The Secret City of Heroes Private Server

ZeroDotFlow · Apr 15, 2019

For people that are not familiar, City of Heroes was a superhero MMO that was the first big superhero MMO. Released alongside WoW in 2004, it had a passionate set of fans (incl. myself) and in general seemed to be a fairly steady and popular game. NCSoft came in and proceeded to shut down the entire game as it was in the middle of releasing a new major patch, laying off the studio despite the fact that the game was profitable and self-sustaining. It was officially shut down in late 2012.

Now, 7 years later there are growing groups of people looking to revive City of Heroes. From Paragon Chat to SEGs, they're all looking to offer a way of playing City of Heroes once again. Today however, things took a turn for the strange.

There's been a secret server operating using the game's original code for six years. Only today has it fully been revealed.

If you've been around the post-sunset City of Heroes community long enough, you've probably heard the rumors that there's a secret City of Heroes emulator out there – not SEGS, and not Paragon Chat, and not any of the spiritual successors, but a full-fledged, live, and functioning emulator of the real game. Traditionally, anybody bringing that up has been ostracized as a liar. But it's all come to a head this week as one YouTuber posted a video calling out the secret server and at least one of the people behind it, and now we've got a lengthy statement from the emulator team's leader acknowledging some of the claims and resoundingly denying others.

Let's start from the beginning. Destroyer Stroyer aka Doc Boy, who says his real name is Brian and who uses his own face in the video, says he was invited by an admin to the secret server after he made a huge screenshot-dump post on Reddit. In a nutshell, his accusation is that some members of the City of Heroes community acquired the game's original code from a former Paragon Studios employee and have been running it in absolute secrecy, under threat of ban, for the last six years.

I mean...I can't. I was a huge fan of City of Heroes and I recall hearing rumors about this, but I thought surely we would've seen some leaks. Code, screenshots, anything. This raises some huge legal ramifications because not only are they using the actual code behind the servers, but they may also have access to the original database which allows them to retrieve old characters. Would someone have the right to see if they can access their old characters? What should be done with the server code? And what about the people that have been writing emulators attempting to recreate the experience?

Harbinger00 · Apr 15, 2019

Oh wow, I remember Leandro from the CoH forums. They always seemed decent enough, and honestly I don't think there is anything to the accusations of stealing personal info (they're right, why would the game code have that stuff?). I'm bummed that this group has been keeping it for themselves for so long though. I would love to jump back in to City of Heroes.

piratepwnsninja · Apr 15, 2019

though plans for open events in the near future have been shelved indefinitely as a result of the unwanted attention brought about by the leak.

"I'm taking my ball and going home."

Meatfist · Apr 15, 2019

I recall the community aspect of CoH being a lot more engaging than the actual gameplay, so I can't imagine an ultra secret private server with like 20 people was very riveting. Fascinating nonetheless

Primus · Apr 15, 2019

Huh.

That explains the couched allusions a friend of mine and fellow ex-CoH player has given to me over the last couple years. Always thought he was talking about Paragon Chat and not an actual secret server shard.

EDIT: You know, even if I'm still never going to get to play them again, there's something actually kind of comforting in knowing that my stable of characters, including my main toon with thousands of hours played, survived the game's shutdown and still exist somewhere out there.

Velocity:Design:Comfort · Apr 15, 2019

Wish I could have played this. A lot of niche mmos have private servers (for anyone to join), why hasn't this been the case for this game? More litigious IP owners?

TheRuralJuror · Apr 15, 2019

Man, I miss making a badass character and stunting on everyone in the main area while afk. Seriously miss this game though.

Pasha · Apr 15, 2019

They should just leak the code and let the internet sort this out.
I feel like a lot of these closed down MMOs should go open source anyway, it's not like they even care about it, or plan to do anything with the IP anyway.

Slayven · Apr 15, 2019

Meatfist said:
I recall the community aspect of CoH being a lot more engaging than the actual gameplay, so I can't imagine an ultra secret private server with like 20 people was very riveting. Fascinating nonetheless

A pretty successful author love the game so much she made a novel and podcast series based around her guild's characters

Sacul64 · Apr 15, 2019

piratepwnsninja said:
"I'm taking my ball and going home."

Sounds more like they dont want to get shut down like a different open project from the same publisher was.

When NCsoft closed Tabula Rasa in 2007, a group of devoted players banded together to code a server for it. It was called Infinite Rasa and it developed things in the open, with a project website and forum. The overall architecture was being discussed publicly and there was a buggy server that allowed players to log in and run around the initial area.

