NcSoft announced August 31st, 2012, (on my birthday, no less!) that they were shutting down popular super-hero based MMORPG City of Heroes. Sure, it’s one of the older MMOs out there (started in 2004) but, darn it, it’s MY MMO! I’ve been playing since 2008, and my now-ten-year-old son got his own account two years ago. We have our own super group and regularly play together, keeping Paragon City safe for all its citizens. And NcSoft wants to close it.
Even the developers of the game are baffled by this decision. From everyone’s account, the game was making money. But NcSoft, which is based in Korea, wants to concentrate more on their other games, such as Aion, which is extremely popular in Korea. Efforts from fans are now being made to interest another company in purchasing CoH. There’s also a petition that over 10,000 players have signed, urging NcSoft to reverse their decision. There’s still room for more signatures:
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncsoft-keep-ncsoft-from-shutting-down-city-of-heroes#
For a lot of people, including myself, CoH is a home away from home. It’s a play to go to blow off steam, talk to friends, and feel heroic in an otherwise non-heroic world. Yes, it’s a game, but it’s a game to which many of us have devoted a lot of time. We’ve met people who’ve become true friends, we’ve met spouses, we’ve had family game nights stretching through the years years. We’ve formed a community. Can City of Heroes be saved? Even with ten thousands signatures and various Facebook pages filled with folks getting the word out, (http://www.facebook.com/groups/149334415206830/) it seems doubtful. But when have you ever seen Spider-Man give up? How about Batman? Well, if those famed and fabled heroes never gave up, then Gentleman Gladiator, Cerulean Shadow, Vermillion Shield, Abe and Abbi Kadabra, and the host of other super heroes and villains that populate City of Heroes can’t very well give up either, can they?
So what can YOU do? Sign the petition, of course. Get involved in the Facebook groups. Visit CoH’s forums at http://boards.cityofheroes.com/ and see what others are up to. Join Tony Vazquez’s efforts to crowd source and outright purchase CoH. (http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/) Are you a former player, or maybe just a fan from afar? We need you as well! Everyone’s efforts might be in vain. No matter what we do, NcSoft may just let CoH go silently into that good night. That might happen. But if we do nothing, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that’s exactly what WILL happen. Be Batman, be Spider-Man. Be Wonder Woman. Be Gentleman Gladiator. Don’t give up. If we must go down then go down we will, but we’ll go down fighting.
One response
Thank you for a wonderful article.