How do I become a Helper? A moderator? an admin? a coder?

[JCP]

This goes for the Central Server, but most likely can be applied to the other two official servers as well.

If this is your first day, you can't.

To become a coder:

Visit the modder's forum at http://dragonprime.net and contribute. Maybe some of your additions to the game will be noticed by other admins and installed on LoGD servers.

To become an admin or moderator:

Become a helper first. Then, when additional administrative staff are required, you may be chosen.

To become a helper:

Act like one.

Helpers are added as necessary, when staff schedules or the number of players indicates that additional staff is needed to keep track of the comments.

Helpers are either chosen directly by the staff, or from applicants to a specific request. The only way to get the staff to approve of you as a helper is for us to have a good opinion of you as a helpful player.

That means if you're new to the site, you don't have a chance.

That means if you've been banned for inappropriate behavior recently, you don't have a chance.

That means if you were banned a long time ago but have been a model citizen recently, you do have a chance.

Interacting with the staff gets you noticed, but you also want to be seen as a helpful player, answering questions and reminding people of the rules POLITELY. You also want to conduct yourself in a polite, respectful manner - at least when answering questions or when troublemakers are around.

In addition to all of that, we try to keep a minimum age requirement (16 years) and your geographical location plus the times you are online will impact our decision. Sometimes we are looking for specific hours to be covered.

What do helpers do?

Helpers report to the Senior Moderators, for routine instructions as they infiltrate the world financial markets and governments in MightyE's bid for world domination.

They also review the one area of the public chat boards, deleting inappropriate comments and, when necessary, asking a moderator to issue bans based on those comments. Helpers are not expected to know where to draw the lines between allow, delete, and ban right away (although sometimes it's obvious) and the staff will help you learn the distinctions. Especially SaucyWench, the senior staff member in charge of moderators.

They provide a public presence in the game and generally help to answer questions.

In addition, they are in communication with the staff about site management and game development, and are often asked to volunteer as beta testers.

I'm sure I'll have to edit this once the other staff members read it, but these questions keep getting asked, so this information shouild be available.

[SaucyWench]

I get so many requests from players, asking me to make them a Moderator.

These are usually players that I have never seen help a single player ever. Those players have exactly zero chance, even if they were staff elsewhere (which does not matter in the least) and even if they are a manager in real life of 500 people and even if they are great at the game and had 400 dragonkills on another server.

My requirements for staff are (in order) being SEEN, being helpful, being polite, being level headed and not losing your temper, showing maturity, knowing how to play the game. And somewhere way down at the bottom of the list is wanting to be a moderator so you can help me ban people... if that's why you want to be one, do us both a favour and please do not apply.

PS. If I never see you helping others, you have zero chance. Did I mention that I need to see you being helpful if you want to be a moderator?

[SaucyWench]

In all honesty, the job isn't all doom and gloom. The vast majority of players are wonderful and it's very rare that I am called on to flex my keyboard muscles. I'd encourage anyone who considers the "idiots" too much of a negative to consider applying - please think about applying anyway. You aren't put under a contract. If you are successful and hate it, you don't have to be a mod.Talk to the other mods. Ask them what it's like and whether they regret being a mod. I'll go out on a limb here and say that none of them do.

It's not nearly as scary as it might seem. We're a very supportive bunch, great friends, we help each other and we have great fun while we do (hey, this sounds like a job ad in the paper!)

Translation: Of the five people I *REALLY* had my eye on to maybe become a mod, four of them have not applied, and it disappoints me. =(

[JCP]

Actually, we don't ask much of moderators - just log in, check the one (1) review commentsary screen, and back scroll until you see another moderator speaking.

Usually, that's it. Simple and does not add much time to your day.

Of course, some people like doing it several times a day, which is fine.

And if there are comments that need to be handled, it's usually just clicking one of two options - knowing which one takes a bit of learning which is all on the job training.

And there are perks - like being in on the decisions about gameplay and testing.

[SaucyWench]

Hey, we've appointed Moderators who have never interacted with staff. Staff have eyes. We watch even when we're not chatting. It's interacting with newbies and each other that we are looking for.

[BLOODDRAGON]

Ok I was a little unsure about what would happen after I applied so I thought I would arm myself with as much knowledge as I could incase I was picked (and hey what do you know :) ) So I went though the MotDs from the very recent to the very first and copy/pasted anything about rules, moderating, helping beginners, ect. and saved it to a Word file (i actualy read this all believe it or not, I was that nervious/excited)

Some things I took out since it was only info that I and I alone needed it was kinda useless actualy but Im a perfectionist at times... they werent big things a couple YOMS after i sent my application in, emails from long past(i dont think i've ever emptied my email box), contact to fellow Caretaker, Mods, Admins, and MightyE & Kendaer come the need, and some forum links which you can find here so dont feel left out :D

*I will be updating this consantly copy/pasting from MotD, Blogs and others for future Caretakers, Moderators, & Moderatrixes to come :D *

