Famine vbmenu_register("postmenu_1912967", true); Community Manager
Moderation Reporting
Greetings,
You can now send all moderation questions and concerns to ModReport. Sending all moderation questions or concerns to this user will help greatly in ensuring your requests receive the attention they need.
Here are some example topics that you can report to ModReport:
At least you're dedicated to the cause Avery, i'll give you that. Funcom should pay you well for your efforts.
Well he's got friends in FC he's trying to help out. I think that much is clear from past comments he's made about people he knows in the company, etc.
I get the hunch this is about more than just him being genuinely interested in the welfare of the game itself... He's looking out for his buds.
An honorable thing to do... but given the setting, not something I'd personally be too proud of doing. Kinda like standing up for your friend the 100th time he's screwed up on the job, and trying to help him save face.
Yes, I'm a cynic... but hardly without good reason.
But anyway... as was said "proof in the pudding"... Let's see how it works... and/or for how long it continues to do so after the novelty wears off.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Sorry not buying this, it's another PR gimmick imo. Many of the serious forums players PM'd Famine continually about the obvious Mod-Squad shenanigans. "I'll look into it" and "I'll review it", were the last were ever heard. We diligently submitted many follow up inquiries to the review out come, and never got a single reply.
You won't get a reply. Either they'll take action or they won't but they're not going to discuss it with you. That's not how moderation reviews work.
"If you have any questions or comments on any thread moderation then please feel free to poke me or a moderator. All moderations do deserve justification if you so request it from us. "
It's a hollow statement.
Damn his English is inpenetrable. I can't say if it's hollow or not. That's up to them. I will clarify though they should discuss any moderator action taken against you personally with you. Any moderator actions taken against someone else shouldn't be discyussed with you. Moderator misbehavior will also likely be handled in private. You never spank your kids in front of the neighbors. It's humiliating for them.
Bad comparrison with the child ( humiliation just drives the point home more if the reason behind it involves something with the neighbors or something they saw the child do.) but in relation to talking about someone elses moderation I can see why it is that way.
So I decided to try this out and found out why I was banned for a week on July 7th with a reason of "No reason was specified." This was Famine's response to my detailed PM: octa01 doesn't seem to be banned. What do you mean? I blinked. He didn't even bother to read what I had wrote and this is his response after 6 weeks of pming him and emailing support(directions I was given by Famine himself on the official forums). So make no mistake this is just another way for them to make it look like they care when in fact they just want your requests to go into a blackhole and have you give up.
I am suprise Famine didnt give you a wall of useless text. He usually keep typing and typing, bring you around the world, run laps after laps, in the end with a clear message of "Some kind of bs, I dont care" kinda thing.
Back to topic, the stuff they "try" to do now is a bit too late. Give it up, people are leaving this game no matter what they do now.
MMOs currently playing: - About to play: Lord of the Rings Online Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
415,000 subscribers left, which include trials and cancelled accounts with time left on them.
And that was the number for June, they just repeated it for August since they ASSume we're all ignorant enough to think noone joined or left the game at all for a month straight.
thats bad considering it was at 800K in May. So from the last week of May to the first week of August they lost 400,000 subscribers? Damn. That is very bad.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Toiletpaper stuffing to fix a massive hole in the ship.
Famine and his freebie cronies are late to the party on this one. I tried to get involved in the community early on , writing several player and class guides, reporting bugs and problems to devs etc. I STILL have open issues from the prepay early access days. When I tried to escalate my support issues I was met with bans, infractions etc. A group of us tried to make it known to these guys that there are some very real issues with the classes and the game code but they didnt want to hear it and they REALLY didnt want us talking about it openly on the forums. All they care about is keping these issues OUT of the public eye and protecting the marketing image they created.
The latest drivel from Leipzig made me want to puke. Not a single good answer to any of the questions from the MMORPG staffer.
They cant keep subscribersand now with over 500K people canceling not renewing the ship is almost sunk.
With so many MMO options out there I think this is too little too late.
maybe next time funcom.
My advice, staff up properly for a launch next time and get a real community strategy before you just open forums and try to fight fires.
Oh we're all aware of it. That info has been run through the mill here many times now... and pretty much shot to hell...
1. It's old data - going much farther back than August 14. It's actually from June as I recall.
2. No one's believing that with the numbers the game's been bleeding, that it suddenly stabilized at 400k and has stayed there since. Not when people who are still in the game, or were, have seen more and more people leaving.... entire guilds, etc.
As for the "haters" comment... Hey.. not our fault FC blew it with their own game and then proceeded to chop what credibility they had left into little pieces through their own behavior in-game, on their forums and in their relentlessly spin-happy PR.
