customer-service posts

Meet the Champions Online lead GM team

by Seraphina Brennan Sep 9th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, Champions Online

Very infrequently do we get to see the people who are diligently working behind the customer service counter in our online games. They listen to all our requests (frivolous or not,) they free us from the shackles of bad environmental clipping, and they make sure we're having a fun time in our game of choice. They are the game masters, and Champions Online is taking the time to give them a whole interview on their website.

The interview focuses on the three lead GMs of Champions Online (and soon to be Star Trek Online): Jim "Jaydeegee" Garner, Markus "Villarigor" Kraus, and Noel "Destra" Holmes. The three of them tackle some of the questions of customer service, including their day-to-day jobs, dealing with customers, reporting bugs, and how they take their time to enjoy the game. If you want the full story on their answers, check out the interview on the Champions Online main site.

Tags: champions, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, customer-service, game-master, gm, gms, jim-garner, markus-kraus, noel-holmes

Trion picks up ex-NCsoft employees for new MMO

by Shawn Schuster Feb 27th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles

The hiring of customer support personnel doesn't usually make the news, but when you consider Trion World Network's latest service side hires, it might be a different story. Of course we all know Trion as the studio in charge of the SCI FI channel's new MMO project. Some recent hires include ex-Blizzard developer and Carbine Studios founder Kevin Beardslee, and the tradition continues with Thor Biafore as Customer Support Manager, Jack Wood as In-game Support Manager, and Erik DeBill as Senior Platform Billing Lead.

Wood and DeBill both come from NCsoft, with experience on more than a dozen MMOs between them, while Biafore previously served as the Global Director of Customer Service for Blizzard. Could Trion be competing with 38 Studios for the largest all-star cast? We'll just have to wait and see as both companies have yet to officially announce details on their current MMO projects.

Tags: customer-service, employees, ncsoft, new-hires, trion, trion-world-network

The Daily Grind: Official or unofficial WAR forums?

by Krystalle Voecks Feb 11th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Forums, News items, Opinion, The Daily Grind

With the recent announcement that Mythic would be bringing the Warhammer Online forums in-house, the topic of the pros and cons of official and unofficial forums have been brought out again. Ryan Shwayder argued very eloquently that developer interaction, ownership, and support for integrated features, and we've now heard from some of the forum managers who will be affected by Mythic's decision to put out their own forums. There are great points across the board, but this morning we thought we'd ask you - in specific relation to Warhammer Online - do you think that Mythic should (or should not) be opening forums at this (post-launch) stage? Perhaps you think they should limit them to only customer service and developer interaction and leave the more free-form discussions elsewhere? Or do you think that the fully-featured forums they're planning is absolutely the way to go - if only to (hopefully) have a moderated forum to discuss all things WAR on? How about those indie forums; what could they do to keep readers coming there? What balance of official and unofficial forums would you like to see for Warhammer Online?

Tags: customer-service, developer-interaction, forums, official-forums, paid-staff, tdg, the-daily-grind, trolls, unofficial-forums, volunteer

Vanguard's past, present, and future with producer Thom Terrazas

by Seraphina Brennan Feb 6th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Vanguard, Massively Interviews

It's been two years since the world of Telon opened its doors to a rocky launch and unstable future. The team of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes had much to overcome after launch with a whole plague of technical hurdles, incomplete content, and a dwindling player base.

Yet, two years later, Vanguard managed to stay on its feet thanks to an aggressive development team and a steady schedule of tackling performance issues and bugs until they could open the doors for new content -- one of the few games to make it through with such a rough launch and begin to see a new growth years after opening.

Massively was able to sit down with Vanguard producer Thom Terrazas and talk to him about where Vanguard's been, where it is now, and what the future looks like for the expanding fantasy title.

