Why were in-game GMs removed?

Community General Discussion
1

Just curious why this happened.

I remember a time in WoW many years, maybe even as far back as TBC/Wrath time period where the in-game GMs made the world so much more interactive and fun.

When you were doing something you weren’t supposed to, they would send a special Blizzard stamped message in-game, some would even role play, and they would tell you to knock it off or have a real conversation with you regarding your actions and it felt good having real employees watching over the population.

I find that when the whole in-game GM system got removed, we started to see a direct rise in botting and more illegal activities as it felt like there was no real policing of the community past a ticket system that also seemed to have become automated.

In-game GMs also added a lot of flavor to the game via cool hidden content like the GM Island and some of them would pop up in game to bug test live, and they would have those blue hood outfits and be max level and there were even GM Weapons they temporarily let players have back then, it just felt like a fun community outreach from Blizzard.

I guess I don’t see the reason behind seeing them removed, it seems to be an overall net loss to the game.

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2

I’ll give you 3 guesses, but only money counts.

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3

the main one is players were asking to see them in game last time i was a gm was in the kara raid fixing the final boss for us
and players heading to gm island to get them to pop up

4

They got better tech to let GMs do their thing without having to be logged in.

A few really bad apples made it so we can’t have nice things, because they would ignore tickets in favor of ones they could spawn in and goof off with.

They downsized the department so hard that it ruined it for everyone.

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5

Right? I feel like Garmuck knows this.
I hate how people pose complaints as questions when they know exactly why things are they way they are.

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6

I think it just boils down to the expansion of the company as a whole, more games to maintain and more $ optimal ways to run the game.

Basically the human experience was a sacrifice they were willing to make.

It feels like in more ways than one.

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Oh god you’re still here?

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8

I mean I remember back in the day those GM positions were maybe only paying out $15-20/hr max, I don’t see how it’s such a financial burden on a company that makes billions.

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9

In-Game GMs have not been removed. You’re contacted far less-frequently in-game than previously, but it still happens. My most recent in-game contact was earlier this year when an AH bug was causing expired items to disappear.

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10

Absolutely

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12

is this the “hello i see you’ve read my post,” guy? or am i mixing him up with some other poster?

13

He was brutal in the Classic forums

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14

I enjoy reading old Humanbeak topics. Many are mildly entertaining, and others are unhinged. It’s great filler material during a content lull or a Hollywood strike :rofl:

15

There’s no need to derail this thread. Stay on topic. GMs having a stronger in-game presence would be a welcome change.

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No that’s Edamann or whatever. I know because he’s one of the few on my permanent ignore list.

Garmuck probably should be too but his threads pop off sometimes.

You’re not my mom

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17

Actually, everything counts in large amounts.

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Is that not Humanbeak too?

19

I see, guess i don’t really know who this guy is.

20

Players would probably enjoy it more but from a efficiency standpoint, its much worse for the company.

21

No idea, at various points of this forum’s history I think 50% of the people posting might have been Humanbeak.

(I’m still not convinced he wasn’t the T’s too)

I know that he did a similar Blizzard Customer Service cosplay bit for a while, so maybe you’re thinking of that.

He posts a lot of vaguely baity threads like this at an annoying rate.

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