Lord of No

SOE — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:34:01 +0000

This week we have the pleasure of hearing from Lyman Tuttle, our Account Administrator here at SOE. Lyman does a fantastic job in handling some of the harder CS issues that come in. Take it away Lyman…

Hello, I’m Lyman Tuttle. Those of you who already know me probably think of me as the Lord of NO. I have it on good authority that some of you think of me in terms that are both physically impossible, and morally reprehensible. I just wanted to set the record straight, so you could get an idea of what the real Lyman is like.

First off, I’m a fun guy. I mean it. I’m a really fun guy! To prove it, I’ve included a few pictures of me in my daily life.

Here I am hosting my local canasta club. You probably can’t tell from the picture, but I’m holding a winning hand.

Hey, and everyone loves bowling right? Strike!!!

My first love though, has always been bird calling. This is me doing the Pied-billed Grebe in a Washington state competition a few years back.

Tragically, last summer, while on an organized tour I became trapped in a field church bell testing center for over twelve hours. Since that fateful day, I’ve had to say goodbye to my hopes of competing on a professional level. Hearing aids are miracles of modern science, but without perfect pitch, I’m afraid the call of the Red-Throated Loon is simply out of reach.

Throwing myself into my work has really helped me deal with that loss, especially as what I do for SOE is such important stuff. And it’s not just all about saying no either. I research people’s refund requests extensively, checking things like when they last logged into the game, when they were last billed compared to when they cancelled their accounts, and I give out thousands of dollars in refunds and credits that folks otherwise would never get. Sometimes, when my hands are tied and I can’t offer a refund, I’ll offer some free game-time, or I can move time that’s already been paid for from a cancelled account to one with a game that’s currently being played, I can even move game time to a friend’s account. One idea that I’m playing with is maybe offering some free Sony stuff, (No, not televisions or stereos, though that would be nice) but some pretty cool stuff never-the-less, more on that later though.

People have all kinds of questions for me, like when do I qualify for a refund, and what’s your sign? Well, I can offer you a refund in the event that SOE boo-booed and continued to bill you after you had cancelled your account. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens, and I never want our customer’s to pay for a mistake we’ve made, so I jump right on those and they can expect their money back in 5-7 business days (Which is pretty quick, believe you me.) As to my sign, now that you’ve seen what a hip, happening kind of guy I am, I’m sure you’ve already guessed it. That’s right, I’m a Scorpio. Oh, and yes ladies, I am single.

People are always asking me to restore their sword of perpetual smiting, or refund the plat that they’ve lost in-game. People, people, people, I don’t do elf money! Other than that one small pet peeve though, I’m really patient. And when I do have to say no, I’m willing to say it any number of times, and I’ll explain just exactly why over and over and over again until you fully understand.

So, if you think you deserve a refund, please feel free to drop me a line, I’m a reasonable guy, just ask anyone.

Lyman “Trila Vanadium” Tuttle

SOE Account Adminstrator

Six Simple Things to Remember to Optimize Your Customer Support Encounter

SOE — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:39:30 +0000

Here are some tips, rules and thoughts to make your customer support experience better, without even talking to a customer support representative:

1. The SOE knowledge base contains a plethora of information in various languages, that can assist you with simple answers to simple questions. Be sure and check there first before contacting support personnel. We are constantly anticipating what players will be asking, what players are asking, and what the top issues are and creating new articles every day.

2. Stop right now and change your password. Account security is your responsibility and as much as you trust your guild, friends, neighbor, raid leader, girl friend, boy friend, uncle’s-cousin’s-neighbor’s-dog, wife, husband, etc. remember that bad things happen to those that share their password and account information. Stop what you are doing right, take 2.5 minutes and change your password. Here is a link to help you make this happen. Also this day and age it is critical that you have installed on your computing a brand name virus and spyware checking program to assure the security and safety of your computer system and data.

