Halo 3, XBox and Technical Communication? (Part 2)
Continuing from the other article, let’s look at the Documentation side of Technical Communication.
What forms of Documentation?
First, let’s understand that we have time to absorb the role of docs in gaming. Having an understanding of the gaming world never hurts but it’s not yet critical in most tech writer’s immediate applications.
Documentation for gaming is still being written in traditional methods however it’s becoming supplanted by user-fed wiki sites across the net.
Nutshell of the Gaming Wiki phenomenon:
Traditional published gaming guides must now compete with a free-based model, often times supplemented from their own content which is rehashed from the user reading the manual.
Looking forward at the blurring of lines between straight-text tech writing and rich media, it’s clear that help files are starting to take more forms and their importance within the Xbox framework and the Consumer Electronics framework and value in support reduction cannot be underestimated.
Yeah, ever had a hard time returning a software package? Now imagine your $400 to $800 entertainment set-top box (or in this example XBox 360) has problems you can’t resolve. How hot would you be? Who would you call? Who are your resources?
Check out this screenshot from the XBox 360’s Media Center (well, any Media Center has this) and notice that they break things down into four sections, Help | Forums | Tips | Hardware Center.
All of that content must be updated or it becomes irrelevant. Then the support phone calls start coming in and everyone starts spending money to support their product.
In the Consumer Electronics world, people tend to hate to spend money on products they’ve already sold. The less the better. If their channel partners offer a quick and easy solution to their support headaches, even just by integrating their navigation and cutting out the normal ‘google the error’ path things are made better.
Reducing Call Volume? Oh, that’s saving REAL money now.
Now break down the challenges that the Media Center team faces in keeping all of this content from different sources managed. Imagine what it would be like to be on this team, facing the deluge of information that they deal with.
What’s their techcomm workflow like?
A workflow must be organized, efficient, and structured. That is the true pain that people are feeling within organizations, particularly Consumer Electronics. Without XML or other similar technology designed for repurposing the content, this will be an update nightmare.
Most important, with so much blending between hardware, software, users, tech support, engineering and marketing, keeping the channels of communication open between departments simply cannot be limited to email and screenshots.
Posted by Charles in Gaming, Tech Writing | Comment now »
