Cnaym Moderator Interview

FlamingoToday at 12:36 PM
Perfect. For the record, can you post your ckey for me?

CnaymToday at 12:36 PM
Cnaym

FlamingoToday at 12:37 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. Do you have any questions before we begin?

CnaymToday at 12:38 PM
None right now.

FlamingoToday at 12:38 PM
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 moderator powers before we begin?

CnaymToday at 12:40 PM
I did not get a warning yet. I take it that you have to accept them after reading it before further playing on the server (Joining a new round)?

FlamingoToday at 12:45 PM
You can actually still play. It would be more useful if it worked the way you describe, but it does say if it's been acknowledged or not.

CnaymToday at 12:46 PM
Okay meaning if somebody tells me they have not read it yet durring an ongoing round for example, i can check if the stamped it in a way. Good to know, thank you. That was the only thing i had.

FlamingoToday at 12:49 PM
Yup, exactly. Though in-game, not reading warnings is no excuse for breaking rules, and will still lead to standard punishment escalation.

CnaymToday at 12:50 PM
The same as with not reading the rules and breaking them. Makes sense to me.

FlamingoToday at 12:51 PM
Yup! Any last questions before we dive in?

CnaymToday at 12:52 PM
None right now. Good to go from my side.

FlamingoToday at 12:53 PM
Excellent. Let's begin.

You're playing ingame when you notice an announcement over the radio.

Barrack Obama, Corporate Reporter, has awoken from cryogenic revival!

What do you do?

CnaymToday at 12:55 PM
I adminpm them and let them know that his character name is a reference to a well known figure from our current timeline and send a link to our server rules, asking if they have read them. I suggest to guide them to the cryo pods to create a character with a different name.

FlamingoToday at 1:00 PM
They don't seem to respond, just wandering about, opening emergency lockers, etc.

CnaymToday at 1:02 PM
I check their records to see if it is a new player or  if there are any notes about this kind of behaviour. After a minute i wind them and send another adminpm advising them to respon to it by clicking on my name and that failure to do so may result in removal from the round since the character is not in accordance to our server rules.

FlamingoToday at 1:07 PM
They don't have any notes on their record, and their account appears to be 0 days old. They have picked up a toolbox and are hitting themselves.

CnaymToday at 1:11 PM
Can they still do that if i did wind them? Just going with it i wind them again to stop them from disturbing the current round any more. I add a note to their records about the incident and save the log of my interaction with them. I would then kick them with a note detailing the reason for that. Asking a nearby crewmember to move them to cryo or do it myself if nobody is nearby. If there are other moderators online i  let them know  in msay and keep an eye out for the player rejoining with the same character or another one that violates our rules.

FlamingoToday at 1:12 PM
Ah I missed that you winded them. Apologies. That will be good, then!

Ready for the next question?

CnaymToday at 1:12 PM
Ready.

FlamingoToday at 1:16 PM
Cool. You are sitting in the lobby when you notice a flood of attack logs. It's a round of mercenary and shooting has broken out in the cargo bay.

The mercenaries have entered through the windows in the cargo bay without breaching, and are fighting what appears to be the quartermaster, armed with a shotgun. He's winning, and several members of the mercenary team are already injured or dead.

A bunch of ahelps come in:

"This dude is validhunting?"

"Help"

"The quartermaster is fighting the mercenaries."

What do you do?

CnaymToday at 1:19 PM
I adminpm the quartermaster asking why he has engaged the mercenaries with a shotgun on first contact and why he is having a loaded shotgun on him. I check the notes on him and the mercenaries seeing if something indicates to past problems and to get  a complete picture. I check the attack logs to figure out who  started the fight and if proper escalation was in place before the bullets took over the talking, while waiting for the QM to respond to my questions.

FlamingoToday at 1:21 PM
They appear to be using the blind corner in the cargo bay lift to their advantage. Popping out and shooting the mercenaries with slugs before popping back in. He stops for a moment and replies "hold on i am mid fight"
The mercenaries notes are pretty much just a random assortment of things.

The quartermaster has two entries. A note about being overly-aggressive IC to the point of unreasonable, and a warning about beating a traitor to death with his bare hands when the traitor pulled a gun on him

CnaymToday at 1:26 PM
I let the other ahelps know that i'm on it and to stop fighting for now as i wind the QM for a talk. I inform him  about the fact that the fight is on hold now. And let him know  about the rule that powergaming is a no go. I ask him again to explain why he is having a loaded shotgun, fighting a full team of mercs with lethals as a lone none combat focused character.

