September 2000
- Avault article: The End of the Smurfs? Zak Jarvis
- End of volunteers? Peter
- End of volunteers? Greg Underwood
- End of volunteers? Peter
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Lovecraft
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? F. Randall Farmer
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Koster, Raph
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? John Buehler
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Dave Rickey
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Jeff Freeman
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Madrona Tree
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? John Buehler
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Madrona Tree
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Koster, Raph
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? David Frank
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Koster, Raph
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Ananda Dawnsinger
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Matthew Mihaly
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Madrona Tree
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Koster, Raph
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Greg Underwood
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Greg Underwood
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Koster, Raph
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Greg Underwood
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Matthew Mihaly
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Greg Underwood
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Matthew Mihaly
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? David H. Loeser Jr
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Madrona Tree
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Josh Olson
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Jeff Freeman
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Josh Olson
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Jeff Freeman
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Zak Jarvis
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Matthew Mihaly
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Zak Jarvis
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Madman Across the Water
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Dave Rickey
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Madrona Tree
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Josh Olson
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Matthew Mihaly
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Dave Rickey
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Willowreed@aol.com
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? David H. Loeser Jr
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Willowreed@aol.com
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Batir
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? David H. Loeser Jr
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Dave Rickey
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Madrona Tree
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Corey Crawford
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Willowreed@aol.com
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Willowreed@aol.com
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Koster, Raph
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Dave Rickey
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Erik Jarvi
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Ananda Dawnsinger
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Willowreed@aol.com
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Erik Jarvi
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Shawn L Johnston
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Willowreed@aol.com
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Josh Olson
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? David H. Loeser Jr
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Willowreed@aol.com
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Mud Imp
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Greg Underwood
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? david.l.smith@home.com
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Koster, Raph
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Zak Jarvis
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Christopher Allen
- Criminalize Community Volunteers? Mud Imp
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #216 - 11 msgs Greg Miller
- MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #216 - 11 msgs Jon Lambert
- graphical arrogance Matthew Mihaly
- graphical arrogance Koster, Raph
- graphical arrogance Vincent Archer
- graphical arrogance Zak Jarvis
- graphical arrogance Matthew Mihaly
- Skotos Beta Test Signup Christopher Allen
- Side note (was: Criminalize Community Volunteers?) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Shadowbane Matthew Mihaly
- Game Balance and Mortal Complaints SmokEater952@aol.com
- Game Balance and Mortal Complaints David Bennett
- Game Balance and Mortal Complaints Lovecraft
- Game Balance and Mortal Complaints Patrick Dughi
- Game Balance and Mortal Complaints Val Trullinger
- The Solution to Criminalizing Community Volunteers? Jon Morrow
- The Solution to Criminalizing Community Volunteers? nbossett@herbert.com
- The Solution to Criminalizing Community Volunteers? Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Dave Rickey
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Koster, Raph
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Vincent Archer
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Dave Rickey
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Corey Crawford
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? gmiller@classic-games.com
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Koster, Raph
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Travis Casey
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Jeff Freeman
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Tess Lowe
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Jeff Freeman
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Andy
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Timothy Dang
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Taylor
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Nathan Clemons
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Madman Across the Water
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Corey Crawford
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Joe Andrieu
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Madman Across the Water
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Joe Andrieu
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Madman Across the Water
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Madman Across the Water
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Joe Andrieu
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Jon Lambert
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Peter
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Jon Lambert
