Accepted SoCool21 Staff App

Brawl Junior Moderator Application:

Have you read over this thread?
Yes. I understand all the requirements for staff applicants.

What is your in-game name?
SoCool21

Have you changed your name in the past? If you have, please list them.
In chronological order:

• SoCool21 (Original)
• SoCool - 2/4/2015
• xxxdead - 4/1/2015
• SoCool - 5/1/2015
• GeothermalSucks - 6/7/2015
• SoCool - 7/7/2015
• MinebunchAddSoup - 8/8/2015
• SoCool - 9/8/2015
• SoSpooky21 - 10/13/2015
• _Tom__ - 11/14/2015
• SoCool21 - 3/12/2016

I don't plan on changing my name again.

Does anyone else have access to your Minecraft account?
No-one has or ever will have access to my account other than me. I have made necessary precautions to ensure my account is secure.

How old are you?
I am 15 years old. I will be 16 in a month.

What time zone are you in?
I am in GMT+0

Are you multilingual? Can you speak multiple languages?
Unfortunately, I am not. My native language is English.

What is your experience and knowledge of Minecraft?
I first played Minecraft on the 20th January 2011 on a friend's account, where we messed around on his survival world and played a new PvP server, which I later discovered was called McPvP. I played on his account a few times, but he lost interest, and I found playing alone boring.

When I overheard a group of friends talking about playing Minecraft almost a year later, I decided to buy the game for myself. Since I could play with friends again, I no longer found it boring. I bought this account on the 23rd January 2012.



Since then, I mostly played on a survival server that me and my friends hosted. It wasn't until 9th June 2012 which I returned to McPvP, where I played CTF and was hooked. I later tried KitPvP, and that was where I spent most of my time on Minecraft.



When KitPvP on McPvP was first released, the server had a lot of hackers and not a lot of mods. Due to this, I learnt how to detect hackers and began reporting them. This was also where I leant how to PvP, and how to soup. I met a lot of players here, including the person who helped me get into the HRC. The HRC (hacker report channel) was a Skype group where players could say a hacker's name, the server they were on and the hacks they were using, and any moderators online would check if they were hacking. I first joined this on 14th February 2014.

The HRC was split up into 5 groups (excluding all the temporary chats). One of the groups, group "A", was for people who reported hackers actively and with a lot of accuracy, and I joined this group shortly after joining the HRC. During my time in there, I got about 120 hackers banned, and only had 4 false reports.

A few months later, I joined my first CTF team, The Reporters. This was where I became more familiar with the community. Ran by nintendo_guy (now Geothermal) and kamil302, The Reporters was a team filled with members of the HRC. When it disbanded after a few months, I joined The Plebeian Scum, ran by PhantomYoshi and the lovely ldr_chicken. Other CTF teams I've been in are The Paladins, The Blue Flaggers and Silent Waters. My most recent team is Unity, a team that I was rep on.

What is your experience with moderating servers, if any?
I first had OP on a server in the survival server which I mentioned above. I learnt about the very basic commands, such as /ban and /mute, but never really used them. It wasn't until we turned the server into a small factions server when I started utilising these commands, since I was in charge of banning XRayers. I learnt how to figure out if someone was XRaying, by watching them in invis mode. Since I had no plugins or mods to assist myself, I watched people who were strip mining to see if they were looking around as if they could see through blocks, and if someone was getting extremely lucky, finding multiple veins of diamonds.

Eventually, my friends lost interest in Minecraft, and the server shut down. I later became staff on an upcoming server owned by Decelvice, an ex-Brawl dev. There were plans for it to become a KitPvP server - I would come up with ideas, and Decelvice would code them. Unfortunately it didn't get very far, but I thought of a lot of ideas that would've made the server unique from others. I don't remember exactly why, but the server didn't go anywhere.

Then, EuKits came along. It was a small KitPvP server owned by james_is_awesome, an ex-McPvP mod and small YouTuber with 3k subs. I was a moderator, along with a lot of other KitPvP moderators, and mostly helped by building a bit of the map, and testing out kits, looking for bugs. The server was released to the public and got a bit of support from some YouTubers, but never really kicked off. Since EuKits died, I haven't became a moderator on another server.