They continued to do this for week after week after week, and now a few reports of how they're supposedly going to start "doing things right" is supposed to bring everyone straight back to their doorstep? Pfft. Please.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
The point of this new community reporting system is to help better manage reports and questions in relation to the moderators. Octa example is also a prime example of why I decided to announce this system. Having a open community where we do allow users to private message us leaves loads of messages and reports in everyones inbox. So what better way to help manage that by splitting it off to help ensure attention is given to those topics when it's needed? I believe this will help a lot in the long run. I try my best to answer everyones private message and look into everyones report but at the end of the day it's a lot to sort through to ensure everyone gets equal attention. So hopefully this will help and better managing the reports. This also will help make sure we have a system where the community can feel they do have a channel to communicate moderation concerns. I have seen the moderation concerns posted here on the forums and I have personally looked into them all. This system is also partly from the feedback posted and received here too.
You initially created and promoted a direct communication channel essentially requesting all specific moderation inquiries go to you personally. Your volunteer moderation team ensured this is the statement provided when someone does question their actions: "PM Famine with your concerns."
What immediately became clear is that a communication channel lacking customer facing process documentation, issue categorization and service levels was the end result. No CM takes on the role of tier 1 escalation for their user base as it's impractical, unrealistic and creates ill will towards the CM and the company they represent when their inquiries and escalations do not merit even a read receipt on their escalation.
Now that you've created the submission tool for the end user; you've not established the three critical areas for customer escalations:
1. Response Time: What's the service level on their issues?
2. Who handles Tier 1 escalations/What is the process flow for tier 1?
The existing team of volunteers mods or did you hire staff that will screen these submissions and forward to you?
If you didn't have time in the past to read these issues before and reply to them; without a lessened load on the incoming submissions (if they still require your review), how will you have time now?
3. What are the corrective response and preventative measures in place if items 1, 2 or both do not address the issues represented? Who takes accountability and in what fashion?
Your post contains the following statements; the same kind that if presented in any meeting I'd be present in would be called out immediately:
I believe this will help a lot in the long run.
So hopefully this will help.
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
That being said, I wish you the best in this endeavor.
However, in regards to your communication with the AoC community; you lost me and a great deal of people Glen. A reoccuring theme on the US forums and on this forum is the lack of communication from Funcom to the customer base. As the CM, this falls squarely on your shoulders and yet you remain largely unseen save for the period post here or there. The US customer base receives the LEAST in the way of communication from the dev team and their CM; and yet they are the LARGEST part of the funcom customer base.
You lost nearly 50% of your customers within the first several weeks of launch Glen. Some of that could have and would have been mitigated with straight talk and extremely active engagement of the dev teams, the player base and the CM. You needed to talk to the community, not put out fires.
Instead you had Funcom employees like Sharum talking down to customers, stating that they would essentially take their ball and go home to the EU forums when the US forums were less than taken with his posts. You had a largely unmanaged moderation team that was volunteer based; provided with light CS training, rip through your community with excessive and unregulated zeal; distancing them when the community tone was already negative. It became so rampant that it became a hot topic on several mmo forums, blogs and on your own forums.
The community was always here Glen, always communicating, always sharing and providing direct feedback to you. It would be false to say that the players are always friendly, always constructive and eternally patient. That's how it's always been and I imagine it always will be; and the solid CMs for MMOs and other companies with an internet presence know this.
The community has been here, has engaged you and ultimately many left due not only issues with the core game; but in large part to a near deafening silence from you and Funcom when it counted most.
The point of this new community reporting system is to help better manage reports and questions in relation to the moderators. Octa example is also a prime example of why I decided to announce this system. Having a open community where we do allow users to private message us leaves loads of messages and reports in everyones inbox. So what better way to help manage that by splitting it off to help ensure attention is given to those topics when it's needed? I believe this will help a lot in the long run. I try my best to answer everyones private message and look into everyones report but at the end of the day it's a lot to sort through to ensure everyone gets equal attention. So hopefully this will help and better managing the reports. This also will help make sure we have a system where the community can feel they do have a channel to communicate moderation concerns. I have seen the moderation concerns posted here on the forums and I have personally looked into them all. This system is also partly from the feedback posted and received here too.
You initially created and promoted a direct communication channel essentially requesting all specific moderation inquiries go to you personally. Your volunteer moderation team ensured this is the statement provided when someone does question their actions: "PM Famine with your concerns."
What immediately became clear is that a communication channel lacking customer facing process documentation, issue categorization and service levels was the end result. No CM takes on the role of tier 1 escalation for their user base as it's impractical, unrealistic and creates ill will towards the CM and the company they represent when their inquiries and escalations do not merit even a read receipt on their escalation.