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Koster, Raph
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? yvesk@brutele.be
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Dan Merillat
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Jeff Freeman
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Dave Rickey
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Jeff Freeman
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Eli Stevens
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Eli Stevens
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? John Buehler
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? John Buehler
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? John Buehler
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? John Buehler
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? John Buehler
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? rayzam
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Matthew Mihaly
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Luc Van den Borre
- Are eBay sales more than just a fad? Dave Rickey
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Michael Tresca
- MUD Coding Staff Structure David Bennett
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Erik Jarvi
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Marc Bowden
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Malcolm Tester
- MUD Coding Staff Structure David Bennett
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Daniel Podlejski
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Lars Duening
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Matthew Mihaly
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Steven Kaskinen
- MUD Coding Staff Structure gmiller@classic-games.com
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Taylor
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Matthew Mihaly
- MUD Coding Staff Structure rayzam
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Matthew Mihaly
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Michael Tresca
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Dave Rickey
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Matthew Mihaly
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Vincent Archer
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Malcolm Tester
- MUD Coding Staff Structure Koster, Raph
- OT: short abscence Greg Underwood
- MUD Licensing UCMM Administration
- question Matthew Mihaly
- Nomenclature (was: MUD Coding Staff Structure) Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Nomenclature (was: MUD Coding Staff Structure) Dave Rickey
- Nomenclature (was: MUD Coding Staff Structure) Steven Kaskinen
- Nomenclature (was: MUD Coding Staff Structure) Michael Tresca
- Conditioned reinforcers: Getting players to do things for free John Hopson
- Society Scaling Brad Wyble
- MUDs vs. MMUDs (was MUD Coding Staff Structure) Steven Kaskinen
- MUDs vs. MMUDs (was MUD Coding Staff Structure) Steven Kaskinen
- MUDs vs. MMUDs (was MUD Coding Staff Structure) Matthew Mihaly
- MUDs vs. MMUDs Steven Kaskinen
- MUDs vs. MMUDs Steven Kaskinen
- Mud-dev FAQ 2 Marian Griffith
- startup script for you Matthew Mihaly
- Bad Name Lists Christopher Allen
- Bad Name Lists Josh Rollyson
- Bad Name Lists William Katzell
- Bad Name Lists Michael Tresca
- Bad Name Lists Eli Stevens
- Bad Name Lists Matthew Mihaly
- Bad Name Lists Mordengaard
- Help and Reference Systems Study Jon Morrow
- Help and Reference Systems Study Peter
- Help and Reference Systems Study Colin Coghill
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Koster, Raph
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Jeff Freeman
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Dave Rickey
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Josh Olson
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Dave Rickey
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Travis Nixon
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Dave Rickey
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Jeff Freeman
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Dave Rickey
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Norman Short
Dave Rickey wrote:
in response to:
> >Related question: Do you think Dark Camelot can employ enough GMs to
catch
> >all the grief-players skirting around the PK-switch code, or will you be
> >looking to implement social controls, player-policing, etc. instead now?
> >
> Certainly we can, because the volunteers never had much to do with
> handling grief players. The only useful response to a grief player is
> banning him, and such an action is rarely taken if a GM doesn't witness
the
> activity personally. What volunteers mostly handled was routine
questions,
> and the occassional stuck player. They also filtered the qeue for the
> issues that *required* GM intervention. This gave the GM's the time
needed
> for "Grief" and exploitation issues, which normally require a lot of time
> observing (and tools that no volunteer could be trusted with).
>
> Without them, the qeue will have to be handled the way I handled it on
> graveyard shifts in EQ (when I was the only GM on duty, and would cover
10+
> servers with no Guides on them): Ruthlessly. Get a petition that asks for
> help you can't give? Delete it and move on, the time you'd spend arguing
> over whether they should get help could be spent handling the petitions of
> several people you *can* help. Get a petition that doesn't explain what
the
> problem is? Delete it. Got a petition about "So and so is saying bad
> things to me"? Delete it, that kind of situation takes 15-60 minutes to
> handle, during which you can do little or nothing else. Get a petition
that
> says "Help, I'm stuck in a corner!", teleport to that player, unstick him,
> and *go*, time spent chatting with him is better spent helping the next
one.
I have to say that it is disturbing that even on graveyard shift EQ would
force you or other employees to work in such a manner, with the knowledge of
how badly customer service would suffer. Yet this seems to be par for the
course. You could easily have deleted a petition to deal with racism or
some other serious problem.
>
> The choice becomes "Do you handle requests that will take a long time
> and/or can't be resolved, and have a lot of people you could actually help
> get no assistance, or do you focus on the ones you can actually do
something
> for?" You can't pay enough GM's to be nice and chatty, and handle every
> petition fully no matter what, so you go to a pure "Churn 'em and burn
'em"
> CS approach for your front line GM's (and I'm talking about "burn them out
> in 2-4 months"), do the minimum required to clear the petition and move
on,
> ignore requests that can't be effectively resolved quickly ("Sorry, I
cannot
> help thee with that" *poof*). Watch them like hawks, these are not valued
> employees, they're cannon fodder temps you *expect* to quit. Then you
have
> a senior grade of GM that handles "grief" and exploitation issues. "Play
> nice" policies become history, you can't justify the manhours required,
> cheaper to have them yell at each other and occasionally quit. Lost
> equipment is just so much tough luck, bug-related or not.
