Bethesda,

It's a very basic but critical support axiom, particularly in the IT world, that far too many companies just get plain wrong:

When customers are facing problems with your product, it's not enough to just fix it; you must Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

Every bit as important as working hard to fix the problem, perhaps more so, is to communicate with your customers that you acknowledge the problem exists and understand what the stated problem is, then tell the customer what you're planning to do about it and provide regular updates on the progress.

This very simple, yet extremely important step, can make all the difference between really ticked off customers and customers who appreciate your efforts to resolve their issues. Remaining silent in the hopes that you can quietly fix things in the background and hope all those irritating, whining customers will just shut up and go away ... that NEVER works. Or rather, it sometimes works too well: the customers will eventually go away and never come back.

So I what I'm saying here, Bethesda, is please communicate with us! Tell us that you at least acknowledge the issues your customers have reported and what you're doing to investigate and fix them. Don't wait until you're almost ready to release a patch. Don't wait until you've written up the release notes. Don't wait until you've confirmed for yourselves that the bugs are real by reproducing them in-house. Tell us that you've heard / read our reports of each of the issues and you're investigating them. And then, give us some kind of regular updates.

• Communicate that you acknowledge and understand our report of an issue
  
• Communicate what you're doing to investigate and fix the issue
  
• Communicate updates on the status of the investigation and fix

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

Doing this will go a LONG way towards reducing the number of angry flames and pleas for some kind of response. And it's easy to do. I know. I do it all day long with our customers.

It's the IT world, and software to boot. We KNOW there are going to be problems. Don't be like Apple and pretend like nothing is ever wrong. Most of us can be a patient lot as long as we know you're working on fixing the issues. Right now ... we just don't know squat because you haven't told us.

That's all. Thanks for listening.

Regards,

-RMWChaos

+1 from another IT Manager

I stated as much in a not as eloquent post after GStaff (Community Relations guy) said: "We know there are problems, we're working on a new update." Personally, he needs to get fired from his Community Relations position, as that statement is hardly community relations.

Bethesda screwed up. EVERYONE knows it and they're still trying to be all hush hush about it. Pathetic community relations.

I think that, despite all the bugs, the community WANTS to love this game and adore Bethesda. I also think that Bethesda likes the
community and wants to help us out. The problem, though, is the complete and utter lack of communication (as the OP points out).

Bethesda, JUST TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON! We want to like you guys so much. There are so few honorable game developers
left. We want you to do a good job. Just through us a bone. Tweet about what bug you guys are working on today. Make a forum
post or two a day giving us an estimate percent completed for the next patch. Give us something to look forward to.

+1 to the OP - one of the best and most logical posts I've seen here, too bad no Bethdesa employee will ever read it.

I agree with OP.

This is what I said in another topic:
The main reason I posted this,... is to point out to them,... is that this is how you build up a solid client base of returning customers.

It is one of the reason I totally HATE EA games,... because their support svcks so heavy, I once decided to NEVER buy another EA game. Which should teach a company like Bethesda, is that you CAN and will loose customers, simply by failing to communicate to them.

We've been trying to tell them this since the first weekend, they just don't care.

If your customers don't know what you're working on, you're not working on anything.

Specifics, not "we're doing something kthxbai."

Currently being read by a QA Tester...

I'm pretty sure Bethesda does care, but they wanna see how mad people can get.

At this point I think people are about to start "OccupyBethesda"

I own my IT business, and the #1 tool we have for keeping people happy and satisfied (even if they hate something) is communication. Listening and understanding their needs, translating from "tech to regular" terms, and giving them understandable feedback on what was happening and what was done.

Unfortunately, you can't compare apples to oranges. Bethesda isn't in the service business, they design and produce a product, and then sell that product. Support and communication for them is sort of an afterthought. It would vastly improve their customer's level of satisfaction, but given that those customers have already paid for the product and have almost no chance of returning it, the communication from Bethesda is optional.

