Hey all!
Coldblue here. Did you know October 5th through the 9th is National Customer Service week? Well, we did! We here at Turbine take Customer Service very seriously, after all our motto is “Powered by our Fans” and you can’t be powered by your Fans if you don’t take care of them.
Our Customer Service team is dedicated to providing you with the best possible experience in our games that we can. We care about you and want to make sure that you are enjoying your time in our games, and when you experience an issue we want to come in and get you back to doing what you love: playing.
Turbine has been doing customer service for over 12 years and we’ve learned a lot but we know we still have room to grow. We promise that we will continue to do our best to improve, listen to your feedback, assist you in any way we can, and make sure you are satisfied every time you contact us.
In order to help celebrate National Customer Service week with you, our fans with whom without which we wouldn’t have anyone to power us, we’ve decided to share with you some interesting facts about the people who work here, some of our favorite moments throughout the years, a Q&A with our Players Council, along with an inside look at our Customer Service area. We hope you enjoy!
Interesting facts
Asheron’s Call, Turbine’s first game, was released on November 2, 1999. We still assist with account issues for the game.
Between DDO and LOTRO we’ve assisted with over 3 million in game help requests.
All of the managers in customer service started as support agents, including our director.
Our agents belong to one of two teams: Team Bear and Team Shark.
Yes, we all have a ridiculous amount of Turbine Points on our accounts.
SpectreVortex has been dancing for almost 10 years so he’s the resident dancer and choreographer for the CS Team. “I teach other agents how to dance at company functions.”
Moose owns a replica ‘Longclaw’ from Game of Thrones which he uses to cut down swaths of innocent watermelons and various fruits. “I also taught my cat to roll over.”
Every time Coldblue takes a personality test he ends up an INFJ. Every. Time. “At least I’m in good company. Jon Snow, Remus Lupin, Galadriel… Plato…”
How did you come up with your GM name? Is there a thrilling tale behind it?
Moose- A Moose came to me in a dream once and said “MaroorooOOOOoo!” and I knew.
Kanim- Thrilling? No, not really, but like a lot of folks, took it from a book series. There is a book series called the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher which has a race of wolf-like humanoids called the Canim. They are strong, smart, have a sense of honor, and will not back down to a challenge. They are also a very proud people.
Coldblue- I’ve had the name Coldblue for over a dozen years, though I didn’t always use it. Coldblue is a character I’ve been working with for a long time. He has an affinity for ice and a particularly frosty personality, so the name isn’t overly clever for him I guess.
What was your favorite experience in being a CS agent?
Moose- One time after helping a player in Fangorn they said “Hey, do you want to do that admin thing to smack me off this waterfall?” To which I replied “Yes.” So I cranked it up to ten and sent this poor elf into the stratosphere.
Kanim- I had a player and their group locked out of a room. I did what I had to do to get them in. I kicked the door down. What else? They thanked me and wishing to see them victorious, I cheered them from the shadows. Of course, they did win in the end and I applauded their performance.
Coldblue- I love talking with all our players, but there is one I admit that I love talking to more than others. I won’t say who, but I’m sure she knows! I happily assisted her recently and had a few correspondences back and forth. Long story short, she sent us a heartfelt gift in a custom made box in the mail which I shared with my team. I still have the box on my desk!
Q and A with the Players Councils!
Questions about our team:
Players Council: How long have you worked at Turbine?
+Bulwark: I started at Turbine on day-1 of the DDO Head Start Launch. I actually took a Tech Support call on my first day. We have made many improvements since then and luckily don’t need to have agents start providing support prior to being trained!
+Coldblue: A little bit over six years. I’m pretty sure I’ve held the most “official” titles on the team.
+Dust: I’m pretty sure I’ve worked at Turbine forever. It’s really only been 7 and a half years at this point.
+Alkaid: Going on three years now.
+SpectreVortex: 2 and a half years.
+Kanim: Over 5 years and loving every moment.
