A German commenting on German politics
1 week ago
Showing posts with label Blizzard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blizzard. Show all posts
In the past couple of days, I kept trying to write a post, but couldn't bring myself to do it.
I had a case of the Blizzard Blues. I think Larisa was feeling similarly.
It came from a feeling of complete and utter betrayal and disenchantment. I felt stupid and ashamed for feeling so let down by a corporation. I've never been a fan of big businesses; how could I have been such a fool? How could I have let a corporate entity emotionally affect me to such a degree? How pathetic. Don't worry, I recognized it; And I felt the bigger fool due to it.
Now, don't get me wrong, I recognize that Blizzard is a business and that they not only need to keep making money, but that they have to continually try and find ways to make MORE money. That's capitalism baby.
But Real ID on the forums was one step too far. Over the past week the community came out in droves to protect themselves and maintain the fantasy in their fantasy game. And there were, I should note, a lot of people who thought Real ID on the forums was either a good idea, or at least okay and nothing to worry about. I don't begrudge you your opinion on the matter. I think the majority of the WoW community recognizes that something needs to be done about the forums.
However, the vast and most vocal of the community stepped up to the plate and told Blizz how they felt. From the forums themselves, to the blogger community, the the gaming community at large, all the way up to the Washington Post and major news channels, we made our opinion loud and clear.
And Blizzard listened.
Every time there's a nerf; Everytime people demand some change in the game, it is unlikely that Blizz will make the changes demanded just because the customers insist they should. But there's a big difference between the developers trying to make a game that will function well, and the corporate structure trying to push big changes that the customer does not want. Don't confuse the two.
Blizz is always listening, due mostly to the efforts of their Community Managers, who go out and stand, like a fly on the wall, and take note of what we are saying - of what we want, of what we hate. They do a hell of a lot more than click that lock button in the forums, and I think they should get credit for that. They don't just monitor the forums; they read the blogs, they are the lifeline to the community. If you bloggers check your stats often enough, you will catch them from time to time, stopping by to see what you have to say.
And they communicated our message loud and clear to the powers that be at Blizzard. And despite how much the original decision to implement Real ID on the forums sickened me, despite how much faith I lost in this company, and despite the fact that they may still try to do something similar in the future, I will always know that when it really counted, they were willing to listen to the community and reverse a massive business model decision. I'm sure there are lots of financial and PR reasons why the choice was made; But I don't care. By the time the announcement got to us, they had undoubtedly already invested a lot of time and resources into implementing it.
I'm proud of Blizzard. It's not always easy to admit when you're wrong. But I actually have a hell of a lot more respect for a company that is willing to reverse a mistake than a company that never even makes one.
(Also, to Nethaera... I hope you were pretty excited you got to be the one to post this letter!)
I had a case of the Blizzard Blues. I think Larisa was feeling similarly.
It came from a feeling of complete and utter betrayal and disenchantment. I felt stupid and ashamed for feeling so let down by a corporation. I've never been a fan of big businesses; how could I have been such a fool? How could I have let a corporate entity emotionally affect me to such a degree? How pathetic. Don't worry, I recognized it; And I felt the bigger fool due to it.
Now, don't get me wrong, I recognize that Blizzard is a business and that they not only need to keep making money, but that they have to continually try and find ways to make MORE money. That's capitalism baby.
But Real ID on the forums was one step too far. Over the past week the community came out in droves to protect themselves and maintain the fantasy in their fantasy game. And there were, I should note, a lot of people who thought Real ID on the forums was either a good idea, or at least okay and nothing to worry about. I don't begrudge you your opinion on the matter. I think the majority of the WoW community recognizes that something needs to be done about the forums.
However, the vast and most vocal of the community stepped up to the plate and told Blizz how they felt. From the forums themselves, to the blogger community, the the gaming community at large, all the way up to the Washington Post and major news channels, we made our opinion loud and clear.
And Blizzard listened.
Every time there's a nerf; Everytime people demand some change in the game, it is unlikely that Blizz will make the changes demanded just because the customers insist they should. But there's a big difference between the developers trying to make a game that will function well, and the corporate structure trying to push big changes that the customer does not want. Don't confuse the two.
Blizz is always listening, due mostly to the efforts of their Community Managers, who go out and stand, like a fly on the wall, and take note of what we are saying - of what we want, of what we hate. They do a hell of a lot more than click that lock button in the forums, and I think they should get credit for that. They don't just monitor the forums; they read the blogs, they are the lifeline to the community. If you bloggers check your stats often enough, you will catch them from time to time, stopping by to see what you have to say.
