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taffster74's avatar
taffster74
New Veteran
3 years ago

PR skills from EA and Moderators/ Beta testing community....

Two things two bring up ...  Firstly, I have to point out that PR skills from moderators and EA Team members aren't exactly up to scratch especially when it comes to reporting game and bug issues. T...
gameplay issue
taffster74's avatar
taffster74
New Veteran
3 years ago
@jpkarlsen two things ...
a) this is a general discussion feedback sub-forum with moderators who submit issues to the EA team members. And as it is a feedback forum, i am providing feedback regarding the PR skills of the moderators and EA team members here - including the stock and standard DXDiag response and the way it is delivered.

b) you seem to have missed my point. As i stated above, i am providing feedback regarding the moderators and EA team members PR skills (which are lacking). Simply saying "post a DX Diag and you system specs" has an unspoken implication that regardless of the issue being reported and details given regarding said issue, the immediate go to is "Well, it must be the end users system" rather than a moderator saying, "Well, okay yes there is an issue. it will be reported. And just to cover all bases, can you please post a DxDiag and your system specs on the off-chance that it is not a bug in the program/patch/etc". Personally, i know what i'd prefer. Especially when i give details as to what was happening before the issue occurred and what happened to lead to the issue - as the greater majority of people do. general players do not like being treated like idiots and some common courtesy will go a long way. And there is very little common courtesy shown from moderators and EA team members on these forums.

Again, i am providing feedback in a forum labelled "General discussion/Feedback".
xochiquetzl_xkvn's avatar
xochiquetzl_xkvn
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago

@taffster74 

My understanding (which, since I don't work for EA, might be faulty) is that every bug report that's complete (with the template) and with a good, comprehensible description of the issue is sent to the devs via a regular "scrape." Like, you wouldn't expect them to promise to work on an issue like:

Title: SIMS 4 BROKEN

Message body: FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh, okay, so... what's broken? The team needs to understand the problem in order to be able to reproduce it and fix it. That's far too vague.

A DxDiag is actually a reasonable request for things like graphics-quality-related issues (like frame rate drops, etc.). It's less that it's all your fault and more that, you know, at what level can supported PCs and graphics cards not keep up with a certain feature? Like, apparently my computer cannot handle Oakenstead as a green Eco lot without dropping frames to 1 fps, and it's not a high-end gaming PC but it's not a potato, either. They need my specs and dxdiag for that.

  • taffster74's avatar
    taffster74
    New Veteran
    3 years ago
    @xochiquetzl_xkvn problem is, the way the moderators word the request doesn't come across as very conducive. All they say is, "post a dxdiag and your system specs" and nothing else.

    let's take this hypothetical .... say you're predominantly left-handed and you want to learn to play guitar. You go out and buy a guitar but ... it's a right-handed guitar. You ring up the guitar store and they say, "Well, it's not our fault. re-string the guitar upside down. Hendrix did it." is that "advice" at all helpful? No. Or say, you do buy a left-handed guitar and you sign up with a tutor.... but they're right-handed and have never taught a left-hander before. They say "Well, you should learn to play right-handed." Is that helpful? No. Basically, that is what the moderators here are doing. They have a set parameter of answer to give to any given problem and will not work outside those parameters. So therefore PR and courtesy goes out the door. As i have said previously, if they just change their approach by thanking people who provide detailed (well, as detailed as possible) info on a particular issue, guaranteeing it will be passed on and then asking for a DxDiag and system specs - just to cover all bases - regular users wouldn't get so frustrated.

    As a side note, I can understand mod's asking for details when someone simply says there's a problem - fix it! and don't provide no other information. I'm not talking about those situations.
    • Bluebellflora's avatar
      Bluebellflora
      Hero+
      3 years ago

      @taffster74 

      Please can you explain who you are defining as Moderators? Which role do they have under their name in posts? If you are referring to Heroes and Champions, perhaps this helpful FAQ will make the roles a little clearer for you - https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Information/Heroes-and-Champions-Support-Volunteer-Helpers-of-AHQ/m-p/8924397#M1 

      Answers HQ is a platform for players to help players get back into their game. All helpers here are volunteers, unaffiliated with EA. It is not a predominantly PR platform. I would go so far as to add that the very nature of these forums is almost the antithesis of PR (but there's no such thing as bad PR right? 🙂 ). EA are encouraging people to report problems with their game, to publicly state they cannot properly run the game, whether that is because of a bug or the user's setup, and to seek out help from other users - users who are experienced with the game or have technical know-how about the platform in question. In that process, other users who are seeking help for a similar issue will come across a post and either get the help they need or add to the discussion, providing more info that helps the player or more info that helps troubleshooting.

