I blogged about some recent experiences relating to this topic a while back. My recent experiences and the poll on UHall about an Official UO Forum, have prompted this final note.
FarmVille and Ultima Online are not the same type of game. To compare the games would be comparing apples and zucchini squash. So lets be clear, I'm not comparing the game experience, I am comparing the Customer Service experience.
To keep this short, let me include a recent email from Zynga Customer Service. (Zynga produces FarmVille and several other internet games.)
Now this part will blow your mind... As a way of aplogizing for any inconvenience, Zinga reps will often drop farm gold, or other items in a user's account (gift box). Nothing crazy, but just a token to ease the pain and show they care about the issue.
This morning, I was given 10 Farm Cash, which if purchased would cost about $2.50usd. When was the last time EA/UO credited your account for server down time, lost items or otherwise borked game-play? Well I've been a member for over 10 years and I can't remember that ever happening to me.
Now I won't sit here and claim that I've never had a positive experience with UO, because that would not be true. There have been GM's that have been polite and helpful. I always give them an excellent follow-up review (sometimes even props right here on Stratics). But I can say honestly that for every satisfactory customer service experience with UO, I've also gotten that lame link to the Knowledge Base that takes me nowhere and answers nothing. If I take the time to carefully construct a question, I want a thoughful and useful answer.
UO can't deliver this type of service, or they just don't want to.
*NOTE: As I was writing this post, I wanted to verify a link and found that the my . uo . com site is giving a 403 error.
In my assesment I am including UO responses to GM pages in-game (a feature not provided by FarmVille), as well as questions submitted via the EA customer support site.
FarmVille and Ultima Online are not the same type of game. To compare the games would be comparing apples and zucchini squash. So lets be clear, I'm not comparing the game experience, I am comparing the Customer Service experience.
To keep this short, let me include a recent email from Zynga Customer Service. (Zynga produces FarmVille and several other internet games.)
You are always more than welcome! I am glad I could assist you and that you are pleased with our Support Team!
You are totally right! Our Development Team is working really hard to refine every single feature so you can enjoy the games even more! We really appreciate your feedback and thank you once again for contacting Zynga Customer Support.
Happy Farming,
Vivian M.
This email was the final follow-up email related to a game performance issue. This type of follow-up is standard for Zynga. Sure, the first email is an automated "incident" receipt. But after that you are dealing with a live person who follows the issue through to resolution. While it's true that the emails have some boilerplate customer-speak, it is also obvious that the service rep has actually read my complaint and is responding to it on an individual basis.You are totally right! Our Development Team is working really hard to refine every single feature so you can enjoy the games even more! We really appreciate your feedback and thank you once again for contacting Zynga Customer Support.
Happy Farming,
Vivian M.
Now this part will blow your mind... As a way of aplogizing for any inconvenience, Zinga reps will often drop farm gold, or other items in a user's account (gift box). Nothing crazy, but just a token to ease the pain and show they care about the issue.
This morning, I was given 10 Farm Cash, which if purchased would cost about $2.50usd. When was the last time EA/UO credited your account for server down time, lost items or otherwise borked game-play? Well I've been a member for over 10 years and I can't remember that ever happening to me.
Now I won't sit here and claim that I've never had a positive experience with UO, because that would not be true. There have been GM's that have been polite and helpful. I always give them an excellent follow-up review (sometimes even props right here on Stratics). But I can say honestly that for every satisfactory customer service experience with UO, I've also gotten that lame link to the Knowledge Base that takes me nowhere and answers nothing. If I take the time to carefully construct a question, I want a thoughful and useful answer.
UO can't deliver this type of service, or they just don't want to.
*NOTE: As I was writing this post, I wanted to verify a link and found that the my . uo . com site is giving a 403 error.
In my assesment I am including UO responses to GM pages in-game (a feature not provided by FarmVille), as well as questions submitted via the EA customer support site.
failed comparison nonetheless
Ya >ain't<