And they communicated our message loud and clear to the powers that be at Blizzard. And despite how much the original decision to implement Real ID on the forums sickened me, despite how much faith I lost in this company, and despite the fact that they may still try to do something similar in the future, I will always know that when it really counted, they were willing to listen to the community and reverse a massive business model decision. I'm sure there are lots of financial and PR reasons why the choice was made; But I don't care. By the time the announcement got to us, they had undoubtedly already invested a lot of time and resources into implementing it.
I'm proud of Blizzard. It's not always easy to admit when you're wrong. But I actually have a hell of a lot more respect for a company that is willing to reverse a mistake than a company that never even makes one.
(Also, to Nethaera... I hope you were pretty excited you got to be the one to post this letter!)
Hello everyone,
I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as the ability to rate posts up or down, post highlighting based on rating, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.
I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.
In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/ ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.company/about/mission .html
Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment
Labels:
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The Know Your Blues Series
Do you enjoy the role playing aspects of World of Warcraft? Have you always wanted an Epic Mug of your very own? Then perhaps you are already familiar with today's featured Blue Poster: Vaneras.
I can't deny that I am a bit biased in favor of Vaneras as one of the best Blue posters (technically he is an Online Community Representative, unlike Nethaera and others, who are Community Managers). After all, his icon is the classic Dwarf Hunter, with his faithful polar bear pet at his side. We Americans don't see too much of the Danish Vaneras over on our forums, as he usually spends his time on the EU forums. That having been said, whenever I see a post by Vaneras, I immediately want to read it. He strikes me as the heartily laughing, jolly sort, with his epic mug always full of ale, and happy to help posters with their questions.
Vaneras continues to be an engaging presence on the EU forums, asking questions intended to inspire fun community discussions, posting polls, community news, and requesting feedback within the forum threads in creative and fun ways. When asking players for feedback regarding the last arena season, he decided the poetic approach was best.
Some players rank high,
some players rank low,
the arena season's soon over,
and here we ponder – how did it go?
(Did you picture him bellowing forth those words in Larisa's Inn with fabulous bravado, swinging around a large mug of ale? Because I did!)
He doesn't stand back in the shadows, quietly moderating, banning, deleting threads like many other moderators may do. He joins in on discussions he enjoys and provides his own answers. Blues usually have to take care which threads they post in, because their posts are tracked – anytime a blue responds to a thread, it will inevitably receive a large amount of traffic.
Therefore, when Vaneras posts in a thread, he often does it intentionally to highlight it and bring more people into the fun discussion – even if he only posts a smiley face. Sometimes he states it in his post, and other times he is a bit more subtle when encouraging others to join in on the discussion by simply providing his own answers (which still gives the post the precious Blue Tag). This increases the feeling of community amongst forum goers – and it is something at which he truly excels.
When Blizzard has what they perceive as an important "announcement" to make to players, you will usually find this in a separate post, created by a Blue. Vaneras, however, is known to make such informative announcements within an already existing thread. It's very subtle, but doing it this way is actually better – Vaneras' response has effectively suggested that the OP has asked a great question – and asked it in a constructive way that encourages discussion and feedback. Posts like this make players feel that they are being listened to, and inspires them to make more posts that are thoughtful and positive, instead of the constant whining and complaining.
He often joins in on threads that have questions he thinks could provide particularly interesting feedback. By doing this, he marks the post as a "Blue" and encourages many players who normally do not read through all the material on the forums (such as myself) to join in on the thread discussion. Of all the blue posters I've been watching over the past month, Vaneras seems to do this best. When he posts in a thread (most likely to give it more visibility with a blue tag) he also joins in on the discussions.
One of my favorite things to see among blue posters is playful rivalry and joking between them. It makes the blue text seem a little more human when we can pick up on aspects of their personality, and their sense of humor. Too often it seems that blue posts are canned responses that have obviously been thoroughly nitpicked to be sure that everything stated can be defended in the face of inevitable criticism. Therefore, players love to see folks like Vaneras pop into a thread to cheerfully join in on player discussions, and bring in some of their fellow blues.
I always enjoy the exchanges between Vaneras and Ancilorn – if you do too, here are two separate examples: "How social are you in Worldof Warcraft?" and "Topics probably not worth bringing up" to which Vaneras occasionally redirects posters! Ancilorn, however, seems to feel that Vaneras warrants nerfing.
