Well, folks, my subscription expires today, but I'll be keeping an eye on the forums for a while in hopes of seeing some kind of Community Team interaction. I got an interesting response from swtor customer support the other day. Here's a small -- albeit somewhat awkwardly-worded -- snippet: What I got out of that was an admission for the first time that they were, in fact, intentionally refusing to respond to us. Good lord, some of you are saying, is he still going on about that? Yes. Yes, I am. Because sometime later this year, SGRA's are going to be introduced. And when they are, you are going to have questions. And you will be intentionally ignored. I will not be appeased until I see a member of Bioware Austin's Dev team or Community Team post something in this thread as a good faith gesture that we will not be intentionally ignored in the future. Here is my final email to swtor's customer support staff. It is fitting that these words be my final post on these forums: and also, This seems to be a common theme in response to my emails. But I have repeatedly said I am not looking for more information on SGRA's, nor am I looking for any kind of "update" whatsoever. I'll try again to state my desires clearly: I'm looking for a single post by a Dev or Community Team member in the "Same Gender Relationships Clarification" thread. That's it. That's all I want. One post. No, really. It doesn't have to contain an "update", or any new information at all. It doesn't have to give anything away. It just has to be an olive branch from Bioware Austin to the LGBT community saying, "Hey. We hear you. Thanks for being patient." Yes, it would be nice if they flat-out admitted that their handling of the situation has been lackluster and that their intentional decision NOT to engage the community was a mistake. And it would be freaking incredible if they had the integrity to apologize for that mistake. That one single post would win back my subscription and go a long way towards turning me into a fiercely loyal customer. So I guess this is it. I'm kind of disappointed that it has come to this. I feel like I've been shouting into the wind asking for a simple acknowledgement/apology on the forums and all that is being heard is blah, blah, blah, some dude wants information on SGRA's blah blah-bity blah. I don't care about getting more information on fictional people in a video game. What I care about is real people in the real world being treated as if they matter. And Bioware Austin's Dev and Community Team are not doing this. Have you noticed how, despite not being able to provide any information on SGRA's, you and your fellow customer support employees have proven yourselves perfectly capable of acknowledging me, apologizing for the fact that I feel dissatisfied, and engaging me in conversation? Yet the same lack of available information renders the Dev and the Community Team completely unable to make even a single post on the forums? Really? Since my wordsmithery skills have proven ineffective at making my point clear, I now have no other choice but to "vote with my wallet", as they say. I will now give up and move on to other games. But I'd like Mr. Reid and his Community Team to reflect upon how incredibly easy it would have been to keep me as a customer, paying $15 a month for an indefinite number of years. One post. Thank you for your time. Regards, So that's it, folks. I wish everyone well! Have fun, and enjoy the game for what it is. I know I did. But don't expect too much from your Dev and Community Teams when SGRA's are released. They've already intentionally decided not to engage you in conversation. If you can be happy with that, you should have no issues. I just can't be happy with that.

Well, actually, Bioware Austin isn't ignoring you. They did respond, by putting up a post about FPS optimization and other issues called A Note On General Performance Issues. So...you got a response to your issue (before we did, I might add) and you're still complaining about it, though you will criticize others for doing the same. To be fair, though, I wouldn't have been satisfied with that "General Optimization" post as a solution, either, and for what it's worth, I think that you are quite right to continue your crusade for a better response. But, even though I do not experience FPS issues, it never ONCE occurred to me to go into the FPS optimization thread and say "You all got a response, now stop complaining!", while I was still waiting for a response on SGRA's. What you are seeking is not a response, but actual implementation that solves your problem, correct? Some of the people in this thread who are unhappy are merely seeking the same thing. Its really not any different than what you are doing right now. Except that they're not doing it in your FPS thread. EDIT FOR CLARITY: Though I think I've made my position clear in my other posts, I'll state here that I am not among those who are upset that we don't have SGRA implementation right now. I would have liked it, yes, but lack of implementation is not what I am unhappy about. However, I understand why those who are unhappy about the lack of SGRA's at launch feel as they do.

