In-game Username: JedanL46
Discord username: .slaughter
Characters you play: Angelo Stern
On average, how many hours do you expect to admin per week: 8-10
Days you are available to admin on: All days
How old are you? 34
Do you have any SS14 experience outside of Wizard’s Den servers, or any SS13 experience? I do not have any experience with SS14 or outside of Wizard’s Den servers
Do you have prior administration experience (SS13/SS14 experience preferred, please also post a way for us to verify this)? I have experience as an administrator for a DayZ Standalone server; however, this was quite long ago, and I cannot verify this.
Have you ever been banned from any SS14 or SS13 servers? I have not been banned from any servers or roles.
What are you primarily interested in doing as an admin? In-game rule enforcement is core to being an administrator, mainly on higher roleplay servers (MRP). This is not to say that being involved in events or ban appeals is equally as essential, but ensuring the round runs smoothly, I believe, is the main focus.
What are you least interested in doing as an admin? Ban appeals are probably the least interesting part of the process, but they are an important part of it.
Detail Questions
What role do you think game admins serve on our servers?
Game admins facilitate the players’ stories and the natural progression of the round. They accomplish this by adjudicating rule disputes and performing enforcement actions where necessary. They are expected to be fair and impartial while using server rules and standards as guidance.
Why do you want to become an administrator for SS14?
SS14 is one of the greatest roleplaying games in terms of mechanics and for allowing community development that supports memes and general fun. Helping to create and grow this community greatly appeals to me. Part of this is accomplished through dedicated administrators that can help ensure the play and roleplay experience is optimal at all times.
How do you feel about the current roleplay status on the servers?
LRP tends to be focused on game mechanics and quick rounds, it makes for a good learning environment for new players and allows them to adjust into the roleplaying environment of SS14 without punishment while learning the proper etiquette of Space Station 14.
MRP is a bit of a mixed bag; I find that most rounds go okay with a decent amount of roleplay going on. However, there is still a good number of power gamers that come into MRP expecting all players to only perform the “optimal” actions despite being a roleplaying game. While this is not always something that should be considered punishable or game breaking it can cause a reduction in the overall amount of roleplay occurring on a server should it get severe enough.
I am somewhat conflicted about the Nuclear Operatives game modes occurring on MRP as I find this often turns the round into a team deathmatch with minimal opportunity for RP. The RP of Space Station, I think, is better served in a player versus paranoia sense in that you never know if the person you thought was a friend is a syndicate agent or some horrible space monster. I would like to see more unique scenarios that facilitate this gameplay. Nuclear Operatives can be enjoyable as well but should not be the dominating scenario.
Other than banning problematic players, what admin actions do you believe have the biggest positive impact?
I believe admin actions that help facilitate one or more players’ roleplay in a fun and engaging way can add interest to a round or help a player feel they are more a part of the community. However, facilitating these types of scenarios should not come at the expense of another player’s experience, nor should favorites be played when doing so.
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?
Probably the only time I’ve had a negative experience is in one round where the admin decided to kill everyone by constantly spawning Tesla lightning on the evac shuttle during FTL. That was, in my opinion, not engaging or fun.
Have you ever had a good experience with the game or a game admin? If so, what was it?
I have had a few good experiences with the admins running memes when supported by the server community. There is not any particular examples that spring to mind.
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 would remind these players that the administrator’s job is not to interfere with the round but to provide judgment on rules and disputes and facilitate organic roleplay where possible. While they may find something “funny,” it can be highly disruptive to the experience of other players during a round.
I would also add that if they want to participate in the round, they should accept a ghost role, if available, that aligns appropriately with what they might want to do.
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.
Depending on the severity of the situation, potential rules may be broken here. I will attempt to break it down into what rules may be violated. I am also looking at this under the following assumptions:
- The Captain has not made poor decisions that negatively impact the crew/station
- The additional heads other than HoP/HoS have not been involved in the decision to demote the captain
2.6 Don’t act like an antagonist unless the game tells you that you are one
Violators: HoS, HoP, Clown
Reasoning: The HoS, HoP, and Clown are non-antag roles and behave antagonistically for no reason other than to disturb the game. The Clown stealing the saber would fall under “Stealing high-risk or high-value items,” as they are not a thief or antagonist, and the captain’s saber is a very high-value item. The HoS and HoP may fall under “Starting a revolution,” as they are attempting to coup the captain without being antagonists. Stealing a weapon of high value would also be considered beyond the scope of playing up the Clown persona and would result in a warning unless further warnings have been documented which would result in a role ban.
2.10 Listen to your team leader
Violators: HoS, HoP
Reasoning: The rules explicitly state that “Captains lead all departments and other members of command.” and while they do not have to follow all orders given to them by their team leader if they are unreasonable the formation of a coup is not one such example.
2.12 Do not abandon your role
Violators: Captain, Quartermaster (potentially)
Reasoning: The Captain hiding in the cargo shuttle is abandoning the role of Captain, and the Quartermaster may be doing the same if he is preventing the use of the cargo shuttle by the cargo department. The one caveat here is that the Quartermaster may be acting under orders from the Captain who is his designated team leader. If this is the case, the Quartermaster would probably receive a warning that he is abandoning his role and department and, depending on his response, may receive a role ban or just a documented warning. The captain should receive a role ban on the grounds of abandoning their duties to the station, and as the highest member of command, this is more strictly enforced.
2.14 Set an example if playing command or security
Violators: HoS, HoP, Captain
Reasoning:
“Members of command decide to demote the captain to gain more power for themselves, or in retaliation for a decision that they didn’t personally like or agree with, rather than because the decision was harmful to the station.” This is based on one of my assumptions at the start of the case and depends on actual information about the occurrence. If all heads had participated in a vote to demote the captain and followed due process, then this would not be a violation.
Additionally, the Captain fleeing rather than confronting the potential coup and hiding from the clown could be seen as a very poor example as command. A more appropriate in-character response would be to have Security arrest the Clown to reclaim the sabre, following the reasonable escalation and Space Law rules. I believe that security (or the captain) would be justified in using lethal force against the Clown if they were brandishing the weapon as it in itself is very lethal but otherwise should apprehend the Clown with non-lethal force.
Summary of potential enforcement actions:
All enforcement actions would be discussed with another admin or head admin if available.
- Potential role bans for HoS, HoP, Captain.
- Warning for Quartermaster if acting under Captain orders, Role Ban if further disruption to department/station.
- Warning for Clown unless there is a documented history, then escalate to role ban.
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.
Notes are key to admin communication, and improper documentation does not justify escalating punitive actions against a player. The situation should justify a temporary ban, as their first offence had not been adequately documented, with notes about all ongoing ahelps appended to the notes for review by a headmin who may choose to escalate to an indefinite ban upon their review.
Functionally, a temporary and indefinite ban can serve the purpose to remove the player disruption from the round(s) until a more in-depth investigation of rule violations can be performed and the situation fully understood. It is quite possible that both ahelps pertain to the same issue and do not justify the escalation of punishment with no prior matters noted.
As all admins are equal, I believe this is the best solution to prevent disagreements between the actions taken by different admins. This also helps avoid a potentially unjust indefinite ban and negative player experience by being forced to appeal a ban for an actual first-time offence.