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Small UO team is safe unless they start to cross train the janitor.
LOLOL!!
See what happen when the Origin store wont let me buy more then one item at a time.....
I didn't follow the external links but let me guess, they laid off the lower wage productive people instead of the higher wage unproductive people. After all, the unproductive higher wage people know the company can't survive without them. So the productive people who produce the sell-able products that make the companies profit$ are the ones who have to go. 
Ahhhh.......... no they did a cross the board cut of 10 % of the employees changing positions and dunking those that over laped.
Lets just say the old boss is cleaning house of the "extras" but the question is are they the extras he should cut?
**How many exeutives does it take to change a lightbulb?**
Answer from a EA EXE: I dont know, Ill have my assistant's assistant,assisntats etc gert back to you...
Lets just say the old boss is cleaning house of the "extras" but the question is are they the extras he should cut?
**How many exeutives does it take to change a lightbulb?**
Answer from a EA EXE: I dont know, Ill have my assistant's assistant,assisntats etc gert back to you...
Wait......I thought he was the CEO.
Just bad business hate that
I don't think so. Employees who overlap are normally a good thing to have. When some flavor of a work overload pays a surprise visit such employees can get a company's rump out of a sling. Losing that employee versatility will eventually bite them on the company rump.
Hopefully that across the board cut removed enough of the unproductive overhead. I did an internet search on this and most referred to an efficiency improvement which translates to one person being expected to do the work of three in half the time. Not a good thing for product quality or for winding up with customers happy with those products. How many corners can be cut on products before they wind up a ragged mess?
Tanivar in my experence in the business world most of the big CEO's are oblivious of the smaller people under them.
Many times as with EA I suspect that the floor is not far down the ladder for who is who to the man in charge, and I seriously doubt the Board could name any but the top few.
In many aspects this ambiguity of lower staff is usualy good thing for the small guy, but in the last 20 years that trend has vanished as the cut throat business of the corporation higherarchy is convoluted.
The Start was when some idea guy in accounting figured how to cut the 20 year pention and retiree's throat at the 11th hour of work life. Quite litterly 19 year 11 months then a pink slip, no paying of that fat pention or bigger salary for a master of his craft.
They cut the high pay people and hired 2 for 1/2 the cost.
This pleased the boss's only it really cost them more in time of training the new guys which in turn cost them more money!
Their product suffered... as shoddy work was produced. Nothing many will pay good money for.
The bigger the company is the more bosses you find and fewer indians doing 3xs the work in less time and for 1/2 the pay.
Many times this means the sending of the work out of country.
All in the name of a few cents profet. On paper is is a winner idea... but in practice its a big flop that no one in the corprate world will admit to or even think to return the the old ways of business.
WE here at UO have had prime example when the phone system went to India.... we all know how that went.
EA has been mismanaged and let run wild, letting its best go to pot.... and pushing titles way before they are done to proper playability.
What this controlling CEO in house has done is way too late in the game and needs to be more hands on in the company and stop relying on others to be his eyes and ears.
Others have motives and reasons to sweeten the outlook and keep him in the dark...
Wake up, smell the coffee, and get your hands dirty sir.....
Unless you like sailing on the titanic.
Many times as with EA I suspect that the floor is not far down the ladder for who is who to the man in charge, and I seriously doubt the Board could name any but the top few.
In many aspects this ambiguity of lower staff is usualy good thing for the small guy, but in the last 20 years that trend has vanished as the cut throat business of the corporation higherarchy is convoluted.
The Start was when some idea guy in accounting figured how to cut the 20 year pention and retiree's throat at the 11th hour of work life. Quite litterly 19 year 11 months then a pink slip, no paying of that fat pention or bigger salary for a master of his craft.
They cut the high pay people and hired 2 for 1/2 the cost.
This pleased the boss's only it really cost them more in time of training the new guys which in turn cost them more money!
Their product suffered... as shoddy work was produced. Nothing many will pay good money for.
The bigger the company is the more bosses you find and fewer indians doing 3xs the work in less time and for 1/2 the pay.
Many times this means the sending of the work out of country.
All in the name of a few cents profet. On paper is is a winner idea... but in practice its a big flop that no one in the corprate world will admit to or even think to return the the old ways of business.
WE here at UO have had prime example when the phone system went to India.... we all know how that went.
EA has been mismanaged and let run wild, letting its best go to pot.... and pushing titles way before they are done to proper playability.
What this controlling CEO in house has done is way too late in the game and needs to be more hands on in the company and stop relying on others to be his eyes and ears.
Others have motives and reasons to sweeten the outlook and keep him in the dark...
Wake up, smell the coffee, and get your hands dirty sir.....
Unless you like sailing on the titanic.
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Another thing of relevance to UO players is the new guy heading up Origin. He may come in, look at the books, and make some sweeping changes like deciding to get rid of one of the Mythic titles. Not much different than a new football GM coming in and getting rid of the ageing/diminishing head coach or quarterback. We have heard that they have thought about closing UO in the past, and for anyone that says UO still makes good money, we really have no idea what its current profitability truly is other than it appears like the population is still heading south.
