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What has this in-game help come to?

ShameFarmer

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
I have sent 6 pages to GM's asking them to take a look at my character and help my problem so I can transfer. I have been paging randomly since last night and it's been 24 hours. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS and NO reply. It should not take more than an hour to get a reply from a GM. I haven't even gotten a stupid automated reply. I even emailed Mesanna earlier today and she hasn't replied.
Why aren't gms doing their jobs?
Why am I stuck, lost 240mil, and STILL CAN'T TRANSFER.
This is the stuff that makes me want to cancel my account, having the game make a bug that costs me TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTY MIL, to all be wasted, have a bug on my character, AND NO HELP FROM ABOVE.
If I don't get a reply by tonight I'm shutting off my account.
 

Dol'Gorath

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You do realize that GM's work on more than just UO right? They work on UO, SWTOR, DAOC and Warhammer, and have to deal with support tickets from all the games. Do not expect a quick reply. Instead of cancelling and paging again [which kicks you to the back of the line btw] just page, and leave it open and log off, the ticket will remain open and they will look at your character even if offline.

Also Mesanna is very busy. She may respond slowly, but she WILL respond, give her time. It sucks you lost so much gold due to a bug, but throwing a tantrum isn't going to get you anywhere.
 

ShameFarmer

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
I'm not throwing a tantrum. I'm ticked that 2 years ago it wouldn't take more than 30 minutes . Also EA has tons of people working for them, so it shouldn't take more than 24 hours .
 

ShameFarmer

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Also when I pay 15$ a month and I can't play for the last two days trying to fix this bug and not able to do anything til I transfer isn't very pleasing either.
 

startle

Siege... Where the fun begins.
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You lost 240 mill? Wow. I'm thinkin' they're using you for the latest gold sink... Sorry, couldn't resist that.... How exactly did you lose 240 mill?
 
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Dol'Gorath

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I'm not throwing a tantrum. I'm ticked that 2 years ago it wouldn't take more than 30 minutes . Also EA has tons of people working for them, so it shouldn't take more than 24 hours .
EA has tons of people yes, but they don't all work in the GM department EA's MMO division has the smallest GM division of any game company out there. Even if they did have hundreds of GM's on staff there would still be a wait. World of Warcraft has over 100 GM's on staff and the average wait time for ping a GM is around 3-4 days.

2 years ago it may have taken les, but SWTOR wasn't in the picture yet, and as much of a failure as that game has turned out to be, it still has a rather large player base, due to being free to play.
 

ShameFarmer

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Also, I've wrote Mesanna multiple times before asking questions about Shard of the Dead and such and pitching ideas that she should look into and never one reply. So I don't know why she's never replied to me unless I have the wrong email. I believe the email is [email protected] right?
 

Lythos-

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I have sent 6 pages to GM's asking them to take a look at my character and help my problem so I can transfer. I have been paging randomly since last night and it's been 24 hours. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS and NO reply. It should not take more than an hour to get a reply from a GM. I haven't even gotten a stupid automated reply. I even emailed Mesanna earlier today and she hasn't replied.
Why aren't gms doing their jobs?
Not sure where the GM office is but the Dev's office is 20min or so outside of DC and they were hit with that snow/ice storm yesterday and last night so they most likely took the day off. Another storm is coming in tonight and in the morning so they probably won't go to work tomorrow either.

I know it's troubling but virtual items aren't worth risking the safety of real people.
 

RockoNV

Seasoned Veteran
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
It does not matter if GM's work on more than just UO and the weather is of no consequence either: the customer has a reasonable expectation of service. There is a reason why it is called "customer service" and is not called "GM service" or "UO Forum Troll Service".
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Not sure where the GM office is but the Dev's office is 20min or so outside of DC and they were hit with that snow/ice storm yesterday and last night so they most likely took the day off. Another storm is coming in tonight and in the morning so they probably won't go to work tomorrow either.

I know it's troubling but virtual items aren't worth risking the safety of real people.

It's the 21st century. There's no remote access? No contingencies if a couple of people are suddenly out sick?

