Author Topic: Call to Action Information: Our message  (Read 11404 times)

TonyV

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Call to Action Information: Our message
« on: September 05, 2012, 04:22:33 PM »
Hey all, I wanted to expound on our message that we want to convey to various audiences.  When you're discussing what we're doing with press, notable personalities, or communicating directly with NCsoft, other players, or just your friends and family, keep the following guidelines in mind.  Hopefully it will help put into words and give you ideas of how to express what you're thinking, feeling, and doing in a way that allows us to speak as a community.  (Though you are very welcome to add your own thoughts and ideas; after all, we want your message to be personal and accessible, not just a form letter!)

Slogans  (or, Our Message in a Nutshell)
I've been using two primary slogans for our effort.  The first is intended as a tagline to catch people's interest quickly: "We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years.  It's time to do it one more time."  The second is what I consider our internal rallying cry; not necessarily for outside consumption, though it wouldn't hurt my feelings if it made it out there:  "We are heroes.  This is what we do."  Also, I've unofficially dubbed the name of our efforts here at Titan as "Save Paragon City!" (with an exclamation point, in spite of it being kind of a pain in the ass grammatically, and with all three words in capital letters).  For example, in communications I'm writing, I refer to the Save Paragon City! effort we are undertaking and on web sites, I'll link the entire phrase, including the exclamation mark.

One semi-official slogan (but not really a "slogan" per se, more like a nutshell explanation) I've been using is that City of Heroes is more than just a game, it is the world in which our community's imagination has lived for eight and half years, a work of art into which we have poured our creative invention.  It is our Mona Lisa.

Our goal, stated in a neat and tidy phrase, is to ensure the continued existence of City of Heroes.  To expound on a few more thoughts, we want to work with NCsoft to explore whatever options are available to keep the game running and our community that we've worked so hard to build together.  Whether this means that NCsoft retains ownership of the game and continues operations of it or allows the property to be sold to a third party who can continue its legacy, we are open and eager to discuss what we can do to save Paragon City.

As a side note, some of you have probably been keeping track of our reverse engineering efforts, and there are also other options available such as working to get a community-funded and/or developed project that would be the spiritual successor to City of Heroes.  To be clear, these and others are longer-term goals that are definitely on the table if our initial goal cannot be reached.  But as longer-term goals with a much greater time window in which to plan and organize our efforts, I really don't want to get bogged down in the details of those options yet.  Please believe me when I say that we will explore those options if the time comes that those are the only options left to us.  But right now, we need our full focus and attention on the more immediate goals of working with NCsoft, because the time window in which success in that engagement can be achieved is much, much shorter and it is by far the optimal solution to our situation.

Dealing with other players
Please realize that this news dropped like a sack of bricks on all of us.  Different people are reacting in different ways.  Some people are having a hard time getting out of the mourning phase.  Some people jumped straight to the anger phase.  Some are desperately trying to move on as quickly as they can to avoid the emotional burden of having to admit that they love this game and are just as affected as the rest of us.  Some, like us, honestly believe that the game can still be saved and are doing all we can.

But the one thing that binds us all together is that we are one community.  Please be respectful of people, because if the worst case scenario comes to pass, we don't have much time left, and I don't want to waste it bickering among ourselves, that would be tragic.  I've been genuinely touched by posts and messages from people who I've fought vehemently over the years saying stuff like, "I always thought you were a jerk, but I really appreciate what you're doing," or, "I hate your guts, but I really respect your efforts."  I've also been communicating with people that I never imagined that I'd want to talk to again because of grievances in the past.  The point is, if someone posts or says something you don't agree with, please don't be so quick to jump into a fray with them.  Let it go, we have more important things to worry about now.

In particular, when I see posts that boil down to, "This is useless, you all are wasting your time," I try not to be argumentative.  I might post something letting them know I think they're wrong and why, but that is in the spirit of trying to keep everyone's morale up and keeping our front line soldiers in our efforts motivated to keep helping us out.  Please don't treat anyone--even someone who you think is being dumb or who is peeing on our parade--as if they're stupid.  Stay positive.  Even when you disagree with someone, throw in a "...but I understand how you feel, I felt that way for a while too.  But now I really think..." and say something positive and motivating.

Dealing with the public-at-large
As avid gamers, I'm sure you're familiar with the stereotype of gamers as a bunch of dorks hanging out in their parents' basements wasting their lives away.  To some people, spending so much time and effort trying to save a game, getting so worked up about it and acting like it's the end of the world must seem increcibly silly.

To fight this perception, I try to relate how we feel about the game to people's passions in general.  No, if the game is permanently shuttered in November, it's not the end of the world.  But you have to consider (the public, not you the reader; hopefully you already understand this, even if you haven't expressed it in words--that's my goal here), any hobby that you have poured eight and a half years of your creativity into will mean a lot to you.  It's not "just a game," it is the world in which our imaginations live.  (See what I did there?)

