I should've subscribed just to PM him telling him to get a new job after those childish posts he made. Customers are obviously going to bitch and his job is to absorb the heat and ban whoever crosses the line, not make retarded posts. When Blixtev passed the baton to Loche, I had hopes for the dev team to get that game in the right direction, but the community relations guy is making everyone else look bad.
At least Loche seems to be someone that listens to suggestions, I saw a screenshot of him saying that he might look into BH getting pistols in their expertise after smeone suggested it. Rather than Blixtev's "I'll do it my way and too bad if you don't like it".
I just love how that asshole blames the community for this problem and not the company. For god sake the players are still giving soe faith to do something right and he calls them poisonous? All they want is a game to play and for the company to stop nickle and diming them to death as a replacement for content publishes. Just the fact that there still are players in swg goes so far beyond rational expectations it just shows that they are willing to go well beyond any extremes and horrible treatment by soe to give them untold amounts of chances and if treated right I bet they would respond kindly. If anything those people should be given a medal for perseverance (and then be slapped in the head with a trout for rewarding the company with money). Newsflash, if soe didn't do such a bang up job of lieing and pissing on the customers with such frequency maybe the community wouldn't be so damn vocal in the first place. Yes there are many reason they players are vocal and no it isn't due to raph koster. When you do things to upset players with the frequency that soe does, the players will get vocal. Imagine that? Cause and is obviously a concept that escapes him.
He acts like he was building some new democracy within the game and he alone was somehow going to revive swg. What the hell did he think he was going to be able to accomplish in a company that had already looked at the entire playerbase of SWG as disposable and tried to replace them with shiny new players? Did he expect to march into a developer meeting with a list of player concerns and enlighten soe as to what changes need to be made and think they would snap to attention and hop to it? I cannot believe this guy is so ignorant to still not understand that this company has a long standing tradtion of ignoring the players and doing whatever they think will bleed another nickle from their customers credit cards. He just doesn't understand that he was nothing more than a smoke screen and damage control. The ego and ignorance of greypawn is unbelievable. I just love the last part where he talks about some dark conspiracy that was set to get rid of him for a minor mistake. Doesn't he find it strange that when a SWG community rep has a meltdown with the playerbase the first thing people on IRC think of is him? Gee I wonder why they did that....
Daff, read it again.
He's not holding up the "poisoned" community as the problem. He's holding up SoE for poisoning the community in the first place.
I have a love/hate relationship with posts like this. I love hearing about the downfall of SOE, because they have bungled things for MMO's since The Shadows of Luclin, but I also hate hearing and being reminded of SWG, the MMO that never was.
"you all see that these things are getting you no where fast with me right? I am just going to keep doing these replies because that is obviosly what is really wanted. Not game fixes but arguing. All that therapy I had.. darn it.. down the drain. lololol"
<Snip>
Rofl... totaly nuts. Glad I gave up the game years ago... doesnt seems to get any better...
Pre-CU with some small changes to it would have been great stuff though... oh well
Now Playing: LotRO:MoM Waiting for: Earthrise, The Warhammer 40k mmo Collecting dust on my shelf: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, Shadowbane, Lineage II, SWG, EQ2, D&D Online, Vanguard:SoH, Tabula Rasa, PoTBS, AoC, WAR
Well, to be honest, I think the guy handles it fairly well still. I've worked in support for several years as a manager and wouldn't have blamed my staff if they would have taken some of those posts a "tad" personal.
Oops, guess what, they were personally aimed at him and his colleages. In reality they should have been aimed at the SOE management. Those decide what happens, not the devs, not support, not the content creators, not even the producers. It is the management that decides and the rest executes.
I'm always baffled that people have such a hard time understanding basic company hierarchy, don't they learn that in high school or something?
Again, it's the managers you want to flame, not the others. They just do as they are told, otherwise they will find themselves with their butt in the street without a job, hence the reason this poor guy refers to having to feed his daughter. How stupid can a community be?
I'm really sorry, but a community that collectively is so ignorant as to how companies work internally cannot expect a whole lot of respect, especially if they cannot refrain from the stuff I read in that thread. I would have banned all the insulters, but that's just me. Sad bunch though, even though I can understand their emotions. Let them just quit if they feel shafted, that will send the message loud and clear. Not that it will change anything for the game, but at least they take a proper stance instead of whining like a bunch of little kids who don't get what they want.
C'mon guys, this is a grown up world with grown up people, not some kindergarten.
