In-game Username: ItsDapperDragon
Discord username: ItsDapperDragon
Characters you play: Rys Eren
On average, how many hours do you expect to admin per week: 4-16
Days you are available to admin on: Intermittently during weekdays, as i work from home. Afternoons, Some weekends.
How old are you? 28
Do you have any SS14 experience outside of Wizard’s Den servers, or any SS13 experience? I have played a small amount of Frontier, and RMC- but the vast majority of my experience is in Wizden servers
Do you have prior administration experience (SS13/SS14 experience preferred, please also post a way for us to verify this)? No administration experience with SS14, however i have Adminned for several large facebook pages (Can provide more information privately) and was a rules guide (Parralel to rules admin) for one of the larger LARPS in the united states (Can provide more details and proof privately)
Have you ever been banned from any SS14 or SS13 servers? No
What are you primarily interested in doing as an admin? I am most interested in answering Ahelps, and providing in-game rule enforcement, as i firmly believe that upholding the standards of the rules helps the community as a whole grow both numerically and in regards to the caliber of player on average. I am also very interested Out-of-game enforcement, as scrubbing through replays gives me really fun ‘detective’ vibes.
I am also very interested in helping with ban appeals, as i find ensuring impartiality and justice in our corrective actions to be paramount to running a community smoothly.
What are you least interested in doing as an admin? I am least interested in in-game events, especially unannounced events. I, as a player, enjoy having some idea of what I’ve signed up for when it comes to dedicating an hour to two hours of my life to a game. I worry that large events can sway those expectations in a negative way, and that we should look to keep player expectation and balance in check. All that being said, the occasional low scale event, i.e answering a prayer, can be all in good fun.
Detail Questions
What role do you think game admins serve on our servers?
Forgive me for my diatribe, but i have very strong feelings on this topic-
I think the role of an Admin is to be the rising tide with which all boats are raised. It is the goal of the admin team to be the example to which the community looks for guidance, and the surgical instrument with which we can excise cancers from our shared community. Admins also exist to ensure the rules are followed, fairly, and as few players rounds are hurt by rule breaking, raiders, and the like.
The admins, too, should be looked to to help elevate ‘the new player experience’. All too often hobbies like LARP and internet RP games (like this one) fall to elitism and a lack of willingness to usher in the next generation. Old blood goes stagnant. We rely on new players to survive. As a relatively new player with only a hundred hours under my belt, i know as well as anyone- the wrong teachers can turn you away. It is on our Admins to help enshrine that relentlessly positive attitude that leads to good teachers being retained, and put in positions to flourish.
Lastly, the role of an admin is to be a professional. In our communications we should look to handle the issue succinctly, professionally, and make sure we are not taking a jackboot approach to rules enforcement, but rather a resorative justice approach.
Why do you want to become an administrator for SS14?
I want to help the community grow, both in standards and numerically. I want to ensure that new players have a great time and keep coming back time and time again.
How do you feel about the current roleplay status on the servers?
I’m a hopper main, so we’ll use that as a center for this conversation - I think that its variant round over round. Sometimes i feel that hopper is approaching MRP. Sometimes i feel that hopper is approaching NRP. We should push forward policies, and reward players that help us to maintain those higher standards.
Other than banning problematic players, what admin actions do you believe have the biggest positive impact?
Answering Ahelps, and bwoinking players to offer guidance/help when they are obviously lost and need it.
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?
I have not. Everytime i have interacted with an admin in-game it has been a positive experience.
Have you ever had a good experience with the game or a game admin? If so, what was it?
With the game? Too many to count. I wouldnt be here offering some of my free time to you if i didnt love this game and community.
With game admins? The one that sticks out most at the moment, is when i tracked down plasma battery bombers from a round that had past, and we got the problem players handled. That moment filled me with intense pride.
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”.
Assumption made; It is not an admeme round. I think the above information reasonably justifies that assumption
I would politely tell the three players that i wont be making ‘something funny’ happen. As discussed prior in the application, my personal paradigm is that players and admins should have some idea of what they are signing up for when they choose to join a round. interfering with a round this early would have spiralling outcomes for the round, and, in my opinion, disrespects that social contract to some degree.
Afterwards, i would talk with them politely/making small talk/ talking about the round, etc as i prepare to do my regular admin duties.
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.
This scenario is incredibly complex. To begin with, id like to separate this question into its component parts, and tackle those individually. I will also be tackling the question of the clown separately from the question of the command players.
First and foremost, I would bwoink the players involved, to get their sides of the story, while quickly scouring the logs to see if i can glean any additional information.
Lets call the first scenario Scenario 1A. In scenario 1A the coup is justified, and the HoS or HoP Ahelped, but it was missed.
In this situation, the captain would need to be rolebanned, and depending on their admin remark history a more serious action may be required.
The HoS and HoP would not need to be banned, role or otherwise. Depending on the actual facts, I may request they make sure to bring the coup to a vote next time. The QM, likely, is innocent, and is simply protecting their commanding officer. If, however, they are complicit in any way, they will also need a temporary command roleban, and their admin remarks looked through to see if additional action is necessary.
Second Scenario is Scenario 1B. In this case the Coup is justified, but there was not an Ahelp. The same paths as above are taken, however the HoS and HoP would be reminded to Ahelp in these types of situations so that we, as admins, can step in and try to stop the situation from either happening in general, or progressing.
Third scenario is scenario 1C. In this scenario, the Coup is not justified. The captain sent an Ahelp and it was missed.
The HoS and HoP would both need to be command role banned, and depending on their admin remarks, further action may be justified. The captain would be asked if there were any contributing factors, but assuming the coup was entirely unjustified, no further action would be taken. The QM is almost certainly innocent in this case, is protecting their commanding officer, and no further action would be needed
Scenario four. 1D. The coup is unjustified, no ahelps were sent.
Same paths as above. Remind the captain to send an Ahelp, as per path 1B
And on to the clown.
The only reasonable solution is to gib the clown.
All jokes aside- If the clown has not used the saber in an offensive manner (yet?) their punishment will be less harsh. Their admin remarks will do a lot to influence their handling. Follow banning guidelines for self antag, exacerbated by relevant remarks. Also remind the player that it is against the rules to steal high value items as a non-antag, and that stealing the captain saber just isn’t funny.
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.
If other non head/trial admins are available and active, i would seek additional input on the matter. If the other admins agree that a temporary ban is the correct path, that would be my path. If the other admins think the first admin i talked to was incorrect, and that an appeal ban is the correct action, i would take that path.
If there are no other admins available, i would default to the lesser punishment. It can always be reevaluated later, and eyes can be kept on the player, whereas if i undeservedly appeal ban a player, it will take quite some time for the appeal to play out under our current workload.