John Erskine, Director of Studio Services for NCsoft North America, takes a look at the overlooked and oft abused support personnel at NC Soft. Using Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa as his example, he walks readers through the world of tech support:

One of the most overlooked and underestimated tasks of launching a successful online game is the support aspect of the live service. After launch, MMOs are as much a "service" as a "game," yet many do not often consider the service aspect until shortly before launch. Here at NCsoft, we have a long history of providing excellent service for our products. Since we are a multi-product publisher of online games, we've learned a few tricks that help us successfully support the games that we publish. We house our entire support process in a department we call "Studio Services," which includes Quality Assurance, Customer Service, Game Support, and Localization. Each of these teams plays a critical role in the live support and operation of our games.

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