Then it was hit by a Cease and Desist order by NCsoft in November 2011. The website was seized, the forums went dark, and progress completely stopped. One thing was made abundantly clear to everybody: NCsoft was not going to tolerate the development of servers for their games, even four years after they were shut down.

I would love to play city of heroes again. Or at the very least mess around with the character creator.

ZeroDotFlow · Apr 16, 2019

The videos of the private server, the gameplay etc are being taken down.

It's incredibly fucked up that the owner of the private server has been effectively gaslighting people for a long-ass time by using Paragon Chat as a facade.

Richietto · Apr 16, 2019

Dude.

Bhonar · Apr 16, 2019

that would be really cool if true

Dark Knight · Apr 16, 2019

There's apparently a team trying to do this with Wildstar as well.

It's a shame these properties just stay dead while there are willing fans who want to jump back in, so I say go at it. Not like the original parent company/publisher is ever going to make money off of it again. In a way it's a living monument to the hard work of the dev team that would otherwise just be gone forever.

adj_noun · Apr 16, 2019

I miss it a lot.

piratepwnsninja · Apr 16, 2019

Dark Knight said:
There's apparently a team trying to do this with Wildstar as well.

It's a shame these properties just stay dead while there are willing fans who want to jump back in, so I say go at it. Not like the original parent company/publisher is ever going to make money off of it again. In a way it's a living monument to the hard work of the dev team that would otherwise just be gone forever.

It's entirely to do with holding onto the IP and the notion of either doing something with it in the future (not likely) or selling it (more-but-still-not likely)

They'd rather it rot than give it away.

Effect · Apr 16, 2019

City of Heroes was one of favorite MMOs after Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot. I remember being genuinely sad for a nice bit of time when it finally closed down. I had played it off and one starting from when it first launched. My enjoyment grew even more when City of Villains hit. Champions Online was still an option and still is today but it wasn't the same due to how CoH/V was setup and designed. I know some had tried in the past to get private servers up for various games. Some worked out and others didn't. If there was one for this running in secret then more power to them if they were able to get it running and managed to keep it secret. Games like this really should be allowed to live again if someone was willing to put in the work but like said the IP owners would (it's their right to do this) rather let it rot then give it away or allow anyone else to do anything with it even if they had purchased it in the past, etc.

Menome · Apr 16, 2019

I have so many fond memories attached to this game, and have numerous real-life friends because of it. Being able to play it again would be an absolute joy.

Whilst the Fort Knox level of secrecy and security over this server may seem unfair and over the top to outsiders, I completely understand it. NCSoft is absolutely ruthless in regards to operations like these, and the fact this story has emerged is a threat to the server, as they're going to know it's out there to be found now.

Inugami · Apr 16, 2019

Menome said:
Whilst the Fort Knox level of secrecy and security over this server may seem unfair and over the top to outsiders, I completely understand it.

Nah... It's complete horseshit. You know how to guarantee a company can't keep people from playing? You release everything publicly. Ncsoft wouldn't be able to shut everything down.

About the only real excuse would be if there was something traceable in the specific build, but even that should have been something pretty surmountable.

Seyavesh · Apr 16, 2019

i got linked/referred for this for like one day years and years ago i guess but i figured it just kinda died of disinterest. color me surprised that it's still kicking and i guess the center of some internet drama now.
i've def. heard that the old characters were there but i don't know how functional it really is? when i got the referral eons ago it was supposedly more or less unplayable due to latency or somethin'.

i assumed the secrecy was due to having the original database for characters on top of it being stolen data and gettin' whoever took the database for folks who were basically passion projecting a private server it in some serious shit

Deleted member 44371 · Apr 16, 2019

This is a huge scandal in the CoH Community right now...people have been praising the community because its friendly and now this happens...

They've kept the server all to themselves the past six years in secret, until it was leaked. There is no getting in. Your old character is still saved on their server, though.

ALSO THEY HAVE DLC / ADD-ONS that the devs planned but never implemented before the shutdown and an INGAME money store? wow it breaks my heart

take_marsh · Apr 16, 2019

Stray far from the path, for the path leads to a C&D.

Sucks they had to keep i secret. I imagine letting loose the code, even if it's fully working, would be a gigantic litigation that none of those developers would be able to afford.

Peter4331 · Apr 16, 2019

I had so many fond memories of this game. I started out in the beta and right then I knew this game would get more and more amazing as more issues came out. I so can't wait to see the game back with all of the content it had til the day it shut down.

signal · Apr 16, 2019

Cool story to read about.

