Author Topic: "Why save City of Heroes?" website  (Read 11073 times)

johnrobey

  • Elite Boss
  • *****
  • Posts: 952
  • CoH global: @Kristoff von Gelmini
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #20 on: November 06, 2012, 01:40:15 PM »
You know,  there's TONs of good material on the CoH official player forums (until 11/30) of various testimonials about just what made CoH special, ranging (from memory) from a childhood love and nostalgia for comicbooks and superheroes that CoH tapped to players writing about how they, their kids, their grandkids played CoH regularly even when separated by geographical distance.  Reviewing, copying and formatting that data IS an undertaking, imo.

While I lack webdesign skills, I would be willing to read thru the official forums for player testimonials I found especially heartwarming.  (Ideal for me would be simply to cut and paste official forums links to a forum thread here.)
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi         "In every generation there has to be some fool who will speak the truth as he sees it." -- Boris Pasternak
"Where They Have Burned Books They Will End In Burning Human Beings" -- Heinrich Heine

johnrobey

  • Elite Boss
  • *****
  • Posts: 952
  • CoH global: @Kristoff von Gelmini
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #21 on: November 06, 2012, 01:41:20 PM »
I'm sure I could also throw in a couple of testimonials from SG pages on guildportal.com also.
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi         "In every generation there has to be some fool who will speak the truth as he sees it." -- Boris Pasternak
"Where They Have Burned Books They Will End In Burning Human Beings" -- Heinrich Heine

blue storm

  • Boss
  • ****
  • Posts: 136
  • #savecoh
    • Freedom Academy
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #22 on: November 06, 2012, 04:14:21 PM »

http://www.savecoh.com/

I'm not sure we need something on top of that : it is probably better to have one central repository for the effort instead of several smaller and weaker sites.

If there are features missing from the site, I'm sure we can work with those who built it to add what we feel is missing...
--


Frostyfrozen

  • Boss
  • ****
  • Posts: 107
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #23 on: November 06, 2012, 04:46:28 PM »
I've been trying to save the CoH websites  issue break down pages but I can only save them in odd form. lol Even Firefox does not save them as photo documants.

Randomvector

  • Lieutenant
  • ***
  • Posts: 70
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #24 on: November 06, 2012, 06:49:34 PM »
FYI THe internet archive has the site and the forums

Forums: http://archive.org/details/archiveteam-city-of-heroes-main

Main site: http://archive.org/details/archiveteam-city-of-heroes-www


you can also use the wayback machine to see the site (all the way back to 2002, that brought back memories)

Ammon

  • Team Wildcard
  • Boss
  • ****
  • Posts: 132
  • UK marketing guy and City of Heroes addict
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #25 on: November 06, 2012, 07:39:59 PM »
What makes City of Heroes so special, and worth saving?

Well, for me it is how versatile and creative the game is. 

Most games lock me in to their preformed characters.  I either have a character with a full story where I can only customize gear, or I have a character I can give a background to but that background choice has little to no effect.  City of Heroes allows me to really let my imagination loose and play virtually any kind of character at all, from almost any genre.  Fantasy, Horror, Sci-fi, Martial Arts, Contempory Action Hero ... almost anything I wanted could be created somehow and made to be effective.


Most games lock me in to a particular style of gaming.  With City of Heroes we have people who play to collect badges and accolades, people who enjoy PvP combat, people who explore the incredibly rich in-game lore, people who play solely in teams, people who play solo, people who almost purely roleplay and hardly touch the content at all, and people who create missions for others to play.  The game was not a game, but almost more of a virtual world in which one could play many different games, in many different ways.  Making builds was a strategy game.  Mission Architect, Base-Building, and RP plots were building games.  Badges and Accolades made for a collecting game.  It could also be a first-person shooter, a team third-person dungeon run, and many other games, all at once or whatever you chose to follow.


The game could be picked up near instantly for casual gaming, yet had enough strategy, depth, plot exploration and customization to immerse oneself in for years of hardcore play.


In summary, it was a game that let you make of it whatever you would.  It was so versatile that there was something for virtually everyone in the game, and not just a minor part of that something, but enough flexibility to be whatever game you wanted it to be.  There was grinding for 'stuff' if you wanted, but there was also the ability to play for years without ever grinding the same missions over and over if you chose to fully explore the arcs or mission architect.


That alone is such a rare quality, such an amazing achievemnt that it alone deserves respect and adoration (which its players have given it).  However, it added more.  It was a pioneering game that has expanded the entire genre of MMO gaming across its many years of development.  The first game to make levels largely meaningless for putting teams together.  The sidekick system.  Free flight travel.  The richest character creator.  So many other innovations that the game deserves a spot in gaming history that few games can match.


And these innovations are not just of the past.  What really makes City of Heroes so special, above all of the freedom, creativity, personalisation, community spirit, staff support, is that after almost 9 years, there is no other game on the market that offers anything even marginally close to the same gaming experience.  The game is utterly unique, in so many, many ways.

