Good COP Document

Playing
the Good
COP
How to be Clear, Open, and Personal – so
our players get the best experience possible.

Talking to Players
Games should be fun – from the moment you
buy one through the journey it takes to
complete it. Every step should be a thrill. A joy.
An experience.
Everything we communicate, from our emails
to our patch notes, needs to give our players
the same feeling they get from their first look
at the newest game trailer.
That’s where these guidelines come in. They’ll
show you how to communicate in a clear, open,
and personal (cop) way – so we can make sure
our players are enjoying themselves.
This isn’t just for talking to our players. We
need to get in the habit of talking like this
internally, too. Let’s make things clearer and
more fun for each other.
2

CLEAR
We’re the tutorial.
How do we get our players back into the action as
quickly as possible? Make our messages really clear.
Think of it like this: they’re new to the game. You
wouldn’t just hand them a controller and expect them
to figure it out alone. They need some help.
That’s us. We guide them along and help them figure
out which button does what.
HOW TO WRITE LIKE A TUTORIAL:
1. Put your main point first
What does the player care about most?
That’s what you should be telling them in the
first sentence.
2. Keep it short and sweet
Think about what they need to know. Tell them
that and keep background info to a minimum.
3. Answer the five Ws (and one H)
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Answer all of them and you won’t miss
anything important.
4. Make it easy to scan
A big wall of text is a pain to read. Break it up
with bullet points, numbers, or a new
paragraph. This makes it easy for the player to
find what they’re looking for.
TIPS + TRICKS
Group things – Plan your layout by
figuring out which points go together.
It’s like SimCity. You need to plan well
to avoid congestion.
Subheads are like cheat codes –
You’ve grouped your things, now use
subheadings to make it easier for the
player to skip to the parts they need
without having to wade through what
they don’t.
Use lists – They’ll help you make sure
you say only what you need to.
Read your writing out loud – It helps
you spot where you’re being
confusing. Too much going on in a
sentence? Break it into two or three.
Cut the extra – Go back over what
you’ve written. Is there anything you
can get rid of without losing your
tone or meaning? Cut it.
3

OPEN
We’re the cheat guide
We don’t want our players to feel lost. They shouldn’t
finish reading and think,” and now what?” They should
never be confused why we’ve made a decision.
So we tell the whole story – not just the cliff’s notes.
HOW TO BE THE CHEAT GUIDE:
1. Be honest and humble
If we’ve screwed up, admit it. Don’t hide it. And
explain the reasons behind our decisions.
Remember that it’s OK to say, “I don’t have that
information” and refer the player to another
source like Answers HQ or EA Help or ea.com.
TIPS + TRICKS
Answer, then answer again – You’ve
answered a question. But does the
answer raise any more questions?
Give them those extra bits of advice
in your answers.
2. Be surprisingly helpful
Let them know that little extra something that’ll
make their life easy. If they’re new to Battlefield,
point them to some map tips that’ll keep them
off the spawn screen a little longer.
3. Empathize
They might be excited by our latest news,
angry because our servers are down, or
frustrated by a bug. Show them you get where
they’re coming from.
4

PERSONAL
We’re the player
This is the fun bit. We’re not drones and robots so we
shouldn’t sound like it.
We’re players. And we should show it.
To sum it up in one word: you. It’s your personality.
Your experience. Your unique spin that’s going to
convince our players that we understand them.
HOW TO TALK LIKE A PLAYER:
1. Give your opinion
Do you think they might get terrible download
speeds if they grab the patch now? Maybe they
should wait an hour? Tell them that.
2. Make it a conversation
Think of it as chatting in-game. How would you
say it over your mic? Imagine you were trying
to get them to join your squad in Battlefront.
What would you say?
3. Sprinkle in your personality
You don’t want to sound formal and businesslike.
So be yourself. Let them know you’re a
real person.
TIPS + TRICKS
Ask questions – They make your
writing sound more like a
conversation. They’ll also nudge you
to think about what the player might
want to know. (Just make sure you
answer the questions, too.)
Use player phrases – Think about
what they would call it – and use that
language. You know, within reason.
Translate the Simlish – ‘There was a
technical fault in the data center’ just
sounds like a robot. We really mean:
‘We had an issue.’ So cut the jargon.
Talk like a human.
5