At the same time kivech, it is his job to listen, offer advice and moderate when needed. That is what he is being paid to do. He did almost none of those and there is no way to excuse that on his first few days of the job even if the criticism was misguided at him directly. He hasn't even gotten his feet wet to even take it personally. I doubt the station downloader has even finished downloading SWG for him to log in yet (it was only 3 days since he started afterall).
Flat out he is just plain disrespectful to his customers. He isn't helping the situation by calling people names. Remember this is his job. If someone acted like that at your company what would you do? Blame the customers for not knowing the structure of your business and tell your community manager, its ok they don't know how business works and I don't blame your for the things you said?
Keep in mind he posted a friday feature about a topic that players are not allowed to discuss in that forum. What kind of message does that send from the community manager?
I've played swg on and off since it was released. And the one thing I've never understood even if you love swg is why people keep playing even after all their complaining. Inspite of what swg players know they always come back to play swg and take another beating from SOE.
I would like to see the day when players cancel there swg account and move on to better and greener pastures like a new mmo.
Well, to be honest, I think the guy handles it fairly well still. I've worked in support for several years as a manager and wouldn't have blamed my staff if they would have taken some of those posts a "tad" personal. Oops, guess what, they were personally aimed at him and his colleages. In reality they should have been aimed at the SOE management. Those decide what happens, not the devs, not support, not the content creators, not even the producers. It is the management that decides and the rest executes. I'm always baffled that people have such a hard time understanding basic company hierarchy, don't they learn that in high school or something? Again, it's the managers you want to flame, not the others. They just do as they are told, otherwise they will find themselves with their butt in the street without a job, hence the reason this poor guy refers to having to feed his daughter. How stupid can a community be? I'm really sorry, but a community that collectively is so ignorant as to how companies work internally cannot expect a whole lot of respect, especially if they cannot refrain from the stuff I read in that thread. I would have banned all the insulters, but that's just me. Sad bunch though, even though I can understand their emotions. Let them just quit if they feel shafted, that will send the message loud and clear. Not that it will change anything for the game, but at least they take a proper stance instead of whining like a bunch of little kids who don't get what they want. C'mon guys, this is a grown up world with grown up people, not some kindergarten.
Only one post was a direct personal attack against him.
It is just fine for him to take the posts personal...in private...but he was wrong to reply the way he did...He has moderators...he has moderating powers. If the posts were against the rules then he should have exercised those powers instead of fanning the flames.
The community they have is what they asked for through SOE's own actions.
They have never moderated those forums properly. They allow personal attacks daily. GreyPawn is correct when he says it is a poisoned community.
He has a new "touchy feel good" thread going now in his own personal, "heavily moderated forum section, where he talks about some RL stuff and how the community and online friends can be helpful. http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=931394
Unfortunatly after the guys crazy meltdown, this part really stuck to me: " My daughter’s mother picked me up at the airport so I could get my little girl for the weekend"
Yep that says divorced to me. Big surprise there, I bet he was a joy to live with
Well, to be honest, I think the guy handles it fairly well still. I've worked in support for several years as a manager and wouldn't have blamed my staff if they would have taken some of those posts a "tad" personal. Oops, guess what, they were personally aimed at him and his colleages. In reality they should have been aimed at the SOE management. Those decide what happens, not the devs, not support, not the content creators, not even the producers. It is the management that decides and the rest executes. I'm always baffled that people have such a hard time understanding basic company hierarchy, don't they learn that in high school or something? Again, it's the managers you want to flame, not the others. They just do as they are told, otherwise they will find themselves with their butt in the street without a job, hence the reason this poor guy refers to having to feed his daughter. How stupid can a community be? I'm really sorry, but a community that collectively is so ignorant as to how companies work internally cannot expect a whole lot of respect, especially if they cannot refrain from the stuff I read in that thread. I would have banned all the insulters, but that's just me. Sad bunch though, even though I can understand their emotions. Let them just quit if they feel shafted, that will send the message loud and clear. Not that it will change anything for the game, but at least they take a proper stance instead of whining like a bunch of little kids who don't get what they want. C'mon guys, this is a grown up world with grown up people, not some kindergarten.
Some of the people he went off on went out of their way to explain that they understood he was new, and that they felt his superiors put him in a bad position. Some attempted to bring him up to speed on why this was such a contentious issue. He seemed to respond to all comments as if they were some kind of generalized personal attack (which they weren't)and then react in a manner that suggests he had lost control of his faculties.
Was he put in a bad situation? I'd say so, yes. Did he respond well? I'd say, no; I think he handled it poorly. I think SOE put him in a bad situation and he went off the handle. Hopefully the stress won't spill over into his personal life. If it does, I hope he gets a better job and brushes up on his coping skills.
