Novus Luna - Moderator Application

[Novus Luna]

Byond ID:
My Byond ID is Novus Luna, as are my Discord and forum usernames.

Colonial Marines Character:
I primarily play as Cyrus Ambrose. In playing him, I mostly play as Executive Officer or Staff Officer, as well as Specialist or Squad Medic. When playing as a Xenomorph I normally play Boiler or Hivelord.

Age:
I am 20 years, 2 months, and 3 days old.

Gender:
I am Male.

Timezone:
I live in the Central Standard Timezone (-6 UTC).

On average, how many hours are you available per week to moderate?
Presently, as I write this application, I am unemployed, and as such could likely guarantee at least 15 hours a week to the moderation of the server, where in reality it will likely be double that or more. Once I find a job, I can still try to make at least 1 round per day.

Do you have any previous experience in being staff (not just SS13)?
For SpaceStation13, I was a Trial Moderator for the SPQR Station, with the trial coming to a close along with the rest of the server. I was a Trial Moderator during the Kwask/Stuicey Era of Apollo, a Moderator during the Koenigsigg/xRav Era of Apollo, and an Event Organizer during the Koenigsigg/xRav/Awan Era of Apollo. Neither of these servers exist any longer as far as applicability to this, as the former is gone entirely, where the latter was reformed to unrecognizable extents shortly after my demotion.

Outside of SpaceStation13, I have been a Helper (their equivalent of a junior Moderator and Mentor) as well as an Elite 4 member on a Pixelspark Minecraft server. I assisted in the creation of a Dungeons and Dragons Discord Server which has now amassed several hundred people, overseeing it as an administrator and chief of the rules team for some time.

Did you play any of the previous Colonial Marine servers?
This is the first server of this kind I have played on; I was unaware other iterations existed.

What are the 3 biggest servers you play on besides CM?
Presently this is the only server I play on. To take this question in past tense, the biggest servers I used to play on were Baystation12, Apollo, and Hypatia.

Provide links to any previous Colonial Marines applications that you've made:
This is the link to my pending Commanding Officer application.

Are you currently a staff member elsewhere (not just SS13)? If so, where?
I am not currently on the staff of any server.

Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on Colonial Marines?
I have never received a ban of any kind on Colonial Marines.

Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on ANY server? If so, which server, when, and what for?
As I have been playing SpaceStation13, I will admit that this answer lacks a degree of total certainty, but to my recollection I have never been banned from a server.

Are you familiar with the chat program Slack (its use is required)?
I am presently unfamiliar with the program, though this fact will likely be changed within the next 48 hours.

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.
In most ways this situation would play out, I expect it would be an IC matter and would let it resolve thusly, however, as it is so early in the round I would look into it. I would inquire to the players (at least the shooter and the shot, as well as the MP and witnesses if necessary) as to the nature of the incident. How I proceed would depend on their statements, whether the shot was stated as intentional or not, how many shots were fired, and if the recipient of the shot died. During these inquiries, the notes of the player in question would be checked to see if he has a past habit of this sort of thing, to help to determine if it may be a violation of rule 3. Notes would be updated in accordance to the situation if needed.

2. The ship has a breach to space and a bunch of players have died or are dying as a result.
I would first attempt to immediately ascertain the cause of the breach. To my knowledge, the only instances of a permissible breach are the results of a Predator self-destruct mechanism or an admin-triggered event. If it was not a legitimate case, I would contact an admin to repair the damage and confirm it was non-legitimate as I took to healing those damaged or killed by the breach, if anyone. I would also contact the development team and inform them of the nature of the breach if it was not a permissible one.

3. You see a player walking around the ship naked and clearly lost.
In most situations I would bring the issue to the attention of a Mentor. Lacking the avaliability of one, I would contact the player directly in an attempt to aid them, providing them with basic round start information (where to go to get geared, how to use comms, who they report to, where they report to after gearing up), and then give them a link to the appropriate wiki page (their job and the quickstart guide) for further information.


4. A player is being very rude to you in Adminhelps and requesting to speak to an Admin+ staff member.
I would calmly request that the player calm themselves before continuing with their issue, only directing them to an admin in the event that the issue is for administrative staff. If the player persists in such a way that the issue, however pressing, is not resolved, I may direct them to another moderator instead. If they state direct issue with me, I would link them to the staff complaint forum before directing them to another member of staff.