A bit extra…
HOW TO SAY WE’RE SORRY
When we need to say sorry to players, we should say
it, own it, and mean it.
Sometimes we have bugs. Stuff happens. It’s much
more aggravating for our players if we pretend it
doesn’t. Own it when it’s appropriate and don’t palm it
off on another department or Studio. We’re all
#oneteam.
However, there are very few instances where saying
“we’re sorry” is the best thing to do. Often, it’s more
impactful to say, “I hear you and I want to help.”
Why?
• It’s good for our brand
• It could save us money
• Our players want us to
Three parts to saying we’re sorry
• Empathy – “I understand where you’re coming from.”
• Acknowledgement – “We are responsible for what happened."
• Compensation – “Here’s how I can make it right.”
Do
• Own it from the start
• Be specific
• Explain the solution
• Recognize urgency
• Welcome feedback
• Acknowledge that an apology isn’t enough
Don’t
• Over-explain
• Insert yourself or EA too much
• Patronize
• Minimize how people feel
• Justify what we’re doing/can’t do
• Place blame on other groups within EA. We’re One Team.
6

What does a Good COP sound like?
Do you want to sound formal?
Or informal?
1
2
3
4
5
commence begin start kick off rock ‘n’ roll
HOW TO JUDGE YOUR OWN COMMUNICATIONS:
If you’re writing something and can’t decide if you’re being a good cop or even if it
will work for EA players, ask yourself which of these categories it fits into:
• Too complicated
• Playing it safe
• About right for EA
• Overplaying it
Aim for a 3.5.
7

Before
Redeeming your Sony, Microsoft, or Origin code
Learn how to redeem your game or content code no matter
what platform you play on. Input your Xbox One, Xbox 360,
PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac codes to get what's
yours.
Your products often times require you to redeem a Code to
access DLC, your Online Pass, or even the game itself. Follow
the instructions below that match your gaming setup to
redeem your codes.
Redeem bonus or downloadable content on Xbox
Xbox One
1. Go to Games and select Use a code.
• If your Kinect is set-up, you can say "Xbox, use code."
2. Sign in to your Xbox Live account, if asked to.
• If you have a QR* code, hold it up to your Kinect
sensor and your redemption will begin.
• If you have a 25-character or digit code instead of a
QR code, select Or enter the 25-character code* to
type it in.
*A QR code is like a bar code, but square and pixelated.
8

After
How do I redeem my code?
When typing in the code, read it backwards.
You’ll spot mistakes easier.
There are two kinds of codes: character and QR.
• Character codes are a string of numbers and letters, and
will look something like this: ABCD-1234-EFGH-5678
• QR codes kind of look like barcodes, but as a dotted
square. Here’s an example of one:
Xbox One
You can either:
Use Kinect
This is the easiest way.
1. Say ‘Xbox, use code.’
2. Hold up the QR code to the camera.
• If your Kinect sensor doesn’t recognize the code,
select Or enter the 25-character code.
Type it in
1. Go to the Games store.
2. Choose Use a code.
3. Type in the code.
9

After
ANNOTATED
How do I redeem my code?
When typing in the code, read it backwards.
You’ll spot mistakes easier.
There are two kinds of codes: character and QR.
• Character codes are a string of numbers and letters, and
will look something like this: ABCD-1234-EFGH-5678
• QR codes kind of look like barcodes, but as a dotted
square. Here’s an example of one:
We’ve asked a question to make
it conversational – personal.
We've thought of a tip for
helping them out - personal.
This could be their first time with
a code – we’re clearly explaining
what they are.
Xbox One
You can either:
Use Kinect
This is the easiest way.
1. Say ‘Xbox, use code.’
2. Hold up the QR code to the camera.
• If your Kinect sensor doesn’t recognize the code,
select Or enter the 25-character code.
Type it in
1. Go to the Games store.
2. Choose Use a code.
3. Type in the code.
We’ve used subheadings to
make it easier to find what they
need – it’s clear where the info
they need is.
We’re giving them our
opinion – personal.
We’ve let them know what they
can do if something doesn’t go
as planned – open.
Our steps are short and
sweet. One idea per number
makes it quick and easy to
understand – clear.
10

