SCORE - Dead MMO, a possible data breach, a secret private server.

[Schadrach]

So, apparently there's been a secret City of Heroes private server running for the past 6 years.

https://massivelyop.com/2019/04/15/score-city-of-heroes-emulator-leak/
https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comments/bdkgp3/city_of_heroes_private_server_leaked/
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-fully-functioning-city-of-heroes-private-server-has-somehow-been-kept-secret-for-six-years/
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/city-of-heroes-private-server-has-been-running-for-years.1476871/
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/04/16/city-of-heroes-invite-only-fan-server-revealed-by-player/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mb8jd8/a-secret-server-for-the-dead-mmo-city-of-heroes-has-players-in-an-uproar
https://www.mmobomb.com/news/private-city-heroes-server-exposed-operating-secrecy-six-years/

Where it gets interesting however is that allegedly if you were one of the chosen few to be given access, all your characters were there, just as they were when the game was shut down. Which would mean that they had access to data from inside NCSoft, and leaves the question of what other data they might have had access to?

The only person whose been named as being involved is Leandro who was also in charge of the Titan Network and the City of Heroes subreddit. In both of those places (two of the largest venues to discuss the game), it was a bannable offense to suggest that a functional private server exists at all, or even to mention anything about private servers or server emulators other than SEGS and Paragon Chat, both of which are...not very advanced. On the subreddit, discussion of even those had to be kept to two specific threads created about them.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

So, basically, a bunch of people made a treehouse and only the people they like can get in?

 

[CritialGaming]

So, basically, a bunch of people made a treehouse and only the people they like can get in?

I mean it makes sense to only let the select few in, otherwise it would never had remained a secret for long.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

OMG, how do I get in? My old characters could still be there!

EDIT: As a CoV refugee, this is the best possible news that could ever have been. The original server source code still exists outside an NCsoft archive, and even more, our original characters from Live are there too!!

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

First of all, I'm checking in from Moscow right now. Just wanted to leave a little mark here.

Second, may I ask if a moderator could weigh in here please? I'm worried that any open and honest discussion of this news could veer toward the vicinity on the outskirts of the area not far from the rule regarding the discussion of "piracy". Can we have an honest discussion about this subject without fear of mod wrath, or is it too close to "piracy" to be discussed here?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Second, may I ask if a moderator could weigh in here please? I'm worried that any open and honest discussion of this news could veer toward the vicinity on the outskirts of the area not far from the rule regarding the discussion of "piracy". Can we have an honest discussion about this subject without fear of mod wrath, or is it too close to "piracy" to be discussed here?

I'd have to wonder if it even counts as "piracy" when it depends on a live service no longer offered by the company, therefore not costing the company any money by existing. I think that's a conversation whose time has come.

 

[sXeth]

Second, may I ask if a moderator could weigh in here please? I'm worried that any open and honest discussion of this news could veer toward the vicinity on the outskirts of the area not far from the rule regarding the discussion of "piracy". Can we have an honest discussion about this subject without fear of mod wrath, or is it too close to "piracy" to be discussed here?

I'd have to wonder if it even counts as "piracy" when it depends on a live service no longer offered by the company, therefore not costing the company any money by existing. I think that's a conversation whose time has come.

"Abandonware", as the term goes has had a pretty steady presence in wider discourse (not sure about here specifically) for a pretty long time now.

Generally, when it has come up legally (EA vs Ultima Online private servers in the early 2000s for instance) its gotten pretty quashed. So most places are going to lump it in with piracy regardless.

 

[Schadrach]

So, basically, a bunch of people made a treehouse and only the people they like can get in?

Basically. They also built the treehouse out of code leaked from NCSoft, and content and user DBs leaked from NCSoft which leaves the question of what else they might have from NCSoft.

The one person named as being definitely involved (Leandro) is also in a position of power over the largest places to discuss the game, and all those places made discussing private servers at all a bannable offense and even limited discussion of server emulation as a whole to just Paragon Chat and SEGS, and even those only in approved threads.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Currently writing from Bali, Indonesia.

As a CoX refugee, we were left homeless when NCSoft shut the game down. It was a shock to everyone since the game was still profitable. While not a breakout success, the switch to F2P made a positive difference to the game and the community. While many of us paid and continued to pay subs, the F2P model meant players could pick and choose what they wanted and it seemed to be working.

I do get why they shut it down, I just don't think they should've. NCSoft are a Korean company, and Koreans are really different/not the same. The fact is they had a portfolio of other, more successful, traditional MMOs, including Lineage 2, Aion and the B2P Guild Wars games so a niche superhero MMO didn't fit. Also, it was a game that was absolutely played by the Western market, not NCSoft's home market of Korea. So that was the main thing, tho there were some other points of note...

One main thing was the separation between Heroes and Villains (aka Blueside and Redside). It's not actually too unlike the Horde/Alliance thing in WoW in that players cannot normally interact and certainly couldn't visit each others zones. The problem here was that of dev resources...having two factions meant developing something for one side only wouldn't get seen by the other. In a similar way to SWTOR now, since the class storylines end at 50, that's it. After that, they make just one storyline and everyone plays it. So too in CoX, new zones and powers were generally "cross-faction". New TFs also were cross-faction, but those worked really well as it happened.

