Tomiix Posted September 22, 2017 Posted September 22, 2017 (edited) Server Moderator Application Basic Information Byond Account: TomiixStarslasher Character Name(s): Azala Huz'kai, Sir Ver, and Jedark Korpar are the ones with the most playtime. AI Name(s): Lunaris Preferred means of contact: Discord primarily, if for some reason you want a number for an emergency (I cannot think of a justifiable reason for it however) I can provide a phone number as long as it doesn't cause me any charges besides my normal text and call fees. Age: 22 Timezone: -5:00 EST Standard When are you on Aurora?: I am trying my best to adapt to a normal sleep schedule, I am on the most around the dinner hours of my time zone. Experience How long have you played SS13?: For three years sporadically. Mainly played on Yogstation 13 and Colonial Marines before... How long have you played on Aurora: moving to Aurora in 2016. I played off and on in Aurora, before deciding to dedicate my time to making Aurora my home half a year. How much do you know about SS13 (Baystation build) game mechanics?: Unfortunately I get a lot of my information from /tg/, where in many ways it doesn't translate well to bay. So most of my years playing ss13 are kinda wasted in this regard. I can advise on Robotics now with 100% certainty, I am proficient with research, have basic understanding of the rest of science. I understand the mechanics behinds security's operation. Last time I tried to set up the engine I leaked phoron all over it, I understand the civilian mechanics, and the basics of medical. I also understand the command structure and station directives. Do you have any experience moderating for an SS13 server?: The only experience I have with moderating for a SS13 is my own copy of the Aurora build that I keep on my computer for sprite testing and mechanics testing. I can easily and already have begun to learn and pick up how the moderation panels work, with a little bit of help I should do fine with it. Have you ever been banned, and if so, how long and why?: No, and not applicable. Personality Why do you play SS13?: Because I really enjoy the simplistic look but crazy attention to detail of SS13. It is by far one of the more realistic simulations of what it would be like to be a spaceman. As someone who enjoys sci-fi I loved playing space station 13 because not only does it do that, and during one game have a normal realistic experience. The next game you can be dodging fireballs from a crazy space wizard or drilling your way into the AI core to stop it from blowing up the station. Why do you play on Aurora?: I play on Aurora because if fits the pacing that I found I enjoy the best. Even on Yogstation I did my best to fill in the lack of lore with interesting characters with their own stories and would go out of my way to roleplay. While some users on that server find it entertaining, others would just see you typing and see it as an advantage to take. I like that Aurora allows you to play a character and in a way affect the living lore of the server. Sure I can't be a Unathi Chaplin that believes he is a paladin of bahamut and run around being a crusader, claiming I will be a dragon in the afterlife... since the lore of the server doesn't allow for that, however creativity is best tested with limitations. Because of Aurora I made interesting characters within a world I can believe in, and the tradeoff is one I am willing to accept. What do moderators do?: Typically a moderator's job for a game is to ensure that players have a good experience. In this vein this requires moderators to enforce a certain set of rules and be useful resources to help new players. What does it mean to be a moderator for our server?: The player enjoyment factor is even more in play here, as Aurora is a heavy RP server. There are high expectations for the quality and enjoyment of a game when it comes to its lore, and high expectations from the playerbase. Because of this a Aurora Station moderator has to pay careful attention to how other players are playing their character, and be available to assist them so that they get the most out of the experience and so that they don't ruin it for others. Why do you want to be a moderator?: One of the things that stands out about ss13 is how it's players are able to walk away from the experience and tell stories of conquest or failure, I want to be able to help facilitate in doing that. Whether by helping admins with events or enforcing the rules of the server that help ensure that players have a good experience, I will get to assist in doing so. I have moderated for countless other forums, websites, and video games. It's something I always end up pursuing when I fall in love with a community or game. What qualities do you possess that would make you a good moderator?: In terms of leadership, the first thing I always like to mention is that I am someone who was a boyscout, and attain its highest rank, Eagle scout. I am very proud to share this with people because scouting does a great job in teaching its members fundamental skills about working with others and being a good leader. For example, I have learned that the best way to get a good response from someone you are trying to encourage to do something is to do it yourself, also known as leading by example. By being a good player, by tempering myself and following the rules myself, and playing alongside the other players, I am already contributing to the goodwill and learning of the people around me. I can further expand on this by being a moderator, as I would have the power and ability to specifically help people who need it, which is something I am willing to do. I was constantly giving leadership positions while in scouting, from being a leader of my own patrol, to becoming the coleader and then senior patrol leader, AKA the