Now that you've created the submission tool for the end user; you've not established the three critical areas for customer escalations:
1. Response Time: What's the service level on their issues?
2. Who handles Tier 1 escalations/What is the process flow for tier 1?
The existing team of volunteers mods or did you hire staff that will screen these submissions and forward to you?
If you didn't have time in the past to read these issues before and reply to them; without a lessened load on the incoming submissions (if they still require your review), how will you have time now?
3. What are the corrective response and preventative measures in place if items 1, 2 or both do not address the issues represented? Who takes accountability and in what fashion?
Your post contains the following statements; the same kind that if presented in any meeting I'd be present in would be called out immediately:
I believe this will help a lot in the long run.
So hopefully this will help.
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
That being said, I wish you the best in this endeavor.
However, in regards to your communication with the AoC community; you lost me and a great deal of people Glen. A reoccuring theme on the US forums and on this forum is the lack of communication from Funcom to the customer base. As the CM, this falls squarely on your shoulders and yet you remain largely unseen save for the period post here or there. The US customer base receives the LEAST in the way of communication from the dev team and their CM; and yet they are the LARGEST part of the funcom customer base.
You lost nearly 50% of your customers within the first several weeks of launch Glen. Some of that could have and would have been mitigated with straight talk and extremely active engagement of the dev teams, the player base and the CM. You needed to talk to the community, not put out fires.
Instead you had Funcom employees like Sharum talking down to customers, stating that they would essentially take their ball and go home to the EU forums when the US forums were less than taken with his posts. You had a largely unmanaged moderation team that was volunteer based; provided with light CS training, rip through your community with excessive and unregulated zeal; distancing them when the community tone was already negative. It became so rampant that it became a hot topic on several mmo forums, blogs and on your own forums.
The community was always here Glen, always communicating, always sharing and providing direct feedback to you. It would be false to say that the players are always friendly, always constructive and eternally patient. That's how it's always been and I imagine it always will be; and the solid CMs for MMOs and other companies with an internet presence know this.
The community has been here, has engaged you and ultimately many left due not only issues with the core game; but in large part to a near deafening silence from you and Funcom when it counted most.
Where were you Glen?
I think you win the entirety of the intra-webz with that post. I salute you sir.
The point of this new community reporting system is to help better manage reports and questions in relation to the moderators. Octa example is also a prime example of why I decided to announce this system. Having a open community where we do allow users to private message us leaves loads of messages and reports in everyones inbox. So what better way to help manage that by splitting it off to help ensure attention is given to those topics when it's needed? I believe this will help a lot in the long run. I try my best to answer everyones private message and look into everyones report but at the end of the day it's a lot to sort through to ensure everyone gets equal attention. So hopefully this will help and better managing the reports. This also will help make sure we have a system where the community can feel they do have a channel to communicate moderation concerns. I have seen the moderation concerns posted here on the forums and I have personally looked into them all. This system is also partly from the feedback posted and received here too.
You initially created and promoted a direct communication channel essentially requesting all specific moderation inquiries go to you personally. Your volunteer moderation team ensured this is the statement provided when someone does question their actions: "PM Famine with your concerns."
What immediately became clear is that a communication channel lacking customer facing process documentation, issue categorization and service levels was the end result. No CM takes on the role of tier 1 escalation for their user base as it's impractical, unrealistic and creates ill will towards the CM and the company they represent when their inquiries and escalations do not merit even a read receipt on their escalation.
Now that you've created the submission tool for the end user; you've not established the three critical areas for customer escalations:
1. Response Time: What's the service level on their issues?
2. Who handles Tier 1 escalations/What is the process flow for tier 1?
The existing team of volunteers mods or did you hire staff that will screen these submissions and forward to you?
If you didn't have time in the past to read these issues before and reply to them; without a lessened load on the incoming submissions (if they still require your review), how will you have time now?
3. What are the corrective response and preventative measures in place if items 1, 2 or both do not address the issues represented? Who takes accountability and in what fashion?
Your post contains the following statements; the same kind that if presented in any meeting I'd be present in would be called out immediately:
I believe this will help a lot in the long run.
So hopefully this will help.
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
That being said, I wish you the best in this endeavor.
However, in regards to your communication with the AoC community; you lost me and a great deal of people Glen. A reoccuring theme on the US forums and on this forum is the lack of communication from Funcom to the customer base. As the CM, this falls squarely on your shoulders and yet you remain largely unseen save for the period post here or there. The US customer base receives the LEAST in the way of communication from the dev team and their CM; and yet they are the LARGEST part of the funcom customer base.
