Trekkin - Moderator Application

[Youngblood]

Byond ID: Trekkin

Colonial Marines Character: Francis Doyle, Anatoly Andres

Age: 27

Gender: M

Timezone: GMT+2

On average, how many hours are you available per week to moderate?
Depending on work schedule; anywhere from 7 to 14+ hours a week.


Do you have any previous experience in being staff (not just SS13)?
I've never managed a community from an OOC position, but I've lead and co-lead numerous communities/groups or subdivisions from an IC point of view. Naturally that involves a degree of OOC decision making, but you won't find my name on any former or current server management/staff list.


Did you play any of the previous Colonial Marine servers?
No, I've just recently stumbled across this server and after taking a liking to SS13 in general and loving the Alien franchise, I figured I'd give it a shot. Loving it so far.


What other servers do you play on?
As of right now, I'm fairly inactive on other ss13 servers. I used to play on 2-4 heavy'ish roleplay servers.


What are the 3 biggest servers you play on besides CM?
Probably Aurora, before that Hypatia. Little bit of Baystation as well, I believe.


Have you had an application to Colonial Marines before?
No.


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?
No.


Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on ANY server? If so, where and When (roughly)?
No.


Are you familiar with Slack (It's use is required)?
No. Though I cannot imagine I'd have a problem with wrapping my head around its concept should the need arise.


Common Staff Situations:
Write a description of what you would do in each situation (BELOW) the situation. If you start it on the same line, I'll assume you can't follow directions and auto-decline your application.



1. A player is firing his weapon in the briefing area near the start of the round.
Depends on the circumstances. If it's "just" an illegal discharge type of deal, as in it's an apparent act of boredom and there is no victim other than inanimate objects; I'd shoot him a PM and enquire about his reasoning. Chances are the player isn't familar with the ruleset or game itself and thus doesn't realize what kind of environment he's in, meaning he doesn't know that he's supposed to roleplay to a certain extent and that his behaviour's highly uncharacteristic for a trained soldier / background checked hired civilian. According to his response and attitude I would either guide him to become more accustomed to the server's ruleset, hand out a verbal warning, kick, or a temporary / indefinite ban.

If the culprit is disrupting the round to a greater deal, as in he is actually firing upon other players, I'd freeze him as to avoid a mess and pause the "roleplay" in order to find out what's what.

Essentially, I'd argue that this case has a high chance of the player either being compeletly new to the gig or a griefer, considering the short timeframe the player had to establish a roleplay reason warranting a firefight.


2. The Sulaco has a breach to space.
Contain the damage, as far as that's still possible as to avoid a round spoiled for everyone. The rules clearly state that breaching the Sulaco's walls is against the rules, as such no one should have to suffer from the consequences. Use an announcement to figure out whether this turn of events happened by mistake or with intent and act accordingly. Mistakes happen, no one's a stranger to them, so I'd not be pressed to hand out bans by default, however if it happened on purpose I'd be inclined to hand out a temporary ban after giving the player my reasoning. Severity of the ban, again, depends on the attitude of the player.


3. The marines want the nuke codes because they claim they are losing too many marines. There are currently 4 aliens and 20 marines in your /who.
"The current alien/marine ratio is absolutely fine and does not warrant the use of a nuke. Keep in mind that you can't always win and that winning should not be your goal during roleplay - losing can be fun, too."

Simply put, the odds are perfectly fine in this scenario and there's no point in tipping the scales towards anyone's favor in this particular case. Reasons such as bruised egoes are excluded from the "potentially nuke-worthy scenarios" list.



4. A Sulaco researcher has made several napalm grenades and hands them out to marines. One of the marines throws the grenade into Logistics. There are no admins or other moderators online.
Hand out a temporary ban for random griefing, quite possibly indefinite ban depending on the attitude. As far as I'm concerned there's always an appeal section, to allow a player to prove that he's learned from his mistakes. Additionally I'd probably extend a tip to the researcher in question not to hand equipment out willy-nilly, and instead hand out more sensitive gear to guys that have proven themselves in previous rounds (or other deployments if you will). This works from an IC point of view as well.