Whether your passion is cooking, baseball, travel, cars, mountain climbing, the stock market, gardening, model railroading, or any of millions of other hobbies that people lovingly obsess about, to have someone suddenly flip a switch and tell you, "You cannot have this any more except as fond memories" is a gut-wrenching experience that anyone can imagine and hopefully relate to.  If you explain our situation in these terms, hopefully the it's-just-a-game crowd will connect and finally "get it."

Dealing with NCsoft
This is a delicate issue because I know that a lot of people are still angry and hurt because of NCsoft's announcement, its suddenness, and how it seemingly makes no sense to us.  I know that a lot of people have either given up on the cause because they think it's impossible and are seeking some sort of cathartic release, and directing it at the entity that's most responsible for the predicament we're in is natural and understandable.  However, I cannot emphasize this point enough: for now, we need NCsoft.  They own City of Heroes, they hold all of the cards.  Even if you hate their guts, please at least act civil until we get through this.  If we get to the point where I think that all hope is lost and dealing with them is useless, I promise I'll let you know so that we can move on to our next options that don't involve NCsoft and you can go as scorched earth on them as you want (though in the interest of representing our community well in the face of adversity, I personally would prefer you not...).

The next couple of weeks in particular are going to be very delicate.  I have contact information for people at the highest levels of the company that I'm using to talk directly to the movers and shakers in the company, and I will be prevailing upon their graciousness.  It's imperative that if they actually go looking at and talking to our community, we make them WANT to help us.

So here is the framework in which I am addressing NCsoft in all of my communications:  You want to allow City of Heroes to keep running.  It will make you look really good to your investors and the gaming community.  Framing the issue in this manner, I've come up with two ways in which this is true, but I'm also welcome to other thoughts people might have to reinforce this notion that saving City of Heroes makes NCsoft the good guy:
  • Financial:  The most obvious way in which letting City of Heroes go benefits NCsoft is the influx of money it would generate.  While City of Heroes is sitting on a shelf collecting dust, it's earning exactly zero dollars for the company.  But as a property with monetary value, selling it would generate valuable revenue that could be allocated to other projects that NCsoft is currently pursuing.  Furthermore, the longer NCsoft waits to sell the property, the less valuable the game is due to loss of interest and erosion of the community through attrition.  If they act now, they can get a premium for the game.  If they wait until November when a lot of players have moved on, the game will be worth less than it is today.
  • Public Relations:  Releasing City of Heroes and allowing the game to continue will be a boost for NCsoft's reputation.  It would show players in a very tangible way the company's commitment to its games; that even when a game is not in the long term plans for the company, its communities won't be left out in the cold.  Right now, a lot of players are pointing out how NCsoft has a string of games that has been abandoned: Auto Assault, Exteel, and of course Tabula Rasa.  This hurts NCsoft's reputation and makes players shy away from other games in NCsoft's portfolio, such as the recently launched Guild Wars 2.  They are thinking, "But what happens if NCsoft decides in a few years that Guild Wars 2 [for example] does not fit into NCsoft's long term plan?"  Players will be more reluctant to invest as much time and energy into the game.

If NCsoft allows City of Heroes to continue though, it is a very tangible and powerful message to players.  Even after NCsoft decides that a game does not fit within their business plan, the company is willing to help the community ensure that the hard work and imagination that a player pours into an NCsoft game lives on.  Frankly, I find that an extremely shrewd and compelling marketing point, one that I haven't seen from any other company, one that would clearly set NCsoft apart as a noble leader in the industry and encourage players to embrace their games knowing that they are investing in a company that will not abandon them if at all possible.[/li][/list]

Dealing with the press
We already have some coverage in various media outlets.  In the next couple of days, we're going to be launching an all-out media fury (please keep an eye out for Calls to Action!).  There's a very good chance that you're going to start seeing more articles on gaming sites, comic book culture sites, tech news sites, and even some mainstream news media sites.  When you see these articles and write-ups, please make yourself visible!  Post comments in the comment section.  E-mail the writer and editor and let them know that you appreciate his or her coverage of our efforts.  Like on Facebook and link it on Twitter.

Most importantly, spread the word.  A lot of people don't read the forums, so me posting links here will only reach a small percentage of the player fan base.  Tell your supergroup.  Tell your teammates.  Tell your coalition.  Post it on your fan site.  "Hey everyone, did you see that article at [name of publication]?  You should check it out, it's at [URL of article]!"  (Hint: when you post links in-game, you might want to use a service like http://bit.ly to shorten them so that it's easily copied-and-pasted or typed and doesn't overrun people's chat windows.)