3. One of the cool features for the SOE knowledge base is the ability to subscribe to articles so that when they are updated, you automatically get notified. You can do this at the bottom of each article by clicking on the “Notify Me by Email is this Answer is Updated” button. (Be sure you are logged into the system). Once subscribed each time the subject matter expert updates the article you will be notified. This is very useful for things like; “Top Known Issues”, “Scheduled Downtime” and many more.

4. Before reporting a “bad name” run it by the “Mom Rule”. The “Mom Rule” states that the name in question would not only need to truly offend your mom, but that she would understand the offensive nature of the name, and not need to Google it.

5. If you have cancelled your account, either online or by calling us. You can verify that it has been cancelled by logging into the “My Account” section on Station.com and check the “Subscriptions Info”.

6. Phone support is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (excluding holidays). Phone support is only for technical and account issues, however when using this option for your method of communication remember that the phones will usually be busiest at 10 a.m. Save yourself some wait time (even though our hold music rocks!) and call around 2 p.m. That way not only is your wait time shorter, but the agents have just been fed and will be in a much more amiable mood. While your at it, tell them Brad sent you, it may or may not help.

Brad “Mutato” Wilcox
Executive Director of Global Customer Service

The Choice of a New Generation

SOE — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:31:18 +0000

To understand the story I am about to tell, you must know that I am a gamer. I always have what I call “the game of the moment,” but there are some stand-by games that I always go back to. Ultima Online opened up new horizons for me in the world of gaming, and when EverQuest came along I was hooked. Some of my fondest memories are corpse recoveries in Hate, grinding in Chardok and playing until the early morning hours with a consistent group of family (sister, a couple brother-in-laws) and friends. We all still were able to hold jobs, make it through college and raise families. But gaming and EverQuest was a big time sink for what free time we had left.

A few months ago (right after the last EQ2 Expansion, Rise of Kunark) I started a new character (not for the first time) with my two sons (the first time with them). They both play on their own, and I do as well, but the idea behind this would be that we would only play these characters when we were grouped together. We started a well balanced group of three Sarnak’s and begin exploring the lands of Timorous Deep…watch out Norrath here we come.

Because of schedules (school for them, work for me), and their mom (my wife’s) household rules and regulations, our group play time is pretty much limited to Friday and Saturday nights once the mom takes the girls (their sisters, my daughters) out to a girly movie and we are left on our own.

It has been a fantastic experience and some good quality time spent with my sons in a different environment than the usual youth football and Little League Baseball that we usually enjoy. It is interesting to see their take on the game and the interaction with the game, they love the collection quests and attacking anything that moves just as long as it gets them experience, where as I am much more a linear player that wants to progress through a quest line to get my reward.

These are the same boys that grew up watching me play EverQuest and hiding when they saw the Cyclops in the Ocean of Tears, or a Giant Spider in West Karana. One of them once got a question wrong on a geography quiz when he was asked to name the continents on a world map and confused Antartica with Antonica. I couldn’t have been more proud, but “the Mom” didn’t think that was too funny.

A good 50% of the enjoyment from the game comes from the conversations that we have outside of the game in regards to where we can go next, or what do we want to do next, continually planning our next game night. Outside observers, like at baseball practice, when we are discussing strategies to complete the current Heritage Quest, or what zone we want to go to next, are amazed and confounded at the same time. They want to know what language we are talking and what country we are visiting.

Recently, my parents were in town visiting. As we were eating dinner one night, a side conversation erupted with the boys as to the events that occurred the night before while playing EQ2. I joined in the conversation as well, giving my insight and then trying to explain to the entire table what we were talking about. The explanation was lost on most, but my Mom just smiled and said that it was like déjà vu to her, as she used to sit there and hear the siblings talk about their gaming adventures and now a whole new generation is doing the same.

I hadn’t thought of it that way before, and she was right. My youngest son was only 4 months old when I rolled that first dwarf-cleric, (I know better now) and got lost in Butcherblock. My older son would have been 3 years old and more interested in hiding the mouse in his Tonka truck, then collection quests.

