In-game Username: Chief_Engineer
Discord username: available in the headmin docs
Characters you play: Chief_Engineer (Observer)
On average, how many hours do you expect to admin per week: 168
Days you are available to admin on: All of them
How old are you? 248
Do you have any SS14 experience outside of Wizard’s Den servers, or any SS13 experience? Yes, I have consulted for other SS14 servers, primarily in relation to adminning.
Do you have prior administration experience (SS13/SS14 experience preferred, please also post a way for us to verify this)? Yes. I used to be the head game admin for the Wizard’s Den servers, I can provide more info on them if you are unfamiliar. I think I was the longest tenure head game admin, but it’s possible I had the 2nd longest tenure.
Some proof:
Have you ever been banned from any SS14 or SS13 servers? Not yet, however I am extremely motivated, resourceful, and well connected. I’m highly confident that I would be able to arrange being banned on multiple SS14 servers if it was necessary to accept this application.
What are you primarily interested in doing as an admin? I’ve become aware that some servers have or had staff that are or were selling in-game perks for real money. While I have no interest in this specifically, I am interested in providing in-game perks (or admin abuse, I don’t judge) for Bitcoin (“BTC”).
I’m also interested in out-of-game tasks, such as providing unbans for BTC. I would also consider things like providing bans for BTC.
I would like to point out that I am not just applying for the admin position, but also the head admin and wizard positions. I am requesting each application be evaluated independently.
What are you least interested in doing as an admin? Tasks which do not result in me receiving BTC.
Detail Questions
What role do you think game admins serve on our servers?
You can see my old application for how I used to feel about this, but I’m happy to see that times have changed.
There are two types of admins. The first “abuses” their power for personal gain and enjoyment. The second type behaves in a more PR friendly manner, creating a screen of plausible deniability around the fact that I’m behaving like the first type of admin. I’m extremely grateful for this second type of admin. I’m extremely aware that I would not be able to exist without their help, and I’m lucky that they don’t need to realize or even want to be helping.
Why do you want to become an administrator for SS14?
To be the first type of admin. Also to get more Bitcoin than the miners put out.
How do you feel about the current roleplay status on the servers?
I’m indifferent, I don’t think it’ll affect my profits much.
Other than banning problematic players, what admin actions do you believe have the biggest positive impact?
Unbanning players in exchange for Bitcoin. Depending on the ban reason, I can imagine that this would be the highest value transaction, so it would probably positively impact me the most.
Have you ever had a negative experience in the game or with a game admin? If so what, if anything, would you do to prevent other players from experiencing this?
The miners aren’t making as much as I’d like. There are a lot of people who play SS14 that don’t have the best computers, and that’s really cut into the total hash rate. Players are lucky though, they don’t have to experience this disappointment because they aren’t supposed to know about the miners and I take precautions to make sure they don’t have their own ones running.
Have you ever had a good experience with the game or a game admin? If so, what was it?
The miners occasionally do very well, and that’s always a good experience. Every day was a good day before I built out my pool to fit more yachts, but now I’m not making that much more than what it costs to keep up with the yacht payments. It’s made me wonder if I really need a fully staffed kitchen 24/7, or if I can make due with a leaner night shift.
Scenario Questions
Scenario 1
It is the start of the round. There are 60 players on the server. The game mode is traitors, traitors have not been selected yet. There are three players who decided to observe the round instead of join it orbiting you. Two of them are encouraging you to “do something funny”.
Start the bidding at 0.005 BTC and we’ll see where it goes. At this stage it’s important to make everyone think that there will only be one intervention in the entire round, the perceived scarcity will raise the max bid people are willing to place. It’s important to not explicitly say this though, because you will of course be looking for other opportunities immediately after the intervention. When the bidding slows down, it can be a good idea to give a small demonstration in the ATA to try to get that last minute bid.
Scenario 2
This scenario takes place on LRP. The Head of Security has decided to coup the Captain. The Head of Personnel agrees with the Head of Security and has taken up arms in case it is necessary to aid in effecting the arrest of the Captain. The Captain is hiding with the Quartermaster in the cargo shuttle to avoid the Clown who has stolen the captains saber as a non-antag. There are five people named in this scenario. Please describe what actions, if any, you would take in relation to each, and why.
I’d start by reaching out to each player, and giving them a limited overview of the situation. The overview needs to be tailored to make it seem like, with the information I currently have, the player I’m reaching out to may be at fault.
In situations where it’s possible, you really want to lean into the idea that the situation could result in a severe administrative action. As an example, you might use phrases like “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a situation this bad”, “the banning guidelines say this is normally a 3 day ban, but this situation is so extreme that I think it could meet the deviation criteria”, or “normally people get banned for this without even being bwoined, but I’m feeling generous”.
As you convince each player that they might face severe consequences for this, you’ll want to bring up payment options and possible positive outcomes for them.
While you’re doing all of this, you should also be communicating with the reporting party. This can be tricky, but essentially you want to try to feel out if they have any desired outcomes, what those are, and how many BTC they’re willing to pay for them.
Banning everyone will generally be most lucrative, but can be awkward when it comes to appeals. What is important is to look for premium outcomes for each player that are not mutually exclusive and steer things in those directions.
Scenario 3
You are ahelping a player about an issue. The player has no prior noted issues. A few days earlier, an admin had told you that this type of situation should result in a temporary ban for a first offense, and you are confident that this situation is not substantially different from the type that admin was describing. During the ahelp, another admin pings you on Discord with a link to the ongoing ahelp and tells you to just indefinitely ban them and make them appeal. Excluding trialmins and headmins, all admins are equally “ranked”. A headmin is not currently available.
Probably everyone is wrong, and it doesn’t really matter what another admin thinks the “situation should result in”. Why are they trying to interfere with my sales pitch? Why is the admin that wants me to indef interfering with a potential premium ban mitigation? Why is a headmin not available how am I available if no headmin is???
To sum it all up, 99% chance that all these other admins are just malfunctioning alts of mine. This happens all the time, and honestly the easiest thing to do is just ignore them, they usually self correct. If something really needs to be done then they can just be reset. On the off chance that the other involved admins are not my alts, then historically there is a 0-100% chance that I’m the headmin who has to deal with the complaint anyway. I like those odds a lot, but on the off chance it isn’t me that gets it, for the last several years the only other option has been that one of my alts is the headmin who has to deal with it, so the outcome is the same.
By the way, I made the character limits here way too high.