2014-01-04, 12:44 AM
While I appreciate the effort, on a personal level, there is nothing that I hate more than the inclusion of non-sequiturs or personal stories in order to seem more relatable or garner empathy points, especially in a situation of contrition. Compounding that, playing the "victim card" boils my blood in such a fashion that it pretty much negated all the positives that I found in the semi-transparent details of their decision-making process and handling of the situation.
All of those, plus the familiarity of this announcement, makes this well-intentioned piece ring very hollow for me. Maybe it's the fact that I cannot even play the game, perhaps it's because I've seen this story many times over with different CEOs, with different companies, in many different situations, but PR is exactly that, public relations. Returning the game to the point before the dupe, before the hellbans, even before I was unable to login will simply result in a return to the status quo, back to square one. I seriously hope that people won't find moving from -1 (or maybe -8 in this case) back to 0 some sort of laudable achievement. Expect more.
All of those, plus the familiarity of this announcement, makes this well-intentioned piece ring very hollow for me. Maybe it's the fact that I cannot even play the game, perhaps it's because I've seen this story many times over with different CEOs, with different companies, in many different situations, but PR is exactly that, public relations. Returning the game to the point before the dupe, before the hellbans, even before I was unable to login will simply result in a return to the status quo, back to square one. I seriously hope that people won't find moving from -1 (or maybe -8 in this case) back to 0 some sort of laudable achievement. Expect more.