Moderator Application
Personal Information
Byond ID? NoahKirchner
CM Character? Scott Ivors (Enlisted) Michael Braddock (Commissioned) Quincy (Synth)
Are you 16 or older? Yes
Timezone EST
On average, how many hours are you available per week to moderate? This varies wildly, I am available a lot, realistically, at least a round a day, normally 2 or 3 rounds daily.
Qualifications
Do you have any previous experience in being staff (not just SS13)? I was a mod on aurora for like a month or so, a mentor here ages ago for like a week.
Do you play any servers aside from CM-SS13? Infrequently, but occasionally aurorastation or hippiestation
Provide links to any previous Colonial Marines applications that you've made
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? I am not
Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on Colonial Marines? Jobanned, yes, but in terms of timed bans the longest I've been banned is one minute.
Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on ANY server? If so, which server, when, and what for?
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? Yes
Common Staff Situations
A player randomly shoots someone at round start and MPs have detained him. Well, first and foremost it's probably best to contact the player who was shooting people indiscriminately and ask him what's up. If he doesn't give a response, I'd give him instructions on how to reply to my ahelp a few times, assuming he's still moving around in game.
From there I'd check his notes and see if he has any previous history of randomly assblasting Joe Delta in prep, and if he doesn't I'd assume he's a new player. If he does, and if he's already gotten a warning for this type of behavior, this obviously warrants a ban of some sort or shape, but even here context is important. Since the question says "random", though, I'm going to assume that the context is that he's just griefing, and that a ban in line with the number of warnings/severity of warnings he's had should be given (3 day or 7 pending perma depending on number/severity of warnings) assuming he's your buck standard no response to ahelp shoot people in briefing griefer.
If he does respond, then that complicates the situation a bit. In that case, he's more than likely a new player trying to learn the game (assuming he also has no notes). From there it would be a good idea to try to tell him how to play, explain what he did wrong, all that good stuff and give him a HEFTY WARNING (and a note) before letting the MPs deal with him.
If he's got no notes and doesn't respond despite numerous instructions on how to reply to ahelps, a ban and note is also likely in order, though this one should be noticeably shorter, 3 hours if he just assblasted one marine and a day if he looks like his plan was to obliterate the entirety of charlie squad in prep.
In all cases, the player he killed should be ahealed. I also assumed in this answer that the player was shooting people until death instead of a misfire, since that really wouldn't require an admin response (maybe a small note at most) if Joe Baldie accidentally shot someone once in the chest in prep and it was clearly not on purpose.
A player ahelps that a predator has violated the honor code when killing him, what should you do? Well I don't have a predator whitelist and my knowledge of the predator code is pretty lacking, so first I'd go and check the predator honor guideline page or ask another predator in msay about the situation to get their take on it.
In both situations, provided the predator isn't blatantly griefing (which why would he be he's a predator), I'd direct that player to make a report on the forums after the round is over and to collect some evidence. I can't deal with this in the now, but if in my own opinion the actions seem like a pretty clear violation of the honor code I'd probably dig around a bit to add to the guy's report later on. Otherwise, just let him make a report and allow the proper apparatus to deal with it.
You see a player walking around the ship naked and clearly lost at roundstart. If I see them when I'm playing, I'd do what I normally do and lead them around with RP messages ICly and instructional messages in LOOC. Personally I feel like that's the best way to help noobs instead of with ahelps, because it's more like a dramatic story or tutorial mission than some disembodied voice talking to you from above.
If I was observing, though, I'd ahelp them, explain how to respond to ahelps and ask if they require any help. If after two messages or so they don't respond, which happens when I try to help people via LOOC, then c'est la vie, he's free to explore and learn on his own. If he does, though, I enjoy helping new players and would answer any questions he has, try to get him a map of the almayer off of the wiki or generally guide him to the places he needs to be to go kill the alans. The marine quickstart guide on the wiki is also a nice sender off after the one on one help is done.
