Plaque in Safe Rock (Hive) honoring Veracor

[AjinOdin]

Veracor has indeed exemplified a very rare dedication as a leader and teacher to the CoH community and it's members. He leads and freely shares his insights into the game with other members and is never to busy to help. Veracor's style of leadership inspires others to take up leadership roles and this further benefits the community.       

[Xanatos]

3 minutes ago, AjinOdin said:

Veracor has indeed exemplified a very rare dedication as a leader and teacher to the CoH community and it's members. He leads and freely shares his insights into the game with other members and is never to busy to help. Veracor's style of leadership inspires others to take up leadership roles and this further benefits the community.       

 

This is starting to feel cultish.

[Coyotedancer]

I was going to say "popularity contest"...

[Ruin Mage]

Oh seven hells.

[Captain Valiant]

No.

[_Kai_]

'Cult' or 'popularity contest' is a bit of a stretch, honestly.  In my SG alone there are 2, possibly 3, people who never played on Live, whose only server has been Everlasting. There are a good number more who only played after it went Free to Play and never did any high level content.  For us old originals, sure, we remember many SGs, community leaders, cliques, groups, inspirations, but for a not insignificant portion of the current player base, this is all there ever was and so they *do* see Veracor as someone special and deserving of recognition. I can guarantee if anyone looked back to the old forum archive every server had a thread like this at some point, for someone/some group who was/were a prominent community leader/organizer.

 

Just cause we're all been there, done that, and don't have our own plaques doesn't mean the intention here is bad or cultish, just that its come around again as a topic is all, and people's intents are to acknowledge outstandingness in their experience of people and the game.  I think there are already some good answers as to why adding things about/for real people in game is rarely a good idea while acknowledging the slippery slope that SCORE initiated by adding the memorial NPCs though, so won't get into that.

[Bionic_Flea]

I think Veracor is a great raid leader, cool dude, and dedicated player. 

 

But I think we should limit player memorials.  Under those standards, many people would deserve a nod.

[Xanatos]

3 hours ago, _Kai_ said:

'Cult' or 'popularity contest' is a bit of a stretch, honestly.  In my SG alone there are 2, possibly 3, people who never played on Live, whose only server has been Everlasting. There are a good number more who only played after it went Free to Play and never did any high level content.  For us old originals, sure, we remember many SGs, community leaders, cliques, groups, inspirations, but for a not insignificant portion of the current player base, this is all there ever was and so they *do* see Veracor as someone special and deserving of recognition. I can guarantee if anyone looked back to the old forum archive every server had a thread like this at some point, for someone/some group who was/were a prominent community leader/organizer.

 

Just cause we're all been there, done that, and don't have our own plaques doesn't mean the intention here is bad or cultish, just that its come around again as a topic is all, and people's intents are to acknowledge outstandingness in their experience of people and the game.  I think there are already some good answers as to why adding things about/for real people in game is rarely a good idea while acknowledging the slippery slope that SCORE initiated by adding the memorial NPCs though, so won't get into that.

 

Actually, Second-hand narcissism - treating one's own experiences as universal - is bad. Especially when requesting changes to the game to accommodate it.

 

Ascendant was a mate of mine. We played a lot together and our characters had intertwining stories. So when they put an NPC of him in game after his passing, it was touching. The idea that someone would use his memorial as justification for why a current-year Hamidon raid leader should have a plaque is genuinely disgusting.

 

The sheer cognitive dissonance of it...

Edited August 13, 2020 by Xanatos

[Coyotedancer]

2 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

I think Veracor is a great raid leader, cool dude, and dedicated player. 

 

But I think we should limit player memorials.  Under those standards, many people would deserve a nod.

 

All of This.

The flea is wise.... 

[_Kai_]

22 hours ago, Xanatos said:

 

Actually, Second-hand narcissism - treating one's own experiences as universal - is bad. Especially when requesting changes to the game to accommodate it.

 

Ascendant was a mate of mine. We played a lot together and our characters had intertwining stories. So when they put an NPC of him in game after his passing, it was touching. The idea that someone would use his memorial as justification for why a current-year Hamidon raid leader should have a plaque is genuinely disgusting.

 

The sheer cognitive dissonance of it...

....I'm sorry? Like the cognitive dissonance of suggesting that your own experience of what's appropriate is worthy while bemoaning others experiences as inappropriate in the same post? I mean its absolutely perfectly fine to think its not a good idea, not like the guy, think its in bad taste, whatever.  But to categorize the people who thought 'hey, this is a really cool guy wouldn't it be neat to have something' as 'genuinely disgusting' is disingenuous. I'd bet half of Everlasting don't even know who Ascendant was, you can't disrespect something you know nothing about. Heck I've used the Luna NPC in Ouro tons and never knew she was a memorial until just last month.

 

Let's be perfectly, absolutely blunt.  While I did happen to know Ascendant and thought it was really amazing to see the NPC, the memorials in game aside from Coyote are there soley because they were people SCORE knew or knew about and respected and passed. There was no bar or qualifications that meant any character that met them got an NPC.  They are not the only players who were pillars of the community who passed away, and not the one ones worthy.  HC team could turn around tomorrow and say 'hey we put a NPC named Bree at X in honor of the Massively reporter' and the 'justification' would be the same as what people are saying now, regardless of why, the state of the game is such that in game things *do* exist to honor players.

