For those following the Tseric saga, he was apparently let go/resigned this week.
For those not following the Tseric saga:
Tseric was a forum moderator/community person for World of Warcraft. His main job involved gathering feedback from players on the official forums. There are words for jobs like this. Note: there are also other words.
Late on Sunday, Tseric gave what I like to call the Roy Batty Speech. This is a speech that everyone connected to a community on the internet gives at some point if they either (a) lose perspective about their life causing rampaging self-pity, (b) undergo a significant amount of stress causing rampaging self-pity, or (c) get so drunk they have an attack of rampaging self-pity but unfortunately not so drunk as to be unable to type into a web browser. (I have given several variations of this over time.) The Roy Batty Speech is something wildly dramatic, overwrought and self-indulgent. Note that Roy Batty had an excuse for being wildly dramatic and overwrought: He was a robot, he was Rutger Hauer, and he was dying. Unless you are a dying robot named Rutger Hauer, you don’t have enough reason to give the Roy Batty Speech. Tseric’s version of the Roy Batty Speech is preserved forever, because this is the Internet.
Posting impassionately, they say you don’t care.
Posting nothing, they say you ignore.
Posting with passion, you incite trolls.
Posting fluff, you say nonsense.
Post with what facts you have, they whittle down with rationale.
There is no win.
There is only slow degredation.
Take note. It is the first and only time you’ll see someone in my position make that position.
You can be me when I’m gone.
It went on for a while. Apparently posting on the forums has nothing to do with being teargassed in anti-globalization protests, just in case, you know, you were unsure. Also, you don’t understand what it’s like dealing with forums. Also, trolls suck.
The dirty not-quite-a-secret is that everyone even tenuously connected to the oversight of online games, or other internet communities, have said much these same words in various combinations. The difference is that we didn’t actually, you know, tell the customers these words. We didn’t give The Roy Batty Speech while we were on the clock. Because while blowing off steam is important, and necessary, it’s also something you by necessity do behind closed doors. Otherwise it’s not just venting steam, it’s merely venting. And that has its own connotation, and it’s an unpleasant one.
And that’s why Tseric is “pursuing other opportunities elsewhere”. Because part of having the fancy coloration in your name when you post is understanding that, no, you can’t just dive into the muck and root around with everyone else. You lost that privilege when you got the fancy colored name. You have to be different. You have to set the standard. And yes, that means you take a lot of unjustified punches. It comes with the territory of, as the Penny Arcade comic put it, eating bees. Sometimes the bees sting, and what are you going to do? Dude, you took a job eating bees. It will happen. And you’ll bitch about it to your friends off the clock constantly – but not on the clock. Not to the customers paying your way. It’s not how communities are run.
Anyway, it’s not really that important in the scheme of things. Well, it’s important to Tseric, since he’s LFG, but for the rest of us, it’s just another inappropriate context for the Roy Batty Speech. And it’ll happen again. People being human and all.
#1 by The Alien on May 20th, 2007
I liked Tseric a lot. Hopefully, he found a good job elsewhere and THEN posted the burnout post.
If not, well, here’s hoping he finds something good to do next.
#2 by Amy Sage on May 20th, 2007
All I can say is… I *so* don’t miss that job.
#3 by Jason Ballew on May 20th, 2007
Here’s something I’ve noticed.
The WoW forums show 6 CMs. 1 of which is Tseric, leaving 5.
Two of those haven’t posted since January and February. Does that really mean that Blizzard is operating with -THREE- Community Managers at this time?
#4 by Kyan on May 21st, 2007
>>>It seems very apparent to me that Tseric was done with that position and wanted to go out with a bang.>>Kalgan, he’s most likely the one who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, not the warriors.
#5 by Kyanfuckedbybrackets on May 21st, 2007
—It seems very apparent to me that Tseric was done with that position and wanted to go out with a bang.—
I’d have to assume such. Not whether or not it was premeditated–though I’m sure the sentiment was there–but just that he wanted to leave his mark. I knew him well enough through the community to doubt it was less than grande in intent. He had too strong of a sense of self purpose. The sort that gets you tear gassed at a rally.
He was his own double edged sword as a forum manager. Very strong command over language but he made everything so personally passionate. A thankless position like a MMO CM will relentlessly take advantage and breakdown the latter.
—Kalgan, he’s most likely the one who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, not the warriors.—
Likely a bit of both. He had a decent enough grasp on the design of the class, but with all the areas under his supervision, minute details can sometimes fall by the wayside. Case in point was the miss rate discussion shortly after launch; we traded good dialouge and I granted him a lot of points, but then comes a future patch and suddenly certain things were fixed.
