Peoples perception of you as an individual and user on Bootleggers can prove invaluable. If you're viewed as an idiot or a fool, you will find it very hard for people to take you seriously at a point where you want to be. But if their view of you is one of promise, and you are held in kind regard, you will often find support from the community in what you do. This article will look at the public perception of Help Desk Operators (HDOs), what do you think of them and the job they do? It has to be said, Help Desk Operators can often bear the brunt of our anger, as they appear more active than the Elite Guard team. But what did you have to say on this subject? We posted a topic in the Game Forum, giving you an opportunity to air your views.
It has to be said, perception and opinion of the Help Desk Operator team can largely be down to personal experience of your dealings with them. If you have always had efficient processing of your Help Desk Tickets and occasional messages where you needed to ask a minor question, you may feel the current Help Desk team are doing a more than sufficient job. This view however is not shared by all, far from it in fact. Statistics concerning the Ticket queue and times of response aside, there is still a feeling within the community that some Help Desk Operators are not deserving of their place on the desk. The selection process for this has been highlighted as in part to blame, with it appearing that the more friendly you are with certain Moderators, the more likely you will find yourself answering Help Desk Tickets. This could of course be due to the fact that more experienced players travel in the same circles and their knowledge and ability with regards to Bootleggers. However does this present fair opportunity for all to be selected as a Help Desk Operator?
This round, as with others preceding it, has seen the resignation of some of the selected Help Desk Operators, including Pothead and FlyingDeathSquirrel. This brought further into the spotlight the legitimacy of the selection process and also the accountability of the Elite Guard for the selections they make. In a brief chat with Sky we asked what factors contribute to being selected as a Help Desk Operator. He told us, "Activity, helpfulness, length of time playing. We look for people who know their way around the game and can deal with the community in a friendly and responsible way." This could perhaps be summed up to experience and attitude. Experience comes through activity, with the more time a user spends on the game allowing for more situations to be encountered. Following this, attitude, there is of course users within the community who have a wealth of knowledge and experience on the game, however without providing the right friendly, approachable and responsible attitude, this could provide reason we have not seen a more varied team of Help Desk Operators in terms of approach.
So, should the Elite Guard be held accountable for the selection, some of which has been poor, of Help Desk Operators? There are two ways of looking at it, in my opinion. The first is that research should be conducted to allow for solid and good choices to be made in terms of appointment, and where this is not conducted the Elite Guard may be help accountable. The second is that where an individual meets the criteria to become a Help Desk Operator, and agrees to take on the roll, if they then find themselves unable to cope with the pressure, they are themselves responsible for being optimistic in terms of the pressure they are able to deal with and duties they are able to fulfill and therefore this is not something anything other than the individual themselves can be held accountable for. The swift removal of these individuals however is something that of course should be dealt with efficiently by the Elite Guard.
Moving on from selection, we then looked at the duties that a Help Desk Operator can be suspected to fulfill, on both a day to day and general basis. We stole a word with current Help Desk Operator Accusavo, asking him what the duties of a Help Desk Operator consist of. His answer was clear, saying, "A HDOs job is to answer Help Desk tickets, to moderate and help in the forums and to participate in internal discussions with the Elite Guard and other HDOs regarding the game." It has recently been confirmed by a Moderator that there are indeed no Help Desk Tickets waiting to be tended to in the queue that the Help Desk Operators level have access to, therefore on this front there can be no criticism to be made, provided that the answers received are deemed sufficient by the ticket creator. Participation in the Forums however is largely down to the individuals experience. In my opinion, I do not feel there is nearly enough interaction and participation by Help Desk Operators in the Forum, with some being so inactive that users often question their effectiveness in the position they hold. Accusavo went on to say, "In addition, some of us may chose to run games on the forums occasionally to contribute to a positive player experience." This can be seen from a couple of the current team of Help Desk Operators. The issue surrounding them however seems simple, the position of Help Desk Operator is one of privilege and power. The fact that some appear to not be contributing in a meaningful way from this position is what can often be seen to infuriate the games community.
We went on to ask Accusavo what he felt about the perception of Help Desk Operators within the community, to which he responded, "It is hard to anticipate how HDOs are perceived by the majority of players. There is a somewhat distorted negative view of HDOs which is fuelled by a minority of 'players' on the forums." Continuing, "However, the vast majority of players seem happy with our work - this seems normal as our responsibilities do not generally infringe on the average players' Bootleggers' experience." This can indeed be appreciated, as is often the case, where the majority of the community is happy and there are few who are not, it is often these few who receive the most attention by drawing attention to their feelings through loud Game Forum topics and the such like. However, some of what has been said seems to draw others out to agree with them, and this could be seen to therefore actually constitute for more users than first thought.
There is no clear cut majority in terms of happy or unhappy when it comes to peoples perceptions of Help Desk Operators. As I said earlier, it falls largely down to personal experience. However, do you feel there should be more community input into those who are selected for the role? Do you feel we should have more access to statistics based around Help Desk Operators? Should the Elite Guard be held more accountable for poor selections on the Help Desk? I want to hear your answers to all these questions and the others littered throughout this article below! Please also participate in the second of this two-part series discussions' which will be found in the Game Forum later this week. I would like to take this final opportunity to also thank everyone who participated in the Game Forum discussion relevant to this article, all of your input is truly invaluable.
