I Do Love the CoX

Some of the pictures in this post are a little on the large size in full resolution. I am too lazy to change them. Also, all of the art was done by myself once upon a time and are of characters created by other players. The screenshots are of a couple of my characters.

Hex Girl

City of Heroes/Villains, or CoX as we called it once upon a time before ban warnings made that acronym unusable on the forums, was a game that practically consumed my life. The vast majority of the people in my life are either people I have met in the game, through groups associated with the game, or were introduced through people I met because of CoX. If you were to go through my list of Facebook friends, the largest group would be those I know because of this game with a distant second being people I went to school with followed by people that play Marvel games on Facebook, family, and then those I have met locally since moving to Fresno, CA twelve years ago.

Flux

Let's go back to January 2004. My school funding had fallen through in spite of my being disabled and on the Dean's List. I had no job at the time because I was on disability and unable to get around on my own so was taking online classes in hopes I could find some work to do from home. My disability was getting worse so I actually saw my academic career failing as both a blessing and a curse at the time. I am fairly certain now that I would not have been able to keep up, but I did have a strong start and nothing in my academic records at the time showed I was incapable of doing the work online.

Caesura

I was building a super hero themed MUD at the time. It was a project between semesters that I could construct over time and possibly use as hands on experience in game design and team management. I did not want a MUSH or a MUX or a MOO. I wanted a game where people could craft their own powers from hard coded bits instead of by simply describing what a power did every time it was used.

So I was working on some code when a friend asked me yet again over ICQ (digitized smoke signals) if I had tried World of Warcraft yet. I responded that I did not have the time, but promised I would get a copy. I then proceeded to spend the next couple of weeks hunting down a copy of World of Warcraft as it was apparently sold out everywhere.

 

I was in a local Walmart that February on another failed attempt to track down a copy of the elusive World of Warcraft. Sitting there on the shelf was a collector's edition copy of City of Heroes. Basically this meant a copy of the game with an included Heroclix figure, black and white comic book, a real manual, and in game glowing pink slide run power. Throw in the fact they were offering a free monthly comic with the subscription back then and I was sold. I told myself I was getting it for research purposes to make certain my MUD was not doing anything too closely related, but the real reason is I have been a comic book fan since before the time I was permitted to be a comic book fan.

Fraggle

For the next two years I did not buy another video game, miniature, or role playing product. I did not go to the theatre. I saved a metric bankton of money. My acrylic paints literally went to brick form in this time as I did not touch them and they were mostly the Citadel black flip top paints that never sealed properly. I continued to play CoX for many more years after that, but during those two years I played nothing else.

Yes, the game was fun, but it was the connections that kept me going. Even when I was not playing the game I would log into either the game or the forums to talk with people. I met so many wonderful people and the various little communities were vibrant with lives of their own.

Scurvy Dog and Scurvy Princess

CoX shut down in November of 2012. I do miss it even though I was not playing it much at the end. There are people still trying to resurrect it, recreate it, or build a spiritual successor. Some celebrities stepped forward publicly as having played the game in hopes that their influence might help the game remain open. Mercedes Lackey was particularly visible during this time, although she was far from being alone amongst all the voices.

I did join in the torch holding ceremonies at the end. The community I used to be a part of embraced me once again for a short time as I was again a part of it. This was a community that in the end came together not to protest the closure, but to remember what the game meant to them. It was our vigil for the end of our home and community. I do not hate NCSoft for their decision to close CoX. Neither do I understand it, but they did give us a few months to say goodbye.

Irresistible Force

Many people that played the game still share screenshots they had taken. Some of them seem to have hard drives full of screenshots. Going through my collection of pictures, I have one screenshot of my level fifty from the character select screen, a few of the second character I made for the game (the first was deleted early on), and a smattering of shots of other characters. I have some CoX art I have drawn, but most of it is of other people's characters. I am happy I took the time to make something for friends, but kind of wish I had taken the time to record some of my own memories as that is all they are now. Memories.

So what brought on this bout of nostalgia? There are screenshots and talk about the game shared to my Facebook feed practically every day. No, the trigger for this post was a spammer selling sunglasses that tagged a friend of mine I met in game.

Alt for Irresistible Force

This friend was shot in the back multiple times in 2011. As far as I am aware the police still do not know who shot him nor why. His family never attempted to take down his Facebook page and leave it there for those of use who knew him online. Some of my other friends have met him in person. Muad Dib could be an angry, yet passionate person that would speak up for anybody or against anything if he felt the need. We butted heads sometimes as we could both let passion blind us at times, but he had a good heart. Heck, he was practically all heart, both the good and the bad. He never tried to hide who he was when online and always, and I mean always spoke his mind.

My Oldest Character

It got me to thinking about other friends that I only met through the game or forums that left us before the game itself ended. I do not know how many people actually remember Malibu Sally, and most seem to hate her, but that bitch sure knew how to have some fun. Ascendant is another that is no longer with us. I never met Coyote as he was a member of the community before my time, but I did have the good fortune to meet his brother who only joined the community after hearing about the tribute to his brother in game.

My Level Fifty

It is all a bitter reminder that life is too short. I need to get out there and find new communities. I need to make some new friends. I need to live a little again. Thank you random sunglasses spammer for making me angry enough to wake up and think about life again.