There are many differences between the staffing policies of Keeper of the Trinity and those of other MUSHes. Especially among World of Darkness games, our ways may seem unique and even strange to our players. We provide these files to help you understand and adjust to our methods and to help you gain see things as we do. Please don't be shy about asking questions, the only stupid question is the one you never asked.
Guidelines
Provided here are the basic guidelines for all staff. They are posted publicly for everyone to see, as to begin the process of building trust amongst our players and staffers.
These guidelines should provide staffers with the knowledge they need to know what is expected of them and should provide layers with knowledge of what a staffer's job is and what things might be guiding his or her decisions in matters.
- Staff is not here to be hand held. Make your own decisions and go to the wizards when you need guidance. Take responsibility for your decisions, good or bad.
- Keep the rest of staff aware of your plotlines, player's plots, and the general status of things in your area. Post updates occasionally to the appropriate admin boards, keep judgenotes up to date where necessary, and communicate with your fellow staff who aren't online as well as those that are.
- There are different kinds of players: Learn yours. Some players like a high level of staff interaction, some prefer as little as possible; some players like to be involved in staff run plots, some players prefer to RP with other players and not get involved in major plotlines; some players enjoy being friendly OOC, others prefer to keep things IC. Find out who is who and learn to deal with them as individuals.
- Respond to players in a timely manner, even if the response is a "I'll get to this first thing next week." At least let them know the message was received and you are working on their issue, no one can ask for more, really, than to know they've been paid attention to. If you set dates, keep dates. Integrity is a major focus. Don't lie, don't mask things, and don't make promises you can't keep. Players may use the '@mail/review <name>' command to check @mails they've sent to you! They know if its read or not.
- Make yourself visible. Sitting around with a Dark flag on while you're not busy is a no-no. A visible staff makes for happy players who feel they're in a place where the staff cares; not a place where the staff is stand-offish and unavailable.
Levels
There are three levels of staff in our game. While other MUSHes use a 'Wizard', 'Admin', 'Judge' level system, we have chosen to take a more hands-off approach. The following should help give some understanding of the three levels of staff:
Tier 3
Tier 3 staff, Wizards, are 'supervisory' roles. Wizards are the coders, builders and designers. Wizards create the theme of the game and design its "overall" plot lines. Wizards approve those characters that don't fit into a category already handled by Admin. Wizards become involved when they choose to, taking action when necessary, and are the final decisions in all matters. Wizards do not have a 'specified' role, outside of what they may wish to become involved in. It is a Wizard's prerogative to make calls when they see them as necessary. Rest assured, if someone has a Wizard Flag they were given it based on the trust and confidence placed in them by the owners of the MUSH and they are trusted implicitly.
Tier 2
Tier 2 staff, also referred to as Admin or Directors, are the heads of the individual spheres. Many times these staffers will be duos or even trios, some choosing to focus on the code of that group, others choosing to focus on plots, approvals, or any other subsection - or just everything mutually. Admin are chosen by the Wizards and given full control over their sphere and the plots inside them. They are, however, expected to work together - Admin should respect one another, but not be afraid to voice opinions on bad ideas or problems that they see. Admin are not 'subjects' of wizards, they are partners. Admin may feel free to take matters to the Wizards and vice versa. Players should interact with Admin first before speaking to wizards or may simply find themselves referred back to the previous level.
Tier 1
Tier 1 staff, labeled with the STAFF (w) flag, are the 'general staff' capable of answering questions, giving advice, helping out with game systems, and acting as impartial judges. Tier 1 staff may well be actual Characters as well, it is the choice of those invited to take up this level as to whether they wish to simply use their character or use a neutral body. While having no 'admin powers' outside of those granted by some specific commands, Tier 1 (STAFF) are capable of providing varying levels of assistance and are usually assigned a specific 'area' of specialty (Code, Building, Descing, Roleplay, etc).