Introduction: 2 Pal Groups: Chat and Reporting

Transcription

1 Introduction: The Leads within each Game along with the Head Mod and the Assistant Head Mod will form the Mod Leadership Team for each Game. Each leadership team for each game will handle concerns and issues pertaining to their game. The Leadership team will facilitate communication between the various mod teams on each server within their game. They will also will communicate all suggestions, ideas, and potential enhancements to the Game Leadership and communicate all decisions, new rules, and guidelines from the Game Leadership to their Teams. The Head Mod, Assistant Head Mod, and Tap4Fun Support personnel will form the Tap4Fun Game Moderating Leadership team. The Game Leadership will be in charge of handling all game wide decisions, implementing any changes as needed, implemented any rules that are needed, and working with all the mods to keep the game running smoothly on each server. They will handle suggestions, provide assistance, and answer questions for all mods and players as needed. All mods should do this, but the Game Leadership will provide the final decisions and answers for any questions or situation which arises in the game. 2 Pal Groups: Chat and Reporting Chat Group: The chat group is used for day to day communication between group members. This communication can be about game play, player issues, game updates, game bugs, and of course a place to get to know each other and hangout so to speak. The chat group may also host additional invited players from the server that help out by posting screen shots or alerting the Lead Mod and Vice Lead Mod to any misconduct. However, if you choose to have community watch helpers in your chat rooms please keep it to no more than 4 mature players. The idea of community watch helpers is to help the mod teams when they are unable to be physically present in chat. These are not mods, they cannot issue official in chat warnings, and they do not have access to the mod server. These helpers are able to remind players of the rules and post

2 screen shoots for the Lead and Vice to review and/or communicate that a mod presence is required. Please pick these players with extreme care. They will have access to insider knowledge and player information. Additionally, the community helpers will be considered for open mod positions. Community helpers are not to be members of the reporting group where actual mutes and bans are recorded. Reporting Group: The reporting group is for mute / ban documentation with supporting screen shots. Every time a mute / ban is placed, it must be post it in the reporting group. Example: Trix has been muted for 4 hours for swearing in chat. First offence. After the message has been sent to the player explaining why they were muted, the length of mute, and Google docs tracking spread sheet has been updated; make another post in the reporting group stating that this has been done. Example: Trix message sent and Google updated. This is also when and where any screenshots of the offence are posted. A good practice is to type the date and time in the conversation bar before you take the screenshot. It really aids in having to find specific screenshots if needed at a later date. 1 The reporting group is only for the Lead Mod and Vice Lead Mod. The community helpers are not to have access to this information. Lead Moderator Palringo Groups: Each Tap4Fun game has a designated group for the Lead Moderators of each server. This both a chat and announcement group. Like the server chat groups, this is a place where the leads can get to know one another, post game issues, discuss game bugs, cross server player conflicts, etc The Lead Moderator Groups will also be where any important 1 I want to give credit to Catharsis for giving me this idea.

3 announcements will be posted; it is important to check in daily. The pal groups are: Island Empire: Islandempiremodleads Galaxy Empire: Gemodleadership King s Empire: Kemodleadership Google Docs Tracking Spreadsheet: The tracking spreadsheet is an essential tool in the tracking of mutes, player names, number of offences, length of mutes, bans, and additional notes for misc player information. This tool provides quick access to the player s behavioural history and allows you to make educated decisions when muting / banning players based on their documented previous actions. Here are a few examples of when the tracking spreadsheet will come in handy: Example: if a player is making racial slurs in chat, you can see on the Google tracking sheet that he has had two previous offences with mute times of 2 hours and 12 hours. Based on this you know to place his third mute at 24 hours. Example: A player messages you stating that their account Trix has been muted and they do not know why. You check on the Google tracking doc and do not see a mute for Trix, however you do see a mute placed on Rabbit. In the notes for Rabbit, it states that Trix is an alternate account for Rabbit. Therefore, when Rabbit was muted it automatically muted Trix also. Example: Trix was muted on Monday for swearing and being rude in chat. Today is Wednesday and you get a message from Trix stating he is still muted and wants to know why. You refer back to the Google tracking spreadsheet and see that the mute was only placed for 4 hours and Trix should not still be muted. When you check the mod server you realise he was muted for 444 hours instead of 4 hours. You can now reverse the mute.

4 A few notes on the organization of the spreadsheet: 1. The tracking spreadsheets are organized in a monthly format. The tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet will list each month. Make sure at the end of each month you remember to start on the next month s spreadsheet. 2. All dates are done in the format of day-month-year (sorry to all of us Americans lol). For example March 24, 2012 would be transcribed as The second column is titled Time GMT (GMT = Greenwich Mean Time) and this is where the time of the offence is recorded. In order to avoid time zone confusion, please record the time in the GMT time zone and not your personal time zone. Also please list all time in military time or the 24 hour clock and not in am and pm. Example: I live in Texas which is Central Standard Time or CST. CST is -6 GMT. This means that CST is 6 hours behind GMT. If I place a mute at 10:00 am CST it is 16:00 GMT. So I record 16:00 as the time of the offence. 4. In the player name column please list all known names for the particular player including alternate accounts. This information may come in handy at a later date. 5. When stating the player offences keep it short and to the point. The screenshots are there to explain in full, so one word explanations here are acceptable. 6. The Notes section is for any misc information that might be useful down the road or anything that need to be communicated about the player. This could be: next mute is permute 9999 hours, player claims brother stole ipad and swore in chat, or received pm containing foul language after mute.