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. I don't really care what he calls me, and maintaining a professional demeanor is generally important (Or in short, I won't call him a retard in ahelps no matter how much I want to), and assuming that the insults are petty and at least vaguely on topic I wouldn't do anything about it. If he's crossing a line, though, that's a warning, a note and if it continues a bannu (depending on number of notes for toxicity, 3 hours for first offense scaling up) just as a matter of principle.
He is definitely allowed to argue his point within reason though, just not in ahelps because that's kind of pointless. I'd direct him to the ban appeal/staff report section and tell him to make one if he feels as if he's being treated unfairly or whatever, and if he continues arguing after that I'd just mute from sending ahelps and add a note.
In all cases, really, a note should be added just incase it's a consistent thing.
A player ahelps that a marine is named 'John Doe', how do you deal with this? Well this is a reference name, so I'd check the player's notes to make sure they don't have any previous notes for using reference names, and assuming they don't, I'd ahelp the player (while explaining how to respond to ahelps since normally Alpha PFC John117 Wick is a new player), and ask them if they've read the rules. When they say they haven't, or lie and said they have, I'd point them to the rule on character naming and explain it until they understand. Assuming they understand, I'd tell them to "Change the name after you die by going to ghost --> edit character, or in the lobby next round, and also what do you want your name to be". When they give me the name they want to change to, I'd google it first, confirm it's not a reference, change it, note the player and wish them a happy CM day.
If in their notes they have been talked to about this before, I'd give them a VERY STERN WARNING if it was a second offensive, and a short ban on a third offense, scaling up with time, while also asking them to please read the rules and change their damn name.
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. This is a breach of SOP, not of the rules, so it's an IC issue. The MPs should probably beat the shit out of him for it though unless he's deploying, but that's not my place.
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? It depends on how the survivor went about killing the marines. If it was like that one round where survivors were waiting at the LZ and chucked grenades INTO the dropship as it landed, then that's kind of fucked and I'm probably going to want to check to see if the survivor has any notes about meta behaviour previously. If he doesn't, I'll give him an INCREDIBLY strong warning to cut the shit and aheal the marine dead. If he does have notes about this kind of shit previously, it'd either be a ban from survivor if it only happens when he's survivor, or a time ban scaling up with the level of the previous note (from 3 hours to 1 day or so for not so bad note and very bad note respectively).
Now if the survivors were chilling in their little whack shack in the west of town and the marines walked up to them, it's worth ahelping the marines with the one who died to ask them if the survivors were openly hostile (just for a bit of corroboration). If they shot first, though, and didn't play nice, then that sounds like they were openly hostile, and from there on out it's an IC issue as long as they didn't pretend to be friendly at any point.
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. Oh lord marine law, I would start this ahelp by cursing God for creating me before claiming the ticket. After I was done cursing God, I'd ahelp the MP and ask them why the long brig timer. If the other marine wasn't telling the whole story, and VV/testimonials from req verify this, then I'd tell the original marine that he's shit outta luck and broke marine law in more ways than just trespass.
Now if the marine did only trespass and steal an attachment, that only constitutes trespass and theft, which together is an absolutely fucking ludicrous 60 minutes for max charges, BUT, permanent confinement requires a total time of OVER one hour, and one minute is a hell of a long time. So I'd ask the MP exactly what they got put in for, and if it's only those two crimes, I'd ask him why the hell he's done this and to reduce the timer to something reasonable and note it. If the MP says that the marine did something he didn't then investigation happens, and if that investigation turns up that the marine is not innocent, then we go back up to the beginning. If we determine that the marine only trespassed and stole then it's back to the note step. If this MP has a history in his notes of trumping up charges, then an MP job-ban should be considered depending on severity. If he doesn't, then a heavy warning and note will suffice.
I would conclude this ahelp by killing myself because of marine law.
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? Frankly this seems like more of a job for a senior mod or admin. But if I am forced to make a call here, I'd probably go the route of subtle messaging the CO while ALSO giving a queen mother report, that way it encourages both sides to get mobilized instead of stagnating and turtling. In a perfect world, though, someone with access to a way to influence the marines would handle this situation instead of a poor, destitute moderator.