Hurricane Sandy closed the New York exchanges for a couple of days, and though my neighborhood was without power for several more days, I brought my laptop to a friend's shop a ways away, borrowing a plug and Internet access in the back office. With very common VPN software, I had no trouble connecting to my work PC and work as if I were in front of it.
 

WootSauce

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
It's the 21st century. There's no remote access? No contingencies if a couple of people are suddenly out sick?

Hurricane Sandy closed the New York exchanges for a couple of days, and though my neighborhood was without power for several more days, I brought my laptop to a friend's shop a ways away, borrowing a plug and Internet access in the back office. With very common VPN software, I had no trouble connecting to my work PC and work as if I were in front of it.
Yes, I am sure that the GM team is equipped with laptops and VPN access to their workstations, and that the first thing they think of when a serious storm hits is where they can go plug in to help people with problems in Brittania. I'm sure they can just fill out a "working from home today" type form to be re-reimbursed @ the $10 to $12 dollars an hour that they likely make.

Really guy, comparing the people who work Exchanges to EA game support?
 

ShameFarmer

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Past 24 hours with no reply from Bonnie or any GM and I have a serious problem on my character that I HAVE TO talk to someone up high to get fixed. I would like to throw a big thank you to the customer service for not being able to play the past two weeks. Ever since I found out my character was bugged til I transfer him to Atl with an Atl transfer token ON ATLANTIC, I've been sitting at my computer on my character waiting for a gm chat.
Let's see if I will get some help tomorrow.
Goodnight ya'll.
 

Dol'Gorath

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It's the 21st century. There's no remote access? No contingencies if a couple of people are suddenly out sick?

Hurricane Sandy closed the New York exchanges for a couple of days, and though my neighborhood was without power for several more days, I brought my laptop to a friend's shop a ways away, borrowing a plug and Internet access in the back office. With very common VPN software, I had no trouble connecting to my work PC and work as if I were in front of it.
No MMO company allows their GM's to work from home as a policy to prevent abuse. Not EA, Not SOE, not Blizzard, NOBODY. That is why you cannot apply for a job as a GM if you don't work within commutable distance of Mythic in VA. They require GM's to work under direct supervision so no one gets any bright ideas about spawning items for their buddies and so forth.

So if the blizzard kept GM's from getting to work and only the skeleton night crew had to stay to service people, you will have slow delays.
 

Dol'Gorath

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It does not matter if GM's work on more than just UO and the weather is of no consequence either: the customer has a reasonable expectation of service. There is a reason why it is called "customer service" and is not called "GM service" or "UO Forum Troll Service".
It does matter when the GM department is composed of like 10 people spread over 4 games. The problem is there is no queue system to tell players their place in line and how long they expect to be on hold. At least in World of Warcraft, you do get a notice of how long you have to wait, though normally GM queues are 3days in WoW and your notice reads: Wait time: 3 days. o_O
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Yes, I am sure that the GM team is equipped with laptops and VPN access to their workstations, and that the first thing they think of when a serious storm hits is where they can go plug in to help people with problems in Brittania. I'm sure they can just fill out a "working from home today" type form to be re-reimbursed @ the $10 to $12 dollars an hour that they likely make.

Really guy, comparing the people who work Exchanges to EA game support?
Yes, really. My point isn't about the type of work being done, but that it's easy to keep an organization running remotely. It's especially important for employees not making a lot to get their regular pay, instead of using up personal leave they may not have.

Any new laptop nowadays can run the Classic Client more than adequately for what a GM does. For other games, I don't know, but it shouldn't take an i7 to help players out. When an exchange clerk has the means log in to make sure work is finished on time, what's EA's excuse? But that only proves the point: they don't care.
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
No MMO company allows their GM's to work from home as a policy to prevent abuse. Not EA, Not SOE, not Blizzard, NOBODY. That is why you cannot apply for a job as a GM if you don't work within commutable distance of Mythic in VA. They require GM's to work under direct supervision so no one gets any bright ideas about spawning items for their buddies and so forth.

