Every support role has its rhythm, but LiveOps is the one where the rhythm changes mid-shift. Adam May joined Multiplay's LiveOps team after years on a more traditional service desk, and what he found was a role where no two days run the same way, the documentation often doesn't exist yet, and sometimes you're the only person online when something needs a decision. He wrote this piece to explain what that's actually like.
This role differs vastly from my previous role, where I was a Service Desk Analyst at an Insurance company. Moving from a call-centre based environment to something much more free-form has been crazy, but in all of the best ways. I’m loving that every day something different could happen, or that we could be assisting on things that are completely different to the work we were doing the previous day
Most issues and processes in my previous position had been seen and documented well before I’d started, so stepping into a fresh new Desk has been quite the experience. It’s allowed me to work on my troubleshooting skills at a higher level, as I’ve been unable to rely on existing documentation and usually end up updating what we have, or making a completely new document depending on the issues that arise. Compared to previous roles it’s been a nice change of pace and has made me chase issues directly, or sometimes seek help and advice where I used to normally refer to the established processes
This role is much more technical than anything I’ve experienced previously, but this has allowed me to move outside of my comfort zone and to get stuck in on issues and projects that I never would have had the opportunity to normally.
Due to us being a smaller team just starting out, there is a much higher demand for us to have a broad, but specialised skillset to remain flexible and adaptable for when we take on issues. We could be helping out with server maintenance one day, then assisting an Accounts Manager with rundowns on Fleets and Customers, and even helping developers from different departments test new features on our platform.
This keeps our enthusiasm up and our minds fresh, as we never get stuck in a rut consistently doing the same things every day
Some of the more frequent challenges that appear usually don't have anything to do with technical ability, or runbooks. It comes from working as a spread out team, often online with little to no support for most of your shift. The challenge then becomes “what needs to be sorted now, and what can wait until the next shift?”. If something isn’t customer impacting it can hold on, and engineers can be left alone until they start their shift. Sometimes that isn’t the case though and support is needed for more urgent issues that could, or are already affecting our Customers.
Tickets feel less like a simple troubleshooting exercise with an easy resolution and sometimes more of a long term collaboration with your colleagues. Sometimes you need to wait for particular departments to be online before you can try the next steps, or you need to hand something over to the next shift due to time constraints. This all adds to the feeling of teamwork and collaboration, not just between us but the other departments too
We’re here to make sure that players can get connected to their favourite games and stay connected. With a customer-first approach, we aim to ensure that everything behind the scenes runs as smoothly as possible and to reduce any needed downtime to an absolute minimum. This means more time playing games and less time stuck in lobbies.
I’ve been an avid gamer for a massive part of my life, so working within the gaming industry in a role that I love, with people that I know are as passionate about games as I am is the real gem of doing this. It’s not getting old, and I hope it never does!
As we move further into the Age of AI, hands-on support is going to become even more vital. It will allow our customers to know that even before an issue has appeared we’ll be prepared to tackle it, along with everything else that usually comes with it. Our service is what separates us from other companies, and we should take pride in this and continue to build it up
We also incorporate the use of AI in our tasks, which has vastly improved our troubleshooting processes, and streamlines a lot of workflows that may have taken much longer previously. It’s an excellent tool to be used in our industry, but we also need to be mindful of never losing that personal touch to our service
I began my gaming journey on the Playstation 1, but growing up with a nerdy Uncle that only lived down the road I also had access to the NES, an original Gameboy and a SEGA Megadrive! I played all of the old classics like Super Mario, Pokemon Yellow, Sonic, Metal Gear Solid and so many more. I absolutely loved the Spyro and Crash Bandicoot games growing up, and later fell in love with RPGs - the bigger the better. Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 are standouts and games that I think about often
I remember the first time I played World of Warcraft (just as Burning Crusade was released) for the first time, and joining guilds to tackle dungeons and raids. The sense of community was immense back then, and nothing has ever quite hit the spot like that since. I also absolutely loved Helldivers 2 and played that with my friends for hours on end when it first launched. The chaos that game can generate is next to none. Recently I’ve been enjoying Warhammer 40k: Darktide with friends, and that gives the same frantic feeling. I love it!