I will admit, that while a lack of communication didn't hurt them much with Morrowind, Oblivion, or the Fallouts... it seems to be now with Skyrim. Perhaps due to the overall level of visibility of the game, perhaps due to more media coverage on the net.

+1 to the OP



This.

This, times ten. EA is so notoriously bad for this, and actually they're even worse, since if you post something they don't like they have a tendency to ban your account from playing games online (which is why I never give them my PSN ID they constantly ask for). Bethesda isn't a long way off though, they won't go banning you, but they won't talk to you either. Few things are more infuriating, since I can't tell if my issues are even heard, let alone if they'll ever be solved. Why would I hang on to a broken game I'm not convinced will ever be fixed? To wait around for broken DLC? No thanks. Why don't they tell us what's going on then? Probably because even they aren't sure it can be fixed, and to say they're doing anything would be a promise they might not fulfill. This logic breaks my confidence in them. If they come out and say "We're fixing the following things" I'll probably keep the game, but no news is bad news in this case, so this will get sold soon if I'm not convinced the numerous issues will be resolved.

As much as I agree with the original poster (after all more correspondence between developer and gamer is always a good thing) it doesn't matter how much Bethesda does or doesn't communicate, the whiners will still whine, it's a vintage trait of theirs.

...I'm a fan of terrible puns and that one actually hurt for me to write, let alone read. I'll leave it in for the sake of making future readers want to blind themselves with rusty pins.

Back to the point I was making. Communication would be fantastic, it won't shut up all the complainers because they've been doing it since Oblivion but it'll at least placate some of them to lessen their numbers, hardly think anyone is going to miss another topic which is essentially 'Baaaw its not Morrowind'. Correspondence is everything, more of it is a good thing, even if it isn't what we want to hear or read.

But, they are communicating.

"Skyrim takes on Portal 2 in round 3 of @g4tv Videogame Deathmatch!"
"Skyrim becomes first Western game to ever receive 40/40 score from Famitsu Magazine in Japan"
"What's your game of 2011? Cast your vote over at Machinima for the Gamer's Choice Award (Go Skyrim!)"
"Less than a day to vote @g4tv"
"I'm Spending Christmas in Skyrim" Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTntVTyjV6w



Oh, wait ... you meant a message other than "Hey guys look how great we are"

I fully agree with the OP. By failing to communicate with its customers Bethesda projects the impression that they simply do not care. Being ignored seldom produces a passive response; hence the growing number of disgruntled posters.

I'm personally very disappointed by the customer experience offered by Bethesda. Sadly, this experience will affect my attitude toward future releases, and influence my recommendations to friends.

R U saying they have not been listening to us and communicating with us customers? I completely disagree here. I think they have done a good job communicating and trying to fix problems. I have been on the development end and it takes a lot of time to fix bugs or anything really. They have come out with fixed rather quickly. Faster than many other game companies I have seen. And if you have not heard, they do read through this forum and take advise, suggestions and notes from what players are saying. I'm not a love all Beth person here. I'm just saying they have done good to their customer. I have been playing many games with bugs and Beth has done a good quick job in addressing issues with the game and in communicating. if you don't believe me, hop over to the NBA 2k12 forum right now. I don't think you have the background info of what bad gaming customer service it yet.

Well, the mistake here is specifically how long it took for Bethesda to announce they are looking into it. More than 72 hours for the PS3, and more than 24 hours for PC/360, to verbalize that they have heard our breaking issues, and/or are aware and are working to fix it, isnt going to go over well with media coverage. Easily a couple million people have been aware now of the game breaking issues of the patch, through media sources such as Internet and TV newstreams such as G4, and therefore, results in bad PR for this game and its company. Sad, but true. I still love you, Beth. :tes:

Oh yeah? Well, two can play this game. :laugh: I said this in another thread!:



Seriously, +2 to OP

Coming from the other side.

