Author Topic: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly  (Read 63327 times)

Myridean

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #60 on: September 15, 2012, 08:57:14 PM »
Or perhaps there's a way we can do this..but..not do it?

Maybe it would make more sense for say, five of the Project Co-ordinators on the 'save' campaign to send an email, but attaching some of the testimonials VV has collected (say, five each) as documents to the emails. That way the big bosses will get 5 emails and (say) 25 testimonials, instead of 50 trillion emails.

I think they might accidentally read one, or two of them - maybe even all of them, if there's only a small number - but if they see they've been bulked mailed, they're likely to just hit the delete key without reading any of them, or their spamfilters will be upgraded and we'll be cut off foreverz.

It's also a way of saying 'look, we /could/ have mailbombed you. We're trying to be nice.'Just a thought, anyway. I'll go back to my corner now :)

Or better yet a video containing testimonials, similar to the one that the Guild of Greeters did on behalf of the MYST community that I posted last week on YouTube. Emails can be deleted. A publically posted video on YouTube that they can watch and send to media if people are willing to share their stories might make more of a compelling case. It worked with Cyan Worlds as eventually MYST Online is alive today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eYRFW_m8E8

I'd make it and gather it myself but I don't have the ability nor the experience to make something like this but I was hoping at least if NCSoft saw this that they would realise that disabled people who play CoX feel absolutely the same way and treasure CoX just as much as these people with illness and disabilities did if not more.

Myridean
« Last Edit: September 15, 2012, 09:03:38 PM by Myridean »

Rae

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #61 on: September 15, 2012, 09:07:52 PM »
Ok. I've been thinking about this all day.

I trust you guys. I'll send off my emails in the morning, when I can brain properly, and unless something happens overnight and there's been a change of plan.

/em holdtorch.
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Gothica

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #62 on: September 15, 2012, 09:49:48 PM »
The problem we're facing is that we don't have enough information to make as informed a decision as we would like.

ARE there in fact negotiations going on? I know that earlier there were intimations to that effect, but how accurate were those intimations, and has anything changed since we received them?

Absent negotiations, might there be in-house reassessments in progress in light of our agitation thus far?

If there are in fact negotiations or reassessments in progress, will an email deluge mess them up? Or will it increase the leverage of the negotiators/customers who are trying to save the game?

If there aren't negotiations or reassessments going on, will an email campaign do anything to kick-start them?

If there aren't negotiations or reassessments going on, and we sit around in the expectation that there are, then aren't we waiting for word that in fact will never come, and thus wasting irreplaceable time?

Our best bet is to discover whether we have answers to any of the above questions. Even if we do, we sure don't have answers to most of them, so we must make guesses based on human nature, the world of business, the culture of NCSoft, and even the personalities of the executives involved.

Therefore, any action we take will be, at best, based on the principle of calculated risk. As Huxley said, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Does everyone agree with this analysis? Does anyone have anything to add to it?

If it seems sound, then what's the best course, and can we all agree to pursue it as a group so as to maximize its impact?

Respectfully submitted.

Victoria Victrix

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #63 on: September 15, 2012, 09:50:04 PM »
Tony apparently knows something we don't.  Posi's gotten a tasty job offer?  A venture capitalist has come forward?  NCSoft is planning on shutting us down at the end of this month?  I don't know.  But it is clear that it is big, and a cause for urgent action.  So far he has been a voice of reason here.

Now for those of you who are going "But what if those execs come in on Monday Morning and find their email box flooded!!!!!!"  I have only one thing to say.

Have you never worked in a big corporation?

Execs do not see their raw email boxes.  Ever.  This is why they have assistants and multiple secretaries, and spam filters the like of which the Pentagon has.

If we are lucky some of those emails will make it past the spam filter and into the primary box.  Then the assistant or secretary will see it.  If we are lucky, said assistant or secretary will make a note of the contents for an email summary report, from which the executive will select anything he or she might want to look at after the "important" business is taken care of.  If.  They could already have been instructed to discard anything related to COH that comes from outside the company.

Chances that any of these will actually land in the executive's pristine and mostly empty mailbox?  Optimistically thinking, 1/100,000.  And then only if we somehow manage to touch what passes for a heart in the assistant.  Or if we are making so much noise that we cannot be shut out and the summary report is overwhelmed with our numbers.

