Homecoming Code of Conduct Update - May 13th, 2021

[Glacier Peak]

9 minutes ago, TheSpiritFox said:

I know I'm in a minority but I hate this change. I hate streaming culture, I don't want to invite Twitch streamers in, I just want to play the game. Bad change imo. 

 

Also like is there any actual word on "negotiations" cause at this point like after 2 years I would have expected to see more than "we're talking" that doesn't sound legit tbh. 

It is okay to dislike a change.

 

And if waiting for an announcement on server legitimacy is too hard for you, perhaps a reminder of the 7 years without the 'City of' franchise will provide you with the comfort that it really hasn't been that long of a wait. Time is relative though, so I guess if a player is younger, this might seem like a longer wait.

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Glacier Peak
is to it

[ZacKing]

Excellent news!  I'm very happy for all the players who were looking for this to get policy change.  glad you all can get back to your happy streaming! 

[macskull]

1 hour ago, TheSpiritFox said:

I know I'm in a minority but I hate this change. I hate streaming culture, I don't want to invite Twitch streamers in, I just want to play the game. Bad change imo. 

The good news is this announcement has not changed your ability to do that.

[Parabola]

1 hour ago, TheSpiritFox said:

I know I'm in a minority but I hate this change. I hate streaming culture, I don't want to invite Twitch streamers in, I just want to play the game. Bad change imo. 

Lol. I really appreciate good old fashioned curmudgeonliness! I confess to being a bit mystified by the whole streaming thing myself but I can't really see how this is going to change things much for me either way. If nothing else at least this will stop people moaning about not being able to stream so that's a net positive I guess?

[Tahliah]

On 5/13/2021 at 2:26 PM, America's Angel said:

Y'all should send out an email blast about this to every account. This is legit huge news that could bring back a lot of lapsed players.

Agree!  We lost at least one regular SG-mate and Troll Tuesdays regular (he did Troll teams back on live, too) when he couldn't post his videos any longer.  I don't know how to get in touch with him off the boards (he moved to another--and obviously inferior--COH provider.  I hope he learns of this somehow and comes back!   

[TheSpiritFox]

45 minutes ago, Parabola said:

Lol. I really appreciate good old fashioned curmudgeonliness! I confess to being a bit mystified by the whole streaming thing myself but I can't really see how this is going to change things much for me either way. If nothing else at least this will stop people moaning about not being able to stream so that's a net positive I guess?

[Nerio72]

So does this mean we can "advertise" these servers or should we be subtle about it still?

[Wapsitax]

11 hours ago, Nerio72 said:

So does this mean we can "advertise" these servers or should we be subtle about it still?

As long as the "advertisement" doesn't breach the code of conduct and isn't behind a paywall or done via a paid service I'm sure they'd be happy if you did!

 

Wait I'm starting to sound like Jimmy.

 

I mean... there's nothing in the streaming policy that states you can't tell people about Homecoming.

 

 

[RogerWilco]

16 hours ago, Parabola said:

Lol. I really appreciate good old fashioned curmudgeonliness! I confess to being a bit mystified by the whole streaming thing myself but I can't really see how this is going to change things much for me either way. If nothing else at least this will stop people moaning about not being able to stream so that's a net positive I guess?

 

I usually compare streaming and various forms of "Let's Play"s to things like watching a sports match, theatre performance or cooking show on TV. It is basically a different way to do the same thing. I only watch 2 streamers, and often not at the time they stream but only a recorded version, just because they are very, very skilled at what they do.

There are a lot of people trying, who don't have the skills, but that is just true for the internet in general, as the bar to entry is much lower than for TV. It's like watching a local street performer, or some kids soccer game, much smaller audience, but a few have a reason to come and watch.

 

I hugely applaud this news. Thanks Homecoming Team!

This is awesome.

[golstat2003]

This . . .is . . .HUGE!

 

I'm glad for this change. 🙂 

[ryuplaneswalker]

it felt Absolutely amazing to stream COH again.

 

Now I can't wait till next Saturday.

[Alchemystic]

On 5/13/2021 at 8:13 PM, Jimmy said:

Footage must not contain any content that violates the Code of Conduct, including (but not limited to) content that infringes any third-party copyrights

 

Is there an outline for what would be considered copyright infringement? I've seen plenty "homage" characters that are basically identical to existing IPs, even down to their bio, but I've never bothered to report them... but I guess theres more reason to now 😅

 

Obviously CoH has a few archetypical characters of their own; Statesman, Manticore, Synapse... they all bear some resemblance to popular Justice League IPs, but distinct enough to have their own identities. Is this the bar by which we should measure what's considered a homage vs plagiarism?

 

Lets say... a character is very clearly Batman, but they have a name like 'The Dark Bat' or 'Shadow Wing' or something, but appear identical in both appearance and bio, would that be considered an offense, or just... unoriginal? 🤔

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Tyrannical

[arcane]

23 hours ago, RogerWilco said:

 

I usually compare streaming and various forms of "Let's Play"s to things like watching a sports match, theatre performance or cooking show on TV. It is basically a different way to do the same thing. I only watch 2 streamers, and often not at the time they stream but only a recorded version, just because they are very, very skilled at what they do.

