Massively

TERA subscription error affects thousands [Updated]

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, Launches, TERA

According to several tipsters and many, many pages on TERA's forums, something's gone badly wrong with En Masse's account system. The studio admits that some players have been billed immediately upon selecting a subscription plan instead of being billed after the 30 days. Other players have reported not being able to log in at all, as the game cannot find their subscriptions or free time and delivers an "expired account" error.

En Masse posted that it is aware of the situation and is working to resolve it. The studio says that players who purchased a physical copy of the game and signed up for a subscription before entering their game code triggered this problem. However, we've also had reports of players who have encountered this error when dealing with digital copies.

Affected players should now be able to log in to TERA while En Masse works on fixing the error.

[Thanks to Andrew, Schippie, and Alex for the tip!]

[Update: En Masse has contacted us to note that the 2000 players have been affected by the "insufficient remaining subscription time" issue, not the "immediate billing" error. En Masse says that these are two separate issues that the studio is actively working to resolve as fast as possible. We've updated this article accordingly.]

TERA subscription error affects thousands [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Anti-Aliased: The customers aren't always right, but they should be supported

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, Anti-Aliased

The customer isn't always right. Trust me, I know, I use to work at GameStop. *shivers at the thought of pushing reserves* Sometimes, the customer is wrong -- dead wrong -- but that doesn't mean the customer shouldn't be supported and appreciated.

Customer support is one of those areas of MMO games that often goes overlooked when it goes right, or put under a spotlight when it goes wrong. There is no middle ground with that department, and the many good people who put long hours into making sure your account properly works don't get enough thanks

Well, let's fix that. Today I want to talk about two recent interactions I've had with customer support, but I also want to address a few issues that I have with the system as well.

Continue reading Anti-Aliased: The customers aren't always right, but they should be supported

Anti-Aliased: The customers aren't always right, but they should be supported originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 May 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

How do you support players that don't trust your support?

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, FusionFall

Let's face facts -- people don't like admitting that they don't know something or need help. They'd rather hammer at the problem until they solve it themselves, or they'd rather ask a trusted friend for help. Kids are super guilty of this, as they'd rather not tell an adult when they can't do something themselves.

So how do you work with kids when you're the support staff of their favorite game?

Steve Wilson, customer service manager of FusionFall, decided to do some digging with support groups to find what they could do better in their customer support. What did he find out? Simplicity is key -- something that goes way beyond just the 8 to 13-year-old demographic.

Customers don't want to be railroaded through a knowledgebase, nor sent to be put on hold with phone support. They'd rather perform a quick in-game chat to have their problems solved.

He also found out that players would rather consult with other players than a member of a support team, which is why why FusionFall puts such a strong emphasis on their community forums and the support section. Players can ask questions of their fellow players while a support agent can chime into the threads when necessary. It maximizes the agent's time, and it allows the player to feel comfortable. A win-win all around!

[Via Parature]

How do you support players that don't trust your support? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The suit of Square-Enix spam

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, News items, Consoles, Legal

When reporting this story, the sentence, "Never give your e-mail to anyone you don't trust," seems to come to mind. A Japanese man was bombarded with account re-registration e-mails from Final Fantasy XI's PlayOnline launcher, eventually bringing him to the point where he called Square-Enix and asked them to stop sending him the e-mails. The odd part about all of this is that he never played, or even touched Final Fantasy XI.

It seems that one of the gil/item sellers in Japan got hold of his e-mail address, and was using it to create all of their accounts that they use to spam FFXI. Of course the accounts were banned shortly after their creation, but the gilseller continued using the e-mail, creating a tidal wave of spam for this man's e-mail client.

After calling Square-Enix and being told that they could not stop the messages from being sent to his inbox, the man took Square-Enix to court in early 2007. His case was originally denied, but he appealed and won. Now Japan's High Court has blocked Square-Enix's appeal, and the man has been awarded a whopping 56,000 yen. Yes, that's right, two years of legal wranglings for only 556 US dollars and a clean e-mail inbox.

The suit of Square-Enix spam originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rumor: Mythic layoffs hit QA, playtest and customer support

Kyle Horner — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Warhammer Online, News items

Speculative information is coming down the vine via Joystiq that Electronic Arts' new cost-cutting initiative has "cost" Warhammer Online roughly 21 customer support staff, half of its QA department and all of it's playtesting group. According to EA, they currently has no plans to make any additional cuts -- although that doesn't mean we aren't worried about it. And when asked about the future of the game and it's team, EA was unable to give any answers to Joystiq.

Our deepest condolences go out to everyone who lost their jobs, and we sincerely hope that all land on their feet as soon as possible. To those who remain, we definitely hope that don't see anything similar happen to their livlihoods at anytime in the future.