 

I, personally, wouldn't want to see anything added that was not a memorial for someone who has passed. But maybe give people the benefit of the doubt of just trying to do something cool for someone they think has been a pillar of the community now without really knowing why the ones that exist were done.  And if you have any cool Ascendant stories maybe add them to the HC wiki so people who have never heard of him can enjoy, I know there is one script up there and I have Dr. Crom's 12 Days of Christmas, but that's all. 🙂

[Greycat]

To be fair, he didn't say a thing about the people being disgusting. He said the idea was.

 

 

For me, personally, I'd be fine with a generic "This spot has been the launching spot for numerous raids against Hamidon throughout the years." After all, the plaque would be on all HC servers. And there have been hundreds of people launching hami raids from live through now. Plus, a generic plaque like that would serve a second useful function - "First time in the Hive? Don't know where the safe rock is? Look on the map and come to the plaque."

[Xanatos]

1 hour ago, _Kai_ said:

....I'm sorry? Like the cognitive dissonance of suggesting that your own experience of what's appropriate is worthy while bemoaning others experiences as inappropriate in the same post? I mean its absolutely perfectly fine to think its not a good idea, not like the guy, think its in bad taste, whatever.  But to categorize the people who thought 'hey, this is a really cool guy wouldn't it be neat to have something' as 'genuinely disgusting' is disingenuous.

 

"We should add a plaque for this player because he is cool" =/= "We should add a plaque for this player because Ascendant got one"

 

I was calling the latter disgusting, not the former. Don't obfuscate.

[Psychopithicus]

I personally like the idea of a plaque saying something along the lines of "Hami raids start here". Veracor does seem to be a decent individual from what I've seen of him, but something that would show up across the game as a whole rather than just in Everlasting doesn't feel to me like the best way to show appreciation for what he's done (especially since he's still alive and the player representation through in-game NPCs has exclusively been in memory of players who passed away).

 

There are other things that can be done to show appreciation, though! Could host a costume contest in Veracor's honor, make an AE arc for/about him...there are possibilities. The most important thing, imo, is making sure Veracor himself is okay with this sort of thing before actually going through with it.

[MojoAlt]

13 hours ago, Psychopithicus said:

The most important thing, imo, is making sure Veracor himself is okay with this sort of thing before actually going through with it.

 

[Veracor]

So I've kind of been avoiding this thread, but it's probably time for me to chime in.

 

The 1-year mark was a personal achievement for me, something for me to share with Everlasting TFs and ShadeRaids, the two main places I schedule from.  I did not make a forum thread or a HC Discord mention about it for two main reasons: (1) That I had already done a 9-month thread when I was fully expecting real life to prevent me from getting to the 1-year mark, and (2) there was coincidentally a memorial service for the player who passed and that was more important.  There also wasn't anything noteworthy in the statistics this time around (Maybe when I reach 1k Hami raids or 1k iTrial badge runs led).

 

I personally don't agree with an ingame plaque about this for reasons already stated by others in the thread, but open-mindedness is a requirement of being a good leader.  If this spotlight is something Homecoming is willing to do, then I will step up and try to make something positive from it -- my take would be to honor all who attend and run content in this game for the good of the community.  But I do not want the spotlight focused on me when it could instead be focused on the show; my motto in life is to always lead by example and to let everyone enjoy themselves and be what they want to be.  Helping others and being a part of a constructive and friendly community is its own reward.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Veracor

[sundew]

On 8/10/2020 at 9:25 PM, _Kai_ said:

Somewhat notable, SCORE actually added five.  Luna, Ascendant, Curupira, NorseWind, and Todogut.  I only know of Ascendant, but I think half or more of CoH knew who Ascendant was by the end of the game, not just Virtue.

So this comment is how I learned that we lost Todogut.  Rest in peace. 

[Coyotedancer]

*nods* I miss Todo. 😞

[Patti]

Who was Todogut?

[Bionic_Flea]

18 hours ago, Patti said:

Who was Todogut?

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=todogut

[Ironblade]

I think a plaque at the 'safe rock' would make perfect sense, but it should be about the players.  All over the zones, there are plaques about the history of the city, but some of the recent history has been created by the players.  The devs didn't designate the safe rock; we did.

I think there should be a new history badge which you obtain by visiting plaques around the city that commemorate what the PLAYERS have 'decided'.

For example:

the safe rock for Hamidon raids

Point du Hoc for Mothership raids

Pocket D for roleplaying

 

I would have said something about the costume contests in Atlas Park but a plaque already mentions that.  But you get the idea.

[sundew]

11 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=todogut

And this.  

 

[Takel]

On 8/10/2020 at 7:14 PM, Piecemeal said:

*clicks plaque*

Burninating all the Monsters

Burninating all the Buds

Burninating all the Hamis

And their mitochondria!

Mitochondria!

[CienFuegos]

On 8/11/2020 at 8:02 AM, Xanatos said:

 

 

*played a videogame that he enjoyed endlessly.

 

The game is the reward. Don't confuse it.

 

Plus, the game has existed since 2004. There have been countless hamidon raid leaders, across multiple servers. None of them required plaques. I don't see why Everlasting and Veracor do? Am I missing something?

ego....

[CienFuegos]

On 8/12/2020 at 7:19 PM, Xanatos said:

 

This is starting to feel cultish.

I agree 

[Xaddy]

On 8/13/2020 at 12:36 PM, Bionic_Flea said:

I think Veracor is a great raid leader, cool dude, and dedicated player. 

 

But I think we should limit player memorials.  Under those standards, many people would deserve a nod.

If he's dead, I don't care. Make a dozen plaques. Never heard of him. 
If he's alive, he's not doing anything that dozens of others aren't doing day-in, day-out.