impact and efficiency of the admins - a hopefully objective assessment

[Jinx]

firstly - that is sadly one of those threads that i tend to make ( concerned generalistic threads ) - so those that are tired of me making such threads - just ignore it.

also that ll be a wall of text...

what i am questioning primarily is the impact and process of which current affairs are dealt with. - so first - here is my FEELING:

- admins are burned out - they do not ENJOY their authority and shy away from their duty
- they do not like to make decisions - but seem to prefer to see if things do not get solved in time
- the slow pace of decisions, the lack of preventative measures ( opposed to sanctions which are a last resort ) - and the lacking transparency kind of hinder the gameplay.
- unclear messages and opinions mix with rules, ppl are punished for things that are highly up to interpretation - a LOT more transparency is needed
- admins and mods should really be honest to themselves - and step down voluntarily from their duty when they feel that they do not do their job satisfactory anymore. there should be no such thing as extended inactivity of especially admins or mods - these ranks are there because they are NEEDED.

the above sounded like a pile of accusations - but they are not meant to be that ... well - not much at least.


how can that be prevented or improved....

i reckon that most of the admins ( and i d include mods ) work is rather dull. - reading a lot, trying to be fair - trying to keep up with things - and generally taking the blame when it does not work.

well at least partly - the blame is justified. - like i said - it seems that "ranking" up is sometimes regarded as an achievement - but it is not. it is a job - and a time consuming for sure - if you want to keep standards. its like becoming president of something - sure the prestige is great - and the perks are awesome, but you also have to do something for it.

now - i do not know how the admin / mod team is organized - i guess there is some form of skype conference similar to the dev chat - which is also highly inefficient. - but maybe there should be various focus functions.

- PR focus admin - someone who keeps in touch with the community, communicates with the members a LOT, gathers opinions, gossip etc. - but mostly ... creates transparency.
transparency is the key against conspiracy theories - and while ppl like to joke about those - they do harm the gameplay. - doesn t matter if they are there or not - but the latent believe that there could be some ( lobby work, inner friend circles, skype friends, favourism etc. ) is highly detrimental especially in a small community like that.
there should be like 2 admins who do that job - who are open and up for PMs from the community - and enjoy it ( the last part is actually quite important - cause if you do not enjoy even silly request and cannot deal with complaints no matter how stupid - you ll burn out )



- a few admins that only do sanctions - best maybe 3 admins that are in daily contact with each other at least 10 minutes to 30 minutes to discuss daily reports.

for that matter - it is also important NOT to pick admins who are all of the same mindset - but admins and mods that are very very different. - the goal is not to achieve a quick unilateral decision - but the goal is to achieve a quick and fair decision based on multiple views on the matter. - especially when our rules are not as precise and many of them are very very vague.

those admins should also keep an eye on updating the rules. - what the players should focus on are the rules that are in the rule section - not some green that is burried deep in the forum somewhere that only the veterans can twist and turn to make up rules.
new features require new rules - and quickly, too. ( eg. pob )




- event admins - who check especially FR2 and storyline, faction lore and make events. - disco NEEDS guidelines for factions in my opinion. - but not guidelines like "you must do or we come down on you like a ton of bricks" - but events to show ppl what its about. - smuggling events, frontline wars that can shift the rep and ownership of stations ( as in pricewinning - not as a punishment ) etc.

in other words - game masters. if we had 2-3 admins that could focus on that - it would be great.


now what do we have now?

at least like 7-12 or so admins who have a requirement on being active pretty much all the time. - sounds like a lot - but if we consider an admin or mod position not as an achievement anymore but as a job opportunity to guide the community - we might get more ppl to do it.

what is also very important is timekeeping.

i do remember that someone ( forgot the name ) had some months ago - submitted a report of a violation. but that report was of an incident 3 months before. - he was told that it had expired - and that he should either report instantly - or not at all.

that is a very fair decision - after all - we do not want ppl to collect violations to use them as leverage when they like. ( blackmail )

however - i feel like the admins should also keep to a timetable. - when a report was made - but the decision is like 3 months later - it really also has expired. - but that one comes with the activity.

whats also important is AGAIN - transparency. ... IF you sanction ppl, put them in bastille or give them a good talking to ... tell them why - prove to them what YOUR decision is based on. - that is a RIGHT they have - and not months later - but instantly.

that means - act when you can make the time to explain yourself - but don t act unless you are really SURE why you act.

also - i consider that a politician or referee thing - you can make mistakes - no one really blames you for it - but man up and admit to wrong decisions - they are sometimes made. the community watches very closely, compares decisions, efficiency and fairness. it is a trait of referees and politicians that they seem to have a VERY hard time admitting to mistakes. ( and for that matter - admins, too - or so i feel )





result:

- make sure that admins who are burned out get replaced - you do not loose prestige for stepping down - if you do it in time - you even gain it

- make the promised activity a pre-requisite for admins

- pick heterogenous admins and mods, the more different the better - thats how you achieve more objectivity

- act in preventation and de-escalation more - and don t wait till you have to do sanctions, many situations are well foreshadowed

- try to enjoy communicating with the community - and don t be annoyed, if you are annoyed, so will be your clients ( community ) - also be bold enough to make decisions, but also have the balls to admit to wrong ones.

- enrich the gameplay, players should think of something "good" when they see an admin in game - and not "oh, dear, someone is getting sanctioned"

- seriously - make it an easier option to kick an admin or mod out of the team for inactivity - and get a replacement pronto.

ALL that is based on MY point of view. - it is NOT meant as a rant! - it really is meant as a motivation to buck up and get more done. those admins who try their best - kudos to you, those admins and mods who are inactive - well... you won t read that anyway, cause you are inactive.

* * * *

just to make it clear - i could write the similar things about the normal members, or the dev team. - do picking on the admins is not meant to mean too much harm - but to push into a direction that i ( subjectively ) think is a better direction.

if we cut the inefficiency of the dev team - we could probably cut 80% of the update time, too. and if the community itself was made up of angels - well we would not need admins.



if you made it that far reading - congratulations - too much time reading the forum.




postscript:

why have i made that post now?

- it feels like the admins are pretty unhappy atm - at least thats what i hear or get told
- it seems that the game is in dire need to adjust to the new situations ( pobs, jumps etc. ) - but updating its rules and guidelines takes waaay too long
- the situation in bastille - where ppl either pretend not to know why they are there - or they really don t know. - transparency is needed
- also i hear that SRPs take way longer than they ought to - or decision making in general
- also i feels like ppl are exploring a bit too much how far they can go these days untill the admin team acts.

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