The fact that EQ recently celebrated its 9^th Anniversary and still has such a strong community and presence is incredible, I wonder what game or games my sons will get to experience with their sons. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were EverQuest.

Brad “Mutato” Wilcox
Executive Director Global Customer Service

Farmers, Botters, Realm Money Traders Oh My!

SOE — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:07:27 +0000

One aspect of the customer service world at SOE that always gathers comments is that of gold sellers, credit spammers, botters, farmers, real money traders, hackers, exploiters or whatever you would like to call them. This is a topic that you always see on various threads on the forums as well as a multitude of tickets in the queues. Let me get straight to the point and set the record straight as there are so many rumors in regards to what we do or don’t do with the players and accounts associated with these actions. First and foremost, we do take action against such accounts and players. In fact just last week we banned over 12,000 subscriptions (not free accounts or trial accounts but active subscriptions) across the SOE catalog of games (EverQuest II 5,929, Star Wars Galaxies 3,800, Vanguard 572, EverQuest 346, etc.). This isn’t a one time shot; this is a regular result of the time and manpower we put into combating the cheating in each game. How this comes about is three fold:

Customer submitted Petitions/Tickets:

Our Game Masters, in answering your petitions/tickets, investigate and verify that these players are doing what was reported by other players. Sometimes players will see immediate results in regards to their petitions, and at other times they won’t because we want to thoroughly investigate the alleged issue and actions of the account, maybe tie them to other related accounts, determine what 3^rd party software is or is not being used and see exactly what is happening. Sometimes the reported players are doing nothing wrong, the player that reported them was mistaken, and no harm done. But we do investigate, we do take it seriously and we do take action.

2. Logs, event triggers, and reports:

We have a plethora of logs and reports at our disposal to help us identify players that are exploiting the game, hacking, cheating or otherwise diminishing the gameplay for others. These tools enable us to identify not only individuals cheating, but identify rings of cheaters which we banish from the game. A tool like the recently developed EverQuest II Spam Filter is a great example of the work that our development team does to make the land of Norrath more enjoyable for all. This is being looked at by the other game teams for implementation, as well as other solutions like the creative solution the Star Wars Galaxy team implemented with the warden program, whereby volunteer wardens are able to squelch spammers immediately and automatically report them to GMs for further investigation and action.

3. Online Game Master observation

The simplest method is by simple observation by the GMs themselves. Much of this is done in the background and unnoticed, while at other times it is a bit more public, like when in Star Wars Galaxies, the “Credit Spammers” of Mos Esley were flagged “Overt” and other players were able to attack them and put a stop to their chants of credit selling sites. I imagine this was a dream come true for many.These actions and investigations take a lot of time, and this is just the high level overview of what happens, many of these investigations start with just one player that gets reported and by investigating the player activity, trades and transactions, it leads to various other accounts that also get banned. For example, a short while ago, an EverQuest II player was reported, the GM doing the investigation found 152 related accounts which were also banned, and the following guilds were identified as being related to this illegal activity and disbanded:

Bleke on Antonia Bayle
Over Lord on Butcherblock
Buobao on Guk
Onyx on Kithicor
Bougon of Hate on Nagafen
Jeweles on Venekor
Enlightcn on Vox
S H E on Vox

I tell you all this to let you know that we are working diligently to remove this element from the games, but also as a word of warning to not support this behavior. The only reason they exist is people continue to purchase items from these individuals and companies. Doing so is not only a violation of our code of conduct and terms of service, and could result in action taken against your subscription, but more important there are real world examples of credit card fraud associated with this activity. We continually see hundreds of stolen credit cards used by these individuals to purchase accounts that are then used for the above actions. This will be an ongoing battle, and we will do whatever we can to lessen the impact of this behavior within each of the games. This isn’t just a Customer Support task, we work together with the developer teams, community teams, and legal teams, and will continue to do so to assure that SOE games continue to be as fun and entertaining.

