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Title: 1 GM for every 2000 concurrent users Post by: SirBruce on March 12, 2005, 06:57:37 PM Okay, so I did some investigative reporting, and managed to dig up this interesting little tidbit of information.
There's this web site called Onecle (http://www.onecle.com/), which is run by a lawyer and provides legal education online. As one of their free services, they provide sanitized "sample" copies of legal contracts (http://contracts.onecle.com/) in a variety of fields, to server as helpful guidlines and educational tools for the legal and business professions. So, I was not too surprised when a copy of the contract between Vivendi Universal and China The9 Interactive (http://contracts.onecle.com/the9/vivendi.lic.2004.02.03.shtml) appeared, documenting their agreement regarding the operation of World of Warcraft in China. Of course, most of the key details have been removed, but it appears one little tidbit slipped through the sanitization process: Quote For in-game support, Licensee shall ensure that there is at least one game master for every 2000 concurrent users at all times, or otherwise as determined by VUG/Blizzard. Now, I'm making a lot of assumptions here. That this is an actual (although sanitized) copy of the contract, that VUG/Blizzard didn't later specify a different number, and that the ratio of 1:2000 is going to be about the same for the US and EU servers as it is for China's servers. But if that's accurate, then that seems to me an low number of GMs for a game like WoW. Bruce Title: Re: 1 GM for every 2000 concurrent users Post by: Krakrok on March 12, 2005, 07:03:25 PM Grapevine says WoW GMs get paid $10/hour. Title: Re: 1 GM for every 2000 concurrent users Post by: Fabricated on March 13, 2005, 11:12:53 AM Grapevine says WoW GMs get paid $10/hour. For that kind of money I'd just sit at my computer making people fall through the world so I could make them wait half the day to answer their tickets. Title: Re: 1 GM for every 2000 concurrent users Post by: Joe on March 18, 2005, 10:07:03 PM Standard number is 1:1500, so they're not too bad.
That's not bad money for part time work. Title: Re: 1 GM for every 2000 concurrent users Post by: Biobanger on March 19, 2005, 05:36:36 AM Grapevine says WoW GMs get paid $10/hour. Title: Re: 1 GM for every 2000 concurrent users Post by: Merusk on March 19, 2005, 06:11:08 AM Standard number is 1:1500, so they're not too bad. That's not bad money for part time work. That'sabout standard for full-time work in CS as well. At least around the midwest. For example, the people who handle your account information at your local bank or the Citibank call center here in Cincinnati get paid between $9.50 and $12 an hour for floor positions, which is what the GMs in WoW are. Supervisors and Managers get more, but not the grunts doing the majority of the work, and they're dealing with something a wee bit more sensitive than digital elves. |