How do you support players that don't trust your support?

by Seraphina Brennan Jun 30th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Business models, Culture, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, FusionFall

Let's face facts -- people don't like admitting that they don't know something or need help. They'd rather hammer at the problem until they solve it themselves, or they'd rather ask a trusted friend for help. Kids are super guilty of this, as they'd rather not tell an adult when they can't do something themselves.

So how do you work with kids when you're the support staff of their favorite game?

Steve Wilson, customer service manager of FusionFall, decided to do some digging with support groups to find what they could do better in their customer support. What did he find out? Simplicity is key -- something that goes way beyond just the 8 to 13-year-old demographic.

Customers don't want to be railroaded through a knowledgebase, nor sent to be put on hold with phone support. They'd rather perform a quick in-game chat to have their problems solved.

He also found out that players would rather consult with other players than a member of a support team, which is why why FusionFall puts such a strong emphasis on their community forums and the support section. Players can ask questions of their fellow players while a support agent can chime into the threads when necessary. It maximizes the agent's time, and it allows the player to feel comfortable. A win-win all around!

[Via Parature]

Tags: ccr, customer-support, fusionfall, help, knowledgebase, phone-support, questions, support

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Verit said on 5:38PM 6-30-2009

Support management is sadly the biggest hurdle to providing good support. Most manage by spreadsheets and Visio, and the problem with that is - its too impersonal. For example they may have some metric that says x amount of calls per day, handled in y amount of time within z amount of time when the case enters the queue. The problem is that it assumes every single incident is exactly the same and can be handled with ease in the same amount of time all the time - which isn't true at all.

I think when people start fearing or dreading support they lose confidence in the product, and if an alternative arises they are generally more willing to switch.

Dethgar said on 11:54PM 6-30-2009

I'm 25, and I prefer in-game chat support as opposed to calling or emailing support lines. Logic behind MMO customer support at times is half-assed and faulty.

Ben said on 6:19AM 7-01-2009

The biggest problem is that support entails an inevitable 24 hour wait in between every single contact.

1. Send email
(24 hours)
2. Receive response that provides basic information copied directly from the knowledgebase
3. Send email
(24 hours)
4. Recieve email to clarify your issue
5. Send email
(24 hours)
6. Receive email with possible fixes
(continue if required)

The better question is who would want to contact support knowing the collosal time-sink it is when there are other users who can provide instant feedback.

Brian! said on 11:49AM 7-01-2009

Uh. People trust good customer support. People distrust bad customer support. It is not like MMO support is anything more special than the thousands of other support types out there. If your customers have a problem, you make it easy for them to get it resolved.

Most MMOs fail HUGE in customer support. If I am willing to wait 2-5 minutes, I can get support on my cell phone, my ISP connection, almost all of my non-gaming computer software, my computer hardware, etc... And granted, the majority of the time I am talking to someone walking me through a checklist instead of listening to my problem, but I still can talk to someone.

MMOs, on the rare instances I fill out a ticket... I *might* hear back within 24 hours. But I never expect an answer. Pretty bad support there.