The "Purpleside" Initiative

[StoneColdJoker]

@Steampunkette Are The Redeemers still rolling? I have alternate versions of my main who seems like he would be a good fit. I’d like to put one of him in there if that’d be okay. He’s a vigilante so he spends a lot of time in the Isles anyway. 

[Steampunkette]

It never quite got off the ground. We got a fairly large number of players interested, but because it was everyone's alts no one was ever really 'around' at the same time. Crimson Jackal is working on a base to base our next go 'round on to try and help give people a more concrete sense of identity, but until that's done the whole thing is kind of on the back burner.

[gameboy1234]

On 7/8/2019 at 12:31 PM, Steampunkette said:

Be the REAL HERO. Go Red and save the people who need it most!

This is a great idea.  If the current dev team ever gets the resources, it would be a great way to add a "heroic" path to the Rogues Isles content.  It might also spice up what was consistently a plot line of having the villains there only work for someone else, rather than accomplish objects of their own.

[Saeletra]

This bothers me somewhat. There is so much content for Heroes. New (I use the term loosely) zones, new task forces, task forces changed and added as the Hero story progresses. The state of Villains is static. One path to level through the Isles. One story where we're working for someone else. Villains really need another leveling option, zone, sf or story line where the character is in control rather than working for someone else.

 

The population is so lopsided that it's not easy finding other villains to RP or recruit. And now, instead of having a nice sanctuary to do my villainous deeds in peace. it's being invaded by Heroes.

 

This wouldn't bother me, except for one fact. I am expected to lose. The community perceives it as a given, that Villains always lose. It doesn't matter how many victories the Villain gets, it's expected that ultimately they'll lose.

 

So, what exactly is my motivation to interact with any of this? As a Villain, I'm expected to lose.

 

Been hesitating a long time in posted a Villain perspective in this thread, but I thought one should be provided.

[Steampunkette]

4 hours ago, Mistyr said:

This bothers me somewhat. There is so much content for Heroes. New (I use the term loosely) zones, new task forces, task forces changed and added as the Hero story progresses. The state of Villains is static. One path to level through the Isles. One story where we're working for someone else. Villains really need another leveling option, zone, sf or story line where the character is in control rather than working for someone else.

 

The population is so lopsided that it's not easy finding other villains to RP or recruit. And now, instead of having a nice sanctuary to do my villainous deeds in peace. it's being invaded by Heroes.

 

This wouldn't bother me, except for one fact. I am expected to lose. The community perceives it as a given, that Villains always lose. It doesn't matter how many victories the Villain gets, it's expected that ultimately they'll lose.

 

So, what exactly is my motivation to interact with any of this? As a Villain, I'm expected to lose.

 

Been hesitating a long time in posted a Villain perspective in this thread, but I thought one should be provided.

It's what villains do in comic books, Mistyr. They get short term victories and then lose the bigger battle down the line. *shrugs!*

 

As for the Redside content being "I work for whoever" it's shitty, but it was the only way to keep the narrative even marginally coherent. The biggest problem with supervillains is their goals. Heroes all want the same thing: Justice. How they're motivated to that justice is far less relevant than the way they -get- that justice. Which is where the Hero/Vigilante thing comes in.

 

But for Villains? Every villain has different goals and different reasons to -seek- those goals. Whether they're aiming to take over the world or just rob some banks and retire. And it was viewed as 'essentially impossible' to include all those different goals and motivations within the context of a voiceless player character. Because of the way the game was structured, that is to say player goes to contacts to get missions, a portion of the narrative was always going to be cut off.

 

The most important part, in the case of villainy. 

 

The Contacts themselves should've been Gated behind a dialogue window in which you decided what sort of Villain you wanted to be, and all of their dialogue written as subservient, defiant, or otherwise -beneath- the Player Character rather than often on equal terms. Then when you picked storyarcs you could have chosen the arc where your character seeks to conquer Port Oakes or rob the bank in Atlas Park, or whatever else.

 

Then you could've actually had some villainous stories... not that you'd ever "Win" in them, since the status quo of the world remains the same as it is no matter how many 'World Conquerors' reach level 50 and do a "Take over the World" arc or whatever.

 

As to Redside being for villains... It never should have been. And it was a terrible 'Let's do things the way they've always been done!" split-the-playerbase conceit. They should've added a shitload of Villainous Content to City of Heroes, then built up the Rogue Isles as a place of Contest with both heroic and villainous content. Heroes trying to displace Arachnos and defeat Recluse and other major villains. Villains taking advantage of the Chaos to make money or make deals or promote their own agendas.

 

They could've themed different zones of Paragon for villainy like working -with- the Skulls in King's Row to eventually displace the Petrovich brothers and control the drug trade in the slums. Then with the 'Druglord' badge moving from them to the Family in Independence Port in a gated continuing storyline to get into a big drug war to try and control the flow of the drugs.  And from them to going after Crey when they start slowing down the supply of needed chemicals and stuff, then use the Paragon Protectors to try and expose you as a Drug Kingpin and frame themselves as the Heroes for PR. All of it with various "Local Heroes" coming out of the woodwork to try and stop you, or Cops raiding your drug labs or cash stores...

 

Storylines like that would've completely changed the tenor of how villains work, and created a more nuanced picture than "Everyone in the Isles is evil or at least corrupt and you work for them all"

 

Yeah, the Rogue Isles is being invaded by heroes. There's at least 2 "Villains of Paragon City" supergroups that I know of, too. My hope is to expose people who might never, otherwise, play Redside to the content, there. Because the more people that exist in the Rogue Isles the more likely it is other people will play there.