That is how these things work.
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Colette

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #64 on: September 15, 2012, 10:20:53 PM »
Y'all do what you wanna do. I sent a courteous letter last night when Tony first posted his go-ahead.

Philly Girl

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #65 on: September 15, 2012, 10:23:00 PM »
Just a few things I would like to say:

First to address something I saw earlier, the e-mail campaign is definitely different then a postal mail campaign.  You can easily fill someones inbox and stop business critical e-mails from getting through.  This will not garner favor and will most likely end with having keyword filters or addresses being blocked.  It may also be seen as a malicious action, rather than one to get their attention.  A postal campaign sends a tangible message and may put stress on a mail room but business critical messages will still get through.


Secondly, I already stated this on Facebook, Silence does not mean anything.  It is early yet and if negotiations are happening they will be confidential.  Also we are consumers not business partners, if and when they decide to make a statement it will most likely come via Z or one of the other OCR reps since that's why they pay them.  It's a common business practice to have no announcements during negotiations.  The reason I state this is because people will get frustrated with the silence and stop fighting/trying, or will get desperate and possibly more negative.  If you expect the silence (as I do) then you can just keep fighting at a consistent pace.   A consistent pace will show solidarity and meaning, as opposed to a short fast and furious pace that dies from attrition.


Now saying silence means nothing, I do have a minor experience with Paragon/NC Soft regarding this statement.  Back during the AE account bans I was, lets say, rather persistent in my efforts to make Paragon see my ways. So much as to start contacting NC Soft Public relations among other places.  I also figured out paragon's e-mail scheme so that as long as I knew the name I knew their e-mail address.  Now I got ZERO replies, but that doesn't mean they didn't hear me.  I was told by Ghost Falcon (see sig) that I was brought up at some rather high level meetings.  So while I heard nothing from them, I wasn't being ignored.  Oddly enough, I found out later that I was mistaken about the numbers of people banned because I was basing it off Justice #'s and my server was *cough* rather hard hit by the bans.  Had they just put that info out there the reactions would have been much better.  This is a company that likes to stay silent on certain business aspects though.

Paindancer

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #66 on: September 15, 2012, 10:33:34 PM »
I will say, I agree, that we are against the  clock.  Server morale, and team attrition at Paragon both work against us.  Couple in, the longer they wait, the greater chance the situation disperses organically is also in NCSofts favor.

However, I dont see that applying direct pressure to them is a viable strategy.  They have already decided to minimize us.  Applying indirect pressure, through media awareness, is the best way to go, and I know a little bird or two who is up to another salvo.

Keep the faith.  Keep playing.  keep having fun!  Get your friends to download the game.. that is probably the biggest thing we can do right there.
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dwturducken

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #67 on: September 15, 2012, 10:34:00 PM »
Just a word from a guy who has worked on the admin side of spam filters.  Look through your spam folder in your email whatever (webmail, Outlook, Thunderbird, etc). Look at the subject lines.  Avoid using anything in your subject line that resembles anything you see there, and you should be OK.  You're not writing something that is going to look like you're trying to sell something or pass yourself off as a prince of a random African country or head of some random US federal body, so the ones that filter the body of the email, too, should let you through.  Don't put the game name in the subject line, or they will trigger the filter after too many.  Don't use something generic, like "A Plea," "Don't Do This," or "Save Our Game."  Mix it up.

Obviously, yes, they're going to have something a little more robust than an entry-level Barracuda, but we can keep them from being automatically deleted by the spam filter if we're judicious and creative. That doesn't stop them from being manually deleted, but the executives will know we're doing it, even if they don't read a single one.

I'm against this, too, but I'm going to do it.  I trust Tony and his team, and all of you, for that matter, or I wouldn't be here.
I wouldn't use the word "replace," but there's no word for "take over for you and make everything better almost immediately," so we just say "replace."

emu265

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #68 on: September 15, 2012, 10:45:02 PM »
After what I sent last night, I have been going back and forth on how I feel about this.  I think, however, it will not ultimately hurt us.  Simply getting on their nerves isn't going to trigger any sort of mental meltdown on their part.  It shouldn't.  People at the top of successful companies generally aren't unstable or vindictive.  Since we didn't launch this at the outset, I think it will be interpreted as frustration towards their silence. 

