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An Open Letter to Cryptic / PWE Regarding Customer Service
tobiasmorgan
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
(TL;DR - Check the two bold things near the bottom. Thanks.)
Greetings, Cryptic and PWE developers, community managers, and designers. My name is Avery W. Krouse and when I'm not throwing magic missiles at goblins, I work as a customer service manager in the Chattanooga, TN, US area.
I have been playing Neverwinter for a couple of months now and have been a relatively active reader / inactive poster in the forums since the start. I have noticed a disturbing trend that I would like for your team to consider correcting going forward. This is simply put: a lack of customer service.
Please understand, I know that you are working diligently around the clock to provide us with a quality gaming experience despite the absence of subscription fees to guarantee a revenue stream. I know that your team members have full to-do lists between creating new features and repairing existing, problematic features. I know that there is not a day that passes that you get to sit back and say "Alright folks, we're done here, nothing left to work on."
I also know that your forums are inundated with people complaining about this free game. On the surface, those complaints seem like "shouting at the wind to blow the earth into the sea, or make the sea flood the earth," people getting very angry about a complimentary product yelling at people who have no obligation to respond. I believe, however, that the situation is different that it seems at first glance.
We are your customers. Whether we pay for mounts and bags or we fly through the free material without spending a dime. Whether we consume your content that we haven't paid for or create new content that you get to use for free. Whether or not we contribute to your coffers, we are still your customers. And as such, there are two obligations that we trade.
We have an obligation to support your company. This comes primarily in the form of using your product. The math is simple: the more we play, the more likely we are to spend money (or at least to tell others about the game, some of whom might spend money). I myself have probably spent at least $50-75 through the Zen market, so at the rate of many other MMOs, I've "paid up" through the end of the year in subscription fees. However, it also comes in the form of providing feedback and helping you to understand the market demand of your customer base. The better we tell you what you want and you deliver, the more likely we are to keep playing (and keep spending money and keep proselytizing the game).
You have an obligation to provide customer service. This comes primarily in the form of updates to the product, new content and features, and fixing what isn't working properly. In this regard, while there are plenty of outstanding issues, I'd say you're actually doing a very good job of producing new content and fixing existing content in a timely fashion. You can't fix everything immediately and you're always going to prioritize on a balance of what fixes are fastest/easiest to complete vs what fixes the community clamors for. I understand that and I appreciate your hard work giving me a better, free product.
The other part of this obligation, and one where I believe you are not meeting the needs of the community, is in providing timely and sufficient feedback about customer service issues. A few minutes in this forum will reveal a ratio of thousands of player posts to each dev post. This wouldn't be such a problem if hundreds of those posts were expressing frustration about something in the game, whether a minor issue or a major issue. The community itself fills some of that void, helping players play better and understand challenges that are built into the game and are not actually problems.
However, and this cannot be denied, there are problems in the game. And there are scores of threads expressing frustration and anger about them. What we are receiving from the developers in response to these threads are sporadic (and that's being generous) and short responses to the threads, often early on in what ends up being a 100+ post thread, and normally only one response per thread. This is unacceptable.
I realize that until you figure out what's wrong with a problem, you can't fix it and you can't tell us how or when you're going to fix it. I get that. But posting once in a thread "We're working on it." then never touching that thread again is breeding contempt and unrest in your player base. Posting patch notes that correct some problems that are the small, easy-fix problems without addressing or even acknowledging the larger problems seems practically insulting.
So what do we want? I posit that your player base wants two things from you regarding customer service in these forums, and I write this letter on behalf of the Neverwinter players who play and love your game:
First, we want you to acknowledge our concerns more frequently. If there is a thread that goes on for dozens upon dozens of posts, take the one minute to post a quick reply "We're still working on it and we're reading all your feedback on this topic. Thanks!" Do this at least once every 50 or so posts until you have more information, just so we have an assurance that you're still paying attention to our concerns. Those few minutes taken out of your very, very busy schedules will create a much more calm player base who display more patience with you. More patience means longer player life which means more money down the road.
Second, we want you to acknowledge the concerns you haven't fixed yet when you're actively working on them. Every patch notes post, every one, should include a list of things on your radar. Give us "next up," "near term," and "long term," items that you've got your team working on so we at least know you are trying. People wouldn't get so frustrated about what you don't post in your patch notes if you'd at least tell us what you've got on your hit list. I've seen this done to great effect in many other games and it gives the players a sense that their concerns are being addressed, not ignored. Add the disclaimer that the list is subject to change at any time and we'll understand if something "next up" isn't as easily solved as you planned.
