Moderator Application
Personal Information
Byond ID Robotic Potato
Discord Username? Robotic Potato#4135
CM Character? Irene Rockfelt, Buddy, Darwin A.W. Bardiche
Are you 16 or older? Yes
Timezone UTC-5/6
On average, how many hours are you available per week to moderate? 16, more or less.
Qualifications
Do you have any previous experience in being staff (not just SS13)? Yogstation, FTL13
Do you play any servers aside from CM-SS13? Aurora
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? No.
Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on Colonial Marines? Yes.
Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on ANY server? If so, which server, when, and what for? None that I can recall.
Are you familiar with the chat program Discord (its use is required)? Yes
Communication is a vital part of being a Moderator. Are you willing to actively do so with the team? Of course.
Common Staff Situations
A player randomly shoots someone at round start and MPs have detained him. I know it says "randomly" which presumes I witnessed it and there was no context for it. Otherwise, since the situation has already been resolved in-game with their arrest I'd probably check the logs to see if this shooting is something that had any roleplay behind it and was escalated properly at all. At this point I'd probably talk to the two people involved in the shooting now that I have some basic background. After I find out why the situation has occurred in general I'd probably also determine how much of an impact this has had on roundstart. Finally after checking if they have a history of this behavior, and taking into consideration how bad the disruption is, and if it had any justification I'd likely be just asking them to be careful at roundstart because stuff like this can get out of hand into riots which could be a major disruption, otherwise I could see this maybe being a note, or ban if this is common behavior and had a large impact on roundstart.
A player ahelps that a predator has violated the honor code when killing him, what should you do? I'd inform him that Predators are antagonist which may act in ways and according to reasons that aren't obvious to him from his perspective and issues with them are usually handled by their respective whitelist council. From there I'd recommend he reach out to said whitelist council on our Discord or otherwise make a player report.
You see a player walking around the ship naked and clearly lost at roundstart. I'd likely mention the situation to the mentor team, or otherwise try to assist him myself to the extent any other player or mentor could.
A player is being very rude to you in adminhelps, calling you names and arguing everything you say. He is requesting to speak to an Admin+ staff member. As far as I'm aware there's no obligation to provide him another staff member to handle his issue. That being said, for the general easy going of the issue I'd probably discuss the situation with another staff member/Admin+ if available and ask if they're interested in assisting with it to make this go along easier. Presuming this isn't possible I'd probably go through with whatever proceedings as normal while remaining polite even if he doesn't listen to me. Depending on how it turns out I may end up apologizing and explaining how whatever this nondescript situation seemed. Either way depending if I end up punishing him, or apologizing I'd inform him if he was dissatisfied with how I handled the matter he can place a staff report.
A player ahelps that a marine is named 'John Doe', how do you deal with this? I'd likely just PM John Doe, inform him about our naming rules and ask if he'd like a different name. If he's not responding at all though and just ignoring me as some new players tend to do there's no point in me silently changing his name because he'll likely use an LRP one again. I’d probably sleep him and hopefully this gets his attention, if he starts we resolve the issue, everyone is happy. If not I might consider if a note/ban is necessary.
You see a Maintenance Tech running around in armor and carrying a rifle. The security level is green and there has been no threat to the ship in the round at this point. Honestly not a huge issue. If I'm for example observing I might check to see if there's an ruckas about him causing troubling from the MPs or anyone and perhaps investigate from there/any ahelps about him. Otherwise, reasonably IC issue.
A Marine ahelps that they were killed by a survivor. It is early round, the Marines have just landed, and the survivor claims that they were outright hostile to all Marines from the get-go and openly stated their intentions. How do you deal with this? This is kind of iffy, I'd likely investigate their roleplay to see if it was reasonable and it's true they announced their intentions as such. Currently our rules state, "Survivors may NOT be hostile unless they have been spawned as hostile survivors (CLF)." I'm aware we had a test last month about survivors as well and someone may have misinterpreted it to mean they can just be hostile however they feel.
At the end of the day it depends how they're carrying this out: if they're silently ganking marines from the dark I'd probably freeze them and handle the situation. If they're being hostile in the sense that they're being reclusive and not wanting to be bothered and otherwise escalating conflict as normal I don't see much cause for concern.
End of the day though one of the biggest evaluations would be if this is positively contributing to the round as the Staff CoC states some issues can be ignored to otherwise facilitate roleplay and an enjoyable round. No point in breaking this up if most of the players are clearly roleplaying and pleased with what's happening, that also being said as a Moderator I doubt I'd actually be allowed this amount of discretion too so, eh.