So if the blizzard kept GM's from getting to work and only the skeleton night crew had to stay to service people, you will have slow delays.
One would think that after what Darwin did all those years ago, there would be a monitoring system of every every command a GM ever typed in. A supervisor wouldn't need to "be there" for physical supervision. In fact, it would be far more effective to look over an activity log, not watching over someone's shoulders.

For not much more, a company could hire more trustworthy GMs (one of Darwin's excuses was that he didn't make much) and have better tracking systems. Security may not be able to prevent abuse, but it can be a promise to any corrupt GMs that they'll be caught.
 

Alexander of ATL.

Rares Fest Host | Atl June 2013
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I agree.... GM's are slacking and not just from answering pages LATE....

I sent in complaints about a specific player that has been harassing me verbally non-stop for weeks in-game. I took screen shots and emailed them to Mesanna. I paged the GM's atleast 40 DAMN times about this said person and NOTHING HAPPENS. He still is playing and running his mouth as usual. All I've gotten is a reply saying they will look into it, but imo I think they trash the complaint and do nothing... as usual.

It was just a year ago I favored EA and what they do but recently they have done nothing but piss me off. They will ban people for the dumbest things and WILL NOT EVEN ATTEMPT to solve a real issue. I saw in general chat people using HEAVY racial slurs... and he was reported by the people he was saying the slurs to... guess what... I saw him in chat today... and this happened two weeks ago...

Lets all come to reality... the GM's don't give a $hit about this game anymore.

We all pay 10-13 dollars a month to ENJOY our time and play a game... but all we really do is tolerate the bull$**** and harassment from players in chat.

You guys can agree or disagree with me, I honestly don't care. I'm tired of nothing being done and yet we... the customers... have to suffer. This... is why this game will eventually die out... because people who actually want to play for the enjoyment and fun are quitting because dumba$$es get free reign in this game.
 

Dol'Gorath

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
One would think that after what Darwin did all those years ago, there would be a monitoring system of every every command a GM ever typed in. A supervisor wouldn't need to "be there" for physical supervision. In fact, it would be far more effective to look over an activity log, not watching over someone's shoulders.

For not much more, a company could hire more trustworthy GMs (one of Darwin's excuses was that he didn't make much) and have better tracking systems. Security may not be able to prevent abuse, but it can be a promise to any corrupt GMs that they'll be caught.
That is why they are so watchful these days heh, they don't want another Darwin. I am sure an intensive logging program as been thought of at me point but there must be some internal reasons why they still insist on direct supervision. I believe regardless, all commands do get logged and can be looked over at any time by a head GM.

There is only so much we know about the inner workings about how GM's work these days.
 

WootSauce

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
That is why they are so watchful these days heh, they don't want another Darwin. I am sure an intensive logging program as been thought of at me point but there must be some internal reasons why they still insist on direct supervision. I believe regardless, all commands do get logged and can be looked over at any time by a head GM.

There is only so much we know about the inner workings about how GM's work these days.

I think you guys are giving way too much credit to this outfits dedication to and investment in customer service, honestly.
 
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Eärendil

Legendary Mall Santa
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
(1) I can understand why you are upset.
(2) I cannot understand why anyone would pay 60 mil for a transfer token. That´s a rip-off!
 

Viper09

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I have sent 6 pages to GM's asking them to take a look at my character and help my problem so I can transfer. I have been paging randomly since last night and it's been 24 hours. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS and NO reply. It should not take more than an hour to get a reply from a GM. I haven't even gotten a stupid automated reply. I even emailed Mesanna earlier today and she hasn't replied.
Why aren't gms doing their jobs?
Why am I stuck, lost 240mil, and STILL CAN'T TRANSFER.
This is the stuff that makes me want to cancel my account, having the game make a bug that costs me TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTY MIL, to all be wasted, have a bug on my character, AND NO HELP FROM ABOVE.
If I don't get a reply by tonight I'm shutting off my account.
To be fair, it was your fault that you decided to buy more tokens after you already knew they were bugged after your second attempt. However, the first attempt should have given you cause to worry. Can't entirely blame you for purchasing a second token, as I might have done the same (though I hope you didn't go to the same vendor), but by the second failure the warning signs should have been telling you to not buy anymore tokens.