Tags: 2-year-anniversary, anniversary, community, customer-service, dungeon, endgame, featured, joystiqfeatures, level-cap-increase, massively-interview, pantheon-of-the-ancients, raid, sigil-games, soe, sony-online-entertainment, thom-terrazas, vanguard, vanguard-saga-of-heroes

WAR Grab Bag No. 9: It's the CSRs time to shine

by William Dobson Jan 31st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Exploits, Warhammer Online

In stark contrast to the extremely in-game-oriented Grab Bag No. 8, Grab Bag No. 9, the "CS Special", focuses on interactions with the game's CSRs. The Customer Service team put together a list of some of the questions they see on the job and then answered them in detail, so that maybe, just maybe, a handful of players will find out what they needed to know and not have to bother them.

Some of the answers are quite interesting. For example, did you know that you can't check whether a player you appealed for exploiting ended up getting banned, due to privacy policies? If you really hate them, perhaps you should send along some extra complaints to make sure your dirty work is carried out -- okay, that sort of goes against the spirit of the Grab Bag to make less work for the CSRs, so let's not do that. Only if you really really hate them.

In all seriousness, the Grab Bag does give some good insight into exactly what the CS team can do for you, and how to approach certain issues. Make sure to check it out before you file your next appeal.

Tags: cs-special, csr, customer-service, customer-service-representative, ea-mythic, electronic-arts, grab-bag, grab-bag-9, grab-bag-no-9, mythic, mythic-entertainment, war, war-grab-bag, warhammer, warhammer-online

Teenager arrested for making suicide threat to Blizzard rep

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 1st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, News items, Opinion

In a sad bit of news to start the new year, it would appear that a teenager in Fairfield Township, Ohio, was taken into custody yesterday for falsely claiming that he would commit suicide if a Blizzard support representative did not give in to his request. The young man, who remains nameless due to being underage, was arrested for "inducing panic" which carries a first-degree misdemeanor charge according to the Middletown Journal.

The young man was chatting with a Blizzard rep and made the statement that he was "suicidal and that the game was the only thing that he had to live for." Whether or not this was World of Warcraft or a Battle.net account was not disclosed, but even still, it has raised the question in a few circles if Blizzard was beyond the bounds in bringing the police into this situation - or why the police might arrest someone for it.

Tags: blizzard, company-policy, csr, customer-service, false-alarm, featured, legal-repercussions, opinion, police, suicide, suicide-threat, threat, threats

Why the industry should care about their customer service

by Seraphina Brennan Jan 1st 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Opinion

One of the long standing traditions of the industry has been to look at MMOs from the perspective of every other game on the market. We treat our online worlds the same as we treat our single-player experiences, which means we seem to forget that the customer still exists after they have picked up the game and are now sitting down to play it.

In a traditional "selling boxes" industry, where people can get away with selling a game and have that be the end of it, MMOs walk the path of a service rather than a product. Getting a user to buy the game isn't the goal, it's the beginning of the process. And to that end, one deparment can make or break a user's experiences with a game when troubles begin to come down the line -- customer service.

Adam over at T=Machine has written an amazingly in-depth piece on why the MMO industry needs to change up their approach to this neglected department and how good customer service is basically an open path to free word-of-mouth marketing. It takes a great analysis of the current approach and remodifies it to better handle the service model of selling a game rather than the box pushing model. It's a long post, but close to mandatory reading if you're interested in the theory of business

Tags: business-models, business-theory, csr, customer-service, customer-support, industry, service, tmachine

Phishing attempt targets EVE Online subscribers

by James Egan Dec 22nd 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Exploits, News items

They're baaack. The phishing emails targeting EVE Online players, that is. While you're sound asleep dreaming of your next Machariel, or thrashing about in a nightmare about that last pod killing, there are legions of very bad men seeking to crack open your EVE Online account and liquidate your assets. Of course, they need your help to do so.

