Closure of the longest running super-hero MMO rouses anger and resentment from fan

Heroes and former villains gathered in the game's Atlas Park to mourn the game's passing.

 Do you remember a game called "City of Heroes?" 8 years ago, the world's only super-hero MMO graced the PC gaming world and surprised everyone. It survived a transition from its original publishing company to NC Soft, it survived the pretender "Champions Online," and it even survived "DC Universe Online" for a time.

Recently, at the end of November, the world within "CoH" was closed down forever by NC Soft. Rumors circulated that it was because the team from Paragon Studios was being moved to work on "Guild Wars 2." Others believed that the game wasn't closing, merely being taken from NC Soft by another company. Whatever the reason, the August announcement shook fans and players to their very core.

Not only were they saddened, but many of them were outraged at the fact that the game was closing. Still bringing in a quarterly profit of $2.76 million, according to market analysts in Korea where NC Soft's main offices are, many were confused by this move.

An article written for koreatimes.co has the headline "'Unethical' game closure.'" Why? Partly because everyone else in the world can't seem to understand the business move. While analysts agree the game doesn't make a huge amount of money for the company, especially after going free-to-play recently, it still makes money.

Players have begun to start rousing other NC Soft fans to boycott the company in anger, while even media outlets are covering the player-community disgust. Each day after the closure was announced, players began in-game protests. They would gather en masse at certain locations in game just to spawn multiple instance monsters and bosses so that the game would lag atrociously and cause issues. Others took a more political approach, creating petitions and awareness campaigns online to try and show the company the large amount of fans that were against the action.

It may not have been as pretty as other games, but it had a style all its own.

This kind of community love is rarely seen in an MMO, especially an NC Soft one. However, "City of Heroes" eight year run was one for the history books. The game had time travel, a morality system, almost unfathomable amounts of customization that put other super-power MMOs to shame, player-run radio stations, arena battling, an alternate dimension and a mission creation system that allowed the player to make custom enemies with custom powersets and write their own storylines for others to play.

Paragon Studios and those who worked on the game did something right. They created a game that had a community so invested in the franchise that it is making a media stink so large it can be seen hovering over the NC Soft corporate offices in Korea.

Why shut it down? Only NC Soft knows. One thing is for certain, the players will never forget that it happened, and NC Soft's image in the west has been severely damaged because of this decision.

Industry Interview: Cory Butler of Bioware Austin

"Star Wars: The Old Republic" has been getting a lot of traffic over the past months since its release. Three major content updates, a fully voiced-over script as well as an immersive Star Wars experience has really sent the gaming world buzzing. At San Diego Comic Con, the Vault was able to chat with Cory Butler, a Senior Producer at the game's developer, Bioware Austin, and ask some questions concerning the new contender in the massively-multiplayer-online gaming ring.

After one of the most successful MMO launches in recent history, "SW:TOR" has announced that it will be free to play up to level 15 for those who aren't already subscribed to the vast, interactive space-opera.

Bioware isn't the first company to tackle the free-to-play market, with Blizzard doing so with "World of Warcraft's" beginning levels as well as dark horse Paragon Studios with their almost decade-old title "City of Heroes." Even "DC Universe Online" went free to play in almost record time - nearly half a year after launch.

Anyone can be a scruffy-looking nerf herder in "Star Wars: The Old Republic."

Butler explained that for their part, Bioware wanted to give a longer free trial to people who may not have wanted to make the commitment right away. It is a common fear of many gamers when looking at an MMO that they won't be able to support that game for very long and won't get their money's worth. The first 15 levels of the game (having played all the classes at this point personally) takes the player through a good portion of the beginning of each character's story and introduces a variety of different non-player characters integral to the overall story.

"Our philosophy is, 'Come test drive the game. We feel that you're going to like it enough that you're going to invest time in it,'" Butler said.

While the game's introduction levels are going free to play, this doesn't mean that Bioware hasn't been working tirelessly to provide content since launch for players. Rise of the Rakghouls came out as well as the Legacy Expansion, which both added some technical patches, content and flashpoint missions. The Allies patch added a more streamlined group finder and adaptive gear for players.

Many players have expressed the feeling that the game itself is made to be played socially. While it is entirely possible to completely level a character through solo work, it is often encouraged to join with others and play through the stories together.

"SW:TOR" has a unique system in this regard as player choices during conversations change the outcome of certain missions, which could potentially change the Light and Dark Side ramifications for those involved. It makes the teaming experience unique each time, and often more fun if you work with a dedicated team.

"It's one of the reasons we wanted to get the Group Finder in as soon as we could. That's why with [update] 1.3 we didn't focus on the content because that was the main feature we wanted to get out their to allow people to get in those groups," said Butler.

For those interested in dipping their toes in "SW:TOR" and trying out all of these features and stories, go to their site and sign up for the 15 level free trial.