Rumor: Mythic layoffs hit QA, playtest and customer support originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Why the industry should care about their customer service

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Opinion

One of the long standing traditions of the industry has been to look at MMOs from the perspective of every other game on the market. We treat our online worlds the same as we treat our single-player experiences, which means we seem to forget that the customer still exists after they have picked up the game and are now sitting down to play it.

In a traditional "selling boxes" industry, where people can get away with selling a game and have that be the end of it, MMOs walk the path of a service rather than a product. Getting a user to buy the game isn't the goal, it's the beginning of the process. And to that end, one deparment can make or break a user's experiences with a game when troubles begin to come down the line -- customer service.

Adam over at T=Machine has written an amazingly in-depth piece on why the MMO industry needs to change up their approach to this neglected department and how good customer service is basically an open path to free word-of-mouth marketing. It takes a great analysis of the current approach and remodifies it to better handle the service model of selling a game rather than the box pushing model. It's a long post, but close to mandatory reading if you're interested in the theory of business

Why the industry should care about their customer service originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Phishing attempt targets EVE Online subscribers

James Egan — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Exploits, News items

They're baaack. The phishing emails targeting EVE Online players, that is. While you're sound asleep dreaming of your next Machariel, or thrashing about in a nightmare about that last pod killing, there are legions of very bad men seeking to crack open your EVE Online account and liquidate your assets. Of course, they need your help to do so.

The phishing attempt has evolved to its next genius incarnation... no wait... it's exactly the same as last month. They haven't innovated at all! They're just plowing ahead with it, regardless. They pretend to be CCP Games and email you, stating that they're EVE Customer Support. Of course, they're emailing you to let you know about their latest database issue, and that they'd like you to log in and verify that everything's OK. They're even kind enough to provide you with a convenient link that brings you to "your account", where the phishers log your username and password, and proceed to rip you off as thoroughly as possible.

Continue reading Phishing attempt targets EVE Online subscribers

Phishing attempt targets EVE Online subscribers originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The many faces of Community Management

Shawn Schuster — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Forums, Game mechanics, MMO industry

Have you ever submitted a bug report, petitioned a GM or posted a message on an official forum? If so, then you've interacted with a game's community team in one way or another. This is probably not news to you, but were you aware of the distinct departments that make up a community team and how they differ?

Believe it or not, being a part of an MMO's community team is more than just reading forums or bug reports all day. In a recent post at SOE's official company blog, Senior Community Relations Manager EM Stock breaks down the four main categories of the community team. There's Quality Assurance, Customer Support, Tech Support/Accounts Billing and Community Relations. Read how SOE handles these main components of online gaming, and how they can effectively serve as the "face" of the company.

The many faces of Community Management originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE dev blog charts much improved customer support experiences

James Egan — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Patches, News items

Long petition queues, particularly related to expansions, has long been a problem in EVE Online. These long waits may very well be a thing of the past, according to GM Nova, Senior Game Master for EVE Online. GM Nova's latest dev blog, "Such stuff as dreams are made on," deals with the deployment of the Empyrean Age 1.1 patch in early September, as seen from a Customer Support perspective. "We at Customer Support, being at the front lines so to speak, are in a unique position to judge or evaluate whether a patch was successfully deployed and if ther is any fallout or unexpected problems involved, as the potential torrent of problems are directed at us to pass on," he said.

GM Nova points out how that 'torrent of problems' has slowed down to a trickle, using graph data of the Trinity expansion deployment (predictably an insane amount of petitions), the subsequent Empyrean Age 1.0 patch (so smooth they thought their petition system had crashed), and finally Empyrean Age 1.1. The trend evidenced by the graphs is that their patch deployments are becoming less fraught with complications, meaning happier players in the long run. GM Nova goes on to discuss some of the structural changes made to CCP's Customer Support department that improve petition response time, saying,"We are happy to announce that our average petition age is currently two days with most normal requests handled in hours. We hope our efforts shine through in the level of support we are able to offer." Would you agree with GM Nova's assessment, and have your own petitions of late in EVE Online been resolved in a reasonable amount of time?

EVE dev blog charts much improved customer support experiences originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

CCP Games outlines GM hierarchy in EVE Online

James Egan — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, MMO industry

The latest EVE Online dev blog comes from GM Zhainius, who writes about customer support at CCP Games. Over the 5 years EVE Online has been running, the GM staff has answered millions of petitions in addition to writing articles and guides. But their work is typically in the background; it's the devs that really get the attention. GM Zhainius felt like writing to clarify the inner workings of CCP Games in terms of customer support, and to give players a clearer picture of what happens when they file a petition.