When you post comments, or if someone from the press contacts you, please be a good representative of the community.  DO NOT be negative, including saying negative things about NCsoft.  You know how sometimes things get twisted in the media, how good people sometimes come off sounding like nuts or nuts come off sounding like reputable professors conducting academic research?  Try to preclude this happening by staying positive and on focus, no matter how much you want to complain.  I don't want to see any article headlines reading something asinine like, "Gaming Community Unites to Threaten International Corporation" because you just couldn't suppress the petty urge to say that you wish that someone would show NCsoft what it's like to have everything they hold valuable taken away from them.

If you want, you can direct anyone who wants more information to me, Tony Vazquez.  I'm at tonyv@cohtitan.com, on Skype at tonyv.paragonwiki, and depending on exactly who it is who is asking, I'd be willing to give out my phone number as well.

Thank you all again, and I cannot express the gratitude for your continued support.  I really think we can pull this off, and when we do, it will be epic.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2012, 03:20:16 AM by TonyV »

blue storm

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2012, 05:02:49 PM »
Clear and to the point as always...
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Altoholic Monkey

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2012, 08:13:49 PM »
Slogans  (or, Our Message in a Nutshell)
I've been using two primary slogans for our effort.  The first is intended as a tagline to catch people's interest quickly: "We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years.  It's time to do it one more time."  The second is what I consider our internal rallying cry; not necessarily for outside consumption, though it wouldn't hurt my feelings if it made it out there:  "We are heroes.  This is what we do."  Also, I've unofficially dubbed the name of our efforts here at Titan as "Save Paragon City!" (with an exclamation point, in spite of it being kind of a pain in the ass grammatically, and with all three words in capital letters).  For example, in communications I'm writing, I refer to the Save Paragon City! effort we are undertaking and on web sites, I'll link the entire phrase, including the exclamation mark.

One semi-official slogan (but not really a "slogan" per se, more like a nutshell explanation) I've been using is that City of Heroes is more than just a game, it is the world in which our community's imagination has lived for eight and half years, a work of art into which we have poured our creative invention.  It is our Mona Lisa.


While it's unofficial, "Save Paragon City!" is obscure to those outside the game and some people could assume it is an actual city.  "Save City of Heroes!" while it is longer, it does explain exactly what we're trying to do.  Paragon City is a fictional placed inside a game but  City of Heroes is the game.  Branding wise, since we've already started using twitter hashtag #SaveCOH and the focused Facebook page is SaveOurCityofHeroes, so the coordination effort should fall in line with that. 

The goal is not to be fragmented and having too many names for the same message, muddies the water.  If I do a search for Paragon City, what comes up first is Paragon Wiki.  Type in "Save City of Heroes" and you get news articles about the community effort.

So perhaps you could reconsider branding the effort to: Save City of Heroes!

I love this slogan:  Save City of Heroes! - We are heroes. This is what we do.

 

Mister Bison

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2012, 09:05:33 PM »
I love this slogan:  Save City of Heroes! - We are heroes. This is what we do.
You can also do that with the longer one:
Save City of Heroes! - We have been saving it for 8 years and a half. Let's do it one more time.
Yeeessss....

Altoholic Monkey

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2012, 12:23:49 AM »
You can also do that with the longer one:
Save City of Heroes! - We have been saving it for 8 years and a half. Let's do it one more time.

Either one works, I just love the shorter one.

nataliaofvirtues

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2012, 04:10:06 AM »
Thank you for the confidence you express in your postings. I know that if it does come to pass that we lose our battle, it will not be for lack of trying.
I will continue to do whatever I can.

Vulpy

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2012, 10:47:45 AM »
Thank you for the confidence you express in your postings. I know that if it does come to pass that we lose our battle, it will not be for lack of trying.
I will continue to do whatever I can.

Make no mistake--it is our battle. If we lose--as we're still likely to do--then I want to be able to look back and say that it couldn't have gone any differently. Then, and only then, will I be able to make peace with all of this.

Thank you for taking heart. Please, continue pushing forward, and I'll do the same.
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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2012, 08:04:52 AM »
http://global.ncsoft.com/global/aboutus/visiongoals.aspx

There has to be some mileage in that.  Particularly their mission statement.
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healix

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #8 on: September 13, 2012, 02:36:38 AM »
I believe NCSoft has a plan by taking the action they took. First, we were shocked and devastated about the new of the game closing. Perhaps they expected some sort of 'save our city' campaign....in giving us 3 months left to play, I am sure they also expect the fervor to settle down and die out. They expect people to leave and find other games to play. They expect us to finally resign ourselves to the end. Let's NOT do what is expected. PLAY the game as much as you can! KEEP getting the message out...don't lose the momentum or the determination to try and save the game. Remember all the strong New Year's resolutions that fizzled out after a period of time passed? Let's not allow that to happen.