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 don't, because I'm directly involved in it. What I do, however, is ahelp and let someone uninvolved deal with the situation, and give a testimony when asked for one as to the situation.
The round ends, a Marine starts shooting a hostile CLF member and the CLF member ahelps about being killed after the round ended. Combat with hostile factions is allowed post round, marines can kill xenos, xenos can kill marines and commies can kill marines, so I'd tell the CLF that he's SOL and that the marine did nothing wrong, but I'd say it all nice and polite like.
A Marine is running around disarming, punching and stealing gear at round start. You receive an ahelp from one of the victims. Assuming the marine isn't doing anything bordering on major round disruption, it sounds like an IC issue, but I'd investigate anyway.
I'd check the notes of the marine doing the shenanigans. If this is an uncommon thing from him, and assuming he's not being too LRP about his shenanigans, I'd tell the victim that it's an issue for the MPs to handle.
Now if this marine's been noted for doing this kind of stuff before, if the shenanigans are bordering on round disruption or if he's being blatantly LRP about it, it's time for an ahelp. Now, as a professional retard who used to harass MPs and pull shenanigans like this constantly, so I know what he's probably going to try to do - rule lawyer. I don't mean to sound like a proponent of moral relativism or anything, but enforcing the rules is more of an art than a science, and if the marine is obviously going too far or disrupting the round and this is obvious, blatantly so, then he should be punished. If he doesn't have any notes, a strong warning and a "cut the shit" will probably suffice, but if this is a routine issue, bans scaling with the intensity of the notes (as mentioned in the other answers, 3 hours or so for minor warnings, et cetera), will suffice.
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. Oh boy it's time to VV. Since I've already opened communications with both of these marines, I'd ask the dead marine if this was true and VV the person who'd been punched.
If the person hadn't been punched or attacked whatsoever, then he lied to me and that's bad, I'd check his notes, determine if this was a recurring behaviour and ask him why he lied just to see if I can prod a "i'm a griefer" answer out of him. If this is recurring behaviour, he's a griefer obviously and should be banned depending on his note history, 3 hours for warnings, scaling up with intensity of prior punishment. If it's new behaviour, it's time to issue that VERY HEAVY WARNING and depending on the demeanor in ahelps and how convincing his excuse is, a short ban is possible.
If the person HAD been punched, then it's a good ol' dive into the hellish rabbithole that is escalation. Now I know that the strict fists --> object -->knife --> gun thing has been removed, but it's still a nice tool to see if this guy just gakked another person for a single punch, which is unreasonable. If there is some kind of progression and ramp up in conflict in VV and based off of what can be corroborated in testimony + people who were nearby, then it's starting to sound like an IC issue. If there was bad escalation on part of the shooter, then it's the same process as listed previously. Check note history, determine punishment as explained above and note accordingly.
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? Well if there's an improper mutiny occurring there's probably a good reason for it, so I want someone to ahelp asking for permission to do it. Frankly I think that the way that mutiny rules are handled could use a lot of work, but I'll save that for some other point - someone needs to ahelp with names for this mutiny to be considered legitimate. OOC is a wonderful tool, and shooting a message in there suggesting that maybe the leader of the mutiny should ahelp (assuming he has a good reason), and God willing he will so the mutiny can happen.
If nobody ahelps, though, then they broke the rules. Enforcing rules en masse though, especially with something as janky as mutiny rules is a massive pain in the ass, though, because realistically out of that big group of mutineers, they probably all thought that the others had already ahelped the mutiny, I know that in that situation I certainly would, in fact I've joined mutinies before that I thought were ahelped because the captain announced them only to be passive aggressively bwoinked about it - so the best thing to do is try to find who the de jure leader of this mutiny is and bwoink /him/ about if (if there even is one). Assuming there is, a warning to ahelp before starting a mutiny with names and a justification should be given, and a note added. If there are notes on the player about this kind of behaviour previously, a short ban should be considered based on severity.
