In-game Username: Jojy
Discord username: jojy
Characters you play: Cara Asmir, Xelith, The Roots of the Station, Shishish
On average, how many hours do you expect to admin per week: Varies
Days you are available to admin on: Available most week days, but not friday. Weekends sometimes.
How old are you? 36
Do you have any SS14 experience outside of Wizard’s Den servers, or any SS13 experience? ~80 hours of Frontier, small amount of Delta and Harmony
Do you have prior administration experience (SS13/SS14 experience preferred, please also post a way for us to verify this)? 3 years as adminstrator and 2 years as server owner for a modded Minecraft server, though this no longer exists.
15+ years as clan leader in various MMOs, including Runescape and Warframe. Not really sure what sort of proof would be appropriate here.
No administration experience with SS13/14.
Have you ever been banned from any SS14 or SS13 servers? No.
What are you primarily interested in doing as an admin? In-game events
In-game rule enforcement, especially anti-cheat.
Whitelist approval/denial
What are you least interested in doing as an admin? Ban appeals, though that does not mean I am unwilling. Just that I don’t particularly look forward to them.
Detail Questions
What role do you think game admins serve on our servers?
To ensure that the server is a safe and fun place for everyone. This comes in many forms, from resolving technical issues, to removing problematic players, to creating and running events for the players. However, the most important is communication. To effectively and concisely say what needs to be said to players in a manner that is easily understandable, and to carefully listen to and comprehend what they say in return, so that any actions taken are done so with the fullest information available to all parties.
Why do you want to become an administrator for SS14?
My love for the game, mainly. Playing it is all well and good, and I intend to continue doing so for a long time to come, but I wish to play a more active role in ensuring it is the best game it can be. My coding knowledge is far too poor to be a contributor, so game admin seems the best approach for that.
Additionally, after hearing about the recent influx of cheaters, and the resignation of several admins, I worry there may not be enough manpower to deal with them all. I would like to assist in that regard. I had previously withdrawn an application due to lack of personal free time, but this is no longer the case.
How do you feel about the current roleplay status on the servers?
I am quite happy with it, personally. SS14, and Wizden specifically, has been my first roleplay-heavy game, and it has taken some time to adjust, but it is an experience I’ve absolutely fallen in love with. I’ve heard some say that the RP is not as strong as it was in SS13, but with no frame of reference, this doesn’t really bother me.
Other than banning problematic players, what admin actions do you believe have the biggest positive impact?
As I went into above, communication is a big one. Not all actions are bans. When dealing with any situation, it is essential to do so in a manner that leaves no unnecessary vagueries. To know exactly why an action is being taken in the way that it is, is essential for both player perception of admin action and for proper documentation of events by the admins themselves.
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?
Only a minor one, early on. I was promoted to Command Intern by the captain, and the HOP was helping me find stock paperwork templates in LOOC, and they sent me a link to these on discord. We got bwoinked for metacomming about this.
I obviously don’t know what information the admin at the time had; if they only saw someone say “send it to me on discord” and missed the rest, then checking that everything is above board in an ahelp makes sense.
It did upset me a little bit at the time, but I don’t think there was a problem with the intention, only the way it was framed. Had they asked about the nature of the conversation, and why it needed to be on discord, rather than going straight to accusations of metacomming, I think it would’ve been a much less negative interaction for me, and I would take that approach personally in that position.
Have you ever had a good experience with the game or a game admin? If so, what was it?
While playing captain, I had a game breaking bug where after overdosing on some sort of chemical, my character became permanently bricked in a state where I could talk but not take any other action. I ahelped this, and an admin very quickly assisted me by teleporting me to my room, cloning my character, and swapping my consciousness and items over to the new body.
The speed at which I got assistance was very much appreciated, and made it clear how important having an admin present on a server really is.
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 simply ignore the two players, as they are clearly attempting to fish for an interesting event or ghost role that otherwise wouldn’t appear. If they continue pressing me, I will give them a verbal warning, and time them out if the server becomes closer to full.
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.
The HoS and HoP are very much out of line. A violent coup against the captain is a major violation of space law, and command positions are expected to follow and be a proper example of the law. If they felt the need to replace the captain, it should have been done via a peaceful transition of power vote, and an ahelp if they felt it went beyond a roleplay issue. They will both be noted for this, with an ahelp message explaining the reason and expectation to do better. If they have previously been noted for bad behavior as command, they may be role banned.
The clown’s situation is somewhat more context dependent. If they simply stole the captain’s sword out of the blue and then proceeded to attack them with it, this is clear self antag and they will be warned, and possibly noted for it, depending on how they respond to the warning. If however this is an escalation response, such as the captain having been excessively violent with the clown beforehand and the clown defending himself, then this is a matter for in-game security, not an admin.
The QM and Captain, with the information available, have done nothing explicitly wrong (though again, as above, context needed), though if the use of the cargo shuttle as cover completely stalls cargo’s ability to function for an extended time, it may be worth bringing up to them in an ahelp.
Command roles are expected to be competent, so perhaps losing his sword very easily is something against the captain, but as an isolated incident it is not worth taking action over. If however they very repeatedly lose their restricted items without putting up any resistance, then it may be something to discuss with them.
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 am inclined to side with the statement from several days ago, rather than the one “in the moment”. For two reasons.
Firstly, in the moment, emotions can get the better of any of us, and it is not wise to jump to the most extreme action based on them.
And secondly, this would be an extremely poor player interaction. Even if the duration of the ban would be the same between temp and perma with appeal (of which there is no way to guarantee), it will simply unnecessarily anger the player further, possibly pushing them to either quit the game, or seek some sort of retaliation later for the unfair treatment.
I would also bring this up with the admin encouraging the indefinite ban, and ask why they feel this increased response is appropriate. Depending on their answer, this is something to be brought up with a headmin when one is available.