You lost nearly 50% of your customers within the first several weeks of launch Glen. Some of that could have and would have been mitigated with straight talk and extremely active engagement of the dev teams, the player base and the CM. You needed to talk to the community, not put out fires.
Instead you had Funcom employees like Sharum talking down to customers, stating that they would essentially take their ball and go home to the EU forums when the US forums were less than taken with his posts. You had a largely unmanaged moderation team that was volunteer based; provided with light CS training, rip through your community with excessive and unregulated zeal; distancing them when the community tone was already negative. It became so rampant that it became a hot topic on several mmo forums, blogs and on your own forums.
The community was always here Glen, always communicating, always sharing and providing direct feedback to you. It would be false to say that the players are always friendly, always constructive and eternally patient. That's how it's always been and I imagine it always will be; and the solid CMs for MMOs and other companies with an internet presence know this.
The community has been here, has engaged you and ultimately many left due not only issues with the core game; but in large part to a near deafening silence from you and Funcom when it counted most.
Where were you Glen?
Excellent post dude. Could not have said it better myself.
You did prove that even though over 800k copies of the game where sold to customers that nearly 50% of them have already decided to go elsewhere for there MMO. This trend will continue regardless of what AoC does. AoC is not going to fail in the sence that it will always have around 200-300k subscribers. It has failed in being a new solid MMO choice for most people regardless of what PR funcome tries to push.
If AoC can repair there reputation though (unlikely but possible) as a competant company who pulled there act togeather and turned AoC into a solid MMO there are still people like me willing to give it a second chance. Unfortunatly (call me a hater if you want) Funcom hasnt shown the ability to do this.
I believe this will help a lot in the long run. So hopefully this will help.
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
It seems like there's not a whole lot of confidence over there lately. It rings through with the announcements of new content and fixes coming "soon", "in the foreseeable future" and so on... Vague statements that could mean *anything* depending on the person saying them. It could mean a month... 3 months... 6 months... All of which could be considered "soon", relatively speaking. And *that's* the problem with using non-specific terms like that.
Can't help but think of FC like a boat lost at sea, steering toward where they think land might be, and hoping the wind blows them in the right direction... eventually.
And, yes, *excellent* post.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Just out of interest famine are the Official forums that dead now you have to come spend your time here?
I do remember a time where i imagine the Moderators time would be taken up purely on your own forums.
Seems like the Dead servers in game are spreading to the forums too.
So begs question who cares what report tool you have in place all the decent players and players actualy bothering to report faults have been banned or left.
Just out of interest famine are the Official forums that dead now you have to come spend your time here? I do remember a time where i imagine the Moderators time would be taken up purely on your own forums. Seems like the Dead servers in game are spreading to the forums too. So begs question who cares what report tool you have in place all the decent players and players actualy bothering to report faults have been banned or left.
Purely damage control.
Sadly, Famine just adds to the damage and has no control.
The point of this new community reporting system is to help better manage reports and questions in relation to the moderators. Octa example is also a prime example of why I decided to announce this system. Having a open community where we do allow users to private message us leaves loads of messages and reports in everyones inbox. So what better way to help manage that by splitting it off to help ensure attention is given to those topics when it's needed? I believe this will help a lot in the long run. I try my best to answer everyones private message and look into everyones report but at the end of the day it's a lot to sort through to ensure everyone gets equal attention. So hopefully this will help and better managing the reports. This also will help make sure we have a system where the community can feel they do have a channel to communicate moderation concerns. I have seen the moderation concerns posted here on the forums and I have personally looked into them all. This system is also partly from the feedback posted and received here too.
You initially created and promoted a direct communication channel essentially requesting all specific moderation inquiries go to you personally. Your volunteer moderation team ensured this is the statement provided when someone does question their actions: "PM Famine with your concerns."
What immediately became clear is that a communication channel lacking customer facing process documentation, issue categorization and service levels was the end result. No CM takes on the role of tier 1 escalation for their user base as it's impractical, unrealistic and creates ill will towards the CM and the company they represent when their inquiries and escalations do not merit even a read receipt on their escalation.
Now that you've created the submission tool for the end user; you've not established the three critical areas for customer escalations:
1. Response Time: What's the service level on their issues?
2. Who handles Tier 1 escalations/What is the process flow for tier 1?
The existing team of volunteers mods or did you hire staff that will screen these submissions and forward to you?
If you didn't have time in the past to read these issues before and reply to them; without a lessened load on the incoming submissions (if they still require your review), how will you have time now?