DarthRamette, you seem very resentful about the fact that we finally got some kind of response to our issue. I hope you realize that the only reason we did finally get a response is by being "very vocal about it". If, rather than pursuing our goal of getting a response, we had instead decided that the best way to further our own cause was to visit threads on other issues and complain about the people in those threads being too vocal about their issues, we would still be waiting for a response. Maybe instead of bitterly pointing out how you resent the fact that we got a response, you could try asking for support on some of the issues you would like to see a response on, and direct people to specific threads on those issues? Asking for support is a much better way to get help than criticizing people for getting something they worked pretty darn hard for.

Sour grapes much? Your comment makes no sense. I am unhappy because of poor communication. They have also announced cross-server warzones will be in the game. Do you think that should make me happy about poor communication? They could announce they are putting poodles that poop rainbows into the game, but that would not address my concern, which is...again...poor communication.

I agree. I was not saying that they were incompetent to leave out SGRA's at launch. I don't particularly like the decision, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it incompetence. However, treating us with a stony silence that would only be broken after months of angry/upset players posting over and over and over again, while somebody up there decided that the appropriate response was professional indifference? Complete rubbish, entirely unprofessional, and utterly incompetent. And it cost them my sub. I will not be resubscribing until I see some kind of acknowledgement that they could have handled the situation better, and I have absolutely no illusion that I will ever see such an acknowledgement. They continuously act as if they are above that kind of thing. Their entire approach to the issue seemed to be "Don't acknowledge them, don't talk to them, ignore them and hope they go away!" I guess the truth is I'm a bit taken aback by how quickly everyone seems to have forgotten how we were treated. Honestly, when SGRA's come out, I really hope they are done well, because if they aren't, and people decide to try to open a dialogue with Bioware Austin, they will be talking into the void. Again. If Bioware Austin does not acknowledge that they realize they handled the situation poorly, then there is absolutely no reason to expect that they will handle it any better in the future. I just think people are setting themselves up for frustration by letting them off the hook for the way they stonewalled us for so long. And I think that in the future, you will be just as frustrated and upset when they decide to do it again.

Kioma, Although I agree with most of your post in terms of not assuming the worst when trying to understand where the devs are coming from, I think that going so far as to assume that we were ignored for such a long period of time because of how much the devs wanted to be respectful to us is a bit too far to the other extreme for my comfort level. If that actually was the case, I'd like to ask the Devs to respect me in a different way, please. I realize that you were probably just using that example to make a point about not assuming the worst, but I really don't think we should be giving them any feedback that suggests we are okay with that kind of treatment. I know I'm not. I don't think the devs are intentionally dragging their heels because they don't want to include same-gender content. I do actually believe that they want to produce quality content when they unveil SGRA's. However, that has nothing to do with the fact that I still feel their approach to dealing with their LGBT community has been completely bogged down by incompetent decision-making from the very start, and no matter how respectful the dev team may be about actually producing the content, the Community Team was not respectful at all in deciding not to engage us for the length of time it took before finally getting a response. Note that when I say "Community Team", I'm referring to Stephen Reid and his subordinates, not the forum moderators who have been working hard to keep some kind of discussion going.

Tamaranis...THANK YOU! I am so glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way. That's what keeps me from reactivating my sub. Not out of pure spite; I just feel that if they honestly don't think they handled this situation badly, then I don't trust them not to handle things badly in the future.

The thing is, I could completely forgive a breakdown in communication... if they acknowledged that that is what it was. Perhaps I seem harsh, or overly picky. Heck, maybe I am harsh and overly picky. But dammit, I believe that when a company screws something up, they should admit their mistake. If they were to do that, I'd be totally fine with giving them another chance. But if they truly had no idea what was going on due to a communication breakdown, then they should be saying, "Hey folks, we screwed up, we're sorry, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen again." It is the most basic concept of customer service, and they seem to act as though they are above such trivial matters. Its just extremely disappointing, and it does not bode well for future interactions. Sigh.... In any case, thank you for your kind responses, Kioma, natashina, and sparklecat.

