WoW MVP Program - Recruitment Now Open!

Hey all!

As we announced last week, we are making some changes to the World of Warcraft MVP Program for North America. With this, one of the biggest changes is going to be in how we recruit our MVPs.

Going forward, we will be using an application-based recruitment system, which will allow us to ask targeted questions to candidates, as well as close and open recruitment as needed within a given period.

Today we will be opening our first recruitment period in 2018. You can find a link to the application here.

Please answer any discussion prompts thoroughly, and, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask us here. We look forward to reviewing applications over the next few weeks and we wish all of you applying the best of luck!

NOTE: The World of Warcraft North American MVP Program is only open to applicants from the North American service region including the United States and Canada. Applicants from Oceania and South America, including Mexico, will need to refer to their specific MVP Programs where applicable. Any applicants from outside the designated regions will be discarded.

02/20/2018 12:15 PMPosted by Nixxia

Should You happen to strongly disagree with a Blizzard poster or another MVP over a topic on the forums, the discussion is best handled in private.

What is meant by "strongly" in this context? Is it an implication that it may threaten your ability to discuss it in a purely constructive manner or are you actually suggesting that if MVPs are particularly concerned about an issue that they should go directly to Blizzard rather than post it publicly, as any other forum poster would?

Additionally, if I fill out half of this application and don't submit it, is any record of it kept? I do not wish to apply. I simply want to see what all is in the application.

As an FYI, that wording is from our original MVP Program legalese, and hasn't been changed for this recruitment period.

In this context, I think it lends that we expect that our MVPs will be passionate posters on a variety of topics. Sometimes, its easy to see that what one may post in those kinds of discussions could disrupt your ability to be a constructive member of the community, as required by the program. We would advise that our MVPs should message those disagreements with other MVPs or CMs to us privately so we can try to resolve them without any breach of the program terms that may lead to forum tirades, etc. The forums aren't a place for drama between CMs, MVPs, posters, or otherwise.

The final page of the application will automatically submit the form once you see the screen that notes it has been submitted, yes. The last page with form content is the one with the section asking for a response to a post on a variety of listed community issues. You should be able to go through it up to that question to view what is being asked.

If you'd like us to remove any form content you may have submitted, you can shoot me an email at [email protected] with the basic information you applied with such as your name and battle.net email.

02/20/2018 12:23 PMPosted by Ornyx

The final page of the application will automatically submit the form once you see the screen that notes it has been submitted, yes. The last page with form content is the one with the section asking for a response to a post on a variety of listed community issues. You should be able to go through it up to that question to view what is being asked.

If you'd like us to remove any form content you may have submitted, you can shoot me an email at [email protected] with the basic information you applied with such as your name and battle.net email.

OK, thanks. That's what I figured and Blizzard has half of this information anyway, but I don't like frivolously submitting extra stuff that connects online and real life.

Additional question: When it asks if you've participated in any other Blizzard programs, exactly what is counted?

Hard to give specifics since there have been a number of programs over the years, but if you've been a member of the MVP Program in the past, or part of any other Blizzard-sponsored program from our other franchises, you should list those there.

...As an FYI, that wording is from our original MVP Program legalese, and hasn't been changed for this recruitment period.

In this context, I think it lends that we expect that our MVPs will be passionate posters on a variety of topics. Sometimes, its easy to see that what one may post in those kinds of discussions could disrupt your ability to be a constructive member of the community, as required by the program. We would advise that our MVPs should message those disagreements with other MVPs or CMs to us privately so we can try to resolve them without any breach of the program terms that may lead to forum tirades, etc. The forums aren't a place for drama between CMs, MVPs, posters, or otherwise.

The final page of the application will automatically submit the form once you see the screen that notes it has been submitted, yes. The last page with form content is the one with the section asking for a response to a post on a variety of listed community issues. You should be able to go through it up to that question to view what is being asked.

If you'd like us to remove any form content you may have submitted, you can shoot me an email at [email protected] with the basic information you applied with such as your name and battle.net email.

just to clarify nothing gets submitted until the end right ? I answered up to the section you indicated but some of that stuff I don't feel you have a need to know so I would rather it just disappear if any records get keep up to that point.

