AN OPEN LETTER TO VERANT INTERACTIVE [Author: Snowspinner]
And it should come as no big surprise to you that the reputation of your CS is, frankly, shit. I’m sure you’re aware of the reasons for this. You seem intelligent folks. You surely recognize that policies that lead to people seemingly arbitrarily getting banned from your game, constant reports of rude GMs, and a complete lack of awareness as to what the major bugs are in your game does not and never will come across as quality customer service.
Let’s face it here. You’re not exactly going out of your way to address concerns. A full week has passed since the Sleeper awoke, and you haven’t gotten around to telling us if we’re right, and you still didn’t finish the script. Instead, you’re giving us breaking news about lying down. Thanks, Verant. That really, you know, makes me feel like you’re looking at important problems in the game.
No doubt, at this point, you expect me to go off about how maybe it would help if Absor or Abashi or someone ever bothered to stop by the Lum boards and post a quick note telling us what’s up with some aspect of the game. I mean, we’ve got other developers who stop by here pretty regularly to tell us things like that. Ashen Temper all but owns our Shadowbane board. You guys seem, however, conspicuously absent. Maybe you expect a string of expletives. A reference to your Magical Wonder Crackpipe(tm).
Nope.
Why not? Because, frankly, I’m obviously in the minority in caring. Because apparently your player base is expanding. And, yeah, I could go off about how the next generation of games will kick your ass because of their customer support. But the next generation is already here, and their customer support seems to be taking all its cues from you. Maybe DAoC or Shadowbane will put you down. But I doubt it. You’re already pretty well entrenched.
Yeah, the sentiment that your CS is a steaming pile of shit is a pretty popular one around these parts. But we have what, 3265 registered users here on the message boards. Probably a bunch more who read the articles, but that’s not even close to your player base. And not all of the people here even play EverQuest. And how many of the people here are really talking about quitting the game?
Not a hell of a lot. And a whole bunch of the people who have quit from these boards have gone back. Some of them three or four times. I could try to start a campaign to get people to cancel their accounts, but you know how much support I’d get? Right. I thought so.
And, frankly, I wouldn’t support myself either. Because, like the rest of your players, I’m willing to put up with the bullshit you try to pass off as customer support. Because I’m addicted. Just like every fucking one else. And you’re not banning me, or anyone I know (Not that I can honestly say I’d quit if you banned someone I know). You’re banning a bunch of nameless, faceless people out there that I can easily block out of my mind. Mystere? Whatever. Conquest? OK, sure, exploiters, right. Tweety? Great website, but eh. And those are the high profile ones. You bet your ass I don’t care about the little guys who don’t make the headlines. I just wanna play my game in peace.
Outrage is easy. Action is hard. And, as you seem to have figured out, most of us aren’t gonna take the plunge and do something about it. I know I’m not.
Congratulations, Verant. You’ve figured out how to fuck us up the ass and make us like it.
So when will that lying down command get implemented, anyway?