Before
Example Email – Coin Distribution
Hello,
We are contacting you because your FIFA Ultimate Team
account violated our Terms of Service. Because of this
violation, we deactivated your FUT account. Your FIFA Points
remain intact, but you will lose your coins, players, club items,
and progress.
Our penalty system is cumulative, meaning that as the number
of violations increase, so does the severity of the
consequence. If you continue to violate our Terms of Service,
you risk having your account suspended or permanently
closed.
We aim to keep everyone’s gaming experience safe, secure,
and enjoyable. If you feel that we have sent this note to you by
mistake, please contact us at accountdisputes@ea.com. You
can also review the full Terms of Service on ea.com.
Thank you,
EA Terms of Service
11

After
Example Email – Coin Distribution
Hi Charlie,
We noticed your Account broke EA’s gameplay rules…
We need to talk…
Because your account was involved in Coin Distribution, we’ve
banned your access to FIFA Ultimate Team.
• Read up on how to play by the rules:
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/play-by-the-ea-rules
• Review our full User Agreement. This is what you agree to
when you make an EA Account or use EA Services:
http://www.ea.com/terms-of-service
What this means
We all want to help a friend out but sending them Coins isn’t
the way to do it. Sending Coins to your friends is a form of
coin distribution and it breaks our rules.
Having multiple accounts and funneling Coins and items to
your main account breaks our rules, too.
EA’s rules
Breaking our rules damages the experience for you and other
players. We want to keep everyone’s gaming experience fun,
safe, and secure.
You can read our rules here: https://www.ea.com/terms-ofservice#section6
You break our rules if you:
• buy Coins
• farm Coins
• distribute or sell Coins
• promote Coin buying and selling
Any questions?
If we sent this to you by mistake, you can get in touch with our
Terms of Service team. Find out how to email the team in our
article.
Thanks,
EA Help
12

After
Example Email – Coin Distribution
ANNOTATED
Hi Charlie,
We noticed your Account broke EA’s gameplay rules…
We need to talk…
Because your account was involved in Coin Distribution,
we’ve banned your access to FIFA Ultimate Team.
• Read up on how to play by the rules:
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/play-by-the-ea-rules
• Review our full User Agreement. This is what you agree to
when you make an EA Account or use EA Services:
http://www.ea.com/terms-of-service
What this means
We all want to help a friend out but sending them Coins isn’t
the way to do it. Sending Coins to your friends is a form of
coin distribution and it breaks our rules.
Having multiple accounts and funneling Coins and items to
your main account breaks our rules, too.
EA’s rules
Breaking our rules damages the experience for you and other
players. We want to keep everyone’s gaming experience fun,
safe, and secure.
We tell them, in human terms,
what’s up. We don’t say You violated
the Terms of Service – personal.
We told the player exactly what
they did to break the rules and
them we told them the action
we’re taking – open.
We explain to them exactly what
coin distribution is – clear.
We let them know where they can
find the rules and what breaks our
rules – clear, open, and personal.
You can read our rules here: https://www.ea.com/terms-ofservice#section6
You break our rules if you:
• buy Coins
• farm Coins
• distribute or sell Coins
• promote Coin buying and selling
Any questions?
If we sent this to you by mistake, you can get in touch with our
Terms of Service team. Find out how to email the team in our
article.
We know we’re human and we could
make a mistake. Our goal is to help
the players and we want them to
know that – open and personal.
Thanks,
EA Help
13

Example @EAHelp Tweets
See more examples of what a good cop sounds like, and add your
own, at ea-wwce.slack.com, #good-cop-whiteboard
EA Worldwide Customer Experience created this guide in
collaboration with The Writer (http://www.thewriter.com/),
a language consultancy. - March 2016, updated April 2018.