If you didn't get to the submission received page, nothing should be submitted.

02/20/2018 12:52 PMPosted by Scopel

Instead of having paid moderators blizz is going to recruit ppl to work for free, nice

I was going to just delete this, but I wanted to point a few things out because I've seen it elsewhere:

The MVP Program has been a part of the WoW Community for over ten years. In that time, we've had wonderful community volunteers who have worked to help players both on the forums and throughout our community, and I don't see that changing any time soon. Our MVP volunteers will continue to be passionate and dedicated WoW community members who will continue to do the work they've done for a decade.

Blizzard also employs wonderful folks in Community and Customer Support who handle a ton of stuff on you never see in the day-to-day who deserve credit regardless of if you see their work in action or not.

Our MVPs do *NOT* have any powers on the forums that our Moderators or Community Managers have, and just to clarify, having green text gives no forum ability besides... having green text.

<span class="truncated">...</span>I was going to just delete this, but I wanted to point a few things out because I've seen it elsewhere:

The MVP Program has been a part of the WoW Community for over ten years. In that time, we've had wonderful community volunteers who have worked to help players both on the forums and throughout our community, and I don't see that changing any time soon. Our MVP volunteers will continue to be passionate and dedicated WoW community members who will continue to do the work they've done for a decade.

Blizzard also employs wonderful folks in Community and Customer Support who handle a ton of stuff on you never see in the day-to-day who deserve credit regardless of if you see their work in action or not.

Our MVPs do *NOT* have any powers on the forums that our Moderators or Community Managers have, and just to clarify, having green text gives no forum ability besides... having green text.

So I get that Blizzard has a large number of paid employees we never see who do a lot for the community, and I also get the the WoW MVP role has been around for awhile so it's not like this is some new ground breaking thing. But what I don't get is how does any of this address the point of view that this is Blizzard recruiting people for a job they should be paid for and asking them to do it for free?

We aren't recruiting anyone for a "job" here. The MVP program is a volunteer community effort for regular forum posters. We are simply opening entry into that program to a wider audience by having a recruitment application.

The MVP Program recognizes our passionate and constructive posters and asks them to continue contributing to the community, while giving them an avenue to discuss issues with us when needed. This does not change the nature of their usual discourse on the forums, and is mainly targeted at those posters who already devote a lot of time here by their own will.

MVPs do not moderate, facilitate any major amount of feedback past what they do voluntarily, build reports of any kind, etc.

Hey guys -

Please keep this thread on-topic. There's no need for the back and forth arguing here. If you aren't applying to the program, or interested in its development, then there's not much for you to discuss here.

If you have questions you'd like answers to, or concerns you'd like to field, let us know and one of us or one of the MVPs will get you an answer.

02/22/2018 08:11 AMPosted by Fillianson

... Last time I check México was part of North América its not Central or South América.

There was a thread about this yesterday on the forums. MVP programs are forum specific, not really linked explicitly to the geography.

There is a separate LatAm MVP program.

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20762036707?page=5#post-89

[quote]Tenecto MVP - LatAm <AsesinoS> 110 Blood Elf Paladin 13125 2097 posts
1 day ago
15
I don't think Mexico is being excluded, we have our own MvP program managed by the LatAm team, and Mexico is already included here.

If you are fluent with both Spanish and English, I don't see why you can't post in both forums, the only difference is if you are not in the US or Canada, you'll need to achieve the MvP status on your own region first.

Any concern regarding this subject can also be directed to [email protected]

Please consider tho to join the program is by invitation only and not by application.

Just to futher clarify this as well - we are very aware that Mexico is a part of North America geographically.

However, within Blizzard, we have various service regions that divide up our teams to work within a specific locale.

Mexico, in this way, is a part of our Latin America service region. In the same way, Australia and New Zealand are part of our Oceanic service region. Each of our service regions is managed by a different Publishing and Community team, with similar divides as you may see on the Realm Selection screen in-game.