5 Recruiting and Training: Recruiting: Despite the fact that there are only 2 mod positions per server, recruiting still needs to be an active and ongoing process. The Vice Lead Mod is considered a Lead in training position. In other words, if a new server or lead position becomes available the preference will always be to transfer a current lead and/or promote a Vice to that lead position. Either way, this creates an opening for a new vice. Always be on the lookout for good candidates should the need arise. When recruiting a new Vice Lead Mod please keep a few things in mind: 1. Does this player have Lead Mod Potential? 2. Is he/she a good leader, willing to help other players in chat, and respected on the server? 3. Does he/she have any conflicts or in game ties that might cause them to be biased? 4. The players rank. I know that this is a difficult one because the top ranked players are usually the most active. However, top ranked players have a considerable amount of war power and could possibly abuse a mod position. I am saying this as a generality and not the rule. 5. What time zone is he/she located in? With only 2 mods you want your vice to live in an opposite time zone to allow for maximum coverage. However, please ensure that there is some overlap for daily communication. 6. Are you able to work with this person as partner? 7. The age and maturity level of the player. Although it is not an official Tap policy, please do not recruit players under the age of 18. As mods we sometimes have to deal with questionable behaviour and are exposed to some very crude language and ideas. It is morally wrong

6 to place a minor in the situation to be exposed to and have to deal with this. It is each leads choice on how they would like to recruit for their server. If you have a few candidates sending an application might help you narrow the list. Here is a sample application letter that you are welcome to use: I am looking for a new moderator for our server 009. You were identified by either myself or another mod as being a good candidate for the job. Before you decide if you would like to be considered for a mod position, there are a few things I want you to consider. As mods we have a duel role we are both players and moderators. This places one in the unique, yet challenging, position of playing a game of war and conquest while having to uphold the rules and moral conduct befitting of a mod. As a mod, one must also be able to look past racial, cultural, personal, and loyalty ties to be as fair-minded as possible to all players. The 009 server is a challenge to be sure. We have a great deal of diversity and fractionalized groupings of people based mostly on ethnicity / culture. It is very important, should you choose to accept a mod in training position, that you can look past personal biases and treat all players equally and not show favouritism toward any person or group. Those being said, if you are still interested in being a mod, please answer the following questions and return them to me: 1. How long have you been playing Island Empire? 2. Are you in a League? If so, which League and your current position in that League. 3. Are you over 18 years old? If not, please state your age. 4. What languages do you speak, read and/or write fluently? Please be specific by stating which ones you speak, which ones you can read, and which ones you can write. 5. What do you think a moderator does?

7 6. Why would you make a good moderator and what would you bring to the team if you are selected? 7. Do you have any alternate accounts and, if so, please list them by server. It will take me a few days to review all the applications and make final decisions. Please remember, this is just an application and not an official offer to be a mod. I am only looking to fill a single position at this time, but I will let you know either way. Thank you so much and let me know if you have any questions. Your Name and Position Training: Training and communication are the key to making your mod team and server successful. When a new mod enters the team a few things need to happen. First, either or pal the Head Mod and Asst Head Mod with the following information: name, address, and home location for time zone purposes. Second, inform the new mod on how pal works and how each of the two pal groups are used. Third, a copy of the mod guidelines and a link to the mod handbook to the new mod for he/she to review. Training is an ongoing process and is vital to ensure a that each server receives a high level of quality moderation. Utilize pal to give constructive criticism and feedback on the things that the new mod does well and what could use improvement. Also, it is important not to contradict a fellow mod in chat it gives the appearance of a broken team and can be embarrassing for the moderator. Moderator Removal: Moderators must follow all the rules set forth by Tap4Fun in the Terms of Service Agreement. Any moderator who chooses to violate these terms can and will be removed from their mod duties post haste.

8 Lead and Vice Lead Moderators may be removed from their position at any time at the discretion of the Head Moderator, Assistant Head Moderator, or Tap4Fun staff. Additionally, the Lead Moderator is permitted to remove or dismiss a Vice Lead Moderator from their team if they determine that the mod is working against the team and/or not living up to the expectations of a mod. Support Contacts: Who, When, and Why The Tap4Fun team is here to support the moderator teams and the player community as a whole. The Lead Moderator, with support from the Vice Lead, is responsible for all decisions on his/her server and the aiding in the resolution of player issues. However, please keep in mind that players also have the ability to contact support and post on the forum for smaller issues. The following are examples of types of issues players, Vice and Lead Mods, and Asst. Head and Head Mods handle: Players: Game bugs General complaints Password issues Personal account issues Lead / Vice Lead Mods: Players locked out of their account Multiple account suspicions requesting IP check Any of the above issues if player s complaints are not resolved in a timely manner Head / Asst Head Mods: Cheating suspicion Account hacking Buying Gems / DM on stolen credit card Issues with Mod Server access and/or colored text in chat Player Bans Contact Information: Support: support@tap4fun.com

9 Charlie James: Andrew: Days off, Holidays, and Vacations: Real life is always more important that a game and in real life we may go out of town for the weekend, have our in-laws visit, or even have sick children. If you are going to be away from the game for over 24 hours please alert your team and the Head Mod. This way no one worries and we can make arrangements for additional help on the particular server if needed.