LOTRO: More Community Management Problems
Not so long ago, MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online was plagued by server instability and chronic lag. Many of the game worlds had to be closed and there was over a week of downtime. As ever, communication from developer’s Standing Stone Games regarding the nature of the problem and an ETA on a fix were minimal. The issue(s) were eventually mollified but not completely eradicated. However, a recent patch this week led to extended downtime, beyond that which was initially scheduled. Since then the servers have been “unstable”. So it would appear that “the problem” is back. The only difference this time round is that SSG have made a statement sooner, rather than later. Community Manager Cordovan (AKA Jerry Snook) posted the following on the game’s official forums. “The game worlds are experiencing periods of server instability due to external issues outside of our control. We are taking steps to mitigate these environmental and infrastructure challenges, and apologize for any issues you encounter”.
Not so long ago, MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online was plagued by server instability and chronic lag. Many of the game worlds had to be closed and there was over a week of downtime. As ever, communication from developer’s Standing Stone Games regarding the nature of the problem and an ETA on a fix were minimal. The issue(s) were eventually mollified but not completely eradicated. However, a recent patch this week led to extended downtime, beyond that which was initially scheduled. Since then the servers have been “unstable”. So it would appear that “the problem” is back. The only difference this time round is that SSG have made a statement sooner, rather than later. Community Manager Cordovan (AKA Jerry Snook) posted the following on the game’s official forums. “The game worlds are experiencing periods of server instability due to external issues outside of our control. We are taking steps to mitigate these environmental and infrastructure challenges, and apologize for any issues you encounter”.
The vagueness inherent in this statement is stark and obviously very deliberate. When pressed for further details by LOTRO players on the forum, Cordovan’s reply was less vague and actually quite specific. It’s a clear example of corporate “wagon circling”. “I'm sorry, but even if it were theoretically possible to make that kind of statement, I would advise against it. If that gets me some heat here, so be it; you know where I stand. Besides opening yourself up to all sorts of issues as a business entity, you are then committing to that level of detail every time you have an extended outage. Let's say a technical answer along those lines would throw an employee specifically under the bus, or a valued contractor you intend to do business with long-term. Even if technically accurate, it would be bad precedent to set. Not to mention how it'd be picked apart over the long term. It would not work for us. When I begin to think about what the above would have meant for almost ten years of messaging with this company, my head explodes”.
This is a visual metaphor
I fully appreciate this stance. Naturally it’s not what I and other players want to hear. We’d much prefer something along the lines of “we’re going to recalibrate the flux capacitor and the game will be as good as new. Here’s some free shit”. But SSG is a business and one that is not totally independent. The nature of their relationship with Daybreak Game Company is still shrouded in mystery but most suspect they’re more than just “the publisher”. SSG relies on third party suppliers for many other services. Simply put they are not in a position to reveal anything, even if they wished to. But simply saying “we can’t talk about this for legal reasons, so you’ll have to suck it up and wait things out” doesn’t magically draw a line under the problem. Paying customers at the very least expect someone to do some “ass kissing” in these situations, regardless of whether it’s sincere or not. It’s in the unofficial but very real social contract that exists between the vendor and customer.
And it is in this area that SSG are sadly lacking. Their community relations skills are not exactly nuanced and their tone is seldom conciliatory. Many years ago, when I was running a small IT department, I learned quite quickly that bellowing at staff during a crisis, doesn’t help matters. So instead of me shouting “I can fix this problem a lot quicker if you assholes shut the fuck up”, I hired a member staff who had “good communication skills” and was adept at exuding confidence, placating stakeholders and making them feel that their concerns were important and being addressed. It would greatly improve matters if SSG took a similar approach and those currently involved in community relations were more soothing and understanding in their tone. I’d suggest the following. Make regular statements, even if they have little or no technical substance. Answer a few tweets or comments personally. Praise players patience. Do something like a giveaway or a trivia contest so that people are engaged but in a positive way.
