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How would you manage the fallout?
dgarbini
Member Posts: 185
Lets say you are the manager of this game when this happened. What would you do to manage the fallout and why? Today and going forward. Remember your goal is to get as many customers as possible.
Whether you agree with the outrage/anger or not, is not the purpose of this thread I am just curious what choices you would make as a manager. And what do you think about how they are handling it so far? And what should have been done?
This is purely hypothetical of course so lets not get to heated and have fun.
Comments
What fallout? Most of my friends love the stuff they revealed. Most of the fans seems to like it. There are but the few that keep making these flame posts about how it's a disaster.
The only thing I'm worried about is the "gw 2" style of fighting because they haven't showed us that they have fixed it yet. But until they show of actual combat and actual mob AI, I will not flame them for it. Remember what they said, the holy trinity is dead anyway because of the AI, the mob will not just keep attacking the tank..
Also: Alot of people seem to be going nuts over the kerran, and I can understand that. But making slight modifications to the kerran face isn't a "disaster recovery".. And I have to say i love the human models. I've never seen this type of facial expression in any mmo.
Edit: Also, I would ignore most of the stuff happening on the forums, and wait for people to cool down. I would still read it, but I would be careful about what is useful advice and what is not.
I would turn off the internet and all other forms of communication. Force people to cool off and make up their own minds instead of continuously try to influence others.
After a month or two I would allow face to face communication only. Then other forms of communication with internet being last.
So there is my plan. Hop to it.
This. This site may have some members showing teeth but this site is known for that. Look at other places around the internet and you'll see there is no fallout. The combination of things that EQN is allegedly bringing to the table is unheard of.
The game is going to be a raging success not because of it;s features and whatnot but for the simple fact that it's F2P and will be the best F2P MMO out there. Neverwinter is going to be in for a world of hurt if it's not already.
I seriously wonder how they intent to make a profit though. I've heard too many times the "vanity/fluff and time efficient items only" CS cliche and having the opposite be true.
Lol guy, guys, I dont care if you like it or not. There is a PR issue here obviosly. That is what this thread is about. How would you spin, manage, dispute, alter, whatever.
Your goal is to get as many customers as possible. So the consensus so far is do nothing. You can say they are doing great it will blow over, I would do nothing. Personally I am more curious about the business side of things and how companies handle major PR issues in general.
# 1 rule in sales - never acknowledge a negative even exists.
"EQN's announcement has been a huge success, with millions excited to play the game". (period)
Say that enough times and the ripples of negativity will be largely ignored.
There are two things, one unavoidable and one avoidable that is happening.
It's not eq1
They said that, they even said they didn't go for eq1 and eq2 players. People still didn't get that are hurt because it's not eq3. This rage is expected from the hard core fans, but it's also somewhat unavoidable if their not making eq3.
"We are not ready to talk about it"
A lot of the key stuff is still hidden. I except a PR campaign much like Wildstar is currently running where we get some new info from time to time. I think this approach is a great way to go btw. The problem with this is that they showed of combat without showing of the AI, and we just can't rate the combat before we see it with the AI. The Combat and AI should have been showcased together.
smile and laugh hysterically at how rich i was about to be.(technically inaccurate as a manager would probobly be salaried however if i was smed i would be looking forward to massive bonus) alright so heres the thing love it or hate it ever quest is an old popular ip and on the other hand is being toted by every gaming site as the savior of mmos, then you also have to take into consideration Wows true effect on the gaming industry tricking consumers into a new population normal. ever quest the first ever quest the one people on this board say was amazing and popular(which i actually said myself lol) never broke a half million players and made a crapton of money for the studio eq2 which some people consider a flop made a crapton of money. what you have to realize is mmos poop money all the failed mmos people claim don't normally fail and remain profitable long after they have died/flopped/failed
So what you are asking is a general principal for dealing with projects that bomb; the first thing is to fire the development team in charge and get a new one.
however I'm pretty sure EQNext will be a major success so that will not be the case.
How would I manage it? Assess the extent of it. Is it a vocal minority or is it a greater issue? Are the people upset even part of the target audience? What is the reach of it? Is it impacting the greater message? If someone wants to find out about Everquest Next, they'll google it, look for videos on youtube or visit the official website. When they do that, what is the theme and positive/negative vibe they'll get?
If you visit MMORPG.com, you'd swear that EQN was the epitome of evil - violating people's childhoods while disemboweling kittens. But then there's what the rest of the world seems to think and, more importantly, what the rest of the world will see when they go looking.
IGN - Everquest Next is Real, and it's Amazing
Kotaku - Everquest Next could fix everything wrong with MMORPGs
Destructoid - Everquest Next lives up to the hype - it's frickin' insane!
Engadget - Sony keeps the MMORPG flame alive with Everquest Next
Polyogon - How Everquest Next will be forged by players
Eurogamer - Everquest Next Preview - a true next gen MMO
Escapist - Everquest Next redefines Next-Gen MMOs
GamesIndustry - Everquest next to kick off Emergent Era of MMOs
Rock Paper Shotgun - “This isn’t a reinvention of the wheel, it’s the unveiling of a hovercar.”