You can't really punish 20 marines, though, so OOC warnings would have to suffice from that point forward when it comes to actually enforcing the rules, along with a nice, quaint, succint "THERE IS NO MUTINY STOP TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER" message like I keep seeing so often (which seems ineffective given that people can turn OOC off). If people keep killing each other, bwoink the individuals responsible and then deal with them individually, treating it like improper escalation.
Again, though, the way the rules are written on this makes enforcing anything a clusterfuck and I hope it gets drastically changed eventually to make more sense.
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. Minor IC racism is not against the rules, so I would direct the ahelping player to make a player report if they felt that they went too far. At the end of the day we're playing in space vietnam, though, minor IC racism is to be expected and I would make sure to tell them that it's not against the rules ICly unless we're dealing with it on obviously crossing the line-tier levels.
A marine opens fire at round start in briefing killing multiple marines and instantly logs off. What a legend.
First and foremost, aheal the marines so that they can enjoy their round without being dead, since being dead tends to make people sad. From there, check the notes of the marine who shot people up. Assuming he's a fresh account who just joined to grief, he's probably multikeying, and that requires log diving ew to find out who the original player is. If he's not multikeying somehow, he did just join to blatantly grief, and that to me sounds like a seven day pending perma and an issue to be resolved on the forums.
If he is multikeying, then that's a massive rabbit hole to dive down which probably also ends with a seven day pending perma.
You see a player playing a Xeno larva/chestburster run towards the frontlines straight from the Xeno hive the second they burst and die. Well the first question to ask is, did this xeno burst in the hive? If they bursted in the hive then that sounds like a good 'ol case of suiciding as a larva, and they should be ahelped. It's probably good to ask them why they did that while checking their notes to see if they've ever done it before, and unless they have an absolutely stellar reason or are new to the game, that sounds like a HEAVY warning or xeno jobban depending on their replies (For example, "well I just don't like xenos") should get them jobbanned.
If they are new, teaching them how to respond to ahelps and the basics of xenomorph, along with a link to the quickstart guide to xeno on the forums sounds like a good place to start, along with a note for suiciding as a larva just incase.
Now if they WERE near the front line, it could probably be an issue of "OH GOD I WENT THE WRONG WAY AAAAH I DIED HELP ME OH LORD", in which case no action needs to be taken, but this part is very contextual and requires the whole situation to be seen instead of described as it is, so I'm just gonna assume that they bursted in the hive.
You see a Xeno memeing, saying AYYLMAO, REEEEEE etc in hivemind chat, as well as insulting the Queen. ayylmao
A bwoink is in order, along with a note check to see if they have any behaviour of LRP as a xeno (or marine, specifically looking for netspeak). If they don't, asking them to read the rules and talking about xeno roleplay and not using netspeak is in order, along with telling them how they are subservient to the queen and giving them a warning to stop being an idiot. Note the situation and move on.
Now if they DO have a history of this type of stuff, a xeno jobban is probably in order after the reasons why have been explained and depending on the severity of the prior warning. If the prior warning was for basically the same thing, then e'eyup, jobban 'em. If it was for something really minor though, like using lol icly, then a warning like above is still probably the proper response.
A Xeno player calls the shuttle a "dropship". A different Xeno player ahelps that it's low role play to call it a "dropship". Tell the different xeno player that, as the hivemind isn't actually communicating with each other like they would via a radio, and is instead just the collective thought of one big organism, that the word "dropship" isn't actually the word "dropship", just the abstract idea of a dropship communicated within a hivemind. Or basically that it's not an issue whatsoever.
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. A man can dream.
First of all, BUHWOINK, I'd ask the player if he was new and if he's read the rules. While I wait for him to reply, I'd check his notes and make sure he doesn't have any notes for anything like this prior. If he does, a command jobban is probably in order, since at this point he's just blatantly throwing the idea of first contact out of the window. Assuming he hasn't been warned for it prior, though, I'd make sure to tell him that you don't know about the aliens planetside and to keep that in mind in the future. I'd consider that bit a warning, note it and move on. People do this all the time and most marines just brush it off and count it as a new player (which it normally is), so I wouldn't be too concerned about in-round ramifications.