5. A played is starting to talk about the things he did with your mom last night over Ahelp.
Eh. I honestly see no reason to spend time on people that push their luck that far for reasons unknown.

In order;
- attempt to ignore
- single warning
- kick
- temp ban
- indefinite ban


6. You notice a marine with a name that doesn't fit our naming rules.
Shoot a PM regarding the rules on the topic of character names, followed by an admin name-change and the request to pick a name according to the rules.


6a. The marine is arguing that: They've used the name for several years, noone has told them to change it before, and that they didn't know it was a rule.
That doesn't change the fact that it is covered in the rulebook, that I've noticed it and thus need it changed. It's not a huge problem at all, so I'd refrain from handing out punishments (as long as the name doesn't include a blatanly derogatory term), but there's no room for arguing here.


7. You see a Sulaco Doctor with an M41A rifle strapped to his back running around the briefing area. There are wounded in medbay, and the other doctor is in surgery.
Depends on the situation. I'm repeating myself, I know.

If the ship's in a chaotic state and the crew's in disarray, I'd probably give the player a pass. I mean, I very much believe in people needing to commit to their characters roles and such, but there are scenarios in which a "everybody for themselves" type of approach can be argued and if that's the case, I'll be the last person to tell a player how to roleplay their characters. I might not agree with the reasoning, but as long as it's not a blatant "lololol" shit-show, I'll be okay.

If the situation's calm and there's no apparent reason for a doctor to pick up arms and going on strolls, I'll be sure to PM and interview the guy. Who knows...he might STILL have some sort of reasoning going on. If not, I'll remind him that his character, as well as any other character on the ship, has been screened before duty and labelled fit for duty. People don't just go batshit crazy and tell everyone around them to get lost. This is where I like to remind people of their real-life, no matter how old you are, whether you're already in a professional working environment or not, someone always'll have the say over you and unless you want the shit-end of the stick, you'll usually fall in line, because the consequences for disobedience far outweigh whatever positives you may think you have going on at the time.

Generally speaking though, I'd much prefer the situation handled in-character. As in, this is a gross neglect of duty. Why not have the MPs deal with it instead? That way perhaps someone'll get some enjoyment out of the incident. (Doesn't mean I'd stop to monitor the situation, though.)


8. You see a Squad Medic performing surgery on the planet. He claims it was because there were no doctors in the FOB.
Unfortunately for him, the rules clearly state that surgery's not to be conducted by medics, under no circumstances. So while I understand his reasoning behind the treatment, I'd ask him to cease operating and refrain from doing so every again, as this could very well warrant a job-ban if he turns out to be a repeat-offender. Again, much of the punishment is in direct correlation to the attitude of the player.


9. The round is stagnating. There are 30 marines and 4 aliens. The marines won't leave the Sulaco, and the aliens won't attack. What would you do, to "encourage" the sides to engage each other?
Fill in for an in character role and send out an order for the marines to advance and complete their objective. As for the aliens? I'm not quite sure, I would probably PM the queen-player and ask him for some help on the matter. The show must go on and so forth, and with that said, I would expect the players that have taken supervisory roles on either side in the round to step up to the plate and make things enjoyable once again. A stalemate's only interesting for so long until things get really bland, but usually I'd say that players are quick to turn things into the right direction. Well before it reaches that point actually.


10. The round ends, and a marine starts unloading his weapons on other marines.
The well known "Obligatory" end-of-round grief, hand out something along the line of a 3 day ban. I may be swayed with effort in a ban-appeal, buuut even then I'd say a couple of days off are okiedokie and a committed player will likely sit through that and come back with a lesson learned and a better attitude.


11. A marine who has recently awoken is using soap to slip other marines.
Not a fan of it, but I suppose it's nothing major as long as it's a 1-time thing. More than that and I'd remind the player that his character is a [insert 18+] year old marine with [insert x amount of battle scars according to flavor text] about to be deployed and that grown ups aren't really into that kind of behaviour. I'd presume that it would stop after that. If not > kick, with hopes I won't have to escalate from there on out.


