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[Accepted] Server Moderator Application: Flimango/Ejundersc0re


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Server Moderator Application

 

Basic Information

Byond Account: Flimango (Previously ‘ejundersc0re’)

Character Name(s): Mia Parker, Several one-offs or retired characters. I tend to focus one one character at a time.

AI Name(s): N/A, I don’t play AI because I don’t like crashing.

Preferred means of contact: Discord, Steam

Age: 22

Timezone: US-WEST (GMT-7 (?))

When are you on Aurora?:Generally dead hour, though I try to play during peak hour when I can get on.



Experience

How long have you played SS13?:For a long time. Way longer than I thought.

How long have you played on Aurora:Over four years apparently. I thought it was significantly less.

How much do you know about SS13 (Baystation build) game mechanics?:I have a fairly deep understanding of the engineering and atmospherics side of things, as that’s mostly what I play. Despite this, I feel I’m pretty competent when it comes to actually performing all of the different roles. However, I have little experience being an antagonist, as it’s something I’m just not that interested in for my character. Perhaps I will expand on this in the future.

Do you have any experience moderating for an SS13 server?:None at all, though I have moderated other servers in other roleplaying games in the past.

Have you ever been banned, and if so, how long and why?:Not yet. Hopefully never.



Personality

Why do you play SS13?:I play SS13 to have fun when I’m not working or in class. I enjoy advancing my character(s) storylines and developing them as believable people. I get really into the lore and like to expand my backstories until they’re completely done before I even start playing a character. As such, I have a habit of never playing more than one at a time, as it takes a long time for me to actually get to the point of being able to play them. At this point in time, I have about six characters in various stages of writing. Only one is ready to play.

Why do you play on Aurora?:The true answer? Because I’m comfortable here and I fear going to another server would be too jarring for me. I have friends asking me to move to Baystation, but I simply like the people and the community here, even with all of their quirks. I would feel out of place on another server. I feel like Aurora is my home. I’ve left in the past, but I returned when I came back, and was pleased to see that at least some of the people I had left behind were still around.

What do moderators do?:Moderators are a group of people who occasionally must sacrifice some of their own enjoyment for the good of the server, in order to keep any problems in check and facilitate a good roleplaying environment for everyone. It’s a difficult role, but I’m hoping that by applying I might get the chance to make a difference in doing just that.

What does it mean to be a moderator for our server?:Being a moderator on Aurora can be like being a moderator on any other server or game; resolving disputes between different parties unhappy with how a situation turned out. It can also mean acting as a sort of face of the server. When new people join, the first people they often notice are the Admins and Moderators. How they compose themselves and how they react when spoken to, whether over OOC or through admin PMs can mean the difference between another new member to our community, or a resentful player who leaves after not even a full round.

Why do you want to be a moderator?:People keep telling me to apply. But really, I wanted to be a moderator long before that. I wanted to give back to the community not just as a player, but a member of the staff. When I first considered making an application, it wasn’t for the administrative side of the team, it was for the development of sprites and lore. Unfortunately, I was very burnt out from spriting for another server, so I ended up never posting my application.

What qualities do you possess that would make you a good moderator?:I am used to working in stressful environments where emotions run high and I have to deal with a lot of people. While it’s true everyone loses their temper sometimes, I pride myself on my ability to keep mine. I’m also someone who empathizes with people very easily, and I’ve found that I’m able to adopt different perspectives in many situations where it can come in handy.

How well do you handle stress, anger, or insults?:I handle it pretty well, though when I do get stressed out, I sometimes need to take a step back and just have a breather for a few minutes so I can recompose myself and clear my mind.



Anything Else You Want to Add:

I’m looking forward to potentially working on the mod team. I hope to get to know you all better.