P.S. Apparently he's now talking about his personal psychotherapy and his marital and family situation etc. on the game forums. Erm, the internet forums are filled with strangers that don't give a damn about your personal life, or your well-being, and who will take disclosures of vulnerability as an opportunity to bring you down. Boundaries man, boundaries. Game forums aren't the place for this level of self-disclosure imo. I'm afraid for this guy. If I was his manager, I'd find a behind the scenes job for him that paid a decent wage, and apologize for throwing a non-swimmer into the middle of the pacific ocean with an open wound.
He has a new "touchy feel good" thread going now in his own personal, "heavily moderated forum section, where he talks about some RL stuff and how the community and online friends can be helpful. http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=931394 Unfortunatly after the guys crazy meltdown, this part really stuck to me: " My daughter’s mother picked me up at the airport so I could get my little girl for the weekend" Yep that says divorced to me. Big surprise there, I bet he was a joy to live with
His daughter for the weekend? But golly gee, I thought he was working as a mod " to keep his daughter fed " or some shit? Sounds more like his ex is feeding the daughter and wanting some child support from his dumb ass, maybe? LOL
Edit: "Draakulls forum" "My forum" ROFLMAO
And why is he posting shit noone cares about? I thought he had SO MANY things to do that he couldn't because of the mean old SWG players. Why isn't he doing those things instead of trying to play kiss ass in "his" forum?
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Originally posted by Nicrox I've played swg on and off since it was released. And the one thing I've never understood even if you love swg is why people keep playing even after all their complaining. Inspite of what swg players know they always come back to play swg and take another beating from SOE. I would like to see the day when players cancel there swg account and move on to better and greener pastures like a new mmo.
That isn't what this topic is about, it was some douchebag community relations making a post on something against forums ToS and bitching about it after one person brought it up. I really really really really want to just subscribe and tell him "get a new job sir kthxbai".
His first impression is an epic fail, then 2 days ago he makes a thread "get to know me"...
It won't be long. His snideness is already peeking through the cracks of his thin skin. After all, don't be off topic when such a valid Star Wars Galaxies thread as "my neighbors dog died" is the topic at hand. LOL
Draakull
**CRM**
Joined: May 19, 2009
Messages: 287
Location: ATX
Offline
barrahm2 wrote:
Welcome, Draak. As a nearly 5-year member of the SWG community, I would like to offer some advice.
1. Don't be overly combative. We appreciate you as much as you appreciate us. Many of us lash out at the idiots and trolls. You need to keep yourself above that. Your ... ahem ... outburst the other day did not set you on the right path. Keep you base instincts in check and do your job, first and foremost. The people who know these forums backwards and forwards will weed out the idiots. Concentrate on keeping everything in line rather than tearing into those who question your capabilities.
2. There are a few websites that dedicate themselves to tearing down SWG, its players and the people who work for it, be they developers or community relations folk. Ignore them. They do not care about you, they only seek to destroy you. They are the internet equivalent of human excrement. Pay them no heed.
3. Unban my 2 perma'd accounts. Pl0x. kobie_173 and barrahm. DO EET.
4. DO NOT BE OVERLY COMBATIVE. Your predecessor (Elias, not Valara) made the mistake of treating people as subjects rather than as people. He was excessively nasty and basically unpleasant. Be our friend, and we'll be yours. Be mean to us, and we'll be mean to you. Treat your position of authority not as a right, but a privilege. We are still for the most part a friendly (albeit very jaded) community. Treat us that way. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
5. Get a decent sig. A good sig goes a long way. Hell, I have a mancrush on Millbarge simply for his Spies Like Us sig.
6. Welcome to the jungle. We got fun and games.
thank you for the public career advice. I don't mean to be rude but this thread is for another topic. I am happy to chat about this with you via PM but this is not the topic for this discussion. It's good information but could be considered a violation of the rules.
Thanks.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
How on god's name is he a manager of any sort? Taking things to heart, letting his emotions get the better of him and raging like a thirteen year old with ADHD... If any of my employees did anything even remotely like this, by the time I finished with them, they'd be flipping burgers in McDonalds. When I think of SOE now, I picture a bunch of Ronald McDonalds in a field prancing around like sissys with big cheesey grins going lalalalala.. it's pathetic.
Comments
I should've subscribed just to PM him telling him to get a new job after those childish posts he made. Customers are obviously going to bitch and his job is to absorb the heat and ban whoever crosses the line, not make retarded posts. When Blixtev passed the baton to Loche, I had hopes for the dev team to get that game in the right direction, but the community relations guy is making everyone else look bad.
