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May 25th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The community and customer service teams at 2K Games are committed to reaching out to the company’s audience, even if it means facing unhappy customers head-on.
When Reddit user Loyal2NES posted a thread Tuesday night, sarcastically titled “2K Games support team is top-notch,” it was to complain about an unhelpful experience he had.
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The thread title quickly became more genuine, however, as 2K’s head of interactive marketing and community, Elizabeth Tobey, stepped in during evening hours to assuage the original complaint. She also took time to answer other Redditor’s questions and crack a few jokes, commenting on the thread 36 times in all.
“People are used to stuffier news broadcast style, but we are able to answer questions candidly,” she said. “It’s way better than the past, with forums, where you have to jump through so many hoops to have a conversation.”
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Reddit is just one of the vehicles Tobey uses to guide 2K’s customer communication. The company is also active on traditional social channels like Facebook and Twitter. Tobey says 2K even has a policy of trying to talk to everyone who reaches out.
“You can reach out and touch anyone, any day, at all hours. It’s a little daunting, but so rewarding, “ said Tobey. “We can pay attention to the little things, like tweets or messages.”
Tobey said 2K’s community team is determined to find new ways to have two-way conversations. Recently, the team harnessed the power of streaming service TwitchTV to reveal the multiplayer mode in upcoming military shooter Spec Ops: The Line. They put six gamers (who happen to be veterans at streaming their content) into match, while letting the community ask questions in the chat as the pros played. The stream ran over three and a half hours, during which time spectators could request to see different parts of the multiplayer experience.
“We’re all about ‘show, don’t tell.’ By putting the opinions in the hands of respected gamers, we can better demonstrate what they’ll be excited about and interested in,” said Tobey. “It’s about trust and respect; we get unbiased opinions from them, and let the community talk to the community.”
2K will run similar experiences when Spec Ops: The Line launches June 26; gamers will be invited to play matches against the game’s developers.
Behind-the-scenes action and interactivity are all part of the experience Tobey is trying offer gamers. During the lead-up to E3, the biggest gaming trade show and traditionally a press- and industry-only affair, Tobey and her community team will post pictures and videos of their booths as they’re assembled. During the conference, they will interview other notable attendees and share the video with their audience.
“We’re able to become real people, not just a name on a forum,” said Tobey.
Perhaps one of the best examples of being “real” just happened to Tobey. She posed her miniature dachshund, Pancake, alongside a special edition case, to be released with the collector’s edition of Borderlands 2, to creatively illustrate its size. After she posted on Imgur, the pictures received over 8 million views. Safe to say, the company probably got more pre-orders.
What do you think of 2K’s community management style? Let us know in the comments.
Thumbnail image courtesy 2K Games. Dachshund photo courtesy of Elizabeth Tobey on Imgur.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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