3. What are the corrective response and preventative measures in place if items 1, 2 or both do not address the issues represented? Who takes accountability and in what fashion?
Your post contains the following statements; the same kind that if presented in any meeting I'd be present in would be called out immediately:
I believe this will help a lot in the long run.
So hopefully this will help.
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
That being said, I wish you the best in this endeavor.
However, in regards to your communication with the AoC community; you lost me and a great deal of people Glen. A reoccuring theme on the US forums and on this forum is the lack of communication from Funcom to the customer base. As the CM, this falls squarely on your shoulders and yet you remain largely unseen save for the period post here or there. The US customer base receives the LEAST in the way of communication from the dev team and their CM; and yet they are the LARGEST part of the funcom customer base.
You lost nearly 50% of your customers within the first several weeks of launch Glen. Some of that could have and would have been mitigated with straight talk and extremely active engagement of the dev teams, the player base and the CM. You needed to talk to the community, not put out fires.
Instead you had Funcom employees like Sharum talking down to customers, stating that they would essentially take their ball and go home to the EU forums when the US forums were less than taken with his posts. You had a largely unmanaged moderation team that was volunteer based; provided with light CS training, rip through your community with excessive and unregulated zeal; distancing them when the community tone was already negative. It became so rampant that it became a hot topic on several mmo forums, blogs and on your own forums.
The community was always here Glen, always communicating, always sharing and providing direct feedback to you. It would be false to say that the players are always friendly, always constructive and eternally patient. That's how it's always been and I imagine it always will be; and the solid CMs for MMOs and other companies with an internet presence know this.
The community has been here, has engaged you and ultimately many left due not only issues with the core game; but in large part to a near deafening silence from you and Funcom when it counted most.
Where were you Glen?
Fantastic post!!!! Too bad intelligent posts like these get ignored by people like Famine; I guess no matter how intelligent of an argument you propose, it will always be drowned in stupidity and ignorance.
Comments
At least you're dedicated to the cause Avery, i'll give you that. Funcom should pay you well for your efforts.
Well he's got friends in FC he's trying to help out. I think that much is clear from past comments he's made about people he knows in the company, etc.
I get the hunch this is about more than just him being genuinely interested in the welfare of the game itself... He's looking out for his buds.
An honorable thing to do... but given the setting, not something I'd personally be too proud of doing. Kinda like standing up for your friend the 100th time he's screwed up on the job, and trying to help him save face.
Yes, I'm a cynic... but hardly without good reason.
But anyway... as was said "proof in the pudding"... Let's see how it works... and/or for how long it continues to do so after the novelty wears off.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
You won't get a reply. Either they'll take action or they won't but they're not going to discuss it with you. That's not how moderation reviews work.
Yet Famine posted this here:
"If you have any questions or comments on any thread moderation then please feel free to poke me or a moderator. All moderations do deserve justification if you so request it from us. "
It's a hollow statement.
Damn his English is inpenetrable. I can't say if it's hollow or not. That's up to them. I will clarify though they should discuss any moderator action taken against you personally with you. Any moderator actions taken against someone else shouldn't be discyussed with you. Moderator misbehavior will also likely be handled in private. You never spank your kids in front of the neighbors. It's humiliating for them.
Bad comparrison with the child ( humiliation just drives the point home more if the reason behind it involves something with the neighbors or something they saw the child do.) but in relation to talking about someone elses moderation I can see why it is that way.
Fungerer som det skal
I am suprise Famine didnt give you a wall of useless text. He usually keep typing and typing, bring you around the world, run laps after laps, in the end with a clear message of "Some kind of bs, I dont care" kinda thing.
Back to topic, the stuff they "try" to do now is a bit too late. Give it up, people are leaving this game no matter what they do now.
game aint dead, still 400k subs since aug 14
(and since there are so many haters here who want proof every post: http://www.funcom.com/funcom/frontend/files/CONTENT/Funcom_Q208_presentation.pdf) enjoy
MMOs currently playing: -
About to play: Lord of the Rings Online
Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
Death never looked so hot!
1.2 million boxes shipped.
800,000 boxes sold
415,000 subscribers left, which include trials and cancelled accounts with time left on them.
And that was the number for June, they just repeated it for August since they ASSume we're all ignorant enough to think noone joined or left the game at all for a month straight.
You made me laugh. Hard. Thanks.
Enjoy.
400k since aug 14 , heck i havent seen that anywhere.
so they have coninued to have 400k after 14th august up to today?
theres me thinking all my guild quit to the liars.