There are a lot of people trying, who don't have the skills, but that is just true for the internet in general, as the bar to entry is much lower than for TV. It's like watching a local street performer, or some kids soccer game, much smaller audience, but a few have a reason to come and watch.

 

I hugely applaud this news. Thanks Homecoming Team!

This is awesome.

Well, tiny difference in that none of those analogies refer to people that willfully and repeatedly record others without either their knowledge or consent. But I digress.

[Peacemoon]

Yay! This is great 🙂

[Boudicia.Dark]

22 hours ago, arcane said:

Well, tiny difference in that none of those analogies refer to people that willfully and repeatedly record others without either their knowledge or consent. But I digress.

Just keep in mind, folks that may be streaming the game * will NOT be asking everyone who might be in the camera frame for "permission" to film them but that does NOT mean they are invading anyone's privacy as you might be controlling a character in the background but YOU are NOT in the background. It is not at all the same as someone walking down the street recording random strangers. Anyway, people streaming or recording is not going to impact anyone who is not interested in the streaming stuff (except that it *might* bring a few people back to CoH). This is a very good, healthy change for Homecoming.

 

*= even old people like me stream games and stuff these days, just check out Shirley Curry if you want to see a REAL old timer playing! Streaming and making videos of hobbies is not just for youngsters.  In fact, as a (new) streamer, my whole pitch is built around bringing older gamers BACK into the fun! Im 54 and a LOT of my friends find themselves "empty nesters" and bored with gardening and not ready for bird watching but totally intimidated by "modern gaming" and who can blame them? My "mission" is to reach out to folks around my age and older and show them gaming is still here for us, gaming is for everybody, you dont have to spend thousands of dollars to play, you dont have to play hyper violent games, etc. Don't reject streamers out of hand just because you *think* only young people do it. Streamers come in all ages, races, genders, political persuasions, etc.

[arcane]

1 hour ago, Boudicia.Dark said:

Just keep in mind, folks that may be streaming the game * will NOT be asking everyone who might be in the camera frame for "permission" to film them but that does NOT mean they are invading anyone's privacy as you might be controlling a character in the background but YOU are NOT in the background. It is not at all the same as someone walking down the street recording random strangers. Anyway, people streaming or recording is not going to impact anyone who is not interested in the streaming stuff (except that it *might* bring a few people back to CoH). This is a very good, healthy change for Homecoming.

 

*= even old people like me stream games and stuff these days, just check out Shirley Curry if you want to see a REAL old timer playing! Streaming and making videos of hobbies is not just for youngsters.  In fact, as a (new) streamer, my whole pitch is built around bringing older gamers BACK into the fun! Im 54 and a LOT of my friends find themselves "empty nesters" and bored with gardening and not ready for bird watching but totally intimidated by "modern gaming" and who can blame them? My "mission" is to reach out to folks around my age and older and show them gaming is still here for us, gaming is for everybody, you dont have to spend thousands of dollars to play, you dont have to play hyper violent games, etc. Don't reject streamers out of hand just because you *think* only young people do it. Streamers come in all ages, races, genders, political persuasions, etc.

I’m not super worried about it myself but purely out of curiosity, my questions would be (1) has anyone ever gotten in trouble with a game or (2) been bullied or something - because of actions found in the background of a video stream? Those would be the relevant questions for skeptics IMO.

[Flintlock Burnfur]

Most of the streamers I've seen are playing single player or co-op games, not MMOs.  So I've never heard of anything like that myself.  The only time I've ever heard of a streamer getting in trouble with a game wasn't because of the game itself, but because they were being a complete asshat.

[Glacier Peak]

Yeah, so far after watching a couple of different streams on Twitch for City of Heroes: Homecoming, I think the streamers are doing the game justice on the platform. I especially enjoyed the past weekend's costume contest/monster mash - great way to show the community that we've built off to prospective future players!

 

Edit: Oh I just remembered, there wasn't any apparent indication for the game between different servers. Some folks were streaming Rebirth, others Thunder Spy, etc. I am hoping down the road, in the not so distant future that the platform will have a specific City of Heroes: Homecoming game instead of the generic City of Heroes (or Going Rogue).

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Glacier Peak

[TemporalVileTerror]

uh, @Homecoming Team (actually, there's an idea . . . )
To be clear, we're supposed to be branding this server as:

Homecoming:  City of Heroes

Right?
I noticed the recent Massively articles are still doing it the other way around.  I don't know how much of a sticking point this kind of brand distinction is, but I just wanted to clarify.

[Glacier Peak]

1 hour ago, TemporalVileTerror said:

uh, @Homecoming Team (actually, there's an idea . . . )
To be clear, we're supposed to be branding this server as:

Homecoming:  City of Heroes

Right?
I noticed the recent Massively articles are still doing it the other way around.  I don't know how much of a sticking point this kind of brand distinction is, but I just wanted to clarify.

