While I am certain there are quite a few video game companies that have less-than-stellar ratings with the Better Business Bureau, I was informed about a few companies in particular that seem very relevant, given how their major MMOs have fared within the last year or so. You see, there is an awful lot of hubbub going on recently in regards to Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment’s latest MMO venture Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter, particularly in regard to a slew of game-breaking bugs. It’s not simply that some of these bugs make the game easy or exploitable (which many do), but they simply have destroyed the game’s economy. This matter is a subject worthy of its own post at a future date, but essentially, the big problem resides in the fact that entering a negative bid on items in the game’s auction house results in the money being given to you as a refund. This has completely devalued the Astral Diamonds, which were the game’s premier tier of currency that would be used on the Auction House, could purchase special premium items, or be transferred into Zen, the Perfect World’s global currency. In short, this has pissed off a ton of people who purchased the $199.99 founder pack, because all the premium items, their Diamonds, ect., are no longer unique and are completely worthless, and this isn’t something that can be rectified in any sort of amicable way.
Anyway, as Aristeia was reading through all the gripes on the forums, he noted that someone pointed out that both Cryptic and Perfect World have a score of F from the Better Business Bureau. This is no surprise, given all the stuff with Neverwinter, but they’ve had similar issues with Star Trek Online and Champions Online, and in both cases it was obvious that the company (now companies) cared little for the community at all, or really cared much about the quality of their games. Their customer service was (and still is) absolutely horrible (they “lose” tickets all the time and just don’t care about complaints), and they apparently have the mindset of needing to release a new game every six to twelve months.
Want to know another surprise that, well, probably shouldn’t be all that surprising? BioWare Mythic also has a score of “F” from the BBB. Obviously, BioWare itself is a large company and has three distinct entities, all of which fall under the umbrella of EA, and it isn’t clear if this rating reflects on the other two branches as well. However, the other two divisions aren’t rated at all, so it very well could. The big problem with this company’s rating is that they haven’t responded to 90% of the complaints lodged against them, though if that is representative at all of how they dealt with customer service issues (particularly how BioWare handled The Old Republic), this shouldn’t be a surprise at all.
Interesting, isn’t it? It makes me wonder what other businesses in the gaming world have very sub-par scores.
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Nerdy But Flirty 
You are aware that neatherwinter is still in a beta state, so you are making comments about a unfinished game having bugs in it? BBB ratings are unreliable at best. If you go to BBBs website it says that PWE is not a member (nor does it have to be). Membership is bast on a company paying a fee to the BBB and has been well documented that BBB give out ratings depending on the money they receive. If PWE became a BBB member, there rating would (as if by magic) increase.
Perhaps this is wrong, but as I understand it, “Open Beta” is mainly an excuse to say you are not finished with the game in case there are a lot of errors like this. Some games end up being in OB status for a year or even indefinitely. And since Neverwinter says they will not be rolling characters back once the game goes “release,” I don’t think it matters. Unless, in order to correct these major bugs (like the ruined economy), they can renig on that and go ahead and roll the system back because, as you said, technically the game is in beta?
Regardless, Perfect World and Cryptic are both pretty awful companies that care very little about their audiences. BioWare has its own share of problems too.