UO, EQ, AC. If you don't know what those abbreviations mean, then you might want to read something else interesting. On the other hand, if you do know them then chances are you are one of about a quarter of a million people who regularly log into the lands of either Britannia, Norrath, or Derreth.

All three are the biggest players in the field of MMPOG's, or Massively Multi-Player Online Games that are all the rage these days. The Big Three as they are called, all offer basically the same game with variations. The game is building your character, collecting loot and adventuring with friends. Lots of friends.

But that's not to say that each game is interchangeable with the others - they aren't. Each offers its own special draw… in UO the draw is player owned houses, in AC it's the monthly updates of new quests and items, and in EQ it's the playable character races and classes. And of course each game has its own signature problems as well. UO has always been a haven for the grief players, AC has the most mind-boggling magic system, and EQ... well, EQ has long been infamous for the customer service.

However, these days there's a new sheriff in town, and he aims to clean the place up. His name is George Scotto and I recently had the chance to talk with him about the task ahead...

NorthStar: George, you are filling a customer service position that is sort of unique -- there are several different areas that are combined here, customer service, computers, and entertainment. From the top, customer service, what is your background there?

George Scotto: My background goes back ten years actually, starting off on the front lines with insurance companies, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, in the early 90's, dealing with insurance claims and customers calling in not getting their claims paid. So I know what it's like to be a customer service rep, not just the management side. I have a lot of roots in that. And from there moving up as the technology advanced and as the internet became bigger and bigger. I did catch a break and I got involved in a very early-stage startup company in the mid 90's with a legal website called Council Connect. They were affiliated with Court TV and America Lawyer Media.

So in addition to customer service, you've been involved with computers for a while now?

Yes. Of course back in the early 90's we were still dealing with mainframes and as technology advanced… well the Council Connect position was a dial up into a network… there wasn't even a website!

Pre-internet days, eh?

Yeah, it was proprietary software, all dial-up networking. So there was a lot of technical experience configuring all of that, working with Windows 3.1, and all the good old stuff, you know?

Heh, I can remember those days myself. Now what about gaming specifically, what is your exposure there?

The gaming exposure comes mostly personal. I started with Sony two years ago, but before that my exposure to game companies was minimal. So my exposure was purchasing and playing games and being a big game player. Yeah, I would have to answer that going back to Atari and Apple IIe and IIc, that's my original game experience. Heh, and my knowledge really, as far as Everquest is concerned started back in the mid 70's with Dungeons and Dragons.

Oh, excellent! So this is something that when a customer comes into you with an issue or a problem you can definitely identify with the gamer's perspective on this, right?

Oh yes, I can identify with that from my experiences with D&D which has many of the same type of components. But also by being an active Everquest player since day one and beta time.

Now, how long have you been with Sony?

I've been with Sony for over a year and a half now. Before EQ launched I was working on customer service plans. At that time Sony was in this together with Verant but not having as much control as we have now.

So what do you consider to be your primary job at Sony?

Well, the primary job right now is, and I use the word carefully, revamping the call center here in San Diego. It's really changed a lot since day one when we first launched EQ. I mean we only had a dozen or so servers in the first month and we didn't have a very large staff. Everything was kinda geared towards the initial launch. As we realized this game was becoming so successful we added servers. And as we did that we of course had to add staff.

And how many servers is EQ up to these days?

I think as of last check it's 34 but that includes a test server. It's certainly a lot more than we planned on originally. We knew the game would be popular from the response to our beta, but we never really thought that it would get this large. But the whole point is that we need to keep an eye on this. As servers are added and as volume increases, as simultaneous usage increases we need to increase coverage on the servers.

I think we've done a very good job, and I also think it's hard to find a right mix between someone who is an excellent gameplayer and knows the game inside and out and is also a customer service minded person. Especially at such a young age, we're hiring mostly younger people here. It's a tough mix to try to combine the two.

But getting back to your question, my focus is really rebuilding the customer service department at Verant. Along with that we've also moved our Station side customer service here to Verant, so it's really a one-stop-shopping experience.

What do you mean by 'Station side'?

Well, the Station at www.station.sony.com has its own suite of games. We're owned by Sony Pictures, Sony Online is wholly owned by Sony Pictures, so we have a lot of the gameshows on our website, like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

Next page: More questions, more answers, more love.

1 - Scotto Interview Page 1

2 - Scotto Interview Page 2