One Last Day

[postlink]http://cohtube.blogspot.com/2012/10/one-last-day.html[/postlink]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9IFDGRp6tkendofvid
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#57 - One of the hardest videos I've ever made. Not just in terms of scale, but because of the origin of this video - the closure of the MMORPG CITY OF HEROES.

COH was my first MMORPG (my first MMO, for that matter!), and though it took me the better part of three months to get over the motion sickness so that I could play longer than five minutes at a stretch, it was worth it. For over five years, I played, made friends, had fun, and of course, made almost three dozen videos for the game.

But on August 31st, 2012, just as I was leaving a job interview, my husband told me that NCsoft had decided, with virtually no warning, to sunset the game as of November 30th. I thought he was joking. When I realized he was serious, I went down to my car, sat there for a few minutes stunned, and drove home in a fog of shock. I cried on and off for over a week.

But even then, I knew what video I'd want to make - not an angry protest, but one that celebrated the game through the eyes of my very first character: the intrepid in-game videographer Johanna Sinclair. She was my 'author avatar', more often than not the character who would blithely run from server to server with the battle cry, "I'M FILMING, EVERYONE LOOK AWESOME!"

And so, this video is from both Jo and me.

Cameos abound, not only of my alts, but of friends, of fans, and as always, of players who rallied to the cry, "I need to film, who wants to be in one of my videos?!" Several servers' worth of characters are here, because Johanna Sinclair exists on every server in CITY OF HEROES. "Have camera, will travel" is her motto.

This is not my last COH video - I still have at least two more I hope to finish before the closing of the game. But it is my 'farewell' to Paragon City, my home away from home.

The music is the painfully beautiful and all too appropriate track "Sleeping in Light" from BABYLON 5, as scored by Christopher Franke.

Like my other videos, this one is tagged as Samuraiko Productions, for those who follow my work. Enjoy!

Footage from CITY OF HEROES and CITY OF VILLAINS, used per general permission from NCSoft/Paragon Studios. Music is "Sleeping in Light" from BABYLON 5, composed by Christopher Franke. All rights reserved by their respective owners.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Upload Date: October 18th, 2012
Videographer: Samuraiko Productions[endtext]