Omicega - Moderator Application

[Omicega]

Byond ID:
Omicega

Colonial Marines Character(s):
Alicia Parker, Sara Khansari, Naomi Bowman

Age:
22

Gender:
M

Timezone:
GMT

On average, how many hours are you available per week to moderate?
I can't really come up with an estimate. I'm full-time at uni but that still leaves a decent amount of free time, particularly on weekends and Fridays.

Do you have any previous experience in being staff (not just SS13)?
I've been a mentor since November, although I took a pretty lengthy break over December and a lot of January due to family stuff over the holidays and some really, really bad packet loss. I was also a faction leader on a mod/gaming community called Discovery Freelancer for a number of years, which involved a good bit of working with new players to teach them the game. I want to make it clear that this wasn't a formal staff position, though - just something that wound up being similar in role to a mentor at times.

Did you play any of the previous Colonial Marine servers?
No. I first discovered the game in August 2017.

What are the 3 biggest servers you play on besides CM?
Oraclestation. That's it.

Provide links to any previous Colonial Marines applications that you've made:
Only my mentor app, which is probably in Jamie's inbox if anywhere.

Are you currently a staff member elsewhere (not just SS13)? If so, where?
No.

Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on Colonial Marines?
I have never been banned at all on CM.

Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on ANY server? If so, which server, when, and what for?
I have never been banned at all on any server to the best of my knowledge.

Are you familiar with the chat program Slack (its use is required)?
I've been using it since November.

Common Staff Situations:
Write a description of what you would do in each of the following situations. Do not write on the same line as the situation - use the space below it or make space as needed. Failure to do this proves your inability to follow instructions and your application will be automatically denied.

1. A player randomly shoots someone at round start and MPs have detained him.
Check notes and the specifics of the shooting. One accidental misclick with an immediate "SORRY" after it, for example, is the kind of thing I would just leave as IC, without even a note. However, if it was something like a buckshot blast from close range and the note history looked concerning, I would contact the player to gauge their response, issue a warning, and then apply a note about the incident.

If the shooting is obvious grief then I'd follow proper escalation (not entirely sure on the specifics, but I think it's something like 3h, 12h, 1 day, 3 day, 7 day?) depending on notes and aheal whomever he shot if their wounds are serious.

2. The ship has a breach to space and a bunch of players have died or are dying as a result.
Check how the breach came about. If it's an 'allowed' breach (pred SD, dropship crash, otherwise not "deliberate") then following what past applications have written I'd let it remain. If it were caused intentionally then I'd chase up whoever caused it, PM them for an explanation, and then apply a note and warning/ban depending on their response before fixing the breach. I'll be honest - I'm not sure on the specifics of the breach policy.

3. You see a player walking around the ship naked and clearly lost.
PM the player, find out just how new they are. If they're completely fresh, the Marine Quickstart Guide is probably the safest bet - from experience, it's a lot easier for a mentor to work with a player who already knows the very basics than it is to teach someone almost entirely from scratch. Otherwise, if they're not quite THAT fresh, I point a mentor in their direction.

4. A player is being very rude to you in Adminhelps and requesting to speak to an Admin+ staff member.
This honestly depends how rude they're being. I'm not interested in putting up with shit from anyone, and if I'm receiving abuse over ahelp I'd simply ban them under rule 0.3.1 following appropriate escalation depending on note history. If it's excessive or verges on the ERP rule or something, I go straight for the perma file. I'll notify the admin(s)+ mentioned of whatever it is they need if it looks pressing enough.

If the issue involves me personally, somehow, I pass it off to another member of staff as should be appropriate.

5. You notice a player with a name that doesn't fit our naming rules. The player is arguing that: They've used the name for several years, no one has told them to change it before, and that they didn't know it was a rule.
Not knowing the rules isn't an excuse. I won't be a dick about it, but I'll let them know that it's not my call to excuse them - it needs to change. To be honest, how firm I'd be would depend on the name - something like "Biggus Dickus" is going to be treated more seriously than any sort of semi-obscure reference names - and on the note history.

