[WoW] Tseric..

[Believe]

Originally Posted by woqqqa

The problem's with Blizzard, not the people complaining.

Lets be realistic. The kiddies on the forums are going to be total fuckwads regardless of what Blizzard does.

Not saying there aren't valid well-written complaints, but they really are in the minority compared to most of the bullshit posted there.

[Itzena]

Yeah, pretty much. Mind you, it's not exclusive to Blizzard - remember Whineplay before SOE got a clue and started moderating the everloving crap out of it?

[woqqqa]

Originally Posted by Believe

Lets be realistic. The kiddies on the forums are going to be total fuckwads regardless of what Blizzard does.

Not saying there aren't valid well-written complaints, but they really are in the minority compared to most of the bullshit posted there.

I'd say it's the other way around...on occasion you'll get some huge deluge of idiot posts when some net fad hits, but oftentimes you'll find all sorts of complaints about in-game problems, of which there are a hell of a lot. Regardless, neither of us would mind seeing the asshats banned, I'm sure.

[Frax]

Originally Posted by woqqqa

Half the bitching on there wouldn't even exist if Blizzard had the slightest idea how to run a game.

what

[Kildace]

Originally Posted by Frax

what

Decent communication from the dev team would cut the whining in half, at least.

[Numnaydar]

They should just fucking close down the WoW forums. It's like 80% bitching and moaning, 19% trolling, and 1% (probably not even) semi intelligent threads with an actual basis for discussion.

Nobody would miss those forums or it's whiny posters, and Blizzard would save money on maintaining a forum.

[Zarcath]

Tseric was the Community Manager? Caydiem's replacement? Fangtooth was just a Community Rep though right? He was let go earlier?

I always thought Tseric was a condescending douche. I think he only appealed to people who were only interested in seeing him "pwning" noobs.

If I recall correctly, Caydiem was promoted to something like Apprentice Dev. Though I heard all she was doing was putting up holiday decorations and then "left to persue other opportunities".

One of the biggest problems with Community Managers in the MMO Industry is they generally don't know what they're doing and lack the experience. How often do you see a CM from one company show up as a CM for another company? You don't. Fact is most CM hires, it's their first time with a position like that. CM is really a catch-all position and companies will try to fill the position with someone who's from like CS or Marketing, a one facet trick pony. CS might not be used to on-going dialogues on such a scale, or Marketing rep might not be used to taking shit from all directions. That's why CM's break down and snap and you never hear from them again.

They really have to have a connection with the community, I thought Caydiem did a decent job of it, Tseric didn't really have that "quality".

[woqqqa]

Originally Posted by Zarcath

If I recall correctly, Caydiem was promoted to something like Apprentice Dev. Though I heard all she was doing was putting up holiday decorations and then "left to persue other opportunities".

Yeah, pretty much. She got offered a better paying position, and took it.

[Bristlebane]

I haven't read the forums in god knows how long, as I don't play WoW, but good god, I still remember that guy being a cunt.

If I were the one in charge of community relations, I would have told him to shut his mouth or leave long ago.

Yeah, I know you have to deal with a large quantity of retard kids on that forum, but there are adults too, who don't always need a smartass reply or a threat in a response.

You simply CANNOT TALK TO CUSTOMERS like that. Period. They can do it over the internet, because like anyone over the internet, you can act like a hardass.

If a Wal Mart employee gave me a smartass remark, I could tell the manager, and he'd be reprimanded or fired. I've seen managers of various places flipping over backwards to deal with customers, even those yelling at them, in person - - that's how customer service works.

A CS rep on a forum filled with idiots needs to ignore the idiots. As someone else said before, they need to ONLY respond to people with well thought out, well written ideas. When you brawl with the child-intellect morons on there, it makes you, the customer relations agent, look like an asshole, and it makes people resent you.

[Bristlebane]

Originally Posted by Zarcath

Tseric was the Community Manager? Caydiem's replacement? Fangtooth was just a Community Rep though right? He was let go earlier?

I always thought Tseric was a condescending douche. I think he only appealed to people who were only interested in seeing him "pwning" noobs.

If I recall correctly, Caydiem was promoted to something like Apprentice Dev. Though I heard all she was doing was putting up holiday decorations and then "left to persue other opportunities".

