Remember; Admins are moderators but not the other way around. For the sake of this guide, assume admins and moderators have generally the same responsibilities because we don't have moderators here. We have trial-admins, admins, and supervisor admins. We'll reorganize this if server population explodes to a point where we can't handle it effectively. Moderators are only used in the chat room currently, because admins get access to things that we don't want moderators meddling with.
All admins must be active on Discord. If you do not have Discord, you must get it to be considered a valid admin candidate. We communicate with our staff using Discord and use it to summon one-another in emergencies.
ADMIN RESPONSIBILITIES
- OVERSIGHT: Admins are responsible for keeping an eye on other players and setting them straight, usually via Admins PMs, if they see a rule being broken.
- RECORD-KEEPING: Admins are responsible for updating player notes if any incidents occur. - Especially concerning incidents that result in a ban if they were the Admins conducting investigation.
- ANSWERING ADMINHELPS: Admins can answer and act on Adminhelps sent so long as they do not require any admin buttons to be pushed. For example, if one player has a complaint about another's conduct, Admins can respond to that, but they cannot respond to someone asking for a custom item to be spawned in.
- NOTIFYING ADMINS: If the situation is of a type that Admins cannot resolve themselves, or the person involved requires a harsher punishment than just being PM'd about the situation, Admins are responsible for bringing the matter to a Supervising Admin's attention, supplying them with all necessary information, and letting them know what they think should be done.
- ASSISTING OTHER ADMINS: Admins have a lot on their plate. As mentioned previously, if they are writing up a ban for the player, another Admin can help by being the one to write the player note, or to inform the player the reasons they are being banned and how they may appeal. Or just to keep up conversation with players to see what they witnessed during an incident while the admin checks variables on objects and logs.
- HANDLING EVENTS: Probably the only fun part about the job; admins get to play a direct role in the handling of on-station events. If we don't have events to keep things interesting, the server gets boring. If you have ideas, bounce them off the other admins. If you have no ideas, ask players. If a player has a good event idea, try to help them set it up and make it happen. We like to avoid events that drag people in who don't want to be involved so avoid heavy combat events unless they are inside a Bluespace Gateway where such danger is already expected.
- ROLEPLAYING AS CENTCOM: Admins have an unofficial and unrequired obligation to play as CentCom characters. This doesn't mean your main character has to be converted into a CentCom officer, because if you do, that has its own drawbacks because CentCom representatives have a strict non-interference policy on the station. However you are expected to at least read faxes and emergency transmissions and occasionally put out station announcements or even visit in person as another CentCom character. You can just make up names as you go if needed.
ADMIN STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
These are covered more in-detail by the admin forum
- Investigate: Someone has reported something. Don't wait for another admin to attend to it--assume you're the first responder until you get confirmation that another admin is handling it.
- Observe: Never ban without first observing the individuals in question
- Inquire: Always ask the possible offender and the person reporting for their sides of the story.
- React: Do you still think something was done wrong? If not, great! If so, explain to them what you saw and why you thought they were doing wrong. Repeat the 'Inquire' step as many times as necessary until you have the full story.
- Report: Regardless of punishing or not, inform other admins what happened. Leave notes on the player.
- Judge: Use a little human intuition. Do people need punishing? Just warnings? Can it be handled ICly, or must you act with a ban?
- Punish: Punishment can be as simple as "don't do that again" or as harsh as a permanent ban. Use your judgement. There's no minimum or maximum for any particular offense but it's obvious to players when something wasn't done fairly and it should be obvious to you too.
- Specify: Don't write a lazy ban reason. Be explicit in what they did wrong in case they decide to appeal.
- Reflect: The moment has passed. Did you do right? Did you fuck up? How could a conflict go better in the future? Not just players, but admins. Everyone involved should be encouraged to reflect on the incident and constructively criticize anything that went wrong in order to avoid or better the handling of incidents in future.
ADMIN VERBS
- Asay - This allows you to speak to other admins in a private channel.
- Adminwho - slightly different from one players have, also shows status of all listed people (in game/observing/AFK)
- De-admin self - removes your admin status, and lets you play round as a usual player.
- Report - choose the mob, and fill in what you wanted to report about it. If there are unhandled reports, admins will get a notification when they join. Reported player's key, author's key and date are automatically added. Character's name is NOT added, so if you think it's relevant, write it down in report.
- Show Skills - shows skillset of chosen character, helps in judging if they are metagaming or not. Keep in mind that some people do not set it at all, and some are just to lazy to change it every time they want to play different job with same character.
- Toggle Adminhelp Sound - if toggled on, sound will be played every time adminhelp is received, or you get a PM. Useful to toggle if you alt-tab to other window.
- Admin PM - most often used tool. Just use the guy and start chatting. Also you can send PM by clicking on name in adminhelp.
- Aghost - previously known as Set Play/Set Observe, gives you ability to leave body and return to it. fly around as observer at any moment of round. Useful for looking into stuff or chatting up ghosts.
- Show Player Info - type in a BYOND key to open notes for it. Can also use to create notes if none were present for that key. Make sure to spell key right.
- Admin panel - Lists all players in [Name - Real Name - Key (Job)] format. Hover over the entry to expand it, click on name to lock it expanded. There you can see two links 'N', opening Notes window and 'PM', sending a PM to him. If character is an antagonist, there will be 'Antagonist' link, opening Traitor Panel, listing objectives.
- Check Antagonists - can be accessed by a link in top of Moderator Panel. Lists game mode, round duration and list of antagonists with their current status (dead/logged off).
Useful links to throw at players:
The Rules: http://wiki.vore-station.net/Rules
How to Make Good Characters: http://wiki.vore-station.net/Character_Creation
How to not get banned: http://wiki.vore-station.net/Not_Getting_Banned or http://www.ss13.eu/wiki/index.php/Guide_to_avoiding_bans is my favorite.