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McPathos/TheAnaMain's staff application/staffing guide
Staff application
The first part of getting staff is making sure you have a good and workable staff application which is easy to read, to the point and mature. We'll be going through the key parts of the staff application to make avoid the easy questions which require 1-word answers such as IGN etc.
What times are you most often online?
When you're doing your application you don't need to be on all the time to get it. It helps the more you're on and the more time and experience you put into the server because your input on things such as updates and community opinion go up with time and experiences put into the server. So it this question you can simply put down 1-2 hours a day if needs are but you don't need all the time in the world for this question.
Have you ever been banned on any other servers?
It's best not to lie. If you have been banned on other servers say. If you won't admit it others will find a way to call you out on servers you have been banned from and this could potentially ruin your application (@Sosa)
If you want the best response and for your application to look the most professional add a picture with your ban. This will only work in some cases in which you have requested an unban and got accepted like mine below on billion. These are easy to do you can just use a snippet, crop the image out, then upload it to Imgur and get the individual picture URL. Then post it in "picture" in the toolbar tab on edit which is this icon
What previous experience do you have in server moderation and staffing?
For the prior staffing experience, it is a big thing to have experience in staffing but isn't 100% needed. You can get staff with no experience since everyone needs to start somewhere but you need to have others on your side to vouch for you getting that experience but you can't do that if you don't make yourself known. Whether this be your friends or people in the community everyone will give you a chance and if you don't seem like you don't want that chance no one will give you one. So if you have no experience make sure you seem like you want the staffing responsibility and that you are mature and you are on par and even better than other applicants
SCENARIO: "You come home from school and have a ton of homework to do, you think to yourself I'll just take a 5-minute break before I start and get on OPBlocks. The next thing you know 2 hours have passed and you've been on the server all that time." Does this scenario sound familiar to you? - How do you respond to this?
This question is basing yourself to the staff about your priorities and what you consider more important. Never under any circumstances do you put OPB over school. You should always focus your education above everything Minecraft related since education is a lot more important. I know I sound like your parents but even the higher staff will agree always take your education above Minecraft. I mean even the higher staff take their education above OPB which is understandable.
Unless you're not in education then you can answer the question as you please but I highly recommend you prioritizing school and making this known in this question. Since it shows you lack in common sense if you say OPB over your education
Are you active on the OPBlocks TeamSpeaka, and do you have a working microphone?
This question is a bit odd since I see people saying things such as "I will be more active" and things like "I am on TeamSpeak" Even tho there is only ever the same people always in TeamSpeak (Nonstaff)
If you are serious about wanting to join the staff team I would talk to them and try to get to know them. If you don't talk and get to know them you'll be outside. Simple. The "new" staff team are pretty closed and if you join the team without talking to anyone you kinda will be left to your own and only be talked to/needed when you need help or someone needs to talk to you about certain things. I know this since while my time being staff v3 the team was so closed up and so much dumb drama was going it was kinda childish and was part reason why I wanted to leave. I would strongly recommend talking to other staff aswell even if you only talk to one or two staff members try talking to more than just the normal one. The Same principle will apply, If you don't talk to all members of the staff team you will be left out of the rest and only be talking to the people you talked to prior to getting staff.
Why do you want to be a staff member on OPBlocks?
For this question, I would ask/answer yourself a few questions in your application.
Why do you think you will be a good staff
What do you think you will bring to the staff team
How will you manage
What made you want to apply
If you answer if you own opinion and how you would act etc I think you would do very well in this category of the questions. If you answer them in detail and maturely and with the correct about of responsibility as your prior questions I think you would do fine.
.
How would you respond to your application being denied, or a demotion as a staff member?
This question is a biggy. I've seen a few people put things like "I would be mad etc" and other things like this. If you put you would get angry at the cause of being demoted or denied. You wouldn't have a strong chance. Make your answer look professional by saying you would be understanding and you would want to talk about why you was demoted or why it was denied and then you can improve on that for next time. Don't go on about how you are angry but will agree with it, it makes you look immature and childish.
If you are called a useless helper/bullied by players, how do you react to this?
This aswell once again the most common mistake I see is people saying things like "I'll ignore the player" No you do not ignore them. You ignore what they are saying in your head but you do not act back with a violent nature or immaturity you act upon professionalism and punish them for their actions if they are worthy of being punished for. You never ignore players and that's a big thing people miss out when they are answering this question is you never act like the person insulting you. Allways treat staffing as professional as you can be and never act in a way you think others acting is unworthy of staff.
Is there anything else we should know?