6. You see a Maintenance Tech running around in armor and carrying a rifle. The security level is green with no threat present.
Again, depends entirely on the specifics of the situation. If it looks like a wholly new player, consider getting a mentor involved. SMing an MP that they're running around like that could work too. I might check notes and/or PM if it looked to be concerning, but 99% of the time I'd leave it as at most an SM provided nothing else happened.

7. You see a Squad Medic performing surgery on the planet. He claims it was because there were no doctors in the FOB.
Squad medics can't perform surgery as they are wholly blocked from doing so by the skills system. This is a non-issue.

Hypothetically, though, if the skills system disappeared overnight: check notes, depending on contents either PM for warning or apply appropriately escalated ban and note it.

8. The round is stagnating. There are 30 marines and 4 aliens. The marines won't leave the ship, and the aliens won't attack. What would you do, to "encourage" the sides to engage each other?
With those specific numbers, I would use whatever tools I have to get the marines to deploy down against the xenos. I don't think moderators have ARES access, but an SM to the CO or aCO should get things moving. I also don't know if moderators can deploy specific ERTs (or ERTs at all), but if the marines still refuse to deploy an XRT and notifying the queen about it should get things moving.

9. The round ends, a MARINE starts shooting a hostile IRON BEAR and the IRON BEAR Adminhelps complaining he was killed after the round ended.
Tell the ahelper that there's no issue and that marines can keep shooting and fighting hostiles after the round ends. Maaaybe put a PSA in OOC that while you can keep fighting after the round ends, you run the risk of accidentally picking up an EORG ban.

10. A marine is running around disarming, punching and stealing gear at round start.
Check note history. I know there's a new, harsher stance on this kind of pre-briefing shitlery, so depending on the note history and after PMing the player to at the very least warn them, I would consider applying a ban following escalation procedure.

11. A marine has killed another marine. When you ask him why, he said it was because the other marine had punched him.
Check note history and inform the player that it's not acceptable from an IC perspective to kill someone simply because he got punched. Depending on the player's reaction and note history, apply an improper escalation note and

12. An issue arises that requires Admin+ abilities.
Go to the appropriate Slack channel and tell an admin+ about it.

13. There are minor racist comments going on IC. 9 of the 10 people are laughing and RPing but one player gets offended and Adminhelps about it.
Tell the ahelper that minor racism is perfectly fine as long as it stays entirely IC. I would try to keep an eye on it if I could, though, to make sure it doesn't go beyond that.

14. A marine opens fire at round start in briefing killing multiple marines and instantly logs off.
Cringe at the flood of ahelps, aheal those affected, check note history of the offending player and apply a ban and further note as appropriate. If this is the latest in a series of clear grief attempts, file perma.

15. You see a player playing a xeno larva/chestburster run towards the frontlines and die.
This is rarely a mistake. PM the player and check note history - regardless of what I find, though, a xeno jobban at the very least is probably coming up.

16. You see a xeno memeing, saying AYYLMAO, REEEEEE etc in hivemind chat.
Check note history. If it's just a new player thing/first offense, PM them and warn them with a note about it. Otherwise, if the note history is bad, PM the player and apply a harsher punishment. This question is hard to answer without bloating the answer up to account for every possibility - what I would do depends almost entirely on just how much lowRP is being spouted into hivemind and the note history of the player in question.

17. A xeno player calls the shuttle a "dropship". A different xeno player complains to you that it's metagaming/failRP to call it a "dropship".
Tell the other xeno player that it's fine to call it a dropship and the whole metal bird thing is optional. No further action.

18. A Command staff player at briefing near round-start mentions there are aliens on the planet.
First, determine if they're actually talking about xenos or not. I would be okay with command staff mentioning things like "potentially hazardous fauna", although it would be borderline and depend on the exact phrasing used. If it's definitely about xenos, check note history. If this is a first offense or something similar, PM them directly and correct their mistake. Put out an OOC announcement if the marine side decides to treat the information as IC (although I don't see this happening, to be honest)

19. A Marine kills another Marine on the EVAC Pod to take the last spot and claims it was RP as he was saving himself.
IC issue, although I'm not sure where the claiming part comes in. I have to assume that at this point the other guy would have ahelped it and I'd have to have PMed the player, but it wouldn't even go that far. I'd just tell the other player that it's both roleplay and more or less inconsequential - do you really need to care if you got on the pod or not when either way your round ends in <30 seconds?