GM Zhainius dispels rumors that Game Masters at CCP are volunteers. They're all paid employees, some of whom have been doing their job for years. He also cites a low turnover among CCP's GM staff; in fact, a number of them have been with EVE before the game even launched. The GMs work from four locations worldwide: Reykjavik, Atlanta, Düsseldorf, and Shanghai. He lays out the company's entire customer support structure and the groups or 'cells' the support team is divided into. The EVE dev blog is an interesting look behind-the-scenes into how CCP customer support is handled, and whether or not you're a satisfied customer, it's always good to know that at least someone is reading those ship reimbursement petitions.

CCP Games outlines GM hierarchy in EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Age of Conan's Jorgen Tharaldsen addresses game issues

James Egan — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Exploits, Interviews, Server downtime

Jon Wood from MMORPG.com recently interviewed Funcom's Product Director Jorgen Tharaldsen about some of the issues affecting gameplay in Age of Conan. The interview was primarily focused on customer service issues, and hopefully provides a good indicator as to how things are improving in AoC. Some of the key issues that Tharaldsen addressed include:

Customer support frustrations expressed by players.

Inability to log in to the game's official forums.

Funcom's actions taken against exploiters.

Poor game performance despite meeting required system specs.

Server downtimes during peak hours.

Limitations on number of players in certain instances.

Increasing the number of GM's to handle the petition backlog.

Check out the interview over at MMORPG.com, where's there's quite a string of comments from the readers. Do you think Funcom is handling customer service issues properly (given that AoC had such a recent launch), or are they dropping the ball?

Age of Conan's Jorgen Tharaldsen addresses game issues originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Age of Conan: Senior CSR responds to the recent mass banning

Matt Warner — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Bugs, Exploits, Forums, Launches, New titles, News items

Customer service in MMOGs leaves a lot to be desired. Normally you get a ticket, and you wait with ticket in mind, and your issue normally isn't resolved until your mind is lost. The petty bug that caused an item to disappear or quest reward isn't unheard of in EverQuest or World of Warcraft, but what about the larger exploitations like duping? Exploitation that involves players amassing an inordinate amount of items or gold in a relatively short amount of time requires prompt action before severe damage is caused.

Not long after launch day, Age of Conan, fell victim to such exploits. One involved the Demonologist class and leveling, and the other was a severe duping exploit via the trader system. Funcom is now under scrutiny for their handling of the situation. In many cases, Funcom opted to ban now, and suspend players for investigatory purposes before determining the final outcome. The aftermath from their decision had players crying foul, claiming that they did nothing wrong. In this interview with Ten Ton Hammer, the Senior Customer Service & QA Manager for Age of Conan explains the situation and admits that some suspended accounts were free from any illicit activity and reinstated. Some players are still awaiting word on their fate.

How do you think Funcom is handling the situation?

Age of Conan: Senior CSR responds to the recent mass banning originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 30 May 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

E-mail a resum�, work for SOE

Samuel Axon — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, MMO industry, Vanguard, Casual, Free Realms

Sony Online Entertainment is hiring for a few positions, and is soliciting resumés on its game forums.

Specifically, it's looking for customer support representatives to work with knowledge base articles for Free Realms and Vanguard. The job descriptions note that SOE's knowledge base articles are extremely important because they're the first and most common point of contact for customers. The CSRs will be responsible for producing, reviewing, and regionalizing knowledge base content.

The jobs appear to be entry level -- only a couple of years of gaming experience and a high school diploma are required. So if you know your MMO stuff, you live in or near San Diego (or are willing to move there, presumably), and you're out of work, e-mail SOE your resumé. You never know; it might be good.

E-mail a resum�, work for SOE originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 May 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

San Diego wildfires affect EQ II customer support

Amanda Rivera — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:47:00 EST

Filed under: EverQuest II, News items

To anyone living in Southern California, fire has become a season of sorts. I know when I lived there, just about every year we would be plagued with horrible raging blazes, and this year is no exception. There are several fires burning through the region at the moment, and one in particular is located in San Diego, is burning dangerously close to the Sony Online Entertainment offices in that city. For that reason, the company issued this statement regarding their customer service:

In-Game support is in limited operation due to wildfires in the San Diego area, but response time may be delayed. Account and Technical Support is unavailable. We will keep you updated with any changes in the situation and appreciate your understanding.
I can't imagine gamers playing EverQuest II will really make a fuss over having to deal with a little delay in getting through to someone. After all, it is just a game, right? And people's lives are in jeopardy here. Let's hope the fires are put out soon, for the sake of the staff, and the sake of the players of the game.

San Diego wildfires affect EQ II customer support originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments