In-game Username: Coolsurf6
Discord username: Coolsurf6
Characters you play: Kai, Screams, Jack Olsen
On average, how many hours do you expect to admin per week: 28
Days you are available to admin on: Monday is set aside, Other days would be available after work.
How old are you? 24
Do you have any SS14 experience outside of Wizard’s Den servers, or any SS13 experience? I have around 10 years of exposure to SS13 starting in August of 2013. I have been on a variety of servers but the main ones that stick with me are Colonial Marines, Fulpstation, Goonstation and a fork of Beestation for an Australian Group called AuStation. I have Mentored for about a year on Fulpstation and I believe I Mentor on Austation but didn’t really require it as it was a small community.
Do you have prior administration experience (SS13/SS14 experience preferred, please also post a way for us to verify this)? I have been an Admin on Garry’s Mod servers from time to time. Starting off on DarkRP (which I deeply regret spending my time with, but it was actually a worthwhile experience).
My main experience of being a staff member was on Fulpstation for about 6 to 8 months back in 2019. I moved up quickly during this time as my record was quite clean at the time and I had been a mentor. I was also on at the off hours where most admins were asleep due to me being an Australian. I remember having someone taking over the station and no player could do anything about it, basically causing the round to go on forever. After reporting this and my availability, I was very quickly accepted.
I have dealt with all forms of players, as well as learned how the BYOND CID system worked due to my interest in Cyber Security. I had moved on from Fulpstation after joining the Australian servers.
Have you ever been banned from any SS14 or SS13 servers? I have been permanently banned from the Australian Server Austation back in October of 2020. I had been slowly leaning away from SS13 as I was getting burnt out and there were some unsavory changes being added. A final straw happened with what could only be described as an ERP Test PR being added to the game which I decided I would be leaving the community and game behind.
I have had prior admin notes on SS13 Fulpstation but I do not believe I ever was banned for anything, no rolebans except for a self ban from OOC chat.
(This situation has been somewhat rectified regarding AuStation, and I have been unbanned from it since.)
What are you primarily interested in doing as an admin? I would like to use my skills as a coder as well as having prior experience with digging through logs on Garry’s Mod as well as SS13 to understand situations between players and resolve them as best as I can. I genuinely enjoy making peoples day even if it meant giving someone who prayed a cookie or any assorted item that wouldn’t affect the round.
I have not done many round back on SS13 that were custom so I do not have that experience, but I find there to be a lot of improvement as well as possibilities to doing interesting rounds on some of the Salamander servers as long as it isn’t excessive.
What are you least interested in doing as an admin? I do want to try and put my focus on a single server to help as best as I can. I do understand that I may have to move to server to server which I absolutely will if times call for it. My focus would be on Salamander (and maybe the testmerge server) as I prefer to help and mentor players as well as wanting to make Salamander a better place for those who want to Roleplay.
Detail Questions
What role do you think game admins serve on our servers?
Admins on Space Station need to do quite a significant amount but all of it comes down to making sure players time on the servers and discord are safe, and enjoyable. For admins looking over a round, being quick with decisions but also using all available tools at hand can help give players a sense of safety knowing someone is looking after them during sometimes pretty stressful situations. I personally have not had to deal with raiders when I’ve played, but this would 100% be a situation that having no admins on can absolutely ruin someones night, and will to even join or play anymore.
Why do you want to become an administrator for SS14?
I want to honestly, make servers such as Salamander better with better admin coverage. Most times I play on Salamander, it can be quite dead in terms of admin coverage and I’ve had many ahelps with questions go unanswered for hours, expecially during the times I play. Since I am an australian, I have a unique enough timezone where most admins may be unavailable. This was one of the main reasons I applied early on when I started playing SS13 and really want to get that chance again.
How do you feel about the current roleplay status on the servers?
I only can speak for Salamander in terms of Wizden Server roleplay statuses. Currently, I think it’s actually been pretty good. I usually don’t play during 60-80 pop as that’s pretty early for me and usually end up playing between 20-50 pop. During these times, I’ve come to make a lot of great friends who I’ve gotten to keep around on servers whether its private or staying on salamander. And their roleplay is incredibly good. I make sure even when I play fun and dumb characters, I put a lot of effort in staying consistent, making sure people enjoy my characters, and expecially when I do get angry as a character I like to make sure the player understands there are absolutely no hard feelings.