+Moose: I’ve traveled the realms of Middle-earth as +Moose since the enemy first fell on Gondor and the Temple of Elemental Evil opened its doors in the Forgotten Realms.
PC: Where are you located?
+Coldblue: We’re located at the Kendrick St. studio in Needham, Massachusetts with the rest of Turbine. We have our desks and offices in the same area as our Operations Team. If you want to see some shots of the CS area, look at the bottom of the post.
PC: If a player wanted to become part of the CS team (forum moderator, in game moderator, etc.) what is the process?
+Coldblue: Applying for a position on the CS team is easy! Just go to the Turbine Careers Page and when a CS position is open, apply for it. You’ll need to be capable of commuting to the office, and also to survive the gauntlet that is our grueling interview process (we’re actually all quite lovely and the process is fun) and you could be a part of our team!
As far as what we’re looking for in a CS agent: excellent verbal and written skills and a strong desire to want to help others are a must, excellent organizational skills and ability to keep up with a fast paced environment, as well as the ability to create memorable experiences with each interaction all while assisting the players with a wide variety of issues.
+Bulwark: While this job certainly isn’t for everyone, we have hired great support reps from all walks of life. Even if you’ve never worked in a contact center, you may be a good candidate. Just look at the experience you do have and try and determine how that would relate to working within a contact center. Being a gamer is a huge plus when applying for any job within the Customer Service Department. It’s much easier to support our products and our customers if you’ve been there and have that deep understanding and knowledge that only a gamer has.
PC: Are the GMs that answer our tickets in-game the same as the moderators who patrol the forums or answer the support phones, or are they different "teams" within the overall CS department?
+Bulwark: Our Customer Service Representatives start out with training in a specific area (in-game support, technical support, phone support, etc.). Once a representative becomes comfortable and familiar with one area of support we begin training on the next. It’s important for all representatives to be able to provide support across all areas. This allows us to support at maximum efficiency and helps keep all of our reps knowledgeable of all aspects of the job. A few years ago we had all support agents specialized in only a single area. Forums moderation is handled by our Community Managers directly.
PC: Do you guys cross-train on the various games?
+Alkaid: We do! Our agents primarily handle DDO, LOTRO, and AC, but we also do some support for other WB Games titles such as Mortal Kombat, Injustice, and the Arkham games.
PC: Why has a GM in the past done something to help me in this bugged out quest, but a couple weeks later a different GM says they can't help me in the same quest with the exact same issue?
+Dust: Getting into the mind of a GM can be a very scary thing. It’s hard to say without specifics so there might be several answers to this. I’ll go with an answer you might not expect to hear first: the second GM was unaware they could help with the issue. We are human and we really do make mistakes. If this happens submit a second ticket asking for clarification as to why it was handled differently than the previous time.
An even less well known answer is that whatever fix was originally approved may be breaking something and that’s why it’s no longer used.
PC: What is the wonkiest bug each of the in game GMs had to deal with? (that is a question for each one individually)
+Bulwark: During LOTRO launch there was a bug that we called “Ghost Bear”. When exploring The Shire players would sometimes randomly hear a fairly loud bear growl (even when there weren’t any bears nearby). I was playing at home one night around launch and actually spilled hot tea all over myself when the Ghost Bear startled me. We eventually found the bug and fixed it. It was extremely strange and sporadic. It sticks in my memory because of the molten hot tea.
+SpectreVortex: I saw a raid boss once that would keep respawning and getting stronger and faster each new life. I was not able to smite him either.
+Kanim: I haven't dealt with too many bugs personally, but it is always fun to get NPCs to do their jobs. Sometimes they forget their lines, don't know where to go, or sit on top or roofs and expect to be rescued easily.
+Moose: I once came upon a white fawn standing listlessly on the surface of a glassy pond. The light of the moon above gleamed softly, bearing shades of a dreamscape. As I stared in wonderment, the creature reared its head and returned the gaze. Wonk factor: 10.
PC: Do you get good interaction with the development team when a new patch/update comes out?
