Thundy's moderator application

[Thundy]

Basic Information

Byond Account: Thundy

Character Name(s): Charlie Dove, Fel’siti Rumkai’nen, Khaw Elsani etc

AI Name(s):

Preferred means of contact: Skype, TS, Kik, whatever you need.

Age:23

Timezone: Daylight savings means GMT +11, otherwise its GMT +10

When are you on Aurora?: Usually on or around deadhour or on weekends, I play more during regular server times

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Experience

How long have you played SS13?:Since September 2014, so over a year.

How long have you played on Aurora: see above

How much do you know about SS13 (Baystation build) game mechanics?: I understand the concepts behind everything, though I don’t know everything backwards and forwards. My forte is Medical.

Do you have any experience moderating for an SS13 server?: I was admitted as Mentor on three smaller servers (Mentor is like a step below Moderator, where you are expected to handle things IC, like a duty officer) and was admitted to the lore team on two of those. I was also Admin of a hightraffic minecraft server for a long time. Was also trial mod here.

Have you ever been banned, and if so, how long and why?: One day, Baystation when I was still a bald. Don’t know if that counts.

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Personality

Why do you play SS13?: I enjoy the simplicity of the roleplay while still being a step above a text based game. I have a long history of playing games like DnD, Star Wars and most table top games so I guess SS13 is just one more avenue for me to roleplay.

Why do you play on Aurora?: I enjoy the heavy role play aspect, the amount of players it gets, even at dead-hour, and the players that play. Even though I don’t always agree, I like the staff too.

What do moderators do?: Answer Ahelps, check and add player notes, have a certain degree of banning privileges and usually have a forum management position. They are expected to uphold the rules of the server, being good examples to players and execute good judgement. I’d also expect for there to be a certain amount of mistakes made that forces them to be required to ask for help and not try and make decisions on their own.

What qualities do you possess that would make you a good moderator?: I am on during deadhour where there is currently a gap in mods that can staff that time, I am calm and collected at my best and withdraw until I calm down at my worst. Although I am not completely versed in the rules or bugs, I can pick things up reasonably quickly with little guidance. I am also an avid player and strongly involved in the community and with the player base.

What does it mean to be a moderator for our server?: Specifically, all of the above and a sound idea of the vision of the server and your place in it.

Why do you want to be a moderator?: I’ve wanted to be a moderator for a long time (this is my, what, third attempt?) and I believe it’s because I feel like I have something to offer. I also want to contribute to this server somehow and since I cannot code and this server has well-establised lore, I think this is the way to go.

How well do you handle stress, anger, or insults?:

Depending on the situation, I believe I handle stress and anger quite well, though I can be a bit sensitive to comments at times.

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Anything Else You Want to Add: please note: I will be traveling to Cambodia from the 21st of December to the 11th of January. Since I'll be away, I won't be online at all during that time and it may affect whether you want me to moderate for you.

Edited November 17, 2015 by Guest

[Garnascus]

Hey thundy, im glad to see you're still interested in joining the mod team here. I have a few questions for you. First i have seen quite a bit of your conduct on our server, I feel you are empathetic and very kind, perhaps to a fault. When we have to PM someone and it turns out we have to give X punishment or tell them not to do Y they can become quite argumentative or justify it to seem reasonable. Do you feel you will be able to remain firm and fair?

Second, what is your opinion of our server rules? do you think they must always be followed and enforced? or do you believe there is wiggle room here and there? why?

and lastly i would like to know how willing you are to disagree with other staff? even if its the head admin?

[Shadow]

I can vouch for Thundy since I have seen her as Mentor and lore person on two of them.

The Interview will be posted later.

[Thundy]

Hey thundy, im glad to see you're still interested in joining the mod team here. I have a few questions for you. First i have seen quite a bit of your conduct on our server, I feel you are empathetic and very kind, perhaps to a fault. When we have to PM someone and it turns out we have to give X punishment or tell them not to do Y they can become quite argumentative or justify it to seem reasonable. Do you feel you will be able to remain firm and fair?