Someone mentioned how this could clog up their inboxes, burying potentially important business emails.  That's good and bad.  Whether they read every email or not (which they most certainly will not) it shows them, in a very real way, the weight of their actions.  It gives them an actual burden to work through as a result of the decision they made.  That's the good.  The bad is that they could be getting tired of us, and we don't want to force a premature decision if we put them in a bad mood.  Though I don't think they will act vengefully on important business simply because we made their morning email routine a little more tedious.   

Thrillseeker

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #69 on: September 15, 2012, 10:58:14 PM »
I have sent emails. I was VERY polite. I was short. I did not ramble.

Here is a copy of the one I sent to Dr. Song-Yee Yoon

Quote
My humblest apologies for this interruption.

On August 31st. 2012 your company announced the intent to close down
Paragon Studios in California, USA and sunset City of Heroes. I
completely understand the business reasons for this action. However,
those of us who have been loyal paying customers of the game from it's
start would like you to consider, instead, allowing the sale of the
game and studio to those that were employed with the studio before you
closed it down or to another interested 3rd party with the intent of
continuing to run the game.

The actions of NCSoft in this matter has not been in good faith with
those that have been paying to play the game. Please consider and take
actions on the offers that are being made from parties in the USA.

At the very least, send an official response to those making the offers.

Prior to the closure of Paragon Studios, I was seriously considering
buying Guide Wars 2, Blade and Soul and Wildstar. However, if NCSoft
does not at least make a public showing of making an effort to let
those interested save City of Heroes from closing down, I am afraid
that NCSoft and it's holdings will never, ever, see another dollar of
my hard earned money.

I deeply respect the three that we are sending this to. It weighs heavily that it was felt that we needed to do an email campaign to private company emails. I hope by keeping it short and showing my respect the only way I know how in my words when sending something like this, that it will not adversely affect things.




Chaos Ex Machina

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #70 on: September 15, 2012, 10:58:18 PM »
"With respect, how I think City of Heroes profits can be dramatically increased"

How about that?

dwturducken

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #71 on: September 15, 2012, 11:03:40 PM »
"With respect, how I think City of Heroes profits can be dramatically increased"

How about that?

As a subject?  Probably too long, but that's a different concern.  I can't say how they would have their filter set, but it's possible that they have already come up with an internal code name for the game and have it in the filter.  We can but try.
I wouldn't use the word "replace," but there's no word for "take over for you and make everything better almost immediately," so we just say "replace."

Burnt Toast

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #72 on: September 15, 2012, 11:04:47 PM »
I am tired of hearing about Asian culture/etiquette. If anyone had a CLUE about South Korean culture you would know that Seoul is the most active city when it comes to civilian protests. These protests have paved the way for many democratic reforms as well as labor reforms to benefit the people. South Koreans are NOT Chinese...and their culture is completely different.

If you honestly think sending a few hundred emails that are going to be read by a secretary is going to cease any talks...then those discussions were already on the verge of collapse. South Koreans welcome passionate responses (Hell the right to protest is in their constitution). Almost all the changes in the past 20 years for the betterment of it's citizens have been the aftermath of the population standing up and speaking their mind. Change doesn't happen because people stay silent...change happens because people let their voices be heard.

Will there be trolls spamming these guys...probably....and more than likely from Non-CoHers.
Will there be passionate letters sent...absolutely...I have seen a few of them already.
Will this result in anything positive or negative happening...who knows.

I do know that doing nothing will only have one end result:

November 30, 2012....Unable To Access Login Server.

Zolgar

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #73 on: September 15, 2012, 11:14:51 PM »
If anyone is intending to use a reference like Thrillseeker's, implying or stating "I won't be buying more of your games", I might suggest not making it as a threat or a "You took away my toy, so I'm going to strike back at you!"

Instead consider something like:

"I had been interested in (games), however the sudden closure of Paragon Studios and announced shutdown of City of Heroes only cements the reputation your company has earned in closing down MMOs. Looking at this reputation, I do not know if I could invest the time and money in to another of your games." (others could write it far better than I)

It will get the same point across, without either sounding like a threat ("Give me my game back or you'll never see my money again!") or a bribe ("Give me my game back and I'll buy your other games."), additionally it shows a reputation the company has earned (at least here in the US) that can seriously hurt them in the long run, especially in the US market.

emu265

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #74 on: September 15, 2012, 11:16:10 PM »
I am tired of hearing about Asian culture/etiquette. If anyone had a CLUE about South Korean culture you would know that Seoul is the most active city when it comes to civilian protests. These protests have paved the way for many democratic reforms as well as labor reforms to benefit the people. South Koreans are NOT Chinese...and their culture is completely different.