400k since aug 14 , heck i havent seen that anywhere.
so they have coninued to have 400k after 14th august up to today?
theres me thinking all my guild quit to the liars.
lol
I agree...my entire guild must be using invisible pixel powder to hide from me
"after the time of dice came the day of mice "
thats bad considering it was at 800K in May. So from the last week of May to the first week of August they lost 400,000 subscribers? Damn. That is very bad.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Toiletpaper stuffing to fix a massive hole in the ship.
Famine and his freebie cronies are late to the party on this one. I tried to get involved in the community early on , writing several player and class guides, reporting bugs and problems to devs etc. I STILL have open issues from the prepay early access days. When I tried to escalate my support issues I was met with bans, infractions etc. A group of us tried to make it known to these guys that there are some very real issues with the classes and the game code but they didnt want to hear it and they REALLY didnt want us talking about it openly on the forums. All they care about is keping these issues OUT of the public eye and protecting the marketing image they created.
The latest drivel from Leipzig made me want to puke. Not a single good answer to any of the questions from the MMORPG staffer.
They cant keep subscribersand now with over 500K people canceling not renewing the ship is almost sunk.
With so many MMO options out there I think this is too little too late.
maybe next time funcom.
My advice, staff up properly for a launch next time and get a real community strategy before you just open forums and try to fight fires.
Oh we're all aware of it. That info has been run through the mill here many times now... and pretty much shot to hell...
1. It's old data - going much farther back than August 14. It's actually from June as I recall.
2. No one's believing that with the numbers the game's been bleeding, that it suddenly stabilized at 400k and has stayed there since. Not when people who are still in the game, or were, have seen more and more people leaving.... entire guilds, etc.
As for the "haters" comment... Hey.. not our fault FC blew it with their own game and then proceeded to chop what credibility they had left into little pieces through their own behavior in-game, on their forums and in their relentlessly spin-happy PR.
They continued to do this for week after week after week, and now a few reports of how they're supposedly going to start "doing things right" is supposed to bring everyone straight back to their doorstep? Pfft. Please.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
You initially created and promoted a direct communication channel essentially requesting all specific moderation inquiries go to you personally. Your volunteer moderation team ensured this is the statement provided when someone does question their actions: "PM Famine with your concerns."
What immediately became clear is that a communication channel lacking customer facing process documentation, issue categorization and service levels was the end result. No CM takes on the role of tier 1 escalation for their user base as it's impractical, unrealistic and creates ill will towards the CM and the company they represent when their inquiries and escalations do not merit even a read receipt on their escalation.
Now that you've created the submission tool for the end user; you've not established the three critical areas for customer escalations:
1. Response Time: What's the service level on their issues?
2. Who handles Tier 1 escalations/What is the process flow for tier 1?
3. What are the corrective response and preventative measures in place if items 1, 2 or both do not address the issues represented? Who takes accountability and in what fashion?
Your post contains the following statements; the same kind that if presented in any meeting I'd be present in would be called out immediately:
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
That being said, I wish you the best in this endeavor.
However, in regards to your communication with the AoC community; you lost me and a great deal of people Glen. A reoccuring theme on the US forums and on this forum is the lack of communication from Funcom to the customer base. As the CM, this falls squarely on your shoulders and yet you remain largely unseen save for the period post here or there. The US customer base receives the LEAST in the way of communication from the dev team and their CM; and yet they are the LARGEST part of the funcom customer base.
You lost nearly 50% of your customers within the first several weeks of launch Glen. Some of that could have and would have been mitigated with straight talk and extremely active engagement of the dev teams, the player base and the CM. You needed to talk to the community, not put out fires.
Instead you had Funcom employees like Sharum talking down to customers, stating that they would essentially take their ball and go home to the EU forums when the US forums were less than taken with his posts. You had a largely unmanaged moderation team that was volunteer based; provided with light CS training, rip through your community with excessive and unregulated zeal; distancing them when the community tone was already negative. It became so rampant that it became a hot topic on several mmo forums, blogs and on your own forums.
The community was always here Glen, always communicating, always sharing and providing direct feedback to you. It would be false to say that the players are always friendly, always constructive and eternally patient. That's how it's always been and I imagine it always will be; and the solid CMs for MMOs and other companies with an internet presence know this.
The community has been here, has engaged you and ultimately many left due not only issues with the core game; but in large part to a near deafening silence from you and Funcom when it counted most.
Where were you Glen?
You initially created and promoted a direct communication channel essentially requesting all specific moderation inquiries go to you personally. Your volunteer moderation team ensured this is the statement provided when someone does question their actions: "PM Famine with your concerns."
