Image Designer Archive
Thread: An Unhappy Customer
Unfortunately it is a very mixed bag on how I am treated as Image Designer and also as a Dancer. I do both and in both professions I have some clients who treat me like gold and I have some who walk away with out even a thank you.
As a dancer the no thank you part I take in stride, I dance for fun these days and for those who ask me nicely hehe, but when I stop what I am doing to give someone a make over I do expect something for my time. More times than I care to admit a client has just said thanks! and ran away lol. Funny to watch them flee with their tail between their legs hehe but eesh people dont waste my time please. I have gotten to where now if I am in the right mood *coughs* I do not let them get away with it and I inform them that sorry dear but I do not work for free and do expect to be paid for work done.
It just amazes me, you wouldnt have a tailor make you clothes and not pay them would you? Or perhaps those types of people would.
I never even used to give a specific price for particular work done, I would just tell them a tip you think is fair will do. That worked well for a good while, those who couldnt afford high prices could still get some work done but more and more it seems like some just have no idea of a Master ID's worth, they dont realize that it is our profession and if they dont want to have to pay huge amounts up front they really should be more gracious in how they treat someone they want to work with.
I dont mean to sound like Im unhappy with being an Image Designer because Im not, I really do enjoy it and am looking forward to it being improved. I just wish that small percentage of people who do not view it as a real profession would take a minute and think about what they are doing when they walk away without paying, or pay 300 credits for 30 minutes of work when they can afford more. I dont want to have to use a price sheet for each modification but I will if I must
LOL Pretty funny, Necrophageon.
That was a pretty tough session. None of the measurements that Necroph had written down seemed to actually produce the look he was going for. Things took a turn for the better when we left the clicking by measurements taken at character creation behind and just went with a description of what was desired and judging by eye what really looked best.
I think the real horror that Necroph ran into was when he wanted a particular look for his eye shape and slant only to find out that these features are bugged and I couldn't give him the look he wanted at all for his eyes. He had every right to be upset and confused over having taken the time to figure out exactly what he wanted by using the character creation interfaceonly to come into the game andfind out that theID interface couldn't give him what he wanted.
I don't know what else to say beyond that. I'm tired of begging and hoping these bugs will be fixed soon. I can only offer another apology to you, Necro. I know we got very close to what you were looking for. I am sorry that we weren't spot on with the look you had hoped for. 
Unhappy? Yes... Unsatisfied? Thankfully no, thanks to the uncanny understanding of one Moonlilly. Her patience and meticulous work saved me from horrible, horrible disfigurement, no thanks to the infamous ID interface... No thanks at all.
Now I've never been an Image Designer. Don't plan on it, either. Not my cup of tea.
But I can tell you they're probably the most walked-on, under-rated profession out there, especially with all the crap they have to put up with.
Almost completely ignored by their creators, and belittled by their fellow gamers, I'm surprised there are any left. There's a lot of shame to be had here.
This game presents something that not too many other MMORPGs have ever even touched, and that friends, is individuality. Never before have I seen character creation with detail of this caliber, and on top of that, we got a profession to upkeep the image we chose, as things that complex are hard to get exactly the way you want the first time around.
Equally complex is the interface given to the Image Designers to help us achieve that ideal image we have in mind. So complex, in fact, that itcrossesover the line of 'intricate' and into something more like 'inane'.
What mystifies me is the way they seem to have written a completely different interface for doing the exact same thing... and I'm sure anyone who thinks about that for more than a few seconds is going to have a 400 watt halogen bulb burning over their heads telling them that this could possibly lead to some kind of problem.
And let me tell you, boy did it ever.
After talking to one Image Designer and having a few things changed, I decided a few days later that I still wasn't happy. So I decided to make things easier for the next ID (look kids, verbal irony!). I decided I'd just redesign the face myself in the character creation screen and count the clicks to the end of the bar.
This was, of course, before I knew about the ridiculously disproportionate ID interface. Even better lighting couldn't save this thing as is.
Ok, so I get a hold of another ID (enter Moonlilly) and I run the plan by her. She asks for an E-Mail of where the bars are going to go, and I comply accordingly. We go off to a corner and unleash Arma-freagin-geddon on my poor character's face with bar coordinates that somehow don't seem to be matching up with the ones I gave her.
I went from looking like a chew addict who had part of his jaw surgically removed, to something out of Planet of the Apes, to a white black guy, and finally, after at least an hour and a half of work, to something that closely resembled what I was looking for.
I ended up giving her 10k for that job, and don't get me wrong, she deserved it for all that time of hers I consumed. But that's a lot of money to be spending on a makeover, and all because of a few "bugs". On top of all that, I couldn't even get the eye shape I wanted because the Eye Shape bar tweaks the Eye Angle on males. Pure genius, I tell you.
Now just to make sure that last paragraph (or for that matter, this whole message)isn't misconstrued... I think the game as a whole is absolutely fantastic. I haven't had this much fun with a game in a long time.
But the point I'm trying to make is that the profession that gets treated the worst amongst players, is also the least well coded, and we owe them a great deal of respect for sticking with their already difficult profession so that they can do us the favor of fixing those little things we notice from time to time that aren't just right, or change everything because we feel we need something different. What we don't owe them is a **** in the ***, and a "so long, sucker!" as we run away laughing. You people are dirt. You know who you are. Play nice.
The moral of this long and drawn out tale kids, is that Hershey's is right. Sometimes, change is bad. And I'm not talking about facial features.
