Thread: Some fun: The community manager we could have had

I'd like to say an honest "thank you for being awesome" to our transparent, honest, and receptive development team here at FFXIV. Your hard work, dedication, and above all willingness to make the game what we'd like it to be is noted, makes us feel valued, and is appreciated by us.


If you're still interested, and want a laugh just take a look at the kind of community manager we could have had, if SE was a different kind of company:

Preface: For those of you who don't know much about Diablo III, its a Blizzard game where you're able to pay real money for gear. Some of this gear sells for upwards of $200, most especially gear with a particular stat - "Increased Attack Speed" (or IAS).

Recently Blizzard's development team saw fit to reduce its effectiveness (nerf) by more than 50%, leaving many players who'd paid hundreds, and in some cases thousands of dollars on gear understandably upset.

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Here's Diablo III's community manager, Bashiok, responding to a relatively constructive (by battle.net forums standards) post, worried that other useful stats, which many people pay money for, would be reduced in effectiveness after the fact:

"...We don't want people to be afraid of nerfs, and ... I guess maybe I can try to get that across by saying we could have nerfed a bunch of stats that probably deserve it to some degree, but we didn't (aren't you thankful!?)...." Source
Although this is only part of Bashiok's response, it is the part that the community reacted to.
"Arent You Thankful?" is the response to thousands of gamers who (in my opinion rather foolishly) spent hundreds of dollars on gear which is now effectively useless. Here's how the community reacted:

"Yes we're thankful that you didn't make the game even worse than it is. Just stop replying to threads." Source

"I don't know how that could be less reassuring or more condescending." Source

"How the !@#$ do you still have a job Bashiok seriously? ...I'd love to be able to treat people like idiots, answer back, make completely idiotic mistakes all day every day and get away with it... Is Blizzard hiring?" Source

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Although I did pick specific samples, virtually nobody (in that thread, who chose to post) wasn't offended. This is actually pretty typical of the kind of treatment customers receive from Blizzard's employees when voicing their concerns. Condescending, dismissive, and laced with contempt for the player.


Makes me pretty glad I play FFXIV, and thankful for all the folks we have here, who appreciate us. Here's to you guys.

-SV

Originally Posted by Frein

To be fair, they must realize that when purchasing in-game items like this, they risk losing value as the game changes. The purchaser assumes counterparty risk and he has no way to protect himself from it. The "aren't you thankful" part was quite the gaffe, though.

I agree, which is why I only play for free, casually, and only when there's nobody online I know in FFXIV to group with.

Still, though, I can understand people getting upset. Imagine a thing you paid for stops working like you thought it was supposed to, then the guy who sold it to you tells you that you should be thankful it isn't more broken, lol. Contract or no, I'd punch the guy in the face.

Originally Posted by Frein

But it wasn't even Blizzard who sold them the item, it was another player. I guess the correct term would have been third party risk.

Technically true, but it was Blizzard who hosted the sale, and blizzard who made the item worthless. Its like the auctioneer at a real auction - he isn't actually the one getting the money, but he's the one selling it, and the one who broke it after you bought it.

I'd be punching the auctioneer, not the guy who sold it to me - he's innocent here.

I DO think people need to watch what they do with their money more though, and realize they can get ripped off.