He invites and encourages players to arrange fun and engaging community encounters in game, giving them suggestions on how to do it to improve their gameplay. As I've been watching and bookmarking so many of his forum responses, I have to say that I'm always interested in the threads in which he posts. He is helpful to players far beyond simple game mechanics – any time his interest in piqued, you are bound to find a Vaneras response. He takes time to look up resources for players, even if they are not forum-based resources. I mean, how can you see a post like that and not think "Wow, what a genuinely nice dude?"
He makes a concerted effort at times to be sure the players understand and recognize that while the blue posters may not always be able to provide an answer to every inquiry, and while they may not be able to post on every thread they might like to, they are listening – and they are taking player concerns into great consideration.
And remember folks, Vaneras asks that "If you can't post your concerns without also adding insults or abuse, then we prefer that you do not post at all!"
Well said, Vaneras. I raise my epic mug to you in salute!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to send some feedback to Blizzard regarding your experience with a CM? Love 'em or hate 'em (despite what Eyonix may assume), the email addy is here: wowcmfeedback@blizzard.com
RMT - Real Money Trading.
Love it or hate it, it has arrived in the World of Warcraft, amidst shouts of horror, disgust, and joy.
What it means for you as a player (AKA a customer), is that you can purchase game-based amenities with real world dollars. Traditionally you purchased things in-game with in-game currency. If you wanted to trade some of your cold hard real world cash for in-game fun (aside from purchasing the game and paying a subscription), you would have to go do some shady business with a mysteriously falling-from-the-sky-dead-spelling-out-a-URL gold seller.
There are plenty of games out on the market that are technically F2P - meaning free to play. No cost for the game, no subscription fee. However, the game is massively improved upon by purchasing additions with real world money (think Evony... or don't. It makes me cringe - which is why I won't even link to it).
Where do you draw the line? When is a little RMT... too much RMT?
Everyone's talking about it... but I haven't. In fact, I've kept my mouth completely shut about it, because sometimes I'm simply not sure how I feel about it - other times I feel very strongly, but don't feel like getting flamed.
This is mainly due to the fact that I have a very solid rule about games and money. I pay for the game itself, and will not pay for anything else. I had to bend this rule for WoW, which is one of the main reasons I waited for years before I started playing it - that's how seriously I take my rule. I finally broke down and paid for the actual WoW game AND the subscription, and I figure that's enough. I draw the line at purchasing anything else, which is why I have never, and most likely will never, change servers. The only other exception I made to this rule was when I purchased a Lil' KT for my fiance for Christmas... and I debated over doing that for weeks. I decided that since I wanted to buy him something anyway, I would make the exception - the money was going to be spent regardless.
When it comes to F2P games, I absolutely do not purchase any extra amenities... it's against my rule. I am not, however, opposed to these F2P games charging for the real meat of the game. They put in the effort and time and money investing in their product, and therefore it makes sense they they find a source of compensation for that. I am, at heart, a capitalist. I take issue with Evony for other reasons I won't go into here, but I think most F2P games are great in principle, and have nothing against them.
So then, let's bring this back to WoW. There have always been ways to pay for in-game services, but they weren't necessarily sponsored or legal in Blizzard ToS terms. I know several people who sold characters via ebay, and the gold-sellers need no explanation. The only semi-sponsored in-game items you could "purchase" with real world money up until the pets were available via the Trading Card Game. It wasn't easy to get a mount TCG card though... and if you wanted one, you more than likely how to shell out quite a bit of money on ebay to buy one.
For as long as I can remember, you were permitted to change your character to another server, provided you pay a fee.
Later, a new service was added where you could change the name of you character, as well as the sex (for a fee).
Then you could change your faction (for a fee).
And then the whole world exploded, because Blizzard started selling very nice in game pets for 10 dollars each. To soften this blow, until the end of this past December, half of the money you paid for your Pandaren Monk pet would be donated to a worthy charity. Call me a cynic, but what a great PR move. I said screw that and donated 20 dollars directly to a charity myself. That having been said, my only real beef with this item was that it counted towards your plenty of pets achievement.
And now for the next tier... Bornakk has announced that Blizzard will hopefully soon be offering a new "premium-based service" that will allow people to access the Auction House via their mobile device... for a fee.