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 inform the player that ignorance to the rule by their part, or ignorance to the violation of the rule on the part of former staff, does not excuse the rule being broken. If he does not have something in his notes, or another member of staff present, stating that the name is acceptable, I would inquire to what name he wishes it be changed to. If none is given, I would change it randomly. In either case, a note would be left.


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 first check to see in his notes of any prior issues with something of the sort. If anything is shown of issue, I would speak to him. If not, it is an in-character issue and will remain as such, however I would maintain an eye on him for any further issues that may arise from him being armed.

7. You see a Squad Medic performing surgery on the planet. He claims it was because there were no doctors in the FOB.
I'm...not entirely sure if this is even possible from a mechanical standpoint, but then again, most breaches shouldn't be possible and they still happen, so: I will inform the medic that it is not within the scope of their job to perform surgery, and it is considered powergaming. I would inform them that surgeries are all but exclusively performed on the Almayer due to the safe environment. A note would be made in regards to powergaming.

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?
I will admit I take a much, much more hesitant stance on this matter than most staff - my issue with staff handling this issue is one I am incredibly outspoken about. In any case, as a member of staff I will have to respect the methods, even if I do not like them. Depending on the situations of the two factions I would message one or both of their leaders in such a way to encourage action against the opposing faction via subtle message. If their refusal perpetuates, I will likely employ gradually more forward methods (such as the ARES system, if possible).


9. The round ends, a MARINE starts shooting a hostile CLF member and the CLF member Adminhelps complaining he was killed after the round ended.
I will remind the CLF player that end of round griefing still must be griefing - friendly fire and the like. Engaging with hostile forces is still entirely permissible.


10. A marine is running around disarming, punching and stealing gear at round start.
Due to the demonstration of low-RP and violation of rule 2, I would request that he calm down a bit via PM. If he has a noted history of this kind of action, and it is severe enough, a 3 hour ban would be applied. In either case a note would be made.

11. A marine has killed another marine. When you ask him why, he said it was because the other marine had punched him.
I would confirm the situation through their reports as well as the statement of witnesses and the combat logs of the individuals in question. If it did escalate as reported, I would warn the individual for violating something directly stated in rule 16, and mark a note. If any prior history is seen in their notes, they would be banned for 3 hours accordingly.

12. An issue arises that requires Admin+ abilities.
If an admin is present I would differ the situation to them. If one is not present I would immediately inform them briefly of the situation on Slack, requesting one be present, before informing the players involved in the situation that they'll need to wait a bit.

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 player that, unfortunately, such comments are entirely permissible so long as they remain in-character, and as long as they do not become too incredibly extreme, but to inform me if any out-of-character comments are made.

14. A marine opens fire at round start in briefing killing multiple marines and instantly logs off.
I would wait about 3 minutes to give the player time to return, in case that was a very (in)conveniently timed crash. If they do not return, they would receive a ban in accordance with how many prior infractions of this sort have occurred. Depending on the extent of the damage, I may distribute healing.

15. You see a player playing a xeno larva/chestburster run towards the frontlines and die.
I would inform them that Larva should not be anywhere near active combat zones when they can help it, and should especially not charge towards them. A note would be made and, if prior history is shown, a ban would be given. Otherwise they would receive a warning.

16. You see a xeno memeing, saying AYYLMAO, REEEEEE etc in hivemind chat.
As it is not an incredibly major issue, I would let it be. If it kept on for an extended period of time, they would be informed of their low-RP and a note would be 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".
This isn't anything major. A slip of the 'tongue' at best, simple ignorance at worst. If the player seems new I may inform them that Xenos tend to use other words to describe advanced things such as a dropship, but otherwise I would let it be. I would inform the player that as long as it is not a perpetuated thing, it is not anything to worry about.

18. A Command staff player at briefing near round-start mentions there are aliens on the planet.
Outside of a valid event or occurrence that would grant them this knowledge, I would message them and inform them that having such knowledge is metagaming, as they are to be ignorant of the alien life until first contact. A note would be made.