The last major expansion in fact was called "Going Rogue", and it introduced a third "neutral" zone, where players could make a new character of any archetype (while also allowing any archetype to be played redside or blue) and choose whether to be villain or hero later. It also enabled us to have our characters "switch sides", turning heroes gradually evil, and villains gradually good. I took one character in each direction for the heck of it.

There was just so much to do in that game, a character creator that allowed almost any character to be created and worked. One friend of mine would spend literal hours on a single costume in the tailors. CoX also included "costume change" animations....a little something that played when you switched costumes, so it allowed for really cool effects. One friend created a little girl who, on drinking a bubbling concoction would cough, splutter and explode into her "true form" of a horned, flaming, cloven hoofed devil. I had a midget ninja, a bubbling faceless radioactive man, an ice queen, Bruce Forsythe, a monkey and a riot cop to name a few.

The trouble with CoX private servers was just how much stuff the servers handled. Even NPC walking patterns and behaviours were server managed. Powers, server managed, changing zones, talking to NPCs, almost everything was handled by the server. And since no one had the server code, trying to emulate or reverse engineer it was a pipe dream. One thread I remembered reading way back when had a bunch of suggestions. One suggestion of someone buying it was knocked down...a Korean company would never sell their IP, even if it was worthless to them and worth millions elsewhere. To sell it, to them is an admission of failure. Someone else mentioned "secret things were happening secretly", which we took to mean someone somewhere was working on getting a private server working.

City of Titans was the first "successor" project announced. It later splintered off to Heroes and Villains also, then Valiance Online and Ship of Heroes both chalked up. All have been in development years and so far one of them is in Alpha. There was talk, around 2014-2015 that a team of people had spoken to the right people and would have a meeting with NCSoft. The hope was to get permission to "reference" the IP...ie. to have direct mentions of Atlas Park, Cap au Diable, Statesman, Lord Reclude/Arachnos, etc. in the successor projects. That didn't go anywhere either.

So for a homeless vet, the only hope we had was a successor. The BEST hope was the original server code could be released, but it was unlikely. Now, it turns out it's been out there for years. I admire that it's been kept secret, hope that I will be able to personally benefit soon. If our characters are out there, that would be even better. They each had memories and personalities and the chance to play them again, I don't care if it's a "breach". I used to pay to play, even when it was F2P and I would gladly pay again now. It's an MMO like no other. I can go months without playing at all, then just get the urge.

That urge hasn't ever gone. All CoX refugees get it; from time to time, you get the feeling like it's time to get back in, play with an old character or create a new one. The difference since 2012 tho was that we could never again satisfy that urge. I don't condone piracy, I want that to be crystal clear, but this isn't copying something. I'd play on a private server in a heartbeat given the chance. I'd give NCSoft my money if they'd accept it, but they won't. Champions Online got a lot of what made CoX great, badly wrong. DCUO was...I don't know better or worse than CO, but it wasn't great. You don't feel like a character, you don't feel like a superhero/villain (I was mostly redside, I think I had like 3 heroes).

I'm glad the server code exists outside of an NCSoft vault, because it means there's the possibility I can play CoX again. I'd pay to play on a private server, and if I could dust off my old characters, so much the better. I am amazed that it's taken so many years and none of the successor projects have made it past alpha....they're already entering a waning MMO market, with competition from each other, for an MMO that is niche at best and the more time passes, the less likely they are to recapture CoX vets who are older and so on. I'm keeping a close eye on this one. Server code in the wild is the best news for us refugees, so hopefully I'll get to revisit the Rogue Isles soon!

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Adding some new info to this thread, since I've been following the events since this post first highlighted this story. I'm not 100% on the sequence of events, but this is what I've picked up from various places:

I won't comment on the coh subreddit or any politics that may be going on. I don't know enough about that. What I have read is that the original SCORE server was taken down, possibly wiped.
Most significantly, after much pressure, the source code for the server was released into the wild. There are several private servers popping up.
There was an issue with the code, not being "complete" or missing pieces. SCORE was not willing to share their proprietary code built on top of the original code. Later, this code, dubbed "i25" (Issue 25) was leaked.
As it is now, the server source code + i25 community made content are both available to the public. There is a new server stack called City of Heroes Homecoming that's already up and running. I have personally been able to login after following this guide.

I've already recreated a couple of my old characters. I'm a bit disappointed to have none of my badges and perks from live, after being a subbed vet for so many years (I had the 72 month badge, for context), but realise it is a fresh start. If anyone would like to join me and level up a hero/villain or two, please do message me!

As another interesting discussion point, I'd love to see what, if any, effect this has on the successor projects. Obviously, being wholly above board and clearly defined, they cannot and will not use any assets or code from the 15 year old game, but now that there's an alternative to playing City of Heroes Live (playing City of Heroes Private), they have competition...and stiff competition at that. It must inevitably be tougher to offer an alternative to CoX when CoX exists.

EDIT: I'm back! My original, first character, almost the same as he was! A grandmaster chess champion, he lost his temper after being defeated in a chess match by a computer. His powers manifested in that moment and melted the computer, judges and audience. He's been a villain ever since. 😁

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