UNCLE_FRUIT_VEVO - Admin Application

[Uncle_Fruit]

BYOND Key: UNCLE_FRUIT_VEVO
Discord ID: Uncle fruit #6069
How old are you?: 21
When you are most active? (including timezone): Discord is where I'm mostly active whenever. Station I'm active especially on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays almost all day, while on the other days, I am active until 6 pm EST and then after 11 pm EST
Roughly how much time do you dedicate to the server each week?: I've had a bit of a lull in inactivity but have started joining for a full round or two each week, about 10-12 hours.
Names of notable characters you play in Vorestation: Bradley Khatibi
How long have you been playing Space Station 13?: Since 2019
How long have you been playing Vorestation?: Since 2019

Explain what most interests you about being staff: I think being able to help out folk and problem solve will not only help with the community but also help build my own skills when dealing with situations like this, so that's pretty cool.

Explain what you think you will least enjoy about being staff: Having to deal with the problems themselves is always something headache inducing for staff in general, but kind of necessary to help keep a healthy community in check.

Describe what role-playing means to you: Roleplaying is a way to not only practice writing and story-telling, but to also cultivate a story-driven experience with other players, interacting and adding onto a world where people can be immersed and well, play roles.

Define what a "Problem Player" is in your own words: A problem player is someone who, after multiple notes and/or talks with staff, still refuse to learn and continue with their behavior on the server. This can range from blatant rule breaking that's never learned from or just someone who constantly skirts the line between breaking the rules and not. Sometimes this is done unknowingly, a legitimate sign of ignorance. But Occasionally there are those that just absolutely refuse to learn from their behavior.

Define a "Toxic Player" in your own words: A toxic player is like a problem player, but their behavior ends up spilling into their interactions with other players, mostly hostile. These players don't even have to be rule-breakers at first, but their attitude only snowballs into borderline harassment and mistreatment of fellow players. Whether this is a gamer attitude or downright shaming others for playstyles or kinks, these players can be worse than problem players at times, harming others and harming the community's health as a whole.

Define "Admin Abuse" in your own words: Admin abuse is plain an simple; using your position of power to benefit only yourself. This can be at the detriment of other players on the server and foster an unhealthy relationship between player and staff if not dealt with accordingly. Staff tools should be used to enhance a player's experience on the server and to keep them safe and happy. Not to be used for only personal gain.

In your opinion, what the biggest problem with the server right now?: I think the server is in a pretty good spot right now. The only real issue is just the lack of staff available at times. And of course, with an influx of new players and a constantly growing server, it's probably best to increase staff over time.

How would you have it resolved?: Bringing in new staff members of course, whether from the ranks of GM or just from the trusted individuals on the server as a whole.

Go through the following scenarios and state how you would deal with it...

• An adminhelp comes in claiming an individual is griefing.
  How I'd handle it: Investigate immediately. Information is key and getting a good idea of the entire situation is very ideal. Spectating the player in question is always a good idea, watching them while carefully diving into logs to see if they've done anything problematic. If they're actively griefing, asleeping them takes priority to make sure they're no longer a danger to anyone nearby. After all that, present the facts to them and note and punish accordingly.
  
• A player is upset about a scenario, but they are clearly in the wrong.
  How I'd handle it: Calming them down to a point where they're reasonable is important. Once they're in a more reasonable state, address why they're in the wrong in a non-condescending manner and an understanding of their situation and why they'd come to such a take. If they refuse to see reason, depending on the situation, it's probably best if they're given time to reflect before the problem escalates into anything further.
  
• When interviewing several individuals, one is lying but you cannot tell who it is.
  How I'd handle it: I'd compare everyone's stories and notes for any discrepancies or trends, most importantly doing a bit of log-diving if need be. If i'm still stumped on the matter i'd ring for another member of staff for their point of view and take on the situation. Another person's opinion, especially after showing their notes, is a good way to come to a conclusion on a situation like this.
  
• After interviewing several individuals, you have a pretty good idea of who is lying, but still lack concrete, infallible proof. Despite your best efforts, some details remain ambiguous. What now?
  How I'd handle it: This one is especially tricky. I would do the same as listed above, but even after another member or two's opinions on the matter doesn't show fruit, it'd probably be best to note this all down, especially after double checking through the whole thing. Depending on the severity of the situation, of course notes are in order to allow other staff to be aware of this situation and keep an eye out for any further developments or players involved doing the same thing again.
  
