Support backlog

[Paul Vebber]

I was out of the country until recently with only limited access to teh internet.

If you have posted a program related support request in the last 2 weeks and have not heard back, that is why.

AS we ramp up our game production we are looking for folks well versed in technical issues to work on our support team. A few of you had inquired about that in the past, please email me at paulv@matrixgames.com if you are still interested.

Also as a clarification on the best ways to get support, here are a few tips.

1) A complete and clearly written request is the key to a successful outcome. "The game doesn't work" or "IT doesn;t do what I want" will generate a reply.

2) The help desk is like a private discussion board between you and the support provider. PLease log in and use the support desk like you would this forum. It sends you an email to notify you of a reply, but you can;t reply to the desk via email. You have to go back TO THE SAME help desk request you made and add your response to the "thread". DO not open new support requests as that just complicates teh process. The point is to have all the give and take on that support request in the single thread. But most importantly, PLEASE RESPOND. over 75% of help desk requests die because the "My game is broke" request comes in and I ask for clarification and hear nothing back. After 30 days of so I close unresponded to threads out.

3) Simple queries about how to perform actions in the game should first be looked up in the manual, and then posted here - with dozens of folks monitoring, an answer will typically come much faster than via the help desk. I will resume my everyother day checking of the help desk, but often I can only spend a set amopunt of time answering questions there if I am to make progress on new game projects.

4) PacWar and War in Russia are DOS games that require knowledge of DOS memeory management to get to work. Ask on the forums for help with that, we don't do DOS tech support. Most tech support for those games is provided onthe forums, start there, as I personally don't have familiarity with those games and will just point you back to the forums where the design teams hang out.

5) As games become more and more sophisticated and the plethora of component configurations contiually expands, its almost impossible to make a game that plays perfectly on every one. We can't even test them all, being limited to the ones the few dozen playtesters happen to have. PCs are not PLaystations and you as a computer user have a responsibility to learn about how your computer works if you are to fully enjoy it. We will help, but if you don't know a video driver from a screw driver, then be advised we can;t provide the background computer education you may need to know to trouble shoot a problem successfully. Particularly if you have older versions of Windows. Our games will be aimed at the WIN ME/WIN XP user, with a effort made to test on WIN 98SE machines as well. But even 100% compatibility between WINME and the (NT based) WIN XP may not be 100% (witness the CC bug in the MegaCampaing that works under win ME, but not under Win2K/XP).

Even the "big boys" have a difficult time resolving some tech support issues, so please bear with us as we get our process more refined in anticipation of adding more games in the near future.

And if you want to help out, please let me know.