At least Loche seems to be someone that listens to suggestions, I saw a screenshot of him saying that he might look into BH getting pistols in their expertise after smeone suggested it. Rather than Blixtev's "I'll do it my way and too bad if you don't like it".
Herein is the essence of what has been wrong with SWG since the beginning.
Rampant Unprofessional Behavior from the staff.
LOL, opened up the O boards and saw a thread just now in the GPD, and it's about a new forum section specially made for the community manager.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/forums/show.m?forum_id=4255
Daff, read it again.
He's not holding up the "poisoned" community as the problem. He's holding up SoE for poisoning the community in the first place.
Agreed....that is how I read it as well.
Yup that is my take on it as well.
fishermage.blogspot.com
I have a love/hate relationship with posts like this. I love hearing about the downfall of SOE, because they have bungled things for MMO's since The Shadows of Luclin, but I also hate hearing and being reminded of SWG, the MMO that never was.
Bitter sweet.
forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m
Draakull
**CRM**
Joined: May 19, 2009
Messages: 257
Location: ATX
Offline
<Snip>
"you all see that these things are getting you no where fast with me right? I am just going to keep doing these replies because that is obviosly what is really wanted. Not game fixes but arguing. All that therapy I had.. darn it.. down the drain. lololol"
<Snip>
Rofl... totaly nuts. Glad I gave up the game years ago... doesnt seems to get any better...
Pre-CU with some small changes to it would have been great stuff though... oh well
Now Playing: LotRO:MoM Waiting for: Earthrise, The Warhammer 40k mmo
Collecting dust on my shelf: Ultima Online, EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, Shadowbane, Lineage II, SWG, EQ2, D&D Online, Vanguard:SoH, Tabula Rasa, PoTBS, AoC, WAR
Well, to be honest, I think the guy handles it fairly well still. I've worked in support for several years as a manager and wouldn't have blamed my staff if they would have taken some of those posts a "tad" personal.
Oops, guess what, they were personally aimed at him and his colleages. In reality they should have been aimed at the SOE management. Those decide what happens, not the devs, not support, not the content creators, not even the producers. It is the management that decides and the rest executes.
I'm always baffled that people have such a hard time understanding basic company hierarchy, don't they learn that in high school or something?
Again, it's the managers you want to flame, not the others. They just do as they are told, otherwise they will find themselves with their butt in the street without a job, hence the reason this poor guy refers to having to feed his daughter. How stupid can a community be?
I'm really sorry, but a community that collectively is so ignorant as to how companies work internally cannot expect a whole lot of respect, especially if they cannot refrain from the stuff I read in that thread. I would have banned all the insulters, but that's just me. Sad bunch though, even though I can understand their emotions. Let them just quit if they feel shafted, that will send the message loud and clear. Not that it will change anything for the game, but at least they take a proper stance instead of whining like a bunch of little kids who don't get what they want.
C'mon guys, this is a grown up world with grown up people, not some kindergarten.
At the same time kivech, it is his job to listen, offer advice and moderate when needed. That is what he is being paid to do. He did almost none of those and there is no way to excuse that on his first few days of the job even if the criticism was misguided at him directly. He hasn't even gotten his feet wet to even take it personally. I doubt the station downloader has even finished downloading SWG for him to log in yet (it was only 3 days since he started afterall).
Flat out he is just plain disrespectful to his customers. He isn't helping the situation by calling people names. Remember this is his job. If someone acted like that at your company what would you do? Blame the customers for not knowing the structure of your business and tell your community manager, its ok they don't know how business works and I don't blame your for the things you said?
Keep in mind he posted a friday feature about a topic that players are not allowed to discuss in that forum. What kind of message does that send from the community manager?
I've played swg on and off since it was released. And the one thing I've never understood even if you love swg is why people keep playing even after all their complaining. Inspite of what swg players know they always come back to play swg and take another beating from SOE.
I would like to see the day when players cancel there swg account and move on to better and greener pastures like a new mmo.
Only one post was a direct personal attack against him.
It is just fine for him to take the posts personal...in private...but he was wrong to reply the way he did...He has moderators...he has moderating powers. If the posts were against the rules then he should have exercised those powers instead of fanning the flames.
The community they have is what they asked for through SOE's own actions.
They have never moderated those forums properly. They allow personal attacks daily. GreyPawn is correct when he says it is a poisoned community.