Second, what is your opinion of our server rules? do you think they must always be followed and enforced? or do you believe there is wiggle room here and there? why?

and lastly i would like to know how willing you are to disagree with other staff? even if its the head admin?

 

First things first, context is everything. I believe if someone deserves a ban, they should get it. If someone becomes more argumentative, there are numerous avenues for them to appeal the decision. If the person is able to reason themselves, I believe that should be taken into account when decision making. The ruling against one person may be different then another person, not because their actions as a whole were different but because there are many things to consider when making a judgement call. I work for my dad in accounting, but I also have an administrative part to play in his law firm (he's an accountant and a lawyer) and this is the case everywhere. Finding the most fair and just outcome isn't easy and its almost never black and white.

Second things second, I believe the server rules are good. I think they cover a lot of bases and, although there is a lot to read, the main idea and vision of the server is carried on through its rules.

Last things last, again, context. I will be transparent right now in saying that I did not agree with the thoughts and decision making of a lot of staff recently. I am not afraid to stand for something if I feel strongly enough about it. I have yet to encounter something that made me think "Yeah, that's worth fighting for, I'm going to argue that." but I know that, in real life, I fight for things and topics all the time. That said, it does not make me weak to relent a point that I think I can compromise. It takes a stupid person to be pig-headed and a wise person to know when to submit.

[Garnascus]

I like your answers. Plus 1.

[Baka]

Do you remember most the buttons and protocols taught in your first trial? (If you don't that's fine, if selected you'll be given a refresher.)

[Thundy]

As poor shadow and I have very different timezones, I have taken the initiative to steal the generic questions from the other moderator applications and reply to them.

Situation one. You are a trial mod. Somebody joins with name Obama, bald assistant, 30 years. What would you do?

I would PM the player, asking if they had read our rules and especially that part that says not to join with IRL names and junk. After making sure they understand why it wasn't appropriate, I would ask them to cryo and join as another character, or if an admin was online, I'd ask them to change the name to something more appropriate.

Second situation. Nuke round. You see a QM equipped with weapons rushing to the nuke ops and killing 3 of them. A nuke op ahelps about the QM. What would you do?

I would message the QM (and wind him or her, depending on the situation) and ask them why they had behaved in such a way.

The QM says they did it because he got tired of the nuke ops and wanted to end the round.

After this response, I would refer them to the rules and warn them, creating a player note. If the player apologizes and says they didn't know better, I would stop there. If they tried to antagonize the situation, I would, after msaying and telling anyone else online of the situation, probably ban the player for a period of time that necessitated the situation.

A player ahelps that he was permabrigged for no reason. What would you do?

I would ask for a run down of the situation, then, after finding out the names of the other people involved, ask them what the situation involved. After understanding both sides, I would make a decision to either intervene and have the player released or I would step back, reminding the players keeping the permabrigged character that they need to make roleplay fun for that person also.

If you were a staff member. Would you change something? Would you make something different?

Suggestion one:I would index the rules to be referred to by number or letter, example: "Hello Mr DooDad, have you read rule 4 anexure 7 which references not ERPing on our server? Because you are about to get spooders all up in this grill..."

Why? It would make reference to the rules much more simple, for both the person trying to point them out and the player who needs to go into the rules and quickly find what the moderator is talking about.

Suggestion two:I would also have a manual for people wanting to moderate outlining how to moderate. It is silly to ask people to answer the above questions on assumed knowledge. A simple manual saying "Here is how you answer Ahelps, here is the person you message in case of a dev question, heres how you read player notes, make sure not to read them out loud in team speak...etc"

Why? When I was a trial moderator, I felt a lot of frustration that this information was assumed of me. Not only did I not know it, but because I played at dead hour when it was luckly that there was someone to teach me, I was not given the opportunity to learn and grow.

 

Do you remember most the buttons and protocols taught in your first trial? (If you don't that's fine, if selected you'll be given a refresher.)

 

Which buttons are you referring to?

