Need help with Staff needs and tasks

[Dian]

I am working on an idea for something here, and I am in need of a list of sorts as to what exactly is most needed from a staff person. I do not mean as far as server operations or world building, but player/staff relations.

Of course, first and foremost is the Help Pages and answering.

It seems to me that there is a big gap between what is needed from a Staff person, and what privileges (or power if you like) they actually have.

In the past, and I know most here can relate, I have gotten burned by granting people Staff and trusting that they will keep it real. Only to end up finding out they have been using that privilege to exploit the game in one way or another.. like giving their 'friends' skills and items, or their own characters mad advantages.. Or building themselves a massive home packed with every item in the book.. hidden away somewhere... etc

So I have an idea that I am going to work on that would allow a shard owner to give a person the ability to act as a staff person, but not actually giving them higher AccessLevel. It would be like a Counselor yet remaining a player. This way, the new person would remain a player, could run around as a player like anyone else, but still have the ability to act on certain things without the power to exploit anything or cheat. I dont see why the said staff person needs ability to create items or adjust skills etc, imho. or is there?

This is a huge reason a lot of shards fall apart, corrupt staff. So help me out with the things that are NEEDED from a player relations staff person, and I will see what can be done This could be thought of as an introductory stage for someone.

So first of course, Help Pages.. What else?

 

[Dian]

My initial idea is some sort of item that a shard owner can give said person, that would be account tagged to that person so only that player can use, that would give them a few options or abilities.. like checking the help pages, and answering a que for example..

Maybe we can all work on this?

 

[tass23]

The Automated Staff Tresdni released a long time ago is a step in the right direction. They use keywords and can open browser windows for players as well. It helps if you have good website/forum support too. As for "staff"/player interactions, it depends on how visible you want your staff to be. I have a great staff member (@Mogster ) who is also a player liaison, so he fields all the player issues and sends them up the chain if needs be. He might be able to offer you some advice as well. I try to stay out of my players' way as much as possible to avoid that "friendship" issue, which is not to say I'm not friendly with the players. Your biggest hurdle though is you're going to have to utilize the pre-set AccessLevels, because players can't see Queues. However, you could have a staff member that delegates queue handling to these specific players. One other suggestion would be setting up like a report stone for players to use. When they filled out the info, you could have the file emailed to this player you've designated to handle Queues.

 

[Dian]

Yeah, maybe Counselor is the best way to go.. But there seems to be a big gap between that and Game Master, you know?

 

[m309]

You could always tweak some of the commands to have lower or higher access levels as you see fit if need be, or even create custom access levels with specific command/task access.

 

[Dian]

Right, and I have. I just had an idea pop the other night to come up with something that would allow an ordinary player ability to check a few minor things for player relations hwile still being able to run around and play as a character.. rather than having to log on a staff character.

I think its important for any staff person to play as a character on the shard they are a part of first, so to get to know the in's and out's.. otherwise, how are they to help beyond the most basic common things?

Just wanted to run it by you all here, and see if there might be something to this idea, or if its just a re inventing the wheel kinda thing.. *shrugs*

 

[tass23]

You could always tweak some of the commands to have lower or higher access levels as you see fit if need be, or even create custom access levels with specific command/task access.

I've had to do that as well, but I think it'd be a good idea for some future ServUO release that would allow an owner to setup custom permissions for AccessLevels. Something as simple as a gump in-game to check off yes/no for commands. Restart the shard and the changes take effect.

 

[Milva]

My initial idea is some sort of item that a shard owner can give said person, that would be account tagged to

@Ravenwolfe has this with a mentor title-player can go to another player, answer pages he could explain it a bit more.
m309 stated to also adjust access levels and what they can use, always a safe idea

 

[Ravenwolfe]

As Milva said, I have this on my shard. Anyone I assign to be a Mentor can answer pages (they only get pages if no staff is online). They can go to a player and they can send them a stuck menu manually. They can see who is online and they can see staff online(unless they are invisible).

 

[Po0ka]

Most of the time those that never staffed can be the best staff members ever ;P

 

[Abigor]

On An Corp, we have a Companion system designed to help out new and returning players. Here's a copy and paste of the description:

Companions are normal players and gain no special perks, excepting a title signifying them as companions and access to the commands [ln (for locate new), [rn (for return from new), and [revokenew (for revoking a young player's status that is found to be abusing the system).

[ln will generate a list of players who have less than 168 hours (1 week) of gametime, the companion will then select a name from the list and it will teleport them to that location.

[rn will return the companion to the location that he originally teleported from.

Companions will not be able to teleport out of dungeons/non-recall zones, however they will be allowed to travel into a dungeon to assist a new player. The system disallows travel into Hythloth and Deceit, there should be no reason for a young player to visit these locations.

If the young player is in a dungeon, a gump will prompt them informing them that the player is in a dangerous situation and give the companion the option to cancel the travel request.

Companions will not be able to use their teleport command if they are flagged for any type of combat, nor if they are flagged criminal.

Thus: if a nearby mongbat attacks a companion, they will not be able to use their teleport commands. It is a little annoying, but important to prevent abuse.

Players with access to companions have access to young chat using the [yc command, allowing them to talk with other young players and companions. Companions will be marked with the [Companion] tag at the end of their name.

Each Companion has to go through an application process through me and I approve or deny them after an interview. The idea is that they are outstanding individuals of the community that go out of their way to help new players. We monitor them on a consistent basis to make sure no abuse of mechanics is going on.

We found this helped out quite a bit with getting questions answered. Players like to be recognized for their hard work and dedication. The Companion title and the teleportation were great perks for the work they were putting in. It was by no means OP and besides the title, there was nothing special or cosmetic given to Companions to show favoritism.

 

[Abigor]

I've also said this before, but you have to be careful with who you add as staff. The possibility of abuse is there. Power corrupts. When I look at staff applications, I don't necessarily look for experience. I try and look for people of sound mind and decent morals. If you find a genuinely good person, you can teach them the skills they need. None of the support staff on An Corp had prior staffing experience before joining the team.

You just need to lay out some guidelines of what is acceptable and what isn't and stick by them. As Po0ka said, some of the best staff you can have is people who have never done it before. I'm very happy and proud of my GM team. I've only had to fire one GM because he refused to heed my warnings and he was a guy who had staffed before on a previous shard.

 

[Dian]

Thanks for that explanation, and sharing that with us. That is a well thought out method of new player support