Player : Customer Support Rep Ratio

[Alex D.]

This is a MMOG operations question (I couldn't find a more appropriate forum.)

Has anyone heard (reliably) how many customer support reps are needed for a given number of accounts/players for any of the major MMORPGs?

Judging by how difficult it has been for me to find an answer to this question, it seems that they want to keep this a secret, although I can't really think of what competitive advantage that has.

Thanks!

[vrnunes]

one Eliza bot per 10k players.

no, seriously, i don't know.

[alphadog]

There's no secret; it's just not some metric that would be worthwhile to have. The numbers can vary greatly and is mainly a function of how a) stable, b) how easy to use your package is in actuality, c) how common/anticipated (vs. off-the-wall) are the issues, and d) what is offered on the support interface (phone? email? chat? EST office hours or 24x7? Effective knowledgebase? Popular forums that offload burden?). This is in order of importance, according to my experience.

Rule of thumb is that a "front-line" rep (for pretty much any basic or common technical software support issue) can handle 1 client per 15 minute block. You'll need about 1 rep per 500-1000 accounts when your software is stable (when you deploy big changes, then the ratio goes down).

Also, you'll need one sysadmin per about twenty servers. Again, this is a guesstimate as it can vary. Windows or Linux? Well-built server or nightmarish hodge-podge of components? This is not the same guy as the one on the phone, although at a small scale that guy usually wears both hats...

Please note that is why, for an efficient "money-making" MMO, it's critical to get good coders.

Please also note that "efficient MMO" and "popular MMO" are orthogonal things... :)

If you want real hosting data, I suggest you surf over to the http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ forums. There, you'll get access to a slew of people that host varied types of infrastructures...