12. A marine has killed another marine. When you ask him why, he said it was because the other marine had punched him.
People 9/10 times in real life don't kill others over words or punches. Those that do are mostly maniacs or have, for whatever reasons, had such an incredible fit that it'll impact their lives deeply for the rest of their days. People in civilized countries don't just murder each other, either for fear of sure prosecution and its consequences or morale reasons. Killing somebody is a big step after all and the repercussions are often times swept under the rug in video games. Bottom line is that confrontation is part of every day life, be it physical or verbal, no folk nor area is exempt of that rule and people have learned over centuries to make do without killing each other at the first sight of issues.

I'd remind the player of the above and ask whether he still considers his reason up to par. If he truly does, I'd go on and explain that his character's been imprisoned for the rest of their life and hand out a temporary ban for griefing along with referral links to the server's ruleset and guides. The victim "I'd grant another chance at life" (or round, if you will).



Any additional information you'd like to add?
Perhaps this application's a bit too early on my behalf, so I'd understand and have no issues if it were to be declined for that (or other) reasons. I feel no entitlement whatsoever. As far as what I think I could bring to the table; I have extensive experience in all forms of roleplay, barring table-top and live action, but other than that I've roleplayed on multiple platforms, servers with a varying standards regarding roleplay (light, medium, high). Some of which included extensive amounts of paperwork, strict rules and/or management of sub-groups within communities.

With that said, I believe to be a patient individual, level-headed, an efficient teamplayer and professional. Last but not least, I'm a roleplay enthusiast.

[lucashunter608]

Byond ID: Trekkin

Colonial Marines Character: Francis Doyle, Anatoly Andres

Age: 27

Gender: M

Timezone: GMT+2

On average, how many hours are you available per week to moderate?
Depending on work schedule; anywhere from 7 to 14+ hours a week.


Do you have any previous experience in being staff (not just SS13)?
I've never managed a community from an OOC position, but I've lead and co-lead numerous communities/groups or subdivisions from an IC point of view. Naturally that involves a degree of OOC decision making, but you won't find my name on any former or current server management/staff list.


Did you play any of the previous Colonial Marine servers?
No, I've just recently stumbled across this server and after taking a liking to SS13 in general and loving the Alien franchise, I figured I'd give it a shot. Loving it so far.


What other servers do you play on?
As of right now, I'm fairly inactive on other ss13 servers. I used to play on 2-4 heavy'ish roleplay servers.


What are the 3 biggest servers you play on besides CM?
Probably Aurora, before that Hypatia. Little bit of Baystation as well, I believe.


Have you had an application to Colonial Marines before?
No.


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?
No.


Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on ANY server? If so, where and When (roughly)?
No.


Are you familiar with Slack (It's use is required)?
No. Though I cannot imagine I'd have a problem with wrapping my head around its concept should the need arise.


Common Staff Situations:
Write a description of what you would do in each situation (BELOW) the situation. If you start it on the same line, I'll assume you can't follow directions and auto-decline your application.



1. A player is firing his weapon in the briefing area near the start of the round.
Depends on the circumstances. If it's "just" an illegal discharge type of deal, as in it's an apparent act of boredom and there is no victim other than inanimate objects; I'd shoot him a PM and enquire about his reasoning. Chances are the player isn't familar with the ruleset or game itself and thus doesn't realize what kind of environment he's in, meaning he doesn't know that he's supposed to roleplay to a certain extent and that his behaviour's highly uncharacteristic for a trained soldier / background checked hired civilian. According to his response and attitude I would either guide him to become more accustomed to the server's ruleset, hand out a verbal warning, kick, or a temporary / indefinite ban.

If the culprit is disrupting the round to a greater deal, as in he is actually firing upon other players, I'd freeze him as to avoid a mess and pause the "roleplay" in order to find out what's what.

Essentially, I'd argue that this case has a high chance of the player either being compeletly new to the gig or a griefer, considering the short timeframe the player had to establish a roleplay reason warranting a firefight.