What immediately became clear is that a communication channel lacking customer facing process documentation, issue categorization and service levels was the end result. No CM takes on the role of tier 1 escalation for their user base as it's impractical, unrealistic and creates ill will towards the CM and the company they represent when their inquiries and escalations do not merit even a read receipt on their escalation.
Now that you've created the submission tool for the end user; you've not established the three critical areas for customer escalations:
1. Response Time: What's the service level on their issues?
2. Who handles Tier 1 escalations/What is the process flow for tier 1?
3. What are the corrective response and preventative measures in place if items 1, 2 or both do not address the issues represented? Who takes accountability and in what fashion?
Your post contains the following statements; the same kind that if presented in any meeting I'd be present in would be called out immediately:
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
That being said, I wish you the best in this endeavor.
However, in regards to your communication with the AoC community; you lost me and a great deal of people Glen. A reoccuring theme on the US forums and on this forum is the lack of communication from Funcom to the customer base. As the CM, this falls squarely on your shoulders and yet you remain largely unseen save for the period post here or there. The US customer base receives the LEAST in the way of communication from the dev team and their CM; and yet they are the LARGEST part of the funcom customer base.
You lost nearly 50% of your customers within the first several weeks of launch Glen. Some of that could have and would have been mitigated with straight talk and extremely active engagement of the dev teams, the player base and the CM. You needed to talk to the community, not put out fires.
Instead you had Funcom employees like Sharum talking down to customers, stating that they would essentially take their ball and go home to the EU forums when the US forums were less than taken with his posts. You had a largely unmanaged moderation team that was volunteer based; provided with light CS training, rip through your community with excessive and unregulated zeal; distancing them when the community tone was already negative. It became so rampant that it became a hot topic on several mmo forums, blogs and on your own forums.
The community was always here Glen, always communicating, always sharing and providing direct feedback to you. It would be false to say that the players are always friendly, always constructive and eternally patient. That's how it's always been and I imagine it always will be; and the solid CMs for MMOs and other companies with an internet presence know this.
The community has been here, has engaged you and ultimately many left due not only issues with the core game; but in large part to a near deafening silence from you and Funcom when it counted most.
Where were you Glen?
I think you win the entirety of the intra-webz with that post. I salute you sir.
You initially created and promoted a direct communication channel essentially requesting all specific moderation inquiries go to you personally. Your volunteer moderation team ensured this is the statement provided when someone does question their actions: "PM Famine with your concerns."
What immediately became clear is that a communication channel lacking customer facing process documentation, issue categorization and service levels was the end result. No CM takes on the role of tier 1 escalation for their user base as it's impractical, unrealistic and creates ill will towards the CM and the company they represent when their inquiries and escalations do not merit even a read receipt on their escalation.
Now that you've created the submission tool for the end user; you've not established the three critical areas for customer escalations:
1. Response Time: What's the service level on their issues?
2. Who handles Tier 1 escalations/What is the process flow for tier 1?
3. What are the corrective response and preventative measures in place if items 1, 2 or both do not address the issues represented? Who takes accountability and in what fashion?
Your post contains the following statements; the same kind that if presented in any meeting I'd be present in would be called out immediately:
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
That being said, I wish you the best in this endeavor.
However, in regards to your communication with the AoC community; you lost me and a great deal of people Glen. A reoccuring theme on the US forums and on this forum is the lack of communication from Funcom to the customer base. As the CM, this falls squarely on your shoulders and yet you remain largely unseen save for the period post here or there. The US customer base receives the LEAST in the way of communication from the dev team and their CM; and yet they are the LARGEST part of the funcom customer base.
You lost nearly 50% of your customers within the first several weeks of launch Glen. Some of that could have and would have been mitigated with straight talk and extremely active engagement of the dev teams, the player base and the CM. You needed to talk to the community, not put out fires.
Instead you had Funcom employees like Sharum talking down to customers, stating that they would essentially take their ball and go home to the EU forums when the US forums were less than taken with his posts. You had a largely unmanaged moderation team that was volunteer based; provided with light CS training, rip through your community with excessive and unregulated zeal; distancing them when the community tone was already negative. It became so rampant that it became a hot topic on several mmo forums, blogs and on your own forums.
The community was always here Glen, always communicating, always sharing and providing direct feedback to you. It would be false to say that the players are always friendly, always constructive and eternally patient. That's how it's always been and I imagine it always will be; and the solid CMs for MMOs and other companies with an internet presence know this.
The community has been here, has engaged you and ultimately many left due not only issues with the core game; but in large part to a near deafening silence from you and Funcom when it counted most.
Where were you Glen?
Excellent post dude. Could not have said it better myself.