As I mentioned in another thread, I think some people here are overestimating their relevance. The question isn't how one would manage the fallout, rather whether or not there's any 'fallout' to begin with.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Actually, there's nothing to indicate there is a PR issue. That you think there is one is an indication that you may be part of the insular bubble here that is under the false impression that their view of things is representative of the majority.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Sorry Im not seeing the PR disaster proclaimed here. The game is getting good press and positive reactions from a lot people outside of the EQ players that don't like what they saw.
Actually no, but as a business man the views of the minority are still relevant. You see your goal is to achieve as many customers as possible. 1% of 1 million potential customers is still 10k customers and still a lot of money. If there are 10 people upset it is a PR issue all the same. Now if it is worth your time to deal with it, that is a valid argument, similar for it is unavoidable or a choice we had to make.
And thank you for all the posts so far everyone. Some good ones.
I'll add another twist, what do you say to investors?
You ever heard of the phrase "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"?
I basically means dont let that very hard to catch bird fly away just because you think you can get just as lucky and now catch two instead of one.
There are a lot of people very, very happy with what they've shown so far. Why risk pissing off the people they already have just to try and "catch" a few more unhappy customers.
Who in all reality wouldnt be satisfied no matter what the was done with EQ:N
The Devs have a saying, and Ive heard more than one Dev team say it. "You cant please everyone some of the time, but you can please some of the people all of the time."
Why should SOE try and please these people who say they arnt going to play. Why waste time and money and effort on people who arnt even your customers. Wouldnt it be better to spend their time, effort, and money on pleasing the people who are their customers. Its very simple logic.
"I understand that if I hear any more words come pouring out of your **** mouth, Ill have to eat every fucking chicken in this room."
Well this isn't a major PR issue for one.
Nothing but good reviews from all over the web.
Fans at SOE Live seemed to like it for the most part. Could of been all the free booze.
Some unhappy forum goers are not the general public.
Look at WoW. Forums full of anger and hate from people that have or haven't ever played it, but even in a decline they are doing better then all others combined.
They are opening up communication with the Roundtable and will be accepting our opinions. Will they use it, who knows, but they will at least accept it.
Many people probably hadn't even heard or cared about EQN until this week. Forum threads were at 600 or so a week ago, 1k now.
All of this is creating buzz which will attract people not even aware of EQN at all (majority of gamers).
So many think the vocal minority in forums actual represent the majority. Couldn't be further from the truth.
Back to your question, how to do they attract as many as possible? Make EQN. It caters to all types of players in some way instead of a small few that want a very particular look/feel.
"You won't believe how positive the response has been"
Getting as many customers as you can is important but when a decision could compromise a larger number of customers it's no longer considered. Finding ways to lift one without dropping the other are ideal.
Such as having separate facial options like EQ2's SOGA models. Although an additional cost to SoE, if they think they will gain more customers by implementing them, they could very well do it.
Agreed. Investors know that you can't make everyone happy. If the spamming and tirades here even register on anyone's radar, I'd be surprised.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
"EQ Next was planned and developed from the ground up to maximize profit potential and achieve a major market share in the industry. Due to the groundbreaking design and innovative gameplay, it was commonly expected that such a design would be met with opposition from an extremely small subset of the game player population. However, because the resistance group is outside target demographics, such resistance has no significant impact on the direction of the game or the intended profitability. EQ Next is destined to achieve market domination based on mass consumer appeal and brand-loyal fans."
[quote]Originally posted by dgarbini
[b][quote]Actually no, but as a business man the views of the minority are still relevant. You see your goal is to achieve as many customers as possible. 1% of 1 million potential customers is still 10k customers and still a lot of money. If there are 10 people upset it is a PR issue all the same. Now if it is worth your time to deal with it, that is a valid argument, similar for it is unavoidable or a choice we had to make.
And thank you for all the posts so far everyone. Some good ones.
I'll add another twist, what do you say to investors?[/b][/quote]
That made me giggle.. As a Business woman of the last 15 years.. You are horribly wrong. Large and successful businesses do not cater to minority groups. They look at the largest group of people who would be interested in their product and hence make the most profit. Minorities are not relevant, just loud and I know the hand full of companies I have worked for just hand them their refund given them a pat on the head and a "I'm so sorry you were not happy" and move on.
Those whinny forum posters are some of the people that made SOE in the first place. You wouldn't have what you have without the founders of EQ1 that supported EQ1.
The ones considered the founding players of the original EverQuest can also be SOE's undoing, if their support isn't catered to. Would new'ish players cling to a game title they have no affiliation with? Nope. Soon as GW3 comes out they are gone. Your gone.
Then who'se left if SOE already turned their backs on their once loyal fans?
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
If you go to the EQ forums you will see that many EQ vets have a positive reaction to the game.