 

I'd rather have Heroes go Purple than see Redside go Dead.

[Saeletra]

7 hours ago, Steampunkette said:

It's what villains do in comic books, Mistyr. They get short term victories and then lose the bigger battle down the line. *shrugs!*

I think this is the issue here.

 

This is just how it is in comic books. However, City of Heroes/Villians is also a video game and an MMO. When I play a video game, I expect to succeed in my task, when I play a MMO I expect to be able to build my character through successes and failures. I want to tell her story and compromise and find the best story for everyone involved. Being told she'll "ultimately fail, because comic books" feels like I just got Godmodded. Somebody just informed me, just decided, my character's ultimate fate and ended her story. All with out consulting me. To me, this is a big problem.

 

7 hours ago, Steampunkette said:

They could've themed different zones of Paragon for villainy like working -with- the Skulls in King's Row to eventually displace the Petrovich brothers and control the drug trade in the slums. Then with the 'Druglord' badge moving from them to the Family in Independence Port in a gated continuing storyline to get into a big drug war to try and control the flow of the drugs.  And from them to going after Crey when they start slowing down the supply of needed chemicals and stuff, then use the Paragon Protectors to try and expose you as a Drug Kingpin and frame themselves as the Heroes for PR. All of it with various "Local Heroes" coming out of the woodwork to try and stop you, or Cops raiding your drug labs or cash stores...

 

Storylines like that would've completely changed the tenor of how villains work, and created a more nuanced picture than "Everyone in the Isles is evil or at least corrupt and you work for them all"

This, so much this. I really couldn't agree more with you here! Thank you for putting that into words!

 

I still like the idea of "home bases". I like the Islands and the lore there for Villains. Just as I like Paragon for Heroes and the lore there. They are completely opposite world views and when they clash spectacular RP happens.

 

I'll bow out of this thread now, I don't want to derail it more than I have already! Sorry!

Edited September 21, 2019 by Mistyr
Some sentances were very painful to read. I ashamed.

[Steampunkette]

... I think I might need to start writing Storyarcs for the AE that touch on this. Villains in Paragon City. Maybe if I write enough of them, and submit them to the dev team, they could eventually be incorporated into CoH for villainous characters in Paragon.

 

And then do the same thing for heroes in the Rogue Isles.

 

... I wonder if I can't create a writing project group on Homecoming of like-minded writers to create a "Dev Team" of our own, just cranking out new stories en-masse with the explicit, express, goal of creating a new "Expansion Pack" worth of Cross-Faction content..?

 

[WumpusRat]

On 9/21/2019 at 10:17 AM, Steampunkette said:

... I think I might need to start writing Storyarcs for the AE that touch on this. Villains in Paragon City. Maybe if I write enough of them, and submit them to the dev team, they could eventually be incorporated into CoH for villainous characters in Paragon.

 

And then do the same thing for heroes in the Rogue Isles.

 

... I wonder if I can't create a writing project group on Homecoming of like-minded writers to create a "Dev Team" of our own, just cranking out new stories en-masse with the explicit, express, goal of creating a new "Expansion Pack" worth of Cross-Faction content..?

 

I had a storyarc that I wrote back on live that focused around a villain (or small group of villains) that traveled outside of Paragon City and ended up taking over a Central American country. Smashing the military, assassinating the leaders, and installing themselves as the local powers. The goal was eventually going to be to write the followup where they had to fend off a bunch of do-gooders who tried to come in and topple their "evil regime". 

[gameboy1234]

On 9/21/2019 at 10:17 AM, Steampunkette said:

... I wonder if I can't create a writing project group on Homecoming of like-minded writers to create a "Dev Team" of our own, just cranking out new stories en-masse with the explicit, express, goal of creating a new "Expansion Pack" worth of Cross-Faction content..?

I think you should seriously post some of your ideas on the Dev board, let them know you might be interested as a story writer.  I think you're ideas are quite good.  Removing "red vs. blue" (for players) so there's content for each faction on both sides in all zones is an excellent idea.  I hope you can pull it off.  Villains are never (well, seldom) segregated off on their own little land in the comic.  They always appear in The City with the heroes.  Yeah villains lose in the long run, but they're still *there*.  That's the way it should have been.

 

Incidentally, I think Gold Side should be the same.  Open it up so there's some level scaling and heroes can do missions in Preatoria.  It'll be some nice extra "alternate earth" missions at lower levels to fill out some of the content in the 15-30 range (with level scaling this could work).  And Gold Side should quickly discover an escape themselves to an alternate Earth, blue side.  It'll help populations on both sides.

 

[_Kai_]

Blacklight hasn't really gotten any members, either, but if you are on late (after 9pm pacific) and want company, hit me up @Kai 

I still play Phaseshift who is redside as heroic intentions to protect civvies, not so much heroic methods 🙂

[Shin Magmus]

I support any idea with the color purple, 100%.

[Bastille Boy]

Are there any active purpleside roleplay-friendly supergroups? I have some rogues (corrupt RIPD cops and Robin Hood type robbers) who could use some not-totally-evil redside allies.

[Snarky]

I admire the thought.  But Redside is so well written for a morally conflicted self serving power hungry megalomaniac.  Every character I start there falls in line lol. GL

[_Kai_]

I'm still running around with Phaseshift but I wouldn't call Blacklight active, there's some interest but no real movement.