Last Friday, NCSoft dropped a huge bomb on City of Heroes players, and sadly, it wasn’t an awesome game-wide event. Without any warning whatsoever, it was announced that game production would cease, and that City of Heroes would be discontinued by November 30th.

Mine were among the first shouts of dismay and horror; mine were among the first heartbroken Tweets and Facebook statuses tolling the sad news across the Internet. But they were most certainly not the last.

With this sudden, cutting action, NCSoft not only struck at the heart of its most popular game’s community, but undercut the City of Heroes developers (Paragon Studios) as well. Those developers were simply laid off, seemingly as if the decision meant nothing to anyone. I was appalled at how slapdash and unprofessional it all seemed. Did the developers’ hard work and creativity really mean so little? For that matter, did our creativity and hours of playtime, as customers, really mean so little, too?

I was shocked at the time, and I still am. But I am not ready to roll over and let my heroes play dead. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from City of Heroes, it’s that being defeated is only temporary: you can be brought back into the fight in many ways.

If there is still time to reconsider, still time to talk, I will not simply give up. I want to continue playing this amazing game, and I know that I speak for many CoH players when I say so. So I present my best and most accurate shot, the most powerful I can summon, to ensure that my voice is heard.

Dear NCSoft:

Please, do not give up permanently on City of Heroes. We customers know of your grievous financial losses and are trying to understand that you may have done this out of necessity. But we are saddened that you felt you had to take this highly drastic course of action, when so many more temperate options were available to you (selling the game to another company chief among them).

This move need not be permanent, and in fact may do more damage to your business overall than anyone ever dreamed. With this action, many players, including myself, feel alienated and unheard; we would LOVE to work with you to restore this game, which is your most beloved product, but we do not feel you will hear us. Please consider how this has damaged your reputation as a company among gamers, and at least give thought to mitigating the decision.

We, the players, would love to see the game continue, whatever else happens. If you no longer want to be the parent company of the game (or cannot be, for whatever reason), then perhaps another company can step up and take over leadership. If you do not want another company to take leadership, or if that avenue is blocked by legalities, then perhaps you can make the game code open-source. That way, fans could host their own servers, and still partake of the beautifully creative world you once spearheaded. I know these two options would make no more money for your company, but announcing the closure of the game ensures that anyway.

I know we as players do not understand all of the reasons behind this decision, and I fully admit my ignorance in this. But I respectfully ask for you to reconsider and, if possible, reverse the closing of City of Heroes, at least until other possibilities for continuing the game have been thoroughly explored.

Thank you for your time and patience, and I look forward to hearing from you.