I have personally stayed away from LRP such as Lizard and Levi, as I’ve only ever done LRP for nearly 11 years on SS13, and really enjoyed the fact that I’ve gotten better and enjoy when people actually speak normally, less like a game, and have consistent characters.
Other than banning problematic players, what admin actions do you believe have the biggest positive impact?
Making people feel safe and that they have a someone to voice their concerns. Even problematic players can turn over a new leaf with the way I’ve roleplayed and chatted nicely to them. So I see it as a very big positive that this can also occur while I admin and chat with players during stressful times. Admins can also during seasonal events or with permission add so much to the game and replayability such as a recent round where an admin had a power “Pursurer” mid-round antag spawn that chased me and someone else around. It really shows the amazing capabilities of the Robust Toolbox engine and is one thing I really am interested in learning further.
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?
Honestly, on SS14 I don’t think I really have. I did a bit of adminning on the Suspicion on Space Station server, and had a few interesting people that caused some headaches but I took it as a positive when I was able to make sure other players were not dealing with it, and only I had to step in making other people enjoy the game more. I am always one to really make sure to give people second chances, and even in some pretty bad experiences, have tried making sure that I remain positive and at least offer that choice, whether the player accepts, insults or forfeits that chance.
I have had significant negative experiences on SS13 when I decided to leave the game, and I feel quite well off moving away from all that. So I know what can really annoy players but that sort of stuff would never occur on Wizden anyway, so I do feel safe in that regard away from that.
Have you ever had a good experience with the game or a game admin? If so, what was it?
I’ve only really have amazing experiences, especially with admins on other servers who run events and show the amazing scope that Robust Toolbox offer. I personally haven’t felt safer with their knowledge and advice ever in a community. When it comes to wizden admins, I don’t think I’ve ever had any issues. I’ve had some issues more regarding rules for MRP that hinder replayability and character development, but discussions have helped with those thoughts in any case. It goes to show that just having a friendly discussion can really help rather than thinking so negatively against those who are also human, and also volunteers wanting to make sure our sequel to an amazing game remains friendly, safe and genuinely enjoyable.
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”.
I believe the best way would be to just enjoy and chat with the players, don’t cause issues and don’t be hostile foremost. Simply telling them that you can’t and will not cause round disruptions and that they should also refrain from asking them first just to make sure the players understand what you can and can’t do. If they continue to, verbally requesting that they need to refrain from asking any further as it is similar to asking for “admemery” even in an ahelp, expecially if they continue to pester.
I also believe there is an option using robust toolbox to set your aghost to be on a different layer, so that players are unable to view, or orbit you. This is another good choice if you wish to watch a round without players watching over you.
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.
It shouldn’t be an admins choice to significantly impact a round. Letting things play out is very important and is also important to know the roleplay aspects you are in, in this one that being LRP. It would be an easy choice to immediately point to the clown as someone who is possibly a rulebreaker, but to let it play out due to what could be significant duress during the shift can cause many actions to be reasonable.
Depending on the captains actions, if completely and utterly unjustified, would be something to immediately take note and to watch over the HoS and HoP, unless they have requested admin advice on the subject. Otherwise I would rather be more interested to let the players in the round handle it, as breaking immersion and forcing admin intervention is not healthy for players to be constantly reminded of, or witness.
If anything, having a more IC approach with faxing letters or in more significant circumstances, making a centcomm announcement which would notify even players who are not involved to sort anything that has overly escalated. This helps keep players immersed in the round and is seen more as a feature rather than a disciplinary notice can make players feel safer and enjoy having me around more.
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.
I would first and foremost, ask for more clarification from the admin pinging me regarding the ongoing ahelp chain and request why specifically I should go off the suggested punishment that is listed in the admin ‘rulebook’. I would be more comfortable to follow the procedure listed with the smaller ban, as any more information that comes out can update the ban in the future. By going ahead and forcing the worse ban possible on the player, it can cause more significant issues as reducing the ban can be seen to players in a much more negative light. By reinforcing the ban further down the line, this can show better to other players that enforcement of other issues are still being checked over.
I would still like to go over with a headmin especially if this is a unique situation, but by having a ban for even a day or week first, would give enough time to go over the situation to fully reinforce the ban to what it should be, if that need arises.
One issue I could see this occurring is if an admin who has dealt with a player has NOT made a note, and is instead going off their own knowledge and expecting me to follow suit. This is especially why making notes even small ones or hidden ones would be highly beneficial to avoid these situations in the future.