These two things will speak volumes towards your commitment to customer service and providing a positive experience for your players. Yes, they'll take time. We acknowledge that if you spend a half-hour a day updating us on the status of what you're working on, that means a half-hour a day you're not actually working on those things. We are willing to accept that as an acceptable sacrifice to know that you are hearing us.
By doing those two things, you will find you have a much more patience, positive audience to bring your game to. I would bet that your reports in-game will drop, giving your GMs more time to work on their tasks. I would bet you will find more constructive feedback and bug reports here on the forums, making it easier for you to identify and correct problems. And I would bet you'll see an increase in revenue as the players who find themselves currently frustrated will find themselves instead more willing to login and play.
Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment, please give us, the players, these two things. Show us that you are listening and that you are committed. I urge you to respond to this letter and let your community know you are going to make a change on our behalf.
Players, please sign on to this letter if you believe these are worthy changes for CS/PWE to make. Let them know you want them to be more responsive and transparent.
We, your players, are waiting.
Greetings, Cryptic and PWE developers, community managers, and designers. My name is Avery W. Krouse and when I'm not throwing magic missiles at goblins, I work as a customer service manager in the Chattanooga, TN, US area.
I have been playing Neverwinter for a couple of months now and have been a relatively active reader / inactive poster in the forums since the start. I have noticed a disturbing trend that I would like for your team to consider correcting going forward. This is simply put: a lack of customer service.
Please understand, I know that you are working diligently around the clock to provide us with a quality gaming experience despite the absence of subscription fees to guarantee a revenue stream. I know that your team members have full to-do lists between creating new features and repairing existing, problematic features. I know that there is not a day that passes that you get to sit back and say "Alright folks, we're done here, nothing left to work on."
I also know that your forums are inundated with people complaining about this free game. On the surface, those complaints seem like "shouting at the wind to blow the earth into the sea, or make the sea flood the earth," people getting very angry about a complimentary product yelling at people who have no obligation to respond. I believe, however, that the situation is different that it seems at first glance.
We are your customers. Whether we pay for mounts and bags or we fly through the free material without spending a dime. Whether we consume your content that we haven't paid for or create new content that you get to use for free. Whether or not we contribute to your coffers, we are still your customers. And as such, there are two obligations that we trade.
We have an obligation to support your company. This comes primarily in the form of using your product. The math is simple: the more we play, the more likely we are to spend money (or at least to tell others about the game, some of whom might spend money). I myself have probably spent at least $50-75 through the Zen market, so at the rate of many other MMOs, I've "paid up" through the end of the year in subscription fees. However, it also comes in the form of providing feedback and helping you to understand the market demand of your customer base. The better we tell you what you want and you deliver, the more likely we are to keep playing (and keep spending money and keep proselytizing the game).
You have an obligation to provide customer service. This comes primarily in the form of updates to the product, new content and features, and fixing what isn't working properly. In this regard, while there are plenty of outstanding issues, I'd say you're actually doing a very good job of producing new content and fixing existing content in a timely fashion. You can't fix everything immediately and you're always going to prioritize on a balance of what fixes are fastest/easiest to complete vs what fixes the community clamors for. I understand that and I appreciate your hard work giving me a better, free product.
The other part of this obligation, and one where I believe you are not meeting the needs of the community, is in providing timely and sufficient feedback about customer service issues. A few minutes in this forum will reveal a ratio of thousands of player posts to each dev post. This wouldn't be such a problem if hundreds of those posts were expressing frustration about something in the game, whether a minor issue or a major issue. The community itself fills some of that void, helping players play better and understand challenges that are built into the game and are not actually problems.
However, and this cannot be denied, there are problems in the game. And there are scores of threads expressing frustration and anger about them. What we are receiving from the developers in response to these threads are sporadic (and that's being generous) and short responses to the threads, often early on in what ends up being a 100+ post thread, and normally only one response per thread. This is unacceptable.
I realize that until you figure out what's wrong with a problem, you can't fix it and you can't tell us how or when you're going to fix it. I get that. But posting once in a thread "We're working on it." then never touching that thread again is breeding contempt and unrest in your player base. Posting patch notes that correct some problems that are the small, easy-fix problems without addressing or even acknowledging the larger problems seems practically insulting.
