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MO Community Manager (Black Opal) still A.W.O.L?
HanoverZ
Member Posts: 1,239
Going on week 3 with no word? I'm no longer buying the whole "internet/modem problem" story. How can the CM just disappear with nothing being said? Any News?
I win!!! LOL@U
Comments
If you have 3 weeks without communication, there's a simple explanation.. you don't work there any more.
guys, i know you love this game, and as opposed to many other members of the community i actually feel for you. this company seems to really be taking advantage of an entire group of people who are dedicated not only to this genre of mmo, but to this game in particular.
but honestly, i think the best you can do now is hope someone sees the potential in this game and buys them out.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
At the very least something should have been said regarding his absence. (for whatever reason) Wasn't he the only remaining conduit for reporting game issues and bugs?
I win!!! LOL@U
Thats going to be a very hard sell.
I win!!! LOL@U
I'm pretty sure he was, after the tracker was removed I remember him telling anyone who asked about it (and there were quite a few people concerned about it having been removed, for good reason obviously) to forward bug reports to him specifically.
Haven't seen any other outlet for it, so I assume he was the last bastion.
Yup- There a thread on the MO forum somewhere where it was decided to close the bug tracker and players were told to "PM Black Opal" with bug reports. People were quite unhappy (many posts dissapeared- of coarse) but everyone was assured the bugs would be dealt with via Opal and there was nothing to worry about. It was also not because the bug tracker was containing page after page of bugs which were ignored, no dev comment, nothing...It was because "Players were using the bug tracker to learn how to exploit"- Either way, they are either hiding the amount of unfixed bugs and how they ignore them OR are incapable of fixing them- Either way its not good.
And Black Opal not logging for 3 weeks with no word is ridiculous. My friends who went through the freking hurricane are back online already- Every public Library has internet and nearly every mcdonalds has wi-fi.
-They cannot sell the game because nobody will buy it. They are going to continue to milk their loyal fans for everything they can.
Thats the point, a total disregard for the community. If your Community Manager is going to be away for 3 weeks and counting, you might want to let people know. (vacation,sick,fired,whatever)
I win!!! LOL@U
At the company that I work for, our IS department has a "Best Practice Guide" for the community managers that oversee our web page. It was modeled after Cisco's Social Media Policy (or so I am told). I just want to share some of the key points that we drill into our CMs:
Engagement on Social Media should always aim to add some value; increase traffic, increase awareness, enhance sale potential or provide community growth.
Be transparent, the web has a long memory so if you are not honest it might come back to hunt you. So always be honest.
Admit mistakes - If you screwed up, better to laugh it off and clean up the split milk. Don't pretend it never happened. You might think if you delete your last post/tweet that its gone for good, but many of your followers could be tracking your posts via RSS feed which cannot be controlled by you. The same for blog posts, if you made copytext or factual errors, just edit the post and highlight the changes.
Don't delegate too much to those you cannot trust, the actual communication is more important than the planning in Social Media, since this is what the audience will see!
I though someone from SV would find these tips helpful...
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
Black Opal has been on... I PM'd him a couple days ago, he replied yesterday.
That was fast - it went from "going on three weeks" to "three weeks and counting" in a matter of an hour. Another example of inaccuracy and exaggeration on this forum.
Anyway, to answer this unbelievably critical issue (lol), Opal was back yesterday.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Ever hear of time zones, 20 vs 21 days with how many zones? lol
Did he "pm" you also? Even if he is back and only speaking to a select "few" what does that change?
I win!!! LOL@U
That kind of time compression would require a time machine. LOL
Time zones doesn't cover the mischaracterization, in that there was 1 hour and 14 minutes between the time you claimed "going on 3 weeks" (Opal was actually gone from the forums for 16 days), and your later post that claimed "three weeks and counting". In the span of a little over an hour, you erroneously tacked on a few days.
Not that it really matters - this issue is being completely blown out of proportion, as usual. I realize that there are those that believe things like forums are the most important things in the world. They aren't.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
16??? Are you not counting weekends?
His last post was the 21st , its now the 10th
"Another example of inaccuracy and exaggeration on this forum." LoL@
I win!!! LOL@U
The facts show you are wrong Rohn - 21st to the 10th (20 days for my timezone and in some parts of the world 21 days) and still no posts on the board. People can claim he PM'd them, but that is no proof of anything. Given your inherent bias, I do not believe anything you say without proof for example. I am sure you feel the same way about me btw.
One of the reasons it matters is that the bug tracker was removed for PR reasons and any bugs are meant to be sent to Opal. That is a vital game function and not just a forum issue, and we have no evidence that anyone took on that role while Opal is away.