FlamingoToday at 1:28 PM
he responds "waht the fuck dude i was wining!"

then says "i found the gun in the warehouse and heard glass being taken apart when i went upstairs. i saw the traitors and went downstairs to hack the lathe and make slugs since they had armor. i went back upstairs to defend my department. my character was a space marine before but retired to a desk job when he got injured so he knows how to fight"
he says "i didnt try to kill them all i just wanted to scare them off but htye just walked straight at me from the windows"

CnaymToday at 1:35 PM
I ask him if at any point he  informed security that there are intruders and why he placed fending them off over getting his people out by blocking the elevator for example. I let him know that while a background for  the character can suggest  prior combat experience this would be very much suicide and makes no sense from an IC perspective. I then inform him that to scare of people a none lethal solution would have worked better since using lethals stopped all forms of  RP and forced both sides to  focus on combat. I also let them know that hacking the autolathe to be more efficent against armored targets makes no sense if the concept was to scare them of. Advising him to read the server rules again and focus on proper escalation in the future. I add a note about what happened during this round, the comment that he "was winning" which i find very problematic and that he  has been informed about his error and wait for a response from his side.

FlamingoToday at 1:38 PM
he says "what do you mean?? if i shoot at them with regular shells then they won't be scared since it does no damage. i stayed because i had a good position in the elevator to retreat if needed. i didn't tell security but i had to go fast if i wanted to stop them before they got in. i was going to after."

CnaymToday at 1:45 PM
I let him know that i consider his actions as powergaming since he placed himself in danger to win, did not want the fight to stop since he was "winning" and that there are notes suggesting that this has been a problem in the past. I inform him that his playstyle forces me to a place a warning on him and that further offences may lead to more actions to be taken against him. I strongly advise him to read the rules again and if he feels treated unfairly to file a staff complaint. I let the other moderators know in msay and tell the mercs that it has been dealed with. I tell the QM player to retreat for now and let the mercs catch a breath trying to mitigate the damage already done by him.  I close the ticket and unwind him, keeping an eye on him to make sure he follows through.

FlamingoToday at 1:46 PM
he says "okay" and does so. anything else you'd like to do for this one?

CnaymToday at 1:49 PM
Add to his note that he complied with the staff and showed no hostility toward me. Ask other moderators or admins about steps to further reduce the damage done to the merc team or if there is a standard way we go about this. Close their tickets letting them know that the situation is resolved, telling them to enjoy the rest of the round.

FlamingoToday at 1:51 PM
an admin rejuv's the mercs to let them have a re-do. we'll move onto the next one!

You're sitting in the lobby when you suddenly get a flood of attack logs. Two people are fighting eachother. Neither is an antag. Ghosting, you jump over and see an engineer and a cargo tech going at it with a butterfly knife and crowbar respectively.

What do you do?

CnaymToday at 1:54 PM
I wind and adminpm both to ask what happened, getting the situation from their perspectives. I take a look at the logs, searching for who started it and if proper escalation was in place. Seeing as both used lethal means to deal with the other party i focus on who started and if weapons have been used to begin with or if they started using them after the fight started.

FlamingoToday at 1:56 PM
the cargo tech says that the engineer was being a dick so he shoved him over, and then the engineer attacked him so he pulled out a crowbar from his pocket to defend himself, but the engineer had a knife.

the engineer says the cargo tech was refusing to put in an order and then shoved him, so he punched him back, but the cargo tech pulled out a crowbar and started attacking him, so he pulled out his boot knife.

the logs pretty much confirm this, but you have no chatlogs because you were in the lobby. only attack logs.

CnaymToday at 2:01 PM
I let both parties know that a fight to the death over a simple order is highly unrealistic and inform the cargo tech that a retreat into his department and letting security know would be a better idea to go about this then drawing a weapon. I ask the engineer why he felt the need to respond with contraband and why he had it on him. Letting him know that responding with a crowbar himself would have been far less problematic. I use my health hud as ghost to check if either one is dying right now or if we can continue our talk for now. While i wait for a response from both  sides a check their notes to get a feel if something like this has happened in the past.