Leviathan · Apr 16, 2019

Why is everyone so bent out of shape about them keeping it a secret? You understand that the alternative was likely having the news get out and the game being immediately shut down, right? It's not like they were free to just spread it to the masses and chose to be selfish instead.

It was probably them or no one and I acknowledge that even as someone who really misses City of Heroes.

signal · Apr 16, 2019

Leviathan said:
Why is everyone so bent out of shape about them keeping it a secret? You understand that the alternative was likely having the news get out and the game being immediately shut down, right? It's not like they were free to just spread it to the masses and chose to be selfish instead.

It was probably them or no one and I acknowledge that even as someone who really misses City of Heroes.

Release the files and let multiple servers start up. All won't be shut down.

Melkezadek · Apr 16, 2019

Omg..

Getting access to this would be a dream come true. CoH was my second life and nothing since then has been able to replace it. My brother is going to cry when he reads this

Edit: just read the article and holy shit am I pissed off. I also wonder if that is the same Doc Boy I knew on Victory server. I'm salty af right now. I've dreamed about this game returning one day and it hurts knowing people have been enjoying it all to themselves for so long. Goddamn.

elyetis · Apr 16, 2019

KojiKnight said:
Nah... It's complete horseshit. You know how to guarantee a company can't keep people from playing? You release everything publicly. Ncsoft wouldn't be able to shut everything down.

Once things are developed far enough ( wich seems to be the case here ) yeah I agree.
Some/many fan project made the mistake of being public far too soon into their development for their own good.

Deleted member 49574 · Apr 16, 2019

I miss this game T_T

Deleted member 44371 · Apr 16, 2019

Leviathan said:
Why is everyone so bent out of shape about them keeping it a secret? You understand that the alternative was likely having the news get out and the game being immediately shut down, right? It's not like they were free to just spread it to the masses and chose to be selfish instead.

It was probably them or no one and I acknowledge that even as someone who really misses City of Heroes.

You have to be trolling right? Private servers are the reason we are getting a WoW Vanilla server. One might hope that if it catches on NCSoft will ressurect the game as well.

Weltall Zero · Apr 16, 2019

KojiKnight said:
Nah... It's complete horseshit. You know how to guarantee a company can't keep people from playing? You release everything publicly. Ncsoft wouldn't be able to shut everything down.

About the only real excuse would be if there was something traceable in the specific build, but even that should have been something pretty surmountable.

signal said:
Release the files and let multiple servers start up. All won't be shut down.

These are hot takes. If they released it to the public and NCSoft ever found out who it was, they would take them apart in court, let alone make them unable to work in any other gaming company, ever. Would you want to have to worry about them finding out for the rest of your life? They already risked themselves enough keeping the private server up.

GlowingBovine · Apr 16, 2019

Them wanting to release it when it was more mature is a load of crap, as the server is functional and even has content that was in the works for CoH past issue 25 before it was shutdown.

Rose Red · Apr 16, 2019

Oh God... CoH was one of my favorite games ever and it hurts me to think it still exists somewhere where I can't just play it.

Melkezadek · Apr 16, 2019

Rose Red said:
Oh God... CoH was one of my favorite games ever and it hurts me to think it still exists somewhere where I can't just play it.

With ALL of our characters still there, intact.

Not to be dramatic, but this is like finding out your dead best friend was actually alive the whole time. I'm just angry now.

Axe · Apr 16, 2019

Damn, they were running an in-game cash shop? These guys are in huge fucking trouble.

The way they've gaslit the community for years is so scummy. As much as I dearly want to play this game again...fuck, I'm not even going to be mad when this inevitably goes down in flames.

Crazy to think all the original characters still exist though.

Blackage · Apr 16, 2019

Was my first MMO, lotta fun.

Dark Knight · Apr 16, 2019

piratepwnsninja said:
It's entirely to do with holding onto the IP and the notion of either doing something with it in the future (not likely) or selling it (more-but-still-not likely)

They'd rather it rot than give it away.

Oh I'm well aware of why they don't let anyone touch the IP, it's just sad because it's unlikely to ever see the light of day again outside of fan resurrection. Wildstar as an IP is deader than dead(which sucks cause it was awesome).

Also from what I understand, NCSoft(Wildstar's publisher) wouldn't let people do whatever with Wildstar because as a publisher they could always reuse assets from it like its net code for example.

Jaysc · Apr 16, 2019

Would be amazing if I could play this again via a private server; I have a lot of memories with this game.

