Meta’s Verse: The Cape
By Meticulous Meta, OnRPG Paragon Reporter
City of Heroes is what it is because of its amazing community. It expands beyond the war walls of Paragon City, bleeding into the real world. And sometimes those lines are blurred. There has been one group on Virtue that has been around since beta, or somewhere around there (They aren’t sure!) who has been offering tunes to fight crime to twenty four hours a day. I’m talking about The Cape, a player run online radio station. Much like a local radio station you can find music of all sorts being played, you just have to know which DJ to tune into.
The Cape is known for broadcasting all over Paragon City, though they’re most often found with a large dancing crowd in Pocket D. They are present at almost all the major in game events either just DJing or more often as a co-organizer of the event. But by no means do they limit themselves to the big events. DJ Angel has been at several events through the years that I’ve hosted or attended. The most memorable being the in game wedding reception of Breyla and Peoples Paladin.
Currently they’re hosting a celebrations of eight in honor of the eighth anniversary of not only City of Heroes but also themselves. Tonight will bit 8 Points of the Compass hosted by DJ Valor who will be giving a musical tour of the world with this program. The festivities of eight will end on June 2nd with a very special 8 hour show. I couldn’t get any other details other than it will be awesome. Well, I could have been told more, but then they would have had to kill me.
In addition this weekend DJ Angel is celebrating five years of being with The Cape in the Rikti War Zone with an event open to all. There will be music, haikus and kicking in the faces of nasty old Rikti in a good old fashioned Lady Grey task force. I can only hope that the LGTF is her favourite; if it is we have something in common!
The largest event they’ve ever been a part of though was the 3rd annual winter gala which was hosted by Angry Angels, White Knights and The Kaotix. They had more than 300 listeners who were tuned in at the same time. That may seem like a small number but when you consider that all those people and many more were all attending the same event it is amazing.
I wanted to find out a bit more about what it was like being a DJ for The Cape, a bit more about the station and what it takes to become a DJ so I had a chat with DJ Pheonyx. He is described on The Cape’s website as a world class hacker who was once called “Lord of Cyberspace”. He didn’t have any previous experience DJing before he started at The Cape and is currently studying IT Network Administration. He told me the process of becoming a DJ for The Cape isn’t an easy one, but by no means are you expected to give up your first born either. It starts with the application and if that is accepted you get interviewed over Skype or some other similar service. If they like what they hear you get advanced to the next phase. During the next phase you put on a mini show which only the other DJs have access to. During that time they discuss with each other and most importantly the station manager, DJ Angel, to see what the group consensus is. And that’s it! So if you think you have a face for radio and want to give it a try there you go.
The Cape is always playing music though not always live, DJs need sleep sometimes too. That is unless it is a double XP weekend. Then they have someone on live, often taking requests.
This radio station has been a part of nearly all of my favorite memories from City of Heroes. And even though I’m not one to usually listen to the station, I know that it has had an impact on my heroing career and the same can be said by many other players on Virtue. If there is a party going on and The Cape isn’t there it doesn’t feel like a real party. I would like to thank DJ Pheonyx for taking time out of what is no doubt a very busy schedule to answer a few questions I had about the inner workings of The Cape. DJ Pheonyx said that The Cape wouldn’t be anything without its community; well DJs, the community wouldn’t be anything without you. Thank you for providing eight wonderful years of music and making Virtue a home away from home.