I go to the meetings where my bosses preach the, "Communicate, communicate, communicate" mantra then a day goes by and you are still left scratching your head as there is still no communication. Its much easier to say it than to do it. Yup, you guys may be IT Support Managers; but if you say you communicate to your people all the time you're lying.

It's better to communicate once you have something to say and have enough information on hand to have assessed the situation, than to just immediately jump the gun just for the sake of saying something.

The patch has now been out for at least 24 hours, just to point out.

And using the forums as a communications platform is just not a very sound idea, especially for things like this. It's an invitation to endless flaming, trolling, and general immaturity the likes of what it all was on the forums, yesterday. No matter how reasonable and well-mannered I was in explaining things from my perspective, the majority of the response I got was insulting to have given my time to in the first place.

Public relations isn't exactly that easy a concept to execute effectively, especially with the internet.

JackQFrost Jack Q. Frost
@Bethblog i think fans would prefer "game is going to be awesome. we need another month for extensive QA. release on dec.11.11" than this.


and please everyone - no one is whining or demanding an immediate fix. honest, open communication and dialog are what's desired. the OP in this thread said it perfectly.

Of course we want. I really love the game, and like Bethesda (they launch the CS with every game, after all)...but the 1.2 patch is just pathetic. Just-pathetic. Even I, who don't have most of the issues the people are having, have run into "drunken dragons".

Bethesda better be dedicating 100% of their man-effort on releasing a fix for all the issues ASAP, because they've made half their community stop playing their game.

It's not just a support issue on the fora,... it is also a management failure from the higher staff. I agree with what you say, that the core is making games. But in this day and age, especially if you are running commercials on TV and giving yourself high visibility,... then you can also be sure you will get high coverage when it goes bust. And to prevent that from happening, is the responsibility of the senior staff, not the support-crew's and the GM's viewing this forum and locking/moving posts.

I'm in the army myself (for 17 years now),... a staff sergeant,... our core bizz is to keep the peace or blow stuff up to say it very basic,... but you can not do that without communicating with the environment and your own crew-members. But you have to know what your goals are and how you want to achieve those.

In this case,... Bethesda,... the mere fact they have fora shows they have the intend to communicate with the community. So all the love and hate from that community can be found there. Failure to act on major issues, is a big mistake.

The worst thing is,... that Bethesda is not the only game-designer this is happening too. There seems to be a horrible trend these days to provide software that is on initial launch day not workable. Bugs like these should have been fixed on Beta-testing. That is what Beta-testing is for. Before I went into the army I studied to be a programmer. Software and hardware was much simpler back then. But back then we were already made aware of the precarious process that is the process of making thoughts into a finished reality concerning software. These procedures of testing and feedback from the Beta-testers were not invented yesterday, they exists for atleast 2 decades already. One of those golden rules was that even after a release, you still keep the feedback going with those that are actually using your software. ... And Bethesda is horribly failing on it.

P.S.
to add on this ... the communication HAS to come from BOTH sides. ANY programmer will tell you that what the customer wants or experiences,.. may not be the real issue. So by failing to communicate, they may also miss out on the real issues, or related issues. The latter which can only be picked up, if you bother to talk to your customers, because the customer may initially not be aware of the complete picture.

Hey, you bought the game right? You paid Bethesda for the game and they got your money.

Bethstaff: kthxbye

Excellent post, OP. Communication usually isn't optional, either: if I'd refused to communicate with my users about problems in my field of responsibility I would've most likely found myself out of a job.

The current state has not exactly left the forums free from flaming, trolling, and immaturity. I would agree with the original poster's statement that dead silence is the worst possible course of action. Even an incomplete message to say "Guys, we're researching many of the bugs that have been reported recently, more to follow" is better than nothing.

I'm pretty sure they know how to use the Sticky Post feature of their own forum, and turn off replies. You know, since they've already done it for hard hitting topics like "Which Platform are you playing on" and "Which faction do you plan to join".