However, a GM cannot help you with fixing those tokens. They might help you to transfer, but it sounds like there is a bigger problem going on here. What you need is help from the devs, so it's good you emailed Mesana. However, you have to be a little patient, she has a job too and can't just drop everything to help you. Just because she hasn't written back doesn't mean she is ignoring you. Threatening to close your account, however, wont get you anywhere.
 
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Rimeny

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Don't hold your breath, I once had a reply 1 month after paging.


UO support=
 
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PwnySlaystation

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I e-mailed Mesanna two years ago nearly about lost characters... im still sat here looking very thin and tired waiting for my reply.
 

NuSair

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I have sent 6 pages to GM's asking them to take a look at my character and help my problem so I can transfer. I have been paging randomly since last night and it's been 24 hours. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS and NO reply. It should not take more than an hour to get a reply from a GM. I haven't even gotten a stupid automated reply. I even emailed Mesanna earlier today and she hasn't replied.
Why aren't gms doing their jobs?
Why am I stuck, lost 240mil, and STILL CAN'T TRANSFER.
This is the stuff that makes me want to cancel my account, having the game make a bug that costs me TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTY MIL, to all be wasted, have a bug on my character, AND NO HELP FROM ABOVE.
If I don't get a reply by tonight I'm shutting off my account.

You do realize that each time you cancel and resubmit a page, you go to the back of the queue?

I've paged GMs twice in the past month or so and got replies pretty promptly.
 

BrianFreud

Lore Keeper, Wiki Maker, & Doer of Crazy Things
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Wiki Editor
Lol, at least you can page. :D On both my main accounts, it always shows me in the queue. When I cancel, it tells me I've cancelled the page, then still shows me in the queue. So I can never actually page at all! I've called, emailed, and used the other "contact a GM" options in the help menu to no avail. :p
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think UO probably only has three English-speaking GMs left: Brutrin, Rakban, and Stethun. Those are the three less-familiar names that have appeared on items in the last couple of months (e.g., lobster dinners, dev heads on pikes, etc.). (All the other names that have been on recent gift items are for people we have known for a while were on the dev team, other than "ThatBloke", whom I suspect is Paul Barnett, the current head of Mythic.)

As corroborating evidence, here are old posts where each of these names was specifically identified as a GM:

Brutrin - http://stratics.com/community/threads/illegal-3rd-party-programs.142489/#post-1257479 (Dodger posted the text of a GM reply he received from GM Brutrin. May 2009.) http://stratics.com/community/threads/physical-resist-still-bugged.136473/#post-1281271 (Grimm of Oceania reported how GM Brutrin fixed his character's resists. June 2009.) http://stratics.com/community/threads/awesome-gm-experience-gm-brutrin.152859 (Podolak reported an experience with GM Brutrin. August 2009) http://stratics.com/community/threads/sa-quest-carpet-blocks-house-placement.186949/#post-1653575 (Jack Flash reported a page reply he received from GM Brutrin. March 2010) http://stratics.com/community/threads/game-masters.214576/#post-1772974 (Lord Gareth listed Brutrin as one of his favorite GMs. July 2010.) http://stratics.com/community/threads/susspended-for-bank-sitting.236547/#post-1922280 (Mentioned by P.W.N. in a March 2011 thread regarding suspension for bank sitting.) "GM Brutrin" is also mentioned as a name on Halloween masks in several posts in threads from October 2011.

Rakban - http://stratics.com/community/threads/decayed-ships.231155/#post-1957612 (Flutter posted a screen shot of Rakban in his GM robes when he fixed her decaying ship. May 2011)

Stethun - http://stratics.com/community/threads/wind-exit-teleporter-broken.232318/#post-1890100 (GM Stethun mentioned as sending a reply to Sevin in January 2011 regarding teleporters in Wind.) http://stratics.com/community/threads/bugs.224815/page-7#post-1958240 (GM Stethun mentioned in a May 2011 post regarding canned response regarding EA's inability to replace lost items.) "GM Stethun" also mentioned in same threads above as a name on October 2011 Halloween masks.
 