20. You see a fellow staff member give wrong information in an Adminhelp or incorrectly enforcing a rule.
Correct them in msay. If it ends up escalating or turning into an argument or otherwise getting out of hand, I raise the issue on Slack to the relevant head. Primarily, though, I'll try to deal with it in a manner that doesn't involve outright publically contradicting whoever got the thing wrong.

20a. You see a fellow staff member abusing his powers in-game.
Gather whatever evidence I can and report it via slack PMs or a similar method. I don't bother PMing them because I'm reading the "abuse" mentioned in the question's scenario as being something severe and blatant, not the kind of thing that would warrant asking them what their exact intentions were.

21. You see a player talking in OOC chat about what he did with your mom last night.
I barely even read OOC. Unless it actually goes obscene and verges on ERP rule territory, probably just not give a shit. I've played League on and off since 2011, which I consider relevant experience for dealing with being shit-talked at.

Any additional information you'd like to add?
I've enjoyed being a mentor on CM but have wound up feeling a little limited at times. However, working in and with the staff team has proven to be a positive and educational experience (for the most part), and following encouragement from a few other staff members I decided to push the boat out and fill in a mod app. I'm less about punishing rulebreakers than I am about helping new players, though - that was the reason I originally angled for mentor in the first place. In general, I like to think I'd go for a more empathetic approach to moderation than sticking to what the exact rules would stipulate.

I tried to cut down on bloat in the app wherever possible, but I'm happy to answer relevant questions if people feel one or more points haven't been expanded on enough.

[NethIafins]

Hello there.
Right now I'm writing from the phone so excuse me if this looks abhorrent

► Show Spoiler

1. We don't escalate to 12 h but if you think that ban doesn't warrant full day but still has to be lengthy - power to you
2. We fix it always. Breach is almost never a good thing. If it is on drop ship where aliens usually nest, it prevents humans from surviving. You are right that most apps say not to fix it, but later you can see that we almost always correct them. Also fix breach first, hammer later, or you won't see who was damaged from it and who already had damage
3. Kool
4. Kool
5. Kool but check notes if we allowed that name. However it never happens in relation to names from alien franchise or grief names
6. Kool
7. Kool, but skill system works on "what is not forbidden is allowed" basis. Don't take my word on it though
8. Kool. No ert powers are given to us.
9. Very good
10. Stance dropped AFAIK because attack cooldown is back and you can't spam disarm
11. Kool
12. Kool
13. Kool. Also log diving will help determine levels of racism
14. What ban? How many hours? Other than that also sleep them so if they return they can't cause any more trouble.
15. You might want to warn them if their note history is Crystal clear and they are super nice in ahelps
16. Kool
17. Kool
18. Good
19. Kool
20. Good
20a. Who you will PM?
21. Kool

Never had issues with you as player or as mentor
Answers are solid and all my comments are mostly nitpicks
+1 from me

[VitorThauma]

Solid mentor, solid answers. +1

[Adralimas]

Good answers, Good mentor, Seems legit! +1 from me!

[CaptainYankee]

Definitely a +1 from me.

[NGGJamie]

Omicega is a Mentor I've seen good things from since his hiring. He has my full support.

[Sir Lordington]

Good mentor, decent answers. +1

[spookydonut]

I'm spookydonut and this is my favourite app on the forums, +1

[Solarmare]

I can say I can trust Omicega to be a trial mod, and answers are decent or otherwise aren't enough an issue beyond what neth pointed out. I'll give this my +1 to this application.

[NethIafins]

Very good app, obviously. Never seen you doing bad stuff

+1, I guess

[Grimcad]

+ 1. Pretty good answers, pretty good mentor. What else is there to say?

[Gerald888]

I give him a nice +1, He seems like a good mentor and I would trust him as a fellow moderator.

[Anoonki]

All of these answers are pretty good. Plus you're a mentor and have been, so you already know what you're diving into. +1

[Jerkface00]

Good answers; good activity; already knows his shit.
Approved for trial mod, expect a mail soon.

~Jerkface