To be honest, I don't really know how I feel about this yet. I don't know what all Auction House abilities players will have via mobile device. I don't know yet what they will do to prevent scams and gold farmers from making great use of this. And I love my iPhone, and I don't know how much the app will cost. I also don't know what will be available for free (hurrah!!) and what will be "premium based" (boo) but if I had to hazard a guess, I would agree with Matticus' theories. So, will it be a one time charge? An additional cost to your subscription? Does it even matter?
I do know that Blizz has stated in the past that while they are breaching the realm of RMT, they have limitations - they want to implement RMT "in a way that won't disrupt the gameplay experience". They do not want a player who pays more money to gain advantage over one who pays the basic game+subsciption fee.
I've already stated that I'm a capitalist. I believe that RMT is hitting the gaming world by storm, and Blizzard wants to stay competitive by branching out into different money making approaches. I'm not necessarily opposed to this addition.
But I do have a question: Who decides what is the marker of the "gameplay experience"?
Is gameplay only competitive raiding?
Is gameplay all about making gold?
Is gameplay the pursuit of more achievements?
Is gameplay the pwning of opposite factions in PvP?
Is gameplay all about having your ideal RP toon?
Because paying to purchase pets affects achievements. Paying to switch servers affects competitive raiding. Paying to change name and sex affects RP. And paying for premium out of game AH service affects gold most of all, but every other facet of the game indirectly.
Blizzard built a rich alternate universe in which there is some aspect of the game that could entertain most everyone. I hate PvP, but I have nothing against those that enjoy it. I don't RP, but I don't make fun of those who choose to do so. Gevlon is the king of gold-making, and it is obviously something in which he finds pleasure and entertainment. It's not my thing, but it's also not my 15 bucks a month - if someone wants to sit around all day and take screenshots of me dancing naked with Power Infusion, who am I to tell them that it's dumb? It's not my money, it's theirs, and as long as it does not negatively affect the aspects of the game that I enjoy, I really don't care.
Therefore, when you say that on principle you want to implement paid services "in a way that won't disrupt the gameplay experience", then you are asking for trouble. Don't kid yourself. It all affects gameplay. When you suggest that it doesn't, it is an insult to the people who enjoy one aspect of gameplay over another.
But I have a bit more faith in Blizzard. I also know enough about their forum announcements to recognize how they usually prefer to tell us about something when it is already implemented - not long before hand. When they announce something like this, I interpret it as their desire to receive feedback on it before implementation. Like it or not, folks, AH access outside of the game is coming. The details, however... the nitty gritty... perhaps that is not completely determined yet. Perhaps they have yet to decide for sure what will be free, and what will be a "premium-based service".
I'm going to take the Coco-line here and say this much: Don't become a cynic. Whether or not forum trolls want to recognize it, Blizzard does listen to their customers. They do not always directly respond to each individual, but they are reading what the masses say. The proof lies in my Blizzard IP-traced hits from my post about why Oculus is a failure. They are listening, my friends. Business is business, but it is in the best interest of their product and their bottom line to listen to the players and find the optimal way to make money (i.e. retaining customers) which also requires a reasonable attempt to keep their players happy. It doesn't mean you're gonna get a pony - but it does mean that they want your feedback. The trick is to provide it in a constructive way.
Despite my reservations and my personal rules, I'm not sure how I feel about the RMT trend in WoW. I do want to hear your thoughts.
But I think Blizzard wants to hear them even more. Onward to ye forums! This doesn't mean I encourage you to go out and get nasty and banned from the forums - but tell Blizz what you think. Are you as excited as Matticus about this? Are you on the fence like me? Are you completely against it like many others most assuredly will be? Do you think it represents a slightly frightening trend? Tell Blizz, but do it in a constructive way - and then link your forum post in the comments!
ETA: The Green Armadillo has posted a very interesting... uhm... post... about the AH services on the horizon. I invite you all to go read it! He touches on many of the same things about which I've wondered here. Except, you know, less TLDRish.
Love it or hate it, it has arrived in the World of Warcraft, amidst shouts of horror, disgust, and joy.
What it means for you as a player (AKA a customer), is that you can purchase game-based amenities with real world dollars. Traditionally you purchased things in-game with in-game currency. If you wanted to trade some of your cold hard real world cash for in-game fun (aside from purchasing the game and paying a subscription), you would have to go do some shady business with a mysteriously falling-from-the-sky-dead-spelling-out-a-URL gold seller.
There are plenty of games out on the market that are technically F2P - meaning free to play. No cost for the game, no subscription fee. However, the game is massively improved upon by purchasing additions with real world money (think Evony... or don't. It makes me cringe - which is why I won't even link to it).
Where do you draw the line? When is a little RMT... too much RMT?
Everyone's talking about it... but I haven't. In fact, I've kept my mouth completely shut about it, because sometimes I'm simply not sure how I feel about it - other times I feel very strongly, but don't feel like getting flamed.
This is mainly due to the fact that I have a very solid rule about games and money. I pay for the game itself, and will not pay for anything else. I had to bend this rule for WoW, which is one of the main reasons I waited for years before I started playing it - that's how seriously I take my rule. I finally broke down and paid for the actual WoW game AND the subscription, and I figure that's enough. I draw the line at purchasing anything else, which is why I have never, and most likely will never, change servers. The only other exception I made to this rule was when I purchased a Lil' KT for my fiance for Christmas... and I debated over doing that for weeks. I decided that since I wanted to buy him something anyway, I would make the exception - the money was going to be spent regardless.
When it comes to F2P games, I absolutely do not purchase any extra amenities... it's against my rule. I am not, however, opposed to these F2P games charging for the real meat of the game. They put in the effort and time and money investing in their product, and therefore it makes sense they they find a source of compensation for that. I am, at heart, a capitalist. I take issue with Evony for other reasons I won't go into here, but I think most F2P games are great in principle, and have nothing against them.
So then, let's bring this back to WoW. There have always been ways to pay for in-game services, but they weren't necessarily sponsored or legal in Blizzard ToS terms. I know several people who sold characters via ebay, and the gold-sellers need no explanation. The only semi-sponsored in-game items you could "purchase" with real world money up until the pets were available via the Trading Card Game. It wasn't easy to get a mount TCG card though... and if you wanted one, you more than likely how to shell out quite a bit of money on ebay to buy one.
For as long as I can remember, you were permitted to change your character to another server, provided you pay a fee.
Later, a new service was added where you could change the name of you character, as well as the sex (for a fee).
Then you could change your faction (for a fee).
And then the whole world exploded, because Blizzard started selling very nice in game pets for 10 dollars each. To soften this blow, until the end of this past December, half of the money you paid for your Pandaren Monk pet would be donated to a worthy charity. Call me a cynic, but what a great PR move. I said screw that and donated 20 dollars directly to a charity myself. That having been said, my only real beef with this item was that it counted towards your plenty of pets achievement.
And now for the next tier... Bornakk has announced that Blizzard will hopefully soon be offering a new "premium-based service" that will allow people to access the Auction House via their mobile device... for a fee.
To be honest, I don't really know how I feel about this yet. I don't know what all Auction House abilities players will have via mobile device. I don't know yet what they will do to prevent scams and gold farmers from making great use of this. And I love my iPhone, and I don't know how much the app will cost. I also don't know what will be available for free (hurrah!!) and what will be "premium based" (boo) but if I had to hazard a guess, I would agree with Matticus' theories. So, will it be a one time charge? An additional cost to your subscription? Does it even matter?
I do know that Blizz has stated in the past that while they are breaching the realm of RMT, they have limitations - they want to implement RMT "in a way that won't disrupt the gameplay experience". They do not want a player who pays more money to gain advantage over one who pays the basic game+subsciption fee.
I've already stated that I'm a capitalist. I believe that RMT is hitting the gaming world by storm, and Blizzard wants to stay competitive by branching out into different money making approaches. I'm not necessarily opposed to this addition.
But I do have a question: Who decides what is the marker of the "gameplay experience"?
Is gameplay only competitive raiding?
Is gameplay all about making gold?
Is gameplay the pursuit of more achievements?
Is gameplay the pwning of opposite factions in PvP?
Is gameplay all about having your ideal RP toon?
Because paying to purchase pets affects achievements. Paying to switch servers affects competitive raiding. Paying to change name and sex affects RP. And paying for premium out of game AH service affects gold most of all, but every other facet of the game indirectly.
Blizzard built a rich alternate universe in which there is some aspect of the game that could entertain most everyone. I hate PvP, but I have nothing against those that enjoy it. I don't RP, but I don't make fun of those who choose to do so. Gevlon is the king of gold-making, and it is obviously something in which he finds pleasure and entertainment. It's not my thing, but it's also not my 15 bucks a month - if someone wants to sit around all day and take screenshots of me dancing naked with Power Infusion, who am I to tell them that it's dumb? It's not my money, it's theirs, and as long as it does not negatively affect the aspects of the game that I enjoy, I really don't care.
Therefore, when you say that on principle you want to implement paid services "in a way that won't disrupt the gameplay experience", then you are asking for trouble. Don't kid yourself. It all affects gameplay. When you suggest that it doesn't, it is an insult to the people who enjoy one aspect of gameplay over another.
But I have a bit more faith in Blizzard. I also know enough about their forum announcements to recognize how they usually prefer to tell us about something when it is already implemented - not long before hand. When they announce something like this, I interpret it as their desire to receive feedback on it before implementation. Like it or not, folks, AH access outside of the game is coming. The details, however... the nitty gritty... perhaps that is not completely determined yet. Perhaps they have yet to decide for sure what will be free, and what will be a "premium-based service".
I'm going to take the Coco-line here and say this much: Don't become a cynic. Whether or not forum trolls want to recognize it, Blizzard does listen to their customers. They do not always directly respond to each individual, but they are reading what the masses say. The proof lies in my Blizzard IP-traced hits from my post about why Oculus is a failure. They are listening, my friends. Business is business, but it is in the best interest of their product and their bottom line to listen to the players and find the optimal way to make money (i.e. retaining customers) which also requires a reasonable attempt to keep their players happy. It doesn't mean you're gonna get a pony - but it does mean that they want your feedback. The trick is to provide it in a constructive way.
Despite my reservations and my personal rules, I'm not sure how I feel about the RMT trend in WoW. I do want to hear your thoughts.
But I think Blizzard wants to hear them even more. Onward to ye forums! This doesn't mean I encourage you to go out and get nasty and banned from the forums - but tell Blizz what you think. Are you as excited as Matticus about this? Are you on the fence like me? Are you completely against it like many others most assuredly will be? Do you think it represents a slightly frightening trend? Tell Blizz, but do it in a constructive way - and then link your forum post in the comments!
ETA: The Green Armadillo has posted a very interesting... uhm... post... about the AH services on the horizon. I invite you all to go read it! He touches on many of the same things about which I've wondered here. Except, you know, less TLDRish.
Apparently today is the day of "of the Day"s.
This is actually from yesterday, but this forum post was pretty funny. Since you may not be able to hit up the forums from work, I'll C&P.
Please Remove the World!
What made this really great was Zarhym's response.
This is actually from yesterday, but this forum post was pretty funny. Since you may not be able to hit up the forums from work, I'll C&P.
Please Remove the World!
Seriously, everybody just afk queues in Dalaran all day long to get teleported to their instances or else join raids to get teleported too, so please let us uninstall everything in the game but that town once we reach level 80, and add an auction house in it.
And you also could give the option to never install the rest of the game at all and just install Dalaran and instances on our hard drive from the start! You can level from level 15 to 80 with random instances anyway!
That would be a great save of disk space! There is no World PvP and no World PVE to do anyway, just solo daily quests that are, I think we all agree, completely dull and boring.
Why did you create a World blizzard? We don't need it! Please let us save disk space!
Thanks.
What made this really great was Zarhym's response.
"Is Monday when a bunch of aspiring Jonathan Swifts hit the World of Warcraft forums? "
JackHole: Hey Blizzabeth. I think we need to have a talk.
Blizzabeth: Oh no, JackHole. That sounds serious. Is everything okay?
JackHole: Well… no. No, not really Blizzabeth. I'm just not happy in this relationship anymore. I feel you're being a kinda crappy wife actually. I want a divorce.
Blizzabeth: What?! JackHole, say it isn't so! Surely we can work through this; You're very important to me, our marriage is very important to me… Look, I'll do anything to save this marriage. Please, you must tell me: Why are you so unhappy? What can I do to salvage our relationship?
JackHole: Okay, fine. Some changes will definitely need to be made around here for certain though.
Blizzabeth: I'm always open to suggestions, JackHole. Please share them with me.
JackHole: Well, see, you say that. But just last week I asked you to grow a third breast, and you completely refused.
Blizzabeth: …
JackHole: See? You don't even try to deny it. You keep saying you'll make an appointment with the surgeon Soon™, but I'm sorry. I want that third breast NOW.
Blizzabeth: JackHole, I tried to explain to you… these things take time. I mean, I'm not sure if I'm comfortable having a third breast, but I am willing to at least look into it if it means so much to you. It's just that it's a pretty big endeavor, you know. You just need to have a little patience with me for such a huge change.
JackHole: Oh please. Pre-teen girls can grow TWO breasts, and you're an adult woman – I'm only asking you to grow ONE. Stop acting like it's such a big deal. Also, you're too tall, and I want you to be shorter.