+Dust: It sounds cliché but we are one big happy family. We visit each other’s desks often to discuss new developments and talk about how you, the Fans, are enjoying new things. If we need something to help you, the teams are right there to figure out how to get it for you.
+Alkaid: We try to remain in constant communication with the Devs and QA whenever possible, but definitely more so before and after an update or patch. Information is shared between the various groups, so we all know how content is being received, what issues may have popped up in the game that didn’t pop up in Beta, and what changes may have been made so that we’re all on the same page.
PC: Would you say that you guys are well treated by the team? By the Player Base?
+Dust: I think I may have covered this some in the previous questions so I’ll direct my response to the Player Base portion of the question. Overall, the Fans are always respectful of the GMs and I don’t think it’s because we can ban you. We do try our very best to deliver the greatest customer service to the most dedicated fan base. I could get all cheesy and tell you how awesome you all are but I’ll let someone else do that. Okay. Okay. You’re all awesomely supportive Fans and I’m lucky I get to work for you.
+Coldblue: Oh absolutely! Turbine is a great place to work, WB is a great company, and I love talking with our players. I really love when I get to talk to a player over the phone and they expect to go through a painful process and instead are taken care of in a minute. I’ve definitely baffled a few players with how painless calling us is!
+Alkaid: I think our team is great, and no, I’m not just saying that. Accidentally shooting each other in the eye with Nerf darts aside, we all get on very well with one another and have great working relationships. Also speaking from personal experience, I’ve had great interactions with the player base both on the forums and in-game. One of my favorite interactions so far was when one of our players called in to play me a song on his ocarina. It was pretty awesome!
PC: What's your favorite music to listen to while playing?
+Coldblue: Most times I rock out to… well rock (90’s to now), but every once in a while I stretch my wings and go classic or throw on some EDM.
+Alkaid: Oooh man. My jams usually involve hard rock, metal, and metalcore. Occasionally, I also enjoy symphonic pieces or instrumentals.
+SpectreVortex: I listen to K-Pop while I am resolving your tickets.
+Dust: I refuse to listen to any music not straight out of Middle-earth.
+Kanim: I enjoy the music that the game has built in. It helps me fully enjoy the game and feels weird to listen to anything else.
+Moose: Folk when I’m in the Shire, Rock when in Bree, Classical in Rivendell, Rap in Moria, Country in Rohan, and EDM in Gondor. I listen exclusively to Epic Death Metal when I play DDO.
PC: Please tell me a story about something fun that happened in the offices.
+Coldblue: I’ve organized quite a few team events. A few times I dragged in my grill from home and cooked up some BBQ in the parking lot for everyone on a weekend. My favorite moments tend to simply be when everyone is hanging out, just talking and having a good time.
+Dust: I’m not sure it qualifies as “fun” but I remember a time in about 2009 when +Caspian and I sat in the dark for nearly 8 hours waiting for the power to be restored to the office so we could take help requests again.
+Moose: One time I shot a toy dart into + Dyonysus’ giant cup of coffee. He never noticed, or said anything, and neither did I. By the end of the day his mug was empty and the dart was gone. A whole dart. Gone.
+Alkaid: That’s rough, because there are a lot of really good instances. This one might be one of my favorites, however:
After a long night of gaming and next to no sleep, I was absolutely exhausted one day to the point of needing to take a nap on my lunch break. Because I am such a classy person, I thought that the best place to do this was under an empty desk, curled up in a ball and using my sweatshirt as a pillow. While I was completely knocked out, my co-workers decided that they would have some fun and decided to barricade me under the desk by placing chairs, filing cabinets, and bookshelves all around me. I’m a ridiculously heavy sleeper, so I did not wake up for any of this. When I did finally wake up, I woke up to absolute darkness and was ridiculously confused, then realized that I was blockaded under the desk. I managed to extract myself without dropping a bookshelf on my head, much to the amusement of my co-workers.
PC: If you could have any super power, but weren't allowed to tell anyone else about it, what would it be?
