We, the administrative and moderation staff of the Unbound Travels community, adhere to a set of guidelines and follow a work philosophy that I will detail below. All staff are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that follows the contents of this post to the best of their abilities.

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[SIZE=4]Administrative Philosophy[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Conduct During Intervention[/SIZE]

The core root of every interaction from an administrative perspective with players is [I]understanding[/I]. Everything that is communicated between a player and a member of the team during an investigation or whilst an issue is being investigated should be for the purpose of furthering the understanding of both sides. For the staff member, this is typically the understanding of the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws"]five Ws[/URL] of the situation. For the player, this is typically the understanding of how other players involved were behaving, what the staff member is doing and how the situation is going to be resolved.

Staff are expected to do their absolute best to ensure that the reasoning behind any action they take that may be detrimental to a player, is understood as well as possible by the players in question. Empathy is, above all else, core to administrative interactions: understanding what led to a player doing what they did and attempting to have that player understand what may be wrong about their actions is paramount. No positive progress is made by swift, abrasive or uninformed action- this simply leads to an upset and confused player who may have not required whatever action has been taken in the first place.

It is absolutely required that situations that are potentially rule-breaking and are either rapidly escalating or indicate the potential of rapid escalation, are addressed as quickly as possible. There are multiple tools available to prevent situations from further exacerbating- the least of these is the ability to freeze. As a member of the team, you have the authority to instruct players to cease IC conduct for a brief period of time whilst you discuss what has been happening over LOOC or adminhelps with the players involved- it is far preferable to break RP for two minutes whilst you guide players in a direction that better adheres to sensible roleplay, than it is to conduct a twenty minute flow-breaking investigation later on.

Occasionally, staff members will run across players whom indicate their sole purpose on the server is to distress other players or staff members. Whilst these players may cause a great deal of frustration, it is equally as important in their cases that correct procedure and conduct is followed. Attempt to understand why the player feels the way they do towards the server, then deal with them in the manner that their actions call for- typically, a permanent ban.

[SIZE=3]Expanding Player Experiences[/SIZE]

A good knowledge of the tools available to you, dependent on your position within the team, will allow you to make a fair and accurate judgement of when you should intervene to assist players in enjoying their experience as possible. For example, subtle messaging (SM) a player brings up a message reading "[I]You hear a voice in your head[/I]... raw text goes here" in exactly that format. This is suitable for responding to prayers, but it is not suitable for randomly messaging players during a round- this can quickly break immersion and confuse players, especially when the contained messages are nonsensical.

Spawning items for players should generally be restricted to aesthetic items that it is assumed the character could begin the shift with, equipment that the character should sensibly possess given their position but has somehow- through misfortune or mistake- failed to acquire, or finally, items that play a direct involvement in an event. Spawning a player a rubber ducky belt may be funny but is rather insensate in the grand scheme of the ongoing roleplay.

There is absolutely no harm in enhancing the experience in small ways for players when you can- but larger-scale intervention- such as IC rejuvenations, granting players specific verbs/powers, giving players certain information via narrations and SM- should generally be left to Primary Admins and above. This allows for these members of staff to set a precedent for how far a certain canon or interaction should be pushed with the player in question and allows for them to ensure that a mistake is not made.

As a side-note, it is absolutely encouraged for any member of staff to issue positive feedback whenever they feel it is appropriate. Players often perceive any staff member as a superior authority, regardless of the situation at hand- praise from 'above' is an absolutely wonderful feeling.

[SIZE=3]Dealing With Conflicts/Complaints[/SIZE]

Situations may occasionally arise where players feel the need to voice their displeasure with the server in LOOC, OOC or adminhelps. This is incredibly frustrating and often not constructive in the slightest, as the player is typically responding to an administrative action that did not end on a particularly high note for them. When this happens, members of staff that are not previously involved in the situation should do their best to remove the conversation from the public mediums (OOC channels) and instead attempt to explore why the player feels the way they do. If their issues with the server can be condensed down to valid points then we stand to actually learn something.

Similarly, staff may happen to disagree over how situations are handled or other such matters. If the disagreement cannot be resolved in a civil and swift manner over the communication channels available ingame, it should be taken out of staff communication and presented before a higher authority on the team so that an impartial participant can moderate the conversation between the disagreeing parties. Negative conduct in MSAY is absolutely destructive towards the environment we strive to create and can easily put off other staff members.

Logs may need to be investigated when an issue is particularly complex. This can lead to frustrating delays in the investigation of such issues, as searching through the server logs can be a time-consuming task. However, this generally leads to a fair and accurate conclusion of the situation, as all in-game conduct can be investigated via use of the logs. Players and staff are well within their right to ask for an investigation into logs if they feel an issue may be influenced by the content within the logs.

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[SIZE=4]Administrative Guidelines[/SIZE]

[LIST]
[*]Staff are expected to remain polite and professional whilst investigating issues and responding to ahelps over issues. Frivolous conduct during an investigation frustrates players and should be avoided.
[*]Any action or conversation occurring during an investigation should be for the purpose of deepening understanding on both sides.
[*]Handling your own situation as a staff member or using your access to administrative powers to benefit yourself in any way, shape or form is extreme misconduct.
[*]If you are the only member of staff online and run into an issue involving yourself, request assistance over the Skype chat and do your best to handle the situation impartially in the meantime.
[*]Situations should be addressed as efficiently as possible. There is no excuse for witnessing a developing issue and failing to respond in time when it is clearly evident that the problem is increasing with each passing moment.
[*]Unasked-for interference in roleplay, when there is no ongoing violating of sensibility or rules, should be avoided. This includes pointless subtle messages.
[*]Complaints and disagreements should be escalated to the appropriate authority and should never be handled by the disagreeing parties.
[*]Staff are required to ensure that other staff adhere to the guidelines presented here. If a staff member feels that a communication between a player and another member of the team is not being correctly handled, they may request that the other staff member takes a step back from the situation.
[*]Above all else, staff should understand that their position is not a right. It is an asked-for and earned privilege. Failing to correctly fulfill the duties of your role will lead to informal and formal warnings, with eventual demotion and/or removal.
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Any questions on the content of this post will be answered as soon as possible. The contents of this post may change to reflect internal discussions and shifts in our approach- players and staff will be updated if this occurs.