 

Yeah that's what I read: State of the Project - August 2020

 

Quote

Homecoming: City of Heroes
We’re going to be changing the name of the project from City of Heroes: Homecoming to Homecoming: City of Heroes. This won’t be an immediate change - you’ll slowly start to see things switch over the next few months - however, the current Homecoming logo will be remaining in place. 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Glacier Peak

[Flintlock Burnfur]

3 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Yeah, so far after watching a couple of different streams on Twitch for City of Heroes: Homecoming, I think the streamers are doing the game justice on the platform. I especially enjoyed the past weekend's costume contest/monster mash - great way to show the community that we've built off to prospective future players!

 

Edit: Oh I just remembered, there wasn't any apparent indication for the game between different servers. Some folks were streaming Rebirth, others Thunder Spy, etc. I am hoping down the road, in the not so distant future that the platform will have a specific City of Heroes: Homecoming game instead of the generic City of Heroes (or Going Rogue).

 

 

There is a way that streamers could differentiate what server it is.  And, as Glacier put up later, one of those icons could be used in a corner of the video to indicate that the server is on Homecoming.

[RogerWilco]

9 hours ago, Boudicia.Dark said:

Just keep in mind, folks that may be streaming the game * will NOT be asking everyone who might be in the camera frame for "permission" to film them but that does NOT mean they are invading anyone's privacy as you might be controlling a character in the background but YOU are NOT in the background. It is not at all the same as someone walking down the street recording random strangers. Anyway, people streaming or recording is not going to impact anyone who is not interested in the streaming stuff (except that it *might* bring a few people back to CoH). This is a very good, healthy change for Homecoming.

 

*= even old people like me stream games and stuff these days, just check out Shirley Curry if you want to see a REAL old timer playing! Streaming and making videos of hobbies is not just for youngsters.  In fact, as a (new) streamer, my whole pitch is built around bringing older gamers BACK into the fun! Im 54 and a LOT of my friends find themselves "empty nesters" and bored with gardening and not ready for bird watching but totally intimidated by "modern gaming" and who can blame them? My "mission" is to reach out to folks around my age and older and show them gaming is still here for us, gaming is for everybody, you dont have to spend thousands of dollars to play, you dont have to play hyper violent games, etc. Don't reject streamers out of hand just because you *think* only young people do it. Streamers come in all ages, races, genders, political persuasions, etc.

 

Personally, I like The Mighty Jingles:

https://www.youtube.com/user/BohemianEagle

He is a retired Navy guy with a very British sense of humour.

 

On 5/16/2021 at 4:05 PM, arcane said:

Well, tiny difference in that none of those analogies refer to people that willfully and repeatedly record others without either their knowledge or consent. But I digress.

Fair point.

I think you could have an interesting discussion on to what extent an MMO can be considered a public space, like a park or street, or even a sports stadium.

The EU privacy regulation is very strict, but make exceptions for spaces where people "can be expected" to be recorded, like on public streets and newsworthy events.

I can see an argument that a game is not a public space, and you could have some expectation of privacy, but I can also see the opposite argument.

I don't know of any legal opinions on the matter.

But some streamers are more like the people who share dashcam videos, than a performer or athlete, although even there, you might see shots of the audience and passers by.

Or maybe something like what this guy does, with his tours of London:

 

For most streamers I watch, this is not really an issue, as they play single player, or with other streamers on the same server.

But for some games it is an issue, I think for player-vs-player games even more so than for the "make believe" MMO type that CoH is.

For example, the content of The Mighty Jingles, whom I have linked above, nearly always shows fellow players, and he often comments on them.

Some of his series are even mostly comments on other players, like his The Good, The Bad, The Ugly series:

I think even content like this is fairly "normal" on Youtube and Twitch, and it seems to be accepted with few problems. And that game has a PEGI 7 rating, so there could be children playing it.

 

Personally, I don't have a problem, as long as no information is shown that can identify a real world person. But that might rely on people not using their real name in a game.

I know some online kids games do not even allow you to freely pick a name, your own or otherwise, but only from a select list, just to avoid privacy problems.

Edited May 17, 2021 by RogerWilco

[Sakura Tenshi]

Time for some comfy base building streams to lo-fi music!

[Nerio72]

24 minutes ago, Sakura Tenshi said:

Time for some comfy base building streams to lo-fi music!

“No pressure. Just relax and watch it happen.” Bob Ross

[Glacier Peak]

5 hours ago, FriezaReturns00001 said:

I wasn't asking you though. It actually not hard to grasp what I'm saying:

You do realize it's kind of a double edge sword for streaming at least streaming not videos i.e. the potential of copyrighted characters showing up out of no where, even if and/or said users are AFK -- it's a risk because anyone can glance at a stream and see something off that upsets NCSoft no esp since they do have the property back yet? Dunno why that'd be confusing so why are yah like this?

 

It is a risk in general due to the mount of streaming service activities which opens a floodgate. This is only common knowledge to people who are within the streaming community anyway so they know this better than most non-streamers/gamers. Which is why I said, it sounds like it would be better to stream after they got the IP back in full but if they did there are still others problems to pop up. 🤷‍♂️ but I'll see how this progresses a year from now.

This is rather suppositive. In fact, I would say it is outright unsubstantiated.