Godheval

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If the art is expression argument alone doesn’t validate video games’ status as an art form, then allow me to speak from a more personal place, because is not the meaning of art in any context entirely subjective?  I can attribute to two single moments in the games Chrono Cross (Playstation) and Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD), the abstracts that would expand to become the cornerstone of my personal philosophy.  The former, in that one moment, had me question how color could correspond to sound, and the latter had me considering the relationship between creation and destruction, which I would later come to understand more abstractly as two forms of change.  In that art has often sparked philosophical inquiry and introspection – for the creator and the audience – video games clearly fit the bill.

Furthermore, my ethics – manifest in my sense of justice – if not founded in, was certainly bolstered by the lofty ideals of good vs. evil I found in video games as a child.  The evolution of video game conflicts from black and white conceptualizations of good and evil in the “old school” to the shades of gray now explored through the tough moral choices players have to make in the “new school” not only showcases video games’ increasing complexity, but also their increasing relevance to the real world.  Art, as a medium, is nothing without its flexibility, and its ability to evolve as a reflection of the surrounding social atmosphere.

My inspiration to write came from video games as well, at first little more than an emulation or reworking of video game plots, but soon thereafter the expression of a burgeoning imagination, forged in outlandish worlds and impossible situations.  Video games spoke to me in ways that other mediums simply did not, and if we are measuring art in terms of social or personal impact, then Ebert’s claim is not only false for me, but a personal slight to me and others like me, for whom games have been either a subtle or direct influence.  His claim invalidates me, personally – dismissing the countless hours in which I was visually, aurally, physically, and emotionally invested and engaged – as frivolous, or a waste of time.

This is saying nothing of how it invalidates the creators of video games – themselves musicians, painters, 3D modelers, programmers, writers, choreographers, actors, and more – each of which, outside the context of the video game itself, Ebert could hardly argue were not artists.

So, on what sort of project, exactly, could established artists from many different fields come together, only to miraculously create something that is not art?

To propose that such a project could even exist is to stand at the very apex of stupidity.

For someone who is without a doubt – no matter how one chooses to define art – not an artist himself, and one who has never been touched by the myriad forms of expression contained within a video game, Ebert only proves himself incapable of making such a judgment.  He also proves, for his increasing detachment from an evolving media culture, his sheer cultural irrelevance.

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Except that we had no modem.  And the internet does not work without a modem.  We call Qwest again and are told that the order for the modem was supposed to have gone through but due to some computer error, it was not.  They said they would mail us out a modem and it would arrive the next day.  So, that means waiting again, beyond the 3 business days.  We didn’t want to wait, so we went to a Qwest kiosk in a nearby mall and picked up the modem ourselves.

We bring the modem home, follow the installation guide, and the internet is still not working.  So, we call Qwest again. At this point we have already spent at least two hours on the phone with one representative or another, using up our cell phone minutes for something that should’ve been straightforward.  During this call, a tech support rep runs diagnostics, troubleshoots, the works, and is still unable to get our internet working.  He says that there must be something wrong inside the apartment – perhaps some faulty wires or some other problem.  So he tells us that he’ll schedule a tech for an internal installation, between 8am and 11am on Friday 1/15.

So, 11am rolls around on Friday morning and guess what?  No tech.  We call Qwest again and they tell us that they can see no record of a tech being schedule for Friday morning.  Well that’s just wonderful.  They also tell us that another tech will take 3 more business days, but also because of the MLK holiday that it would take until at least Tuesday 1/19.  The representative tells us that the tech would not have to come into the apartment, that he’d only have to “flick a switch” somewhere on the outside, something that should only take 10-15 minutes.

My question then was, what did the tech who came (if he came) on 1/14 do?  Didn’t he already “flip the switch”?  What we needed – as discussed with tech support already – was a look on the inside to diagnose the problem.  Had I not caught her mistake, conceivably a tech wold have come out to see that the switch was already flipped, wasting our time and his, and requiring us to call Quest again once the internet – inevitably – continued to not work.  After another hour and 10 minutes of talking  and mostly waiting on hold, we are put in contact with someone else in tech support.

This  tech told us that he could schedule a tech within a broader window for Saturday 1/16, between 8am and 5pm.  I even got a confirmation email to that effect.  But of course I remained skeptical.  So, enter the little bird…

Within minutes of tweeting about the problem, I received a response from Qwest, telling me to e-mail them about the problem.  I explained how I felt that at this point it seemed like antagonism as much as a mere string of blunders from everyone involved.  I mean, what does it say about a company if on every level of the organization – from the field techs to the customer service reps, to the tech support reps, keep making mistakes and providing terrible customer service?

