Apathy is much worse than criticism

This applies to all businesses, not just the gaming sector. It’s also a good life lesson in that what we focus on, what we care about, guides how we spend our time and mony. To be apathetic about something, to not be interested enough to comment on it is much worse than criticism.

Some people get riled up about criticism. That it’s “not productive” or that “[the company] will tune you out” … the reality is if a business tunes out criticism, then they tune out interest. And that’s foolish because being ignored can turn someone into being apathetic about your business.

To survive and thrive, businesses need people to be interested and excited about their products and services. If they have nobody interested and talking about them, they will soon have no business.

Let’s talk pinball first, because we talk a lot about it here. Some time ago Stern Pinball released an update to their Stern Insider Connected that I criticized in this PGM article: Stern Horribly Upgrades Insider Connected – please revert! That was about a month after I bought two of Stern’s games new in box: Iron Maiden (My Best Birthday Present in 56 Years: Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast Premium NIB) and James Bond 007 pro. Doing the math, I spent something like $16,000 USD and then shortly afterwards pointed out something they changed that I previously liked. Criticized it.

This, in my opinion, was being helpful to Stern. However, in the months that passed, they haven’t addressed or changed any of the concerns raised. They still have the same upgrade in place. Maybe they are planning on making a change, I don’t know, but what is there remains the same.

What has happened since November is I’ve become somewhat apathetic to Stern Insider Connected. I still like the idea of the connected program, but went from criticism to being apathetic. This is far worse for Stern, because they lost a fan of the program. I still think connected pinball is important, and would like to see other companies do something more connected with pinball.

Let me give you another Stern apathy example. Their “All Access” plan that costs $39.99 a year, I’ve also criticized, see: Worthwhile? Upgrading to Stern Insider Connected All Access ($39.99 USD/year) + Special Access to Buying JAWS Limited Edition (Jan 7, 2024). Stern’s reaction is they haven’t changed a thing, they’ve never commented on it or addressed the advertising that says they have something they are charging for that they don’t actually provide (“access to exclusive forum discussions”)

Here we are nearly a year and a half later and they still advertise something that they do not provide. This has made me apathetic to their subscription program. It’s also made me confused why they are promoting something that costs $40+ (after tax) a year that doesn’t exist. Maybe they had a plan to offer access to exclusive forum discussions and maybe I’m one of a small group they chose not to offer this to, but I never received this access when I subscribed. And nobody else I asked about this either had any answer for where these exclusive forums went.

I’ve picked on Stern Pinball enough with those two examples, but things like these turn criticism into apathy and a business, any business, should be very concerned about apathy. After all, they spend so much time, energy and money trying to get people interested in their products and services. An apathetic customer doesn’t care.

An apathetic customer will be less likely to buy anything from you and recommend to others to buy anything from you.