You may nnot forsee what results come from your action...
but if you do nothing, there will be no result.
Listen to the 'mustn'ts'. Listen to the 'don'ts'. Listen to the 'shouldn'ts', the 'impossibles', the 'won'ts'. Listen to the 'you'll never haves', then listen close to me... Anything can happen . Anything can be.

Teege

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #9 on: September 13, 2012, 03:13:17 AM »
Great post Tony! *insert saying about Destination and Journey here* We don't know the outcome, but regardless of what it may be, we should all be proud that as a community we stood up for what we believe is right, and in doing so remained civil and determined.
Keep fighting the good fight!

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Victoria Victrix

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2012, 09:58:00 PM »
In speaking to non-gamers, I'd like to suggest the following:

"This game is not an escape from the real world--for many people it is their only lifeline TO the real world."

Then go over to my Testimonials thread and take some examples.  If you don't end up bawling so hard you can't see, you'll soon realize how true the above statement is--and given the culture within most of the MMORPGs that I have played in, City is unique in this aspect of community support.

I will go down with this ship.  I won't put my hands up in surrender.  There will be no white flag above my door.  I'm in love, and always will be.  Dido

pikabko1000

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2012, 08:55:46 AM »
well I am hear to do what I can do to gather information and pass on my information to others.  for people that got the power and the money to get some ideas out on the table
and put them to work.  The Goal is to Get City of Heroes back on line with new owners. download off line mod. mod PVP zones using Elite Bosses to be used for PVP kill score
albe to archive/burn/rip all files to a blank DVD-R or DVD+R to get a copy of City of Heroes Freedom with all the updates and patches and the launcher. This is a temp fix at lest for now.
I like to get phone number of COH TITAN and COHWIKI. I like to get the phone numbers of Paragon stuidios
I am sick and tired of the when NC SOFT murdered COH FREEDOM I think its about time to put my phone to work. get out ideas. get ideas from others
and fight back
I got to do something! its driving me nuts sitting hear not talking to no one. I need to talk to key people that knows what needs to be done and get it done
to get COH back on ASAP before X-mas 2012 even if its off line mod I will take it. I will be glad  to buy it
my big questions are not answered. I give you at least this.
 what can be done to put NC SOFT out of business. Force them  to Close shop. who can do that?

Celtic Lass

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2012, 09:29:55 AM »
One semi-official slogan (but not really a "slogan" per se, more like a nutshell explanation) I've been using is that City of Heroes is more than just a game, it is the world in which our community's imagination has lived for eight and half years, a work of art into which we have poured our creative invention.  It is our Mona Lisa.
This is a perfect way to describe it, in my opinion.  Some of us are still using it as a creative invention.  I, personally, have been using a demo launcher to visit my characters "in prison" so to speak.  I have been creating more art, video and animations of my favorite heroines now than I think I ever did while playing the game... but then that's probably because I WAS playing the game.

Dealing with other players
Please realize that this news dropped like a sack of bricks on all of us.  Different people are reacting in different ways.  Some people are having a hard time getting out of the mourning phase.  Some people jumped straight to the anger phase.  Some are desperately trying to move on as quickly as they can to avoid the emotional burden of having to admit that they love this game and are just as affected as the rest of us.  Some, like us, honestly believe that the game can still be saved and are doing all we can.
This is why I have been so thankful for the existence of this forum.  It has allowed me to connect with others who love this game as much, if not more in some cases, than I do.  Coping with the loss of City of Heroes/Villains is a process, and it differs for all of us.   I don't know if we will ever truly have closure, but supporting one another with a comforting word, a smile or a laugh is good way to start on that journey.

Thank you for this post, Tony, and for all that you're endeavoring to accomplish.
"Yes, and then I'm going to marry Bob Dole and raise penguins in Guam."

Triplash

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #13 on: December 14, 2012, 10:06:45 AM »
Thank you for this post, Tony, and for all that you're endeavoring to accomplish.

Not sure if you're aware of this, Celt, but take a look at the date of the original post. ;)

[Zaboo] Necro'd. [/Zaboo]


... I like your points though, and agree :)

Celtic Lass

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #14 on: December 14, 2012, 10:10:32 AM »
Not sure if you're aware of this, Celt, but take a look at the date of the original post. ;)

[Zaboo] Necro'd. [/Zaboo]


... I like your points though, and agree :)
This is what I get for being awake at 2ish am.
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Triplash

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #15 on: December 14, 2012, 10:14:29 AM »
This is what I get for being awake at 2ish am.

*nods in sympathy* SO been there.

healix

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Re: Call to Action Information: Our message
« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2012, 10:43:05 AM »
Listen to the 'mustn'ts'. Listen to the 'don'ts'. Listen to the 'shouldn'ts', the 'impossibles', the 'won'ts'. Listen to the 'you'll never haves', then listen close to me... Anything can happen . Anything can be.