Having a secret server with the original source code is crazy and unbelievable.

Optinator · Apr 16, 2019

It's been rough trying to process all the information this morning. My fiancee and I met in City of Heroes, and have been trying to fill the void it left in our lives through other MMORPGs, but nothing's really filled the same niche (especially since CoH diverted from the WoW formula so much). To think that it has been playable for a small group of people all this time, while we were eagerly following the ups and downs of CoH offshoot development, hoping for a breakthrough is.. upsetting.

Deleted member 44371 · Apr 16, 2019

Apparently the Kickstarter City of titans money was funneled into the private server... The Kickstarter has made over 600k and we have yet so see gameplay after 6 years

Deleted member 388 · Apr 16, 2019

I wish all those dead MMOs got released as standalone games people can buy for $60 and host their own games on, or even just play alone offline. I would love to actually play all the content in City of Heroes or Star Wars Galaxies.

justiceiro · Apr 16, 2019

Mad Respect for these guys. Almost surreal they manage to keep the secret for this long.

Sulik2 · Apr 16, 2019

Sounds like this is very illegal to be running so they have kept it private. If you are using source code that was just given to you by an ex-dev, you would be sued instantly to shut it down.

etrain911 · Apr 16, 2019

There's a difference between keeping something a secret and actively gaslighting people about it. I think this dude's actions were mad scummy and I hope it gets C and D'd as a result.

Zohar127 · Apr 17, 2019

For people reading this and not understanding why people are so bent out of shape...

1.Leandro and others had the stolen game code since the shutdown in 2012. It was provided by a dev on their way out the door. It included all current server code and the character/account database.

2. There were several attempts led by fans and devs to save the game. From getting Disney involved to pick it up, to the devs themselves trying to buy the IP. The biggest hangup was NCSoft was unwilling to sell. IIRC, they asked for an absolutely ridiculous amount of money to sell the IP.

3. All attempts to save CoH failed and in it's wake, several spiritual successors were started up. The premise was the game was gone, the server code was gone, and there was never going to be a return to the CoH people knew. A lot of the key people starting these projects were the same people that obtained the stolen server code and databases and were fully aware their projects were ridiculously misleading.

4. One of the successful offshoots is called Paragon Chat. It uses the CoH client to allow people to walk around in some of the zones and use the in-game chat, but that's it. Paragon Chat was set up by the people with the stolen code, and was explicitly launched as a smoke screen to hide their activities with the private server. The explanation was "this is the best you'll ever get."

5. Many of the people running offshoot projects knew of the private server, ran the private server, and still accepted crowd funding dollars to create their offshoots and actively participated in the cover-up campaign. If people knew a private server existed, who would give money to these go-nowhere spiritual successors?

6. Speaking of the cover-up, Leandro was a mod on the CoH subreddit and used it to privately recruit players that he felt would be a good fit for the private server. He was also a leader on the City of Titans forums along with another one of the top mods. They actively banned discussion of private servers and spoke in length about how it was impossible to ever have one. At this point the private server had been operating for years. For years, Leandro and the other top mods on all of the popular CoH discussion groups actively moderated and gaslighted people who got anywhere close to discussing the server. Think about that. For the last 6 or 7 years these guys have been running this scheme. They could have just kept quiet, but no, they actively went out there and scrubbed/censored all discussions and corralled people into the crowd funding campaigns for the spiritual successor projects that they were involved with. They did this explicitly to cover up their illegal activities.

7. To keep people quiet, Leandro kept charts on every single player on the server, color-coded, and linked to every other person associated with them, including their personal relationships. A slip up from any individual resulted in a permanent ban for every person associated with them. I'm amazed it stayed quiet this long, even with this threat of cult-like shunning.

8. Leandro collected thousands of dollars in "donation" money through an in-game shop.

9. Added all up, the spiritual successor projects that spawned out of the closure of CoH have made close to 30 million dollars. Many (but not all) of those projects were led by people that were fully aware and operating in the private server.

So the reasons people are mad isn't because they can't play. They're mad because they've been lied to, misled, gaslighted and in some cases scammed out of their money by people who participated in this campaign for the last 6-7 years. There are HUGE conflicts of interest surrounding every side project, especially paragon chat and City of Titans.

Leandro and the other people in charge of the private server have personally profited from stolen game code and are at least guilty of fraud, copyright theft, and recieving stolen property.

They've also made it exceptionally unlikely that this data will ever see the light of day. If it leaks on the internet now, the authorities will know exactly where it came from and Leandro, and whatever dev gave him the stolen code, will end up in huge legal trouble.

