Technical support is important for video game consoles, which is why it doesn't make sense to replace trained support workers with volunteers.

What Xbox Did To Its Support Staff

A report from Polygon revealed that Microsoft fired roughly 12 people from its Xbox support staff in May 2018. The employees were hired by Affirma Consulting, but worked within the Xbox office by answering direct messages on the @XboxSupport Twitter account. 

Xbox reportedly replaced the workers with a group of volunteers called Xbox Ambassadors, who will answer customer support messages on Twitter and in an online chat tool.

"We continue to have a number of highly-trained customer support agents, plus community ambassadors, available to help customers with their needs," Microsoft told Polygon.

Xbox Ambassadors are not paid by Microsoft. In fact, they pay Microsoft to work these volunteer roles by purchasing an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Xbox Ambassadors must maintain a gamer score greater than 1,500 and have no infractions during the past year.

For completing customer support tasks, Xbox Ambassadors can earn free games and entries into drawings. The program was around before the staff change. In fact, the fired workers trained the Xbox Ambassadors before the layoffs. The original intent was never to have the Xbox Ambassadors serve as the primary customer service representatives, but that is now the case.

What Xbox's Decision Means For Gamers

Polygon said that it attempted to contact the Xbox Ambassadors on Twitter for support, but they were not available. It is possible that Microsoft's strategy to use volunteers as customer support could backfire.

If a gamer feels that the Xbox support Twitter isn't fast and accurate with its help, then there are other options. Gamers can also chat live with a representative on the Xbox website. The great thing about using this strategy is that there is no downtime between messages, and technical questions will be more likely to get answered by an actual expert.

Other Companies Using Volunteers

Microsoft isn't the only company that is turning to volunteers or unpaid interns to do work on a short-term basis. Benefits of hiring volunteers are that they are reportedly easier to manage because they are hungry for experience and they want to try new things.

However, there are some concerns, such as trying to determine the right time to hire volunteers, and navigating the turnover of volunteers because they aren't paid. A staff of volunteers could ruin a company's internal logistics and it could hurt branding.