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venerdì 30 dicembre 2011

Localization

This is probably something not everybody knows.
In the company i work for, we GMs don't just keep control over the players and give customer support, we also are Alpha and Beta testers for the new games.
It happens that the game i'm going to work with, will be completely translated in Italian (My mothertongue for those of you who didn't know).
I only recently recieved the test server and i started working on it, wich means testing the installer for the game client, the downloader, connection tests and so on. I found many localization issues, words translated wrongly, some were just invented, tips not translated at all and some pop up windows were in jibberish (while i'm fluent in it, not most people can understand that crap).
What do you do when you run into an issue like that?
Bug Report!
I filed a 10+Mb sized .xls (screenshots included for better comprehension, all of them with markings to make the mistakes more evident... 31 pictures from every single thing in the game) and sent it to the game developers.
It felt nice, i finally found myself to be of use for once.
Thank me if your game is translated and you can actually understand it!

lunedì 12 dicembre 2011

Support ticket sample

Just so you know with what kind of people i have to put up with:

Ticket type: Technical issues
Subcategory: Other
Message: ffhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

My reply:
Hello ,
Perhaps you meant visibilious doppleganger over the fridge?

Thank you very much,
the support team.

mercoledì 7 dicembre 2011

People...

I didn't understand them before, now even less...
Before i go on with my rant, i have to say that i'm not a native english speaker (nor typer).
My mothertongue is Italian, and my job is to give support to Italian players on italian servers of this game.
Now that we all have this common knowledge i can go on.

As i said in my last post, i'm supposed to also give support to players who are having issues with the various aspects of the game, wich means people stuck, bug reports, account issues and so on.
You'd expect these people to actually tell you what their issue is, otherwise how is one supposed to give any help?
Well... sad to say, no, do not expect that. Most of those messages lack any sort of grammar, and, in the worst cases they lack the logic process of human thought... is it so hard to make a sentence wich actually makes some sense?
I am here to help you, and that's fine, it's my choice, but it would be appreciated if you actually let me do my job without the need for an expert in semiotics!

lunedì 5 dicembre 2011

Working as a GM

Or else, what does a GM do?
"With great power comes great responsibility."
Or so they say... my point of view is a bit different:
"With great power comes great pain in the backdoor."
Wielding the infamous "Ban-Hammer" the "Mjöllnir" of modern times, is not as easy and direct as one would think, in fact, there is always some degree of hesitation in dispensing the fatal blow.
There are rules to follw, you can't just ban anyone, people has the right to go through a trial first...
Anyway, banning and warning people is not all, there's the whole customer service part that's hidden behind the monitors, wich players never get to see.
Ever wondered what happens when you send an help request for issues in the game? Like quests not working, items missing, bug reports and so on?
Well, that's something we GMs have to take care of, at least here where i'm working it's like that.

giovedì 1 dicembre 2011

My Life as a Game Master.

That's it folks!
I found a job, I'm a Game Master for a certain game from a certain company.
And well, i'm going to post here things about how my job days go on, and other stuff.
Because it is a life quite different than what i thought it would be, and i'd like for others to know about it too.