Emerald Blood - Moderator Application

[Emeraldblood]

Byond ID: Emerald Blood

Colonial Marines Character: Nikki "Sapphire" Skye / Neka Veanna

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Timezone: Eastern Standard - USA

On average, how many hours are you available per week to moderate? Busy Week: ~15 hours. Free Week: ~30 hours. Will be free for the summer.

Do you have any previous experience in being staff (not just SS13)? Nothing major.

Did you play any of the previous Colonial Marine servers? Pre-Omega

What are the 3 biggest servers you play on besides CM? Paradise. That is all.

Provide links to any previous Colonial Marines applications that you've made:

Are you currently a staff member elsewhere (not just SS13)? If so, where? Negative.

Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on Colonial Marines? Negative.

Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on ANY server? If so, which server, when, and what for? Negative.

Are you familiar with the chat program Slack (its use is required)? I have never used it, but I can easily learn.

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.

Ask the reasoning behind the actions. If it was a misfire, then check the player notes to see if this has happened before. As long as proper escalation RP was held I would mark it as an IC issue. Should RP not have been upheld, I would issue a warning and note it down.


2. The ship has a breach to space and a bunch of players have died or are dying as a result.

First, note if it was caused by the dropship or a player. If a player, ask for the reason and if it was somehow a mistake, unlikely, note it down. If a good reason is not given I would issue a strong (3-7 days based on marine deaths) or permanent ban. If Mods have the power to spawn a wall, I would seal the hole assuming it is very small and not of RP origin. If it is a Predator explosion, I would leave it under RP actions.


3. You see a player walking around the ship naked and clearly lost.

I would PM them, asking if they are new to the game. If they are, I would then show them this link < wiki/Marine_Quickstart_Guide > and suggest they read it before they continue. I would also suggest they read the server rules < http://cm-ss13.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=5094 > as to not do anything they shouldn't. If they had any question after that, that they could use the "ahelp" under the "Admin" tab at the top right of the screen.


4. A player is being very rude to you in Adminhelps and requesting to speak to an Admin+ staff member.

First off I would make sure to keep cool. I would ask him to please try to be respectful and that we're only trying to help him. If an admin was on I would ask them if they wish to speak to the person, tell them the current actions current actions player and the reason they are in ahelp. If the admin/staff declined I would tell the player the admin/staff are unable to talk as of now and to please make a forum post about the current problem if they wish to continue the debate. The rude tone would be noted.


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.

I would ask them to change it when the round ends and say that even if he's been using it, it's still breaking the rules and must be changed unless gets clearance from a higher ranking staff member on the forums. I would also make sure to note this down. Should they not change it next round I would give them one more warning and put a final warning note down. If they continue I would issue a ban based on how outlying the name is / how notable the name is in breaking the rules.


6. You see a Maintenance Tech running around in armor and carrying a rifle. The security level is green with no threat present.

I would inform him that crew of the USS Almayer are to only have weapons during a code red or the case of a seen and visible threat. If the code is blue then crew are allowed to carry pistols. Armor should only be worn if you are in visable danger (ie: Xenomorphs have just crashed into the ship and you've seen/heard them outside your area).


7. You see a Squad Medic performing surgery on the planet. He claims it was because there were no doctors in the FOB.

I would inform him to please end the surgery, as well as sealing the incision made as to make sure no marine would bleed out from such wound, and that only the doctors know how to perform any surgery, even within the medical bay. I would note this down.


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?

If I have access, I would use the respected "Admin message" (being the Sky Queen Mother for Xeno and Ares v3.2 for Marines) to inform them to consolidate a force to wipe out the remaining weaker forces. In this case, I would tell the Marines something along the lines of, "Unknow lifeform levels are extremely weak. Recommended Action: Consolidating a final push to eliminate all remaining lifeforms." This done from the perspective of an AI.


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.

Inform to the player that Marines are allowed to shoot any hostile antagonist during the end of the round.


10. A marine is running around disarming, punching and stealing gear at round start.

I would ask for his current reasoning behind these actions. If a reasonable response is not given it will be assumed the intent was grief and he will be given a temporary ban, probably ranging between 6-12 hours depending on a number of other players affected. If a reasonable response is given, in a role play sense (which seems very unlikely), I will write down a single/final warning on the matter. Should this be a repeated offence, I would probably place a ban at 3 days. It would be re-noted down.


11. A marine has killed another marine. When you ask him why, he said it was because the other marine had punched him.

Inform him that this is an improper escalation of events. Verbal > Pushing > Brawling > Weapons. Given the other marine was killed I would have to issue a temporary ban of around 3-6 hours. This would be noted down.