About two hours later I received an email from the management team, apologizing for all of the mishaps and confirming my appointment for Saturday.  He also narrowed the 8am to 5pm window to 10am to 2pm, offered me a credit for the modem (which, strangely, you have to purchase for Qwest), and a free month of service.

Sure enough, the tech did show up on Saturday within the scheduled time window and got the internet up and running.  Best of all, after so much of a hassle, it turns out that Qwest’s internet (I have the 20 MB download/5 MB upload plan) is the fastest I’ve ever experienced at home.  According to the tech, our connection is dedicated, meaning that we don’t share it with everyone else in the general area.  When you actually download a song in seconds and movies in minutes, as advertised, well…it’s kind of a big deal.  So while I certainly am not fully on board the Qwest bandwagon due to the installation nightmare, I am at least willing to give them a second – or is it third or fourth now? – chance at providing me with good service.

And once again I have the little bird to thank for getting the right people’s attention…

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This is only where the problem began. The employee bumbled a number of things, starting with charging us $30 for a new SIM card which was supposed to come with the iPhone – we knew this because she had just purchased one a month earlier. But the bigger blunder came when he failed to even ring her up for the Black Tie plan, after she mentioned it several times. Of course it would be just our luck that the phone would fall and the screen would crack a few days later. Only upon bringing the phone back to Best Buy to take advantage of the protection plan do we realize his mistake.

After talking with the manager, she said there was nothing she could do, even after being shown clear evidence that there was every intention on my girlfriend’s part to purchase the plan. She did, however, refund us for the SIM card that we weren’t supposed to be charged for in the first place.

I called Best Buy national and explained the situation, at which time I was informed that the Black Tie protection plan – at least the standard version – does not even cover accidental damage. Yet I know for a fact that when sales associates are pushing for the plan, they emphasize how it covers products well outside the standard warranty, up to and including accidental damage. Why else would anyone bother, anyway, given BB’s own return policy, and Apple’s year long warranty? So the associate on the phone’s “consolation” was that even if the employee had done his job correctly, I still would not have been covered for accidental damage. She then proceeded to read me all of the fine print from the agreement, on how accidental damage is not covered.

I was left with an iPhone with a cracked screen, and no way of fixing it short of purchasing a new screen from Apple for $200, or trying to fix it myself with spare parts and voiding my warranty. While I understand how on a strictly technical level Best Buy is not liable for the damage to my phone, as a measure of good faith and good customer service, I thought that they would do more to help me. Had I bought the proper plan – that is, had the employee done his job correctly and explained the different levels of service, then actually rang my girlfriend up for that service, then whatever losses Best Buy received for repairing/replacing the phone would have been incurred at that time. So I was not at all certain why some compromise couldn’t be made.

Enter the little bird.

On December 30th, I tweeted about my discontent with Best Buy, to warn others who may have considered purchasing the Black Tie Protection Plan. Within 15 minutes, I received a reply from a Best Buy employee, and after a series of backs and forths, I was advised to email the company’s “Twelpforce” with my situation, to see what they could do for me.

I did so, and today – only 5 days later – I received a reply from the “community connector” department of Best Buy corporate, who contacted the manager at the Best Buy where I made my purchase. Within an hour or so, she told me that the manager agreed to replace my iPhone.

Ordinarily, when you have a phone replaced through Best Buy’s protection plan, they use what they call the “Rapid Exchange”, having a new unit shipped to their store, and providing you with a loaner phone in the meantime. The loaner phone is never the same as the phone you’re replacing – and you have to put down a $150 deposit, which is refunded to you after the loaner phone is returned in tact. So in my case, I’d be temporarily out $150 to use an inferior phone.

And that’s what makes this story all the more incredible, because upon returning the phone to the store tonight, it was replaced with a new iPhone on the spot.  One short transaction later, involving a call to AT&T for a hardware swap, and switching my SIM card to the new phone, and I’m back in business.

All because I made a fuss through Twitter and the right people took notice.  While I cannot say that Best Buy will again be my first choice for electronics purchases, I am very grateful for those employees who went beyond the call and provided awesome customer service.  I find it terribly frustrating that only those consumers who are willing to – and have to know how – to raise a fuss, or to resist corporate “handling” are able to receive such a level of service, but it has also shown me just how powerful the internet can be – and how useful Twitter can be.

So keep on tweeting, everyone.  Because as it turns out, people really are listening…

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