MMO companies and apathy in the mmo community that just sits back and takes poor customer service.

Recently a friend of mine received a warning on www.swtor.com I got to see first hand what the warning was about. It was a warning that the player was divulging beta information and to stop.  The interesting thing is, the warning was issued to a person who is not playing beta nor has anything to do with beta but was making an observation about the game in general.

Just today in another MMO I play I received a warning for advising another player to not just roll over and take being silenced in game when they were wrongly silenced.  The game is Star Trek Online.  I got warned for outlining how I got something fixed and I got the following warning.

Your posting in the "xxxxxx..." thread has resulted in this moderation.

Discussing any moderation or customer service interaction on the official forums is not the way to raise your concerns. Please submit a community ticket if you have concerns regarding this, as asked in our forum rules and in our warning and infraction PMs.

Please take a moment to review our Atari Community Rules and Policies (http://forums.startrekonline.com/announcement.php?f=120&a=5) to help ensure no further missteps with your postings.

If you feel that anyone has posted content that warrants moderation, please use the REPORT feature and one of the moderators will look into the matter further. Report violations, do not quote them or reply to them. Responding to a violation in an inflammatory manner is a violation in itself and will result in appropriate action.

If you have questions about this infraction, please use the support web page - http://www.atari.com/support/startrekonline - to submit a community ticket in reference to this matter.


Thank you.

-WishStone


Excuse me?  In other words our policies are designed to silence you so that others do not know what methods you took to get things fixed.  

So this Blog entry is about apathy of the MMO community.  It is in part because of the tactics outlined above that players feel powerless.  For some reason software companies do not see you and me as customers.  But rather, sheep.  To be told how to act and to be admonished like children.  The saying "the customer is always right is tossed out the window" when it comes to MMO companies.

The funny thing is, in any other industry this would not be tolerated by the paying customers.  The company behaving in such a fashion would lose a ton of money and go out of business.

In Star Trek Online I know of many players who have problems with their characters that cause a limitation in their ability to play.  One such person told me this "they will not answer my ticket.  So I know it will never be fixed." Another player told me the same thing.  On the forums it is common to see others trying to hush other players speaking out.  "You will get an infraction for posting this!"

Here are some rules to getting your matter heard.  With an mmo company it comes with risk because they hold the power to ban you.  Can you imagine if you bought a TV and it did not work as advertised and you complained and the manufacturer said "I am sorry but you can not buy any more of our products.  You are banned.  Go away."

Here are the rules:

1. Send in your ticket.  If you get a canned message and ticket is closed, send in a new ticket.

2.  If second ticket is closed and canned message is issued.  Send in a third ticket.

3.  If third ticket is ignored, closed, issued a canned message, send in a fourth ticket.  But this time post about it.  Yes you might get a warning but if you live in fear nothing will get changed.

4. If it does not get answered or you are issued yet another canned message or you get a warning, get the companies address.  Sit down and write a letter to the President of the company.  Be rational and to the point and mail it.  Faxing will work too.

Now why would I advise you to take these steps?  Because I used to work in customer service.  The squeeky wheel gets the grease.  When I worked for a software company the things we liked were customers who would be silent.  The things we hated were customers who made noise.  The ones who were relentless.  They were the ones we feared.  If they wrote a letter, that was a clear message to our President we were not doing our jobs right in customer service.   That person then become priority number one and we fixed or resolved the issue.

The bottom line is if you just sit back and take poor customer service it is your fault and you deserve it.

I for one will not remain silent and watch MMO companies walk over those who pay them good money.  MMO companies act as if they are doing you a favor.

No! Mr. MMO company we are doing you a favor by giving you our hard earned money in a down economy.

-Jessica