So yes, if you are going to "Another example of inaccuracy and exaggeration on this forum." you better be damn sure of your facts or you look foolish, akin to the post attempting to claim SV had more staff than it really does which backfired completely.
For most of us forums aren't the most important things in the world, but for someone hired to be a Community Manager of a forum... It kind of is.
It's even more surprising if he actually *has* been PMing people--for some reason, he's been online, but SV explicitly must have told him to keep quiet... What's going on at SV?
It was two weeks without information, and some people were absolutely flipping out, blowing it out of proportion. The overblown sense of entitlement some people seem to feel, in believing that they should have 24/7 knowledge of "their" developers whereabouts, is ridiculous.
Ever seen another game company fail to provide regular information for longer than 2 weeks? I know I sure have, I've seen it often - and a lot of them regularly stay silent for a hell of a lot longer than 2 weeks.
Forums, for the most part, are unimportant. Indeed, a CM needs to interact, and keep tabs on the community, but does that mean a post on a forum everyday, even if they have nothing to inform to the community on? Of course not.
Even the "facts", as they are mistakenly called here, literally don't add up.
By their own admission, Opal posted on 21 August (probably already the 22nd in some part of the world for the time zone sticklers). Since he was obviously online that day, we can't count the 21st in the total, can we?
Anyone checking can see he logged in on 9 September - can't include the 9th in the count either.
Worst case - 18 days (22 Aug through 8 Sep).
According to this screenshot (taken 4 Sep), Opal logged in on 22 August as well (again, probably the 23rd in some part of the world....):
So, 17 days, since we can't count the 22nd itself either (23 Aug through 8 Sep).
I know he logged in yesterday, but can't prove it. By the same token, the critics can't prove that he did not. Believe as you will. As far as I'm concerned, that's 16 days (23 Aug through 7 Sep).
Should he have been more available, or more clear about his absense? Possibly. Is it a huge issue? No.
I apologize to anyone that wasted a few seconds of their life in reading this. Really a flimsy issue, and I'm actually sorry to have participated in it.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
You do realize thats a matter of only 23 hours and 59 minutes?
He has yet to make any post on the MO forums
Spamming "Post Report" Tool
...but if you spam or abuse the report tool, penalties will apply.
HIS LAST POST WAS 8-21 !!! Period http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/search.php?searchid=2264380
He logged in? I also check work emails on my days off.
Spamming "Post Report" Tool
...but if you spam or abuse the report tool, penalties will apply.
You completely ignore the Bug Tracker/PM Opal issue Rohn, not at all surprising. Who was checking the bug reports while he was away? By your own admission for at least 18 days no one did. Guess that is one way to pretend your game is bug free.
Why is it such an issue to MO players? Because the game is broken and they are paying for it. They want concrete information on what is being done to fix it and an acknowledgment that their bug reports (for eg) are being read.
I guess you are right in one way though. Soon no one will care because only 10 people will be playing the game. Some of the staunchest MO supporters are leaving as they cannot justify their blind faith with hard cash anymore.
And as Peckus said, logging in means nothing. Sending you a supposed PM means nothing. He is a CM and his job description is to post on the boards. It's the only reason he exists at all, apart from being a black hole to send bug reports to.
The fact that you are quibbling over an hour here or there when everyone can see the truth is just ... yeah ....
EDIT : One thing I have asked before and never received an answer to - who are you on the official boards Rohn? I can't say I have ever seen your name in the threads there. Surely you should be posting as often there, trying to help improve the game.
He has not done his job since 8-21-2011 and there's still no word why, thus my original post. I didn't know we were quantifying to the hour and for that Im sorry. I may have been in error of 12 hours on my 3+ week statement depeding on your specific time zone.
I win!!! LOL@U
{mod edit} The devs don't actually post on 3rd party forums, and only rarely post on there own forums.
Never trust a screenshot or a youtube video without a version stamp!
Guys, please discuss the topic, which is not other posters. Antagonizing and harassing others isn't permitted and that goes for anyone on these forums, no matter what their opinions are on any game.
To give feedback on moderation, contact mikeb@mmorpg.com
Yes it was, but your link is bad. http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/members/black-opal.html (lower left)
I win!!! LOL@U
Who's talking about the devs? I'm talking about the absent Community Magager ! IE the guy that deals wth the community.
Its now 3 weeks on the entire planet... Nice rebuttal btw
I win!!! LOL@U
I want his job, this company needs some serious discipline lol
I can't even stand to think about paying for this game, and I love its good qualities. It would be THE mmo for me if they actually cared about their game and the community.