The Rimor Ten

This section deals specifically with the simultaneous suspension of 10 customers that occurred on the game Anarchy Online and caused a significant amount of controversy. It followed other incidents where customers had reported being threatened to close disputes, endured harassment or had accounts suspended/re-opened purely in response to sheer volume of emails and petitions sent to Funcom.

'The power of petition' was a phrase coined on the server as it appeared decisions over accounts could be influenced and revoked purely by mustering enough petitions against or in support of an individual.

In a majority of cases where an account is suspended, it happens only to an individual, or a small group. Or where it has been applied to several, the most common communication channel open to them is the official forum of the MMOG. Invariably these companies have a 'non-disclosure' policy, ostensibly to prevent details of exploits becoming public and protect the identity of the individuals, but with the potentially useful consequence of stonewalling and censoring any discussion of policies or decisions by their customers.

The customer(s) are effectively isolated, and only a few will hear their side. It is common to hear that "no one is going to admit guilt." This is quite true, but just because all guilty people won't admit to guilt does not make the converse true - that all people who don't admit to guilt are guilty.

In this instance, some of those involved had a high profile within the community, and had access to a private forum along with a significant number of other customers in which to discuss and pool official comment in an uncensored and open environment. Had this not happened, the inconsistencies and contradictions in communications being issued to their customers by Funcom would not have come to light.

It highlighted some glaring shortfalls in customer service in the MMOG industry and was the last straw in a series of perceived injustices and poor service. It prompted a number of initiatives including the creation of this site by the community.

A lot of the content of this section is specific to Anarchy Online, usage of terminology and basic assumptions of game mechanics is unfortunately unavoidable. Hopefully the customer service issues are transparent nonetheless.