He's not a Robin Hood or some kind of savoir of our CoH memories. He's just an megalomanical loser who got his hands on the keys to the playground and used it for his own personal gain.

For proof of what I'm saying above, visit /r/Cityofheroes and see for yourself the videos, screenshots, and archived forum posts of Leandro's activities over the last several years.

Deleted member 44371 · Apr 17, 2019

Zohar127 said:
For people reading this and not understanding why people are so bent out of shape...

1.Leandro and others had the stolen game code since the shutdown in 2012. It was provided by a dev on their way out the door. It included all current server code and the character/account database.

2. There were several attempts led by fans and devs to save the game. From getting Disney involved to pick it up, to the devs themselves trying to buy the IP. The biggest hangup was NCSoft was unwilling to sell. IIRC, they asked for an absolutely ridiculous amount of money to sell the IP.

3. All attempts to save CoH failed and in it's wake, several spiritual successors were started up. The premise was the game was gone, the server code was gone, and there was never going to be a return to the CoH people knew. A lot of the key people starting these projects were the same people that obtained the stolen server code and databases and were fully aware their projects were ridiculously misleading.

4. One of the successful offshoots is called Paragon Chat. It uses the CoH client to allow people to walk around in some of the zones and use the in-game chat, but that's it. Paragon Chat was set up by the people with the stolen code, and was explicitly launched as a smoke screen to hide their activities with the private server. The explanation was "this is the best you'll ever get."

5. Many of the people running offshoot projects knew of the private server, ran the private server, and still accepted crowd funding dollars to create their offshoots and actively participated in the cover-up campaign. If people knew a private server existed, who would give money to these go-nowhere spiritual successors?

6. Speaking of the cover-up, Leandro was a mod on the CoH subreddit and used it to privately recruit players that he felt would be a good fit for the private server. He was also a leader on the City of Titans forums along with another one of the top mods. They actively banned discussion of private servers and spoke in length about how it was impossible to ever have one. At this point the private server had been operating for years. For years, Leandro and the other top mods on all of the popular CoH discussion groups actively moderated and gaslighted people who got anywhere close to discussing the server. Think about that. For the last 6 or 7 years these guys have been running this scheme. They could have just kept quiet, but no, they actively went out there and scrubbed/censored all discussions and corralled people into the crowd funding campaigns for the spiritual successor projects that they were involved with. They did this explicitly to cover up their illegal activities.

7. To keep people quiet, Leandro kept charts on every single player on the server, color-coded, and linked to every other person associated with them, including their personal relationships. A slip up from any individual resulted in a permanent ban for every person associated with them. I'm amazed it stayed quiet this long, even with this threat of cult-like shunning.

8. Leandro collected thousands of dollars in "donation" money through an in-game shop.

9. Added all up, the spiritual successor projects that spawned out of the closure of CoH have made close to 30 million dollars. Many (but not all) of those projects were led by people that were fully aware and operating in the private server.

So the reasons people are mad isn't because they can't play. They're mad because they've been lied to, misled, gaslighted and in some cases scammed out of their money by people who participated in this campaign for the last 6-7 years. There are HUGE conflicts of interest surrounding every side project, especially paragon chat and City of Titans.

Leandro and the other people in charge of the private server have personally profited from stolen game code and are at least guilty of fraud, copyright theft, and recieving stolen property.

They've also made it exceptionally unlikely that this data will ever see the light of day. If it leaks on the internet now, the authorities will know exactly where it came from and Leandro, and whatever dev gave him the stolen code, will end up in huge legal trouble.

He's not a Robin Hood or some kind of savoir of our CoH memories. He's just an megalomanical loser who got his hands on the keys to the playground and used it for his own personal gain.

For proof of what I'm saying above, visit /r/Cityofheroes and see for yourself the videos, screenshots, and archived forum posts of Leandro's activities over the last several years.

A good summary. What a lunatic. I saw screenshots of the charts where he collected personal information and relationship status to other players of his users. Insane.

Optinator · Apr 17, 2019

Zohar127 said:
For people reading this and not understanding why people are so bent out of shape...

1.Leandro and others had the stolen game code since the shutdown in 2012. It was provided by a dev on their way out the door. It included all current server code and the character/account database.

2. There were several attempts led by fans and devs to save the game. From getting Disney involved to pick it up, to the devs themselves trying to buy the IP. The biggest hangup was NCSoft was unwilling to sell. IIRC, they asked for an absolutely ridiculous amount of money to sell the IP.