To me, that is what we need to get across, with each of those points leading to entire sections that expand and illustrate those points clearly.  Show how diverse the characters could be.  Highlight the different styles of gaming, and how one player could be playing Van Helsing, alone hunting the monsters, while another player was part of a super group like The Avengers, and another was in a millitary group with guns.  How one player could be an ancient magical spirit, and another could be a high-tech spaceman from the far future.

Show how base-building could be its own game, and highlight some of the amazing artistic creations, even though the tool to build with was often compared to trying to build a brick wall using chopsticks to lift and position the bricks.

Show a few of the detailed Roleplay characters, and show how they could create their own lore completely if they wished.  How they were able to create their own world and their own stories.  Show how the Mission Architect could fit in with that creation process.

Show some of the artwork and stories that the game would inspire and enable through the forums and beyond.

Highlight some of the community spirit, from fundraising to conventions, from the devs sharing an in-game wedding with the players, to many players finding out-of-game weddings from in-game meetings.

SithRose

  • Plan Z: Lore Lead
  • Elite Boss
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,981
  • The Phoenix is coming.
    • Missing Worlds Media - Plan Z: The Phoenix Project
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #26 on: November 07, 2012, 03:52:36 AM »
In my mind we need a seperate thread to discuss - What made City of Heroes special?

If we hope to ever recreate this ideal and catch Lightning in a bottle, we need to know WHY - what made this different.

You mean this thread? :)

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,5057.0.html

It's 7 pages long...and they aren't short pages. We WANT this lightning caught in a bottle.
Lore Lead for Plan Z: The Phoenix Project
Secretary of Missing Worlds Media, Inc.

Knightslayer

  • Elite Boss
  • *****
  • Posts: 477
    • Monster Game!
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #27 on: November 07, 2012, 09:54:58 AM »
Pretty much what Ammon said, for me the customization and freedom to be what you want is what makes CoH so special.
There is no other game where you can easily play anything ranging from a Fiery Demon to the leader of a special strike team (like S.W.A.T.), or with the recent additions even Shaman that summons animals (or animal spirits in mine's case).
Pretty much anything goes, without breaking immersion in the setting.
On top of that CoH pioneered so many great gameplay features, like the Sidekicking system, I found it outrageous that NCSoft completely removed their original CoH praise that was on the GW2 site under the explanation of how their current GW2 system works.
I guess the phrase "Give credit where credit is due" goes out the window once you kill off the game you were crediting.

Ammon

  • Team Wildcard
  • Boss
  • ****
  • Posts: 132
  • UK marketing guy and City of Heroes addict
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #28 on: November 07, 2012, 02:35:50 PM »
You mean this thread? :)

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,5057.0.html

It's 7 pages long...and they aren't short pages. We WANT this lightning caught in a bottle.
I'm well aware of that thread, and yet I posted to this one.  The reason is that they (the two threads) are doing the same thing (sharing what is so special about CoH) but for different reasons.  The other thread is to put that lightning in a bottle so we can hope to recreate it.  This thread is about being able to show others the lightning, and ignite a spark in them to join us.

Specifically, I'm saying what we need to create to get others on-side.  What we need to show others about CoH so that they understand, rationally, why we are fighting for it, and why they should help us.  So please don't take my posting here as dismissing the other thread or your stirling efforts to recreate the special magic of CoH.  Its simply that my focus is still on saving CoH in some manner, and at least, in uniting as many others with us as we can.

Altoholic Monkey

  • Lieutenant
  • ***
  • Posts: 98
    • Repeat Offenders Network - Making the stupidly difficult easy since 2005
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #29 on: November 07, 2012, 05:47:40 PM »
http://www.savecoh.com/

I'm not sure we need something on top of that : it is probably better to have one central repository for the effort instead of several smaller and weaker sites.

If there are features missing from the site, I'm sure we can work with those who built it to add what we feel is missing...

The person that runs the site is Leandro, he might be very busy at the moment on another project. But send him a PM. He's on this site. :)

Ammon

  • Team Wildcard
  • Boss
  • ****
  • Posts: 132
  • UK marketing guy and City of Heroes addict
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #30 on: November 07, 2012, 06:37:00 PM »
The person that runs the site is Leandro, he might be very busy at the moment on another project. But send him a PM. He's on this site. :)
That is exactly why I think that ParagonWiki may be the perfect vehicle - it is a collaborative creation that is not dependant on any one person, and allows many many hands to make light work of a large project.  It is not slowed when any one person becomes busy, and doesn't overload any volunteer with too much sole responsibility and endeavor.