leader of my whole troop. So I am used to directing and enforcing rules to my own peers, and to be honest working on Aurora will be working on a lower scale with a lot more help then I am used to. How well do you handle stress, anger, or insults?: I am currently employed as a Server at a dine in movie theater in a fairly rough part of town. I have been spat on and harassed constantly by customers and have never raised my voice. Hell sometimes I even smile at them, as killing them with kindness is the best form of revenge I can think of. Fair enough to say I handle all three fairly well. If I didn't I better learn how to quickly, as I am going to be going to Police Academy next year, and I am trying to become a police officer. So being unable to manage those three would be a huge disadvantage in that field. Anything Else You Want to Add: I have observed and worked with multiple moderation teams for eight years now, I have grown up working with people to help run their servers. I am used to interacting with players and I have grown into the role with the help of other good minded players. However I am not blind to the major downfalls of certain moderators, and the risks that are taken when you take in new ones. I have seen moderators that have been taken in that don't fit well with the culture of the playerbase, or moderators who clearly just want to be the boss of someone else and still be taken, and the pitfalls of doing so. I have seen moderation and administration styles that worked and some that have failed. Being a formerly active admin of a steam/discord group with at one time 500+ members I feel like I had figured out a good balance and style, and only stopped and let it fade away because I choose to. (It was for a game I lost interest in, and a majority of the group was losing interest in as well.) Needless to say I feel like I am plenty qualified on a personality level, as I humbly just want to help the server I am growing to love maintain a quality play experience. I understand and want to make clear my downfalls however, I need a lot more work when it comes to perfecting my knowledge of the different fields of this game. While this downfall won't stop me from being to handle player problems, it will prevent me from helping ensure the station doesn't implode because someone else made a honest mistake, or the game just faces an error. I make this clear and apparent because I want to make sure the team who is deciding who they want to be a moderator makes a correct decision, and if they feel I am not suitable because of this I want to make my position and goal here clear as crystal. In summary, my intentions coming into this application is to volunteer my available free time into helping the server I enjoy run smoothly and to ensure that the player base is enjoying themselves. Because if they are enjoying their game and aren't running into issues, then I am as well. I feel I am very strong in the field of player interaction, and enforcing rules and handling judgments. I don't feel I am very strong when it comes to the more complex game mechanics, however I am willing (of course) to learn them and become proficient with them. If the staff feel like I am a worthy addition to the team, then I am excited to get started, however I wouldn't blame you for not accepting me if you would prefer to take on a volunteer with more knowledge and time on the server. Edited January 7, 2018 by Guest
Alberyk Posted September 22, 2017 Posted September 22, 2017 Tomiix's interview: Alberyk - Hoje às 01:28 Alright, I will ask some questions then. In your own words; what is the goal of the aurora server? What do you think we are looking to provide with the server? Tomiix - Hoje às 01:31 From what I have seen, Aurora is looking to provide a quality Heavy-Roleplay experience. So in this vein, Aurora is trying to provide a Space Station 13 experience that is geared towards story and character development. As a moderator or admin, you are trying to provide a playing field and a set of rules that allow everyone to have fun building these characters and enacting these stories they are trying to create, without having to worry about other players ruining the experience, may it be intentionally or accidentally. Alberyk - Hoje às 01:32 With what you said; what is heavy roleplay? And what is considered roleplay in general? Tomiix - Hoje às 01:39 As detailed in the rules of our server heavy roleplay is all about being in character, during the full duration of a round of a game on Aurora. Meaning that you are expected to always remain in character, and behave realistically even if it means you are not able to 'win' the game. Winning and losing should not be the important factor when playing on a heavy-roleplay server, the factor that should weigh heaviest on you is maintaining an experience. You are playing a character and with the help of the other players, creating a story. Running for a fire extinguisher and hunting down the wizard you are hearing making death threats over the coms is tempting when you know that it's a round of wizard and when he dies you have 'won', however that doesn't help create a good story, and actually hurts the round if you are in a critical position that has nothing to do with dealing with the antagonist. Being able to create a believable character, and interact and enjoy the story you are creating with your fellow players is a successful display of roleplay.