Finally, although this isn't really a Minecraft server, I founded moderated the official Plug.DJ for McPvP. It exceeded 150 users at one point, and due to how toxic some of the people were at the time, I learnt a lot about how to deal with people breaking the rules, and trying to be awkward to avoid being banned.

What will you provide to the community if you are provided moderator status?
I can provide a wide range of things which I feel are very important for a staff team to offer.

Firstly, I'll be willing to listen to the ideas and opinions of the general player base. A lot of players feel that staff members do not read or consider ideas posted by players. Whether or not this is true, as a result, if a player thinks there is an issue in a gamemode, they are more likely to complain about it rather than suggest an idea to fix it. This is because they feel the idea will be ignored and resort to complaints to try and convince the staff team to do something. If I am promoted, I will ensure I read as many suggestions on the forums that I can, and will respond to any that I read so that players who post ideas feel as if we are listening. As well as this, if I see an idea which I feel will help the gamemode, or one which a lot of players support, I will do everything I can to try and see it implemented, or at the very least discussed.

Next, I will ensure the additions to both current and upcoming gamemodes are suitable and will add to the game. I will test any upcoming feature that I am allowed to in order to give admins and developers feedback on feature, so it is as good as it can be when it is released to the community. Hopefully, this will increase the chances of updates being favoured by the community, as updates are risky and one bad move can greatly reduce the amount of players on a gamemode.

As well as doing things behind the scenes, I will try to respond to as many false autoban appeals as I can. If you look at my ban history, I have a lot of experience with getting falsely autobanned and I know how frustrating it is to have it happen to you. While being a JMod, this is something I will not be able to achieve, as to my knowledge JMods don't have access to ban appeals and are unable to unban players. However, as soon as I am able to do this, I will try to respond to as many autoban appeals as possible.

Another thing I would do is listen to /reports. Whether or not it is true, a lot of people think that staff ignore /reports which can be very annoying. Although I won't be able to respond to every report, as I am not able to be online all the time, I will try to respond to every /report as soon as I become a global mod.

Finally, I will try to help as many players as I can with any issues they have. Whenever I am online and someone asks a question about how the gamemode works, I will answer it and give any advice I can to these players to ensure they have a fun time on the server. One of the most annoying things about joining a new server is not having anyone respond to questions you ask, and I have experienced it first hand by joining other servers with mods that do not respond to questions that I ask. Having someone who knows what they're talking about giving advice to you as a new player is one of the biggest things a server can do to form a good impression on a new player, and I will try to do this to my potential as well as encourage other players to do this too.

Have you ever used a hacked client before?
I've never used a hacked client before, and don't plan on doing so.
Have you ever been banned on a Minecraft server? If so, why?
I've only ever been banned on Brawl, excluding false autobans on McPvP. Most of my bans are due to a very bad history on Brawl, during 2015.

I'll begin with my forum bans. I can't see a list of all my forum bans, but I know I was permanently banned a few days after Christmas during 2015, for continuous rules violations. Unlike a lot of players, I was unhappy with the transition from McPvP to Brawl, and disliked a lot of the rules that were non-existent on the McPvP forums. As a result, I usually ignored them, causing me to get in a lot of trouble and having multiple warning points and temp bans. I understand how I acted was wrong, and I hope the staff members who had to deal with me (mostly Lord_Roke and chickenputty) realise I have moved on from this immature behaviour.

My ban history on Brawl is due to very similar reasons as my ban history on the forums. Excluding any false automatic bans for hacking, I have 4 bans, all of which were during 2015. The first was for troll reports - I reported a staff member when I got into an argument, when they called me a "smartass". I realise that it was my fault for provoking an argument with them, and it was one of many that we have had. The other 3 were all related - during October, I decided to quit Brawl (since then, I have changed my mind). Since moderators weren't allowed to ban me from request, I made an empty DDoS threat thinking that it was a permanent ban. I now understand that it would've been better if I simply just left the server, rather than breaking the rules.

