Weekly Q&A twitch streams. No need to engage only when new content is about to release, or when we have something new to talk about. Just a sit down with the community where I answer their questions and listen to their feedback on what changes they’d like to see added.
I think historically this has proven to be a lose-lose situation. The internet just … doesn’t lend itself towards intellectual discussion.
That was the RealID fiasco. Bashiok was an unintended victim used to prove the point that leaking people’s personal e-mails can be dangerous. Unfortunately for him he was the messenger for the people above his pay grade who wanted to dox the player base.
In the end, he received a few pizzas out of it. Nothing bad happened.
The reason for most trolling is their lack of transparency and their rare communications in the first place.
No one ever talks about Nethaera that was just as active back in those days, because Nethaera was appreciated, non-antagonistic and actually responded well to threads she was in.
In fact, she’s still around, though obviously Blizzard has decided to eliminate actual Community Management. Look at the whole Lore/Ion thing, they would do it every 6 months, when most people can do a daily podcast with no issue. Lore could have been a great CM had he started literally a daily podcast where he’d read Forums and engage with the community that way.
Dude was unhinged.
Sometimes the customer is just whining, but sometimes the customer has a point. Your job as a customer-facing position is to help where and when you can.
Lore was literally the boss of the CMs until he left after the legal fiascos ABK got tangled into.
That’s even worse if he was. He literally had the power to create community management and didn’t.
Managing a team doesn’t mean you don’t have managers yourself lol. Welcome to corporate america. He was a middle-manager. If big boss don’t want CM drama, you direct your team in a way that avoids it. Its that simple.
Also i don’t quite remember Nethaera but there was also drama with another CM on the Diablo side of things, people being creeps and all.
I mean anyone who’s worked in big companies will tell you : most mid to high managers don’t micro manage.
Actually, if you don’t want CMs to engage with the community, you fire the CM team and replace them with an announce bot.
At that point, at least save on the costs.
I’d probably show up for work. They dont do that presently so I feel I’d have a leg up on the others
Well… remember when they fired 700-something people? Guess who these people mostly were. Community/esport/customer support etc.
Which is unsurprising considering those people weren’t really doing their jobs to begin with.
Which is why to respond to OP : if I were CM, I’d manage the community a bit, so that the higher ups didn’t think my salary wasn’t worth it.
Asmongold does a better job of managing the WoW community, that’s saying something.
Yeah, by literally attracting all the angry incels within it to the same place. He’s the shepherd we need.
That’s quite admirable. But then you’d get people demanding YOU fix something in game or stop wasting time helping on unimportant things and help them or you need to be fired for wasting time posting cat pics. Then they’ll scream “where’s that CM that talked to us!” when they decide they need to give feedback or need help themselves.
That’s not really a fair assessment.
By running Transmog competitions, Mount offs, commenting on daily news and happenings, actually streaming himself doing something in game and talking it up with the users in his chat.
Twitch literally was the perfect platform to “manage communities”, and Blizzard failed to leverage that. Could have fired the whole CM team and sponsored a few popular streamers instead to hold these events.
immediately quit.
(oh, for context, I’m not trolling. I’m just not a people person.)
Ashgarr is right. The role is VERY different than it started out as many years ago before social media, “cons”, etc.
I posted this on the Council forum last year but it is still relevant. Assistant Community Manager is the entry level version for Blizzard.
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Community Managers (CMs) don’t take tickets. They have a very different role at Blizzard. Their job is to take feedback across forums, reddit, streams, third party websites, etc. To write and publish patch notes, news posts, forum notices, game changes. They also do engagement campaigns, promotions, and outreach. They engage and work with the media, streamer community, focus groups for raid testing and all the coordination that goes with that.
While CMs have the ability to moderate forums, that is not something they usually do. That is handled by the Forum Moderators who review forum reports that we flag.
Here is a recent Associate Community Manager role job posting.
Blizzard Entertainment games don’t just begin with game ideas or end once those games are released. A lot more goes into the creation of a Blizzard product than the work of developers—and we support our games for years after they’re in the hands of gamers worldwide. Operations teams support, evangelize, and improve our games. The Global World of Warcraft Publishing team is seeking a community professional who is passionate about player communities, brand communications, marketing, and customer support. They would join our community development team, who is dedicated to creating and maintaining relationships with our community of players.
The ideal candidate is driven, creative, and is a self-starter who possesses strong task management skills with a proven track record of successful community management and development experience in the entertainment industry. They are a tireless advocate for the voice of the player, constantly seeking to build bridges, trust, and foster constructive dialogue.
Responsibilities:
- Act as public-facing representative of Blizzard and communicate on behalf of the brand across multiple channels and at events
- Contribute to the design and execution of community development programs for World of Warcraft
- Support communication plans and channel management
- Create and maintain relationships with community partners including fansites, content creators, and volunteers
- Engage with players at in-person and online events Work closely with the various teams developing and supporting World of Warcraft
- Compile and relay meaningful feedback on the sentiment, suggestions, and concerns of the community
- Support the live operations of World of Warcraft with public-facing messaging tailored to our audience Develop official communications for upcoming game changes and content
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, or related field or equivalent work experience
- Minimum four years’ experience with brand communications, forums, and social media
- Experience with channel management, publishing calendars, reporting & analytics
- Familiarity with project management and process improvement
- Ability to meet deliverables amid a fast-paced, high volume environment
- Able to travel, including international travel, and work long hours including weekends as needed
Pluses- Advanced degrees in communication, marketing, or related field
- Third party relationship management experience
- Project management training and experience
- A passionate gamer possessing ample experience with World of Warcraft and/or World of Warcraft Classic
- Experience with content management systems, html, or other publishing platforms
- Existing strong personal network within Blizzard’s communities Fansite, creator, and/or streaming experience within the WoW community
- Video production and/or graphic arts experience
You do what you are tasked to do or get fired. Like most jobs that exist anywhere. CMs do not have the freedom to just do whatever they want. Suits, PR, and Legal are all above even the senior CMs making policy and job descriptions.
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"I can’t fix it because I’m just the relay person. Our devs handle things. However, thank you for the feedback.
If you feel as though you can do a better job, we are always applying."
Can never make people happy. Comes with any kind of customer service or anything of the sort.
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(There’s time I wish working at the Customer Service desk was mandatory so everyone learns that the customer isn’t always right. And no you can’t squirt a fire hydrant on the loud and obnoxious ones.)
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No, that is absolutely untrue. The last layoffs of CS were 2012 when 600 people in CS and CM did get laid off.
The 2019 layoffs encompassed a bit over 200 people from Blizzard (800 overall at ATVI) and they were NOT CS. They were the front facing folks like marketing, esports, publishing and yes, Community Management. We lost Yithisens in those layoffs. I can think of two more from the Diablo/Starcraft community as well who were downsized 
By law CA companies have to provide a list of all positions laid off. The PDF at the end of the article here has the legal documentation listing positions that was submitted to the Govt regarding Blizz layoffs.
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