If you honestly think sending a few hundred emails that are going to be read by a secretary is going to cease any talks...then those discussions were already on the verge of collapse. South Koreans welcome passionate responses (Hell the right to protest is in their constitution). Almost all the changes in the past 20 years for the betterment of it's citizens have been the aftermath of the population standing up and speaking their mind. Change doesn't happen because people stay silent...change happens because people let their voices be heard.

Will there be trolls spamming these guys...probably....and more than likely from Non-CoHers.
Will there be passionate letters sent...absolutely...I have seen a few of them already.
Will this result in anything positive or negative happening...who knows.

I do know that doing nothing will only have one end result:

November 30, 2012....Unable To Access Login Server.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing."

Justaris

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #75 on: September 15, 2012, 11:20:42 PM »
I would suggest "He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done."   Not quite as directly applicable to our situation, but Mr. Taek-Jin Kim's email is "davinci" so perhaps he would appreciate the quote.   It's always been a favorite of mine. 



emu265

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #76 on: September 15, 2012, 11:25:02 PM »
I would suggest "He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done."   Not quite as directly applicable to our situation, but Mr. Taek-Jin Kim's email is "davinci" so perhaps he would appreciate the quote.   It's always been a favorite of mine.
I like this one as well.  Hey, using different quotes lends to sending more than one email :)

Philly Girl

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #77 on: September 15, 2012, 11:27:50 PM »
I am tired of hearing about Asian culture/etiquette. If anyone had a CLUE about South Korean culture you would know that Seoul is the most active city when it comes to civilian protests. These protests have paved the way for many democratic reforms as well as labor reforms to benefit the people. South Koreans are NOT Chinese...and their culture is completely different.

If you honestly think sending a few hundred emails that are going to be read by a secretary is going to cease any talks...then those discussions were already on the verge of collapse. South Koreans welcome passionate responses (Hell the right to protest is in their constitution). Almost all the changes in the past 20 years for the betterment of it's citizens have been the aftermath of the population standing up and speaking their mind. Change doesn't happen because people stay silent...change happens because people let their voices be heard.

Will there be trolls spamming these guys...probably....and more than likely from Non-CoHers.
Will there be passionate letters sent...absolutely...I have seen a few of them already.
Will this result in anything positive or negative happening...who knows.

I do know that doing nothing will only have one end result:

November 30, 2012....Unable To Access Login Server.

I am curious if you work for a large business or have any business experience?  Or if your just basing your statements off things you have read online.  In my company our top execs do handle their own e-mail, their assistants only schedule meetings for them and take calls.  My company is one of the top pharmaceutical companies.  I can't speak to e-mail filters but I know that I personally would be royally pissed off and screwed if my email box got filled with spam and I couldn't reply to the CRO team I am responsible for and other internal communications that are time sensitive.  I am low on the totem poll so I can imagine if it happened to our CEO things would not be good.

emu265

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #78 on: September 15, 2012, 11:31:39 PM »
I am curious if you work for a large business or have any business experience?  Or if your just basing your statements off things you have read online.  In my company our top execs do handle their own e-mail, their assistants only schedule meetings for them and take calls.  My company is one of the top pharmaceutical companies.  I can't speak to e-mail filters but I know that I personally would be royally pissed off and screwed if my email box got filled with spam and I couldn't reply to the CRO team I am responsible for and other internal communications that are time sensitive.  I am low on the totem poll so I can imagine if it happened to our CEO things would not be good.
I understand being pissed but, realistically, what are they going to about it?  I do not think their is any fatal harm in this. 

Felderburg

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Re: Call to Action: Contact NCsoft Directly
« Reply #79 on: September 15, 2012, 11:32:11 PM »
I think it would be a lot smarter to not show the emails and personally forward only the best submissions, OR AT LEAST FILTER THE TROLLS.

Bad idea.

Ooh, now that's a good idea. Filtering the emails would have been much better.

Then again, they could just set TonyV's email to spam, and ignore every single one...
« Last Edit: September 16, 2012, 02:17:58 AM by Felderburg »
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