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As I'm sure many of you server owners know, choosing the right staff member is not the easiest decision. Becuase many people whom apply just do it for the perms and respect, but end up not helping your server at all. How can you know whom to trust? And what qualities should a staff member have? That is what I hope to answer you here (sample staff application at the bottom of the document):
Lets start with the qualities of a good staff member. There are a couple qualities that a staff member should possess:
Command Knowledge: Although this is not completely necessary, I start with it because it is the most basic way of determening efficiency. All staff should have AT LEAST, a general knowledge of commands, as it allows them to help other "newbies" and allows them to be more efficient and effective.
Activity: A good staff member must be active. This does not necesarily mean that they need to be on 24/7, but it does not mean that they can show up once every few weeks. Somewhere from 3-5 hours a week would be a reasonable minimum. Activity is important because it allows the staff to help users, moniter their activity, and get actual work done that can benifit the server as a whole (but make sure that they get some time for themselves as well!)
Correct C.O.P.S. (Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling): It is important for staff members to speak correctly. The most basic reason, because it looks good (xp). But the other, is for clarity. It is important that a staff member can speak clearly so there is no room for question about anything he/she/it (hey, you never know, a staff member may just be a computer) says.
Trust/Responsibility: It is important that you can trust your staff member. You should be able to trust them to the point that you would feel comfortable handing the server over to them and being sure that they wouldn't screw it up. (I'm not saying to do this, but that's how important the trust factor should be). Then with trust, comes responcibility. WIth the power bestowed upon them, you have to be able to trust that they are responcible with it. For instance, they cannot be giving away items, XP, or anything else, and when given a job, that they'll get it done, not put it off.
Leadership: Although this role may not seem important for lesser staff, it is just as important for any staff member. A staff member must be able to take charge. When something is wrong, be on the spot and lead the members (or even other staff members) to finding a solution, or giving the best advice possible. There is a Boss, then there is a Leader. These are some basic examples:
Building Skillz (Yes, with a z. Get over it): Although this is not completely necessary, especially for management staff, it is a useful skill. Because when you need to build something new for the server, the more help, the better.
Honesty: Although this goes with Trust and Responcibility, I separated it because I feel that it is imporant to address alone. Honesty is important, for many obvious reasons. But also out of respect. If a staff member does something wrong, or sees something that is wrong, it should be reported, not kept a secret, especially when asked. Becuase it leads to prolems being solved quicker, and less dramatic results from the error.
Activity - Part 2 (There's a part two?): Not only is it important to have staff that are active, it is important to have staff online around the clock. This means choose staff members from different time zones. This will allow for staff regularity. Both allowing players to have better relationships with staff, and for the staff to not have to stress about learning about too many users.
Productive: All staff should be able to be assigned a task, and begin working on it immediately. Little room for procrastination.
Communicative: Staff should be able to talk with users, and be clear with what they say. They should talk to members when the chat goes silent, not excessively, but not silent.
Multi-Tasking: Staff members should be able to multitask, without becoming overwhelmed by the pressure. This means that they should be able to manage a few conversations at once, even while working on a project of their own. And if it becomes excessive, they should not be rude about it, but kindly ask the user to wait a little while until he/she finished up his/her work.
Activity - Part 3 (A third part??): Not only should a staff member be active on the server, but on the website too. They need to be able to manage the forums, have popular Enjin profiles, and to find creative ways to make the site better.
Conclusion: Although it can be tricky to choose the "right" staff member, by following these guidelines, your decision should be a little easier and well founded.
Lastly... DO NOT GIVE OP TO ANYONE. And I mean ANYONE. The only times I suggest doing this is when you change OP permissions in the server config file by changing it from 4 to 3 or 2. The downside to this is that it limits your own abilities.
Now I say NEVER just because I want to make this point stand out. You can give OP out, but you must be darn sure that you can trust this person. I have had my own experiences as a server newbie and gave out OP and had my server destroyed 3 times over. Anyways, the other important thing that relates to this is...BACK UP YOUR SERVER FILES. I set my backup drives to backup the server files ever hour (the bigger the server, the more frequent backups should be, however also the more important SSD/thunderbolt hardrives become as more data per smaller time intervall will be occuring). Even for server crashes when an OP reloaded or restarted the server, or even dreadfully STOPPED the server and a corruption or error occured.
Anyways, make SURE that you trust who you give OP to, even if you have "known" them for a while, as you don't know what they may do, or who else has access to their account. But this brings me to my FINAL point (I know, you must want to shoot me by now), make sure ALL staff have accounts that only they can access.