He overlooked a lot. It’s unrealistic to cover nearly 30 class sub-types on top of Battlegrounds and refine your attachment to each on par with someone who only plays one playstyle on only one class sub-type. I’d assume by now the team infrastructure has refined a lot.
#6 by Amber on May 21st, 2007
Gazing into my crystal ball, I see the following on the Burger King boards:
Tseric:
I ask you if you want fries with that, you want onion rings.
I ask you if you want to super-size your Double Bacon Whopper with Cheese and extra bacon and, you accuse me of trying to make you fat.
I ask you if you want to eat in or take out and you roll your eyes at me because you’re only ordering a drink.
The milkshake machine is broken so you all want fucking milkshakes.
There is no win.
There is only the assistant manager yelling at me to change the oil in the fry vats.
I used to be a community relations manager, you nugget-less fry-muncher!
#7 by ajeba on May 21st, 2007
Nice, Amber, Nice.
The dude lost it, he obviously made the decision he was done, hence he went out with a bang. It happens.
You make what internal process changes you can to prevent future meltdowns and keep on truckin’.
#8 by No.6 on May 21st, 2007
“While the customer isn’t always right, you have to take care of them, or someone else will.”
The thing that’s nearly always lost to CS people is this: some customers aren’t worth having.
There are people whose presence drives other potential customers away, who cost more to keep than remove.
The drunk at the ballgame, the griefer in a MMOG, and the forum poster who screams at ‘devs’ and new players all deserve removal, because taking their business means many people won’t give you theirs.
Unfortunately the mantra “the customer is always right” has led people to be jerks and employees to allow themselves to be cowed rather than maintain sanity.
As a customer, I don’t want to have to behave badly on the phone so that I get put on the “angry customer” list and my problem resolved first. I don’t want the valuable time of CS reps wasted paying attention to screaming idiotarians and ignoring people who not only have two brain cells to rub together but have devoted them to game X. On the top of the login screen and forum, and on the mantle of every business, should read “We reserve the right to refuse service.”
#9 by Jason Ballew on May 21st, 2007
Oh, I agree with you completely, No.6. There comes a point where the customer is no longer worth the expense required.
However, while you can’t satisfy every customer, and some aren’t worth keeping around…you still have to try. That’s the goal of customer service. If they’re going to be an asshat, then you deal with it.
But, as we’ve all noticed…CM is a completely different beast. And Blizzard seems to know it, since the actual job posting says PR.
#10 by Gwaendar on May 22nd, 2007
What WoW needs is a lot more perma-bans and a lot less temporary suspensions. Once the whining masses get it in their thick skull that “anything goes” isn’t part of the house policy, there may be a chance to turn the cesspool of idiocy of the o-boards into something useful.
As for Tseric, he should have been rotated to another position ages ago – not because he was bad at it but given the current crap the CMs are dealing with day after day, there’s only so long you can stick to it.
#11 by Igniferroque on May 22nd, 2007
Will this make it difficult for him to get a job in the MMOG industry? Or is this a sin easily forgiven by his colleagues?
Keep in mind, I don’t care that he slipped. Lots of people on the WoW forums are noobs and I hope he does get reemployed sooner rather than later.
#12 by No.6 on May 22nd, 2007
“he should have been rotated to another position ages ago – not because he was bad at it but given the current crap the CMs are dealing with day after day, there’s only so long you can stick to it.”
I think this is good advice, akin to the USAAF and RAF rotating pilots out to train others during WW2 vs. the Axis practice of keeping them in combat until they died.
#13 by Sanya on May 22nd, 2007
That’s it, I’m starting a website.
#14 by Awenn on May 22nd, 2007
Despite the petulant assumptions to the opposite, the customer is NOT always right. That’s an inane US sales pitch (to get more customers to buy stuff – you see the irony?)
Tseric will be missed, even if the blue responses were completely inadequate even when he was there.
#15 by Requiel on May 22nd, 2007
Anyone who thinks MMO community management is a shortcut to hot chicks and free champagne should read the stuff that was posted in my quit thread.
#16 by Masaan on May 23rd, 2007
In response to: Igniferroque
It’s a VERY small industry. Burning bridges in this industry of ours is a very fast way to never get another job in it.
Virtually every time we get a candidate who has worked in the industry, there is at least one if not two or three people who have worked with them.
I seriously doubt he’ll be able to get another job anywhere in the industry at all.
#17 by Jason Ballew on May 24th, 2007
Masaan:
And I’m presuming it’s rather hard to get into said industry, as well.
Which is both good and bad, of course