F E AT U R E
We are experiencing a rapid increase in the availability of technology-driven products that facilitate a platform that we will interact with on a daily basis. The suppliers of these products are also providing us with an expanding array of channels to provide feedback and give our opinions of the quality of the solution and the experience. Michael Hill of complaintsrgreat reports If I look around in my own home, we have several games consoles, interactive TV screens, computers, smart phones, ebook readers - all providing plenty of opportunity for interaction and of course distraction! I'm going to focus on one of these products, our x-box 360, that is used as a multi-media entertainment unit - we use the console to watch and experience films, listen to music, play games and also interact with friends online (using the x-box live subscription service).
Our x-box also allows us to connect with friends and also people we don't know (although we can and do control the extent to which our younger children connect with 'strangers') but may have a shared interest - such as owning a particular and encountering that person in a multi-player environment. We then also have the opportunity to not only join this online community but also to rate the 'quality' of people we connect with and file a complaint if we find their behaviour to be inappropriate.
If we look simply at the games element, we can connect to x-box live and experience a games marketplace - allowing us to watch previews of upcoming games, download trial versions (the online version of the traditional 'try before you buy' approach), view the customer feedback ratings of games we might be interested in purchasing and, of course, rate our experience of the games we own.
No feedback in a one way street
ISSUE FIVE • SEPTEMBER 2011
M
Given all of these feedback tools, you might be expecting my family to be avidly rating the games we play, media we access and online associates we connect with. But none of us have ever used these feedback tools! The process appears to be simple enough but what do we get in return for providing our feedback - not a lot. We probably consider that our rating of the game will
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