You receive an ahelp from a player stating that an MP has locked them up in permanent confinement for running into Requisitions and taking an attachment that was laying around. I'd likely respond and inform them I'm investigating. From that point I'd likely talk to the MP, check logs, talk to the player then perhaps talk with Req staff/any marine who was around could back either up. Maybe I found out the player failed to mention how he PBed some guy who tried to stop him and is spinning the narrative in his favor, or he was permaed for some other valid reason.
Otherwise, if the situation is just as he says I'm pretty sure even with Trespassing assuming he literally only just ran in, Theft assuming he really wasn't supposed to take it(Maybe in this situation he was told he could have it, but the RO didn't want him to run in and trespassing to grab), and resisting arrest there's no way the JAS said perma and I have to assume it's possible the player either has no idea about the system or has just ignored/manipulated it to get him the sentence which I would proceed to make sure his charges are corrected and speak with the MP about enforcement.
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'm going to answer this under the context that I absolutely can't ask another staff member to do something. I have to assume if they're ingame they've noticed this as well and aren't doing anything about it. Otherwise, I might mention something in Discord about the state of the round.
Assuming I need to handle it myself as I can't use ARES I imagine that also means I can't prompt an early bioscan to indicate to the marines how low the xenos are. I might use Subtle Message to otherwise tell whoever is leading the operation something along the lines of "You have an inkling that the xenomorphs likely couldn't stand another assault and now might be the time to strike and finish them off." Pretty sure I can't fax as well, or otherwise I might consider doing a wellness check fax then another pending their response that orders them to attack with some explanation of why I know they're most likely to win.
I might also try to spur the xenos as Queen Mother to attack, at the end of the day they have to listen and the round reasonably needs to progress if getting the marines to attack isn't working and I can't do something such as send an ERT or otherwise.
You are playing as a medic, and another medic overdoses all your patients and prevent marines from being revived. It seems like it may be on purpose. How do you deal with this situation? I'd probably immediately try to resolve this ICly to see if they're actually just new and have no idea what they're doing. Otherwise, it's generally in poor form to handle tickets you're directly involved in so I'd probably bring this up to any other staff possible and share my suspicions plus I imagine at this point some else has probably also reported it.
Assuming I must handle it myself though I'd likely speak to them, see how badly they've been overdosing people if I can assume it's purposeful. Maybe multiple marines told the medic to stop because they had meds proving they're doing this despite others best attempts or something which either shows me the player obviously isn't able to play this role. If this isn't something I can resolve by talking to them/they have a history I'd likely give them a job ban and ban if I can reasonably infer they're doing it with the intention of griefing.
The round ends, a Marine starts shooting a hostile CLF member and the CLF member ahelps about being killed after the round ended. Direct them to our rules and how they state there is an exception to EORG in the case of two hostile factions continuing to fight.
A Marine is running around disarming, punching and stealing gear at round start. You receive an ahelp from one of the victims. I'd ask the victim in question about the situation firstly. I know some people do this, and I've personally participated in just fucking with my friends roundstart so there's a possibility this player just witnessed this and is reporting it as a third party. Assuming this is actually just the other player maliciously trying to stop players from prepping and generally causing havoc there's no excuse, our rules specifically mention this situation, and aside from hindering the flow of gameplay it's just generally harmful to other people trying to roleplay at all if someone is just griefing. I'd likely speak to the player in question, proceed with noting, possible escalation of punishment, etc.
You receive an ahelp from a Marine saying that he was killed by another Marine. When you ask the murderer why, he said it was because the other Marine had punched him. Given the player has outright said it's due to a punch I'd likely run him down our escalation procedure, speak to him and possible let him off with a warning, if not check for past conduct, possibly proceed with noting, possible escalation of punishment, etc.
If needed I may aheal the player involved so his round isn't held up in surgery hell because he's had multiple breaks from this guy improperly escalating in the situation this is before first drop.
You find out that there is an improper mutiny occuring. The mutineers are rallying together and preparing to storm the CIC. How would you attempt to resolve this situation? The question presumes I know this is an improper mutiny and it's pretty hard to accidentally improperly mutiny with how it's codified now so I'd likely PM the leader if I know who it is and ask them to stop the proceedings. Sometimes it's not so easy though so I may use MOOC to inform everyone to stop, and should a fight actually proceed I'd likely sleep the people involved and clear it up.
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. Given people are uncomfortable I'm assuming this isn't some sort of in-universe sort of prejudice such as towards people of the UPP or some such. In that instance we're 0 tolerance on racism so I would contact the player and tell them to cut it out. I'd likely place a note to document the fact so if this isn't a misguided joke there is a basis to escalate if it continues.
A marine opens fire at round start in briefing killing multiple marines and instantly logs off. This is probably just straight up grief. I might spend a minute to see if there was literally any context or they return. From that point I heal everyone, ban the player, and request a permaban.