Victoria Victrix

  • Team Wildcard
  • Elite Boss
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,886
  • If you don't try, you have failed.
    • Mercedes Lackey
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #31 on: November 08, 2012, 05:19:59 AM »
I think the Wiki is probably the way to go.
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

Ammon

  • Team Wildcard
  • Boss
  • ****
  • Posts: 132
  • UK marketing guy and City of Heroes addict
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #32 on: November 08, 2012, 01:26:06 PM »
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/City_of_Heroes

Is this really all we have to say about City of Heroes?

The link above is the one that the words 'City of Heroes' everywhere on Paragon Wiki point to.  It is therefore the page that should introduce everyone to everything that City of Heroes is, in an easily accessible series of overviews of the various facets of the game.

Genre (and other genres it could easily encompass), Gameplay and subgame diversity (collecting badges, pocket D roleplay, following the arcs, powerlevelling, Taskforce and Trial gaming, etc), Character Diversity, Accessibility of the game, Age suitability,  History of the game (when things happened to the game), Acheivements of the game (what awards and firsts it gave the world)

All those selling points we talked about should be mentioned or have a dedicated section linked to from the CoH page.

Knightslayer

  • Elite Boss
  • *****
  • Posts: 477
    • Monster Game!
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #33 on: November 08, 2012, 01:45:26 PM »
Agreed, that would be a good spot to place it.

Altoholic Monkey

  • Lieutenant
  • ***
  • Posts: 98
    • Repeat Offenders Network - Making the stupidly difficult easy since 2005
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #34 on: November 08, 2012, 01:50:08 PM »
That is exactly why I think that ParagonWiki may be the perfect vehicle - it is a collaborative creation that is not dependant on any one person, and allows many many hands to make light work of a large project.  It is not slowed when any one person becomes busy, and doesn't overload any volunteer with too much sole responsibility and endeavor.

Sending people to a page on a wiki is okay but overall it's just a page in information repository about the game.  You can have a site that has more than one editor but it should be standalone and not be a page within another site.  Honestly if its just information about the game they can just go to Paragon Wiki, so why would another page about the game on that site even matter? The whole Wiki is about the game.

If you want to direct people to a easy to digest site about why the game is worth saving, you really should have that be a standalone site.

You really don't want a lot of hands on a static page about the game. Wiki are great for storing information but if you're directing people to learn about the game and why they save it then a static page with some visitors interaction, such as testimonials.  The site itself doesn't need constant updating once the game is closed, but it does need visitor interaction.  A wiki page doesn't really allow that.

I'm sure someone can get the domain whysavecoh.com (I just checked and its available), for whatever you decide a standalone site or a wiki page.  A URL like http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/pagename isn't easy to remember.

Ammon

  • Team Wildcard
  • Boss
  • ****
  • Posts: 132
  • UK marketing guy and City of Heroes addict
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #35 on: November 08, 2012, 03:09:01 PM »
Sending people to a page on a wiki is okay but overall it's just a page in information repository about the game.
It is our information repository.  If I wanted the people passionate enough to have dedicated an entire wiki to the game to explain to me why it is so important, what is the only logical place to go?  That wiki.  That Wiki that has already been thoroughly indexed in search and has years of click-thru information stored in Google and thus is set to rank well already, not in weeks or months like a new page would.


Honestly if its just information about the game they can just go to Paragon Wiki, so why would another page about the game on that site even matter? The whole Wiki is about the game.
And yet, there is the page where we describe the game, and we say nothing.

The Wiki has been geared to people who already know the game.  It has absolutely nothing at the moment that introduces the game.  It is the perfect vessel for what was stated in the opening post of this thread.

If you want to direct people to a easy to digest site about why the game is worth saving, you really should have that be a standalone site.
Very rarely.  Often you leverage a brand or something strong to launch something new.  The Wiki is the right choice.  A standalone site might be great, if we had months, not days, to start seeing results, and we'd still need to link to it from already indexed strong pages like the Wiki, the forums, etc.

I'm sure someone can get the domain whysavecoh.com (I just checked and its available), for whatever you decide a standalone site or a wiki page.  A URL like http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/pagename isn't easy to remember.
We already have the save CoH site, and other domains, and the whole point is to have a great place to LINK to.  The address doesn't matter that much when you are clicking a link.  Any address still takes just one click.  It is the content, geared at explaining to outsiders who have never played CoH, and may have never played any MMO at all, wht is so special about the game, and why they should care, that is the entire point.

DrakeGrimm

  • Elite Boss
  • *****
  • Posts: 742
Re: "Why save City of Heroes?" website
« Reply #36 on: November 08, 2012, 11:55:06 PM »
Why save City of Heroes?


The answer is simple, really. It's the home of the best community on the Internet. Possibly, in the world. What more reason do you need?
We are the crazy ones, the mavericks, the dreamers, the forgotten sons. We color outside the lines for fun. We are the crazy ones! - "The Crazy Ones," Stellar Revival

"We put ourselves in "the attitude of heroes"--and we all became a little more heroic." - VV