Tina Small

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Lol, at least you can page. :D On both my main accounts, it always shows me in the queue. When I cancel, it tells me I've cancelled the page, then still shows me in the queue. So I can never actually page at all! I've called, emailed, and used the other "contact a GM" options in the help menu to no avail. :p

My characters have been like that for the last 1.5 years.
 

Aurelius

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Sadly, my experience of in-game support swings from the extremely well informed and helpful to the totally worthless, with the occasional 'never get any reply at all' thrown in.

Worst recent one was a page on someone blatantly disrupting a player event (yes, we did all the stuff we are meant to do beforehand, and there were several people there paging for support....), which got no response, but the subsequent later page pointing out it was probably too late for the GM to actually DO anything now got an instant reply - that the call was being closed! - and an email telling me what they can and cannot help with (which we already knew...) and a broken link for somewhere in the support database.

So turning up is not possible, but sending non-relevant copy and paste responses to non-functioning web pages is fine.... :(
 
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The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I think you guys are giving way too much credit to this outfits dedication to and investment in customer service, honestly.
That actually goes to proving my point: if EA cared, there would be backups and contingencies. It's not hard for a company to set something up if it really wanted to keep an office going no matter what. If GM support for several games really can be shut down because of an ice storm, it tells us how dedicated EA is to customer support.
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
That is why they are so watchful these days heh, they don't want another Darwin. I am sure an intensive logging program as been thought of at me point but there must be some internal reasons why they still insist on direct supervision. I believe regardless, all commands do get logged and can be looked over at any time by a head GM.

There is only so much we know about the inner workings about how GM's work these days.

However they do it, monitoring an activity log is far more efficient and effective than any personal supervision, and the software would be extremely cheap to make in-house. How much can a boss see on someone's PC, which others can see is a chance to do something improper? Scrutinize an activity log, however, and there's no question how busy someone was, and what he did. Years ago at my first job, we junior staffers would see a middle manager always wandering around, bobbing his head like a pigeon. I don't know if he was genuinely doing a job or just trying to look busy, but I never knew if he supervised anybody.
 

ShameFarmer

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
To be fair, it was your fault that you decided to buy more tokens after you already knew they were bugged after your second attempt. However, the first attempt should have given you cause to worry. Can't entirely blame you for purchasing a second token, as I might have done the same (though I hope you didn't go to the same vendor), but by the second failure the warning signs should have been telling you to not buy anymore tokens.

However, a GM cannot help you with fixing those tokens. They might help you to transfer, but it sounds like there is a bigger problem going on here. What you need is help from the devs, so it's good you emailed Mesana. However, you have to be a little patient, she has a job too and can't just drop everything to help you. Just because she hasn't written back doesn't mean she is ignoring you. Threatening to close your account, however, wont get you anywhere.
The tokens are not bugged. My character is. I kept using transfer seeing if me mounted or having shield tokens on me was the problem.
 

Mesanna

UO Producer | Dark OverLady
VIP
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Hi guys,

Ok so couple of things. If you have emailed me regarding an issue and I have not responded in a few days its one of two things, either I didn't get it, I returned the email to you asking you to send me some information that I can do something with like maybe an account name, shard, or character maybe. So I promise I don't ignore emails, I get ALOT of them. If I don't answer you email me again, I won't be upset. So ShameFarmer, if you have an issue with a character transfer that went bad, we might be able to push it thru again and fix it.

We did have an issue with transfer tokens that we have fixed so they should fix themselves. If they have not please contact me. I am sure you all know my email address by now if now its [email protected].
 

Lythos-

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
That actually goes to proving my point: if EA cared, there would be backups and contingencies. It's not hard for a company to set something up if it really wanted to keep an office going no matter what. If GM support for several games really can be shut down because of an ice storm, it tells us how dedicated EA is to customer support.
Most federal offices are closed today due to weather. http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Federal-Offices-Close-for-Winter-Weather--235190021.html I guess they're not dedicated to the people either huh? Actually don't answer that one..

