Bioware’s Star Wars The Old Republic is all set to launch on December 20th. The hotly anticipated game has been through beta testing and is now in the final stages before unofficial launch. The problem is that people who were tempted to pre-order were told they would get up to five days early access, this has created a bit of a furore, as exemplified on their forums. I should also add here that I’ve long maintained that even when things got heated on the Second Life forums, they were tame compared to other places, and the Star Wars The Old Republic Forums are a ghastly experience of forum interaction that demonstrates that Second Life forums always have been tame in comparison.
The issue is with the use of “up to five days“. Rather bizarrely people have got early access up to seven days in advance, which only seems to have confused matters further. However it’s the “up to” business, which like “From” in marketing terms seems to mislead many customers who omit the meaning of “up to” and “from” when reading marketing literature.
Matters aren’t helped at all by the excerpt on the main webpage:
“Fans who have pre-ordered STAR WARS: The Old Republic can now begin playing the game! ”
Continue reading “Bioware And The Mysterious Case Of Customer Expectations”