      You only have to browse the Tech. forums and Gameplay & Mods forum to see how helpful players are to each other and how appreciative the vast majority of players looking for help are. Perhaps only being predominantly active in an ongoing bug thread skews the perspective a bit? I get it, it can be incredibly frustrating when a bug is introduced that renders the game unplayable. I've been there many times over the last 22 years of playing the Sims. But we can all help each other and being divisive doesn't help anyone, it only serves to make a frustrating situation even worse.

      • taffster74's avatar
        taffster74
        New Veteran
        3 years ago
        @Bluebellflora It is PR - very basic PR. Whether people are moderators or not, really is not the point. When you see the same person continually responding/giving advice/asking for system details, they basically are taking on a moderator role. And as such, basic PR skills are required otherwise you run the risk of p'ing people off. Basically, deal with people as you would like them to deal with you. Most people expect to be treated with common decency without any unspoken inferences. Say a helper is a computer Geek - for them to expect everyone to be as knowledge about computer systems and tech as they are is unrealistic. So them dealing with the general public as if everyone is as techie as they are is not common courtesy. If that means that the techie person has to step off their pedestal and come to realville, so be it. I'll only speak to people as i would like them to talk to me. That's why i explain myself and why i explain things the way i do. Because sometimes, people need to be taught and the only way to do that is to explain.
    • xochiquetzl_xkvn's avatar
      xochiquetzl_xkvn
      Seasoned Ace
      3 years ago

      @taffster74 

      At the risk of being unhelpful--apologies in advance, if so--I find your right hand/left hand analogy for being techhie or non-techhie to not compute for me. You're born being right-handed or left-handed, while being techhie or not is a matter of exposure to technology and education. Also women are sometimes educated differently on technology than men, and sometimes actively discouraged, which is a rant for another day.  Suffice to say that there is no harm or shame in not being techhie!

      That said, ermmmmmm, I find it DEEPLY OFFENSIVE if someone addresses me like "Okay, I'm going to ask you for something but IT'S NOT HARD OR SCARY I PROMISE!!! Take the tip of your mouse cursor and place it..." Less so in a web forum where I could be anyone of any profession or gender, and more so in a professional setting. (I'm a SQL Server DBA/Email admin at a non-game software company.) Like, if someone does that to me in a professional setting, I have to bite my tongue to avoid answering, "Oh hey! Tell me you're a rampaging sexist without saying 'I'm sexist!'"

      (Please, forum folks, I beg of you, please DO NOT start asking for DxDiags that way! I know how to use my mouse.)

      It's perfectly reasonable to assume that not everyone is the same level of technical expertise and that it's okay either way! Like, many years ago I used to repair PCs at a college for a living, and there were people who knew more about German or Music or History or Biology than I'll ever know, smart people! and it's not their job to know computers or to fix their own computers, that was MY job.

      Of course, still...

      Student assistant: You can't go in there without an appointment.

      Me: I'm here to fix her computer.

      Student assistant: YOU HAVE TO HAVE AN APPOINTMENT TO GET ADVISING! STOP!

      Me: I'm here to fix her computer.

      Student assistant:  WHERE ARE YOU GOING? YOU HAVE TO HAVE AN APPOINTMENT!!!!!

      Professor: She's here to fix my computer. They hire girls for that now.

      Student assistant:  ...oh. *blush*

      Me: *high fives professor*

      Anyway.

      "Please provide a DxDiag with your bug report, instructions are below" is a compromise for varying tech levels. It's not assuming anything, or placing a value judgment either way.

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