Sample Staff Application:
Staff Application
Thanks for reading and I hope this has helped! :)
Lets start with the qualities of a good staff member. There are a couple qualities that a staff member should possess:
Command Knowledge: Although this is not completely necessary, I start with it because it is the most basic way of determening efficiency. All staff should have AT LEAST, a general knowledge of commands, as it allows them to help other "newbies" and allows them to be more efficient and effective.
Activity: A good staff member must be active. This does not necesarily mean that they need to be on 24/7, but it does not mean that they can show up once every few weeks. Somewhere from 3-5 hours a week would be a reasonable minimum. Activity is important because it allows the staff to help users, moniter their activity, and get actual work done that can benifit the server as a whole (but make sure that they get some time for themselves as well!)
Correct C.O.P.S. (Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling): It is important for staff members to speak correctly. The most basic reason, because it looks good (xp). But the other, is for clarity. It is important that a staff member can speak clearly so there is no room for question about anything he/she/it (hey, you never know, a staff member may just be a computer) says.
Trust/Responsibility: It is important that you can trust your staff member. You should be able to trust them to the point that you would feel comfortable handing the server over to them and being sure that they wouldn't screw it up. (I'm not saying to do this, but that's how important the trust factor should be). Then with trust, comes responcibility. WIth the power bestowed upon them, you have to be able to trust that they are responcible with it. For instance, they cannot be giving away items, XP, or anything else, and when given a job, that they'll get it done, not put it off.
Leadership: Although this role may not seem important for lesser staff, it is just as important for any staff member. A staff member must be able to take charge. When something is wrong, be on the spot and lead the members (or even other staff members) to finding a solution, or giving the best advice possible. There is a Boss, then there is a Leader. These are some basic examples:
Building Skillz (Yes, with a z. Get over it): Although this is not completely necessary, especially for management staff, it is a useful skill. Because when you need to build something new for the server, the more help, the better.
Honesty: Although this goes with Trust and Responcibility, I separated it because I feel that it is imporant to address alone. Honesty is important, for many obvious reasons. But also out of respect. If a staff member does something wrong, or sees something that is wrong, it should be reported, not kept a secret, especially when asked. Becuase it leads to prolems being solved quicker, and less dramatic results from the error.
Activity - Part 2 (There's a part two?): Not only is it important to have staff that are active, it is important to have staff online around the clock. This means choose staff members from different time zones. This will allow for staff regularity. Both allowing players to have better relationships with staff, and for the staff to not have to stress about learning about too many users.
Productive: All staff should be able to be assigned a task, and begin working on it immediately. Little room for procrastination.
Communicative: Staff should be able to talk with users, and be clear with what they say. They should talk to members when the chat goes silent, not excessively, but not silent.
Multi-Tasking: Staff members should be able to multitask, without becoming overwhelmed by the pressure. This means that they should be able to manage a few conversations at once, even while working on a project of their own. And if it becomes excessive, they should not be rude about it, but kindly ask the user to wait a little while until he/she finished up his/her work.
Activity - Part 3 (A third part??): Not only should a staff member be active on the server, but on the website too. They need to be able to manage the forums, have popular Enjin profiles, and to find creative ways to make the site better.
Conclusion: Although it can be tricky to choose the "right" staff member, by following these guidelines, your decision should be a little easier and well founded.
Lastly... DO NOT GIVE OP TO ANYONE. And I mean ANYONE. The only times I suggest doing this is when you change OP permissions in the server config file by changing it from 4 to 3 or 2. The downside to this is that it limits your own abilities.
Now I say NEVER just because I want to make this point stand out. You can give OP out, but you must be darn sure that you can trust this person. I have had my own experiences as a server newbie and gave out OP and had my server destroyed 3 times over. Anyways, the other important thing that relates to this is...BACK UP YOUR SERVER FILES. I set my backup drives to backup the server files ever hour (the bigger the server, the more frequent backups should be, however also the more important SSD/thunderbolt hardrives become as more data per smaller time intervall will be occuring). Even for server crashes when an OP reloaded or restarted the server, or even dreadfully STOPPED the server and a corruption or error occured.
Anyways, make SURE that you trust who you give OP to, even if you have "known" them for a while, as you don't know what they may do, or who else has access to their account. But this brings me to my FINAL point (I know, you must want to shoot me by now), make sure ALL staff have accounts that only they can access.
Sample Staff Application:
Staff Application
Thanks for reading and I hope this has helped! :)
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Wonder why it's flagged though. I see nothing wrong here at all... ಠ_ಠ