Most companies have actual compassion for people. I'm guessing that's just something you're not used to giving or receiving. It could be because of weather. It could be the paging que is broken. They could have stopped doing in game support on this antique game for all we know. None of us know exactly what's going on except they've been major cuts in EA staff over the years. I can't believe the sense of entitlement in a game this old.
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
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Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Most federal offices are closed today due to weather. http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Federal-Offices-Close-for-Winter-Weather--235190021.html I guess they're not dedicated to the people either huh? Actually don't answer that one..

Most companies have actual compassion for people. I'm guessing that's just something you're not used to giving or receiving. It could be because of weather. It could be the paging que is broken. They could have stopped doing in game support on this antique game for all we know. None of us know exactly what's going on except they've been major cuts in EA staff over the years. I can't believe the sense of entitlement in a game this old.

You do realize what working remotely means, right? That is in fact a company showing "compassion" so that employees don't have to risk traveling to the office.

And as far as your suspicions of cuts, queue problems, gee, thanks for proving my point that EA doesn't care. I guess it's too much for the OP and other players to expect GM help in a timely manner. Some "entitlement."

For crying out loud. Please read what I actually write next time.
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
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And by the way, did you ever hear of this? While not official, it's been quoted in official USPS publications.

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

It has limitations, sure. But then the statement shouldn't be made so absolute.
 

Lythos-

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You do realize what working remotely means, right? That is in fact a company showing "compassion" so that employees don't have to risk traveling to the office.

And as far as your suspicions of cuts, queue problems, gee, thanks for proving my point that EA doesn't care. I guess it's too much for the OP and other players to expect GM help in a timely manner. Some "entitlement."

For crying out loud. Please read what I actually write next time.
Oh I've read everything you wrote and I found it rather odd and a bit on the sniveling side. The WoW player already stated there's 3 day wait times for support there yet you (and others) think a thinly stretched EA support staff that covers multiple games should be superior. While it does suck, a couple day wait is reasonable for any non food service industry, especially one that's publicly announced at least 2 major job cuts like EA has over the past few years. As long as people keep quitting UO, they will keep shaving jobs to adjust the profit margin.

Q problems have nothing to do with EA. That's fixable but yet undetermined or unannounced if it's truly broken.

Your remote access idea for CSR is just ludicrous to say the least. You're just asking for a nightmare to give unsupervised access to minimum wage CSR workers with the ability to delete or dupe our world at will. Even with your logs it'll take days to go over by superiors and even then they have a ToS clause where they do not replace lost or stolen items. Yeah, i'll be patient and wait or better yet i'll find something else to do in game.

LOL @ you trying to compare UO support to the postal service. That's probably the best thing I've heard all year.
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
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Oh I've read everything you wrote and I found it rather odd and a bit on the sniveling side.
Wow. So you're saying that to support people like the OP, who can't get a GM for days, is "sniveling." Thanks for being a pure EA apologist.


The WoW player already stated there's 3 day wait times for support there yet you (and others) think a thinly stretched EA support staff that covers multiple games should be superior. While it does suck, a couple day wait is reasonable for any non food service industry, especially one that's publicly announced at least 2 major job cuts like EA has over the past few years. As long as people keep quitting UO, they will keep shaving jobs to adjust the profit margin.
You should refrain from such stupid comparisons. WoW has 5 or 6 million active players, and the last I looked, they do replace "lost items." How many UO players are paging for GM help at any given time, especially considering we have the stuck option?

Q problems have nothing to do with EA. That's fixable but yet undetermined or unannounced if it's truly broken.
How is a queue problem not EA's problem? I guess it's a problem for Santa Claus to fix?

Your remote access idea for CSR is just ludicrous to say the least. You're just asking for a nightmare to give unsupervised access
Bzzt, no. I never, ever said such a thing. I defy you to find where I ever even implied that. You can't, because I never said it, and you have to make stuff up.

And you claim to have read everything I wrote? It's more like you imagined what you'd like me to have written.

Had you any familiarity with modern technology, you'd have known it's perfectly easy for a remote computer to connect to an office PC, running things on the office PC, and reproducing the office PC's display on the remote computer. There's no need at all to run things on an untrusted remote computer.

to minimum wage CSR workers with the ability to delete or dupe our world at will.
And there's part of EA's problem, as some of us have pointed out over the years.