12. An issue arises that requires Admin+ abilities.

I would try to contact someone with the required abilities over Byond, Slack, or any other known ways of reaching them with the issue at hand and what we require to fix 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.

I would inform the person that it's just all fun and games and that no offence was made to them. I would then look at the comments in question and if I fell like they may be a little too edgy I would give the person making the jokes a PM to try to keep the jokes a bit more lighthearted. This would not be noted down.


14. A marine opens fire at round start in briefing killing multiple marines and instantly logs off.

This would be a 3-7 day ban, based off the damage done. I would note this down and if the perpetrator has other marks against themselves I may request it be upgraded to a permaban.


15. You see a player playing a xeno larva/chestburster run towards the frontlines and die.

I would ask them reasoning behind the actions. If they are reasonable I'll just give them a simple warning to try to be more careful. If they died multiple times then I will note it down. If they keep dying I would give them a more firm warning to not die as a larva. A Xeno job ban may need to be given out if the acts kept up.


16. You see a xeno memeing, saying AYYLMAO, REEEEEE etc in hivemind chat.

A single time can easily be overlooked. Should they be spamming it, a warning would be given out and a note made.


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".

I would inform them that it is not metagaming and while encouraged to use more "Xeno-centric" terms, the hivemind is simply an English translation of what the Xeno would be saying.


18. A Command staff player at briefing near round-start mentions there are aliens on the planet.

I would simply give them a warning to inform them that the Marines do not know of the dangers of the mission, only the distress call. No notes would need to be made for one time. Should they continue to do this, a job ban would be issued.


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.

I would ask if there was a build-up to the killing. Assuming there were enough of a warning and chance for the other Marine to respond, I would mark it as an IC issue. If he was shot with little chance to respond, I would inform the shooter to build conflicts before shooting. I wouldn't note this due to there being some RP justification behind it. If he was shot on the spot I would send a warning to the shoot to build up conflicts before shooting marines and would note this down as improper escalation of conflicts.


20. You see a fellow staff member give wrong information in an Adminhelp or incorrectly enforcing a rule.

I would message the staff member at fault and inform them about where they went wrong. If there was fighting back or they refused to acknowledge they are wrong I would ask a higher ranking staff member for their input on the situation.

20a. You see a fellow staff member abusing his powers in-game.

I would report this to a higher ranking staff member.


21. You see a player talking in OOC chat about what he did with your mom last night.

Obviously, I would give them a 99,999 minute ban with the reason "pwned, get gud m8." Realistically, this is between rounds and in OOC so we call all say whatever we want (unless you're bad mouthing our lovely admin/host.).


Any additional information you'd like to add?

I PMed Slc97 about it before writing this and he said to go ahead with the application. I'd be happy to help out the server that I enjoyed played on for so long and has given me some good memories.

[TheSpoonyCroy]

Last one! maybe, I swear I'm going to freak out if another pops up while I'm working on this one but lets get to the app:

• For question 1, what would happen to the player if he hit someone and/or had prior history?
• For question 2, right train of thought but a little harsh on punishment on this one. Also yes, mods have a verb to fix walls
• For question 5, you are one of first people to mention about getting the name allowed, so props for that
• For question 6, with recent rule changes, this kind of issue is more of an IC issue. If you want you can toss the MPs a bone in this respect.
• For question 7, what would you do if there was any prior history?
• For question 8, mods have access to the queen mother but don't have the AI, so keep that in mind. Also remember the role of a mod is simply there to enforce the rules. You can give nudges but don't push too hard.
• For question 10, depending on what they are doing but in most cases, I think this would be an IC issue and to let the MPs/marines deal with it. Also the ban times are a tad off but I can't blame you. The standard first time ban would be 3 hours or what we would call a round ban. Then escalate it to 3* hours ----> 24 hours -----> 3 days -----> 7 days (it should rarely ever get to the day markers)
• For question 11, you got the idea but remember to factor in prior history also what would be done with the killed player?
• For question 14, might want to make it a perma if this is repeated behavior.
• For question 15, this is a question that is dependent on many variables like spawn location. You might want to keep that in mind when answering this one.
• For question 19, love the train of thought but do keep in mind that the two individuals involved are probably quite biased towards their own views, so you might need to check the server logs to get the true answer on this one.

