SWTOR Forum Nuttiness

tiefighter25

I realize that there is another SWTOR forum thread, but this one addresses something different.

Well despite how "well" everything is going with SWTOR, Bioware laid off their community manager Joveth (who was in charge of ToR's forum policies, communication, and policing.)

They also laid off the apparent secod in command. (Alyson)

That leaves I believe 2 people in charge of the English forums. (Now headed by Tom)

But it gets worse.

Bioware also laid off the German and French community managers. (Lars and Tony) so now Bioware has no German or French speaking communications people.

In protest, French and (mostly) German players have been posting angry threads in the English forums in their native languages.

The ever friendly English speaking players seem upset to read non-English thread titles.

Now those threads are being pushed back into their German and French forums with only one thread left on the English forum asking them to stop. That request is written in English.

Two steps forward, one step back.

With a game who has been consistently knocked for lack of communication, and this being the fourth (third?) community manager in less then a year; WTF?

Another fine mess you've gotten us into Laurel.

Aeonblades

Expect more layoffs and server consolidations. This money pit has been tapped.

As far as the uproar in French and German, I hate to say this, but for once the French have a point. You have to at least have one person that can speak the dang languages your game services.

tiefighter25

In case there was any doubt that the SWTOR forums are rabidly unfriendly:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=605113

 

It is also interesting that everyone is debating the rules of the SWTOR forums but not commenting on that the people who are supposed to enforce those rules are being laid off left and right.

Karteli

I guess their pleas will go unanswered, since CourtneyWoods made the following post:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=5930751&postcount=3

As the person that manages the localization for the site, I can assure you we do not and will never use google translate.

 

 

This should turn out well for the Europeans... well I guess it might be of a little more comfort to Joveth Gonzalez that he wasn't singled out specifically to be fired / forced out.

 

But hey, if they fire almost all the community reps, then EA may only need $7.48 million / month to stay afloat.  Great way to cut costs too..

tiefighter25

Either it's an incredibly dumb PR move, signaling to people that they are abandoning their French and German players (I mean really, how hard would have it been to hire at least one person who speaks French, German, and English to at least keep up appearances; the cost is a pittance) or...

When you fire 4 out of 6 of your communications department (including the head) maybe the F2P/Cartel Shop money making maching isn't making quite as much money as some people thought.

 

*edit, 4 of 6, not 3 of 5.

tiefighter25

I'll ask this; if EA/Bioware has gutted 4 out of 6 of its most visible employees in a round of layoffs, just what is happening to the unnamed, unknown employees at Bioware, Austin?

SuperXero89

How active are the German and French sections of the forums?  If they're not very active, BioWare probably doesn't need a community manager for that portion of the population, given the current state of the game.

 

Seems like a lot of immature people are pitching a fit over something that's really doesn't amount to much.

tiefighter25

How did this derail into P2P vs FTP?

tiefighter25

Originally posted by SuperXero89

How active are the German and French sections of the forums?  If they're not very active, BioWare probably doesn't need a community manager for that portion of the population, given the current state of the game.

 

Seems like a lot of immature people are pitching a fit over something that's really doesn't amount to much.

If they were nigh inactive, you still don't cut all French and German support. It's horrible PR.

Also, half the English crew was cut too, including the Boss.

Seems like something.

Sovrath

Originally posted by tiefighter25

Another fine mess you've gotten us into Laurel.

lol, wow, I had to try to check your age as that took me back. Great reference.

 

birdycephon

Originally posted by tiefighter25

How did this derail into P2P vs FTP?

Because it all boils down to money, and the lack there of. 

Popple

Originally posted by Aeonblades

Expect more layoffs and server consolidations. This money pit has been tapped.

As far as the uproar in French and German, I hate to say this, but for once the French have a point. You have to at least have one person that can speak the dang languages your game services.

 

LOL Wait till it goes "TRULY"  free to play not the set up they have now..You have 199 different languages...

Popple

Originally posted by birdycephon

Originally posted by tiefighter25
How did this derail into P2P vs FTP?

Because it all boils down to money, and the lack there of. 

 

Well with the lays off they are having ,their" free to play model" is not working...

barezz

It's not like they ever listened to any of their player's suggestions anyway, so might as well just let the forums go on autopilot.

Zeppelin5083

I'm shocked at how many people are laughing and don't seem to care. It's sad. 

tiefighter25

Originally posted by Zeppelin5083
I'm shocked at how many people are laughing and don't seem to care. It's sad. 

I concur. It's like thinking it's funny that you just shot both of your feet.

tiefighter25

Originally posted by rawfox

Its about the language and while im not 100% in english, im still at the point that people who communicate in their native language, are still ... well, retarded.

No idea if they are just unwilling to learn english or if it doesnt fit the peoples IQ, but this multilingual shit simple suxx, is expensive, leads to huge misunderstandings within mankind and is a brand for egoism and stupidity ... aaAAARRRRRRRraaaaanT.

 

No i should not post this

do it do it

well ok

 

The game was SOLD with German and French versions and supposed support.

This isn't 5 people who speak ancient Latin complaining that they don't have language support.

Also of the European servers, 2 of the top 3 are German. 2 of the bottom 3 are English.

Karteli

I noticed Andryah is back too, in full force, downplaying the CM dismissals and promoting F2P microtransactions.

 

Coincidence?

Ahnog

Managing the forums is not the primary duty of a community manage. EA still retains several people who focus exclusively on moderating the forums and monitoring them for ideas and constructive criticism.

tiefighter25

Originally posted by Karteli

I noticed Andryah is back too, in full force, downplaying the CM dismissals and promoting F2P microtransactions.

