Something to think about...

[JohnnyR]

I've been reading quite a few bitter and annoyed posts lately, my attitude was influenced from the perceptive CC poster "Nicholost." Quoted from the CC forums, I believe he has hit the nail on the head regarding changes here:


I think we're witnessing Funzio's transition period from behind frosted windows. We're assuming their being purchased for a big chunk of cash was a good thing, but we need to realize that changes like this are not always good for the average employee; in fact, many times it's quite rough on them. There's almost always significant changes in policy, procedures, staff, and their roles. It's not unheard of for people who have been doing a great job at their role to be cut because the purchasing company saw too much redundancy or felt one of their own employees could do the role better. In other words, I doubt things are warm and fuzzy for the original Funzio staff right now. Additionally, I can almost guarantee that the purchasing company has prohibited any Funzio employees from discussing the takeover with the public, that includes us. Failure to follow that guideline would likely result in immediate termination.

So unfortunately for us, we have grown accustom to the consistency of a group of folks whose world just got turned upside down and who cannot even tell us why their consistency changed. On our end, we're disheartened by their lack of communication on the matter, which, ironically enough, they are prohibited from discussing with us. If you guys want an example of a catch 22, I think we have one right in front of us.

Our best option is to sit tight, let things calm down at Funzio HQ, and be patient, which some of us have trouble doing when we take on the "but we're paying customers" act. But honestly, there's not much else that can be done until the dust settles in San Fransisco.


The person/people who have a game plan are the owners. Everyone else is along for the ride and at the mercy of whatever new policies GREE enforces on them, which could be radio silence. I mean, think about it this way: the community manager, L Fizzle, does not post anymore. That's probably not her choice.

[edited]

They are just doing whatever they are told. But since we don't know what they've been told, their actions appear very strange to us.


I'm very limited in what I can say. Nicholas is right. I'm sorry guys...I'm doing the best that I can.

It's probably not fun and games over there dudes...

[Warfiend]

That needed posting here. Good call and thanks for doing it.

[Q Raider]

How do we sticky a thread........cause if ever one needs it this one does...

[ShawnBB]

:( Johnny, this is so sad. I have the feeling that a storm is coming...

[Luke7676]

Thanks for posting this Johnny.

[Sia]

Good point. I hate takeovers! Never a good thing! Hope it goes well.

[War Priest]

I somewhat agree but I also say people aren't paying them to take their time. (E.g. PvP tournament item)

[Warfiend]

i dont really know what the argument is about but they are in the game making business and regardless of what happens they still gotta make games even if its no fun and games.

Same thing with restaurants, the back is usually no fun and games however the front of the restaurant (customers) dont have a clue whats going on all they wanna do is go in and eat and have a good time not have a clue that there is a storm happeing in the back of the house.

Restraunts fall under the service industry, this is the software industry. I am not saying this to justify people having to wait, but people need to have realistic expectations when dealing with a business or they're setting themselves up for needless stress and frustration. If you do business with Microsoft and expect them to wait on you the way they do at your favorite restraunt, you've set yourself up for disappointment.



Again i dont really know whats going on but it seems like the post is trying to imply due to internal problems funzio is having the gamers (us) should just wait it out till they resolve their issues?

what else are you going to do?

[Blackstone]

While I agree that this is probably the case regarding support issues and forum communication it doesn't really explain why the are having issues releasing a tournament prize. It's kind of silly to hold a weekend long tournament and have no way of distributing prizes at the end.

That being said...

I think if CC Mark just came out and posted before the tourney started that - Hey guys we want to do something cool for the extended weekend and have decided to hold the first ever PVP Tournament, but some things still need to be worked out (ie leaderboards, etc.) so the prize may take a few weeks to be released... I think people would be a little more understanding.

Also, the person that's probably the most pissed about CC Mark's comment a few days ago about the prize being released "this afternoon" is probably Mark himself. I'm sure the engineering team gave him the wrong info.

[Jp lfs]

Thanks for posting this here Johnny. A great, well-written read, that needed to be re-posted.

[andymac106]

wow deep... And now I feel so selfish for complaining about a stupid unit when actual people could lose their paying jobs.