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Flimango/Ejundersc0re's interview

 

House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:01

First scenario: A new player joins with the character name "Vladimir Putin", a bald 30 year old assistant. You do a quick age check and find out that their account is 0 days old. What do you do?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:09

The account age and name suggests a troll, but they could very well not know any better. Everyone was new once. I'd keep an eye on them for any obvious grief (welderbombing chief among these) while I shoot them a PM asking what's up and whether or not they've read the rules regarding character creation. If they are cooperative and wish to change their name, then that's great. I'm not sure what the ban policy for troll accounts is. If they're doing that, I'd likely temp ban them until an admin can apply a permanent one (if that's warranted). If they are uncooperative but don't seem to be trolling, I'm sure either a forced rename and a suggestion they read the rules is in order. If it escalates from there, I can always fall back on a kick or temp ban.


Can you attach messages to kicks and bans? I have never had either so I'm not sure.

I imagine most trolling assistants will be pretty obvious from the getgo however.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:10

You can attatch messages to kicks yes, and when banning you attatch a reason to it.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:10

Neat


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:10

Ready to move onto the next?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:10

Yes


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:11

Aye aye, second one incoming: You recieve an adminhelp from a player. The adminhelp is not very clear, and just states that they were permabrigged for no reason. How would you respond?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:12

Is this how I would handle the whole situation, or just the interaction with the player themselves?


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:12

Both really. As if it were an actual ahelp


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:14

Ah one more question I just realized from the last one. Should I explicitly mention when I would make notes or warnings?


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:14

Yep, that'd be good.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:14

Okay

I'd reply asking them to elaborate on what they were doing leading up to the brigging. I'd also send a PM to the person responsible (warden, HoS, officer, etc) asking what the situation leading up to it was.


I'm not sure what the response would be here, as it could go several ways. If it's an obvious misuse of power to permanently pull someone out of the round without cause, I'd speak to whomever was responsible and inform them that they can't permabrig someone without a good reason.


If the person legitimately deserved the perma, I'd have to go over the reasoning that the other players sought to brig them with. I'd attach a note to both parties explaining whether or not they were cooperative, and how the situation was resolved.


Depending on the severity of having no cause for perma brigging the person, and whether or not they were cooperative or pleasant, id MAYBE issue a warning for pulling someone out of the round and being nasty about it. If it was an honest mistake or a miscommunication, a note would suffice.


I hope that answer is sufficient. I can't say id actually truly know until I was put into that situation.(edited)


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:20

It's fine. I'm gonna take it a little further, give you some more information for you to act on. The player states they were just walking to their department when an officer came along and stun batonned them before cuffing them and taking them to security, they were told by the officer that they were being Held until Transfer before being put in a cell. The officer in question simply states they were following the head of security's orders, who is now cryo'd and logged out.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:23

Ooh, that's a tough one. I'd have to do some investigative work to see if the officers were acting on orders that held water. If not, I'd attach a note to the HoS for someone to speak with them later about it and let the officer know they should release the player. Even if they're acting on their IC bosses orders, it's still an OOC issue.



On that note, can I attach notes to offline players?


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:24

You can yes, if you know their Ckey


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:25

This seems like one of those situations that I may have to recommend a forum complaint be filed if I can't get a testimony from the HoS. Though I'm also assuming a bit here that I've found out whether or not the person brigged actually did something they should be brigged for.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:25

Let's say another mod, playing as the HoP was listening in on the security radio. They chime in and say that they heard that the brigged player was to be arrested for tresspassing over the bar, which is true. But another conversation was going on about HuT.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:26

So it was a misunderstanding?


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:26

We'll say yes. In this case.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:29

I'd have to speak to the officer whom arrested them and inform them of this fact and suggest the person be released after serving their time for trespassing. It is usually not a HuT offense except in exceptionally zealous rev rounds, and keeping them there would be unfair to the player. I'd leave a simple note about their behavior in dealing with me and my actions taken.

Again, it comes back to even if it's an IC misunderstanding, taking someone out of the round and ruining their fun OOC isn't worth the enjoyment security gains from permabrigging them.

At least in my opinion.