 

Coincidence?

Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Release the hounds!

Crisis mode. 12 posts in the lasst couple of hours already after months of slumber.

Quoting "Andryah", just another normal player, nothing to see here.

"They have not shut down the German or French forum localizations, nor have they stopped support for localized versions of the game in French and German.

All they did was eliminate dedicated support staff for the German and French forums. They will simply funge their CM resources accordingly, just like they did last summer.

They also have eliminated a lot of CM staff world wide over the last 8 months. It's a business, they have to make business decisions as to how they staff it.

People really are over-reacting to actions taken here by Bioware. Now, if they shut down the French and German forums and/or remove localization in the game client for French and German, then I could see the point of complaining.

AND, I would like to refer everyone back to the original post in this thread where the OP himself admits the German forum is "dead"."

Sevenstar61

Eric Musco answered some of concerns for German speaking players

Hey everyone,

I want to express that I completely understand your frustration in this. I know I mentioned it before but I want to reassure you guys that although the French and German Community Managers are no longer a part of the team, you folks are far from forgotten. We are going to be continually receiving feedback reports from both French and German players via the forums and acting upon that internally just as we do with all other feedback.

Also, please don’t think that this means that you will never see another yellow post from us again, we are going to be working to post updates in those forums whenever we can. Yes, this will be less frequent than may occur in English, but it will absolutely still happen.

I understand what you guys are going for in posting in German or French across the English forums and as you may have noticed, in some cases we are moving those back into the German or French General Discussion. I am going to leave this thread here since it is where we addressed that specifically. The issue is that posting in German or French in the English forums only really disrupts any constructive discussion we have here as the majority of the English forums wouldn't speak French or German. So in the future we will begin to more actively move German and French posts to their respective forums.

The last thing we want you folks to feel like is that you are being ignored and I will make it a personal goal to ensure that you don’t feel that way.

-eric

 

And in German

Hey,

Als erstes möchte ich euch sagen, dass ich eure Frustration voll verstehe. Ich weiß, dass ich es schonmal gesagt habe, aber ich möchte euch nochmal versichern: Auch wenn unsere deutschen und französischen Community Mananger nicht mehr Teil unseres Teams sind, seid ihr alles andere als vergessen. Wir werden weiterhin durchgehend über die Foren das Feedback sowohl der französischen als auch deutschen Spieler mitaufnehmen und genauso daraus unsere Schlüsse ziehen wie aus allem anderen Feedback, das wir erhalten.

Außerdem heißt der Abschied nicht, dass ihr nie wieder gelbe Posts von uns sehen werden, denn wir bemühen uns, wann immer wir können auch in den Foren zu posten. Ja, es werden weniger Posts sein als im englischen Forum, aber wir werden posten.

Ich verstehe die Absicht hinter euren deutsch- und französisch-sprachigen Posts im englischen Forum und wie ihr vielleicht bemerkt habt, verschieben wir diese zurück in die deutschen oder französischen Foren. Ich werde diesen Thread allerdings hier belassen, denn wir wollen das Thema genau hier ansprechen. Das Problem für uns ist, dass die deutsch- und französisch-sprachigen Posts im englischen Forum aus unserer Sicht die konstruktiven Diskussionen hier stören, da ein Großteil der Forenmitglieder hier weder Französisch noch Deutsch sprechen. Daher werden wir in Zukunft noch aktiver deutsch-sprachige und französisch-sprachige Posts in ihre entsprechenden Foren verschieben.

Das letzte, was wir wollen, ist, dass ihr euch ignoriert füllt – und daher ist es mein persönliches Ziel, sicherzustellen, das genau das nicht eintritt.

-eric

Sevenstar61

Originally posted by TheHavok

Originally posted by SaintWalker44
[mod edit]

[mod edit]

As an former European I can just say one thing - Eauopeans have dozens if not more languages and not only French and German. Other nations, have to use English forums. Scandinavians, all Slovian nations etc... I acknowledge though that some language used on forum is pretty disgusting.

As someone mentioned above, forums are not taken down. Players still can post on them and it looks like community managers can answer in german and I assume in French too.

Sure, would be great to have this guys stay and manage their forums, but if it was a sound business decision to eliminate them, without adverse effect, then not much we can do but accept it. Economy is tough, game is not as succesful as it was assumed, so tough decisions are expected.

I prefer they cut community manager, that developers. And they actually hire new people so at least this is good news:)

RefMinor

They are gearing up for a future as a niche game

Nikopol

Originally posted by TheHavok

Originally posted by SaintWalker44
[mod edit]

[mod edit]

 

I dislike terms like "fanboi" or "fanboyism", and I've never thought SWTOR was that bad a game, but this is clearly a case of fans being their own worst enemies.

DeniZg

So, company that spent what...200 mil.$ or more on this game, can't afford to pay 2 people to moderate french and german forums? At the same time, french and german servers hold like 2/3 of EU population. 

These guys just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot. It stopped being funny long time ago.

Sevenstar61

Originally posted by DeniZg

So, company that spent what...200 mil.$ or more on this game, can't afford to pay 2 people to moderate french and german forums? At the same time, french and german servers hold like 2/3 of EU population. 

These guys just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot. It stopped being funny long time ago.

Maybe it's because of that they spent  200min $ on game.  They spent too much and now they have to be careful with money. And maybe traffic on these forum was not enough to have fully fledged community managers. Somebody on forum mentioned that these forums were dead. Business decision.