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Difference between revisions of "Lore AMA"

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(Back Alley Brawler reddit AMA: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/4gv8xl/c/d2lkkqd)
(Back Alley Brawler reddit AMA: Saving work just in case - more to come later!)
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The questions he has answered as of (date) are:  
 
The questions he has answered as of (date) are:  
  
{{hidden|City of Heroes Loregasm 2016|bg1=#ccccff|content={{EdNote|note=This document is presented largely as it appeared at release. Minor changes to formatting have been included, and images are shown rather than text links where relevant.}}<!-- When it's over: '''Q) Question from someone goes here (@usernamegoeshere)'''<br>A) Answer goes here -->}}
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{{hidden|Back Alley Brawler AMA (2016)|bg1=#ccccff|content={{EdNote|note=Due to differences in reddit's threaded format and wiki presentability, there have been some changes to the original formatting. The intent is to transform the reddit thread into a more traditional "Q&A" like the other Lore AMAs with as little loss of content as possible. Because reddit allows direct quotes in its comments, those are indicated by an indented blue square, in both questions and answers - all bold text is a direct question or quote from a player; all non-bolded text is an answer from BAB.}}{{EdNote|note=The current state of the AMA includes the entirety of comments; it is possible that they will be trimmed for only the context important to the actual question in the future.}}<!-- When it's over: '''Q) Question from someone goes here (@usernamegoeshere)'''<br>A) Answer goes here -->
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Back Alley Brawler here, AMA?
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'''Q) Wretschko'''
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'''Holy shit, it IS you.
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'''First, I hope you're actively employed, heh.
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'''Second, do YOU believe the chatter that there are STILL on-going negotiations from a group of folks willing to license/buy the CoH IP from NCSoft or do you think it's just wishful thinking/unrealistic hype?
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'''Third, do you think the current efforts are viable? (City of Titans, Atlas Park Revisited, etc.)
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'''And lastly, is there a private server running CoH and if so, can you please tell me who to contact to gain access to it? ;)
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'''I mean, I know the game engine is now absolutely ancient but I think a few thousand people would still cough up a monthly sub to bring back their heroes/villains. I know I would. It wasn't so much as the graphics that made CoH/CoV great, it was the atmosphere and friendships made. For some reason, no other MMO could live up to what CoH was for me.'''
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A)
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*'''First, I hope you're actively employed, heh.
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I am, thank you. After being laid off from Paragon, I almost immediately went back to work at Cryptic Studios. There, I helped launch Neverwinter and got to work on a couple of other unrealized projects. About a year ago, I relocated to Champaign, IL to work for Deep Silver Volition, where I am now.
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*'''Second, do YOU believe the chatter that there are STILL on-going negotiations from a group of folks willing to license/buy the CoH IP from NCSoft or do you think it's just wishful thinking/unrealistic hype?
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Honestly, I haven't followed it that much. I've no idea what kind of negotiatins any third party has had with NCSoft. I know that Matt Miller once confided that Paragon tried to acquire the franchise from NCSoft and go at it on their own, but the big hangup was the liability of active accounts and how all of that got transferred from one owner to another. Like acquiring CoH a year after it had shut down would have been more likely, but by then it would be too late to matter. Pretty sure Cryptic approached NCSoft about re-acquiring City of Heroes when they shuttered Paragon as well. I have no specifics about it, but clearly nothing came of that.
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This was the second MMO I worked on that was shut down by NCSoft, and NetDevil did a similiar thing where they tried to assume all operational costs in order to keep Auto Assault live. At the time, NCSoft seemed to have this 'go big, or go home' attitude about their franchises. They would have rather completely shut down prematurely than let it linger on, even it if was profitable.
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In my experience, every publisher will always talk as if they're on the verge of signing a deal even if there's zero chance of that ever happening. It costs them nothing to say that. But when it comes time to writing up contracts and signing paperwork, that's where the process stalls out.
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*'''Third, do you think the current efforts are viable? (City of Titans, Atlas Park Revisited, etc.)
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Again, not really familiar with any of these projects or their status. I can say that making an MMO is a massive venture and for any small group to pull it off without a major source of funding is almost insurmountable. If one of these projects manages to make it, it'll be a real testament to the dedication and talent of their team. Even if they flounder, it's still an impressive thing for anyone to attempt.
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It's interesting, because it seems to me that the environment right now with the wildly popular Marvel/DC film franchises is far more ripe for a 'super hero' themed MMO. But I don't know if anyone's willing to take the risk with the genre and tone that fans probably really want.
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*'''And lastly, is there a private server running CoH and if so, can you please tell me who to contact to gain access to it? ;)
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Legitimately no idea. There were illegal servers supposedly going while the game was live, so seems likely someone somewhere might have something. There's a Paragon Chat application that seems pretty interesting.
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*'''I mean, I know the game engine is now absolutely ancient but I think a few thousand people would still cough up a monthly sub to bring back their heroes/villains. I know I would. It wasn't so much as the graphics that made CoH/CoV great, it was the atmosphere and friendships made. For some reason, no other MMO could live up to what CoH was for me.
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I hear you. City of Heroes is a significant part of my life. I was a player long before I started at Cryptic. I invested thousands and thousands of my free time into playing the game and years of my career working on it. Both of my sons were born while it was live. And while I couldn't bear to play again after Paragon, seeing it shut down and knowing that it's gone forever has left an aching hole in me. I've never connected with an online community the same way since.
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'''Q) NondeterministSystem
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*I've never connected with an online community the same way since.
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'''We still love you, BABs. As I've said elsewhere in this thread, I'm still in touch with a lot of my Super Group. We're having a get together later this month.
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'''If we're doing questions, though... What were the remaining Incarnate Slots conceptualized to do?
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}}
  
 
== See Also ==
 
== See Also ==

Revision as of 03:29, 8 August 2018

Overview

The Lore AMA (Ask Me Anything), or "Loregasm", is a series of documents created by Positron to answer questions City of Heroes players had about the game's story following the Sunset announcement.