Even with your logs it'll take days to go over by superiors and even then they have a ToS clause where they do not replace lost or stolen items. Yeah, i'll be patient and wait or better yet i'll find something else to do in game.
So you mean that the same technology available and used daily by all kinds of companies is beyond EA's capability? Well, that is believable.

A supervisor's job is to track what employees are doing. It isn't hard for a halfway-intelligent person to keep up in real time what several GM subordinates are doing. It's far more effective than someone wandering around a floor looking at monitors but not actually knowing what's on them.

LOL @ you trying to compare UO support to the postal service. That's probably the best thing I've heard all year.
Don't put words into my mouth, troll. You brought up the USPS closing, and I reminded you of the old saying. It's exactly what I said: they themselves

Now, your own word "sniveling" is just about the most absurd trolling I've read on Stratics all year. What's the matter, did I lay the verbal smack down on a friend of yours, and now you want to pick nits?
 

Lythos-

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wow. So you're saying that to support people like the OP, who can't get a GM for days, is "sniveling." Thanks for being a pure EA apologist.

Not giving adequate time under said conditions is sniveling. That area was hit pretty hard by the storm with millions out of power yet you want bottom level CSR-GM's working from home. As I stated before, wait times do suck but a few days isn't unreasonable.


You should refrain from such stupid comparisons. WoW has 5 or 6 million active players, and the last I looked, they do replace "lost items." How many UO players are paging for GM help at any given time, especially considering we have the stuck option?

UO is not as successful as WoW. It would make sense that wait times ARE longer in UO. I have no idea how many people are paging but I know it's high since most of the remaining players have PAPER thin skin and page over the slightest thing. UO's ToS states: lost or stolen items will not be replaced.

How is a queue problem not EA's problem? I guess it's a problem for Santa Claus to fix?

Good grief. Since when has EA (the parent company) ever stepped in on any in-game issues the Dev team could fix? Never...


Bzzt, no. I never, ever said such a thing. I defy you to find where I ever even implied that. You can't, because I never said it, and you have to make stuff up.

And you claim to have read everything I wrote? It's more like you imagined what you'd like me to have written.

Had you any familiarity with modern technology, you'd have known it's perfectly easy for a remote computer to connect to an office PC, running things on the office PC, and reproducing the office PC's display on the remote computer. There's no need at all to run things on an untrusted remote computer.

You did imply that in umm all your posts actually. This thread is about GM's which ARE CSR and you've made it known in every post you want them to have the ability to have VPN which IS a form of remote access. I never said untrusted computers. I said unsupervised persons. One late night rogue employee could cripple UO.

And there's part of EA's problem, as some of us have pointed out over the years.

A business has to do what's needed to survive especially over the past few years of recession.

So you mean that the same technology available and used daily by all kinds of companies is beyond EA's capability? Well, that is believable.

A supervisor's job is to track what employees are doing. It isn't hard for a halfway-intelligent person to keep up in real time what several GM subordinates are doing. It's far more effective than someone wandering around a floor looking at monitors but not actually knowing what's on them.

I'm sure executives work from home. What you're complaining about is equal to giving standard bank tellers home access to the bank. If a rogue employee was bent on destruction they would likely do it under no supervision at home and it would take days to go through the right channels and visually inspect to clean up. You should know this.

Don't put words into my mouth, troll. You brought up the USPS closing, and I reminded you of the old saying. It's exactly what I said: they themselves

You realize there's more Federal offices besides the post office right? You know, the whole US Government and all it's branches. But hey, the mail has to run so WHY CAN'T THE GMS!!

Now, your own word "sniveling" is just about the most absurd trolling I've read on Stratics all year. What's the matter, did I lay the verbal smack down on a friend of yours, and now you want to pick nits?

I hardly nitpick. I confront the absurd with common sense and logic.
 