I feel as if I've moved on a lot from this time. Since I have been unbanned from the forums, I have reported many rule-breaking posts and have not received a warning point, meaning the last warning point I have had here was 8 months ago. I do not plan on breaking any more rules on Brawl or any other server.

What do you consider your greatest strength?
I'd consider my greatest strength that would help the most in making me a good staff member would be my dedication. McPvP had always been a server I have treasured due to the amazing people who I've met, who have changed who I am as a person. Now that McPvP has moved on to Brawl, my dedication has moved onto Brawl too. HG used to be an extraordinarily popular gamemode with 3,000 players on at peak times. Having this many players on just one gamemode is something big servers even now would struggle to achieve, and since Survival Games is a spinoff from HG, it has revolutionised a lot of Minecraft servers and the game as a whole. I'd love to see the gamemode in its former glory, and aspire to do whatever I can to promote the server and make it as popular as it has the potential to be. Currently there are no dedicated staff to HG other than BlueGuyARed and Viva, both of which are SMods whom have a lot of roles other than focusing on HG. Due to my dedication, I can fill in the gap and believe I can make HG as good as it can be, despite the lack of staff that could assist me. I'm confident that I know what I'm doing, and will always try to push the gamemode and the server as a whole a step forwards.

What do you consider your greatest weakness?
I'd consider my greatest weakness to be how much I want to put my opinion out there. Whenever something happens, I'll immediately begin creating an opinion on the situation and feel as if I need to get it out there. As a result, it has gotten me in a lot of arguments in the past, including ones with staff members that ultimately resulted in a permanent ban from the forums. Even though this is no excuse for past actions, I feel as if I have overcome this issue. I have developed a lot of self-control as a result of regrettable things that I have said on Brawl and in real life. Although this weakness is a big one, I can usually keep myself from spreading an opinion, or saying it in a way that is nice and doesn't provoke an argument. If it ever does, and someone insists that I'm wrong, I'm able to step away and avoid arguments and flame wars.

How active do you consider yourself on Brawl?
In-game, I consider myself very active. Being a sheriff on Wild West, I generally play on that gamemode for an hour a day, aiming to play on time zones where there's less sheriffs online. As well as this, I am very active on HG. I play whenever I have the chance - if I see a HG server that is about to start, and it has enough players for the game to start, I will usually join it. I have about 12 hours in-game time in HG.

On the forums, I am one of the most active members. In around 8 months of being on Brawl (excluding the time that I have been banned), I have posted over 2,700 times, and respond to as many forum posts as I can. I will soon be the first McPvPer to pass 3,000 posts. Most of my recent posts are helpful, as they are responses to suggested ideas, bug reports, or my own ideas. I have notifications enabled for the server ideas section of the HG, CTF and Wild West gamemodes, and read every single thread posted there. I respond to most of them.

The only place where I believe my activity is lacking is on TeamSpeak. I've been told 30 minutes a day is enough for TeamSpeak activity, and I am attempting to spend this much or more on TeamSpeak. I am always on public channels.

Which Brawl servers are you most active on?
I am the most active on HG, Wild West, War and CTF. I will be active on SPvP once the reset happens.
How many hours can you provide a day and during what time frame?
The times I can play vary heavily. Since I am in high school, I receive about an hour a day's worth of homework, which I need to find time to do. I also have a social life so I devote a lot of time to this, too. On weekdays, I usually play from 4pm-6pm GMT, and on weekends I can play from noon-6pm GMT.