In the thread announcing its creation, Positron stated that anything it contains "SHOULD be considered canon when concerning anything to do with Issue 24 and previous. Anything after that is speculative and should be treated as such. We'll note in the answer if it's anything different." On September 18th, 2012, Positron posted a link to the first Lore AMA as a Google Doc in a City of Heroes forums thread.

In a 2012 interview of Positron and War Witch at OnRPG discussing the closure of the game, Positron stated that he would do yearly AMAs as long as people had questions:

Balloon.png MeticulousMeta: There are still a lot of questions after the Lore AMA. Is there any chance of getting another?

Matt: I’ll make a deal: I’ll do AMA’s about CoH lore every April 28th until the questions stop coming in. I’ll give more details as we get closer to that date, and I can’t promise everyone who should be involved will be.


AMA by Year

EdLetter.png Editor's Note:

This page contains the text of the documents as they appeared at release. A list of the questions linked to by topic and developer can be found here: Lore AMA/Sorted.

Be advised that there are spoilers for existing and future content contained within the AMA documents.

AMA: 2012

The first Lore AMA was linked in a forum post by Positron titled "Loregasm" and includes a key of the answering developers' initials:

Chatballoon-Dev.png
Positron (Developer) (From the initial post from the forum thread announcing the AMA)
City of Heroes AMA 2012

That's a link to the doc, in case these boards get shut down, and because I don't want to clean it up for our forum posting format (if someone ELSE does, feel free to pad your postcount).

Some answers are not satisfying. Some answers are made up, and that answer only exists in that doc. I tried to get everyone who was involved in the stuff at the end to answer the questions as best they could.

MM: Matt Miller (Positron)
JH: John Hegner (Protean)
JAH: Jeff Hamilton (Arbiter Hawk)
SM: Sean McCann (Dr. Aeon)
RG: Ryan Greene (Viridian)
TS: Tim Sweeney (Black Scorpion)

If there is a miracle and somehow CoH is saved, we reserve the right to change any and all answers given in the doc, to maintain suspense and surprise.

The Lore AMA itself at its time of release (September 18th, 2012) is as follows:

AMA: 2013

After taking questions in an open Google Doc, the first of the yearly AMAs was announced at OnRPG on May 3rd, 2013, and released as a closed Google Doc. In most cases, the name of the dev giving an answer is listed after the answer. The devs that answered are:

EdLetter.png Editor's Note:

This is the most likely list of developers who answered AMA 2, as there are multiple devs with some of those first names. Some questions do not have a dev name, and it can be assumed that they were answered by Positron unless the context indicates otherwise. Several questions were unable to be answered, and are marked as "Answer hazy, ask again later (Matt because he couldn’t find someone to answer this right now)."

The second Lore AMA at its time of last revision (May 7, 2013) is as follows:

AMA: 2014

An unofficial thread was started on the Titan Network forums for gathering questions. Positron was contacted and said: "I plan on doing it a bit differently this year. Doc will only be up for a short window." On April 17, 2014, at 8:45 AM PDT, Positron posted a Google Doc that he left open for only 24 hours. Positron also put in some general rules for asking questions, largely prohibiting questions not related to the game's lore:

Following the initial 24 hour period, there were 76 questions. A copy of the document seven minutes before its takedown for answering can be found in a Google Doc. Positron noted in a tweet on April 23rd, 2104, that all questions for the 2014 AMA had answers.

On April 28th, 2014, the tenth anniversary of City of Heroes, Positron released the answered questions as a Google doc. The devs that answered are:


The third Lore AMA at its time of last revision (April 28th, 2014) is as follows:

AMA: 2015

On April 24th, 2015, Positron released a tweet with a link to a Google Docs form for submitting questions. The form was open until April 28th, and players were limited to one "lore related (not business, development, or systems / powers)" question. Upon submitting a question, the form noted that answers would be "made available sometime the week of May 3rd." After the form was closed, it told players that it was not accepting further submissions, but to "Try again next year!"

On May 17th, 2015 Positron released a Google Doc with the 2015 AMA answers. The devs that answered are:

The fourth Lore AMA at its time of release (May 17th, 2015) is as follows:

AMA: 2016

Positron posted a Google Doc form in an unofficial thread on the Titan Network forums.

On April 28th, 2016, Positron released a Google Doc with the 2016 AMA answers. The devs that answered are:

The fifth Lore AMA at its time of release (April 28th, 2016) is as follows:

Back Alley Brawler reddit AMA

On 2016-04-29 Back Alley Brawler began answering question about City of Heroes in an informal AMA (note: The answers may sometimes be hard to find when the threads grow larger; CTRL+F (and keep tapping F3 thereafter) to find the phrase "load more comments" and click those to view his answers, you can also F3 cycle through the phrase "CBruce" once all comments are loaded).

The questions he has answered as of (date) are:

See Also

External Links