The phishing attempt has evolved to its next genius incarnation... no wait... it's exactly the same as last month. They haven't innovated at all! They're just plowing ahead with it, regardless. They pretend to be CCP Games and email you, stating that they're EVE Customer Support. Of course, they're emailing you to let you know about their latest database issue, and that they'd like you to log in and verify that everything's OK. They're even kind enough to provide you with a convenient link that brings you to "your account", where the phishers log your username and password, and proceed to rip you off as thoroughly as possible.

Tags: advisory, assets, ccp, ccp-games, customer-service, customer-support, email, eve, eve-online, grinch, isk, password, phishing, phishing-attempt, sci-fi, username, warning

Age of Conan GM fired amidst in-game sex scandal

by Samuel Axon Aug 14th 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Culture, News items

An Age of Conan player tricked a naïve, Funcom-employed Game Master (an in-game customer service representative) into pursuing cybersex with him. The player posed as a female playing a male character and enticed the male GM with flirtatious remarks and innuendos. After the GM fully threw himself into the moment, the player revealed that he was male, and that the conversation had been a prank.

Friends of the player posted screenshots of the conversation on MMORPG's forums, and the ensuing controversy led Funcom to fire the GM for unacceptable behavior and violation of the customer service guidelines. Destructoid then interviewed the prankster and hosted the unedited version of the conversation screenshots.

Frankly, we're not sure who is the bigger jackass -- the GM for his unprofessional behavior, or the player for baiting him into it. Everyone seems to have his or her own unique interpretation of this fiasco.

[Via Big Download]

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, controversy, cs, customer-service, cyber-sex, fired, flirting, funcom, game-master, gm, scandal, screenshots, sex

Celebrating 10 years of EverQuest customer service volunteers

by Samuel Axon Aug 12th 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, News items

SOE and the EverQuest II community are celebrating the ten year anniversary of EverQuest's Guide program. Guides are folks who volunteer to provide customer support to players, as well as host in-game events. Rremember back in the day when Qeynos Hills was invaded by skeletons, and all the newbies died before higher levels came in from the Karanas to save the day? That event was the work of Guides!

An article over at EverQuest II Players heralds the celebration with memories from both a former and a current Guide Liaison, as well as a story by well-known Elder Guide Ozymandias honoring all the folks who have served the community over the years. The story is written like an historical lore entry. It contains a few references to legendary names that should be familiar to EverQuest veterans.

Volunteer guides are a very old tradition in MMOs. Of course there were the Wizards of the MUD era. But after that, both Meridian 59 and Ultima Online made use of volunteer customer service and event folks too.

Tags: cs, customer-service, eq, eq2, eqii, events, everquest, everquest-2, everquest-ii, guide, guide-program, guides, soe, volunteer, volunteers

Account hacked? Why not stop and smell the flowers?

by Michael Zenke Jun 12th 2008 at 2:30PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Humor

It happens to the best of us. We try to be careful, we try to be conscientious, and then the unthinkable happens: your MMO account gets hacked. You log in to find your virtual life has been torn asunder. What happens then? Sean Sands, over at the Gamers with Jobs site, walks us through the ordeal of having his World of Warcraft account hacked.

Sean reminds us that the most important thing to do is to keep things in perspective. Most likely the person that hacked you was just doing their job. It probably wasn't malicious, and unfocused rage never helped anyone resolve their problems. Moreover, Blizzard is well aware of the problems inherent to the account breach issue. They've got a polished, professional team ready to give you back your stuff in a timely fashion. In fact, as Sean notes, it may be that they're a bit ... too practiced at this.

The problem of account hacking is universal. We suggest you check out some of the security resources WoW Insider has on hand for World of Warcraft fans, as many of them can be transposed to another game. in the meantime, have you had any experiences with hacked accounts? What happened and ... most importantly ... did you get your stuff back?