(editado) Alberyk - Hoje às 01:41 You said; "remain in character, and behave realistically" and "Being able to create a believable character", is there any difference between realistically and believable, and if so, which one should be enforced mostly under our rules? Tomiix - Hoje às 01:46 Realistically by definition is something that is accurate and true to life. For example, if you are a doctor and someone is threatening you with death, while pointing a gun at you to fix their friend, you are very likely to comply. However there are a lot of mechanics in Space Station 13 that are not realistic, and situations that you will be in that aren't even imaginable in life. It isn't everyday when you become a thrall, or get converted into a cult. So in times where this occurs, having a believable response, or a response that is reasonable when it comes to your character's backstory is acceptable. Realism is what we are trying to reinforce and maintain, as it is the only thing we can objectively point to something and say 'that was realistic' or not. Alberyk - Hoje às 01:47 Right, so, you believe that when judging certain actions, we should take an approach of something that would be closer to reality than the universe of the game itself? Tomiix - Hoje às 02:04 I would say that this is HEAVILY dependent on a case by case basis, and when you put it that way was not what I was trying to convey. Of course the lore of the universe trumps events that occur in real life, and aliens behave differently than how people do in real life. However if someone gets shot, or loses a leg, and shakes this off without even thinking, that is something you could take action on and be one hundred percent sure there is something wrong there, because it wasn't realistic. For example there was a time when someone was told by a doctor that because they had a broken arm, and he couldn't fix it, that he should go to robotics and get it replaced. My character at the time, because she doesn't have a medical background was told that the arm was inoperable, and that she had to replace it. The dude who had the procedure done thanked her and left. Later when I found out it was just broken, I was surprised how casually the guy took losing an arm, and attempted to have a stern talking to with the doctor for misleading the patient. In this scenario, it is not believable that this patient would break their arm, report it to the doctor, be told that it is inoperable and agree to having their arm removed unless there was some other motivation for them to want their arm removed without a good amount of consideration and questioning from the patient.(editado) As a moderator if I noticed this I would have talked to the person and asked them about what their character was thinking about when it came to this operation, and I would ask the doctor about why he would straight up lie to a patient, or be so unknowledgable as a medical doctor about the other real options the guy has. Neither one of these people may of been acting with bad faith, and it might of just been the doctor not knowing any better OOC and the patient being new to roleplay, and simply not thinking about getting a new arm outside of it being a game mechanic. Hearing their reasonings why would then lead to either helping them, AKA teaching them how they could of helped, or helping them develop their character if they like the idea of their character not caring much or even wanting robotic limbs. Again, I feel like our approach should be mixed, but with the ultimate aim of guiding players in the proper direction to create a interesting story and have fun, and giving them opportunities to expand and make their characters more than just simple avatars. Alberyk - Hoje às 02:06 Moving into other subject; What are your thoughts on the server and community present state? Tomiix - Hoje às 02:11 The server's current status is rather exciting. The newest transition to this new map has expanded the visibility of the server and has increased interest, and as a result as increased the size of the community. This does come with growing pains, as with a influx of players checking out the new things there are tensions with people not knowing the server culture and established players. The community at large seems rather accepting and willing to help and provide input, and I am making some fast friends amongst the different players through our discord. Things aren't perfect, I have noticed there are infighting, and that there are cliques and social groups that are at contention with each other, however when it comes to this I do my best to stay neutral and not pick sides. So overall, the server is doing great, and I am excited to see where it goes next, the community isn't perfect, but communities are almost never are.(editado) Alberyk - Hoje às 02:12 When you say there are infighting, cliques and groups, do you believe that those are issues? If so, how could this be solved? Tomiix - Hoje às 02:17 Cliques aren't necessarily an issue, of course there are going to be friend groups that see little no no interaction with each other. That comes from timezones and availability. The infighting amongst the normal playerbase is a creature I don't think moderation should try and fight. Sometimes people just don't like each other and as long as they aren't hurting other people's in game fun and it isn't bringing toxicity to the community then honestly moderation should leave it alone. However when it does affect the game or the discord moderation should do it's best to judge it by the merits of what happened in official Aurora social media and the server. When it comes to the tensions that sometimes arise between administration, development and the lore team I think it is important to take note that we are all on the same team, and are trying to achieve the same goal. Again sometimes people just don't like each other for whatever reasons, as long as that isn't something that is preventing them from having a cordial working relationship then nothing should be done, if it is affecting a healthy working relationship then administration should decide amongst themselves on the correct course of action, since at that point it would be important to take those issues