[Selfproclaimed]

One of the first things you learn in business.. Is customer service comes first..for anyone that wants to keep trying to defend them. Even in this software industry, if your supplying a product that people pay for,your company is just as liable on customer needs.

[CAPT.GIN]

I don't agree with it! So what if it's a software industry!!! A company's first goal is to keep there coustmores happy and pleased! Company's everyday are sold or change personal and a lot of the sarw it with the public to update the coustmore to keep them pleased!!! When the iphone 4 came out and a lot of people were having signal issues did Steve jobs ignore everyone and and said screw them i already have there money? No!!! He came out to the public and talked about the issue and fixed it right away, everyone was glad the issue was fixed and happy to hear about! When Xbox 360's were dieing left and rite from the red ring of death did Microsoft and bill gates say Ahhh you know what it's the coustmores fault so the coustmores have to deal with it! No they talked about the issue and offered free repair or another system! My point here is if your a company and you leave you paying and free coustmores out in the rain with no clues about what's going on or your makeing them play the guessing game them you fail as a company and your number one goal! To keep your consoumer base happy and updated! I don't care if I get bashed for posting this! This is all true in my oppion, an if a company can't keep there coustmores happy then they go out of business and people move on!!! Small company or big company it's all the same...

[Selfproclaimed]

I'm with you capt. Company's change owners quite often. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone particular,not lfizzle or ccmark,it's funzio in general. Bottom line is customer service should be number 1. Being a software company makes no difference. Every industry ends with service. As long as you are providing a product ,your liable. Am I to sit here and feel bad for some of the workers there,.no ,how can I , I don't know them personally,every position in every company ,everyone is expendable. They are smart high tech people,if they lose there jobs,I'm sure they can easily find something else,it's not the end of the world for them. I lost my job in nov. big whoop,I got the summer off now,lol. It's part of life,**** happens

[ALOVEROFLOVE]

I do agree with Nicholost's original post regarding the fundamental changes and possible loss/replacement of valued staff at funzio. However, from a consumer point of view, customer service should be at the forefront, even more so, given money and time spend had increased due to the events. I find it a unnerving that a mobile gaming company would, during its transition, allow customer service to fall by the wayside.

[Jp lfs]

I am a small business owner in the service industry, and I live or die by how happy I keep my customers.

I still say good job, JohnnyR.

[Warfiend]

what i posted about restaurants was just an example which can be applied to pretty much any business/industry where money is involved. service is part of business.

That's true, but the level of service a person should reasonably expect varies by the business/industry. Example, when I take my car in to get it fixed, I do not expect them to have it done as fast as I expect a restraunt to have my meal done. In a restaunt business, the employees are dealing with known and largely predictable quantities. An egg at medium heat is going to generally cook the same speed each and every time. A mechanic trouble shooting my car, OTOH, faces numerous possible unknowns. As a result of that, it can take more time to figure out and fix than the original estimate, and a reasonable person understands this and accepts it for what it is.

Even in the restraunt industry there are unknowns... people can call in sick, larger crowd than anticipated, etc... Do I let myself get angry and ruin my night by seeing my own personal experience in a vacuum, or do I soften the blow to myself by understanding the situation and accepting it for what it is? If the food's worth it, I'll do the later. If it's not, I'll go elsewhere. What's the point in getting pissed at people who can't do anything about it anyway?

Software has a lot of unknown quantities. Expecting a software company to react at the speed of a restraunt is really not reasonable. You have to adjust your expectations according to the reality of the business/industry. Or you do if you don't want to frustrate yourself needlessly.



"what else I would do"...uuugghh...go eat somewhere else? wouldnt stick around wasting time for sure.

That's the most intelligent thing to do. Sticking around working myself up, getting all pissed off at things I can't change doesn't do anyone any good, least of all me. So either the product is worth it to me to wait patiently and have understanding for the reality of the business, or it's not. That's how I see it.

[Dreno33]

I was doing chores outside and listening to my iPod, just finished and came inside. I got to this thread while the below song was playing. Kinda depressing and perfect song to flow with the reality... Go ahead and play the song and re-read the OP to feel the truth.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s8YK4R5qa0