Are the Community Managers really doing their job?
Recently on the forums, there has been quite an uproar over the fact that there are rarely, if ever, any posts by Community Managers (CMs) or Devs relaying information or updates to the community. Cries of abysmal customer service are being posted constantly on the forums. The player base feels that there needs to be more of an open line of communication so that the players are feeling less in the dark about current problems.
There is often the comparison from the Age of Conan CMs to the World of Warcraft CMs. The CMs of WoW are posting daily on the forums updating the players on future updates and just making it known that they are there and that they care. Where is this in AoC?
LordOrion, the Funcom Product Manager, seems to be the only one communicating with the players. This is what he has to say about this issue:
There are over one hundred thousand posts every week on the forum, and our community team is unfortunately extremely overworked just maintaining it. They too answer questions and talk to you all, but the unfortunate fact is that it’s not nearly enough due to the very high number of people here.
I do not work with community, but I do check the forums from time to time and I quite enjoy communication with you when I can. However, my job is also extremely busy so I can really only do it once in a while — and I will!
Now, our aim is to have one large announcement every month (newsletter, basically) where we tell you about what is going to happen in the future. We will also try and answer some questions on a weekly basis once we get settled a bit and this first month after launch is over.
Trust me — we really want to keep you as close as we can!
LordOrion brings up a valid point. If I recall correctly, the current amount of communication in WoW was never as solid as it is now when it first opened up. The forums were flooded with complaints and the community felt like none of the questions were being answered. Doesn’t the AoC community just need to give the game and CMs a little more time to get the game off the ground? Granted, many argue that it never should have been released since it seems so “unfinished”, but some feel it is quenching their thirst for a new MMO.
What do you think?
