Staff Members and Response to Reports

[Chrissy]

This isn't a beef thread but rather a discussion about an idea I have had for a while and one that I advocate.

Within the suite of admin tools available, there exists the ability to disguise your name from the scoreboard. When you do so, your name is no longer glowing blue/green/orange/red but is instead similar to that of a normal player.

I am suggesting that staff should not be allowed to have their name displayed as staff unless they are actively responding to reports or it is necessary for another purpose. This recognises that staff have the right to play the game just as much as you and I do and therefore discourages players from complaining about there being a billion staff members on but yet reports still remain unanswered.

Thoughts welcome

 

[John Daymon]

I kind of disagree due to the factor of people often seeking help from administrators for questions and stuff surrounding the subject where they'd need to/want to know who's a staff member and who's not, I dunno really.

 

[Bert]

I also disagree with this as I mean if players look on the scoreboard and don't see staff they are going to be more willing to do something they shouldn't be. Where as if you see those Bright blue and green names which stand out far more than premium and normal player names on the board, you will be a lot more likely to follow the rules as you know you could get in trouble for your actions. Having staff presence being known is an important part of keeping the server fun for the people that play it.

 

[Walker]

I kind of disagree due to the factor of people often seeking help from administrators for questions and stuff surrounding the subject where they'd need to/want to know who's a staff member and who's not, I dunno really.

If staff are AFK and rping they are most likely not going to see the messages and players will feel like they are being ignored. This sounds like a good idea IMO just to avoid people waiting long times for no reason

 

[Alex Newman]

I agree with this idea, for the following reasons:

• People will be less likely to spam ooc - staff take my report please.. etc.
• There is not really a need to have a glowing name aswell as a different tag on the scoreboard, if you are not using it for anything staff related.
• If staff are busy roleplaying and/or not doing reports, people are likely to get angry for them not doing your report if you can see that they are online (as staff)

I disagree for the following reasons:

• People will be likely to think that the server is empty of staff, or have inactive staff which might lead to some players leaving.
• People will be more likely to think - no staff, time to break the rules.
• People will be less likely to report rule breaks as a lot of people does not want to spend their time making an action request.

This is just my opinion.

 

[Deleted member 5193]

The biggest problem is staff missusing the disguise function. Too often I see staff who are disguised on the scoreboard but are just walking around and doing something completely unproductive. Yes, I know that staff need a break and won't always want to respond to pesky reports. However, there's been times where there's been 65-70 people on, if not higher, and there's been one members of staff online. Twice now with two different staff members I've seen them join and go straight into disguise mode. Surely the point of being staff is to actually assist, and whilst it doesn't matter so much if reports and the server is completely under control by other staff members, when it is empty and there's people who desperately need reports done, it would be brilliant to see staff actually doing them.

Side note: I'm not slandering staff and nor am I mentioning the names of those I've seen doing the things mentioned above. There's a good probability that they have reasoning behind it, but I'm stating my opinion here.

I'm definitely not suggesting that staff shouldn't be playing as a usual player. Fat from it in fact. I believe that when becoming a staff member, you do sign up to help people but you're not signing your enjoyment away (although some staff could quite probably say they did).

Many staff have brilliant roleplay skills, some prefer the administrator life to roleplay life. Everyone has their own way.

The idea of having a staff members name undisguised only when they are actively responding to reports seems a little weird and petty to me. I believe staff should just be taught when they can and can't use their disguise mode, and as for players requesting them in OOC constantly, that's just normality. It's bound to happen and it'll happen whatever community you go to. People are always gonna be impacient with the report system, or won't bother using it at all.


Just my opinion, there's no need for negativity or argument, cause it'll just be ignored. I'm going by what I've seen and experienced myself, I'm sure others have seen far different.

(Written whilst I had consumed a fair bit of alcohol, excuse badly written shit)

 

[joey]

I think it should really be the other way round; I hate it when staff members sit in disguise to avoid being asked questions regarding situations. I really think it should only be used in a few minor situations or when they need a break.