It will continue to head south until EA decides to start working towards making their games attractive to people with money to spend or until EA pulls the plug on each game. It's hard to understand why they can't seem to get a grip on the concept you have to offer gamers something fun, instead of frustrating, to get them to pay for your products. Selling not ready for release games and not working to keep your online games fun so your paying customers stay paying customers is not the way to stay in business.
Correct. And that usually translates to, "Let's eliminate two clerical positions and assign the work to Tammy Typefast. If she complains, just remind her that she's lucky to have a job at all."
I can not fathom what makes EA think they are doing something right when all they need do is look at companies like Blizzard who treat their customers decent to understand why Blizzard has millions of players and they have a few hundred thousand. The difference to me is clear as day... It's customer service and workmanship.
First off customer service is key to any successful business..... secondly workers pride in their company is also a major key. If your work force is happy to come to work..... feels good about their work... takes pride in what they do... and share in the profit of the business it's more likely that they will strive to succeed and be productive workers.... but if they are unhappy, overworked and under appreciated and their work is not appreciated or rewarded then often they hunt for new work. They lose interest in the company and are forever seeking new employment opportunity. It does not take a masters in business to figure out what is happening at EA. No one wants to work somewhere where they are constantly under the pressure of losing their job. This creates a stress environment that is neither healthy nor manageable. If your work is shoddy, slow and subpar yes you should worry about losing your job... but if you are giving your best in all you do and doing your job then you shouldn't have to worry about it... you should be able to believe that what you are doing will be rewarded with perhaps a promotion... or raise in pay.
One thing EA does that's stupid is they put more money into a project than they have expecting to get more out than they do and when they fail they must then reap the sorrow of that failure by taking it out of projects they have that are making money because they have overstretched their budgets..... Instead they should beef what they have currently to draw more money in to produce quality new products that even if they fail will not hurt the current economy of their business.... Build a good foundation and you can build a success tower..... fail to keep your foundation and you will crumble and fall... Sadly EA has chosen to chip away at it's foundation to the point that it's foundation can no longer support the top... if something isn't done soon it will come crashing down. They seem to think adding more bases is the way to go.... buying up small competition and adding it willynilly to their base and then gutting it of all it was but still banking on it's name..... this is also a BAD way of doing business and an even worse way of keeping good loyal employee's....
One of EAs first priorities should be to streamline and simplify the process for current customers to give them money. For instance, my guess is these boards represent only a portion of the UO players, but I would also wager the issues we face are fairly representative of the issues faced by all UO players. Barely a week goes by where there is not a post here in UHALL regarding issues with the origin store... Can't activate accounts, can't purchase x number of items, etc, etc. If EA can't accept money from players that already have their games and WANT to spend more money on them, what real hope can they have to be successful.
If I were a betting man I would tell you that UO has probably lost more money due to a poor customer service experience than any other single issue, ever.
If I were a betting man I would tell you that UO has probably lost more money due to a poor customer service experience than any other single issue, ever.
I'm not sure what peoples issues are, I have no problem buying more than one item at a time, or multiples of the same item at the same time.
They really need to focus on cleaning house and making better games period. For example - I went to look at getting Risk on the ipad/iphone to play with the family. The game is $6. Ok, a bit pricey for an iphone game but fine. I read the reviews and they are horrible. Apparently the way they make the 'expert' mode harder is by rigging the dice rolls so you lose with 11 armies vs 2 for example. They made a mockery of a GREAT game. They didn't have to invent anything - just re-release an existing game on the ipad/iphone and sit there and take people's money. Instead they gave the job to some flunky who screwed it up and it has horrible ratings on the itunes store. So instead, lets lay off 10% of workers. That will fix these awful games. How about expand and hire quality instead of keep cutting staff. Their idea of cost cutting only leaves behind the people who cannot get a job elsewhere or the worst of the worst in the game industry and boy it shows.
There is no provision to increase the quantity for an item in the shopping cart above 1 and you cannot add the same item to the shopping cart twice. What steps are you doing to buy multiples of the same items at the same time?
EA could see a major influx of money if word gets out to the multiple account holders on how to buy a dozen items for a dozen accounts without having to go through the entire purchase process a dozen times.
The layoffs and now Dropixel is gone, and so we have four Devs left? Investing money into this game other than the monthly fee is seeming even more unwise. At least with the servers now in the Cloud shifting Ultima Online to a new owner will be an easier thing to do if EA chapter 11's and the assets start being sold off.
Actually, I almost hope someone else buys this game. Perhaps they will put more money into it.
Personally, I'm just waiting to see if the coming Vendor Search will be the stimulus for a renewed interest in UO... If the population continues to decline after that, then (for me at least) it'll finally be time to take a few screenshots and pack it in...
Not to dash your hopes, but I cannot fathom how a Vendor Search feature would entice people to come back to UO to play. Yes, it's a big feature, but the lack of a Vendor Search is unlikely to be in the top 20 reasons someone leaves UO.
UO really needs real life breathed into it, but I doubt EA's going to toss any money at it anytime soon.
