In-game Username: thebossdude22
Discord username: Thebossdude22
Characters you play: Mundey Laurie
On average, how many hours do you expect to admin per week: I would say about 12 hours a week, averaged.
Days you are available to admin on: Any day of the week is available to me. Most active during the late shift.
How old are you? 22
Do you have any SS14 experience outside of Wizard’s Den servers, or any SS13 experience? I gave SS13 an honest try, but it was too outdated and clunky for me. I’ve spent my SS14 time nearly exclusively on 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 no major administration experience, but I have helped manage small discord communities previously.
Have you ever been banned from any SS14 or SS13 servers? To my knowledge, no.
Admins have the ability to perform various tasks which are not available to the average player. An incomplete list of these tasks is: in-game rule enforcement, in-game events, ban appeals, and out-of-game rule enforcement through things like replay/log reviews in response to player reports. With these, and any other tasks you’re aware of in mind, answer the following two questions.
What are you primarily interested in doing as an admin? I’m most interested in managing ahelps and assisting players with the odd issues.
What are you least interested in doing as an admin? I think large-scale admin events would be the least interesting part for me. I find the more sporadic or small silly things is what makes the game interesting, and this extends to the admin stuff.
_ 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?
The admins serve many differing roles in the servers. Removing bad actors, adding RP elements to improve the experience, and being available to assist players with minor issues are just some of what admins handle. Ultimately, the point of SS14 is to have an enjoyable Roleplaying experience, and the admins are there to ensure that is what happens, be it fun or not.
Why do you want to become an administrator for SS14?
Frankly, I love this game, and its community is unlike any other I’ve found. I’ve been enjoying the gameplay less recently, but I’ve gotten more interested in the game anyway. I have no coding capabilities, so the best way I can give back to this amazing community is by being an admin. I want to ensure the people I’ve come to know on the servers have the best experience they can.
How do you feel about the current roleplay status on the servers?
I cannot speak for HRP, as I’ve never been interested in it personally, but I think the roleplay levels are generally acceptable. The only real issue I’ve seen with the roleplay levels is that it tends to degrade at high population. I’ve seen this a little in MRP, for what little I’ve played MRP, but LRP suffers quite a bit when the population gets over 65. There is too much chaos when it gets to the point, and without space law, a good portion of people lose interest in their selected role. This is especially prevalent in the more RP-focused roles, like service and security. Thankfully command doesn’t suffer from this quite as much, but I know the feeling of being a command member and being unable to do your job because everyone else in your department just drops what they are doing, ignores you, and valid hunts a syndicate in maints.
Other than banning problematic players, what admin actions do you believe have the biggest positive impact?
The most positive impact admins have is that they ensure a great experience for newer players. When a new player picks up the game for the first time, their worries should be exclusively on learning and enjoying the game. Beyond handling bad actors, the most positive impact an admin can have is being approachable to new players when they have questions regarding the game. New players won’t know where to look for answers regardless of if they exist, so simply helping them along provides so much for the newer players, no matter how small of an act it seems.
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 can’t say I’ve ever had a truly negative or unfair admin experience. Sometimes the admins get a little heated during busy rounds, which can be avoided fairly easily by remembering to take a break. Beyond that, I’ve had nothing but fairly positive experiences.
Have you ever had a good experience with the game or a game admin? If so, what was it?
I’ve had a few good moments with admins. The one that sticks out perhaps the most for me was back when I basically first started playing, I ahelped looking for assistance with something minor while no one else was available to teach me, and they pointed me towards the guidebook, which I didn’t know existed at the time. It’s a really simple thing, but for new players, like I was at the time, it made a world of difference in my experience.
The following are scenarios, respond with how you would handle each as an administrator. Respond with the assumption that you are an administrator with full access to the admin tools, and that you have all the knowledge needed to use these tools. Scenarios intentionally leave out information so that you can describe how different details would affect your response. Respond in detail, explain the reasons behind decisions you make and describe any assumptions you are making. When you need to make an assumption, it is preferred for you to describe how different assumptions would affect your actions.
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”.
First and foremost, nothing until the traitors are at least chosen. After that, I’d be willing to do something minor for the ghosts, like making a vendomat sentient or something if requested. If I’m going to do anything serious, I would want the approval of the majority of other admins on the server. In the situation where I am the sole admin, I would refrain from anything special at this level of population, as I would rather be available for ahelps. This keeps it fair for everyone, as those who chose normal gameplay aren’t being copped out of something special.
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 first step I would take here is to investigate the reasoning behind the coup. Given that it’s LRP, Space law doesn’t apply, but the chain of command still exists and should be respected to a degree. If the Head of Security attempts to coup the Captain without any reason, I’d say it’s worthy of a strong warning at minimum or a short role ban at worst, depending on their record of previous offenses. This would also apply to the Head of Personnel, with more scrutiny or leeway provided depending on how the RP aspects play out. In the situation where the captain has done something seriously wrong, the same would also apply to them, depending on the severity of said actions. The Quartermaster ultimately has no major part in the situation beyond protecting their commanding officer. Regardless of the Captain’s actions or not, they have not provoked the situation to a serious degree. Without direct intervention by Central Command, their actions could only be scrutinized in a situation where they are actively assisting the captain in being a bad actor. For the clown, ultimately it boils down to what they do with their stolen item. If they are playing a prank and return the item when prompted, I’ll let the players roleplay it out. Should the clown actively refrain from returning the sword or use it to self antag, they will be punished accordingly.
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.
Given that its hard to have a general consensus with only three people, I would see if I can’t get a larger majority response to the situation. In the case I cannot, I would deliver the minimum majority opinion of a temporary ban as punishment for the player, with the duration at my discretion. After the punishment is handled, I would consult with a headmin as soon as possible to affirm a proper response to the situation for future reference. It would be unfair to hand out a permanent punishment to a player in the situation where the punishment for said issue isn’t clearly defined nor has an agreed upon consensus.