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. Oh boy oh boy oh boy it's investigation time! This always gets me tingly below the belt, I can't wait to get started.
First I should ask the other two marines in the pod what the hell happened. If they can attest to the situation being well escalated and roleplayed, then that makes me think that it's an IC issue. It's then important to ask the marine who died. If he is all onboard with it, as happens sometimes, and agrees that it was well roleplayed, then it's 100% an IC issue and not my problem anymore.
Now if there's disagreement about the level of RP that went into this interaction, then I have to actually like do my job. VV is a good place to start, looking for some kind of escalation from fist to object to gun, et cetera. Checking chat logs is also good to make sure that the marine /was/ roleplaying here and didn't just wordlessly walk into this pod and GAKK the FUCK outta a dude. If he did wordlessly walk into a pod and gakk the fuck out of the victim, or if the RP was minimal and this can be corroborated/found with VV, it's time to check the notes of the shooter. If this is a repeat incident, you guessed it, TEMP BAN scaling with the SEVERITY OF THE PRIOR NOTE! If it's a first offense, a heavy warning, a note, leave it be.
If I find a good level of RP though, with some text explaining reason, escalation or whatever, I'd drop it at that point since the victim didn't ahelp and it seems to be all well and good, even if there is some disagreement. IC issue.
Now if the situation is in a grey area, I'd probably ask another staff member to take a look and work with them on a conclusion between IC issue or grief, since a second set of eyes on something is always nice.
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'. Unfortunately, he's right, I am an idiot and a retard, but it's kind of annoying that he's doing that.
I'd send him an ahelp giving him instructions on how to make a staff report if he feels he's been wronged in one way or another, and as long as he doesn't escalate the situation in d-chat or LOOC and shuts up within a reasonable mount of time, I don't think there's any punishment necessary there aside from a note. Calling me an idiot and a retard really isn't that big of a deal unless he goes super overboard.
If he does go super overboard, I'd tell him to stop or I'm going to LOOC/Deadchat mute him and make his note more severe. If he CONTINUES doing it, then I'd LOOC/Deadchat mute him and make his note more severe.
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? Well as much as it sucks, there's nothing to do about it since it's not explicitly against the rules, and I'd tell him as such in as polite a way as possible. If he doesn't take to the news well, then that's a different can of worms, but trying to be as understanding as possible in the ahelp is key because it is kind of bullshit to crash and wake up hugged - but it's unavoidable.
You see a fellow staff member give wrong information in an Adminhelp or incorrectly enforce a rule. First and foremost, polite conversation and disagreement is key. If this doesn't suffice though, arguing it is kind of pointless, going to a head is the best way to get a verdict.
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? Well, I am an argumentative person, probably to a fault. That's not to say that I argue with the intent to be mean or rude but I enjoy debating things, so if I disagree with either side I'm probably going to butt in. If the argument is getting nowhere though, it becomes pointless and going to heads to get a verdict is the only proper course of action that will actually accomplish anything, no matter how much i hate appeals to authority.
Why would you like to become a moderator? I want to help new players and answer ahelps, nothing more nothing less really.
In your opinion, what is the most important quality for a moderator? This question has two answers for two very different enviroments.
When dealing with players, being generally personable is key. Being a staff member doesn't make you any better than Joe Delta the marine main, and acting high and mighty because you volunteer your time doesn't win you any brownie points and makes players less likely to work with you when you're trying to enforce rules. At the end of the day you're both retards who play a spessman game, and throwing around your internet clout doesn't get anybody anywhere. Acting like a member of the community first and a staff member second is the way to go, in my opinion.
When dealing with other staff, the ability to see different perspectives. Disagreements in staff happen, should happen and are good things. Being able to argue a point for the betterment of the server, in my opinion, is key to making the best possible server, and being able to accept other people's arguments and your own faults and whatnot is key to working in a team with other people.
Anything else you Holy FUCK THAT WAS A LOT OF QUESTIONS, and also I will probably not stay on the staff team past late August, but I'm sure some extra hands during summer greytide never killed nobody.
Spoiler:
Originally Posted by forest2001
