Simon_The_Miner Moderator Interview

 FlamingoToday at 4:01 PM
Cool. For the record, can you state your ckey for me?

SampleTexToday at 4:01 PM
Simon_the_miner

FlamingoToday at 4:02 PM
Awesome. This interview will be split into two sections. The first will be a series of "scenarios" that you may encounter on-server. Think of it as a roleplaying exercise and do your best to solve them. The second set will be a series of personal questions that pertain more to you as a player and your experiences on and off-server.

The following list is the moderator powers. This is not an exhaustive list, but covers most of the commonly used powers and such that you’ll use, and need for this interview.

1. The ability to use adminghost (aghost), which works exactly like the ghost command, but lets you re-enter your body afterwards. This is mainly used to investigate issues in the round.

2. Access to ingame logs (attack logs, ALL LOOC, ALL deadchat logs, ALL warning and admin logs such as people opening valves or welderbombing).

3. The ability to adminpm (bwoink) people for a chat.

4. The ability to place varying degrees of punishment. Kicks boot a player from the server with an optional message. They are not used often except to get people's attention. Notes are staff only messages on a player’s’ account. Warnings are similar but require the recipient to acknowledge it, and they can see what it was for. Bans are time based (or permanent), and can be from the server or specific jobs. People can see why they were banned. You can also view a record of all players past notes, bans, and warnings.

5. Access to moderator only chat (msay) for communication, as well as access to other chats like AntagOOC and DeadChat (as stated earlier).

6. The ability to WIND players, freezing them from all actions.

Any questions about the powers or interview process before we begin?

SampleTexToday at 4:03 PM
No questions before we begin

FlamingoToday at 4:05 PM
Alright. First question:
You’re sitting in the bar when you notice an announcement over the radio,

“Taylor Swift, Chef, has awoken from cryogenic revival.”

What do you do?

SampleTexToday at 4:09 PM
I check in msay if anyone is available to talk to the person in question as I am already in character. If there are none I'll excuse myself in looc by saying I'll be back in a few minutes. When I get their attention with the adminping I'll let them know about our rules on names and see to getting it changed to something else they would like, provided it doesn't break any other rules

FlamingoToday at 4:10 PM
You shoot them an admin message but they don’t respond. Instead, they start opening up random lockers, picking things up, and throwing them around.

What do you do?

SampleTexToday at 4:12 PM
I give them another admin message asking for a response and warning that I will wind them if they continue to ignore me. If they do continue to disregard my pings I will wind them.

FlamingoToday at 4:20 PM
Sorry had to step away for a moment.

They respond “what do u want?? cant u see im rping stupid”

They continue to wander about for now, but stop throwing things around.

SampleTexToday at 4:22 PM
Your all good.
I wind them and remind them that they are breaking the believable character rule with their name and that it needs to be changed. I'll ask them if there is another name they would like

FlamingoToday at 4:25 PM
They respond, “y r u ruining my rp dumbass”

They say in ooc, “the shit admin won’t let me rp they r abusing me”

What do you do?

SampleTexToday at 4:27 PM
I check their notes for any previous incidents or any existing notes. If there are none I give them a week ban for breaking the believable character rule and for attempting to cause issues in OOC, stating they are welcomed to come back when they are ready to behave. I'll include a link to the rules as well

FlamingoToday at 4:29 PM
Cool. They don’t have any notes so you proceed as described. Anything else you’d like to do with this question before we move on?

SampleTexToday at 4:31 PM
I leave a note on them about ignoring admin pings, needing to be winded for a response, and that they were rude/combative with insults
And that they attempted to cause a scene in ooc

FlamingoToday at 4:31 PM
Sounds good. Ready for the next one?

SampleTexToday at 4:31 PM
Yup

FlamingoToday at 4:32 PM
You’re sitting in the lobby tweaking one of your new characters when suddenly you see a flood of logs. Two characters are attacking each other. A quick check indicates the round type is extended, and neither of them are antagonists. What do you do?

SampleTexToday at 4:35 PM
I observe and jump to them to see where the fighting is going on, making sure it's not in some place like the boxing arena where people will occasionally spar on extended. If it's not then I'll ask in Msay if anyone is already dealing with the two fighting characters and if not, who might have a log of events.

FlamingoToday at 4:39 PM
You jump over to the cargo bay lobby and find an engineer and a cargo technician fighting it out. The engineer has a butterfly knife and is winning the fight. The technician has a tool box, and tools are scattered on the floor.

There’s only one other admin online. They say they don’t know what happened, but they are busy in game.

What do you do?

SampleTexToday at 4:43 PM
I check for any characters that are not participating in the fight to see if I can admin ping them about if they know what's going on. In the mean I check the fighting characters to see if they're is anything that stands out about them to me, such as typical bald assistant appearance or strange flavor texts/names.

