Admin Application: Knouli

[knouli]

BYOND ckey: Knouli
Character name: Tamamo-no-Tiro
Discord username (+user id): Knouli#5776
How long have you played on Citadel?: Conservative estimate of a year and a half
How long have you played SS13?: 5 years
What is your timezone/general hours of activity?: EST. Varies with workload. Typically late evening hours 8PM-4AM
Previous SS13 related admin experience: None outside of privately hosted local servers
Previous non-SS13 related admin experience: Current forum administrator/host for on-campus student organization
Current administrators who have agreed to support your application: Kevinz000, Crashinator08, BlackMajor, and Geemiesif.
Reason for application: I’ve interviewed with a handful of staff and have found a general consensus in approval of my ability and general aptitude to serve in the position. I enjoy the server and community as a player, and while hesitant of shifting that enjoyment, if I may make ‘better’ that thing I so enjoy with time otherwise spent frivolously, all the better.


1. How would you engage with two players having an out of character altercation?

Out of character conflicts are typically spur of the moment incidents stemming from in-character events or decisions. Typically insisting upon a less public medium for such an argument, or suggesting a course of action outside of ‘salting’ within OOC, such as taking legitimate concerns or complaints to their appropriate medium will disable the conflict.

While not something I would personally view as an admin’s primary responsibility, twice over I’ve found personnel involved directly within more ‘advanced’ cases; once over through a personal event that cropped up, and my ‘outside looking in’ view of recent events concerning user @Jared 12100 Puns#7747’s removal. In such events careful interview of involved members and arbitration is expected much as any other incident involving administrative involvement; moreso in such circumstances.

2. What should an admin do if they're involved in a situation that needs admin intervention?

General consensus dictates that the involvement of an additional member of the administrative team is the best course of action in such cases. If such an event is identified through the course of typical play as a ‘regular player’, there remains unknown factors in-play obfuscated from one’s consideration.

Bias remains the largest subject of consideration - maintaining an impartial stance complicated, or even compromised outright through inherent preconceived notions. Outside of blatantly obvious infractions of the most extreme caliber, the involvement of another remains as due process. In fringe cases where the ability to source an impartial body proves impractical, extreme adherence to the outlined regulations remains the best guiding principal - with standing request for review to be made by another body as soon as possible.

3. How should an admin determine in what way to punish someone who breaks the rules?

Punishment policy outlines much of what goes into determining such measures. Factors such as the player’s ‘regularity’ to the server, existence of previous bans or notes, repeat offences, player toxicity, and severity of the infraction are all components of determining appropriate punishment.

Policy dictates for minor infractions alternative measure may be put into place. Notes concerning official warnings, as well as single round punishments may be utilized - such as kicking, prisoning, muting, or sleeping their character.

4. Under what conditions should an admin de-admin themselves while playing?

Admin policy staff regulations suggests, but not enforces, that those in administrative or moderator positions deadmin while fulfilling antagonist, security, or head roles. Further warning that rules concerning metagaming are fully enforceable against staff members.

Further, policy dictates when not wanting to serve within one’s administrative role that they deadmin themselves to participate as a ‘regular player’.

5. What is expected of an admin on Citadel?

Admin policy expects administrative personal to be “polite, patient, and friendly”, to be active within administrative activities when assuming the role, and to deadmin and join “as a regular player” when not participating in their role as staff. Furthermore, administrative personnel are expected facilitate awareness in situations they handle, to host understanding of the circumstances surrounding their endeavors to desculate, and to know when to remove themselves from the situation in seek of aid of another when unable to achieve such.

In a more personal response - administrative personnel are arbiters of the guidelines that foster the community. The layer of abstraction between the written texts, and the enforcement of those rules. The purpose of any game is to entertain the player - these rules created with that goal in mind. By extension, administrative personnel are responsible for maintaining that environment of ‘fun’.

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Alright - that’s the ‘have you read the rules’ test out of the way. Now for something more personal. I wish to say this will be brief, but anything stated in my voice has a way of exploding. Applications and trials are a two way affair, so just as I’m under scrutiny by the team as a whole, so too is the position I’m expected to fill by myself. I’ve done my homework in interviewing a fair number of the team, conglomerating responses and building baseline averages of what to expect from a variety of viewpoints.

This trial has resulted in the easing of some concerns, while exacerbating others - even introducing newfound ones I’d not previously considered. This is all to say as follows:

I will not compromise the enjoyment I derive as a participant in the server’s playerbase.

