I am zutgorak, and I am an addict
I while back a good friend asked if I could take a while and play his little game that was initially released
for Xbox. Fine. I dont own an Xbox, being a ps3 guy, but since he wanted me to test the windowsversion, I
figured I could do that. I like games, and I like to find odd things in them so I said yes. He gave me a nice
little download link and I almost expected to be rick-rolled but lo and behold, a file was downloaded.
I extracted the file and ran the setup file, accepted to sell my soul to the devil (AKA EULA) and off we went.
So, this was the game “Smooth operators – Call center chaos”.
Now, keep in mind that I have been working in the call-center world for quite sometime, so the
irony of it all was not really lost to me, in fact, it made me smile. So, I started a new call center
and named it after one of my workplaces. I chose normal as mode since with these types of games,
regardless of how good you think you are, you will hit bumps in the road that might send you
down into the ditch. What you get when you enter the game is a nice little lobby with a pleasant
hostess who likes to give you good and useful tips every morning that you pop into work.
Ok, ok.. so she isn’t some high resolution “Pussy Galore” but still… Jill does take her
job seriously. You also have 20000 cash to play around with.
From the start, you get 1 client, who has different demands in InBound calls (IB),
OutBound calls (OB(Also known as the much hated and dreaded Telemarketers))
and BackOffice (BO) wich takes care of the administrative side of things.
What you need to do is build a call center that can handle pretty much everything
that gets thrown at you.
So, you need to build a workingenvironment wich house at least these three types
of workers, and dont you forget about amenities such as cafeteria or toilets, because
yes, its a game, but you are “playing” employer, and you cant really expect your
workers to go a full day without taking a leak or a snack.
With that in mind, I set up to build the best call center ever, one that everyone wanted
to work at, who takes care of the employers and who actually rewards good deeds……and
fell flat. Turns out there is a huuuuuuge economics factor to take into considerations and
damn you to bankruptcy if you dont.
Now, as you progress, you also get new features, such as project managers wich helps you
develop your site, aswell as funny little pom-pom swinging coaches that tries to urge your
slav… err minio.. oups workers to do better and also account managers that tries to get you
more clients and help that type of contacts. This makes for a challenging situation with
very complex economics that you have to balance out to be able to get the best callcenter
possible.
Now, I used to play SimCity, SimHospital, Themepark and all those games back in the day
and they where easy, most of the time. This game seems to be designed to be a challenge.
A challenge that once you try to accept, will keep nagging at you wich makes you spend
hours on end, trying to balance it all out, getting people to do their best and whatnot.
You want a game that actually demands that you have a brain and not just good hand to eye
coordination? This game is for you.
My hat is off for Andreas Heydeck Games you made me very happy, and my social life unhappy..
and I dont mind.
Now, shoo.. I have to play some more.
