Hi all, I can't believe I'm actually posting about this because I kinda hate to dignify rumors with a response--undoubtedly, there will be a contingent of people out there of the opinion that since I'm denying stuff, it
must be true. Nevertheless, people have been posting messages with screenshots of the forums here, so we're getting directly entangled in this mess and I wanted to at least post one message so that sane folks will stop listening to the conspiracy theories flying around. There have been several posts lately in the CoH Survivors group on Facebook and even here alleging that there are some private servers up and running. This is the same CoH Survivors group in which
shenanigans have happened before, and those shenanigans are why I left the group last August in preference for the
City of Heroes group on which I'm an active participant today.
Last night, a user posted on the forums here the following:
When are the private servers going to be made open information for all to play on? Not just a select few of the chosen people that certain individuals feel "deserve" to continue to play in a world we all love?
Really now, this has gone on for almost 2 years now. It was going to become public knowledge at some point. Let's do the right thing and let everyone back in please.
The post was deleted in pretty short order. I'd like to explain why.
The short version is that we do our best here to provide a welcoming place for former players of City of Heroes to congregate and interact, as well as get news and information that's relevant to the game. I feel that posting such rumors and baseless allegations are harmful to the community, in that it fosters the notion that there is an "in" crowd that has some special secret access to something that the "out" crowd really wants badly. Next thing you know, there are accusations flying around, hurt feelings going on, and it's all based on something that is unsubstantiated.
And make no mistake, it is unsubstantiated. What few screenshots and "proof" I've seen of such a private server is at best flimsy, stuff that could easily be accomplished through using
the Icon utility,
skillful demoediting, and/or basic Photoshopping skills. Nevertheless, several community members have come to me saying that they have been threatened via PMs and even personal email that someone is going to go all scorched earth and post private communication if "the truth" isn't revealed, and these folks have consistently been confused over what exactly it is they're supposed to be revealing. These are people who are working hard on successor projects as well as people who have been involved in the Save CoH efforts whose time is being wasted having to deal with this crap. Why would someone post messages with the intention of making people think that there is a private server and wasting the time of our community leaders if it's not real? C'mon, it's the Internet, folks. There are a lot of people out there who get their jollies working folks up just for the hell of it. I beg you, please don't feed the trolls.
In reality, if you're here, as far as I'm concerned, you're part of the "in" crowd, period, end of story.
Now, having said all of that, I have consistently said that there is a possibility that one of the devs might have managed to get their hands on the code before the shutdown. I'll even concede that there might be a private server out there. If so, then more power to them, and I hope that eventually whoever has access to the code will see fit to release it. I have also repeatedly acknowledged that there is a team out there I've been referring to SCoRE who has been working on reverse engineering a server, and while I know that it's been a long time and some folks have lost faith that they're making any progress, they ARE still working on it, and they ARE still making progress to the point where I've seen some simple interactions happening. If you're wondering why they won't release their work, it's mainly because it is at a VERY early stage, it's VERY difficult to get it configured correctly, and they would much rather spend their time working on coding than having to worry about releasing stuff, supporting it, getting an inevitable flood of questions about "how do I set this up?" (only to be disappointed to find out that it takes expensive development software), and getting an inevitable flood of complaints that it's not working right and how much their progress sucks so far. (Which was yet another thread posted a few days ago that we deleted, but I digress...) And not to put too fine a point on it, the reason that team is highly encouraged to maintain radio silence on their efforts is precisely because of what is going on over on Facebook right now, baseless rumors and allegations that are completely unconstructive based on what some people
think (but who don't actually
know) what is going on.
So in short, is there a private server? Not that I know of, although it is still being worked on. Even if there is, it is totally irrelevant, because whoever is running it obviously doesn't want it released to the community-at-large for what is hopefully a really damn good obvious reason. I know that if I were running such a server, seeing the noise that is being made over these allegations, along with the threats that are being made and the unbridled sense of entitlement that is being conveyed, along with the legal threat of what would happen if it got out into the wild, would certainly turn me off of the prospect of releasing the software. In short,
if there is such a thing, what's going on over on Facebook is likely driving those people deeper underground, not encouraging them to release it to the community.
To the folks who are spreading this crap around on Facebook, if you want something constructive to do instead, support the community instead of trying to tear it apart. Express support for SCoRE, or participate in one of the successor projects, or even snag a copy of Icon and make some videos to entertain the community without the pretense of there being a private server.
But if you
must troll folks, then at the very least, leave us the hell out of it. I do try to be nice here and stay hands-off as far as moderation goes as much as I can, but be forewarned that troll posts here will continue to be deleted and those posters' accounts will continue to be banned. Not because we're afraid that what you're saying is the truth, but because we don't like people coming here and stirring up trouble just for the hell of it.
To the folks who have kept a level head these past few years, thanks a ton for your continued support and your assistance in keeping the community together and tight-knit. Trust me, your patience will eventually be rewarded, and
there are things in the works to help satiate the desire for progress as we continue working towards the goal of having our city back! Please feel free to join us over on the
City of Heroes page on Facebook, and tune into
Save CoH Radio on Friday nights at 8:30pm Eastern if you want to hear Rich "Pogoman" Banks and me talk about stuff going on in the community and in geek culture in general.