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 investigate the situation to ensure that both players did not have significant issue with the instance, especially in consideration of the fact that the result is the same in out-of-character effect: they are removed from the round either way. If it was roleplayed well, an IC issue is an IC issue. If it was just a sudden and unroleplayed murder that the dead takes issue with, I would make a note - and a ban if there are any priors - of griefing, ahealing the dead player if he wishes.

20. You see a fellow staff member give wrong information in an Adminhelp or incorrectly enforcing a rule.
If the information is clearly and factually wrong, I would inform the staff member of such. If there is a rule being incorrectly enforced, I would likely get the opinions of a third staff member involved. In any case, I would not directly message the player myself, as I am likely not aware of the whole situation.

20a. You see a fellow staff member abusing his powers in-game.
Firstly, I would take a screenshot of the incident, labeled by its time taken, and ensure that I have the logs marked for the round. Secondly, I would calmly approach the staff member about it in an attempt to diffuse the situation, as I do not know if he has a good reason that I am unaware of. Thirdly, I would send the information I have to my own supervisor or theirs.

21. You see a player talking in OOC chat about what he did with your mom last night.
Is this a hypothetical? I think I've seen this already without being staff, and the results are the same - I'd ignore it. If and only if he got incredibly explicit would I tell him to calm down about it, as it was getting to the point of erotic content, and a note would be left.

Any additional information you'd like to add?
As you can tell from above, I've been staffed to...a good number of places. This has rarely ended well - in fact, it never has. On Apollo I was kicked from my Event Manager position due to a natural spider infestation random event that got so out of hand that the players thought I caused it, and reported me as such. There is another factor of this that I am fine with sharing in private if a Staff member wishes to inquire about it, but I will not share it on a public forum. On that Pixelspark server, I was such a controversial topic when it came to if they should make me staff or not that the argument literally went on for two months, at each weekly staff meeting. On the D&D Server that I myself helped make, two of the other founders convinced the chief founder to strip me of my title for petty and personal reasons - they themselves got outright banned within three weeks after. There have always been people talking about me behind my back, even more than most. It has cost me a lot, even more than most. I am being upfront with this in the hopes that it doesn't cost me anything here. The issues I had on almost all of those servers - save Pixelspark which was its own can of worms entirely - was character involvement. My mental state was linked to my characters rather often, and that effected me a lot, and peoples views on me. That isn't the case here. The bumbling fools that run around the hallways with no concept for RP, the people that only use the 'me' command on accident, they keep me from getting too involved in my characters, and that is one thing I have to thank them for. It has changed me for this server, and kept me far more level with most of the community...as far as I know. I just wanted to be upfront about this. You already have one of my former bosses - Awan - in your staff. He was one of the people on Apollo that could stand me. I hope that trait is shared.

[awan]

Hey Novus good to see the your app like you said you would make.
Reply to 3 of the four of the following questions.

► Show Spoiler

What's the most important quality for a moderator?
What's one rule/procedure/policy we have you disagree with and would change?
What's more important : banning players that ruin the enjoyment of others or educating them to make them better players?
How do you decide if a player needs to be banned or warned?

And all of the three following.

► Show Spoiler

A player ahelps saying that a marine is killing all farwa on the planet he comes across. When you pm the player they reply that they got orders from the commander to do so. The commander replies he gave no such orders.
A player ahelps because they are a pilot officer just transporting people and is unarmed.
You disagree with a call the cmp made on marine law, you are in the round in the same squad as the arrested person and most of the squad disagrees but no one ahelped or faxed about it.

Also on another note the demotion was not about spiders at all. I dont want that drama to come back again. But my notes say something diffrently. If this is an incident around feb first.

[Tharinoma]

17. Is wrong

[Omicega]

There's something very off about the tone and sentence structure in this app. I don't like that at all -- for lack of any better way to put it, it seems like you're just trying too hard.

As you can tell from above, I've been staffed to...a good number of places. This has rarely ended well - in fact, it never has.

Whether you're being upfront about it or not, this is such a huge danger sign, especially when you literally call some of our playerbase "bumbling fools" later in the same paragraph. How can I be assured that you respect the players themselves enough to be able to carry out impartial moderation?

I don't think you would be a good fit for our staff team at all.