Brad “Mutato” Wilcox

Executive Director of Customer Support

Knowledge Base or Bust?

SOE — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:47:23 +0000

So it’s December, and 2008 is waiting to jump us right around the corner. It looks to be a big year for SOE and I am pretty excited to see how everything plays out. Along with the New Year comes new goals and benchmarks. One of these goals is to step up our customer’s ability to help them, help themselves (enter scene: Knowledge Base). So this is where I come in. My name is Chris, I work with the Knowledge Base.

The Knowledge Base or KB as I like to call it, has been around for quite a while. It’s gone through some changes and updates and additions through the years but it’s like one of those busted up old 50’s vintage cars. You know it could be something great but it needs a lot of work and effort into fixing it up. So this year, we’re gonna Pimp My KB. Basically, our iniative in this is threefold.

1) Remove outdated information, and update it with current stuff.

2) Add in new features (images/screenshots, quest info, class guides, etc)

3) Get the word out to all our players and make it something they actually use.

Sounds pretty straight forward, but the amount of effort involved is monumental. The KB has thousands of articles, and going through them to make sure information is updated correctly will be a Herculean task in and of itself. In addition, we’ll be adding images to most of the articles sort of like this. On top of all this, we’ll be generating new articles, not only for new products, but also for any existing game updates, expansions, and what not. We’ll also be tweaking the look and feel of the articles as well as the KB and support pages to try and make it easier for our players to use.

The task here is huge, but ultimately we’re committed to doing it because we understand what it’s like to be a game player and needing some crucial bit of information that might save hours of frustration and venting. We have a team of people (our Subject Matter Experts) that will be sacrificing many cans of Monster and Redbull to the caffeine gods in order to meet this goal. So if you haven’t check out the KB yet, maybe cruise through and take a look. Definitely check it out in the following months to see what’s going on and the efforts being made. If there is something you want to see, let us know, we do check the feedback even if we don’t respond to it.

Happy holidays to everyone, and see you next year.

Chris “Arandall” Cabral
Knowledge Base Administrator

About Halloween And Other Holidays …

SOE — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:16:20 +0000

The holiday season is among us. At least, that’s what I have to conclude when I go out shopping. It seems that in a few years we’re due for a new holiday called “HannuHalloThanksKwanzMas” when the vendors don’t know anymore which merchandise to put up for sale first!

Here at SOE’s Customer Service we just celebrated Halloween. We’re holding contests for the best decorated cubicle/office area, best costume, funniest costume etc. every year and it is always a good reason to dress up. What can I say, we work hard and we play hard and what better way then to combine play with work?

Below are a few pictures that I took during the day.

Here are most of the CS and QA folks that dressed up that day. From Flavor Flav to the Phantom of the Opera, from Pirates to a bumble bee.

Of course, the party wouldn’t be complete without:

The Zodiac killer and Captain Kirk

The Vanguard QA group made a complete dungeon of their area with fake stone walls, torture tools and awesome looking weapons.

My team created an EQII quest with a level 1.0 Epic spider (don’t ask why the spider was called PM Spider, I really have NO clue!) guarded by 0.5’s lil spiders. The goal of the quest was to distract all the spiders long enough so you could steal the eggs.

As for me; I decided “what better way then to distract an epic with the “big hug tactic!” Trust me when I say that my guild is always appears extremely happy when I deploy this tactic (NOT!). I still feel it is a valid way to pull a mob, my guild and raid members are less convinced and will mumble a bit about “silly Dutch women” when I rez them.

Ahhh, it was all good fun. The winners for the cubicle decorating contest and the costume contest have just been announced and I think everyone is happy with the outcome and had a good time.

And now we move on to the next holiday; Thanksgiving is already around the corner and we’re seeing candy corn and cranberry sauce and turkey pictures everywhere. Sugar rush anyone???

