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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
@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.
    • Bluebellflora's avatar
      Bluebellflora
      Hero+
      3 years ago

      @taffster74 

      From reading your posts it seems like you don't fully understand how Answers HQ works and its purpose which is why I linked to the help thread in my earlier post. PR is irrelevant here when trying to help people as we are players helping players and unaffiliated with EA. And no, regular posters do not take on Moderator roles. Again, this is covered in the link I provided.

      In the bug thread you are active in, you stated that Mac users are experiencing the lag issue worse than Windows users. I asked you yesterday to provide me with links to Mac users who are experiencing this specific lag issue since the recent patch. You have chosen not to do so. This would be valuable information because I'm still struggling to find any Mac users experiencing this exact issue.

      • taffster74's avatar
        taffster74
        New Veteran
        3 years ago
        @Bluebellflora Ah, i did not state that Mac users are experiencing the lag issue worse than windows users. What i said was that it appears that Mac and console users are experiencing similar issues. I also said that this was based on a perusal of the the mac and console forums. If you do not wish to follow up for yourself, that is your problem - not mine. There is a big difference between saying "appears" and what you are claiming i said. Here you are making an assumption based on incorrect evidence. Now i am correcting you. Will this response now be deleted because i dared to do so, just like my last post in the bug section dealing with patch 1.88 has been suddenly deleted? If so, then that is a "Helper" taking on a moderator role.

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