Another visual metaphor
The upside of difficult situations, such as the one which SSG currently faces, is that they present an opportunity to learn. Sadly, SSG and Turbine before them seem to have a blindspot when it comes to reflecting upon their prior community relations disasters and adjusting their corporate behaviour accordingly. And then there’s Jerry Snook’s somewhat defensive statement. “This is not my first rodeo. If people don’t like me, fine”. That is a tacit admission of failure. Yes Jerry, we understand that you will always be damned regardless of what you do, by a percentage of the playerbase. Community relations can at times be like an endless Kobayashi Maru test. But PR is a war and not a battle. You keep trying until you change the needle on the dial. If one approach doesn’t work, you try another. And once again I have to reference the immense goodwill that LOTRO players harbour towards the game. They want a reason to be on SSG’s side. So why not give them one? You lose nothing by trying. But the consequences of not doing so are far more serious.
LOTRO: Thoughts on the Current Downtime
As I am writing this post, the popular MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online has been offline since 2:00 AM EST on 6th March (7:00 AM GMT). The game servers, website and account portal are offline for maintenance and it would appear that the actually physical hardware is being relocated within the datacentre that Standing Stone Games uses. Like any complex IT project of this nature there are always potential problems and it would appear that some have occurred as the initial 22 hours projected down time has now become nearly 3 days. Naturally this has had an impact upon the LOTRO community as Friday evening is often prime gaming time. From SSG’s perspective the extended outage is not good for business or community relations and so they have been using social media to keep players informed.
As I am writing this post, the popular MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online has been offline since 2:00 AM EST on 6th March (7:00 AM GMT). The game servers, website and account portal are offline for maintenance and it would appear that the actually physical hardware is being relocated within the datacentre that Standing Stone Games uses. Like any complex IT project of this nature there are always potential problems and it would appear that some have occurred as the initial 22 hours projected down time has now become nearly 3 days. Naturally this has had an impact upon the LOTRO community as Friday evening is often prime gaming time. From SSG’s perspective the extended outage is not good for business or community relations and so they have been using social media to keep players informed.
Community manager Cordovan (Jerry Snook) presented a brief live stream earlier tonight to provide a more hands on summary of issues and to endeavour to placate LOTRO players. He re-iterated that the downtime was too facilitate a server move and that there have been hardware issues and other related problems as a result. He also stated that no data had been lost. Third party contractors are involved, and overall trouble shooting is progressing. He stated that the downtime would continue to at 6:00 PM EST (11:00 AM GMT March) and that hopefully by then “there would be good news. Once service has been resumed for both LOTRO and DDO, there would be a more comprehensive statement put out about player compensation, an extension of the skirmish event and general billing enquiries. He couldn’t be specific at present, but he was clear that players would be suitably recompensed as they have been in the past.
“In technical terms, I thinks it’s totally fucked. Let’s blame it on the intern Colin”.
Having worked in the past in such technical environments as datacentres and been involved in projects of similar scope, I am sympathetic towards SSGs plight. No matter how well you plan there is always potential for something to go pear shaped. It’s often something innocuous or an aspect of the project that was deemed trivial and left to the intern Colin to sort out. Frankly there is never a good time to shut a server down. Just a period that is the “least inconvenient”. Clearly in this case the situation has gone beyond this and I ‘m sure there are a lot of folk working very hard to pull the company’s proverbial chestnuts out of the fire. Who knows, maybe this extended downtime has a valuable moral lesson to teach us about something or other. I’m not really sure, as I’m not known for my morality and I’ve just played more Star trek Online instead. However, I am looking forward to seeing LOTRO back online. I’d miss it if it wasn’t about anymore.
Update:
Cordovans deadline has been and gone and sadly the downtime has been further extended. As of 23:25 PM GMT the current speculative end to the outage is 12:00 PM Eastern (5:00 AM GMT) Saturday, March 9th.