--------
Ten Golden Rules Of Videogame Fanboyism
"SOE has probably united more gamers in hatred than Blizzard has subs"...daelnor
He has a new "touchy feel good" thread going now in his own personal, "heavily moderated forum section, where he talks about some RL stuff and how the community and online friends can be helpful. http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=931394
Unfortunatly after the guys crazy meltdown, this part really stuck to me: " My daughter’s mother picked me up at the airport so I could get my little girl for the weekend"
Yep that says divorced to me. Big surprise there, I bet he was a joy to live with
Some of the people he went off on went out of their way to explain that they understood he was new, and that they felt his superiors put him in a bad position. Some attempted to bring him up to speed on why this was such a contentious issue. He seemed to respond to all comments as if they were some kind of generalized personal attack (which they weren't)and then react in a manner that suggests he had lost control of his faculties.
Was he put in a bad situation? I'd say so, yes. Did he respond well? I'd say, no; I think he handled it poorly. I think SOE put him in a bad situation and he went off the handle. Hopefully the stress won't spill over into his personal life. If it does, I hope he gets a better job and brushes up on his coping skills.
P.S. Apparently he's now talking about his personal psychotherapy and his marital and family situation etc. on the game forums. Erm, the internet forums are filled with strangers that don't give a damn about your personal life, or your well-being, and who will take disclosures of vulnerability as an opportunity to bring you down. Boundaries man, boundaries. Game forums aren't the place for this level of self-disclosure imo. I'm afraid for this guy. If I was his manager, I'd find a behind the scenes job for him that paid a decent wage, and apologize for throwing a non-swimmer into the middle of the pacific ocean with an open wound.
His daughter for the weekend? But golly gee, I thought he was working as a mod " to keep his daughter fed " or some shit? Sounds more like his ex is feeding the daughter and wanting some child support from his dumb ass, maybe? LOL
Edit: "Draakulls forum" "My forum" ROFLMAO
And why is he posting shit noone cares about? I thought he had SO MANY things to do that he couldn't because of the mean old SWG players. Why isn't he doing those things instead of trying to play kiss ass in "his" forum?
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
His first impression is an epic fail, then 2 days ago he makes a thread "get to know me"...
It won't be long. His snideness is already peeking through the cracks of his thin skin. After all, don't be off topic when such a valid Star Wars Galaxies thread as "my neighbors dog died" is the topic at hand. LOL
Draakull
**CRM**
Joined: May 19, 2009
Messages: 287
Location: ATX
Offline
barrahm2 wrote:
Welcome, Draak. As a nearly 5-year member of the SWG community, I would like to offer some advice.
1. Don't be overly combative. We appreciate you as much as you appreciate us. Many of us lash out at the idiots and trolls. You need to keep yourself above that. Your ... ahem ... outburst the other day did not set you on the right path. Keep you base instincts in check and do your job, first and foremost. The people who know these forums backwards and forwards will weed out the idiots. Concentrate on keeping everything in line rather than tearing into those who question your capabilities.
2. There are a few websites that dedicate themselves to tearing down SWG, its players and the people who work for it, be they developers or community relations folk. Ignore them. They do not care about you, they only seek to destroy you. They are the internet equivalent of human excrement. Pay them no heed.
3. Unban my 2 perma'd accounts. Pl0x. kobie_173 and barrahm. DO EET.
4. DO NOT BE OVERLY COMBATIVE. Your predecessor (Elias, not Valara) made the mistake of treating people as subjects rather than as people. He was excessively nasty and basically unpleasant. Be our friend, and we'll be yours. Be mean to us, and we'll be mean to you. Treat your position of authority not as a right, but a privilege. We are still for the most part a friendly (albeit very jaded) community. Treat us that way. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
5. Get a decent sig. A good sig goes a long way. Hell, I have a mancrush on Millbarge simply for his Spies Like Us sig.
6. Welcome to the jungle. We got fun and games.
thank you for the public career advice. I don't mean to be rude but this thread is for another topic. I am happy to chat about this with you via PM but this is not the topic for this discussion. It's good information but could be considered a violation of the rules.
Thanks.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
What is it with SOE hiring self-inflated morons for community reps? Was he trained by Thunderheart?
How on god's name is he a manager of any sort? Taking things to heart, letting his emotions get the better of him and raging like a thirteen year old with ADHD... If any of my employees did anything even remotely like this, by the time I finished with them, they'd be flipping burgers in McDonalds. When I think of SOE now, I picture a bunch of Ronald McDonalds in a field prancing around like sissys with big cheesey grins going lalalalala.. it's pathetic.