Definitions:

ad•min•is•tra•tor (&d-'mi-n&-"strA-t&r) n. 1 : a person appointed by a probate court to manage the distribution of the assets in the estate of a person who has died without leaving a valid will or leaving a will that does not name an executor able or willing to perform 2 : one who administers, especially one who works as a manager in a business, government agency, or school. 3 :

mod•er•a•tor ('mä-d&-"rA-t&r) n. 1 : one who arbitrates : MEDIATOR
2 : one who presides over an assembly, meeting, or discussion: as a : the presiding officer of a Presbyterian governing body b : the nonpartisan presiding officer of a town meeting c : the chairman of a discussion group
3 : a substance (as graphite) used for slowing down neutrons in a nuclear reactor

care•tak•er ('ker-"tA-k&r) n. 1: a custodian who is hired to take care of something (property or a person) 2: an official who performs the duties of an office temporarily

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LotgD MoTD:

You lot are prolific!
Pumpkin Saucy – 2004-12-07 13:47:10
Like, woh. I'm still sifting through the piles. I'm a little surprised by the sheer number of people who want to be stuck slaving away for me. Erm, I mean, being a volunteer moderator.

In case you wondered how we do it... we firstly look at the ones that aren't suitable. I truly am sorry, but if you can't tell me why I should choose you except to use all AOL speak, then you don't seem to know the rules of our server, for a start.

We then consider age and history, then score the applicants on things that we feel are important to being on staff. So far there are 15 people with near-perfect scores!!! This has to be by far the most dificult screening we've ever had. All 15 of those people deserve it, but forgive me, I don't think I'm capable of training 15 at once.

If you think you know what we want in a new member of staff, you have a couple of days to tell me before we close the applications and the staff takes a vote.

Bugle, Please.
Pumpkin Saucy – 2004-12-05 14:37:53

Hear ye, hear ye.

There exists within this realm the scope for players with... bah, this Ye Olde Talkspeak stuff is too hard.

We're looking for potential Moderators to join the team. We want NOMINATIONS from you - who have you noticed that would be a great Moderator? Who has helped you around the place?

Also, if you feel you are the person we are looking for, please YOM me with the following:

1. Your first name, age and location
2. What you do when you aren't playing lotgd
3. What you think being a member of staff is all about
4. Why you think you'd be good at it
5. Which are better, strawberries or cherries, and do you like coffee and cats
6. Are jcp and SaucyWench evil
7. Anything else you think would help your cause

* Note that there aren't "right" or "wrong" answers but there are certainly answers that will push you to the top or the bottom of the candidates list, particularly your answers to question 5.

BONUS QUESTION (50 points)
8. <jcp> what i'd like is a "why I should be a mod" answer from them ;)

PS. If you write "bcos im gr8" anywhere in your YOM, I will turn you into a pumpkin. Pumpkins are not eligible to become moderators.

PPS. "I was staff on another server" does not apply to question 7.

PPPS. Sneakabout just changed me into a Pumpkin, so maybe we should advertise for a new SrMod too.


Do you want to be an Admin?
Pumpkin Saucy – 2004-10-24 00:45:37
I have recently been inundated with players begging, nagging, and harrassing me to make them into staff members. A few notes:

1. I am not looking for any new staff right now.
2. I do not give Farmboys or Farmgirls positions of authority. Not even if u say omg cmon plz.
3. The fact that you were an admin on another server does not make you suitable or worthy to be staff here on Central. I don't choose staff based on technical wizardry, I find the *right* person for the job and then worry about training them.
4. It is quite irritating to have a player ask for a fifth and sixth time when they have already been told no.
5. I normally choose moderators based on their behaviour, not based on who nominates themselves and says they are great.
6. We have 4,500 players. You can't all be staff, and it's not all fun to BE staff.
7. The way to get yourself considered is to help other players, respect the rules, and help other players to respect them. Those are the people who get noticed and imprint their names onto my mind for later on.

(Saucy has deleted about half of this post that was out of date and no longer accurate.)

[SaucyWench]

Actually, it was a nice trip down memory lane for me =)

The answer to the "odd" questions? Well, I like strawberries and don't like cherries, and Booger is the reverse... it's a well-worn topic in the staff room. And for the cats and coffee, if you don't like cats, you better have a very good reason ;) JCP insists that coffee is evil... he's obviously just deluded. However, the actual *answers* weren't important, but the way they were answered.

While many of you may have thought that a "resumé" is only about the qualifications you can list, what you say or don't say reveals far more about you as a person. Nearly every player on the server has the smarts to learn the tools and operate them, but that's not what we are after. Personality is 90% of the consideration when choosing staff. After all, we have to be able to work with them. Food for thought.

[SaucyWench]

Well, no, being a mod doesn't require a lot of time. We actually (and this is the truth) request 30 seconds of your time when you log in, and only if you happen to be playing that day anyway.

Most mods spend a lot longer, but that is by choice. We don't put a time requirement on anyone.