So what do we want? I posit that your player base wants two things from you regarding customer service in these forums, and I write this letter on behalf of the Neverwinter players who play and love your game:
First, we want you to acknowledge our concerns more frequently. If there is a thread that goes on for dozens upon dozens of posts, take the one minute to post a quick reply "We're still working on it and we're reading all your feedback on this topic. Thanks!" Do this at least once every 50 or so posts until you have more information, just so we have an assurance that you're still paying attention to our concerns. Those few minutes taken out of your very, very busy schedules will create a much more calm player base who display more patience with you. More patience means longer player life which means more money down the road.
Second, we want you to acknowledge the concerns you haven't fixed yet when you're actively working on them. Every patch notes post, every one, should include a list of things on your radar. Give us "next up," "near term," and "long term," items that you've got your team working on so we at least know you are trying. People wouldn't get so frustrated about what you don't post in your patch notes if you'd at least tell us what you've got on your hit list. I've seen this done to great effect in many other games and it gives the players a sense that their concerns are being addressed, not ignored. Add the disclaimer that the list is subject to change at any time and we'll understand if something "next up" isn't as easily solved as you planned.
These two things will speak volumes towards your commitment to customer service and providing a positive experience for your players. Yes, they'll take time. We acknowledge that if you spend a half-hour a day updating us on the status of what you're working on, that means a half-hour a day you're not actually working on those things. We are willing to accept that as an acceptable sacrifice to know that you are hearing us.
By doing those two things, you will find you have a much more patience, positive audience to bring your game to. I would bet that your reports in-game will drop, giving your GMs more time to work on their tasks. I would bet you will find more constructive feedback and bug reports here on the forums, making it easier for you to identify and correct problems. And I would bet you'll see an increase in revenue as the players who find themselves currently frustrated will find themselves instead more willing to login and play.
Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment, please give us, the players, these two things. Show us that you are listening and that you are committed. I urge you to respond to this letter and let your community know you are going to make a change on our behalf.
Players, please sign on to this letter if you believe these are worthy changes for CS/PWE to make. Let them know you want them to be more responsive and transparent.
We, your players, are waiting.
While Neverember Fiddles - NW-DKV72BYTD - Give it a try!
Post edited by tobiasmorgan on
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Comments
As for the wall o text... I would prefer fixes to blather in the forums about upcoming fixes; talk is cheap while fixes going live in a few weeks is gold. Also I reject any sort of entitlement ... they owe us nothing, we owe them nothing.
sign me up, I only charge a dollar a word.
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
You totally lost me here. We play a GAME for enjoyment. Cryptic makes a GAME for profit. There is no obligations taking place on either side... Cryptic does what it think will make for a FUN GAME EXPERIENCE in hopes of generating revenue.
I am sure there is a better avenue to inform PWE and Cryptic than a forum post, which more than likely won't reach your intended audience.
If you don't think a business has an obligation to their customers, you better never open one.
I also submitted this to their customer service email address.
I'm not trying to be sarcastic or mean, but I hope this helps you in the future: http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/09/how-to-write-an-executive-summary.html. Then your tldr section could be much more appealing.
Hammerfist Clan. Jump into the Night: NW-DMXWRYTAD
1,380,000 Astral Diamonds, Cryptic. Just saying.
Yes, to *customers*. That is, if someone paid money in, and did not get what they paid for, there should be rapid and reasonable resolution to the situation. That is the obligation that is understood and backed by laws between a business and the customer at all levels (if you are having woes, feel free to sue them). However irrational and random demands from the customer (such as hire a person to sit behind the programmers and tweet their every code change so we know progress is being made) does not fall into the time honored and law enforced customer/business relationship. It may be NICE TO HAVE this, but customers cannot *demand* it and still be rational.
I disagree that it is irrational for the developers to be more transparent about their problem resolution. It's not hard to take a look over at the whiteboard in the war room and say "Okay, so these are the things that are on deck now, here's what's next, here's what's long-term" and then tell us that. They're earning over 100m a quarter in revenues from their "free-to-play" games. That tells me we are paying customers. Take the five minutes, ya know?
"9 out of 10 business in 2012 failed because they disregard relationship with their customers" -David Wallace, CEO of SmartRank
Hammerfist Clan. Jump into the Night: NW-DMXWRYTAD
This is a forum, not a blog or an article portal. That said I'm not really too hung up about the wall of text, but I'd hope people like the OP learn some executive summary writing skills to make their arguments hold a little more water. I agree with the OP, just not walls of text on forums.
