Dec 12, 2017, 01:48 PM
What are Staff going to do with the rising activity problem with staff IG? Some days we are left with one or two mods coming on and doing some or most of the work before they're burned out.
Enzyme: We've always had struggles with activity in the last part of the year due to many of our staff-members being busy with IRL things such as exams and work. We're constantly looking for new potential staff-members to fill the staff-team but it's a process that can take some time due to us being very careful with who we want to entrust with the powers and responsibilities that follow the role. Choosing the wrong candidate(s) can have pretty severe consequences on the server, the players and the community as a whole and we wish to avoid issues before they arise. Candidates that we're keeping a close eye on and who we plan to promote might go inactive for a good while, and promoting someone who's in an inactive period might only cause more problems than fixing them. Staff can get burnt out and they might have low-activity periods. This is only natural after spending thousands of hours on a game and we don't wish to just throw away old staff-members, but rather give them some time to prevent them getting too burnt out. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. We owe it to our staff-members to get some time off though when they need it, but this can sadly cause for a lack of staff-presence ingame. We try to deal with inactive staff-members where we ask them to compensate for a lack of ingame activity by being more active on the forum internally, and vice verca. When the staff-member in question is unable to do this, then they are spoken to before a decision is made.
Ok, but again, my primary concern is that you guys are being (and pardon my frankness) soft to them. Sure, they can have time off and I understand that it's a stressful thing to sometimes keep doing, but you have to put the foot down and stop giving warnings out. We need active staff on. This is a necessity to us when it's peak hours and only one mod is on for most of the time.
Why do I see so many developers still remaining inactive (or in a specific case, stealing content from others and breaking server rules) and not dealt with by Human Resources? And why should they keep their position when some Contributors top their work and activity?
Enzyme: Issues like the ones described have always been viewed and treated very seriously, and staff-members (both administrative ones as well as developers) are dealt with. Just because the public doesn't hear about how it's handled doesn't mean that it isn't.
As long as it's being handled, I have nothing to complain about, but keep it in mind that a full team of active devs is better than inactive ones.
Why do some administrators not have to do any specialist positions, while one developer has to do 3-4 positions at once (These were including: Head of Development (or similar name), Head of Media, Head of Contributors, and Head of Discord)?
Enzyme: Specialist positions are taken by those who have the time, energy, interest and skill to do so. Those who don't are left to focus on their primary task as an Administrator. Putting that responsibility on those who aren't able to do so will not solve any issues. Some specialist positions tie in with each other, and a developer might be more suited for these tasks than an Administrator who was promoted purely for their administration-potential.
But isn't it better to have a staff member do it half - assed instead of overworking the few people who do know how to do it? Just share the knowledge is minor parts like Liason for certain teams. I thought the whole reason for the difference between Mod 2 and Administrator is that you have more responsibility, not just putting your input in a few (and I mean a few) votes and sometimes putting input in an Admin Discussion Thread.
What's the situation with Toxic? I don't know how long he has been Moderator 1 for, but isn't it a Trial position? Is he being promoted, demoted, what? From the mixed things I've heard and seen from him, I would like to know what's the next step for him.
Enzyme: Toxic is at the moment a Moderator in Stage 1. He will climb up to Stage 2 once the Staff feels that this is the right move.
He's been Stage 1 for a Year and a half. Make a decision guys. I have nothing against him personally, but with his mixed reputation, y'all gotta make a decision at some point.
Enzyme: We've always had struggles with activity in the last part of the year due to many of our staff-members being busy with IRL things such as exams and work. We're constantly looking for new potential staff-members to fill the staff-team but it's a process that can take some time due to us being very careful with who we want to entrust with the powers and responsibilities that follow the role. Choosing the wrong candidate(s) can have pretty severe consequences on the server, the players and the community as a whole and we wish to avoid issues before they arise. Candidates that we're keeping a close eye on and who we plan to promote might go inactive for a good while, and promoting someone who's in an inactive period might only cause more problems than fixing them. Staff can get burnt out and they might have low-activity periods. This is only natural after spending thousands of hours on a game and we don't wish to just throw away old staff-members, but rather give them some time to prevent them getting too burnt out. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. We owe it to our staff-members to get some time off though when they need it, but this can sadly cause for a lack of staff-presence ingame. We try to deal with inactive staff-members where we ask them to compensate for a lack of ingame activity by being more active on the forum internally, and vice verca. When the staff-member in question is unable to do this, then they are spoken to before a decision is made.
Ok, but again, my primary concern is that you guys are being (and pardon my frankness) soft to them. Sure, they can have time off and I understand that it's a stressful thing to sometimes keep doing, but you have to put the foot down and stop giving warnings out. We need active staff on. This is a necessity to us when it's peak hours and only one mod is on for most of the time.
Why do I see so many developers still remaining inactive (or in a specific case, stealing content from others and breaking server rules) and not dealt with by Human Resources? And why should they keep their position when some Contributors top their work and activity?
Enzyme: Issues like the ones described have always been viewed and treated very seriously, and staff-members (both administrative ones as well as developers) are dealt with. Just because the public doesn't hear about how it's handled doesn't mean that it isn't.
As long as it's being handled, I have nothing to complain about, but keep it in mind that a full team of active devs is better than inactive ones.
Why do some administrators not have to do any specialist positions, while one developer has to do 3-4 positions at once (These were including: Head of Development (or similar name), Head of Media, Head of Contributors, and Head of Discord)?
Enzyme: Specialist positions are taken by those who have the time, energy, interest and skill to do so. Those who don't are left to focus on their primary task as an Administrator. Putting that responsibility on those who aren't able to do so will not solve any issues. Some specialist positions tie in with each other, and a developer might be more suited for these tasks than an Administrator who was promoted purely for their administration-potential.
But isn't it better to have a staff member do it half - assed instead of overworking the few people who do know how to do it? Just share the knowledge is minor parts like Liason for certain teams. I thought the whole reason for the difference between Mod 2 and Administrator is that you have more responsibility, not just putting your input in a few (and I mean a few) votes and sometimes putting input in an Admin Discussion Thread.
What's the situation with Toxic? I don't know how long he has been Moderator 1 for, but isn't it a Trial position? Is he being promoted, demoted, what? From the mixed things I've heard and seen from him, I would like to know what's the next step for him.
Enzyme: Toxic is at the moment a Moderator in Stage 1. He will climb up to Stage 2 once the Staff feels that this is the right move.
He's been Stage 1 for a Year and a half. Make a decision guys. I have nothing against him personally, but with his mixed reputation, y'all gotta make a decision at some point.