• An individual is playing a character who has sparked several adminhelps regarding said individual, but they are not in any clear violation of the rules.
  How I'd handle it: This one really depends on the situation itself and context. If it were an LRP character or someone with barely any OOC notes or flavortext wigging people out, they'd be bwoinked and handled accordingly. But if this is a case of someone skirting the rules and riding that fine line, i'd obviously note them for this behavior and tell them upfront to knock it off. If continued, of course, punished accordingly depending on what they've been doing. But if the person in question isn't really doing anything wrong, no action can really be taken against them and the people ahelping will be told the situation and reminded of this. Again, this all heavily depends on the situation and context of the time but these are the few examples I could think up.
  
• Multiple character deaths have occurred and you are attempting to investigate. One player exhibits poor role-playing skills combined with insulting all those involved, another rushed after trouble started and only used lethal force, and a third went on and attacked several other individuals after the first fight was finished.
  How I'd handle it: The first person i'd ask to calm down, getting his side of the story before telling him what he did wrong, point out the things he's done and how he could've handled this better with examples. Depending on what he's done, dish out notes and/or punishments accordingly after checking through his note history for any signs of repeat behavior while encouraging him to better himself.
  
  Second person i'd definitely check their note history alongside their job, reminding them that there are other solutions to these kinds of situations that don't involve braining somebody. Depending on the severity and their experience or prior note history, a jobban or ban would be in order, reminding them that they should be playing a more levelheaded person and that NT wouldn't hire them if their first instinct was to kill someone.
  
  The third person would be dealt with much like the second person, albeit with more severity. The situation was done with and all parties involved ceased their activities and yet this person went on their own little crusade and hurt others in the process. This is borderline griefing and far from the roleplay environment we're trying to uphold. They would be noted and banned immediately, giving them time to reflect and cool off when it comes to their actions and also give us a chance to monitor them for any future behavior like this.

What prior admin/moderator/management experience do you possess, if any?: I was and still am a GM since around 2020 among other things.

Finally, what unique aspects of yourself can you bring to the staff? What can you bring to the team that is, in your opinion, needed?: Well if you need to fill an idiot quota, i'm the right man for the job. In all seriousness though, I hope to help alleviate and help out my fellow staff with admin work, covering some more inactive hours and overall just lending a hand in general.

[Kenzie]

I dunno how to say this without sounding rude so I'm just gonna be totally blunt and disclaim this by saying that the following does not really reflect on my opinion of you as a person or anything.

I've never seen you do literally a single thing as GM ever. Like not a single, solitary thing. This isn't an exaggeration. I cannot in my entire time as admin ever recall seeing you do a single staff related thing EVER, and I (used) to play an insanely huge amount.

I don't really see any point in making you admin when you have done if not nothing, pretty close to it with what you currently have. So this is a no support from me. And again, I know I'm being pretty harsh, but I still do like you. I just can't in good conscience ignore my perception of the situation. I'd be more than happy to do a 180 if it turns out I'm sadly mistaken about the facts.

[Heroman3003]

Despite being in big approval of your roleplay and your vibes and general presence, I can't say I am leaning either way on this one. On one hand, I do believe you are coming with good intent, but on the other your activity as-a-staff specifically seems majorly nonexistant to me beyond discord moderation. I have not been around on staff team that long, and I don't know much of what happened before so, but generally I'm not sure about you extending your responsibilities when even existing ones seem like they're barely covered.

[Scree]

If you're not up for doing GM events beyond spawning stuff, maybe administrative/moderation stuff is more appropriate. I'm not going to say adminning is a higher level of responsibility than GMing, since... holy shit when was the last time I ran an event more complex than "lmao I'm gonna spawn bees in the gateway and announce `unscheduled offworld activation` so people open the door on the room full of bees"

I have seen you telling space lobby to calm their tits though, on more than one recent occasion. That's definitely more of an admin thing than a GM thing.

[Enzo Leon]

You're a good bean, and you seem to do more with admin stuff rather than GM stuff, at least on the discord end. However, I always see you de-admin whenever you're on so I don't know how you'd handle actual issues and tickets for the staff. If your tactics and methods on discord are the same in-game itself for matters I'll offer support. However, I'm gonna remain Neutral, leaning to support if there's a bit more action from ya on the game side!