3. All attempts to save CoH failed and in it's wake, several spiritual successors were started up. The premise was the game was gone, the server code was gone, and there was never going to be a return to the CoH people knew. A lot of the key people starting these projects were the same people that obtained the stolen server code and databases and were fully aware their projects were ridiculously misleading.

4. One of the successful offshoots is called Paragon Chat. It uses the CoH client to allow people to walk around in some of the zones and use the in-game chat, but that's it. Paragon Chat was set up by the people with the stolen code, and was explicitly launched as a smoke screen to hide their activities with the private server. The explanation was "this is the best you'll ever get."

5. Many of the people running offshoot projects knew of the private server, ran the private server, and still accepted crowd funding dollars to create their offshoots and actively participated in the cover-up campaign. If people knew a private server existed, who would give money to these go-nowhere spiritual successors?

6. Speaking of the cover-up, Leandro was a mod on the CoH subreddit and used it to privately recruit players that he felt would be a good fit for the private server. He was also a leader on the City of Titans forums along with another one of the top mods. They actively banned discussion of private servers and spoke in length about how it was impossible to ever have one. At this point the private server had been operating for years. For years, Leandro and the other top mods on all of the popular CoH discussion groups actively moderated and gaslighted people who got anywhere close to discussing the server. Think about that. For the last 6 or 7 years these guys have been running this scheme. They could have just kept quiet, but no, they actively went out there and scrubbed/censored all discussions and corralled people into the crowd funding campaigns for the spiritual successor projects that they were involved with. They did this explicitly to cover up their illegal activities.

7. To keep people quiet, Leandro kept charts on every single player on the server, color-coded, and linked to every other person associated with them, including their personal relationships. A slip up from any individual resulted in a permanent ban for every person associated with them. I'm amazed it stayed quiet this long, even with this threat of cult-like shunning.

8. Leandro collected thousands of dollars in "donation" money through an in-game shop.

9. Added all up, the spiritual successor projects that spawned out of the closure of CoH have made close to 30 million dollars. Many (but not all) of those projects were led by people that were fully aware and operating in the private server.

So the reasons people are mad isn't because they can't play. They're mad because they've been lied to, misled, gaslighted and in some cases scammed out of their money by people who participated in this campaign for the last 6-7 years. There are HUGE conflicts of interest surrounding every side project, especially paragon chat and City of Titans.

Leandro and the other people in charge of the private server have personally profited from stolen game code and are at least guilty of fraud, copyright theft, and recieving stolen property.

They've also made it exceptionally unlikely that this data will ever see the light of day. If it leaks on the internet now, the authorities will know exactly where it came from and Leandro, and whatever dev gave him the stolen code, will end up in huge legal trouble.

He's not a Robin Hood or some kind of savoir of our CoH memories. He's just an megalomanical loser who got his hands on the keys to the playground and used it for his own personal gain.

For proof of what I'm saying above, visit /r/Cityofheroes and see for yourself the videos, screenshots, and archived forum posts of Leandro's activities over the last several years.

Thank you for the summary. It's difficult to find any sort of productive conversation about this since the subreddit is outraged (having been victims of a misinformation campaign) and the CoH Survivors Facebook group is likely crawling with SCORE participants actively defending the Cabal. So far, I've gathered that SEGS and Ship of Heroes had no involvement with the entire scandal, leaving at least a glimmer of hope for those of us left behind.

Zohar127 · Apr 17, 2019

Optinator said:
Thank you for the summary. It's difficult to find any sort of productive conversation about this since the subreddit is outraged (having been victims of a misinformation campaign) and the CoH Survivors Facebook group is likely crawling with SCORE participants actively defending the Cabal. So far, I've gathered that SEGS and Ship of Heroes had no involvement with the entire scandal, leaving at least a glimmer of hope for those of us left behind.

Thanks. I was outraged too yesterday but I'm trying to just take a step back and laugh at the incredulity of the whole thing.

From what I read yesterday, or maybe I saw this in the whistle-blower video or Leandro's own comment, the makers of SEGS were aware of the private server, or at least aware of the fact that the server code had been leaked, but told Leandro they wanted nothing to do with it.

Psykoboy2 · Apr 17, 2019

I remember backing....something...on Kickstarter that was trying to bring about a new SuperHero MMO in the same style of CoH. This was back in 2014 or 2015. I should probably go see if there's any updates or comments there since it was fully funded but never delivered.

ZeroDotFlow · Apr 18, 2019

Update: The source code for the servers has been released.

The Secret City of Heroes Private Server

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