Quite the decent application, I feel many of the issues I brought up can be ironed out during the trial period but do remember to check for prior history before applying any punishments. So +1 for now but this is subject to change due to feedback and when I reread this

Thank god! The nightmare is finally over

Edit: I goofed, from 3 hours, you jump up to 24 hours

[Emeraldblood]

Question 1: Should this have happened once before, I'd give a final warning as well as a final warning note on the matter. If we have notes about this being common I would inform them that they've been having this problem before and I would issue a 3/6 hour (Assuming this is the third+ time) ban over the matter. Ban and additional shootings would be noted.

Question 2: I go under the assumption that they are griefing with the intent to break the round. This is truer than ever with the USS Almayer, which would require a lot of work to breach.

Question 5: Thank you. I like to try to keep people's value of roll playing intact and I don't want to dishearten any players from leaving the server.

Question 6: Honestly, I was weary on what to really answer for the matter, being I didn't want to be very harsh over something pretty minor, so stating the official rules as a warning seemed like a good course of action.

Question 7: If this has happened once before, I would probably just issue a small ban based on the current round timer (1-3 hours on how close the round is to ending, making more of just a "round ban") as well as make this a final warning. I would make sure to remind them of the rules as well, only doctors know surgery. If we have this as a third warning or more, I would issue a Squad Medic job ban, 3-6 hours of ban for multiple warnings, as well as suggest the player plays doctor if they want to perform surgery on any Marines, reminding them of the rules and that if they feel like the job ban is unjust then to please make a ban appeal post in the forums.

Question 8: Hmm, I wouldn't want to try to push too hard, but I do know that no one likes to sit around when a round is so close to being done but is stalling out. Given the Xeno would be heavily outnumbered, I wouldn't want to just send them all to suicide in, I would probably just let the round continue for a bit to see if the Marines have finally pushed down. I've never seen a restart vote or server restart called by a mod or anyone so I'm under the assumption that this is a last ditch effort. Should the round still be stalled at 30 minutes later, I would tell the Xeno to go up to the ship and try to get any Marines they can to grow the hive; "My Hive, we are of low numbers but we must expand the Hive to larger numbers if we wish to survive. We must go up and attempt to infect more tall-host up in the metal hive."

Question 10: Understood, I think the hardest part of the application was trying to pick the ban times when I have no personal experience with the system. The only reference I've had is my friend was once banned for 3 days for hacking a vendor as a Cargo Tech (which was pretty extreme as I now see, for a first-time offence, but that's not the topic here). Thank you for the insight.

Question 11: If this was a repeated offence, the ban would be escalated under ban escalation amounts, 3 > 12 > 24 > 72, based on a number of times this has happened in the past. If this is something this player has been doing more than 4 times in the past, I would make the ban 10,080 and make a notice on the forums if this should be upgraded to a perma ban. During a 3+ day ban, I would make sure to remind the player that they can make a ban appeal in the forums if they feel the punishment is unjust.

Question 14: If this happened once before I would definitely make it a perma ban. I would make sure to ask a higher staff before I made it into a perma ban the first time, though it may be possible they deserve it, I would want to make sure this is in the lines with proper punishments for this offence.

Question 15: Ya, if they chest busted next to Marines or on the front line and hit a claymore, it was clearly not their fault. That said, it needs to be made sure they're not spawning as larva safe in the hive and then running out to the Marines to mess around or anything.

Question 19: Okay, thank you. It escaped my mind that Mods do in fact have access to that kind of stuff so I'll be sure to check for any cases like this.

Hope this helps clarify up any questions. I would always make sure to check the player notes before making any type of bans, I just didn't want to put down, "I check the player notes," in every answer. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my application so early in the morning!

[TheSpoonyCroy]

Yep the +1 was well deserved, however could you pm me your friend's name/ckey since I might want to look into that.

also to question 7, most bans times will be just standardized (I know it can be a bit limiting at times) so when a round ban said its generally just going to mean 3 hours.

I personally wish you the best of luck on this /. Hopefully see you on the slack in the near future but who knows

[Kavlo]

A very nice app, answers are good, you seem to have the right sense of mind for the job as well as an understanding of what you're applying for and to be honest the only thing I didn't like about this application was the structuring of it with the amount of gaps between the questions and answers but that is not going to effect your modding of the server I'm fairly sure.

+1

[Jroinc1]

+1.

Good app, like the answers, nothing stands out as badly wrong.

[Emeraldblood]

Thank you everyone, I was really nervous that I wouldn't have answered very well but thanks for all the support!

@TheSpookyCroy - Ok, I'll remember that for times, thank you. And I hope we will get to talk on Slack! I'll also PM you about that one topic.

@Kavlo - Sorry if making lots of gaps annoys you somewhat, I may get a little excessive with them but it always bothers me when everything is just a single block of text.

@Jronic1 - Thank you!