-1

[awan]

So, I am going to excuse myself out for voting for this as I don't think I can be seen as fully impartial.
In my opinion, I will always be seen as either going to hard or too soft on friends.
I will, however, make public part of the chat I was in with the 2 other Apollo hosts.
One day I woke up and you were demoted. I was not involved in the process of demotion but one of the hosts did so because of a claim of power abuse. (But not related to spiders at all.)
If you want more specifics I can pm them. I am not going to make them public.

Side note you were one of the only 4 people I trusted in that staff team.

[Novus Luna]

There's something very off about the tone and sentence structure in this app. I don't like that at all -- for lack of any better way to put it, it seems like you're just trying too hard.



Whether you're being upfront about it or not, this is such a huge danger sign, especially when you literally call some of our playerbase "bumbling fools" later in the same paragraph. How can I be assured that you respect the players themselves enough to be able to carry out impartial moderation?

I don't think you would be a good fit for our staff team at all.

-1

It's just how I type for something like this; in any case I'm unaware if 'trying to hard' is...well, a negative.

As for the quote...I may have misconveyed what that paragraph was meant to be about. It was me saying 'okay I've been staff on places before, it had issues, but the circumstances of this server have thusfar prevented the issues from coming about'.

I was not referring to the players, but their characters, with the comment. My apologies if it came off as otherwise.

Hey Novus good to see the your app like you said you would make.
Reply to 3 of the four of the following questions.

► Show Spoiler

What's the most important quality for a moderator?
What's one rule/procedure/policy we have you disagree with and would change?
What's more important : banning players that ruin the enjoyment of others or educating them to make them better players?
How do you decide if a player needs to be banned or warned?

And all of the three following.

► Show Spoiler

A player ahelps saying that a marine is killing all farwa on the planet he comes across. When you pm the player they reply that they got orders from the commander to do so. The commander replies he gave no such orders.
A player ahelps because they are a pilot officer just transporting people and is unarmed.
You disagree with a call the cmp made on marine law, you are in the round in the same squad as the arrested person and most of the squad disagrees but no one ahelped or faxed about it.

Also on another note the demotion was not about spiders at all. I dont want that drama to come back again. But my notes say something diffrently. If this is an incident around feb first.

How do you decide if a player needs to be banned or warned?
The severity of the present situation, as well as any prior history they have with similar incidents. I am not afraid to ban someone just because they're popular or well liked. If I would've banned someone for something, I'll do it regardless of how many players will be squinting at me for it. My very first ban as a staff member for SS13 was doing just this.

What's more important : banning players that ruin the enjoyment of others or educating them to make them better players?
The latter is more important overall, the former is more important situationally. You can't educate and fix everyone, some people are just factually here to mess with things. The fact of the matter is, banning is part of the education process for some people, for those that can be taught, because they are learning, to a more serious extent, that their actions have consequences.

What's the most important quality for a moderator?
The most important quality for a moderator, for any staff member, is good communication skills. The ability to keep level-headed at the appropriate time, the ability to work well with others, especially they that you don't know. It's the core function of the job.

A player ahelps saying that a marine is killing all farwa on the planet he comes across. When you pm the player they reply that they got orders from the commander to do so. The commander replies he gave no such orders.
At this point I would start to go digging - get any witness statements and look through logs. If I learn that the Commander did in fact order such, any metagaming charge would fall to him, perhaps a bit more harshly depending on the situation considering the orders of a Commander do far more than the actions of a single marine. Otherwise, the metagaming charge would fall to that single Marine that was killing the farwa.

A player ahelps because they are a pilot officer just transporting people and is unarmed.
In reality this seems more like a Mentor thing to address than a moderator. If there are no avaliable Mentors, I would inform the player that it is the job of the PO, ultimately, to transport people, and that he could, if he so desired, attempt to see if he could also run CAS - switching place with the other PO if there is one, or asking the Commander if he can alternate between the two. I would also inform them that the Pilot should spawn with a holster belt containing a sidearm and four magazines of ammunition, but that it is only meant for self-defense.

You disagree with a call the cmp made on marine law, you are in the round in the same squad as the arrested person and most of the squad disagrees but no one ahelped or faxed about it.
I would avoid handling the issue myself, first and foremost. If I believe it is a failure on the CMPs part to such a degree that he has committed Prevarcation or another crime, and is thereby breaking the rules as an MP breaking the law, I would bring it to the attention of another member of staff in as much detail as I can before continuing with the round.