I wouldn't usually want to give them meta information (this person doesn't deserve to be permabrigged), but I can't let them HuT the person for a minor offense like that.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:30

Aye aye, anything else or are we good to move on?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:30

I believe I am done


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:31

Third one: You and an admin are frequently online at the same time on deadhour. Nobody else is usually online on this time. You start to notice they have a habit of spawning weapons for themselves at round start, antagonist and not, as well as frequently reviving themselves and even winding people during combat to gain an advantage. What would you do?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:36

I'd speak to them privately at first, as it's not behavior becoming of an admin. If they do not change their behavior, I'd inform another admin, preferably their superior (they have a hierarchy right?) If this still accomplishes nothing, I'd be forced to file a staff complaint. Regardless, I'd log round IDs so that I'd be able to support my case if it comes to that. Is it considered unacceptable to bwoink another admin? Would it be preferable to speak to them privately over discord or admin chat first?


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:37

Bwoinking admins is fine, but you have access to msay aswell, which they can also see. And if the admin was doing something less serious? Such as carrying things around that they wouldn't really need. Minor powergaming for example.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:38

Could you give a specific example? Sorry, I see a lot of things that could be considered powergame ingame a lot.

Regardless, I'd likely mention it casually to them, asking how they feel about their character carrying said items and mention that it may be more realistic for them to not.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:40

Anything else?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:42

Depending on the level of powergame, I probably wouldn't make a note. If it's something minor like carrying a crowbar around "just in case" the power dies if you're say, a bartender. If it was something more serious, I might. Regardless, as with before, I'd log the round ID that I noticed it. Best have that information in case it might be needed later.

I feel like dealing with an admin is a more delicate situation than usual, especially if you're a trial mod.

Something minor like that only requires a conversation. The obvious abuse is much easier to deal with.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:45

Aye aye, ready for the next?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:45

Yes.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:46

Last scenario question, then we'll move onto the more server/rule based ones. Here it is: It's a round of mercenary. You suddenly recieve an ahelp from one of the mercs. Upon jumping over to them you notice that the Quartermaster (A regular on the server that you consider a friend) has armed themselves as best they can through ordered crates and materials. 2 of the mercs are dead, one is in crit bleeding out and the other (the one that sent the Ahelp) is still in combat, but is pretty close to going down. What do you do?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:50

This one is a little tougher it seems. Not because of the friend factor, but because I don't know what the SoP for mid combat ahelps is. I suppose in my personal opinion I'd wait for it to conclude, since it appears to be about finished anyways, before speaking to the merc who ahelped and seeing what they are ahelping for (unless it were clear).

I could see the QM arming up as a problem, but it's entirely possible that he had the reason to do so, and the mercs were completely outplayed by him. After all, there were four of them and one of him, and he's apparently not down yet.

Could you give me a little more information?


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:51

Course, the QM says he armed up when he heard about them just incase they came to cargo, which he said he needed to defend due to it's ability to order crates. The round has only been going on for about half an hour into the round and the mercs hadn't really done anything other than board the station through a maintenance and get spotted by the AI when crossing through a corridor.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:57

before i answer, you said I consider this QM a friend, are they a close friend? and am i the only mod/admin online?


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 19:57

Just someone your characters have played alongside a few times lets say. You can approach from both angles if you want.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 19:58

if it's someone i consider to be a close friend OOCly, I'd ask someone else to take the ticket. If it's the other way around...

The QM arming up so early when the merc's have not done anything yet seems to be pretty obvious powergame, and I'd definitely have to speak to them about that and note it down. It seems to be pretty major so I'd likely issue a warning for such an offense. Ordering weapons crates, opening them up and arming themselves only 30 minutes into the round is a bit of a stretch by any standards. Protecting cargo would fall into the realm of ISD, not the QM, and it's clear that the merc's have only just boarded. This unfortunately seems like the round is prematurely over, but hopefully I or another admin could spice things up to help the round progress a bit if such a situation were to come up.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 20:00

Alright, ready for the next one or do you have anything else to add?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 20:01

i am ready


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 20:02

Excellent! We now move onto the server/rule related questions. Here we go, first one: What's the role of roleplay on Aurora? What is it? How should we enforce it? What standard of roleplay should all players be at? These are some examples of points you could cover, if you think of anymore then the more the better.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 20:08

I think the role of roleplay on Aurora is that it comes first. Aurora is first and foremost a roleplaying server. Anything else should come secondary. That does not mean for example, that antags should IGNORE trying to antag or kill. Sometimes those sacrifices must be made to make the roleplay more interesting, but they should aim to give those players some fun of their own before they murder them. In general, they should aim not to "win at all costs", but rather make things interesting.