Lets get some recognizable similarities going between the character creation and the ID re-creation while we're still looking at the big picture, eh? Clearly it's affecting more than just the Entertainers.
**I realize that this has been touched on before, but I should think that the bigger the fuss made about it, the more likely it is to be fixed. I'd really like to see Image Designers stick around for a while. Also, I think that Kwee's idea for a windowed character creation GUI is top notch. Better still would be a box that pops up on the client's screen showing them the changed face as a whole before accepting. Or maybe that was also suggested already. Either way, I can deal with flying enemies and magic hospital beds for a while. This is something that should probably be fixed sooner than later. It would seem that the fun is being sucked out of one and only one profession due to lack of foresight.... and I think that's unfair to them for all they're put through.**
I am finally done rambling.
I don't think anyone is going to disagree with your main point... So forgive me if I derail the thread slightly...
"But I can tell you they're probably the most walked-on, under-rated profession out there, especially with all the crap they have to put up with."
I've only been master ID for a couple days now, but I just don't agree with this. Everyone who has wanted the service, with one exception, has been nothing but nice. Most everyone has tipped generously without me even asking. A few that asked my price took offense that it was so low and tipped more. I've had requests everything from an entertainer zabrak who changed his horns and discovered to his horror they weren't white anymore, to a husband getting a total makeover for his wife. Everyone commented that they were so glad to see an ID around and they'd been looking for a long time. I even had people travel from other planets just to see me. This is after literally just a day.
The only jerk I had to deal with wasn't so bad.. He was just very picky about what he wanted with no direction as to what sort of style he was looking for, then blamed me when it looked bad in the end. He also almost stiffed me, but did cough up when I prodded him about payment, and quoted a steep price with a "jerk tax" added in.
Compared to how I was treated as an entertainer, I've practically got the red carpet treatment. The only problem I had to deal with is the constant influx of requests, which as I understand it is shared with any service oriented profession. I was talking to a master tailor friend, and when I had to step out a few times to help people, he just nodded in complete understanding.
In all from my experience, there are two kinds of people I like dealing with.. Those who know exactly what they want, and those who have no clue what they want but can describe it in abstract terms. (IE: I want a new hairstyle, something mature yet innocent) 9 times out of 10 when they describe what they want in abstract terms, the first option I show them is the one they pick, even if I show them other options. If someone comes asking for something I try to fit them into one of these categories by asking them a few questions. - IE have you seen anything you like on others, or is there some mood you would like to convey with your look.
I would put Image Designers above artisans in how they are treated by other players, personally.
About the controls... Perhaps someone could figure out how the interface maps between the two. I know a few of the controls suprised me when I first used them. (IE female torso size is reverse of what I expected)
Well then...
Now that it's been a while and I'm back to normal there's some words I'd like to eat.
Most of the things I rambled about were in the heat of the moment.IDs may or may not be the worsttreated. It's all random when it comes to people, but the fact of the matter is they have the option to walk away... and there areweiners who will take advantage of that (sorry, I like that word ^_^).
I imagine there are still a lot of people (including myself) who get excited when they finally run across an ID. This game is very true to life in the respect that there are nice people, and then there's the kind of people you'd like to sodomize with fish hooks (ok, maybe that was a bit graphic ^_^)... but I suppose that's to be expected. After all, it's people that are playing this game (uh... at least I'm pretty sure).
I just don't understand why people can't just play fair, and stop being an ******* just for the sake of being part of a great game like this. Guess that's free will for ya'.
Well anyways, figured I'd clear a little of that up now that I have my head straight (even though I probably did the opposite).
I'd have to agree with Caitiri. How ID'ers are treatedseems to bea pretty mixed bag. How they're treated in terms of what they do for a living I mean.
No one expects an armor or weapons crafter to do what they do for free. Even if the customer comes up with resources the crafter isn't expected to perform services for free. But there are a fair number of folks who think ID should be done eitherfor free, oron the cheap.Where they'd like you to spendat leasta halfhour to 45minutes, allowing them to "shop" for a look, and then only pay you500-1000 credits for your time.
There are some who seem to think it shouldn't matter that anyone spent the time and the skill points on learningan entire tree. The fact that no resources are used in ID seems to allow for some to conclude that it should be offered as afree service.
And then there's always a segment of folks who just want to rip other players off because they can.I don't ask for any money up front for changes. So there are occasions where I get stiffed. It's happened enough that I'd prefer an interface that allowed us to incorporate charges into the services as we perform them.
Still, there are far fewer people who act like thosethatI've mentioned above than there are those who are willing to show their appreciation for Image Designers and what they do.
Thanks Necro, I enjoyed reading that 
You have a fun sense of humor Fortunately I rarely run across people that don't think my service is worth anything. Some actually expect you to travel to them lol.
Customer: *calls hairdresser* "Hi Maude, yeah I need a new haircut. Please drop bymy house. Here is the address"
Maude: Umm you live in another country.
Customer: So? Just hop on an airplane, you know you need the experience.
Maude: What would you pay me to travel to you?
Customer: What!! You want me to pay you???? I'm going to provide the scissors!!! What do you need money for!!! You're just practicing on me!!!!!!! I'm sacrificing myself toboost your career!!
Maude: I charge $20 for a cut, and I'll expect my air fare as well
Customer: What a rip off!!! I'm going to find another hairdresser.
Maude: Uh yeah, please do. *makes L for loser sign with fingers as she hangs up*
again my point before --
SOE only cares about combat...thats it....make the greedy little griefers happy and screw the happy mechants..was the same with EQ...where are the player housing they promised when it came out?