Sigh. Okay, yes, I will first say that I am satisfied with the answers they gave. However, I see nothing there that is so incredibly specific and/or earth-shattering that it could not have been answered much, much, MUCH earlier, before so much unpleasantness erupted. The fact that they stood by and said absolutely nothing for so long despite seeing what was going on in the forums and in the emails to customer support still says to me that they have no idea how to talk to their LGBT players, and further, it says that they will only do so with great reluctance. So, though I am not going to complain about the information we received (it is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for...3 months ago!) I'm still not moved to renew my subscription. I mean, sure, I'm happy with what we got, but if its going to take that amount of work every single time to get information out of them on an issue that is substantively important to the LGBT community (or any minority community, for that matter) then this is obviously not the game for me. If communication is this difficult for them now, I see absolutely no indication that they will improve on it in the future. What I really needed from them was some kind of explanation as to why on Earth it took them so long to break their silence, and lacking that, I can only assume that the next time we have a question for them, we'll be treated exactly the same way. No thank you. Sorry to be a downer, guys. I am happy for all of you who are pleased, and I hope you continue to enjoy your time spent in STWOR. I simply can't anymore.

Let me turn that around. Would it really kill them to give us some small token of communication? No. And again, I would say that most of us are, in fact, willing, able, and prepared to wait, and to give them as much time as they need. As long as they tell us something besides what they said six months ago. You aren't wrong in suggesting that people be patient. But I feel that we have been patient. We've certainly given them enough time that they should be able to communicate something to us, and that is all we're asking. And I don't think we should let them off that hook.

And me. I very specifically told them when I cancelled that it was NOT due to lack of SGRA implementation, but rather a lack of SGRA communication. Two completely different things. EDIT: It really just boggles my mind that many of our subscriptions could have been kept with five or ten minute's worth of work. That's about the amount of time it would have taken to post something on the boards, even something trivial and noncommittal, to facilitate this so-called "continuing dialogue" my customer support email was referring to. But no, they simply cannot be arsed.

This was one of the weakest troll attempts I've ever seen. Go eat an energy bar.

There is support@swtor.com , which usually gets me a reply from a customer service person. Often the first response you get will be from an extremely low level employee and will feel more like a cut-and-paste response that barely addresses your issues. If you reply to that email, though, you will likely be escalated to someone a bit higher up who will at least take the time to write you a personal email. Problem is, it will still be from someone pretty low in the hierarchy who will simply apologize and assure you that the content in question is being worked on. While that was initially encouraging, I realize now that such a response is hardly a big deal. Its just a customer service person trying to soothe some ruffled feathers. It means very little. You can also go to http://www.swtor.com/support/form and fill out the feedback form there. This will also get you a response, though again, it will only be from someone who will simply blow sunshine at you to make you feel better. However, its still a good idea to contact them, not because of the response you will get (which is fairly meaningless) but because they will be forwarding your comments to the people that do matter. I strongly encourage everyone to use one or both of these contact avenues. EDIT: I even tried contact@bioware.com , which is an address for the parent company. I didn't get a response, but I thought it was worth sending in case they have any pull with with Bioware Austin. It can't hurt to CC them whatever email you are sending to support@swtor.com . Maybe if enough people contact the parent company (perhaps using the recent quote found in my -and many others' - forum sig, they might be embarrassed enough to get involved.

Indeed. I suspect it would involve a black hole.

You wanna see something hilarious? Check out this snippet of an email I received from SWTOR customer service yesterday after writing to complain about the thread closures and redirects, and more generally the issue of how communication about the implementations of SGRA's is being handled: (Bolded emphasis is mine) Uh...what? To which I responded: Honestly, I'm not even mad anymore. I've already cancelled my sub. Meanwhile, they've continued to make sure we know the extent of their apathy to our concerns, so... there's really nothing more to say. This is sooooooo not about how or when they choose to implement game content. Its not even about simple communication anymore. This is about how you treat your community. To that end, I've seen more than enough, and I know all I need to know. /shrug