As I submit this application, and gamble my acceptance into the administrative team, I vehemently refuse to surrender my position as player. I will abide by server rules, administrative policy, and perform the role expect as of me; but only beyond my role as player.

I foresaw this originally as a dealbreaker, but after a short conference found it more acceptable than I believed. I take solace in the fact that the role operates on a volunteer basis, where I am expected to act and perform in such a way, but only in so far as I am willing to subject myself.to the rigors. To be blunt, I would go so far as to estimate that the majority of my playtime, if given the role, would be spent deadmin’ed.

My playtime is important to me and those I’ve befriended within the community. I respect the power of the role and the responsibilities therein - and I see no flaw nor shortcoming within myself that would bar me from performing within the position. But I must stress that I won’t allow the position to infringe upon my enjoyment.

[geemiesif]

+1 for sure.

[kfive]

+1, great player, fun character.

I'd say more but I can't put the thought in order.

[Fractious]

Hi Tam, glad you finally applied for min!

I've seen you around Cita for quite a while, and honestly I've got only good things to say, as you sure know can stay cooled even in tempered situations. You're also quite professional by default and are quite a lovable person to have around. I was excepting a book for your application, but this should be sufficient!

Jokes apart, I'm +1'ing this hardcore. I honestly think you're one of the best candidates for min and can't wait to have you aboard.

Good luck and stay safe!

[gypsyShark]

You are quite the talented player, both with game knowledge and as a role player. I think you’d make a good admin for the rp server. Just remember to keep things a bit more concise on ahelps!
+1.

[kevinz000]

right so I finally have the drive to (try to) finish replying to all applications at least once and I'm not sure where to start but uhhh
Knouli is a great player as well as person, I've never seen any negative behavior from them in my time here and they're a shining example of a roleplayer that is truly enjoyable to interact with. I believe they have the right character and personality for an administrative role and I'd love to see them try one out. In short, I give my wholehearted +1 to this and I wish you the best of luck!

In long:
On the whole deadminning to play the game or during a RP scene thing: As someone who deadmins on main server far more than 50% of my playtime due to secret being in rotation and my *cough* frequent run ins with antagonists, it's something natural and expected for admins. This is an unpaid volunteer position (although most seem to forget this), if you're busy with a scene/playing with friends/or just plain stressed and want a break, there's nothing wrong with deadminning for the round. Admins are players first and foremost (although some of us don't play =|) and aren't expected to dedicate 100% of their time wrangling rulebreakers and unpleasantries.
And if someone really wants to complain about the whole advance notification of them deadminning when they're trying to enjoy the game as a player I'll be interested in what possible reason there would be. The only issue would be if they did it 100% of the time and basically had a non existant administrative presence, in which case they'll still have more presence than some other admins jk jk

And uhhh nitpicking on questions: There's nothing to nitpick, perfect responses that are thought out and detailed that shows deep understanding of the rules more than just "textbook answers".

You probably already know this but if you get in and feel stressed feel free to talk to us about it and take a break from adminning if you need, as much as I want to see you in this position it's not worth burning out over, so don't

[HazelBailey]

Like I said when you messaged me asking about the position, I think you would make a fantastic addition to the admin team, the level of detail and thought you've displayed with your answers only further confirms that in my mind
+1

[Izzy]

You're well on the end of the scale of players I'd trust to professionally handle interactions with other players, and your outlook on maintaining player status is something I'm looking for in applications, so you have my support. If your activity as an admin would be low enough to matter, I'd rather prioritize other applicants, but otherwise I'm interested to see how you'd handle the kinds of things that come up. It's not as bad as you think.

[Worgilisk]

...I feel like I've been called out, somewhere...

Well, that's nothing to do with your application, so moving on.
I'd say you've got my support already just for showing enough you care - about the server as a whole, and about your own potential performance, because being able to reflect on your own flaws and see how to improve is definitely an important thing.
That and your answers are good too, so +1

[BlackMajor]

Tomato's a good girl and one of our best roleplayers. Been around here a long time and is already fairly familiar with the community. Have never had a complaint about you.

However.
That last part in your response concerns me, as it would of course beg the question of why even be an admin if you're going to spend most of it deadminned. Are you sure you wouldn't be more a fit as a moderator?

In any case, good tam tam who I can gauge as not having any malicious intent, my +1 (but I think you should be a mod instead).