+Coldblue: But… if I answer the question… I’ve told you about it…
+Bulwark: I would have to go with Immortality. Is that a super power? I would love to see the full progress of humankind over the next several thousand years. I think the wisdom and insight one would gain over such a long period of time would be incredibly powerful.
+Alkaid: I thought I wasn’t supposed to tell you! Telekinesis would be pretty great though, and hysterical to be able to prank people with.
+SpectreVortex: The ability to teleport anywhere would be cool.
+Kanim: I'm sorry, but I am not allowed to tell because others will be QUICK to judge and I would be on the FAST track to nowhere.
+Moose: Time travel. That way if I ever got caught I’d just turn back time, pull their pants down, and run away.
PC: Are these all the members of the CS or are there more? (seen the list here: http://support.turbine.com/link/port.../Meet-the-Team)
+Coldblue: There are more! I thought the ‘Meet the Team!’ profiles was a good way for you to get to know us before you sent in your help request. We’ll be updating them and adding new ones as time goes by, so keep an eye out!
Questions about our support:
PC: Is there any sort of process for a customer to respond to or provide feedback on a customer service interaction? Any way to follow-up on a bad experience or a really good experience for a customer?
+Coldblue: Absolutely! We send out surveys on every ticket once we believe it’s resolved which gives you a few different ways for you to let us know how your support experience went. If you still need assistance, just reply to your original email and the agent will be happy to assist. +Dust and I review all of the feedback you provide from the surveys to help us improve our support, and if we feel that the interaction could have been improved we will follow up with our agents and in some cases reach out to the player.
PC: What is the mission statement for the CS department? And as a follow-up, how much does this corporate mission statement influence your personal customer interactions?
+Bulwark: Our mission is to provide our players with a great customer support experience unprecedented in the games business, and thus allowing Turbine to become recognized and differentiated for its outstanding support. This means that with every interaction our agents work to make the customer feel that they were absolutely taken care of. We want to be the best in the business. Anyone who has seen a survey after contacting support will notice that we even ask if we have provided you with the best support in the games industry. We take this specific goal seriously and it’s our primary measure of success!
PC: What are the hours of in-game CS (ie: GM) support? Are GMs available in the middle of the night, for example? (Of course, time zones vary; but in other words: 24/7?) Are there any periods of the day that bring a higher or lower demand on the GMs time?
+Dust: The In-Game Support hours are 10AM to 1AM Eastern. Our ticket volumes can spike when our Fans get home from their day, probably in the same way they do for many other companies. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t submit a ticket at those times, you may just have a longer than usual wait.
PC: With the number of servers shrinking to 10 total, can players expect more GM attention? (LOTRO)
+Dust: This question has a dual meaning to me so I’ll first say that the number of GMs isn’t changing as a result of the server merges. The other possibility is that you are asking whether we will have more time for live events. The short answer here is yes! Colbereth (Fashion Maven), Turbert (Riddle-Master) and Amarthiel, are wicked excited at the possibility of coming back to visit you soon!
PC: Had a GM spawn and kill a lot of chickens (or kobolds) when they helped me last week. Is this sort of fun the norm after a ticket, or only every now and then? (And I wonder, do you spawn potatoes for your vegetarian players? )
+Alkaid: Depending on the ticket volume, we love to be able to have a little bit of fun with our players outside of addressing the issue that was reported in the ticket. In DDO, I have been known to spawn nigh-unkillable kobolds in random places around the player character, or on their guild ship for laughs. I’ll also show up to player performances and mingle with the crowd.
+Kanim: I am one of the boring GMs so I don’t do this as much, but if the opportunity would present itself, shenanigans will occur.
+Moose: Every now and then I require assistance from my squirrel army to smite a stubborn enemy or fix the lock to a broken door or gate. They are compensated fairly with full time and benefits.
PC: What happens if I mis-click on the Store and buy NNNNN items and I want to return them?
+Alkaid: Whatever NNNNN is, you probably shouldn’t buy a lot of them. They sound weird. Teasing aside, get in touch with customer service. While you should always review your cart or double check the item that you are buying before you click confirm, accidents happen.