New Warden Program, Server Merge & Big Hair Bands

SOE — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:13:49 +0000

Since our last blog, a lot has happened within SOE Customer Service. It seems especially so on the games I work directly with. Star Wars Galaxies introduced the new shiny Warden Program which took a lot of time, effort and collaboration between development, customer service, community, and you, the players! I have to say, a month in, it is working amazingly well and those of you who play Star Wars Galaxies are probably now enjoying your time in Mos Eisley! It’s a shame we couldn’t continue our theme of turning these folks overt so you could help with the fun, but we found this to be a more effective way and still managed to include you the players!

Vanguard went through its server merge which, truthfully, went beautifully. I know from reading the posts on the forums that week that so many of you were happy with the smoothness and that all the amazing coders, programmers and production teams took time to make sure as little pain as possible was felt by you guys. We’ve had a very positive reaction. The subsequent character moves are also moving along nicely and we hope all of you find a server where you will be happy.

I am taking a mini-vacation, but before I scoot off I thought I would leave you with a closer window into my world at the SOE office. This week, I picked up a book called The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue fame. I get teased a lot around here because all of my money goes toward music CDs, DVDs, books and concerts. In fact, I drove up to Corona on September 20th to see a Finnish Doom Metal band called Swallow the Sun (I included a picture of myself and the guitarist, Juha, below). And a week ago, I was standing on the rail for Megadeth in Anaheim. This weekend I am off to see Finntroll. Whew!

One of the main comments I get at work is how I decorate my office. So, I thought I would share it with you so you could have a look and join in on the teasing I suppose. I have a feeling this may start a trend. You’ll notice a reoccurring theme of my favorite bands; Iron Maiden, Machine Men, Megadeth and some other gems thrown in! A window into my world … enjoy!

-Sharon Morris
Senior Customer Service Manager
Matrix Online/Planetside/SWG/Vanguard

‘Customer Service Is The Only Place I Would Want To Be’

SOE — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 04:28:09 +0000

With Labor Day already behind us, the summer is slowly coming to an end here in San Diego. However, things around the customer service department are warming up once more for releases, updates and expansions. It’s what keeps us busy and excited since we just know that we’ll never have the same day twice.

Today we launched “Legends of Norrath.” For customer service this means that we’ll have our knowledge base articles with all the FAQ’s regarding the game ready. We keep a special eye out for any Technical support phone calls, chats and/or emails and in-game petitions that will alarm us if players experience any problems, communicate with the development team and quality assurance team as well as that there is the general sense of excitement and anticipation when we release a new game.

I really wished that every customer could have their own “day behind the scenes of SOE”. So many different people and departments work so closely together to get these games out to you that it still makes me view the entire operations from beginning to end in awe. For example, as the International customer service manager I deal with the localized versions of EQII. We patch the same data out on the exact same day (San Diego daytime that is), 100% translated! That to me is the ultimate crown on planning, execution of the plan, dedication and teamwork.

I know that the development teams, customer service, quality assurance as well as our community teams are the departments that are mostly in the limelight. But if you think about it, … who makes sure your payment information makes it through to our billing system and adds the correct expansion to your game? Who makes sure that you can claim your veterans rewards in time, that you can read previews of expansions and upcoming products in renowned magazines? That all the correct data gets patched to your servers? That the game is completely and correctly translated? In short, a lot of people make “it” happen! As for me, customer service is the only place I would want to be. I get the best of both worlds. On one side I get to interact, speak and help our customers every day and on the other side I get the excitement of being part of a team that finds, communicate and help resolve issues on a daily basis.

Ima “Sentana” Somers
International Customer Service Manager

Fan Faire Attendees

SOE — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 01:03:47 +0000

For those of you that haven’t heard, there is a SOE Block party this weekend. Many of the Customer Service support staff will be there to mix and mingle. Hope to see all those who are in the neighborhood stop by.