Tags: blizzard, customer-service, fantasy, gamers-with-jobs, hacked, security, warlock, world-of-warcraft, wow

EA Mythic looking for WAR customer service monkeys

by Chris Chester Jun 11th 2008 at 7:30PM

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Warhammer Online

Are you a glutton for punishment? Do your friends and family often remark about how rewarding it is to berate you with insults and make nonsensical demands that far outstrip your capacities to fulfill? Do you have exceptional attention to detail, with encyclopedic knowledge of the proper bust sizes for a game's various races? If you answered yes to these questions, we might have a position for you!

According to a message sent out via the Warhammer Herald, EA Mythic is looking to hire some trustworthy Warhammer Online CSRs to start working in the Fairfax, VA facility starting this August. The listing makes mention of benefits and opportunity for growth, which is frankly more than we were expecting from a company that was gobbled up by the EA monolith not long ago. (As you might remember, EA has a less than stellar reputation for treating its employees well.) In any case, if any of you Massively readers gets the job, be sure to regale us all with your tales misfortune and lunacy!

Tags: csr, customer-service, ea, ea-mythic, job, kelly, warhammer-online

Funcom hiring community managers, CS reps

by Samuel Axon May 31st 2008 at 5:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, MMO industry, New titles, News items

Funcom is hiring for seven Age of Conan-related positions -- three in Europe, and four in the United States.

The European opportunities are all "community coordinator" positions, and bilingual candidates are preferred. If you're looking for work in the United States, you can apply for one of Funcom's customer service positions. The Durham, NC office seeks CS reps in the English, French, German, or Spanish languages.

Funcom is facing some serious community and customer service issues right now, such as exploits and ensuing bans. We don't doubt that the current staff is overwhelmed by all that's going on. Bringing in reinforcements is probably a good call.

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, bilingual, community-coordinator, community-manager, cs, customer-service, english, french, funcom, german, hiring, spanish

Age of Conan: Senior CSR responds to the recent mass banning

by Matt Warner May 30th 2008 at 9:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Bugs, Exploits, Forums, Launches, New titles, News items

Customer service in MMOGs leaves a lot to be desired. Normally you get a ticket, and you wait with ticket in mind, and your issue normally isn't resolved until your mind is lost. The petty bug that caused an item to disappear or quest reward isn't unheard of in EverQuest or World of Warcraft, but what about the larger exploitations like duping? Exploitation that involves players amassing an inordinate amount of items or gold in a relatively short amount of time requires prompt action before severe damage is caused.

Not long after launch day, Age of Conan, fell victim to such exploits. One involved the Demonologist class and leveling, and the other was a severe duping exploit via the trader system. Funcom is now under scrutiny for their handling of the situation. In many cases, Funcom opted to ban now, and suspend players for investigatory purposes before determining the final outcome. The aftermath from their decision had players crying foul, claiming that they did nothing wrong. In this interview with Ten Ton Hammer, the Senior Customer Service & QA Manager for Age of Conan explains the situation and admits that some suspended accounts were free from any illicit activity and reinstated. Some players are still awaiting word on their fate.

How do you think Funcom is handling the situation?

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, ban, banned, customer-service, customer-support, exploit, funcom, launch, player-ban, tentonhammer

E-mail a resum�, work for SOE

by Samuel Axon May 27th 2008 at 5:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, MMO industry, Vanguard, Casual, Free Realms

Sony Online Entertainment is hiring for a few positions, and is soliciting resumés on its game forums.

Specifically, it's looking for customer support representatives to work with knowledge base articles for Free Realms and Vanguard. The job descriptions note that SOE's knowledge base articles are extremely important because they're the first and most common point of contact for customers. The CSRs will be responsible for producing, reviewing, and regionalizing knowledge base content.

The jobs appear to be entry level -- only a couple of years of gaming experience and a high school diploma are required. So if you know your MMO stuff, you live in or near San Diego (or are willing to move there, presumably), and you're out of work, e-mail SOE your resumé. You never know; it might be good.

Tags: career, customer-service, customer-support, free-realms, industry, job, resume, sme, soe, sony, subject-matter-expert, vanguard