[JoanRisu]

Personally, I lean towards support because I want staff to recognize when their priorities have changed and want a position that better suits them, especially if time and type-of-activity is a factor. I also think there's an advantage to the idea of "If Brad says it's too much for even him, then we are definitely having a problem."

Look, we all know Brad is a bit of a memer. His GM application started as a meme until friends both inside and outside of the staff team encouraged him to apply. Beyond that, however, is someone who understands boundaries and when someone is acting beyond the spirit of our rules and calls it out when he sees it. The community also knows him and recognizes him.

To address activity, we need to consider his priorities. If his drive to do events (depending on event severity) is exceptionally low, but his ability to take a problem and resolve it is intact, shouldn't he consider switching roles? I'd say, "Yes." I think that's responsible to consider if you are fulfilling the job description of the role and ask yourself if it's time to move around.

Let's also be honest about GMing, it is a pretty involved job for even the small minor events, since I require people to monitor themselves and whoever they involve the entire time. Major events require weeks of recruitment, organizing, and even map-making! Its why I ask GMs to give Duke stuff to do, it's hard and the man needs a break!

This all to say, "Local man realizes his current activities do not match his job description; seeks the correct job." I think Brad has the people skills and really tight community ties that supports his application. He has experience in our tools, he participates in meetings, and offers his opinion on matters of moderation.

[VerySoft]

You tend to have a good head on your shoulders. I do have mild concern that you'll just not do anything, since you tend to immediately deadmin on the times I've seen you hop on. WHICH IS FINE, but it's like.

I'd like to see you take a little bit more of an active role.

Maybe this is what you need for that, so I will support.

[Kenzie]

Again, quite frankly, to me it is just irresponsible to sit in a staff position for multiple years doing nothing and with seemingly no intention to do anything. Like, I don't blame someone for changing their mind about what they want to do. But I'd have a lot more sympathy if there was like... literally any activity at any point in time. It's one thing to burn out, it's another to seemingly never even try and not reconsider your approach for two years (!!). I just can't see any defense of that incredibly long time period as anything other than irresponsible, and it's not like he was vigorously administrating the whole time or anything which even though it would be kinda a misappropriation of roles would at least show a desire to pivot. I don't want another admin who's not gonna do anything; we have enough of those already.

[biggs]

I didn't realize you had put this up! I am glad to see it, and yet, I have my own thoughts and hesitations.

Obviously, I really like you Brad, but I also don't want someone who's supposed to be by my side helping with the same manner of issues not present. Bluntly we already have a couple seats that are already a bit empty and I'd rather not be denied the potential support of having more Admins because we look at our numbers and determine that on paper, it's plenty.

I think you definitely could be more active, and I'm happy to see hints of that coming to be. And I will mirror what Scree mentioned about you having moments of playing at least a community administrative role. For that reason, I'm not going to personally conclude you as entirely inactive because you are present, both in staff spaces and on the discord.

My biggest personal concern is the lack of initiative in moving towards this role besides the aforementioned casual usage of the authority a staff color brings in the past. I don't know how long you've been considering this switch, but the fact that it hasn't seemed to have inspired you to stop deadminning at every chance available to learn how things are handled in practice kind of concerns me. You are only being served an incomplete picture of how we actually handle things due to this. You've been around during, and even pointed out things that have happened, but I can't say I've seen you readmin to provide information, aghost to try to help the responding staff member, or simply observe to see the actual in practice application of Adminning to broaden your own ability.

I still think you have the sense to potentially do well, but I'm disappointed to see you haven't taken the chance to learn from any of us in advance because that would help me know you were serious about this. Especially since I think sometimes you can demonstrate a lack of forethought with your instances of telling space lobby to "calm their tits". I've seen times where I felt you hurt more than helped, certainly, though those are further in the past, I urge you to be diplomatic, as any negative interaction with us, can damage the entire staff team's reputation. And when that suffers, it's harder to get the community to work with us to improve things.

I remain Neutral with all of my thoughts on this matter, though my mind can definitely be changed. And perhaps simply changed by seeing how you'd do during a trial adminship, I would definitely love to see you step up. Though, I am of the belief that if that's determined to not fit, there's no real point in returning you to a GM role with what Kenzie has mentioned, so I really would hope you demonstrate it being a worthwhile step.