as a case by case basis. Alberyk - Hoje às 02:20 What do you think is the most urgent issue, community management/rules wise, that ought to be looked at? Tomiix - Hoje às 02:25 Currently I am noticing a lot of people are leaving the game without doing the proper closing routine. I joined a game right after the major antagonist was finally taken out, and as I walked through security I found three security guards who were asleep. I didn't want to assume anything, as I had just joined and had no frame of reference. However if this was a case of 'well the round is essentially extended now time to do something else' we should do our best to discourage that. As that does ruin the experience for someone like me who is trying to do the rather important job of taking care of the aftermath of a major event happening on a station. People also have a tendency of joining a game, and then immediately leaving if they didn't get a desired role, or they leave the game for a understandable reason but then don't properly cryo. At the very least if you are going to leave, we need to make sure people are properly cryoing so that they job is available and that if someone is joining the tools they need are accessible to them in their workplace. Alberyk - Hoje às 02:25 One last question; if you could change anything in the staff/server/how things are done, what would it be? Tomiix - Hoje às 02:29 Currently I feel like things are too open ended, and the server has great potential and a dedicated player base that could achieve rather cool things if they were given a task and asked to complete it. So I guess if I could change the amount of events we did, or was able to implement a 'station goals' like system that gave people objectives to work towards with rewards for doing so I would do so. As of now a round of extended, or rounds of pseudo extended when it involves not very proactive antagonists, the job is rather straight forward and repetitive, especially if you are a job that is isolated from the rest of the station, like a Xenobiologist. I think this would have the added benefit of retaining players throughout the round longer if they were given something to work towards.
MattAtlas Posted September 22, 2017 Posted September 22, 2017 I've played with Tomiix quite a few times, mostly with Azala Guwan. They are quite a good player and their RP is excellent. I have no doubts they would do good as a moderator, +1.
Faris Posted November 3, 2017 Posted November 3, 2017 There's been some concerns about your activity being possibly sporadic. While we don't expect absolutely full time activity, sometimes sporadic isn't enough, though the term is very loose. Interested to hear your thoughts.
Tomiix Posted November 5, 2017 Author Posted November 5, 2017 I join and play when able to. I haven't been on much in the earlier week because of family issues. Aurora is definitely my go to thing to do as of late, and whenever I have free time I do look to play on here. My activity will naturally be increasing once I have settled my family issues and maintain stable progress on my studies. These things take precedence over fun unfortunately. I am actively online over the weekends, and on some weekday nights that I do not work. I would be willing to share my detailed schedule with yourself privately if you want so we can talk about whether or not that amount of availability is acceptable.
Catnip Posted November 23, 2017 Posted November 23, 2017 After speaking with Tomiix who is busy with real life things, we've decided to close this app for now. You're fully welcome to copy paste the application when you have more time on your hands, and the interview will also be carried over if that is the case. Application denied, for now.
Garnascus Posted January 7, 2018 Posted January 7, 2018 After speaking with Tomiix who is busy with real life things, we've decided to close this app for now. You're fully welcome to copy paste the application when you have more time on your hands, and the interview will also be carried over if that is the case. Application denied, for now. Also i am interested in your response to this [mention]Tomiix[/mention] Specifically the issues of what got this denied. Has your activity improved.
Tomiix Posted January 7, 2018 Author Posted January 7, 2018 I was facing real life issues at the time, those of which I do not wish to disclose publicly. However, I am more active now, and able to fulfill the duties of a moderator. Of which I plan to do concurrent with the duties of being a deputy lore dev. I plan on Aurora being one of my main avenues of entertainment and creative energy for awhile.
Tomiix Posted January 7, 2018 Author Posted January 7, 2018 I would also like a note that I updated my availabilities and characters I play, but for transparency didn't edit the meat and bones of what I said before.
Catnip Posted January 11, 2018 Posted January 11, 2018 Trial started on January 11, 2018, and will end in one month on February 11.
Azande Posted January 16, 2018 Posted January 16, 2018 Tomiix's response to my complaint against them was exceptionally well done and honestly the quality of a response I would expect from our admins, and while obviously I disagreed with the action (which has been expunged), they were very prompt with reaching out to me about it via DMs and through the complaint thread and were definitely interested in resolving the issue. Heavily support their moderatorship.
Mofo1995 Posted January 16, 2018 Posted January 16, 2018 I believe in Tomiix senpai, is always very well mannered and they always seem so level headed. Exactly the kind of person I want handling ahelps and resolving complaints.
Catnip Posted February 10, 2018 Posted February 10, 2018 Application accepted after a successful trial. Welcome to the team.
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