More SoE office drama

[Soln]

You are an Anti-American dick. All of us Europeans are. Also, last I heard most US democrats are. Enjoy the company.

Bummer about your posting hours, I share your pain.

Can us Canadians jump in on this too?

Go Leafs!  And how did Halifax end up with the Commonwealth Games -- we don't even have a stadium?

[Strazos]

Cevik,

I really don't like your use of the word "we" and you generalizing statements about "us."

I have no hand in what these idiots do, and did what I could to prevent what has occured. It's really not fair for you to simply clump people like me with the idiots that oh-so-passionately voted these people in, because they were scared of brown people.

But whatever, this isn't even an argument worth having.

[Typhon]

Strazos fix the quotes, it took my limited mental capacity 5 minutes to figure out that the above response is your text, not cevix.  If I hadn't done this recently myself, would never have figured it out.

[Strazos]

That seems like a personal problem.

[Righ]

I really don't like your use of the word "we" and you generalizing statements about "us."

That seems like a personal problem.

[Blackguard]

I honestly cannot believe how much attention the throwaway remark about the 65 page community relations policies manual has gotten. :P

I wrote it when I was asked to create a community relations dept at SOE. That happened shortly after I got the CCO job. Prior to that, there was no dept, there were CRMs on individual games, and there was no consistent policy. EQ had no forums, SWG had extnsive community stuff, other games were somewhere in between.

The manual says, in short form,

- if you're not into community, here's why you should do it: retention, acquisition, respecting your customer. Here's some hard data to prove it.
- the jobs you need are: mods, events person (if you will do that part), community relations manager, possibly assts to them, and QA/CS liaison. Here's handy job descs you can use when hiring.
- btw, the CRM for a game should be considered a lead on the team
- you need to meet regularly with the following folks: marketing, CS, QA, producers, team leads. You need to tell them what's up, what the community is antsy about, what stuff you're doing, and you need to hear what stuff they are doing with the game
- you should be doing the following: forum posts (multiple a day). Newsletters -- not marketingy ones either. Features on the website including behind the scenes stuff. Fun little contests and such on the forums. Showcasing player-made stuff, like art, fan films, roleplaying, etc. You really should think about having a correspondent program.
- btw, yes, you need to run forums. All our games will have forums henceforth. Here's the stock policies on bannings, etc.
- here's some advice on handling problems: always be honest, be prompt, don't overpromise, etc etc.
- here's the escalation process when something goes all woppy-jawed.
- here's some books and websites tht might be helpful (Amy Jo Kim's book, etc)
- now, the entire second half of the manual is the latest boring legal policies that you have to post on all the sites.

That's pretty much it.

We then proceeded to get forums for every game, CRMs for every game, and most of the doc implemented. And then Alan took over running the newly created dept.

The End.

I've read through the manual a few times, and we pretty much run according to the book that it is. I'm a lead on EverQuest II (CRM), I have reps for three languages, we have an events person on the team, two QA liaisons, and all the other fun stuff. Someday I'll write a nice shiny book on Community Relations after convincing Raph and Brenlo to work on it with me, and this is a great bit of reference material. Long, yes, but very useful.

[Margalis]

What did this have to do with jiggling boobs again?

[Miasma]

Someday I'll write a nice shiny book on Community Relations after convincing Raph and Brenlo to work on it with me, and this is a great bit of reference material. Long, yes, but very useful.

Section 3: Hiring Practices
Potential CRM Candidates Should Have the Following Qualities:

• Excellent command of the English language
• Patience
• Works well with others
• Should preferably not be emotionaly disturbed drama queens/kings with a side job in pornography who will proceed to libel us when they quit in a disgruntled fit
• Professional appearance
• No tolerance for "First!" and "Reserved!" posts

[SnakeCharmer]

I've read through the manual a few times, and we pretty much run according to the book that it is. I'm a lead on EverQuest II (CRM), I have reps for three languages, we have an events person on the team, two QA liaisons, and all the other fun stuff. Someday I'll write a nice shiny book on Community Relations after convincing Raph and Brenlo to work on it with me, and this is a great bit of reference material. Long, yes, but very useful.

Brenlo is a complete and total tool. 

Scratch that.

I have more respect for my hedge trimmers than that guy...

[Ironwood]

Giggle @  Miasma.

[SuperPopTart]

I've read through the manual a few times, and we pretty much run according to the book that it is. I'm a lead on EverQuest II (CRM), I have reps for three languages, we have an events person on the team, two QA liaisons, and all the other fun stuff. Someday I'll write a nice shiny book on Community Relations after convincing Raph and Brenlo to work on it with me, and this is a great bit of reference material. Long, yes, but very useful.

Brenlo is a complete and total tool. 

Scratch that.

I have more respect for my hedge trimmers than that guy...

Only redeemable soul at SOE:


Mennix.

[cevik]

Cevik,

I really don't like your use of the word "we" and you generalizing statements about "us."

Too bad, we own these fuckers and by extension they reflect on us.  Don't like, it?  Go back to kindergarten where life is fair.

I have no hand in what these idiots do, and did what I could to prevent what has occured. It's really not fair for you to simply clump people like me with the idiots that oh-so-passionately voted these people in, because they were scared of brown people.

I did what I could to get these assholes out of office as well, and apparently I didn't do enough.  Want to redeem yourself in the eyes of the world?  Then we need to do more next time.

Want a dose of reality?  The Sunni Arab being tortured in Iraq as we speak doesn't give a flying fuck about your Faux Outrage when he clumps all Americans together in the same boat.  Voted for them or not, volunteered for the other guy or not, doesn't matter, in the court of the world we're fucked, so we may as well learn to deal with it, because complaining on a message board about games isn't going to do you one iota of good.

[Ironwood]

But I like complaining on this messageboard about games.  Some games suck.  So you have to complain about them.

FACT.