FlamingoToday at 2:04 PM
the cargo tech says that he just shoved him cause he was being an asshole, but when the engineer started punching him he pulled out a weapon to try and get him to back off. but then got surprised by the knife. he says he's not upset at the guy but he was definitely being an asshole in character.

the cargo tech has a couple notes about unrelated things.

the engineer says the cargo tech shoved him and he just wanted to punch him once or twice in the face, but the guy pulled out a crowbar. he didn't want to have a prolonged fight with crowbars because it would hurt so he pulled out a knife because it would be better for defense. he says he found the boot knife in maintenance.

the engineer doesn't have any notes.

the cargo tech is bleeding a lot and will probably die eventually if they don't get medical help. the engineer is pretty much stable, but still hurt badly.

CnaymToday at 2:08 PM
I let both sides know that while iffy the escalation was there and that they made points why IC they would defend themselves the way they did. I let them know that the cargo tech is dying so i will unwind them and let medical do their job now. Informing both that they will solve this issue IC with security  acting as the mediator. I thank both for their time and wishing them a pleasant round. I don't see the need to add a note on either since both have worked together with me to resolve the issue. Close the tickets and let others in msay know how i handled the situation.

FlamingoToday at 2:11 PM
sounds good. let's move onto the personal questions. i encourage you to answer honestly. we'll start with something easy.

What prompted you to decide to submit a moderator application, and what qualities do you feel you possess that make you stand out from the other applicants?

CnaymToday at 2:17 PM
I read a lot of the recent complaints about the current staff and wanted to stretch out a hand to offer help instead of just watching from the sidelines, i felt that i got a great deal of joy from the community and wanted to commit more to the server in general. I started doing so with my command app, helping new players and in general trying to be a neutral party  during conflicts in the rounds. I think my experience with figuring out when i am biased, the ability to take a step back and watch situation from  the outside and my overall reputation would make for a decent moderator. Overall having a new face and a few fresh perspectives may be a good thing for the current complaint climate... which in my oppinion simply stems from the fact that most ahelps will be solved by the same people over and over due to similar time zones and staff having to deal with a lot lately as seen by longer end of round times and simply  the amount of complaints / requests on the forums.

FlamingoToday at 2:20 PM
Cool. Next question: The job of moderating is definitely a difficult one. You often have to dole out punishment to people you consider friends (sometimes losing them in the process), as well as play the bad guy in some cases. In addition, it can be very mentally draining to constantly deal with people breaking rules and being combative in ahelp. Is this something you are willing to undergo in order to be a moderator?

CnaymToday at 2:27 PM
Absolutely. Having the experience from working with friends i can confirm that i am able to put that in the back while dealing with official buissnes. I  learned that a calm and professional attitude goes a long way even when the initial situation was heated. I thought long about this before writing my app, since this means committing a lot more to my hobby than simply joyriding it. I am willing to make that commitment to give back to a community which  gave much to me and protect the atmosphere that the server has. It is true that Aurora is a unique server and the huge  amount of people willing to come back even after being banned is simply astonishing to me. I stand by what i wrote in my app: I don't enjoy Aurora  because of SS13, but SS13 because of the Aurora. I'm used to stress a lot and applying for moderator is something i take very serious as I am willing to protect and contribute to the community on a larger scale.

FlamingoToday at 2:32 PM
That is excellent to hear. I only have a couple more questions. You say you want to bring a fresh perspective to the moderation team. If you could change one (or several, if you'd like) thing, be it policy, enforcement, etc within the modmin team, what would it be?

CnaymToday at 2:38 PM
A clear ban escalation model would go a long way... that has been one of the main things i read out of recent and archived complaints. A month ban before a perma might even calm the forums down a little. Apart from that making sure that people get notes and ahelp answers from different moderators instead of the same. I see why people are crying metagrudge when all their notes and a ban are from one staff member for example. I'd very much like to help out with the forums to resolve complaints quicker. I get that we all have a RL to take care of and that always comes first, but some threads could be resolved quicker to keep salt levels lower.

FlamingoToday at 2:39 PM
Cool. I just have one more question then. Is it alright if I post this to your application thread?

CnaymToday at 2:40 PM
Of course. People should get a feel of how i think. Apart from that I'm open to questions that some may have in regard to my answers.