As a side note in response to the spiders...that was most of the reason I was given, along with..Koen..but let's not dig that up much, I agree.

Apologies if my answers were a tad short for this, I am writing this against a deadline as I have to go to a job fair shortly; I may expand on them later if no responses have been sent by the time I return.

[Tharinoma]

Could you give 17. another go?

[Novus Luna]

As an alternative response to 17:
I would inform the player making the report that while there is a commonly used term ('bird' in this case) for many things, it is just a representation of our language through the hivemind, and thereby isn't an issue.

[NethIafins]

Question from me:
Why you wish to become a moderator on this server?

[Novus Luna]

I've always enjoyed being staff on servers, trying to help keep the server orderly, wanting to try and push new ideas into the format. With this server being the population flagship of the format, it's even better. As I said in the application, my status as staff has normally been revoked for a specific set of reasons, and those reasons are physically incapable of showing up on this server for one part, and for the other have not shown up so far and are normally reliant on the first reason. It is because of this that I think I'll actually have the best hope of doing some good on this server. As Omicega said, yes, I seem to be trying to hard - I may just have a specific way of talking in applications, but even without that way, I've been accused of this in the past. That's not a bad thing. I'm passionate about a project or assignment if I get my mind into it, and if I'm willing to apply like I have here, I clearly have my mind into it.

[NethIafins]

After your answer and my chat with you I think I'm for your trial

+1

[Mizari]

+1 from me

No issues with the app that cant be sorted in a trial. Good luck!

[Omicega]

It's just how I type for something like this; in any case I'm unaware if 'trying to hard' is...well, a negative.

As for the quote...I may have misconveyed what that paragraph was meant to be about. It was me saying 'okay I've been staff on places before, it had issues, but the circumstances of this server have thusfar prevented the issues from coming about'.

I was not referring to the players, but their characters, with the comment. My apologies if it came off as otherwise.

I think you're "trying too hard", as I put it, because your app reads in way too formal a register for what it is. Your English is stilted and awkward -- you say things in forty words when you could have said them in four. To me, it gets in the way of clear and concise communication.

The bumbling fools that run around the hallways with no concept for RP, the people that only use the 'me' command on accident, they keep me from getting too involved in my character

This is not you referring to the players' characters -- this is a direct criticism of those players themselves, and you can't sit there and tell me otherwise. I'm not having it -- either you don't know what you're saying or you're lying to me, to put it bluntly. I don't intend to come across as aggressive, but neither of those options are particularly appealing from where I'm sitting.

[Tharinoma]

I've worked with people like you in the past and always found that they were an useful addition to the team, +1.

[Novus Luna]

I think you're "trying too hard", as I put it, because your app reads in way too formal a register for what it is. Your English is stilted and awkward -- you say things in forty words when you could have said them in four. To me, it gets in the way of clear and concise communication.



This is not you referring to the players' characters -- this is a direct criticism of those players themselves, and you can't sit there and tell me otherwise. I'm not having it -- either you don't know what you're saying or you're lying to me, to put it bluntly. I don't intend to come across as aggressive, but neither of those options are particularly appealing from where I'm sitting.

I use the formality in my applications out of force of habit. It is not my normal speech pattern...I think.

In terms of the second part of your response, reading back on what I said, it's clear that I definitely misconveyed what I said. It was not meant to be a statement about the players in terms of the 'bumbling fools' part. After all, the players aren't running around the vessel hallways - the characters are. Then again, it is not the characters, but some players, that have a lesser view of rp, so it was to that that I meant the players. My apologies for not being more clear about this.

You do come off as such, but I take no offense to it. I've seen far worse in the past. You, as all staff on this server, really, seem composed and well meaning - I can't imagine you would throw a temper tantrum were my trial to come about despite your views, as those I've seen with far worse aggression have.

[Imperator_Titan]

This is being denied. Your recent behaviour towards staff in general is quite displeasing, alongside multiple ingame LOOC/deadchat rants regarding other players, you're simply just not the type of person we want on the team. Feel free to try again at a later point however for the time being, you're not coming on until you rework your behaviour in general.

Denied.