FlamingoToday at 4:46 PM
The cargo technician appears to be bald, but nothing else stands out. There’s a spectating player but they say they didn’t see what happened. There’s no notes on the cargo tech, but the engineer had a few about power gaming from a few weeks ago

The cargo tech has gone down by this point. He’s bleeding pretty bad and the engineer is still cutting him with the knife. The engineer is hurt too, but not nearly as bad.

SampleTexToday at 4:50 PM
I send the engineer a quick admin ping asking him what he's doing, and if they continue to attack the cargo technician after the message is sent I'll wind him. I'll also message the cargo technician and ask what caused the fight. After the engineer either stops and responds or is winded I'll ask them why they are attacking the cargo technician, even though they have already won the fight

FlamingoToday at 4:51 PM
The cargo technician seems to have disconnected and doesn’t reply.

The engineer says the cargo tech came up behind him while he was in the cargo lobby and hit him with a loaded toolbox, which knocked him down. He retaliated with a knife and was just so mad he kept hitting him.
He says he thought he was gonna die and is in crit.

SampleTexToday at 4:58 PM
I double check the notes about power gaming to see if any of them mention being overly aggresive. I message the engineer about ahelping the next time they get attacked by someone they believe to be a greytide, and tell them that we can always get his character rejuved if it is a greytide attacking. If the engineer needed to be winded I give him a minute or two to calm down while I leave a note about the situation on the cargo technician and a permanent ban with a note about the incident and linking them to the appeal forums, and will also include a link to the rules. I also leave a note on the engineer stating they were attacked and continued to strike someone while down on an extended round, and if he was winded will include that. The note will detail how the engineer said they were so mad they continued to attack as they thought they would die in character

FlamingoToday at 4:59 PM
He responds “sorry I thought he was a traitor trying to kill me and I didn’t want to die”

His powergaming notes are mostly about arming himself with weapons at the drop of a hat.

SampleTexToday at 5:00 PM
I give him a reminder that the round type was extended and then ask him why he was carrying around the butterfly knife

FlamingoToday at 5:04 PM
He said he didn’t know it was extended, and that he went to check out the warehouse because he was bored and found it in there.

SampleTexToday at 5:06 PM
I ask him why he was in the warehouse to see if a full fledged warning is needed for having the butterfly knife

FlamingoToday at 5:07 PM
He says he didn’t have anything to do so he just went to check it for cool stuff since cargo hadn’t sorted it.

SampleTexToday at 5:10 PM
I tell him that I am going to give him a warning about power gaming, as being bored enough to go into the cargowarehouse isn't a good reason to be carrying a butterfly knife around, and give him a reminder it's a good idea to always check the round type before joining

FlamingoToday at 5:11 PM
He says “but I thought breaking into the warehouse was an in character issue. I just found the butterfly knife and thought it was cool, so I kept it.”

SampleTexToday at 5:13 PM
I inform him that there are recent notes about previous power gaming issues with grabbing weapons for any excuse, and tell him he is always allowed to visit the forums after the round if he believes the warning to be unfair

FlamingoToday at 5:16 PM
He says “okay thanks”

Anything else for this ticket you’d like to do?

SampleTexToday at 5:16 PM
I thank him for his time and for cooperating with me and tell him to have a good rest of his round

FlamingoToday at 5:18 PM
Sweet. Let’s do one more of these scenario questions and then we’ll move onto the personal questions section.

You’re ingame standing outside the medbay lobby when suddenly a mech walks up to you and shoots you until you’re dead. What do you do?

SampleTexToday at 5:19 PM
I double check the round type and the antag status of the mechs pilot, as well as check for any ahelps about the mech rolling in. I also see who is piloting the mech in an attempt to determine if there was any prior build up to the attack

FlamingoToday at 5:20 PM
The mech appeared to have been a gygax model. The character is definitely an antagonistic, as well as the roboticist. The round is at about 1:40. There’s no ahelps about the mech, but he appears to be shooting someone else now.

SampleTexToday at 5:22 PM
I tell the other staff in Msay about the mech attacking people seemingly without any build up, and mention that the roboticist piloting it is in fact an antag. I then ask if someone else wants to handle the situation to avoid any possible bias or If they would prefer I do it
I do include that they attacked me wordlessly

FlamingoToday at 5:28 PM
For the purposes of this exercise, all of the other admins are afk :) can’t have it be too easy.

The mech has killed a third person now. At this point the ahelps start flooding in.

“This mech just killed three people??”

“Woah the roboticist is killing everyone”

“help”

What do you do?

SampleTexToday at 5:30 PM
I message the roboticist about what they are doing and why they have murdered several people without any prior rp. If they don't stop I wind them

FlamingoToday at 5:31 PM
He stops shooting and responds “um im traitor?”

