One of the things I miss most about EverQuest 1 is the server guide teams. Back in those days the vast majority of CSRs were volunteer players who just wanted to help out. In my opinion (and I am terribly biased because I was a guide for years ((a big hello to all the old school E Marr guides!)) we offered some of the best customer service of any MMO. Why, you might ask?
When you wanted to be an EQ Guide you had to apply and be accepted. You would then be apprenticed to learn the trade. We had a special user interface and items to do our job and we did it very well. Above the apprentices and main guides you had senior guides. They were the all-stars of the server. They could handle most problems and did so extremely diligently. Anything they couldn’t would be given to the GM.
In general, we had a lot of guide coverage. Most of your every day problems could easily be solved. The only bottle neck was at the senior guide and GM level. They had a lot to do and many things were kicked up to them (many things that I felt a full guide could handle). Despite that, we still got the job done with a personal touch.
Players, for the most part, loved us. They also loved that we showed up in person and not just in tells. We had avatars actually “in game” and they knew for a fact we were players. It made all the difference. We took pride in the game and ownership in the server. We weren’t there for money but to make a difference.
Imagine how things would be if you had a large volunteer guide pool to support the over stretched CSRs! I say it is time to bring guides back to MMOs. After all, what business wouldn’t want a source of free labor?
All characters are © 2007 - 2012
Your post on being a guide in EQ reminded me of this epic rant from way back when. I guess being a guide had it’s moments as well.
Would help if I left the link wouldn’t it.
http://eatingbees.brokentoys.org/the-wayback-machine/try-being-a-guide-you/
The one time that I petitioned in WAR I asked the CSR if they had Guides. The CSR had no clue what a Guide was. After I explained it to him he told me that only Mythic employees handled CS.
I was a Guide for a LONG time (7 years). Actually, I was a bit more than a Guide, I was an Elder. I resigned from the program in September 2008 due to some… disagreements with the current Elders. Since I am no longer a member of the program and have no intention of returning (At my rank, once you leave there is no going back) I can speak freely and answer questions freely since I am no longer bound by the P&P;)
The idea of having guides in WAR is interesting, but from experience the logistics would be a nightmare.
Logistically it would be troublesome but I think if you started out with a small group and worked out it would be a good thing. Especially since we’re looking at lay offs being heavily centered on the CS department. The claim is that they don’t get as many CS tickets now as they did at release. I’m not sure about you but we still have days of waiting for our issues to be resolved.
It is nice to see a fellow guide and I do know that the higher you got up the chain the more challenging things could be. I did a few years and then switched to the Quest Troupe for that reason. It was more fun to just run content than fight the politics.
Not to say my server had a lot. Emarr was an exceptional place to be a guide!
Well Ferrel, a wise Senior Guide once told me that the sign of a good Senior was how well he/she shielded their people from the political BS in the program. The fact that you say there was little or no politics on EMarr tells me that you had a very good Senior. I would be interested in the name of that individual or individuals… I may know them:)
The Quest Troupe was an interesting group of people. I was never a part of that group but my server was the recipient of some of their fine work early on in my guiding career.
Back to the original topic. Can a Guide Program work in WAR? Yes, it could work as long as the role of the Guide is clearly defined to the CSR’s, to the players and most importantly to the Guides themselves.
Even though the implementation of a small group of people to help the CSR’s would be good for the player base, I don’t see it going over too well with the CSR’s themselves. Imagine, on one hand you have people losing jobs and on the other you have volunteers doing them. I can read the minds of those CSR’s, “Are you going to be the one that takes my job?”, “My friends lost their jobs… and you’re the S.O.B.’s that took them…” A recipe for resentment if I ever saw one.
Impossible? No. A nightmare? ABSOLUTELY
Our senior guides were, without a doubt, the best. Moonlight and one other. Started with an L I think. It has been so long I’ve forgotten.
We also had GM Valtron before he became Dev Valtron! Awesome GM.
I think doing a program like this now would be an awful mess. I think it is one of those things you need to have from the start. You never know though. If you mix them in and all the CSRs are “supervisors” and all the guides are the boots in the ground it might work. Its like a promotion!