Dear blizzard... And particularly the cms

[Wcked92]

Some post from CS Manager of another Game. Interessting and so true.



Dear Blizzard... and particularly the CMs - Forums - Diablo III

Hi there,

I wanted to write to you as one community management professional to another. For over a decade, I've worked in the industry designing and building support and billing suites for gaming companies. Included in my services is the hiring and training of support personnel - for phone, help desk and forum support. I've trained CSMs, community managers, GMs, moderators, etc. And I spend a significant portion of my time in meetings with the professionals from the marketing and PR departments, especially when things are going south in a game. I often work with a developer until about 6 months post-launch with an open-ended support contract if they need upgrades or additional assistance further out.

In every instance, with every developer, there's always a point where it's understood that if things have gone " this far south," then at that point, a representative of the company will step up and admit to the players, "we know the game is broken... we'll be taking XYZ steps to bring it up to par." It's understood that should things fail to that point, the only way to reclaim the player base, or have hope for future support from them, is to come clean.

I'm curious where that line is drawn in Blizzard's corporate framework.

Because I have to tell you, as a professional - not as a player - by every indicator I've ever seen a developer use, you have not only reached that point... you've passed it by a vast degree.

As a company, you have what every gaming professional knows to be the most rabidly loyal fanbase of any other developer in the world. That isn't speculation, it's fact. Any moderator of a non-Blizzard fansite or official forum knows that it's a nightmare every time a thread appears that in any way attacks Blizzard... your fanbase arrives in droves to defend you. Whenever you are launching a new title, we're out there preparing our ban hammers in anticipation of having to deal with your rabidly loyal fans every time someone makes an off-topic post along the lines of "anyone else going to play *Blizzard Title* when it launches next week?"

So what does it say that in threads across the web, where Diablo 3 is being discussed, we're only seeing a very SMALL percentage of that rabid fanbase showing up to defend? What does it say that even on your own forums... the number of fans are significantly lower than the number of critics?

The fans like to claim it's because "everyone is too busy having fun playing the game to post here..." but let's be honest, guys. I know that's not true and so do you. If it were, then all the times you've had a genuinely successful launch of a new title or expansion, we'd see the same - fans too busy playing to post.

But that's not what happens, is it? No... normally, those fans still manage to find PLENTY of time to defend their beloved Blizzard's honor, at all costs.

Your game is in shambles. The press is starting to turn on you. And the rest of the industry is looking on, watching the giant begin to tumble. Some of them are cheering your downfall. Your rabidly loyal fans claim that's not happening - you know the truth, so does the rest of the industry. We're watching, and we know you have one shot to save yourselves... it's time to come clean. To step up and say, "we screwed up here... this is what we're going to do to make it right."

So I'm wondering - what are you waiting for? You know how fickle players are... you know that you'd earn an enormous amount of desperately needed goodwill, simply by "humbling" yourselves before the players a bit. You know you could lure back players in droves, all willing to give you a chance to make good on your promise to make it right.

They just want to hear you make the apology and make the promise.

So what are you waiting for? Who is pulling the strings back there forcing the rest of you to keep silent while the giant topples further and further? Because I've got to assume that's what's happening - I know many of your staff... I've worked with (and even trained) some of them in the past. And I know it has to be killing them to remain silent when they know just how bad things are...

You've lost the faith and trust of the player base, Blizzard... every decision you're making right now just further compounds the mistrust and heightens suspicion of your motives. It no longer matters if, in the "big picture," you're making sound decisions for the future of the game - the players aren't perceiving your choices that way. Perception is everything, and you have a MASSIVE amount of damage control to do...quickly.

So...what...are...you...waiting...for?

You've tried everything else - your numbers keep dropping. It's time for honesty. It's time for "we've made some bad decisions... we're rethinking our choices... we're looking for solutions..." It's time for your devs to step away from the code and the dbases and get on the forums for a week. It's time for you to put a support team together who does nothing but root through the forums and support tickets, looking for the most common complaints/issues - and suggestions for how to fix it... compiling them into an easy to read graph or spreadsheet... and then sit down as a team and figure out how to make it right.

It's time to listen to the actual feedback you're being given. Hint: it's mostly bad. Really, really, really bad.

I may be the only person in the world who actually sat there and watched the entirety of the credits roll (I was having fun looking for people I know, I admit it)... you have an ENORMOUS global customer service staff. Get them all focused on identifying and prioritizing the issues... and then get your devs and designers focused on finding - and implementing - solutions.

Otherwise, in about another month, all you'll have left are a small percentage of your rabidly loyal fans. And bots.

Please step up and start working on damage control... that needs to be your priority right now. The giant is toppling... are you really going to go down without a fight?

Your Blues here on the forums are just shy of being entirely absent. I know why - I know how hard it is to keep posting, keep responding to fluff while being forced to ignore the complaint threads so as to not lend them any more legitimacy or credibility... but unfortunately for you, the players have also figured this out now... and that's only making matters worse. They KNOW they are being avoided and dodged... they're not nearly as stupid as we might wish they'd be. And at this point, you're even losing the genuinely stupid. That's a very bad sign.

Step up and fess up, Blizzard... please don't let the most anticipated game of all time end up being your company's death knell. That would be a huge tragedy.

[montgola]

plus rep = )

[Assistend]

There End game solutions? - Forums - Diablo III

[Jaerin]

Wow that's a long winded post to simply cry the same WoW is dying and now so is D3 because a small elite minority isn't being catered too.

D3 is successful. WoW is successful. Maybe not for the people that are in this person's circle of friends, but bottom line is their games are selling, people are playing their games. You may wish it to be something else, but you've bought their game. Speak with your wallet or quit your whining about how you aren't being catered too.

[BlairMcPhase]

How delusional can one be to write a letter like that?

Complete waste of time.