Preparation for Fan Faire is all the buzz around here. While the Marketing and Community groups do all the work and prepare a grand event for all, our Customer Support group (especially Moonlite and Sentana) are preparing a little something for the ‘CS Panel’ at Fan Faire, so be sure and stop by. Everyone that is able to go is excited to be able to meet face to face the people that they interact with online, not just from a support perspective, remember many of us play as well, so meeting and greeting those that we might be playing normally with is exciting. I remember going to my first Fan Faire, finding the table designated for my server and sitting and interacting with those…well let’s just say staunch supporters of Povar. It made me realize very quickly that the /shout channel exists in real life as well, and server chatter equals real life chatter in many ways.

Here is a list so far of those that plan on attending Fan Faire from CS. The list may still grow, but note them down and play ‘Fan Faire Bingo’ by getting as many autographs or pictures with as many as possible. Then find Moonlite for a special prize.

Sharon ‘Moonlite’ Morris – Senior Customer Service Manager (SWG/VGD/PS/MXO)
Ima ‘Sentana’ Somers – International Customer Service Manager (EQ2)
Richard Schmelter “Greeblen“ – Customer Service Manager (EQ/EQII/EQOA)
Timothy ‘Maenar’ Vick – Lead GM Maenar (SWG/PS/MXO)
Jeremy ‘Naerfi’ Conrad – Subject Matter Expert (SWG)
Janice ‘Galatee’ Bagley – Subject Matter Expert (EQ2)
Gareth ‘Ichie’ Cales – Subject Matter Expert (VGD)
Jorge Sabala – GM Sopis (SWG)
Dan Binter – GM Brewko (PS/MXO)
Tony Cooke – GM Feldman (EQ2)
Amy Leo – GM Kimbial (EQ2)
Robert Robertson – GM Zekil (EQ)
TSR Bill Corning – Tech Support
TSR Jason Crawford – Tech Support

See you Online -

Brad “Mutato” Wilcox, Executive Director Global Customer Service

Monday Monday

SOE — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:38:58 +0000

So it’s Monday morning, and like any of you who have to head into an office for work, Mondays are always the hardest, aren’t they?

I did not want to get up this morning, especially when you live in a place where swimming pools seem to be attached to every single house you drive past, and the weather is just positively wonderful. We’re lucky here in San Diego, it’s a nice 72 degrees F (23 degrees C), with hardly any humidity. I was in LA this weekend, and I don’t know how you guys do it! The heat and humidity was just yucky! I shall not be going up to see Beckham play at the Galaxy until the winter when it’s oooo 65 degrees? Heh. Anyway, I managed to get here, and of course with it being the beginning of my week, it’s the busiest day.

I was pleased to see the Star Wars ticket queue had reduced somewhat over the weekend. We have been fighting with large queues recently as you SWG players have probably noticed; it has taken us some time to get to your ticket. I do apologize, and promise we have been working as quickly as we could to get to you. I don’t want to speak too soon, but it’s looking better this morning!

There are a lot of people buzzing around my office at the moment…something to do with Fan Faire and videos! I won’t spill the beans, but if you’re heading to Fan Faire you’re certainly assured a great time and some superb inside looks at things. Las Vegas is hot at this time of year, so be sure to drink plenty….water that is J

Next weekend is the block party here at SOE. Last year’s was a blast with Smed, Brenlo and others in the dunk tank, and demos of our games with developers on hand to chat. I shall be there again this year and will unlock some of the GMs from their chains, so feel free to come up and say hi.

I’m starting to see e-mails from GM Brewko come into my inbox which reminds me that those of you who play Planetside and Matrix Online know him for sure. He will also be at Fan Faire, and will be around for pictures to prove he really does exist, and for a poke in the ribs if he ever killed you in an event!

The afternoon shift for the Vanguard team is starting to trickle in and so I need to scoot, but again look forward to seeing those of you coming for the Block Party. Beers on Brenlo I hear!

Sharon “Moonlite” Morris, Senior Customer Service Manager