Even more disturbing is this idea of how the company would treat their real
employees; no wonder they treat volunteers like crap. Why in the world
would you take employees and plan to work them in a way that would make them
totally burn out and quit inside 4 months? And if the answer is that you
absolutely must do that in order to be viable, do you indeed have a right to
exist as a company? Sounds an awful lot like sweatshop labor to me. I
realize you're depicting what it *would* be like without the volunteers, but
how far is it from that now? Even before this lawsuit thing the volunteers
have voiced many complaints that sound like they get treated just this
badly. Speaking personally, I wouldn't pay to play a game that treated
people like you depict any more than I'd knowingly buy clothes made with
sweatshop labor. Since I don't know which company is doing things right I
just don't buy much.
>
> In other words, you take everything currently wrong with the customer
> service programs in these games, and you ratchet it up a notch or two.
> Think "First 6 months of UO, or first 3 of EQ", but it never *ends*.
I don't think a game that works with that level of customer service will
remain viable. I could be wrong and often am, but I think it's disgusting
to think about.
Norman Short aka Shakkar - FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's KevinL
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Norman Short
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Jeff Freeman
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Dave Rickey
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Matthew Mihaly
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Norman Short
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Geoffrey MacDougall
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Corey Crawford
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Myschyf
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- FW: [uodevlist] OT - Lawsuit on Lum's Nathan F. Yospe
- Lawsuit vs. EA/Origin Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Lawsuit vs. EA/Origin Koster, Raph
- Lawsuit vs. EA/Origin Dave Rickey
- DoS and muds Josh Rollyson
- DoS and muds Patrick Dughi
- DoS and muds Chris Jacobson
- DoS and muds Shawn L Johnston
- Interesting Page on Magic Chris Lloyd
- paying volunteers Matthew Mihaly
- paying volunteers Patrick Dughi
- paying volunteers Matthew Mihaly
- paying volunteers Nicholas Daley
- paying volunteers Chris Lloyd
- paying volunteers Matthew Mihaly
- paying volunteers Chris Lloyd
- paying volunteers Geoffrey MacDougall
- paying volunteers Jeff Freeman
- paying volunteers Sellers, Michael
- paying volunteers Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- paying volunteers the_logos@www.achaea.com
- (no subject) Ian Hess
- (no subject) Matthew Mihaly
- Chicagoland MUD-Dev Dinner Erik Jarvi
- StoryTelling Devices: "Magic Book" Eric Rhea
- StoryTelling Devices: "Magic Book" Madrona Tree
- StoryTelling Devices: "Magic Book" Nathan F. Yospe
- Portable Device Integration Eric Rhea
- Pricing structures and selling characters and items Myschyf
- Pricing structures and selling characters and items Matthew Mihaly
- Pricing structures and selling characters and items Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- Interview with Vault Koster, Raph
- [rpg-create] Combat Abstractions (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [rpg-create] Combat Abstractions (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [rpg-create] Combat Abstractions (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [rpg-create] HP triangle (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [rpg-create] HP triangle (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [rpg-create] HP triangle (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [rpg-create] HP triangle (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [rpg-create] combat thoughts (fwd) J C Lawrence
- [rpg-create] Combat System Checklist (fwd) J C Lawrence
- ADMIN: Volunteer vs paid employee thread J C Lawrence
- OT: qnx released Steve Houchard
- customer service Matthew Mihaly
- customer service Corey Crawford
- Squeezing the ink from "Magic Book" Eric Rhea
- Importance of User Documentation Jon Morrow
- Importance of User Documentation Sanvean
- Importance of User Documentation Alex
- Importance of User Documentation Dave Kennerly
- Importance of User Documentation Jon Morrow
- Importance of User Documentation Sanvean
- Importance of User Documentation Richard Tew
- Importance of User Documentation Ben
- Importance of User Documentation Sanvean
- Importance of User Documentation rayzam
- Importance of User Documentation Jon Morrow
- Fw: Importance of User Documentation Stephen Newby
- Fw: Importance of User Documentation Inq Admin
- Fw: Importance of User Documentation David Bennett
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Jon Morrow
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Bruce
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Willowreed@aol.com
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation John Hopson
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Marc Bowden
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Richard Tew
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Ryan P.
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Marc Bowden
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Richard Tew
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Melinda Davison
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation KevinL
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Dave Rickey
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation KevinL
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Colin Coghill
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Richard Tew
- Convincing Players to Read Documentation Michael Tresca