Good Morning (for me), Afternoon, and Evening All,
Its clear from reading through the 20+ pages of posts since I left last night you've all been having a party in here! There have been some amazing, passionate (yet civil) discussions on a myriad of topics that you can all be proud of. I promise I'll get back to my inbox but I wanted to jot down a few thoughts:
Leaders vs. Organizers: As I mentioned yesterday, one of the marvels of the present disenfranchised player movement is that it can be anyone, young or old, from any walk of life, from around the globe. I've seen banners and posters from throughout the world in just the last 20 pages. PR folks know it is widespread. That said, does the disenfranchised base need leaders? Just one voice here, but my take is that is ultimately for the base to collectively decide. There are advantages and disadvantages to that call. One charismatic leader can unite a movement, one misguided one can destroy it.
But regardless, any movement ultimately needs organizers. Men and women who will step from the ranks of the masses to set up threads, start pages like the Take Back and Child's Play campaign, letter writing campaigns, etc. In short, folks who become willing to help build consensus and focus energy. No one upset with a circumstance wants to mill around forever. PR deflection is used to wear out a voice that has nothing else to do except be vocal and then claim that ultimate silence is tacit approval. Ultimately do organizers become leaders? Sometimes. But please bear in mind, this present circumstance is about a very vocal group of consumers upset at a product. So put forth your thoughts and build consensus through civil dialogue to that end. Does it mean you'll go along with the consensus, perhaps or perhaps not (especially if you liked the product). But it lets the Bioware/EA know you are still
engaged in the discussion.
A Continuing Chorus of Voices will Continue to be Heard but you Can Go Hoarse: Stay involved (for as long as you wish, of course), be loud, passionate, and proud (no matter what side of this discussion you take) but understand from a PR standpoint (as mentioned above) that the whole stratagem of going into your bunker and using deflection is to wear out the outcry then dismiss it as a minor issue. Being involved takes effort and being upset takes energy. My suggestion, stay involved, but take breaks. I have no doubt EA is assessing this constantly, discussing options, but not every person is at the helm 24/7. Get a good meal, get some rest, watch a favorite movie, and decompress then come back to share more epic tales of Marauder Shields with the rest of us.
Resolve sustains a movement. Become galvanized, stay passionate, but take care of yourself as well as the things you believe in!
The 'Galvanized" Veteran and the "Fiery" Newcomers Unite: This one is mostly for the mass of disenfranchised players here but ending approval folks might fit in here too. All of us (on the disapproval side) are at different stages of the "I'm an unhappy consumer and I'm doing something about it!" spectrum. Some have become resolved, some are downright angry and want to vent, some are proposing solutions and some are talking about how let down they feel.
All of those people belong here. And what I’m seeing catching up on this thread this morning is a genuine banding together of those voices. Some upset folks finished the game an hour ago, some a week ago—All should be welcome here. Embrace the passionate (yet civil) fire of the new poster and the stoic, galvanized conviction of those who have been here longer and everyone in-between. Each has a voice to be used in this discussion!
Short Term Gains vs Long Term Campaigns: Last point. Lots of folks are asking, will Bioware address this on (fill in your selected date here)? I suspect that some folks even in the know at Bioware don’t know. As I’ve mentioned previously, Bioware/EA seem to have acknowledged a genuine disconnect with a very vocal portion of their client base. The PR damage control team is evaluating everything and assessing the costs of all options. The data involved is mind boggling and far more detailed than I can imagine with the proliferation of information potentially available in today’s business environment (weekend sales figures, new unit orders, online use, press reaction, fan feedback, cost of a variety of “fix” DLC platforms, projected long term losses to not fixing the game, customer short term/long term impacts, etc). To that end, I will give the same cautionary note I mentioned before: A meaningful solution to a serious disconnect between customers and a business takes time. Moreover, would it be reasonable to see EA release more of the same countermeasures/deflections/faux olive branches this week? Definitely. If for no other reason, you are testing the consumer’s resolve and hoping to keep the news headlines towards the corporate base somewhat positive with articles claiming “we’ll respond to our customers”.
The "ending" press right now certainly isn't what Bioware/EA wants and they want to get past this as soon as the best economically viable solution is decided on.
I said this a dozen times on the thread yesterday, but it bears repeating. I applaud the folks on both sides of this issue who have let their voices be heard. You are patrons, customers, and consumers. You can passionately praise or decry a company’s product so long as you are civil. You can buy their next product or refuse to do business with them ever again. This
is the marketplace and ultimately comes down to the bottom line for EA. To claim any business can produce products with impunity to customer satisfaction is myopic and unrealistic. Conversely, companies should be willing to be bold with new products but with a clear understanding that customer disapproval is a potential outcome and could impact the long term business/customer relationship. And finally when that consumer disapproval happens on a significant scale its time for a business to economically do what it can to redress that disapproval to repair/preserve the relationship with their customers.
Again, I salute everyone on this post sharing their views civilly on both sides. I’m enjoying reading the views, the suggestions for direction, and the well thought-out discussions. Keep letting your voice be heard!
Modifié par atghunter, 18 mars 2012 - 05:43 .
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This article made the endings sound far more awesome than they turned out to be...