[Aetsuki]

I'll try to avoid covering the ones Spoony already covered. However I'd like to reiterate 2 is still harsh. Please do your best to keep to standard time escalation unless it's particularly heinous. Staff will generally be good about making suggestions towards your ban time. You don't have to follow them, but if a staff member thinks something is too harsh or too light they'll let you know.
3. This one is pretty much fine, though I'd suggest directing them to a mentor, or requesting a mentor help if they are available. Otherwise pretty good answer.
13. I'd personally suggest not dismissing it entirely with the person complaining. People will feel better if you just say you'll look into it, rather than being told that its all in good fun. Some players will get upset at that. Your second half is acceptable though.
14. This would be a combination of damage done + previous offenses. If you feel both are particularly agreeable it can go to a perma, but keep in mind previous notes aren't just for perma-liability. They'll also count towards current punishment. It'd be more appropiate to word your answer as 3 days to a perma request.
18. I can't stress this enough. You leave a note for every time you have to talk to a player about an issue. There is not an exception to this. Notes are a players history. If they do something you have to speak to them for, you note it down. Then if they do it again, a staff member knows they did it previously, speaks to them, leaves a note, and if punishment has to be increased, it is. If you don't leave a note staff members will assume it's a first offense if they do it again. Notes in themselves are not a punishment, it's basically a log book.

Aside from the lack of a note on #18 your app is pretty solid. You have my +1. Hope to see you on the team.

[slc97]

This is one of the better apps in this group. Spoony and Aetsuki have both pointed out flaws, but flawed applicants are expected. We will be able to iron out all of these issues in trial and would be happy to have you on the team. +1

[Emeraldblood]

@Aetsuki. I understand, at the time I really didn't know how any of the ban processes really worked and I was under the assumption that breaching the shuttle and release plasma were tied to the same group. As I currently understand it, most bans will always follow the 6 > 24 > 72 hour structure (as TheSpoonyCroy has told me in an update) unless extreme cases are met (ie: killing tonnes of marines in sight)

Question 3: Alright, always will make a personal note to do so, should I see a player in need of assistance. (side question, do mentors have access to ahelp, and if so would a mod want to let mentors take most of the "I need help" questions?)

Question 13: Understood, always tell people you'll at least look into it. Would this also request that I update the play on further actions of the investigation, or simply just saying I will and then letting them go on their way?

Question 14: In the Staff Protocol < viewtopic.php?f=57&t=5647 > it says, "If you feel someone needs to receive a permanent ban, give them a ban for 10,080 minutes (7 days) and make a post in the Permaban Request section of the admin forums explaining the situation and why you believe a permaban should be enforced." Given the use of standardised bans, I take it you wish for me to only ever go up to 3 days and not 7 days. That or 3 days are the maximum you can give and 7 days is purely reserved for, "Needed perma bans."

Question 18: I was under the assumption that we'd only want to use notes for, "Serious Problems," (not that this isn't a fault) and didn't want to note down everything at the fear of adding unwanted clutter. If any problem arises that are not fully covered by an IC issue, I'll be sure to note it down.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my application!

[Aetsuki]

Mentors do have access to ahelp. You won't be telling the player what you're doing on your side of the investigation to keep some player confidentiality. Don't tell people about other people's punishments and whatnot. As for permabans, I'm going to ping Rah to update it, I wasn't aware it still said seven. The standard ban pending perma is ten days. It'll often reflect that in your ban reason as well, "So-and-so did this, banned ten days pending perma.". We have had 3 day+ bans but those are generally for people whose actions don't warrant a perma, but have been warned extensively prior. If you're unsure on your times, once again other staff will be happy to help, although initially we want you to get a feel for whats right on your own.
As for #18, no, notes are used for every interaction. There is a way to clutter notes through negligence, but I'll explain that further if you remind me on slack if/when you get added. Just bear in mind you should also be checking a players notes to figure out how you should be handling them. If all is handled correctly it's a players server history and it's an important tool we use.

[Emeraldblood]

Ok Aetsuki, thanks for all the information! I'd always check the player notes when any problem comes up and write down any alterations that need to be noted. As for what you tell players after, "I'll look into the matter," I was just wondering if it was standard to say, "We've taken care of it," or something along those lines. As for ban times, I'd make sure to use 3 > 24 > 72 and 240 only for perma pending. If I required a ban time over 72 hours I'd be sure to ask a head staff on what action I should take, this under the assumption that a perma is not in order.

Thanks again for all the help, again, and I hope that I'll be able to talk to you on Slack soon!

[Feweh]

Accepted