack, but couldn't we EULA them back with a standard EULA that mirrors theirs but doesn't refer to them.  (If that makes any sense).  This way nothing is done to/with there intellectual property other than what was originally intended.

3.  Make the first rule of CoX: Restored (that's my pet name)
You don't talk about CoX: Restored

[daveyfiacre]

Going back to the OP.  I think going as broad as possible in releasing the server code for individuals to create servers is the way to go.  I personally would run 2-3 servers myself.

Here are some odd thoughts on deflecting a legal recourse. 

1.  Instead of connecting to the server as we did in CoH, how about the method used in Diablo 2 for connecting.  To me this would essentially make anyone "not invited" to my server a "trespasser", and thus their actions to "see if we're doing something illegal" are illegal to begin with.  Like police busting into a home to see if something illegal is going on.

2.  I don't know if this would help defer a legal attack, but couldn't we EULA them back with a standard EULA that mirrors theirs but doesn't refer to them.  (If that makes any sense).  This way nothing is done to/with there intellectual property other than what was originally intended.

3.  Make the first rule of CoX: Restored (that's my pet name)
You don't talk about CoX: Restored

i'll shut up, just take my money!

[Illusionss]

Going back to the OP.  I think going as broad as possible in releasing the server code for individuals to create servers is the way to go.  I personally would run 2-3 servers myself.

Here are some odd thoughts on deflecting a legal recourse. 

1.  Instead of connecting to the server as we did in CoH, how about the method used in Diablo 2 for connecting.  To me this would essentially make anyone "not invited" to my server a "trespasser", and thus their actions to "see if we're doing something illegal" are illegal to begin with.  Like police busting into a home to see if something illegal is going on.

2.  I don't know if this would help defer a legal attack, but couldn't we EULA them back with a standard EULA that mirrors theirs but doesn't refer to them.  (If that makes any sense).  This way nothing is done to/with there intellectual property other than what was originally intended.

3.  Make the first rule of CoX: Restored (that's my pet name)
You don't talk about CoX: Restored

These all sound like great ideas.