If you're like me, the closure of the GOAT superhero MMORPG City of Heroes would have shattered your heart to pieces.

Homecoming, along with many other servers, promised a return to the good old days. I personally had a great time for several years, dug deep into a role-playing community that is still active, and even made friends who still play. Still, when I play on a private server, there is always a Nostrarius-like fear looming. When will the corp come in and shut down the party?

Not for long, after all. Homecoming has been officially approved by NCSoft. The announcement says: "Your account and character are safe. Your account and character are safe, and Homecoming will remain completely free. We will continue to be fully funded by donations."

Meanwhile, the full announcement and FAQ further elaborate." Homecoming has been granted a license to operate the City of Heroes™ server and further develop the game." - Subject to conditions and restrictions under the agreement. The developer expects to see more funds needed, but speaking from personal experience, the monthly donation goal to keep the server running is filled in a matter of days, if not hours. People really love this game.

This means that the game could still be shut down, but NCSoft had the technical right to call the curtains down in advance anyway. Surprisingly, that possibility was not very likely to begin with: "We have had a really positive and productive relationship with NCsoft for over four years, so we don't expect any problems.

One interesting outcome is that this may prevent other private servers from obtaining official licenses. It is unclear if the issue is that the license is granted, or if Homecoming is simply given special privileges by NCSoft Papa to do good deeds. The announcement says: "Our hope is that our license will help integrate our user base with City of Heroes fans from other servers"

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Currently, the atmosphere on the discord server is electric. The sudden shutdown of City of Heroes is a scar that still lingers in the minds of players, who have held in-game protests and collectively petitioned NCSoft, to no avail.

The return of private servers was a triumph, but it felt almost tragic, since we were living in the shoes of the gods who had beaten the game in the first place. While those boots can still legally smash anthills, it was a huge relief to hear that Homecoming had developed a good enough working relationship with the company to obtain an official license.