Blizzabeth: I'm too tall? JackHole, that's the sort of thing that just… defines me. I mean, I can't exactly chop off my ankles!
JackHole: Why not?
Blizzabeth: … Well… because that... I mean that's not even… wha?
JackHole: Oh c'mon. You don't need to walk around that much. They DO have wheelchairs, you know. Oh, another thing. I don't know exactly how to say this, Blizzabeth, but… well, you're kinda a whore.
Blizzabeth: !!! I beg your pardon?
JackHole: It's just that, you're so easy. I mean, you are always there when I want you, always accessible, and there's just no challenge to get into your pantaloons anymore.
Blizzabeth: JackHole, just two years ago you told me I was too difficult and stand-offish. You said you felt like there was a whole realm of me that you never got to experience, and that it made you feel as though you weren't getting the most out of our relationship. I've tried to become accessible and available specifically because you asked me to!
JackHole: Yeah, well, it seemed to be working fine until I realized that other wives were becoming more accessible to their husbands as well. I thought maybe I was going to be the only one, and that would have been cool, but it's not anymore. Frankly, I'm a bit peeved that you gave into my demands so easily. Actually, it's too late for that. I think instead, I want you to just be male.
Blizzabeth: WHAT?!
JackHole: Yeah, this whole you-being-a-chick thing just isn't working out for me, and I'm bored and want to try something new. It's not really that hard to grow a penis, you know, you don't have to make it into this big "issue". Just the other day I saw a penis walking down the street.
Blizzabeth: JackHole, you can't be serious. This is what it's going to take to save our marriage?
JackHole: Mmmm, yeah pretty much. Look, you either change, or I'm outta here. Babe, you're competing with lots of other great folks out there, gotta tell ya. I met these two chicks named Eve and Aionia, and they are HOT.
Blizzabeth: I thought you said you were no longer interested in chicks, and that they bored you.
JackHole: Well, yeah, but that's only with you, actually. Eve and Aionia are totally different. I mean, except where they are like, the same.
Blizzabeth: You know what, JackHole? Sounds like I'm just not the person for you anymore. I give you what you want, and then you come back and tell me that you no longer want that, and that I ought to reverse myself for you. In fact, it seems like you want me to change all these things about myself that just define who I am. If that's the case, I just don't think there is any way I can salvage our relationship in the long run. I am who I am, JackHole, and if that's not what you want, then maybe you should just leave.
JackHole: WHAT? How dare you! You're my wife, you're supposed to do exactly what I ask! The husband is always right!
Blizzabeth: I'm fine with you making some relatively realistic suggestions about how we could improve this relationship. But your "suggestions" are just completely out there. I've got a lot of friends and family who happen to like who I am, and I don't feel like changing, transforming, or redefining myself just to make one person happy – a person who will probably change their mind in another couple of months. I wish you well JackHole, but I'm not really sad to see you go.
JackHole: Blizzabeth you are so stupid! I hate you! FAILFAILFAILFAILFAILOMGFAILIRLFAIL YOU ARE THE WORST WIFE EVAR
NB: Please note this is what some people refer to as a work of "parody" or perhaps even an "analogy", meant solely for laughs. I can't deny that even I, on occasion, have wished Blizzabeth would grow a third breast.
To start off this azure-overload, I’m going to begin with Nethaera. Why? Because she is well-known for playing a priest, and all three specs to boot. She’s also a rare Blizzard chick. And I’m a priest. And a chick. And this is my blog. So I’m biased. CHICK PRIEST POWAH
Who is She?
Her icon is a candle, blowing in the wind. She plays a priest (among other classes). She is known for her creative use of smiley-face emoticons, even when people are being characteristically rude on the forums. And she is also one of the few women popularly known to work at Blizzard.
Now, I’m not saying there are no girls at Blizz. But, when I think of women at Blizzard, the only one that comes to mind is Nethaera – and she is an awesome representative. I am very close to someone who works at a gaming company, and when he started his job there, he was required to sign a waiver in order to secure his employment that essentially said he would not sue the company if he were offended by potentially sexist or extreme female stereotypes in the act of doing his job. Think that’s completely unfair? Have you played Grand Theft Auto? Just sayin’.
While I doubt any such extreme policies exist at Blizzard, I still stand by the fact that Neth gets a hat tipped to her from this chick for no doubt putting up with a lot of crap. I wonder what she would say about Archetypes of the Female Gamer?