For the final question in the staff application, I see a lot of people say no or don't answer. For this answer things about yourself and not things, people won't care about or consider since they're no relevance to the staffing role. Things about yourself and what you do and who you talk to. Type things which can make people go, Ow he seems professional since he did this that one time. Type things which are good about yourself and things which are bad. people don't always wanna hear the good things and sometimes people would want to know what you're lacking in. For instance, I am a fast type and I feel this would help to staff since I can manage a big player base since I can answer a lot at once. But also I'm very relaxed but to relaxed and give people verbal warning first before actual warnings. You would want the reader to know more about you and know things which you think would help your staff application
Staffing on server
When staffing on server they are key things which you want to do to make sure you're doing the job correctly. I'll be going over some of them point and addressing what you should do and in certain circumstances how you would act.
Time
The time you put into the server is a big part of why you would have gotten staff. For instance, it's more likely for players who have a lot of time on the server over a longer period to get staff. So being on and staffing is a big part of why you would have got staff. You are not required to be on 24/7 but you're required to be on more than the average player. While staffing you can hope between realms but is preferred to stay on the most popular realm while no over staff are online(Pretty common)If you have issues with not being on or too many people are on for you to manage, you can simply message other staff to come on. Also, another thing which I do notice even with current staff if there is no staff on but you want/need to go. You can. It is recommended you stay on while no other staff is on but if you need to go do something or you want to go out to the shop etc you can do so. Just you're not supposed to be AFK since players could want your help and try contact you and you wouldn't be there to answer them. So if you're not going to be at your computer for a long period of time. Just leave the server until you come back.
Responsibility
While you're on the server you're supposed to act responsible and act professionally at all times. Whether this is answer questions or punishing people, never do it on the act of your own anger or will. Allways answer questions in a professional manner and never seem like you're being aggressive to the players. always try and make the players happy with what you're doing and make sure they understand without sounding unprofessional or rude. Same applies with PvP. If you have a "PvPers attitude" as I call it. You won't get far, this is when for instance you beat someone and you say "L" after every fight. It makes you sound unprofessional and rude. (Before I get comments of people saying I did it. I know I did and I had reasons and understand they weren't professional but I couldn't care at that point since I knew I wanted to resign anyways)
Playing
When being on the server you're expected to staff the server and help the community. Does this mean you can play? Yes, it does but you can not go on the server just the mine or PVP and ignore chat. If this means while you're fighting someone you need to answer things or punish someone then so be it. I was known in v2 for pvping and staffing at the same time. While fighting people in v2 I would gapple then punish the person in chat and carry on fighting. The same applies in all honestly. You're expected to staff the server. Not get the highest prestige or most money etc. If you're mining then it's easier but if you're a PVP and want to staff. Either cut down on pvping or learn how to multitask.
Hope you enjoyed it was a long read and I thought I'd join the trend of staff app guides
Staff application
The first part of getting staff is making sure you have a good and workable staff application which is easy to read, to the point and mature. We'll be going through the key parts of the staff application to make avoid the easy questions which require 1-word answers such as IGN etc.
What times are you most often online?
When you're doing your application you don't need to be on all the time to get it. It helps the more you're on and the more time and experience you put into the server because your input on things such as updates and community opinion go up with time and experiences put into the server. So it this question you can simply put down 1-2 hours a day if needs are but you don't need all the time in the world for this question.
Have you ever been banned on any other servers?
It's best not to lie. If you have been banned on other servers say. If you won't admit it others will find a way to call you out on servers you have been banned from and this could potentially ruin your application (@Sosa)
If you want the best response and for your application to look the most professional add a picture with your ban. This will only work in some cases in which you have requested an unban and got accepted like mine below on billion. These are easy to do you can just use a snippet, crop the image out, then upload it to Imgur and get the individual picture URL. Then post it in "picture" in the toolbar tab on edit which is this icon
What previous experience do you have in server moderation and staffing?
For the prior staffing experience, it is a big thing to have experience in staffing but isn't 100% needed. You can get staff with no experience since everyone needs to start somewhere but you need to have others on your side to vouch for you getting that experience but you can't do that if you don't make yourself known. Whether this be your friends or people in the community everyone will give you a chance and if you don't seem like you don't want that chance no one will give you one. So if you have no experience make sure you seem like you want the staffing responsibility and that you are mature and you are on par and even better than other applicants
SCENARIO: "You come home from school and have a ton of homework to do, you think to yourself I'll just take a 5-minute break before I start and get on OPBlocks. The next thing you know 2 hours have passed and you've been on the server all that time." Does this scenario sound familiar to you? - How do you respond to this?
This question is basing yourself to the staff about your priorities and what you consider more important. Never under any circumstances do you put OPB over school. You should always focus your education above everything Minecraft related since education is a lot more important. I know I sound like your parents but even the higher staff will agree always take your education above Minecraft. I mean even the higher staff take their education above OPB which is understandable.
Unless you're not in education then you can answer the question as you please but I highly recommend you prioritizing school and making this known in this question. Since it shows you lack in common sense if you say OPB over your education
Are you active on the OPBlocks TeamSpeaka, and do you have a working microphone?
