Why were in-game GMs removed?

Community General Discussion
42

That job position has been liquidated due to the price of yacht fuel sry

43

In my area it’s, “we desperately need people for”, however, “we will not settle and not lower ourselves to raise our pay” ( to poach from other companies or lure back people who switched careers). It’s similar to the problems new college graduates face. You MUST have X years experience on XYZ in a professional setting. Basically few companies these days are willing to train potential hire on their niche software or skillsets. The only logical conclusion is that they don’t actually want to hire anyone and are probably gaslighting their staff .

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44

It’s a total mystery.

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45

Either way, they were certainly more entertaining than the contrarian trolls we currently have :frowning:

46

Probably several reasons.

I think in today’s game, they would be targets for harassment. It would be irresponsible to subject an employee to that type of environment.

47

True. Satire and comedy is an art form and knowing your audience is key. I wouldn’t say contrarian so much as clickbait Troll wielding hammer.

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48

Bobby needed a new yacht.
Bobby needed a new mansion,
Bobby needed a new floating mansion.

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49

Everquest back in the day really nailed this. Not just in-game GMs but they had a guide program too. It led to some of the absolute best memories in gaming.

Here is a podcast episode where the special guest is one of the guides from back then. Really fascinating look back.

If Blizzard could implement something like this, I believe without a doubt player numbers would surge.

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50

At the end of talking with a GM, I’d usually ask them one of two questions: “If SW and IF are positioned north and south of each other, why does the deep run tram travel east and west?” Or “why does my cat’s breath smell like cat food?” Never got a great response, but at least they played along and were a genuinely positive experience.

51

Yes.

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52

Bobby wanted a bidet on his yacht.

53

It isn’t about how much they can afford when it comes to corporations, it is all productivity. CS members sitting at a desk cranking out tickets is more cost effective then having someone in game that will actually “waste time” interacting with customers. Then there is the whole outsourcing of the CS department to oversea companies.

54

Had a not so great experience with a GM in EQ once.

We were in SSRA temple farming keys all day in our guild. Most of us already had them and we were just helping out and wasting time waiting for the boss to spawn.

A few minutes before his spawn, another guild comes in and we rush to the boss room with the other guild trailing behind. So we petition for a GM. The GM doesn’t show themself, but they’re talking where both guilds can see what they’re saying.

Our guild name was Shadow Council, the GM did a /who Shadow and said we only had 2 guild members in the zone. We told them no, we have only 2 Shadowknights in the zone, but our whole guild is in the room.

The GM still said no, there’s only 2 of you and gave the boss to the other guild. :dracthyr_shrug:

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55

They were amazing. Especially when they would take over lore npcs and create RP events. They would give out special items and temp titles to participants. My little Wood Elf rogue helped Lanys T’vyl (swoon) in an event and I ended up with the tile “betrayer”
 I may have had to kill a few of my kind (smiles innocently).

But, all that changed the moment SOE took over Everquest. No reason to have ingame events, they cost money and time. Best to shove CS people behind a desk.

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56

The actual answer is because they improved the tools that they had on the back end so that GMs no longer had to log in to the game with a physical avatar to do things, interact with people and fix issues. They can do their job faster and more easily without having to get bogged down with chit-chat and people clamoring for attention.

Which was cool, but it also briefly derailed/delayed the event while everyone got all that out of their system, which is why they usually don’t take the time to appear in-game.

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57

Their main customer support center was in Texas.

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58

it was like that in the old days too.

59

and this is why we can’t have nice things.

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60

The sheer amount of servers now.

Think we were close to 300 at one point.

61

I think it still is. Activision had a table at Austin Pride when I went last week.

I talked with them for a bit and then left with a “good luck with the Microsoft takeover!” lol