Idiots with keyboards, aka. "How to screw up a client relationship"

[Angel_de_Combate]

Originally Posted by linuxslacker2

what ara said is true but....

4 months to get a reply to fix a database error with a character is way too long
more then 2 weeks till silent thoughts got a reply in the thread/ingame
etc...etc....

2 weeks imho should be the maximum time anything takes and you should prob aim to get most issues sorted(or atleast responded to) within 2-3 days of the user emailing

the user should be patient but you cant expect them to wait months and still not get any reply you guys do have to improve customer service heaps

Sorry but i agree +1

[Linuxmage]

Very well written, and completely true.

To linuxslacker:

Ok, its clear you are used to large software development houses, but NGD is a very small team of people in comparison to others.

The reason that emails dont get read, and responded to often is that there is no dedicated customer service. At all.

I'm not sure of exact numbers working on this project, but I believe it to be less than 20 people in total. All of these people are developers, full time ones, and their days are taken up by, would you believe it, developing the software.

The customer service email box fills up, and, should one of the community managers find the time, then they will look through it, and respond to the most urgent of these.

However, this task is a last priority in their day, as most of it is taken up by just trying to get the current release working efficiently and working on the next item in the line, which is currently the new character models.

Have you any idea just how long it takes to do animation? One character model can take weeks of work, just to get the basics in. Then, you have to add in the armour, all combinations of it.

I know a lot of developers who have so much to do, that they take their work home with them, and, maybe, in the evenings, get around to some customer support work. They aren't paid for this.

Most other large software houses have dedicated customer support, and employ entire teams of people just to deal with players of their MMO games.

NGD does not do this at all. This is why the game is Free-to-play. They cannot afford to employ people just to answer customer queries and solve player problems.

[mr_scsi]

Originally Posted by Linuxmage

Very well written, and completely true.

Most other large software houses have dedicated customer support, and employ entire teams of people just to deal with players of their MMO games.

NGD does not do this at all. This is why the game is Free-to-play. They cannot afford to employ people just to answer customer queries and solve player problems.

This kind of touches on an addition I was going to add to make to Ara's original monologue.

Most software projects, be they a large development house or a small mom&pop shop, are run on a strict shoestring budget with crazy justification requirements for any over runs or additions (read additional staff).

I can't imagine how NGD is handling this on a free to play basis. That has to make the budgeting process that much more difficult.

To put it in perspective, imagine being bummed because you don't have beer money for the rest of this month when..... bam!!! all of a sudden the car won't start..... and its laundry day but the washer is on the fritz......why'd I get outta bed this morning?