You did prove that even though over 800k copies of the game where sold to customers that nearly 50% of them have already decided to go elsewhere for there MMO. This trend will continue regardless of what AoC does. AoC is not going to fail in the sence that it will always have around 200-300k subscribers. It has failed in being a new solid MMO choice for most people regardless of what PR funcome tries to push.
If AoC can repair there reputation though (unlikely but possible) as a competant company who pulled there act togeather and turned AoC into a solid MMO there are still people like me willing to give it a second chance. Unfortunatly (call me a hater if you want) Funcom hasnt shown the ability to do this.
Looks like the same-old-same-old to me, Famine.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=161399
Thread locked for questioning moderation, please send a PM to the moderator in question if you want answers to why a thread is locked/moved.
You're still failing to understand that your forums are the "only" avenue of communication for your customers.
It seems like there's not a whole lot of confidence over there lately. It rings through with the announcements of new content and fixes coming "soon", "in the foreseeable future" and so on... Vague statements that could mean *anything* depending on the person saying them. It could mean a month... 3 months... 6 months... All of which could be considered "soon", relatively speaking. And *that's* the problem with using non-specific terms like that.
Can't help but think of FC like a boat lost at sea, steering toward where they think land might be, and hoping the wind blows them in the right direction... eventually.
And, yes, *excellent* post.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Just out of interest famine are the Official forums that dead now you have to come spend your time here?
I do remember a time where i imagine the Moderators time would be taken up purely on your own forums.
Seems like the Dead servers in game are spreading to the forums too.
So begs question who cares what report tool you have in place all the decent players and players actualy bothering to report faults have been banned or left.
Purely damage control.
Sadly, Famine just adds to the damage and has no control.
You initially created and promoted a direct communication channel essentially requesting all specific moderation inquiries go to you personally. Your volunteer moderation team ensured this is the statement provided when someone does question their actions: "PM Famine with your concerns."
What immediately became clear is that a communication channel lacking customer facing process documentation, issue categorization and service levels was the end result. No CM takes on the role of tier 1 escalation for their user base as it's impractical, unrealistic and creates ill will towards the CM and the company they represent when their inquiries and escalations do not merit even a read receipt on their escalation.
Now that you've created the submission tool for the end user; you've not established the three critical areas for customer escalations:
1. Response Time: What's the service level on their issues?
2. Who handles Tier 1 escalations/What is the process flow for tier 1?
3. What are the corrective response and preventative measures in place if items 1, 2 or both do not address the issues represented? Who takes accountability and in what fashion?
Your post contains the following statements; the same kind that if presented in any meeting I'd be present in would be called out immediately:
Who goes through the proposal phase, all the way through the pilot and implementation phase; only to tell the stakeholders (in our case, the customer base) that they "believe" it might work or that it should "hopefully" help? I'm not berating your specific choice of words; as we're not confusing optimism here; and instead are discussing confidence. Your language suggests a lack of transparency, understanding and impact of this submission tool and managing its results. It's almost as if you were not driving the project; but instead provided some feedback and ultimately its announcement.
That being said, I wish you the best in this endeavor.
However, in regards to your communication with the AoC community; you lost me and a great deal of people Glen. A reoccuring theme on the US forums and on this forum is the lack of communication from Funcom to the customer base. As the CM, this falls squarely on your shoulders and yet you remain largely unseen save for the period post here or there. The US customer base receives the LEAST in the way of communication from the dev team and their CM; and yet they are the LARGEST part of the funcom customer base.
You lost nearly 50% of your customers within the first several weeks of launch Glen. Some of that could have and would have been mitigated with straight talk and extremely active engagement of the dev teams, the player base and the CM. You needed to talk to the community, not put out fires.
Instead you had Funcom employees like Sharum talking down to customers, stating that they would essentially take their ball and go home to the EU forums when the US forums were less than taken with his posts. You had a largely unmanaged moderation team that was volunteer based; provided with light CS training, rip through your community with excessive and unregulated zeal; distancing them when the community tone was already negative. It became so rampant that it became a hot topic on several mmo forums, blogs and on your own forums.
The community was always here Glen, always communicating, always sharing and providing direct feedback to you. It would be false to say that the players are always friendly, always constructive and eternally patient. That's how it's always been and I imagine it always will be; and the solid CMs for MMOs and other companies with an internet presence know this.
The community has been here, has engaged you and ultimately many left due not only issues with the core game; but in large part to a near deafening silence from you and Funcom when it counted most.
Where were you Glen?
Fantastic post!!!! Too bad intelligent posts like these get ignored by people like Famine; I guess no matter how intelligent of an argument you propose, it will always be drowned in stupidity and ignorance.