This question is a bit odd since I see people saying things such as "I will be more active" and things like "I am on TeamSpeak" Even tho there is only ever the same people always in TeamSpeak (Nonstaff)
If you are serious about wanting to join the staff team I would talk to them and try to get to know them. If you don't talk and get to know them you'll be outside. Simple. The "new" staff team are pretty closed and if you join the team without talking to anyone you kinda will be left to your own and only be talked to/needed when you need help or someone needs to talk to you about certain things. I know this since while my time being staff v3 the team was so closed up and so much dumb drama was going it was kinda childish and was part reason why I wanted to leave. I would strongly recommend talking to other staff aswell even if you only talk to one or two staff members try talking to more than just the normal one. The Same principle will apply, If you don't talk to all members of the staff team you will be left out of the rest and only be talking to the people you talked to prior to getting staff.
Why do you want to be a staff member on OPBlocks?
For this question, I would ask/answer yourself a few questions in your application.
Why do you think you will be a good staff
What do you think you will bring to the staff team
How will you manage
What made you want to apply
If you answer if you own opinion and how you would act etc I think you would do very well in this category of the questions. If you answer them in detail and maturely and with the correct about of responsibility as your prior questions I think you would do fine.
.
How would you respond to your application being denied, or a demotion as a staff member?
This question is a biggy. I've seen a few people put things like "I would be mad etc" and other things like this. If you put you would get angry at the cause of being demoted or denied. You wouldn't have a strong chance. Make your answer look professional by saying you would be understanding and you would want to talk about why you was demoted or why it was denied and then you can improve on that for next time. Don't go on about how you are angry but will agree with it, it makes you look immature and childish.
If you are called a useless helper/bullied by players, how do you react to this?
This aswell once again the most common mistake I see is people saying things like "I'll ignore the player" No you do not ignore them. You ignore what they are saying in your head but you do not act back with a violent nature or immaturity you act upon professionalism and punish them for their actions if they are worthy of being punished for. You never ignore players and that's a big thing people miss out when they are answering this question is you never act like the person insulting you. Allways treat staffing as professional as you can be and never act in a way you think others acting is unworthy of staff.
Is there anything else we should know?
For the final question in the staff application, I see a lot of people say no or don't answer. For this answer things about yourself and not things, people won't care about or consider since they're no relevance to the staffing role. Things about yourself and what you do and who you talk to. Type things which can make people go, Ow he seems professional since he did this that one time. Type things which are good about yourself and things which are bad. people don't always wanna hear the good things and sometimes people would want to know what you're lacking in. For instance, I am a fast type and I feel this would help to staff since I can manage a big player base since I can answer a lot at once. But also I'm very relaxed but to relaxed and give people verbal warning first before actual warnings. You would want the reader to know more about you and know things which you think would help your staff application
Staffing on server
When staffing on server they are key things which you want to do to make sure you're doing the job correctly. I'll be going over some of them point and addressing what you should do and in certain circumstances how you would act.
Time
The time you put into the server is a big part of why you would have gotten staff. For instance, it's more likely for players who have a lot of time on the server over a longer period to get staff. So being on and staffing is a big part of why you would have got staff. You are not required to be on 24/7 but you're required to be on more than the average player. While staffing you can hope between realms but is preferred to stay on the most popular realm while no over staff are online(Pretty common)If you have issues with not being on or too many people are on for you to manage, you can simply message other staff to come on. Also, another thing which I do notice even with current staff if there is no staff on but you want/need to go. You can. It is recommended you stay on while no other staff is on but if you need to go do something or you want to go out to the shop etc you can do so. Just you're not supposed to be AFK since players could want your help and try contact you and you wouldn't be there to answer them. So if you're not going to be at your computer for a long period of time. Just leave the server until you come back.
Responsibility
While you're on the server you're supposed to act responsible and act professionally at all times. Whether this is answer questions or punishing people, never do it on the act of your own anger or will. Allways answer questions in a professional manner and never seem like you're being aggressive to the players. always try and make the players happy with what you're doing and make sure they understand without sounding unprofessional or rude. Same applies with PvP. If you have a "PvPers attitude" as I call it. You won't get far, this is when for instance you beat someone and you say "L" after every fight. It makes you sound unprofessional and rude. (Before I get comments of people saying I did it. I know I did and I had reasons and understand they weren't professional but I couldn't care at that point since I knew I wanted to resign anyways)
Playing
When being on the server you're expected to staff the server and help the community. Does this mean you can play? Yes, it does but you can not go on the server just the mine or PVP and ignore chat. If this means while you're fighting someone you need to answer things or punish someone then so be it. I was known in v2 for pvping and staffing at the same time. While fighting people in v2 I would gapple then punish the person in chat and carry on fighting. The same applies in all honestly. You're expected to staff the server. Not get the highest prestige or most money etc. If you're mining then it's easier but if you're a PVP and want to staff. Either cut down on pvping or learn how to multitask.
Hope you enjoyed it was a long read and I thought I'd join the trend of staff app guides