2. The Sulaco has a breach to space.
Contain the damage, as far as that's still possible as to avoid a round spoiled for everyone. The rules clearly state that breaching the Sulaco's walls is against the rules, as such no one should have to suffer from the consequences. Use an announcement to figure out whether this turn of events happened by mistake or with intent and act accordingly. Mistakes happen, no one's a stranger to them, so I'd not be pressed to hand out bans by default, however if it happened on purpose I'd be inclined to hand out a temporary ban after giving the player my reasoning. Severity of the ban, again, depends on the attitude of the player.


3. The marines want the nuke codes because they claim they are losing too many marines. There are currently 4 aliens and 20 marines in your /who.
"The current alien/marine ratio is absolutely fine and does not warrant the use of a nuke. Keep in mind that you can't always win and that winning should not be your goal during roleplay - losing can be fun, too."

Simply put, the odds are perfectly fine in this scenario and there's no point in tipping the scales towards anyone's favor in this particular case. Reasons such as bruised egoes are excluded from the "potentially nuke-worthy scenarios" list.



4. A Sulaco researcher has made several napalm grenades and hands them out to marines. One of the marines throws the grenade into Logistics. There are no admins or other moderators online.
Hand out a temporary ban for random griefing, quite possibly indefinite ban depending on the attitude. As far as I'm concerned there's always an appeal section, to allow a player to prove that he's learned from his mistakes. Additionally I'd probably extend a tip to the researcher in question not to hand equipment out willy-nilly, and instead hand out more sensitive gear to guys that have proven themselves in previous rounds (or other deployments if you will). This works from an IC point of view as well.


5. A played is starting to talk about the things he did with your mom last night over Ahelp.
Eh. I honestly see no reason to spend time on people that push their luck that far for reasons unknown.

In order;
- attempt to ignore
- single warning
- kick
- temp ban
- indefinite ban


6. You notice a marine with a name that doesn't fit our naming rules.
Shoot a PM regarding the rules on the topic of character names, followed by an admin name-change and the request to pick a name according to the rules.


6a. The marine is arguing that: They've used the name for several years, noone has told them to change it before, and that they didn't know it was a rule.
That doesn't change the fact that it is covered in the rulebook, that I've noticed it and thus need it changed. It's not a huge problem at all, so I'd refrain from handing out punishments (as long as the name doesn't include a blatanly derogatory term), but there's no room for arguing here.


7. You see a Sulaco Doctor with an M41A rifle strapped to his back running around the briefing area. There are wounded in medbay, and the other doctor is in surgery.
Depends on the situation. I'm repeating myself, I know.

If the ship's in a chaotic state and the crew's in disarray, I'd probably give the player a pass. I mean, I very much believe in people needing to commit to their characters roles and such, but there are scenarios in which a "everybody for themselves" type of approach can be argued and if that's the case, I'll be the last person to tell a player how to roleplay their characters. I might not agree with the reasoning, but as long as it's not a blatant "lololol" shit-show, I'll be okay.

If the situation's calm and there's no apparent reason for a doctor to pick up arms and going on strolls, I'll be sure to PM and interview the guy. Who knows...he might STILL have some sort of reasoning going on. If not, I'll remind him that his character, as well as any other character on the ship, has been screened before duty and labelled fit for duty. People don't just go batshit crazy and tell everyone around them to get lost. This is where I like to remind people of their real-life, no matter how old you are, whether you're already in a professional working environment or not, someone always'll have the say over you and unless you want the shit-end of the stick, you'll usually fall in line, because the consequences for disobedience far outweigh whatever positives you may think you have going on at the time.

Generally speaking though, I'd much prefer the situation handled in-character. As in, this is a gross neglect of duty. Why not have the MPs deal with it instead? That way perhaps someone'll get some enjoyment out of the incident. (Doesn't mean I'd stop to monitor the situation, though.)


