ParallaxNZ48 (RecallSingularity / tom-leys) Admin Application

In-game Username: ParallaxNZ48
Discord username: RecallSingularity
Git username: tom-leys
Characters you play: Darcey Koster
How long have you been playing SS13 or SS14? 51 Hours 53 Minutes on LIzard, a tiny bit more on other servers and a bunch in local dev.

How many hours are you available per day: I’m generally available 8am - 5pm NZDT which is +12 GMT. Much of that is when America is asleep.
Days you are available on: Every Day

Prior administration experience (SS13 experience recommended). Please also post a way for us to verify this:

Not much Admin experience, no SS13 or SS14 experience.
Ran the online web sensor company GridSpy    https://gridspy.com/

  • A bunch of technical administrative tasks, running servers, writing and handling web back-ends and customer support.
    Moderate the active online Discord for Recall Singularity (my own computer game in development, currently paused)
    Have you been banned from our game servers or SS13 servers before?

No, Never banned.

This is the more essay-y part of the application, you should answer the following questions in detail, so we can get a better idea of how you’d approach adminning.

What role do you think game admins serve on our servers?

Admins enforce the unwritten rules and complex emergent human rules that occur during each round. Exploits, Self Antag, Communication related exploits are near-impossible to solve without a human in the loop. Admins take on that task. They are like Referees at a match, everyone is often angry at them but the game doesn’t work without them. They also help solve issues too complex or too mundane for other players to take them on. They are a guiding hand for new players and a shield against griefers.

Admins also make the game far richer by using their creative skills and the tools the game gives them to create scenarios or get the game back on track when automated systems to do that don’t exist or are not sufficient. They resolve various stuck game issues like when the command is destroyed by a nukie group who are unable to conclusively win and the players are stuck in limbo.

Admins are the main communication channel between the player-base at large and the development team who is working on SS14, gathering an overview of insights from entire matches where individuals may be stuck in the limits of their own personal role. They can thus serve as a useful knowledgebase for the development team.

How do you feel about the current roleplay status on the server?

My experience is mostly on Lizard, where I feel like people are civil and respect their roles within an hourlong shift. Gameplay at the moment is mostly mechanics driven, with some idle chitchat but mostly people are just trying to do their job. I’m personally very mechanics driven, so I gravitate towards roles like Atmospheric Engineer where I am spending time making Frezon, dealing with fires and spacing.

Why do you want to become an administrator for SS14?

Basically I want to gain insights to improve the game’s code. These include the in-game events and the Game Director / Dynamic system. They also might include quality of life improvements for administrators.
I’ve found real joy jumping into the nuts and bolts of how events trigger and which events should be selected to run at a given time to tell an interesting story on the station. I’ve got big ideas on how to make long sessions possible and fun to play where people repair and cooperate on the station and overcome personnel issues as players die or leave the server over hours of play.

The administrative and debug tools allow admins (and thus a coder like me) to gain a lot more insight into what is going on in code while the game is running. I’m hoping to be able to more quickly tune new systems to suit the server and players by seeing the systems from an administrator’s perspective.

Thanks for considering my application.

-Tom

I’m concerned I cannot commit to be active enough on the server to justify being an admin.

We’ve decided not to accept this application at this time. We are primarily in need of administrators to moderate the game. While we don’t doubt that you would be able to obtain useful information to test commits utilizing the tooling on a live server, we require moderators. Feel free to apply again in the future.

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