You see a player playing a Xeno larva/chestburster run towards the frontlines straight from the Xeno hive the second they burst and die. I'd probably question the player on why they did this. It's possible for instance the Scout was chasing them out of the hive and they accidentally ran there and I missed this interaction which is worth some investigation. Assuming they did this for no good reason I'd likely, based on the interaction, proceed with punishment based on their response, history yada yada, you can only say "I properly escalate from warning+to note+ban in so many different ways." I would also try to refund the larva to the Hive in any way in my power.
You see a Xeno memeing, saying AYYLMAO, REEEEEE etc in hivemind chat, as well as insulting the Queen. Usually these things work themselves out with a banishing and subsequent murder by the Hive. I'd likely still give them a PM and warn them about it so they understand netspeak/memeing isn't allowed as a xeno even though their level of roleplay required is odd compared to a marine.
A Xeno player calls the shuttle a "dropship". A different Xeno player ahelps that it's low role play to call it a "dropship". I'd inform the player xenomorph hivemind and xeno speak in general is a translation of however xenomorphs speak to English so either way isn't inherently wrong and it's personal preference how you like to state it.
A Command staff player at briefing near round-start mentions there are aliens on the planet. You receive an ahelp from a marine regarding this. I'd speak to the command player and remind them that while Marines are aware of xenomorphs as a threat they aren't aware that's what's currently plaguing the planet and while they can inform the Marines to prepare for anything they can not concretely say that there WILL be Xenomorphs unless otherwise informed via event information or the survivors somehow informing them from the planet.
You find a Marine killing another Marine on the EVAC Pod to take the last spot and claims it was RP as he was saving himself. There are two other marines in the pod along with him. I'd inform the player this is considered legitimate and is covered specifically as an Exceptional Circumstance in our lethal force rules as well as make sure he's aware escape pods can not launch at all with more than three people on them.
A player insults you after you warn them for a minor issue and begins ranting in LOOC or dchat about staff and mentions you specifically, referring to you as an 'idiot' and a 'retard'. I'd likely DM them, tell them that their conduct isn't acceptable not because I'm a staff member but you're expected to generally not be toxic to any player in out community. From here I'd ask them to stop and inform them that if they have an issue with me as a staff member and they can make a report. If it should continue I'd likely mute them from deadchat and LOOC and note them for the incident. Should they continue even further into saying this IC I'd escalate to a ban.
A player ahelps saying he was hugged by a Xeno when he was ssd, and wants the larva be removed from him via admin powers. How do you handle the ahelp? Sadly can't help with this unless this was for instance a major issue and everyone was informed to stop fighting though OOC means. In that case there may be a basis to help him, otherwise there's nothing I can do.
You see a fellow staff member give wrong information in an Adminhelp or incorrectly enforce a rule. I'd likely talk to the staff member, and see if I can otherwise make them understand where I'm coming from and why I think they enforced it incorrectly. From that point though there's nothing more than reporting it to my manager that I can do.
Two staff are arguing in msay if an ahelp is breaking a rule. Because the staff who took the ahelp thinks the player broke a rule, they ban the player based on their interpretation of the rules, with others thinking the person was fine. What would you do? I'd probably try to figure out what the issue is, try to deescalate the situation if needed, and otherwise speak to a third party such as a manager or superior staff member to make a ruling on the matter.
Why would you like to become a moderator? As Mentor Coordinator and a Mentor in general I'd like to think I've contributed to the community by making the Mentor Guidelines, working with the team to make the updated Mentor Application, and in general acting in my capacity as a Mentor to help new players. I'd be lying if I said a large part of my motivation for becoming staff wasn't so that in the future should the current Mentor Overseer leave, or take another position I might be considered for it as I've been told that's what barred me in the past.
That being said I also believe that in the position of Moderator I could further contribute to the community.
In your opinion, what is the most important quality for a moderator? The most important quality I'd say is generally staying cool headed and impartial, to consider something from all sides before deciding what to do; I'm sure you can read about this in any leadership, team building PowerPoint, or literally like any other application though so I'd also like to mention my second most. Speed. While getting it right is most important, also getting it right in a decent time is very important. Sure the player you helped who was in perma for stealing and attachment from the Req floor is probably a little happy he's been vindicated or whatever and the MP has been told he's wrong. That being said if he had to wait an hour for it to happen he's probably still considered his round ruined and rightfully pissed so speed is definitely important.
Anything else you want to add? I presume it wouldn’t be an issue for me to continue to act in the position of Mentor Coordinator as a Moderator, especially given the fact the role is basically just a title right now anyways. If it is though I would seriously consider retracting my application as the Mentor team is something I’ve put a lot of my personal time into and I’d still like to continue supporting it.