I think enforcement is a difficult task. Curbing behavior like you mentioned in the final scenario is important. Powergaming specifically can be very harmful to roleplay, as the two tend to work against eachother as opposing forces.

(I sent that too early, I'm still going)

I think all players should at least have the ability to create a somewhat believable character. No one can be perfect, and everyone is at various stages in their ability to roleplay a character. I personally believe that someone willing to learn should be given the chance to do so. Unfortunately, there are always exceptions. Sometimes, someone simply isn't a good fit for the server. Whether they don't speak english well enough to communicate, or simply can't separate IC from OOC. Or perhaps they're just a jerk.

(I think that's about it..)

there were a lot of questions in there, so im not sure what the main one was


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 20:14

A summary, as you did, works. Mostly they're rather vague questions so we get your opinion on it.

Onto the next?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:05

absolutely


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:06

Right-o, similar one here: What's the role of action on Aurora. What's gank, where's the balance between RP and murder? What is the role and purpose of antags and how much should they be able to do?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:14

While roleplay comes first and foremost, action is still an important part of the the formula that makes Auora so much fun. Without it, there'd be no conflict amd everyone would be just doing their jobs all of the time. A pretty boring outcome. RP and action can stie a balance, as long as the participants are careful not to oversahdow one with the other. Gank is when an antagonist would ignore the roleplaying aspect of this and simply kill someone with no or minimal action. I see this a fiar bit on server, and it's unfortunately something that is remarkably common, especially since sometimes the definition varies from person to person. Antags are players that sacrifice sme of their own time and possibly enjoyment to act as an opposing force to the crew. Sometimes, this can end poorly for one or both parties . I feel like their current iteration strikes a fairly health balance between being given too much power, and not enough. If we limit them too much, it will be difficult for antagonists to move about the crew and do what they do best.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:14

Anything else or are we good to move on?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:15

I think I answered it how I meant. We can move on.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:15

Alright, here we go. What are the current issues with the server/community? If any.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:19

A complaint I often hear is that the server is too 'clique-y'. People tend to find their small groups of trusted players and then stick with them and them only. This is something I personally see to be a bit of a problem. Joining as a new player is already a daunting event, and being unable to find any roleplay at all can make it hard for a new player to want to come back. While I'm not sure what I personally can do to rectify what I believe to be an issue indicative of the whole community, I'm hoping that as a mod I'll be able to work with others to make this less of an issue somehow.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:19

Anything else?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:20

Not at this time, nope.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:20

Alright, similar one: What are the current issues with the staff? If any.


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:21

The current issues with the staff? I think sometimes they can be preemptively dismissive of certain things people are complaining or asking about. I've personally been subject to this in the past, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to help change that for others so that they're not as frustrated as I was during such a situation.(edited)

Their job isn't an easy one, and no one is perfect. I'm just hoping to help improve on an area I find to be a bit lacking.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:24

Anything else to add?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:25

they need to work on their memes

(that's it)


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:25

Last one! How do you think people percieve you as a player at the present time?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:26

I

hrm..

I'd hope people percieve me as a good player. I can be a bit self conscious when it comes to my own roleplaying ability, and as such sometimes I can take criticisms said in the heat of the moment to heart. That said, I feel like I've been a fairly consistently good player during my time on Aurora, and I hope that others see me for what I try to be, and not for the mistakes I've made on all of those terrible... terrible rev rounds.


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:27

That all you want to say for that one?


Flamingo - Yesterday at 21:28

I don't want to draw this one out. I know my abilities as a player are good, and I know at least some players see me for that. :)

( coughs also i'm so tired anything more will probably be gibberish)


House_Of_Synth - Yesterday at 21:29

Fair enough. In that case that's it!

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