[Frances]

Not a mod, but knowing Thundy fairly well, here are three questions I think her answering could help her app along:

-How do you think you would react if you got into a dispute with another staffmember? How would you try to settle it? (And what if you believed the other person was being unreasonable?)

-What would you do if a player you were about to punish pleaded for leniency? (I'm being really vague here, so feel free to come up with examples where you'd give out leniency and where you wouldn't.)

What is your general opinion on people being critical of others' actions and characters?

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[Thundy]

-How do you think you would react if you got into a dispute with another staffmember? How would you try to settle it? (And what if you believed the other person was being unreasonable?)

 

I believe coming to a compromise is important. I live by the idea that if someone is not hearing your side or is pushing their agenda without wanting to really come to any conclusion, you take one person with you and you try to sort it out. If that person is still of that mind, take two people and have them watch and mediate. If, after all that, take everyone you can and have the subject brought into the open for others to make a judgement. The idea is to preserve the relationships involved while still trying to come to a viable conclusion to the diagreement

 

-What would you do if a player you were about to punish pleaded for leniency? (I'm being really vague here, so feel free to come up with examples where you'd give out leniency and where you wouldn't.)

 

Let me give you an example of myself. I was a bald learning on bay when I first started. Since I joined during dead hour so theres like, only one other person online, a friend and I just started messing around with an air lock to try and figure out the mechanics of it worked, venting a room. Bwoink. Explain that I was just learning. "You did a bad, read tehh rules!" 24 hour ban.

Okay, head to Aurora, play two more rounds and am starting to get the hang of it. Accidently walk out an airlock when I thought the shuttle had docked. Bwoink. Fuck, I'm banned again. I tell them I'm sorry and it was an honest mistake. Get transported to a room full of moonbears that slowly rip my body to shreds gloriously.

That is my experience of leniency verses exact punishment. If, however, my attitude had been different and I had insulted people, saying it was the mods fault for not locking the airlocks or something ridiculous, I would have definitely deserved the ban. A moderators job isnt to exact justice purely for justice's sake, its to find the intent of the person involved and punish them accordingly, IE Manslaughter vs murder.

 

What is your general opinion on people being critical of others' actions and characters?

 

Unlike popular belief, I am actually an incredibly critical person. I judge things extremely harshly at first and hold things to very high standards. Then I stop and think about myself. I compare the persons actions to my own and always fall short. I reflect about how I may have been in the same situation as them and how I got out of it. I think about how I was terrible at roleplaying and the long slow process it was to get to where I am now and how much further I still have to go. Suddenly my first judgement doesn't seem as exact as I first imagined it did.

When other people may judgements about my own or others characters, I can't help but think that they see it though the filter above. I always imagine people to have only the most noble intentions and it is sometimes a hard lesson to learn that people don't.

To answer the question, I do not have anything against critical thinking no matter what it looks like, however, how you use that information should always be to benefit and help the receiving party. Calling someone stupid is not going to make them smarter and saying they can't roleplay wont make them any better at it. The idea it to help someone when they want the help and walk people through things in a healthy and uplifting way.

[Skull132]

Applicant placed on trial for the next 3 weeks. Please provide feedback as they manage issues that involve you!

[Vertigo]

I've played with Thundy like once in deadhour thingy and kinda left me a bad impression, she seems to play with some sort of little circle most of times and not bother helping out most times :/

[Thundy]

I've played with Thundy like once in deadhour thingy and kinda left me a bad impression, she seems to play with some sort of little circle most of times and not bother helping out most times :/

 

Hi, wanna be a bit more specific about what you're referring to?

[Thundy]

Hey, me again. With IRL things almost out of the way (I placed my resignation with work, my final day is on the 10th of December) I am requesting that people bare with me as my other engagements take up my time I would normally moderate on. If you would like to move my last week of moderatorship to after that date, feel free.

Kind regards. Thun-dogg.

[Thundy]

Hello family. I'm heading to Cambodia tomorrow, meaning my trial is over. I won't be back until January so here's to wishing you all a very merry Christmas and happy New year!!

[Shadow]

Applicant was denied after their trial period.