One of the biggest problems with Community Managers in the MMO Industry is they generally don't know what they're doing and lack the experience. How often do you see a CM from one company show up as a CM for another company? You don't. Fact is most CM hires, it's their first time with a position like that. CM is really a catch-all position and companies will try to fill the position with someone who's from like CS or Marketing, a one facet trick pony. CS might not be used to on-going dialogues on such a scale, or Marketing rep might not be used to taking shit from all directions. That's why CM's break down and snap and you never hear from them again.

They really have to have a connection with the community, I thought Caydiem did a decent job of it, Tseric didn't really have that "quality".

And you'd know a few things about having that "quality" as customer service person, eh, Dasimarr?

[Old Man Potter]

Sure, Tseric was a bit arrogant from time to time but he was in a no win situation. In truth, he was virtual babysitter for thousands of teenage posters. He was probably making a bit more then minimum wage -- welcome to the glamorous video game industry where the pay sucks and the hours are long. As we've seen with previous Community Managers who either quit or left, the career expectancy of this position is very short at best.

The real issue is: why has Blizzard allowed the official WoW forums to fester into a state of total chaos where most posters are playing the forum "meta game" of one-upmanship? Of course we can expect that type of behavior here on the FoH forums but on an official company website? I'd like to see Morhaime, Metzen and Pardo do the community rep job and see how long they'd last with a continual barrage of personal attacks and insults. Blizzard has allowed that poisonous atmosphere to fester and done NOTHING to stop it. (Heck, they can't even stop gold spammers from harrassing their own customers.)

Blizzard clean up your forums, start perma-banning the forum trolls, maybe then you'll get attract some quality people to man your CM positions. As it stands your forums have become a pointless waste of time for customers who just wish to participate in reasoned and thoughtful discussions.

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by Bristlebane

And you'd know a few things about having that "quality" as customer service person, eh, Dasimarr?

I made some mistakes that I will largely attribute to my immaturity and general ignorance of inter-office politics and the field I was in. I did what I could to hold up to the best "quality" as defined by myself, and not what was defined on paper. If I had been a by-the-book person, I'd probably have kept my job longer but I'm sure people would have found me even more fustrating and I wouldn't have been able to live with the choices I made. That you and a few people here like to continuously throw situations from 6 years ago in my face, I find sad.

[woqqqa]

Originally Posted by Old Man Potter

Sure, Tseric was a bit arrogant from time to time but he was in a no win situation. In truth, he was virtual babysitter for thousands of teenage posters.

No such thing, after all...he wasn't expected to make them behave, just to delete inappropriate posts and provide information if the posters asked a reasonable question that he was authorized to answer. Also, I recall him being snide and condescending from the start, seems like he came into this job looking for a bit of a scrap with the WoW forumgoers, but couldn't take it, for whatever reason. Oh well, that's why profession detachment is a good idea.

[Bristlebane]

Originally Posted by Zarcath

I made some mistakes that I will largely attribute to my immaturity and general ignorance of inter-office politics and the field I was in. I did what I could to hold up to the best "quality" as defined by myself, and not what was defined on paper. If I had been a by-the-book person, I'd probably have kept my job longer but I'm sure people would have found me even more fustrating and I wouldn't have been able to live with the choices I made. That you and a few people here like to continuously throw situations from 6 years ago in my face, I find sad.

Alright alright, you've matured, etc etc, I won't say anything about it again.

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by woqqqa

No such thing, after all...he wasn't expected to make them behave, just to delete inappropriate posts and provide information if the posters asked a reasonable question that he was authorized to answer. Also, I recall him being snide and condescending from the start, seems like he came into this job looking for a bit of a scrap with the WoW forumgoers, but couldn't take it, for whatever reason. Oh well, that's why profession detachment is a good idea.

This is where I disagree. The position Community Manager implies that you are working with the community to provide growth and stability. You should be a leader and champion for whatever behavior agenda the company is trying to promote. That most companies view the CM position as nothing more then a public door mat or "just a post moderator" is faulty. And thats why I largely view most CM's to be failures, because they are content with being stagnant than being proactive. I'm not sure who's in-charge of their community outreach programs, but that's really something the CM should be organizing and implementing. If you just want someone to lock threads and delete posts, hire a Forum Moderator.