Hammerfist Clan. Jump into the Night: NW-DMXWRYTAD
They are providing a service, even if you do not pay for it, you can still expect a level of customer service should your game(product) not be satisfactory. Or else, you will simply, 'go elsewhere'. And by all the immature and fanboisms, that is fine and dandy with them. But for the people who, have been playing MMO's for ages, one of the things that keeps a game and game company going for the long haul is how they address customers.
My main thing is how they have people with important issues that wait weeks at a time to get a response to 'hacked' or stolen accounts, or who buy Zen with RL money, only to not get their Zen and have to wait weeks to get a response. This breeds discontent, this will drive people away, even rumors of how easy it is to get hacked, or that your purchases of their 'goods' are in doubt.
Silence, while my biggest issue, is another thing. SoE did this with one of their products, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. The tenuous player base it had left held on for a year begging for *any word* and eventually, caused the player base to dwindle to less than 100 people PRIME TIME. Since the return of its DEVs and frequent 'updates' with its player base, the population is on the rise, up to 1k strong during prime time, last I checked. All it took was some communication (and a F2P re-release with new content).
Yup, that latter part is what always makes MMO forums explode. The haters vent. Fine, let them vent, move on. But no, the fanboys have to come in and argue. It's like a hater who comes into a positive thread to dump on it. That happens far less though, as it seems some fans take criticism of the game a little too personally.
Hammerfist Clan. Jump into the Night: NW-DMXWRYTAD
That's not my experience at all. In pretty much every MMO I've played, if someone makes a positive post, you will with in the first 10 posts see someone dumping on it. I'd say 75% of the time in fact you'll see it on the first page.
Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?
PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
Your point is?
I volunteer at a local charity group two days a week, I sometimes have to deal with customer service issues, if my service was this bad I'd be "sacked".
The game being free and the Community Mods being volunteers is no excuse for poor customer service.
All The Best
Looking For Reviews For Your Foundry Quest?
Drop By Scribe's Enclave & Meet Up With Volunteer Reviewers.
As to your second point, it would be possible to make a post with each patch, of things that are being worked on, however that brings its own kettle of fish to fry, as invariably that only leads to many many posts of "why isnt this done yet? you said in this post that it was a short term thing"..
The long and the short of it, is that this is a discussion forum first and foremost, not a customer support forum. There is a massive difference. The fact that the Devs post here at all, is a massive thing in itself, there are very few games out there where the devs actively post, as they are far too often, busy making awesome updates to the game. That's why things get left to the Public Relations people (who aren't programmers so don't ask them to fix things, they cannot, and are generally kept in a safe place far away from buttons marked "DO NOT PRESS THIS BUTTON!"), and of course, people like myself, the Community Moderators, who do our best, considering that we are nothing more special than any of you. We volunteer because we enjoy the game, and want to help make it a better place for all.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
My opinions are my own, and do not represent those of Perfect World Entertainment, or Cryptic Studios
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I know you were replying to the OP or general feeling among the thread, but for me I just want the community manager to come in to threads about the Foundry multi-day downtime repeat to give the community a little TLC. After all, they are a community manager. That's their job, correct? This shouldn't be pawned off to community moderators who're all volunteering their time to help.
Hammerfist Clan. Jump into the Night: NW-DMXWRYTAD
Are you for real??
I rest my case...
Pretty much every MMO I have played prior to the last 2 years or so has had regular player/dev contact.
In one I've even been on the panel for two "dev/community manager/player" meetings (VOIP) designed to get player feedback, give the devs a chance to explain the "road-map" and the "vision" and allow better communication between the players and the "company".
More recent games don't do that it seems, and they suffer with poor player retention, bad customer service and lack of trust between players and company because of that.
All The Best
Looking For Reviews For Your Foundry Quest?
Drop By Scribe's Enclave & Meet Up With Volunteer Reviewers.
also i feel bad for moderators, they dont do with game issues, but they take messages to dev team up front if that is most important to players.
my beef is with those "Zen" website, why is it so hard to buy tokens? and i end up getting with other pay sites when i dont want it because i need to keep my CC protected, not to expose to another "finaince business" which maybe a scam site to me.
PWE need that sort out, i prefer the way we had last year, it was easy access, but now i am forced to go thru websites and all that junks just to apply and sign-in, i had enough of those crappy run-around sites going in circles, i am not a dumb dog who chased thier own tail.