Her Posts
Are you looking for Priestly advice on the forums? If you have a question, Neth might provide your answer. In fact, depending on the current level of her caffeine consumption, she may provide even more!
· Disc Priest Needs Advice (wherein Nethaera gives us a nice buffet of her various smiling emoticons, and informs us that coffee is her RL mana pool. Amen sister.)
· I am Your Tank. (This post was cute because a tank came and posted in the Healing forums… and was welcomed with open arms by the rest of us healers in addition to Neth!)
· I Am Outraged. (In which Nethaera admits that she has not farmed quite enough trolls to be at the level where she can offer up ponies)
· PSA Re: Vote-Kicking Healers. (Even Neth admits that sometimes she just can’t resist doing a LITTLE damage whilst healing…)
· Shadow Priest single target dps still too low. (This is the post where Neth tells us a bit about her experience as a priest.)
· Sometimes Zarhym likes to put on his Nethaera mask, and pretend he’s an awesome chick priest as well.
· One of the few instances I’ve found in which Neth actually gets a little irritated when someone calls a little piece of RPing a “girl thing”.
· She politely declines a creepy forum gnome trying to hit on her.
But I think out of all the posts that Nethaera has made or in which she has participated, this one is the best. In it, Nethaera tells us a little about her philosophy - one that manifests itself in the patient, emoticon wielding CM we know and love.
I prefer to see the positive side of people even when they are being negative. I'd rather people be invested than be apathetic. Apathy adds nothing to conversation and yes, too much negativity draws away from it as well, but apathy is probably the worst of it.
If you don’t read the forum, you may still have read the interview and announcement when Dual-Speccing was released. Nethaera was the official interviewer asking community questions about Dual-Speccing from Ghostcrawler.
Supposedly she is also involved in Blizzcast, but I confess that ever since being spoiled by the quality of Save or Die, I don’t listen to many other podcasts. I may start listening to this one in particular though – and I will confess that one of the main reasons will mostly be to listen to Nathaera. FANBOI ALERT
On the Wowwiki page for Nethaera, there is also a link to an unfortunate incident in which Nethaera herself was victim to some hacking/mimicking/insert relevant internet badness term here.
Why I Love Her
Obviously, I relate to her because she’s a girl, and I love that she’s a priest. But more than anything else, I love her attitude. I’m sure you have to have a pretty thick skin in order to survive as a CM on the forums, but she goes above and beyond by always sporting some smiley faces (maybe they are grimaces, I don’t know for sure), and giving more class-based help than most other CMs. I don’t see a lot of other CMs giving direct aid to people asking for advice. They are usually too busy moderating, banning, locking, trying to deal with a feisty troll population. Nethaera, however, takes the time to respond to requests for help.
As someone who loves helping others who have questions myself, I respect anyone who takes the time out of their day (I don’t even think it’s a requirement of her job as a CM) to cheerfully offer help and advice to those who ask.
So here’s to you Nethaera! From one priest to another, thanks for doing a great job. Don’t let the trolls get you down – you are admired and respected by many others in the WoW community.
I absolutely loved reading Larisa’s “List of 2009” posts. My favorite, of course, was the section on the community.
But there was something that made me so very sad.
The largest response to “Most Charming Blizzard Employee”? Ghostcrawler.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I rather like Greg Street. I personally think he does a pretty good job, and I’m a fan. I have nothing against the guy. But I strongly suspect that the main reason so many people voted for Ghostcrawler is not actually because he is so charming, but rather because he is just so well known. I think a lot of people voted for him because they didn’t really know of anyone else to vote for. I would venture to say that a lot of us bloggers actually spend most of our time reading blogs and NOT the forums. This isn’t a criticism, mind you. We can’t all be as supah-fly as Megan, yo.
But most of us immerse ourselves in the blogging community because we simply love the concept of community. Ahmahgah we’re infested with socials.
So really, if you say you A) Love WoW and B) Love the concept of community, then I personally think it’s important you be informed who our Community Managers are.
Here’s your public service. I’m beginning a new series called Know Your Blues to introduce you to the best of the blue, and tell you why. I mean, maybe you already know that I follow Bornakk around like a little lost puppy dog drooling in Orc-stasy, but truly, there are other awesome Blues.
This post is a bit of a placeholder. I intend to keep a little table of contents here with links to my future Know Your Blues posts, and to provide something I can link to that will give a bit of background info regarding the series.
