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Now many of you would answer this question off with a funny saying like "Nothing" or "Good Question", but you'd be surprised that we do a lot of behind the scenes work. A lot of the Staff talk amongst out secret boards we have on the forums about how we can improve the clan, who we have concerns about, and just general idea stuff. So, you guys don't get to see that, because you guys don't have access to those threads. Nonetheless, I wanted to make this post to give you a few example of how Staff's work, what is required, and maybe a guide to help you become a Staff one day. (We all wont last forever, trust me.)
The Beginning
So as you are becoming a Staff, you need to have a few pre-requisits first.
The first one is maturity, and that is a basic one for every rank. You need to show that you can handle things properly, and act like a responsible adult. You want to make sure your head is screwed on before you jump into situations. That means clearly thinking about every situation, knowing how to have a professional and conversational tone when dealing with someone, and how to separate friendships and work.
When dealing with certain situations, your tone of voice can affect the perception people have about you and your professionalism. So if you joke around with someone and you are just talking to them about life stuff, then that's your conversational tone. However, when you are being sincere and logical, while maintaining a sort of "professionalism" , then that is obviously called your professional tone. Staff members must use that most of the time to separate their feelings towards someone, rather friendly or romantically. Staff cannot give anyone special treatment when dealing with certain types of situations, because then that will set a president which can cause problems in the future.
The second pre-requisit you need to be a Staff is time in the clan. Some staff are accepted into the clan after months or years of service to the clan. Some get in faster than others, but that depends on the other pre-requisits. The other Staff+ need to know who you are first, and they need to get a good picture of you. So just stick around in the community and you should be good to go.
The final pre-requisit is basic knowledge of how the community works, how the server works, and how the forums work. You need to know what goes on in the community to even be able to take charge of the community. You need to know the kind of people who are here, the groups that people place themselves in, and the past of the community so you don't repeat it. The servers work the same way, and so do the forums. You just need to have a general idea of whats going on to help you become an effective Staff member.
What We Do
Staff does a lot, as I said, on the inside and outside. There are some days we don't have much going on, and there are others where we are busy. Here are some of the main things we do here in the community.
Work the Front Desk
We are basically the first line of the Elevated Gaming communities army. We are like the spear men who run into the spears so the others can climb across. We are the first people you need to come to if you have a problem, and if we can solve it, we bring it up to the next rank. We are like your towns government, Advisors are your state government, Co-Leader is your national government, and Leader is your president.
You don't always get to have a case go straight to National Government, but sometimes there is a time where that happens. However, you mainly would go to your local government then work your way up. So we are here to listen to your complaints, solve your problems, and work on your concerns. We are here for you.
Handle Ban Reports/Requests
Now you might think "Oh this is easy, all you have to do is look at the report/request and say 'Extended' or 'Banned'." And that's not entirely right. Now I'm not saying its hard to solve these things, but its a little more complex. If we have a demo to watch, we have to watch the whole incident, and that kinda sucks when people record 45 minutes before the incident happened. We have to make sure the witnesses are the only ones talking on the threads, we have to make sure they have the evidence they need, and they banned the right SteamID. Its more tedious than hard, so don't think that we find it difficult to do.
Handle Admin/Member Complaints
Now these are the fun guys. Usually its difficult to handle these situations because of a "he said, she said" incident. Though, when they have clear evidence and they have good witnesses, its easier to solve. However, that's not always the case.
This is where the professional tone part really kicks in and its required in this position. There will be times where your friends in the community are the ones you have to rule a punishment out for, and you just got to give it to them. No matter what you do for the community, you will be called a "power hungry Staff" or a "hardass" but hey, you have a job to do and shoes to fill. Those titles come with the job, and you'll have to live with them. At least you got the job done, and if they are your real friends, they will understand.
So along with the admin/member complaints you will have to decide who is right, what punishment you will give, and how are you going to prevent this in the future. It sounds pretty basic, but people will not rest until they get the best and shortest punishment possible. Sometimes they will complain to other Staff, or they will make a complaint on you about it. Nonetheless, you still need to follow the job description you were given. Again, not all situations are hard to solve, but you always have to prepare for the worst.
Promotions/Demotions
As Staff, we get to choose who we want to promote and who we want to demote. We post a list of people we want to see promoted because of their service to the community, and we choose a list of people we want to demote if we don't see them fit for their rank. Sometimes we have demotions, but it doesn't happen as often ad you would think. So we make our lists using a special format and then the Co-Leader takes the names we suggested, and puts them into the Promotions/Demotions list. So we basically decide who gets promoted, so don't forget to give us extra love and a bribe of $10 PayPal for next month.
Managing Managers
So the Staff plays a huge part in server managing, even when they aren't server managers. They are usually the go to guys when people have certain questions about FastDL, NFO Control Panel, or the FTP. We try our best to solve different server issues, but we aren't in total control. So sometimes we have to seek help from our superiors to effectively help you.
General Idea Making
We usually get into a thread and talk about some ideas we have to create a better community. Mattlikespie can tell you anything about that, because he's started many threads with some great ideas. We usually just post an idea we have and then we all discuss it to see if that would be an efficient thing to implement into the community. Then, we take to the streets and see what you guys think about it, depending on the idea. You are the people, and we want your feedback as well as our own.
We Aren't Always Around
One thing I have experienced as a Staff is that people will message you at 3 in the morning saying someone MFK'd on Jailbreak and they need you to get on to ban them. Staff have a life outside of EgN, just as you all do. Matt, Sinister Yiggles, and myself have school and Phillip has work. We cant be around every second of the day to do things for you guys. So, when we say we aren't "in the office", please don't get upset with us, and go off on us. EgN is not a priority in our lives at the moment. Its a gaming community we volunteer for. Kharn isn't dishing us 10% of the donations at the end of the month for our service to the community, we do it because its something to do on our down time. now, we try our best to help, but we don't want to be expected to be on call 24/7. We don't work the graveyard shifts.
What Does Staff Expect From You?
Talk with us, we want to hear your voice. We don't want you guys to keep issues on the down low. Don't always feel like you have to make a complaint on a member if you see them acting up a little. Just shoot us a message and we will deal with it the way we see fit. We want you guys to be able to trust our judgement too. Don't worry, we got this. We will make sure something happens to the guy you were concerned about. We also want general community concerns. Busted forum links, inappropriate threads, or even server problems. We want to hear your voice. If you don't address your concerns, don't expect us to do anything about those concerns. We cant fix what we don't know.
You guys need to know that Staff are hard at work to put on the best quality program we can. So please respect that and don't give us a hard time about it. We do the things we need to do,and if you get punished for something you did, tough luck. Serve the time and don't go whining to us about the punishment you received. We want to respect you, but if you don't respect us its going to get difficult for you in the end. So just know that Staff+ aren't your slaves, and we won't bend to your will, but we will help you if you need it. Just keep that in mind.
Conclusion
So that's pretty much it, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us. Thanks for reading this over, and I hope I cleared up some confusion.
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Mr.GoldGames