PC: Why is a banned player still allow to play? (one who proudly claimed in /world that their main toons or account was banned after they rolled an F2P alt)
+Dust: I’m sure there are many players who were permanently suspended who have gone on to create another account. Usually they don’t come out and say they are/were suspended on another account. If this is reported, a GM will investigate and if the player is found to be circumventing a suspension they will be suspended on that account as well… and on every other account they make ad infinitum.
PC: Why are my tickets closed without comment or ignored. I report exploits, game crashes and problem players. I'm TRYING TO HELP HERE! Why do you ignore me?
+Dust: Prepare yourselves. This is a pretty long answer.
We are not ignoring you. We are very glad that you’re trying to help! Without concerned Fans, we wouldn’t find bugs so quickly. These reports you mentioned may not elicit a live response from a GM. You will find a note attached to the ticket you created with a “thank you” or instructions for where this report should be submitted.
• If you report an exploit, those are forwarded to the QA team. They will try to reproduce the exploit and create a solution.
• Game crashes would be referred to Technical Support. They have the technical acumen to assist with these problems since they usually involve detailed troubleshooting.
• Problem players are what GMs do help with. We do not discuss with the reporting party; any action taken against a player is between us and that player.
We should always be leaving a note for you in your ticket no matter what. If you are on another character, you will appear as offline to us because we don’t see the character who submitted the ticket as online. If the office is closed (after 1am) when you submit your ticket then it will be responded to when the office reopens at 10am.
Frequently, you need to be online for us to help you because there isn’t enough information in the help request to fully assist with whatever has occurred. We do receive tickets that can say things like “HALP! I’m stuck!”. I’ve been there. I have been that player who just can’t explain or is too panicked to add details. This is an acceptable request for help if you’re online when I get to your ticket. I’m happy to help anyone who is stuck. To increase the probability that we can help when you are offline, try to add more detail… like, ridiculous overshare levels of detail if you have them. That way, if we literally can’t help with something, we can at least tell you exactly why.
A few examples of what I mean when I say detail:
“My character is currently stuck between a barrel and a table outside the Green Dragon in Bywater. I’m doing that jiggle jumping thing and all I can see is a pie and Gerd Whitfoot. /Stuck didn’t work. Man, I wish I could move so I can eat that pie. My location is (You are at: r1 lx771 ly925 ox68.93 oy119.18 oz351.34 h319.2).”
“I can’t find the next quest in the book story line. I am pretty sure I completed the one where you have to do an instance with Lothrandir where there’s a cave. I think it was about 3 days ago.”
“I accidentally bartered for the First Exquisite Hunter's Earring of Helm Hammerhand but I’m a Captain. I meant to get the Fifth Exquisite Captain's Earring of The Hornburg. Is there anything you can do to help?”
PC: What are your most common requests from customers?
+Alkaid: Aside from free things, I get a lot of requests to uncloak (such scandal!) and wave at them on my character. Whenever I’m in LOTRO, people want to adopt me. I don’t even know who my real dad is anymore. Cue sobbing.
PC: Is there actually a preference between F2P/VIP/P2P members on who you help first?
+Coldblue: Nope, we don’t look at the status of your account before we help with your request. Simply put we try to help everyone in the order in which they contacted us whenever possible.
PC: How does CS deal with players when few/some/none actually read the TOS/EULA or CoC? How does CS handle interactions where the player does/does not know they are in violation of some aspect?
+Dust: Everyone who enters the game agrees to abide to the Code of Conduct. We warn players when they’ve violated the CoC and make sure to educate them by sending them the link so they can review the document. We want to make sure that players understand the reasoning behind the rules and how their actions can affect others so they can correct the behavior themselves. For any subsequent violations we highlight the particular section of the CoC that was involved when we send them notification of the action being taken against their account.
Pics!
Bulwark's office
Moose's habitation
Coldblue's Mess
Kanim's big board
Dyonysus's coffee keg
Let us know if you would like to see more pics!