In-Game Username: mattyb007
Previous In-Game Names: MattyB007
Age (13+): 16
Timezone / Country: GMT (+00:00) / England

Information

What times are you active on the server (your timezone)?:
I can easily be contacted throughout the day through the forums or Skype, Discord etc. However, the times I usually spend online in-game are as follows:

Monday - Thursday: 4PM - 10:30PM
Friday: 4PM - 3AM
Saturday: 12PM - 3AM
Sunday: 12PM - 11PM

Note that these times are not times that I will be online, but more a guide to the rough time frame I will be able to contribute the hours later mentioned. These times will also vary depending on activities I may do throughout the week.

How many hours can you contribute each day to the network?:
Roughly, I’d be able to contribute 4 to 6 hours a day on a weekday, and surplus of 7 hours a day at the weekend. That all depends on activities, school, etc; For a more accurate representation of the length and time to the hours I’d be able to contribute, you can view the table I left above above.

Have you donated? If so what rank are you?:
Yes, I have donated. I’ve purchased Obsidian on OPPrison, Legend rank on both Skyblock Water and Skyblock Fire, and multiple amounts of crate keys, power boosts, and also a few ranks, keys, and upgrades for in game currency.

Have you ever been punished or banned on LemonCloud? If so, why - and why should this not affect your chances?
Yes, I have been banned before on LemonCloud.
I have been banned for “Hacking | LAC”, which was later overturned. I have also been banned on other occasions, however my punishment history is no longer visible so I’m unable to check the exact punishment reason. I don’t believe that this should affect my chances because I have since staffed here on LemonCloud, and have proved that I’ve changed. I am much more mature, and know not to do things that I would’ve previously done and got banned for.

Do you frequently use our TeamSpeak and have a working microphone?
Yes

Other Information

How many staff applications have you made before?
This is my third application.

Do you have any previous experience with moderation on servers?
Yes, I have extensive experiences moderating a multitude of servers. Here’s a list of each one, and what I’ve learnt:

Before I describe my experience on this server, I decided not to name the server for private reasons. If it’s necessary I’d be happy to explain the reasoning to any staff member who wishes to know.
The server had roughly 75 players on at all times. I was told about the server through a friend, who introduced me to the owner. After about a week of enjoying the server and loving the gameplay, I was offered the moderator position by the owner. I decided to take the offer, and I was mentored by one of the Admins of the server. He taught me almost everything I know to this day about staffing Minecraft servers, and most of the principles I stand by today were the same ones he stood by. This was the first time I’d ever staffed a server, and I loved it. I was later on promoted to Senior Moderator, where I stayed for roughly three months. After the administrators resigned, the rank was depreciated and I was the highest ranked staff member. I dealt with staff reports, ban appeals for ex-staff, and general forums work with full access to the admin panel (the server also used XenForo’s forum software). I decided to resign from the server as the owner had little to no money to invest into it, and the playerbase slowly decreased. Along with that, the quality of the other staff members lowered as well.

After resigning from my position there, I decided to do some research into creating a server myself. A friend of mine happened to message me on skype telling me he was working on a server and asked if I wanted to help him out with it. The server never ended up taking off. After that, I was asked by a few other server owners to help them with management, however, I never ended up taking their offers as I was no longer interested in ownership or management of a server.

I also have experience, although not much, here at LemonCloud. In the short amount of time that I staffed here, I became familiar with the rules, and the standards expected here. Although the server has recently undergone a few changed with the management of the server, I believe the standards are of a similar level. I also strengthened my knowledge of XenForo forum commands / features, and staff commands in game.

Do you understand that this is a difficult role with a lot of pressure?
Yes, I do understand that there is a lot of pressure in this role. Dealing with over 1000 players at once can be stressful.

Why should we choose you as staff over somebody else?
I believe I have various strengths that would deem me a better helper than other applicants, which I will list below:

Professionalism
I believe Professionalism is paramount in a great staff member. However, I believe there are points where someone can become too professional. I consider myself to be a professional individual - I use correct grammar when appropriate and present myself appropriately in the public eye. However, I know when to be professional, and when to treat players as players rather than people I’m simply serving for. From past experience, I know that players love interaction with staff as opposed to being treated as ‘just a player’. While other applicants may well be professional, I believe my experience and knowledge of communities I’ve been involved in similar to here makes me a better applicant than those with less understanding.

Activity
I’m extremely active. As you can see by the times mentioned in my application, I’m available to be online for an extensive amount of hours. However, it’s not just the amount of time that I can spend on LemonCloud that I believe would make me a better staff member. The times I’m most frequently online there’s a lack of staff available - a large portion of the staff members are offline due to time zone differences. By no means is this the fault of the staff members.

Respectful and Respectable
I like to think that I present myself as a respectable person. If I were to be accepted I wouldn’t look down on players, and I wouldn’t expect to be looked up to. I believe all members of the community are equal no matter their rank. However, in my opinion, being respectful goes further than just treating people fairly. I believe to be truly respectful you must be kind, understanding and helpful. I believe I am all of these.

Unbiased
In my opinion, the most important trait of a good staff member. From past experience, I know that players hate staff members who seem to favour their friends and/or are stricter against players they dislike. My relationship with other players does not determine the severity of punishment I give them. I punish players based on the rules they violate and nothing else. There have been numerous occasions in the past where I have had to hand fairly severe punishments to people I would consider friends.

Dependability
As a staff member I feel that you need to be someone who players can depend on, and someone that players aren’t afraid to message. If players feel uncomfortable messaging staff members, then, in my opinion, they’re not doing their job correctly. I believe I’m definitely a person players would feel comfortable talking to. I do my best to reply to every single message and be reliable.

Experience
Although I’ve mentioned it throughout my application, I felt as though it’d be important to mention it on its own. I’ve had a lot of experience staffing and running Minecraft servers. I know the ins and outs of creating a server and most things to do with a server. I know the majority of the commands that would be of use to me in a staff position. But my experience with moderation positions doesn’t stop at Minecraft. I’ve had (although somewhat small) roles of moderation in real life too. For example, I managed to get a small amount of work experience helping my school with things such as managing their website, and other technicalities. That being said, I don’t know everything. There’s bound to be places that I won’t know certain commands or aspects of the gameplay. However, I’m a fast learner. I’ll be able to pick up anything important in a short amount of time.

Teamwork
Both in real life and online, there have been many cases where teamwork has been essential to a task our team had to complete, or maybe problem solving as a team. I can definitely work effectively as a team - I’m open to the opinions of the people around me, and I’ll be happy to offer an opinion of my own when I have one.

Patience
The majority of the servers I’ve worked for in the past (including here) were child friendly servers, and attracted a relatively young player base. I was often asked simple questions where a lot of people would get frustrated easily and not respond or respond aggressively. I learnt to remain patient and be understanding of these people. I believe this will be of great use to me in the role I’m applying for here. However, circumstances like those are direct applications of the lessons I learnt in the past. The lessons I learnt can be applied to a wide range of situations which may occur being a staff member.

Understanding
I have a great understanding of the general structure of LemonCloud and it’s gamemodes. Having played LemonCloud for over a year, and having staffed for 4 months of that year or so, I have both an understanding of the staff system / rules, and the server itself, allowing me to better answer some users’ questions rather than a staff member who may not have played for as long.