Comments on: Op/Ed: Schwanson Schlegel Blasts the Lindens

By: Prokofy Neva

Prokofy Neva — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 13:41:23 +0000

I would have to agree that the Lindens do not provide good customer service on issues beyond the most routine matters — like billing snafus, lost money, lost inventory, etc. They have a wonderful in-world live help system that is really great with routine problems, staffed by older player volunteers. You can even access the people called “Lindens” who are telecommuter customer service types in some case not unlike a Tigger, but just 10 times more accessible and helpful and yet not the object of cult-like followings LOL. There are even other more supra Lindens who actually do coding and content, I gather, and these people are not above answering their e-mail. Yet, when it comes to the back office guys and gals who have to sift through billing and account problems, let alone client-side technical problems meaning you can’t even get into the game, they are suboptimal. This runs counter to the received wisdom about LL, that they are so customer friendly. After being abused in the TSO system, we are so frantically grateful for the little crums of attention represented by even remote repeaters of Town Hall meetings or lots of patches seeming to fix bugs constantly, that we forget that there are certain RL standards of customer service that apply to say, a Time Warner or a Verizon, that we don’t apply to LL because if we did, they’d fetch up short. I’ve had billing problems, lost money problems, and had large purchases that debit, give server messages, and disappear into thin air. Fortunately the manufacturers were very helpful in providing copies but it’s a risky business for them obviously. To his credit, Andrew Linden worked over the holidays to fix my disappearing GOM deposit and the balances of others who had been borked in their crash. But since GOM went into it with a receipt showing an instant chargeback, and I went into it with a transaction record showing deposit on GOM records but not deposit inside SL on avatar, it should have been really easy to fix, yet it took days and constant inquiries to both parties. Still, I’m going to stay with SL but just be more cautious in my savings and my purchases there. TSO still hasn’t given me the promised magic tree for the 2nd anniversary. In SL, you can build your own magic tree.

By: ava

ava — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 13:00:36 +0000

This guy is right on target its patetic how the lack of service has gone on and on for some time now. Most ppl are too stupid to realize that these problems started soon after their pr person Robin started. As far as hiring new coders hell yes that needs to be done asap unless LL likes to fail. One thing I have noticed more than anything is what they say they want and what they do are two very different things. What have they realy done to push these ideas forward? More often than not they just tell ppl what they want to hear, instead of realy doing anything. They will push this world to where the money is no more. Don’t kid yourself its not a meta verse its a business.

By: Storm

Storm — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 00:07:11 +0000

Mr Fairplay, 2l is probably the best on the market when it comes to login time, mostly because of lack-of-stress. WoW at one point took a day, and had waiting lists, and SWG easily takes me 10 minutes. 2l takes 2-3 minutes. If you guys can’t wait that long, your pretty pathetic.

By: Mr Fairplay

Mr Fairplay — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 16:33:57 +0000

Just wanted to tell you all that Schwanson got him self another free copy given by myself, after Philip Linden him self verified that more than half of his inventory went missing including the $15K poker table. In regards to the other issues Schwanson has had to go through I can safely say he is right in so many ways. I just think if Philip got him self a better set of coders no offence to SL’s current programming squad. The game could be greatly improved in a matter of months. I mean they got that $8M USD investment maybe it’s time to put it to good use? Another thing the Login server is a joke, I am sure alot of people will start quitting the game sooner or later or seeking alternatives like other MMORPGs like WoW and such. I don’t know about you guys but I haven’t played SL alot recently it’s too annoying waiting 1 zillion eons for the Login Server to establish your connection to SL. Saying all this SL still one of the best MMORPGs out there in terms of creative input, freedom of use and its boundless possibilities. Let’s just hope Philip pulls out a miracle and saves us from all that login torture!

By: Corey

Corey — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 14:08:37 +0000

I am not an SL resident. I am not sure of the compatiblity of my grahpics card, and on top of this when i attempted to sign up for the trial my debit card was not accepted.. but still, I have been nmore then a little intrigued. Moslty, all i have found is good. People love SL, it has not gotten a single bad review in all that i have read… But, a few things few and far between have pointed to some .. fickleness of the Lindens, and minor problems in the implimentation of the game. I a glad this post has been put in an area I do have access to..