ShameFarmer

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Wow guys I didn't want this thread to get a huge heated debate :( I just wanted to express my feelings and work my way up in this world to get help from the top, which Mesanna posted here and I took the next steps to help get my character fixed. Let's all be calm again
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Not giving adequate time under said conditions is sniveling. That area was hit pretty hard by the storm with millions out of power yet you want bottom level CSR-GM's working from home. As I stated before, wait times do suck but a few days isn't unreasonable.
Did you not read the original post? He's been posting for days without result, and this predated the storm. (Need me to give you a link to a dictionary entry on that?) Had he done as someone's joked in a previous thread, having a friend page that he's macroing unattended, a GM would come right away.


UO is not as successful as WoW. It would make sense that wait times ARE longer in UO. I have no idea how many people are paging but I know it's high since most of the remaining players have PAPER thin skin and page over the slightest thing. UO's ToS states: lost or stolen items will not be replaced.

You said that WoWo wait times are three days. UO's is generally not that bad. So just what are you saying, besides the obvious?

Yes, of course UO items can't be replaced. WoW items can. Thus your comparison is still absurd. (Need a link to a dictionary entry on that too?)

Good grief. Since when has EA (the parent company) ever stepped in on any in-game issues the Dev team could fix? Never...
UO is an EA product. You're splitting hairs here.

You did imply that in umm all your posts actually.
Stop lying. Just because you think I said that doesn't mean I did. Show me where I even "imply" it.

"Unsupervised access." Your term, not mine. Your fantasy of what I said.

This thread is about GM's which ARE CSR and you've made it known in every post you want them to have the ability to have VPN which IS a form of remote access. I never said untrusted computers. I said unsupervised persons. One late night rogue employee could cripple UO.
And you completely missed my point, though I've stated it several times before. If EA really cared enough to prepare for a winter storm, they would have done things besides leaving a skeleton crew to run things. That they don't take certain measures shows how UO is of little importance to them.

Now, whether or not EA decides to do remote access is their business. My point there, another one you just cannot understand, is that an employee working remotely is hardly "unsupervised." Is a supervisor constantly watching over an employee's shoulder in the office? If so, how much, and to see what? Even in an office, supervision of GMs is far more effective if it's looking over activity logs. It's clear you've never been in a supervisory position, at least not an effective one.

A business has to do what's needed to survive especially over the past few years of recession.
What a wonderful statement of the obvious. Can you give us any more pearls of wisdom?

And you missed that point too, so let me point it out for you: "minimum wage CSR workers," and that's why EA gets what it pays for.

I'm sure executives work from home. What you're complaining about is equal to giving standard bank tellers home access to the bank. If a rogue employee was bent on destruction they would likely do it under no supervision at home and it would take days to go through the right channels and visually inspect to clean up. You should know this.
Are you capable only of absurd comparisons? Bank tellers are meant to be in physical contact with people, and I never said anything close to "giving standard bank tellers home access to the bank." So stop putting words into my mouth, troll.

A bank teller can do plenty of "destruction" even under physical supervision in a branch. A supervisor can't always be watching in person, but a supervisor can monitor current activity in real time. It's not like a GM is typing 200 wpm or a teller is doing one transaction a second. I suppose that's too much to expect you to know that.

You realize there's more Federal offices besides the post office right? You know, the whole US Government and all it's branches. But hey, the mail has to run so WHY CAN'T THE GMS!!
Once again you put words into my mouth. You brought up the post office. You said that they were closing. So I reminded you of the popular saying in that federal service, which clearly doesn't. I should have expected you wouldn't understand that point as well.

But while physical services like banks and post offices will shut down, there's no reason in the 21st century for an online-based business to keep customer support afloat -- if they are enough.

I hardly nitpick. I confront the absurd with common sense and logic.

That's a laugh. Stop putting words in my mouth, and perhaps I can have a decent dialogue with you. Which of your friends are you trying to get revenge for?
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
P.S. Is it too much to ask you to quote properly, or is that your attempt to make it not worth my while to reply?
 

ZidjiN

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Well im usually quite happy with the support when i actually gets in conntact with someone.
I sent them and email 10 days ago but still no reply. But when i get one im quite sure they sort my issue :)
 
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