8. You see a Squad Medic performing surgery on the planet. He claims it was because there were no doctors in the FOB.
Unfortunately for him, the rules clearly state that surgery's not to be conducted by medics, under no circumstances. So while I understand his reasoning behind the treatment, I'd ask him to cease operating and refrain from doing so every again, as this could very well warrant a job-ban if he turns out to be a repeat-offender. Again, much of the punishment is in direct correlation to the attitude of the player.


9. The round is stagnating. There are 30 marines and 4 aliens. The marines won't leave the Sulaco, and the aliens won't attack. What would you do, to "encourage" the sides to engage each other?
Fill in for an in character role and send out an order for the marines to advance and complete their objective. As for the aliens? I'm not quite sure, I would probably PM the queen-player and ask him for some help on the matter. The show must go on and so forth, and with that said, I would expect the players that have taken supervisory roles on either side in the round to step up to the plate and make things enjoyable once again. A stalemate's only interesting for so long until things get really bland, but usually I'd say that players are quick to turn things into the right direction. Well before it reaches that point actually.


10. The round ends, and a marine starts unloading his weapons on other marines.
The well known "Obligatory" end-of-round grief, hand out something along the line of a 3 day ban. I may be swayed with effort in a ban-appeal, buuut even then I'd say a couple of days off are okiedokie and a committed player will likely sit through that and come back with a lesson learned and a better attitude.


11. A marine who has recently awoken is using soap to slip other marines.
Not a fan of it, but I suppose it's nothing major as long as it's a 1-time thing. More than that and I'd remind the player that his character is a [insert 18+] year old marine with [insert x amount of battle scars according to flavor text] about to be deployed and that grown ups aren't really into that kind of behaviour. I'd presume that it would stop after that. If not > kick, with hopes I won't have to escalate from there on out.


12. A marine has killed another marine. When you ask him why, he said it was because the other marine had punched him.
People 9/10 times in real life don't kill others over words or punches. Those that do are mostly maniacs or have, for whatever reasons, had such an incredible fit that it'll impact their lives deeply for the rest of their days. People in civilized countries don't just murder each other, either for fear of sure prosecution and its consequences or morale reasons. Killing somebody is a big step after all and the repercussions are often times swept under the rug in video games. Bottom line is that confrontation is part of every day life, be it physical or verbal, no folk nor area is exempt of that rule and people have learned over centuries to make do without killing each other at the first sight of issues.

I'd remind the player of the above and ask whether he still considers his reason up to par. If he truly does, I'd go on and explain that his character's been imprisoned for the rest of their life and hand out a temporary ban for griefing along with referral links to the server's ruleset and guides. The victim "I'd grant another chance at life" (or round, if you will).



Any additional information you'd like to add?
Perhaps this application's a bit too early on my behalf, so I'd understand and have no issues if it were to be declined for that (or other) reasons. I feel no entitlement whatsoever. As far as what I think I could bring to the table; I have extensive experience in all forms of roleplay, barring table-top and live action, but other than that I've roleplayed on multiple platforms, servers with a varying standards regarding roleplay (light, medium, high). Some of which included extensive amounts of paperwork, strict rules and/or management of sub-groups within communities.

With that said, I believe to be a patient individual, level-headed, an efficient teamplayer and professional. Last but not least, I'm a roleplay enthusiast.

cult guy, i like it, but you're just too new to be a moderator, you'll need to play more and be more active in the forums

[Youngblood]

cult guy, i like it, but you're just too new to be a moderator, you'll need to play more and be more active in the forums

I respect that opinion, appreciate the feedback.

[Feweh]

Without reading you application I instantly have no idea who you are. Im not opposed to you by any means, just need to see you a bit more in-game first.

[Youngblood]

Without reading you application I instantly have no idea who you are. Im not opposed to you by any means, just need to see you a bit more in-game first.

I can see where you're coming from, in truth I'd likely share your sentiment on others in my position. I'd still very much like to contribute at some point, possibly at a later date when I've become more acquainted with the folks around here.

[TR-BlackDragon]

I'm also in the same position as feweh, I'm neutral for now until I see you more in game.

[Feweh]

Re-apply in a month.
We just added a few staff and a months time will give you more experience in-game.