SampleTexToday at 5:32 PM
I respond telling him that while he is allowed to kill people as a traitor, he can't just walk up and wordlessly kill people. I then ask him if there was anything he has done before hand in terms of rp

FlamingoToday at 5:34 PM
He says “i make the mech and talk to miner”

SampleTexToday at 5:34 PM
I ask him if there was anything that he did that would indicate or give the idea to other people he might attack with the mech

FlamingoToday at 5:36 PM
He says “well i shoot at them I thought that’s what I do as traitor”

SampleTexToday at 5:37 PM
I check him for any player notes and tell him that antags are expected to provide role-play and build up before doing things like killing people.

FlamingoToday at 5:38 PM
he doesn’t have any notes. he says “ok sorry i am new”

SampleTexToday at 5:40 PM
I leave a note on him and tell him that he needs to provide build up the next time he gets traitor or some other antag. I also recommend that he turn off antag roles for the time being while getting settled into our server.

FlamingoToday at 5:41 PM
Sounds good. Anything else you’d like to do for this one?

SampleTexToday at 5:42 PM
Respond to the existing ahelps telling them that I spoke with the roboticist about build up and will keep an eye on them

FlamingoToday at 5:45 PM
Perfect. Ready to move onto the personal questions?

SampleTexToday at 5:51 PM
Yes I am, sorry was grabbing something to eat

FlamingoToday at 5:56 PM
No worries. Let’s begin. This should go a little faster than the scenario questions. Honestly is encouraged, as is longer-form responses.

What prompted you to apply for a moderator position? What qualities do you feel you possess that make you stand out from the other applicants?

SampleTexToday at 6:01 PM
While I don't talk a lot on the discord server, as things tend to be too busy in my opinion for holding much of a conversation, favoring dms if I wish to speak with others, I do lurk it quite frequently and saw the ping about mod applications being open. I had recently thought about trying to find some way to assist the server and luck would have it that mod applications opened up a day or two later. I love the server, and I want others to be able to enjoy spending time on it. I already have a lot of fond memories playing ss13 with touching moments, intense conflict, and character development even though I've only been playing for a year and a half.
As for what makes me stand out, being willing to ask for help from the other staff and acknowledge my limits might be the biggest things going for me, otherwise it just might be my own unique love for the game and my focus on things being enjoyable for the others on the server

FlamingoToday at 6:04 PM
Nice. Let’s move onto something a little different.

You’ve expressed your love and enjoyment of the game. Being a moderator is not always easy. It involves a lot of work, some of it unpleasant. Sometimes you need to punish someone you might consider a friend (which can also sometimes lead to losing them as a friend), punishing those who’s behavior continues to deteriorate, even if they want to get better, or just dealing with generally unpleasant people. This can ruin the game for some. Is this something you’d be willing to potentially put yourself through in order to moderate?

SampleTexToday at 6:09 PM
Yes, I am fully willing to put myself though such things as something's you just need to get a little (emotionally) dirty for the greater good of server. I am unfortunately familiar with the concept of friends being lost and do understand how to handle such situations. I am willing to punish a player who's trying their hardest but still doing worse than before because sometimes old habits die hard, a break from the game might be the chance to a new view and path to betterment, or just give them some input myself if they ask for it on how they can improve things. I understand the risk I take in losing my enjoyment of the game by becoming a moderator

FlamingoToday at 6:13 PM
Cool. Of course if you find it is ruining the enjoyment for you (provided your application moves forward obviously), there is no shame in retiring or rescinding.

Let’s do one or two more questions.

If you could change one thing in staff (or several if you’re feeling overachieving/have more things you feel could be improved), what would it be? How do you feel it would help to change this thing?

SampleTexToday at 6:19 PM
I would propose the idea of a player representative, as a way for players to pick and choose who they believe bests vocalizes their opinions and ideas on things like lore changes, general updates, and rules. I know we don't have too many issues with that at the moment, but the aurora has grown a bit since I first played the server a year and a half back, and if it gets large enough a single representative or several of them might make the servers voice a little more organized. Basically a staff member elected by the players and without the power of a mod
The other would be finding ways to encourage more people to be active on the forums. They can be quiet sometimes and there have been some great ideas or discussions on them

FlamingoToday at 6:22 PM
Cool. You’ve been around for quite some time now. How has your perspective of the server and community shifted since the beginning of your time here until now?

SampleTexToday at 6:25 PM
At first it was very confusing, I didn't get some of the jokes since I was new to the server and the game, but it also grabbed my attention. Outside those first few days, my view on the community hasn't shifted too much outside of being something I simply participated in to something I want to contribute to. I've always enjoyed playing the aurora, and that enjoyment has only really grown
It's the community that has contributed the most to me in terms of friendships and getting to meet new faces

FlamingoToday at 6:27 PM
Cool. I only have one more question then.

Are you alright with this interview being posted to your application?

SampleTexToday at 6:27 PM
I am totally ok with it being posted, it's only fair the community gets to see what I believe