Is this vendor search going to be similar to the ones already available on several other websites?
If so, they'd be better off not implementing it and let the other sites spend their time to keep items updated.
If not, I wonder what the changes will be.
If so, they'd be better off not implementing it and let the other sites spend their time to keep items updated.
If not, I wonder what the changes will be.
Well the layoff's only do one thing..... add more DEV's to other games and other gaming industry with a clear knowledge of what NOT to do to succeed... just don't follow anything EA ever told them and they should be rolling in success...
The company has had difficulty adjusting to a gaming world dominated by downloadable and free-to-play games instead of the traditional $60 big-budget retail release, still considered EA’s bread and butter.
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I don't understand how their executives think, in what way does firing the people that maintain the games, make their games sell better. does no one consult the secret book of common sense nowadays?
I've been able to "continue shopping" and add more items to cart, and multiples of items. It would still be easier if I could change quantity while in the shopping cart, but I have been able to purchase multiples of same item at once, for example, Raised Garden Beds, last time I got them, I got two in one order.
Bizarre, when I try that on the UK version of the Origin store, the quantities never increase above one......
I think one thing that people need to remember, even tho the majority of American shards are heading south and losing people, the overseas shards, Japanese, Korean, etc etc...are gaining....UO is a great hit over there and gaining people I have heard.
Anyone have any ideas on why this is? Perhaps another viewpoint on those aspects could give us old timers a fresh look at the game. What do they see that makes the game draw in new players there where it's causing the game to shed players in other areas of the world? What has the management and dev people over there done differently that is making the game click with so many new players?
I go to the UO Store, add Rechargeable Housing Teleport Tiles to the shopping cart, click 'continue shopping' and wind up here:
http://store.origin.com/store?Action=ContinueShopping&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=ea&ThemeID=718200
which is the Origon Store, not the UO Store. The Origon Store shopping cart shows the UO Store items, but still will not show more than one of each item if you go back to the UO Store and try to add another of the same item and click 'continue shopping' to be sent to the Origon Store again.
Can you give us a numbered step by step process to buy multiples of an item in just one purchase? This must be like the Mythic password change process, just a not a quick and easy intuitive method like most game companies provide their paying customers.
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cdavbar please explain where and how you do the multi buy of things on Origin...
I have even called the customer service to get them to let me get all i need in 1 buying session and get the sorry cant do it... 1 item at a time is their limit... its very very fustrating when you need upgrades for more then 1 account andknow you cant buy no more then 2 before your card gets blocked for fraud in their system.....
EA needs its head examined....Proste if that is his name needs to wake up and understand his "chosen" are failing EA not the small fry who keep the empire out of the pits of hell.
Letting go talent is not how you run a company... look to the chain of command... too many department heads and their entorage and staff and not enough talent to keep what you got on track is first sign your heading for a pit fall.
I have even called the customer service to get them to let me get all i need in 1 buying session and get the sorry cant do it... 1 item at a time is their limit... its very very fustrating when you need upgrades for more then 1 account andknow you cant buy no more then 2 before your card gets blocked for fraud in their system.....
EA needs its head examined....Proste if that is his name needs to wake up and understand his "chosen" are failing EA not the small fry who keep the empire out of the pits of hell.
Letting go talent is not how you run a company... look to the chain of command... too many department heads and their entorage and staff and not enough talent to keep what you got on track is first sign your heading for a pit fall.
Welp... its all up to the EA NBA's now.
(thats not a good thing).
What happens when theres nothing left to outsource to India and China?
.
.
.
Hang em!
(thats not a good thing).
What happens when theres nothing left to outsource to India and China?
.
.
.
Hang em!
Too bad WoW sucks so bad though, at least they have something right though. >.<
Haven't you heard? The Secret Book of Common Sense hasn't been in use since before George W. B. perhaps longer... The government, most high profile companies, EA and Wall Street now use the P.C. version, better known as The Book of How to Get Rich Quick and Let Your Company Tank. We're SoL afa common sense goes it's looking like.
I will pledge what I pay monthly in UO currently to a responsible gaming company, and am willing to pay even more if the content/fixes are there; or if Richard Garriott comes back.
Between this new layoff news (sorry to see ya go Tim); the lack of reliable (or any at all) ingame support, lack of RL customer service (example: when my CC gets billed twice for the same purchase), the process involved to create/modify an account, 2 week long server reverts, moving the servers to the cloud (resulting in horrible lag spikes and making the game unplayable for many) ALL in the past year alone...?
Does it really get any better than this EA?
Again, can you remind me why I pay monthly to have two accounts open?
I like that idea. When I suggested the very same in a similar thread (just without kickstarter) here in UHall a few days or weeks ago some mod went all kelmo on me though. Nice that you got "likes" instead
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lol "All Kelmo on me"I like that idea. When I suggested the very same in a similar thread (just without kickstarter) here in UHall a few days or weeks ago some mod went all kelmo on me though. Nice that you got "likes" instead
haha I just made a post asking how to give EA more money, and then I come and read this.
Ugh. Just... ugh.