Letter from the Producer LIVE Part X: Will the netcode issue be honestly addressed?

[Arcari]

Less than 3 days, guys.

Who thinks we'll hear so much as a word about the netcode issues?

Just out of polite curiosity...what exactly do you want to hear from them? Do you want them to just admit that they don't know wtf? If they just confess that, won't you and everyone else who considers this the public issue #1 quit on the spot? Also, were you the one who made that super-detailed topic about why this issue can't be fixed or something? So if the devs come out saying "hey we can fix it!" wouldn't you perceive that as flat out lies? I'm just honestly wondering how you want this to proceed.

Also, a hypothetical question since I'm bored: If SE was to come out and say "hey we acknowledge this problem, we're going to try to fix it, but since this is deeply routed in the source code, we need to shut the game down for a month or two," how many of you would honestly be willing to wait that long?

[Reinheart]

Just out of polite curiosity...what exactly do you want to hear from them? Do you want them to just admit that they don't know wtf? If they just confess that, won't you and everyone else who considers this the public issue #1 quit on the spot? Also, were you the one who made that super-detailed topic about why this issue can't be fixed or something? So if the devs come out saying "hey we can fix it!" wouldn't you perceive that as flat out lies? I'm just honestly wondering how you want this to proceed.

Also, a hypothetical question since I'm bored: If SE was to come out and say "hey we acknowledge this problem, we're going to try to fix it, but since this is deeply routed in the source code, we need to shut the game down for a month or two," how many of you would honestly be willing to wait that long?

Well technically we waited since 1.0... 1.0 beta for me... lol so month/two wouldn't hurt lol, but I know that's not realistic at this point.

[Sunarie]

*snip*

Honestly, just acknowledging it's an issue and then either going "we are investigating the cause", "we are working on the fix but it will take some time", or "we do not plan to address it". Any of those would work for me.

As to how long I'm willing to wait (or how long until I quit), that's not really going to be determined by their answer. My patience runs out when either frustration outweighs my fun, or enough of my friends migrate to a new game that I go off and play with them. What it will determine is whether I ever look back on the game or not. If there's hope of it being fixed, I'll check back in to see if that fix has taken place. It's not a lot, I know.. but customer service, which is what that is, does go a long way in keeping customer's long term. I would venture a guess that people would be more willing to check back if they knew for sure that SE at least acknowledged it was something they needed to look into/fix.

[Arcari]

Well technically we waited since 1.0... 1.0 beta for me... lol so month/two wouldn't hurt lol, but I know that's not realistic at this point.

Indeed lol. Hey, did you play FFXI around the time Japan had that terrible earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster, and SE had to shut the game down for what was it...a week? Two weeks? And people lost their goddamned minds over it. Keep in mind, that was over a national disaster, where you would think people would be a tad more understanding, but nope. So I could just imagine people being all like "wtf it'll take them that long to fix this issue, screw this I quit" if that hypothetical situation did happen. XD

Honestly, just acknowledging it's an issue and then either going "we are investigating the cause", "we are working on the fix but it will take some time", or "we do not plan to address it". Any of those would work for me.

As to how long I'm willing to wait (or how long until I quit), that's not really going to be determined by their answer. My patience runs out when either frustration outweighs my fun, or enough of my friends migrate to a new game that I go off and play with them. What it will determine is whether I ever look back on the game or not. If there's hope of it being fixed, I'll check back in to see if that fix has taken place. It's not a lot, I know.. but customer service, which is what that is, does go a long way in keeping customer's long term. I would venture a guess that people would be more willing to check back if they knew for sure that SE at least acknowledged it was something they needed to look into/fix.

See, the bolded part is the forbidden reply that SE cannot say at all costs. I'm not saying you would immediately run off (you seem like a lady of your word for sure), but a quick look around this forum tells me that "we do not have plans to address it" will be the death sentence for a lot of players. I'm pretty sure SE doesn't want to lose their money like that lol. But those first two answers don't seem so appealing either... it could easily just be perceived as "PR crap" like someone around here so kindly put it. I consider myself one of the most optimistic people in the world and even I would have a hard time believing whatever SE had to say about the issue. I don't know, it's kinda sad to think about it that way.

[Sunarie]

See, the bolded part is the forbidden reply that SE cannot say at all costs. I'm not saying you would immediately run off (you seem like a lady of your word for sure), but a quick look around this forum tells me that "we do not have plans to address it" will be the death sentence for a lot of players. I'm pretty sure SE doesn't want to lose their money like that lol. But those first two answers don't seem so appealing either... it could easily just be perceived as "PR crap" like someone around here so kindly put it. I consider myself one of the most optimistic people in the world and even I would have a hard time believing whatever SE had to say about the issue. I don't know, it's kinda sad to think about it that way.

Yeah, I understand that part of it.. I just think saying something (even if it is just PR crap) would be better than nothing. I mean.. that's what the PR department is there for right? I also think if they don't plan on addressing it then it will end up damaging their reputation more for future titles if they keep quiet and pretend it doesn't exist. There have been lots of MMOs, or products, with botched releases that retain customers by how they react to them. As silly as it is to talk about trust between a company and a customer, that bit is important. Customers need to trust that the company will address concerns, especially major concerns. When a company breaks that trust, as SE is doing by remaining utterly silent on the matter, it takes considerably more effort to regain that customer after they leave.

I should probably state that I use to work as a customer service rep for Amazon. So my expectations on customer service, and establishing trust with your customer are exceedingly high.

[Alcyon_Densetsu]

oops
(answers to your questions are above, Arcari. Post #116)
(for whatever reason I posted here but I had reserved a post above already )

Yeah, I understand that part of it.. I just think saying something (even if it is just PR crap) would be better than nothing. I mean.. that's what the PR department is there for right? I also think if they don't plan on addressing it then it will end up damaging their reputation more for future titles if they keep quiet and pretend it doesn't exist. There have been lots of MMOs, or products, with botched releases that retain customers by how they react to them. As silly as it is to talk about trust between a company and a customer, that bit is important. Customers need to trust that the company will address concerns, especially major concerns. When a company breaks that trust, as SE is doing by remaining utterly silent on the matter, it takes considerably more effort to regain that customer after they leave.

I should probably state that I use to work as a customer service rep for Amazon. So my expectations on customer service, and establishing trust with your customer are exceedingly high.

I so agree with all that. Well, maybe I just think that at this point they need substantial PR as in the noble sense of "public relations" and not just some spin doctoring that wouldn't mean much, but I totally agree with the rest.

And why am I not surprised you worked for Amazon? So indeed, you do know how incredibly good customer support can be, and how it goes a long way towards building a lasting trust with your customers. Which is what matters most, much more than selling one product or two, much more than losing a dollar here and there.