On the subject of blues and their forum communication, with love from Zarhym
by Adam Holisky 
May 4th 2011 at 1:00PM
The lack of direct interaction from Blizzard with the WoW community has been talked about a bit in the forums, comments, and blog posts around the 'net lately, and we're now seeing that it's been a nagging issue for Blizzard as well.
Community Manager Zarhym posted last night, from home, a rather lengthy letter to the WoW world. It summed up nicely the different jobs of the community team at Blizzard and what their goals are. Zarhym also went a step further and said that they (the blues) haven't been posting on the forums as much as they would like to and that they're going to continue to improve their communication with the community.
It's an interesting read and should be taken as welcome insight from someone at Blizzard who honestly cares about the community he services.
The entire post, after the break.
Community Manager Zarhym posted last night, from home, a rather lengthy letter to the WoW world. It summed up nicely the different jobs of the community team at Blizzard and what their goals are. Zarhym also went a step further and said that they (the blues) haven't been posting on the forums as much as they would like to and that they're going to continue to improve their communication with the community.
It's an interesting read and should be taken as welcome insight from someone at Blizzard who honestly cares about the community he services.
The entire post, after the break.
Zarhym
As I was just leveling my alt worgen druid in Ashenvale, something came to mind I felt like sharing with you.
Firstly, we as a community team haven't had quite the chance to post on the forums lately as we'd like. Prior to Cataclysm we were able to engage in discussions more frequently, and it's our goal to get back to that point. One thing you should know though, is we're working very hard to get you the information you want in a timely manner, presented in a fun, personalized, yet professional way. With the great new front page blog system our web team was able to put together, we've been able to relay information to you on upcoming features and content like never before; and we're able to better show you some amazing art and comics from your peers in the community, and high-quality Blizzard and Trading Card Game art.
We've also spent a lot of time improving the documentation of hotfixes, as well as improving the layout, readability, and documentation of patch notes. We're working closer with our developers than ever to make sure you hear from them too. Just the same, our team is reaching out more via different social media outlets to make sure the community gets the information you need through whatever type of social platform you prefer. This goal even extends to our Explorers' League Journals we do as community recaps, where we often feature cool World of Warcraft stuff we find out on the web posted by you and yours.
The goal of the community team is mostly two-fold: 1) to make sure the feedback, concerns, and popular topics shared within this community are made known to the developers, all the way up to Mike Morhaime. We do this through multiple avenues of communication with our support, development, QA, PR, legal, marketing, and executive teams every single week; and 2) to ensure the doors of Blizzard Entertainment feel open to you, the players -- to show you this company hears you and wants to prove we're here to provide you with outstanding entertainment via as many venues as possible.
We'll be here. We'll be reading. Most importantly, we'll be listening. And we're going to continue improving our methods of communication with you, so you know this is a company dedicated to providing you with the entertainment you want for your money.
P.S. I know it's late, but chalk up the fact that I wrote this in my free time from home, to it coming from the heart and not some company-driven directive. It's great going to work when I know, when all is said and done, I work for a company -- and community -- I believe in and am honored to help support. :)
With Love,
Zarhym
Firstly, we as a community team haven't had quite the chance to post on the forums lately as we'd like. Prior to Cataclysm we were able to engage in discussions more frequently, and it's our goal to get back to that point. One thing you should know though, is we're working very hard to get you the information you want in a timely manner, presented in a fun, personalized, yet professional way. With the great new front page blog system our web team was able to put together, we've been able to relay information to you on upcoming features and content like never before; and we're able to better show you some amazing art and comics from your peers in the community, and high-quality Blizzard and Trading Card Game art.
We've also spent a lot of time improving the documentation of hotfixes, as well as improving the layout, readability, and documentation of patch notes. We're working closer with our developers than ever to make sure you hear from them too. Just the same, our team is reaching out more via different social media outlets to make sure the community gets the information you need through whatever type of social platform you prefer. This goal even extends to our Explorers' League Journals we do as community recaps, where we often feature cool World of Warcraft stuff we find out on the web posted by you and yours.