If you are interested in the MVP Program and you are from a region outside of our North American region, you will need to query the respective MVP teams in those regions for more information on their version of the Program.

02/22/2018 11:41 AMPosted by Emmawak

It is amazing how much blue communication is happening in a thread that many in the community see as doing blizzard's job for them, for free, and many more see as blizzard green fanbios that creat drama and not help.

Wish blue energy was put into fixing broken things this quickly.

It's easy to reply here because this program is ran entirely by the CMTY team in North America.

We aren't developers, we don't fix things, and posting here doesn't stop us from doing anything else in our day-today. When the Development Team provides us updates on game changes, we will provide those as they come to us.

Let's keep this on-topic.

02/22/2018 11:43 AMPosted by Bertane

02/22/2018 10:37 AMPosted by Ornyx

Hey guys -

We will closing the MVP Program application form next Wednesday, February 28, at noon PST (12:00:00).

I wanted to say thank you to the hundreds of applicants so far. The community would not be the same without passionate individuals like yourselves. As we've received a ton of applications, we do expect it will take us a couple of weeks to evaluate the entire batch. If you are still interested, please do not hesitate to apply before the closing deadline.

If you have any questions or problems, let us know in this thread, and if you wish to withdraw your application, send an email to [email protected] with the name and battle.net email you entered on the application.

Thanks!

I do have a question. How many MVPs do you expect to make for General Discussion or is that number going to be flexible based on the qualifications of the applicants ?

We hope to maintain an active pool of 15-20 MVPs, but that could shift based on volume and need at any specific period.

02/22/2018 01:57 PMPosted by Nixxia

A couple of more trivial questions:

It’s recommended You don’t switch from the character selected for MVP status to other characters on Your account. As the MVP status change is Battle.net account-wide, it’s suggested You limit to posting on Your “MVP character” only for that account. This ensures the community recognizes You by name each time You post.

How "recommended" are we talking? Like if you have 16 characters with the same or highly similar names, such as Ronne, Ronné, and Ronne on a different realm, is that less of an issue than if you change between Rosco, Hallujabula, Idkwhatnamesare? Obviously most MVPs stick almost exclusively to their "known" character, although I've seen a couple change briefly.

If You play more than one Blizzard game, be aware Your Battle.net account will be flagged for MVP status on all Blizzard forums. If, for example, You play StarCraft II casually and are not intimately familiar with its gameplay, or the concerns of the community, it’s recommended You limit Your posting on the StarCraft II forums. That said, if You’re interested and comfortable with acting as an MVP for multiple Blizzard games, let an MVP program administrator know and a consideration will be made for updating Your title accordingly.

Is there a particular reason why you don't just flag the accounts on a per game basis unless they ask to have their MVPship expanded to those other games? It just seems like it would be an impediment to MVPs who play other Blizzard titles, especially if they do so much more casually and less often than the title they were made an MVP for.

As long as they are similar, I don't see a problem. Most MVPs build a persona and personality around their name similar to the CM team, though.

On the second question, the forum system we currently use reaches across all of our forums and doesn't allow any separation for accounts by franchise, hence why the MVPs and CMs are flagged across all franchises and we typically note "MVP - World of Warcraft" or such as a forum title for the MVPs.

The MVPs are welcome to continue posting elsewhere, it's just that the weight of an MVP can be disruptive if they aren't intimately aware with other franchises and they choose to engage in other forums.

Again, this is NOT the place for arguments back and forth. If you are applying and you've spend the last three pages arguing with other posters, I surely hope you have no ambitions of joining this program.

I've noted it multiple times, but this thread needs to stay on topic. I am only leaving this thread open so players can ask questions and express comments about the program itself, but any further derailing by those who have been taking it off topic will result in actions against forum accounts.

Let's keep it constructive and on topic. Thanks.

Thanks to everyone who applied! We will now be closing this thread and the application and move into our review period.

We will reach out to the battle.net email provided on the application if we have questions or wish to discuss further your application.

Please keep an eye on your emails towards the middle to end of March!

Thanks everyone for all of the interest and applications. Looking forward to helping this goat go through them all!