What would you do if someone breaks a rule in-game?
This will vary, depending on which rule someone breaks. I am aware of a handbook that JMods are supposed to follow, so ultimately I will follow this. However, without knowing what is on the handbook, this is what I will do if someone breaks a rule:

• If someone is hacking or glitching, I will record evidence and report it to any mod that is online at the time. If the glitch is one that is unknown, I will try to discover how it is produced and report it internally.
• If someone advertises a server, I will clear chat and warn them. I won't be too harsh on a first offence, as it will likely be due to ignorance of the rules. If they continue, it will most likely be because of malicious intentions, I will mute them for a few minutes after clearing chat again. I will take screenshots as evidence. If they continue to advertise even after the mute, I will mute the player for an hour and send screenshots to a mod so they can be muted for longer.
• If someone distributed 18+ content, I'd warn them on their first and second offence, taking screenshots, unless if the content is very bad (such as extreme racism or homophobic language). On their third attempt, I'd mute them for a certain amount of time, depending on the severity of the offence.
• If someone is being disrespectful, I'd follow similar procedures as if they were distributing 18+ content. I'd warn them twice, then would mute them depending on the severity of the offence.
• If someone made a DoS/DDoS/Dox threat, or a suicide threat, I would take screenshots and mute them for 5 minutes as a warning, taking screenshots. If they continue, I will kick them for an hour and send proof to a mod.
• If someone bypasses the chat filter, I will warn them once, taking screenshots. If they continue, I will mute them for 10 minutes. If they break the rules again, I'll mute them for an hour and send screenshots to a mod.
• If someone mini-mods, I would warn them twice. If they continue, I'd give them a 5 minute mute.
• If someone has an inappropriate team name, I'd warn the owner to change the name. If they refuse, I will take screenshots and inform a higher member of staff.

What would you do if someone breaks a rule on the forums?
As a JMod, I would be unable to give users warning points, so would simply be able to warn users and lock threads. My actions of taking care of rule breakers will depend on what they do:

• If a user creates or is involved in a flame war, I would warn them. If the thread continues as a flame war and there are no productive responses, I would lock the thread.
• If a user is disrespectful to another user or a member of staff, I would warn them.
• If a user gravedigs a thread, I would warn the player and lock the thread. I would not do this to server ideas, as gravedigging those threads are allowed as long as they can still be discussed.
• If someone creates an unnecessary post or thread that is clearly flame inducing, I will remove the post or lock the thread, and warn the user.
• Although not breaking the rules, if someone requests a lock on a thread, I would lock it.

What would you do if someone breaks a rule on TS3?
Once again, this would depend on what rule they break.

• If someone is screaming down their microphone, I would mute them, tell them to stop, then unmute them. If they refuse, I would send them to the jail channel, and tell them to stop again. I would do the same action if someone is playing loud music.
• If someone is distributing 18+ content, I would send them to the jail channel and tell them to stop one on one.
• If someone has loud background sounds, I would ask them to fix the issue and ask them to go onto push-to-talk.

Situation (as a staff member): You log on Brawl, and you’re told that there is a huge, game-breaking economy glitch. No Admins are online to solve the situation. What steps would you take to handle the issue?
As a JMod, I would be unable to solve the situation completely due to limitations in the commands that they are given. To handle the situation best I can, I would firstly warn players that abusing the glitch may result in a temporary or permanent ban. I would find out what is causing the glitch, and send it to a higher member of staff. If someone abuses the glitch, I will record proof and kick them for an hour, then send the proof to a higher member of staff.

How many Brawl staff applications have you made in the past?
I have submitted 1 application on Brawl.
What is the date of the last application you submitted?
June 21st 2016

Do you have a working microphone?
Yes.
Are you able to record and upload videos?
Yes, although I am unable to record with sound. I use QuickTime Player, a recording software that came free with my PC, and I haven't figured out how to have sound yet.

Do you generally know how all the staff member commands work?
As long as this thread is up to date, I know how all the commands work.

• /kick - Will disallow a player to join the server for the specified amount of time. JMods can only kick for up to an hour.
• /mute - Will disallow a player to speak in chat for the specified amount of time. JMods can only mute for up to an hour.
• /unmute - Revokes a mute.
• /prune - Will remove all chat, removing any inappropriate content.

Anything else we should know about you?
No. If there is anything else you would like to know about me, please ask me in a response or in a PM.

Thanks for reading my application.

 

Thank you

 

Thanks for the support. I will try and become more active on teamspeak, but when I on there a lot of the time, no-one is in any public channels. What kind of times should I go on so there's more people there?

 

I'll try and be on more around that time, thanks for the advice.