The goal of the community team is mostly two-fold: 1) to make sure the feedback, concerns, and popular topics shared within this community are made known to the developers, all the way up to Mike Morhaime. We do this through multiple avenues of communication with our support, development, QA, PR, legal, marketing, and executive teams every single week; and 2) to ensure the doors of Blizzard Entertainment feel open to you, the players -- to show you this company hears you and wants to prove we're here to provide you with outstanding entertainment via as many venues as possible.
We'll be here. We'll be reading. Most importantly, we'll be listening. And we're going to continue improving our methods of communication with you, so you know this is a company dedicated to providing you with the entertainment you want for your money.
P.S. I know it's late, but chalk up the fact that I wrote this in my free time from home, to it coming from the heart and not some company-driven directive. It's great going to work when I know, when all is said and done, I work for a company -- and community -- I believe in and am honored to help support. :)
With Love,
Zarhym
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Archnemesis May 4th 2011 2:25PM
^^^^
Very well put! I agree 100%
Also... WTB more cute pics like this one!
blancester May 4th 2011 4:37PM
Keep in mind WoWinsider has said Blizz has checked this site.
And this site is hell alot more mature then the official forums... A sad truth.
So not is all lost, they still have the more mature wowinsider to look at and not cry.
Drakkenfyre May 4th 2011 8:29PM
While I will admit the official forums can be quite immature at times, you want seriously bad forums? Try the Steam forums.
ANYTHING makes them cry. I mean anything. Increase damage on a weapon in TF2 by 1 point, they cry. Change an invisible feature of a weapon to make it clip less, they cry. Give out free items, they cry. Change the texture of a weapon to increase performance, but make no noticeble difference in visual quality, they cry.
Grak May 5th 2011 5:22AM
I do wish the Blizzard forum admins would start moderating the community more. They still seem to be in this 2005 idea that all WoW players are just MMO brothers and sisters with the same interests and all essentially nerds with good hearts. Except that with 12million people WoW is more diverse than your local takeaway on a friday night, it has every kind of person in the community, and it cannot be left to its own devices.
The blues have a handful of rules they enforce "No caps in titles. No Bliizard in subject lines. No offtopic posts." but after that its a free-for-all, for whoever wants to make life miserable for other posters. The lowest common denominator rules, and its driven off any kind of sensible and constructive debate/discussion a long time ago.
Look at some 3rd party communities, like EJ for example, where they dont tolerate *any* kind of misbehaviour or anything that isnt remotely constructive; as a result they have one of the most constructive high-brow discussion sites in the game.
I want to see the blues put on some jackboots and start kicking butt. Posters get 3-strikes-then-out. You insuilt someone, you flame, you do anything other than be civil and constructive: you get a weeks forum ban. Do it again and you get a months forum ban. A third time? you've clearly shown you have no intention of being a valuable member of the forums: perm ban and good riddance.
Then we might actually see some intelligent and constructive discussion return to the "official" forums.
Rubitard May 4th 2011 2:57PM
I'm endlessly fascinated by official forum posts that begin with variations of "Blizzard CLEARLY does not care about the players!!" I get the feeling that some blue posts are very sanitized and corporate-approved. But, for the most part, the blue team seems very dedicated to and interested in the community with which they commune.
LeftVentricle May 4th 2011 3:04PM
is that Zarhym? omg, he's hawt! :D
Bethontheharbor May 4th 2011 3:16PM
WoW he looks like a young Dave Grohl.
Drakkenfyre May 4th 2011 3:22PM
You guys missed the great part of one of his later posts.
Someone said he's been drinking.
He said "I know better than to even open the forums when I've been imbibing."
StClair May 4th 2011 4:44PM
If only more were as wise.
Nathanyel May 4th 2011 3:31PM
Love that Idiocracy reference in the blue post's title :) Or is that actually a real greeter phrase?
Krystana May 4th 2011 3:46PM
Thanks, I had figured that much out...:) its been happening since 4.0.6.
Ez May 4th 2011 7:12PM
KIsses! XOXO
Deb May 5th 2011 1:10AM
Dearest Zarhym,
Please introduce the folks at wowscreenshots@blizzard.com to some of your fabulous ideas. "Hmm it looks cool but it looks like it’s manipulated, like not a real screenshot." is the response I got from a screenshot I submitted. No hello, no signature, just an assumption and an accusation with no evidence whatsoever.