On Sunday 5th two Help Desk Operators were promoted to Moderator and player RefuTwo was made a HDO. This was sudden for the community of BL and people took to the Game Forum in their masses to view their opinions on this change to the powerful Elite Guard.
I sat down with the three newly promoted players, starting with the lovely Claartje, to get a detailed view on how they felt on the promotions. Now Claartje has been playing Bootleggers on and off since 2005 but since Round 8 she has really started playing intensely again. It’s was only last year when she actually got interested in working for the website when a HDO recruitment topic went up on the GF. She applied for it but was not accepted at the time. So it was even more of a surprise for her when eventually Mika approached her for a HDO position. With the fact that she was denied the role first time, I asked if she ever thought of turning it down, in which she replied 'it was an honor to be asked to be a moderator, so I accepted without a second thought.’ Also taking this promotion from HDO to Moderator it means that you can’t necessarily ‘play’ the game anymore, but Claartje has got around that by making goals for herself, like she wants to 'become N Rich with just crimes, GTA's, banking, bootlegging and the occasional OC. That should take me a while ’. Finally she gave some advice to those hoping for a place in the staff ranks, 'Be friendly and helpful to other players. Be active, and don't annoy or harass the staff’.
After she left the room I was joined by WizardOfFire the second HDO to be promoted on that day. He started playing, like I did, whilst at school in 2004 but stopped due to the site being banned on his school computers. Two years later in 2006 he picked it back up and hasn’t looked back since. He said that he 'never actively decided on’ becoming a staff member though and just wanted to give back to the community and 'helping out new members find their feet.’. On the topic of being promoted he felt that something was going to happen after they hired JDM, but he didn’t know if it was going to be him. He said he had 'no idea so yes I was rather surprised when Mika and VDD dragged me into a chat and offered me the position.’ Overall with his promotion he is ‘excited to learn something new’ and thinks he will ‘thrive in that role’. Like Claartje his view on whether or not to take the job offer was unquestionable, 'to be offered that chance is an honour that I couldn't refuse.’ Though he himself admits to being a ‘clickoholic’ he said the only thing he’ll miss about being a player of the game is working towards ranking up. As he left he said these parting words of wisdom to anyone looking to work with EG 'Just be yourself, if you are active, act responsibly to other players when helping them out. It will only put you in a good position when the Elite Guard is considering new members.’
So that was that, the two new Moderators had been and gone but in walked RefuTwo, the new HDO on the block. Now he maybe be new to the HDOs of Bootleggers but isn’t new to the game as he started playing back in 2004. He then had a hiatus in 2012 until come back at the end of the last round. Even though he has only just become a HDO he had had that as a mindset since 2008. During that period he had 'tried the years before to become one and never succeeded’ to become part of the team so when Mika approached him this time he was pleasantly surprised. He says that Mika had a bit of fun before the officially offering the position as he 'pulled a 15 minutes lasting prank on me before they invited me to become Helpdesk Operator.’ Again when asked, like the others, if he had an notion of turning the role down he firmly answered ‘No, not at all’. And lastly the advice he gave people was to ‘Follow the rules and stay clean’.
After they had all left and we had said our goodbyes I sat and wondered what the community though of these promotions. On the Game Forum a topic was started by Conqster called 'New mods?' In that topic people argued about the decision for hours. Some post were positive and some negative. Posts like 'I think WoF will do great' from Horis and 'Claartje is a good decision for Mod.' by SJay must have been welcome by the newly appointment staff members as Claartje said 'It was nice to read all the positive comments'. But not everyone felt like that. DasShrooms believed it was a bad choice by saying 'Who made this retarded decision? Mika?' To which WizardOfFire says 'The negative comments come with the role, you cant please everyone. Just gives something to focus on, to make sure you dont make a mistake and do the best possible job. One comment that I thought really summed it all up was from Deuce who said that 'Everyone has a background and a history on here. No matter who is chosen to be a staff member, there will always be moaning and complaining.'
As the topic raged on it was clear there was a real divide across the site about whether or not this was needed, and if they have chosen the right people for the job. So I thought who better to ask on the subject but one of the people responsible for these promotions, the administrator Mika. I thought about editing this interview but want you, the reader, to hear everything he had to say on the matter here's the interview, uncut and unedited. Enjoy.
Q-If someone wanted to work with Elite Guard and become part of the team how would they go about it? Or are they approached by EG themselves?
A- If the Elite Guard feels that we need an additional member of staff, be it an HDO, a Moderator or a Developer then we will look for these people ourselves and approach them.
Q-What qualities do you look for in potential staff? Do you watch their movements over the site?
A- Players that are active on the forums, professional and kind towards their fellow players have a good chance of being spotted as potential staff. Following a vouch from an Elite Guard member, we will take a closer look at their activities including forum posts, crew activities (if applicable) and activity times.
Q-The opposite of the last question, what qualities would steer you away from hiring someone to work on the team?
A- Players that display anti-social behavior are unlikely to be considered for a staff position.
Q-How long were the promotions that happened on Sunday 5th in the planning? Did the people involved know it was happening?
A- We had talked about the promotions amongst the Elite Guard for a few weeks. The people that were promoted were completely unaware of them taking place.
Q-Could you explain quickly what a HDO does and what the difference in when they take the step up to Mod?
A- A Help Desk Operator has several duties, the most important of which is answering Help Desk tickets. If they are active on the forums we also ask them to moderate the forums and they lend a hand in tracking of bugs and relaying anything they see or hear from the players that they feel the Elite Guard should know.
The difference between an HDO and a Moderator is that you are still a player when you are an HDO and the Help Desk and forum duties are a thing you do alongside your normal game activities. When you join the Elite Guard, you receive the additional task of making sure players follow the rules. You can ban people as well and have access to a wide variety of tools and information. Because playing the game with access to this information would be unfair, Elite Guard members are no longer regarded as regular players and they do not play the game anymore. Their main focus is moderating the game instead of playing it.
Q-Have these new Mod's been taking on for any particular reason that you have talk about? For example, someone leaving the game etc.
A- The decision to add two new Moderators to the team was made because we felt it was important to cover more online time. Ideally, we would like to have a member of the Elite Guard online throughout most of the day and these promotions were intended to help us do that. The same applies for the HDO promotions.
Mika said
Now, a nearly a week later, the dust seems to have settle. The topic on the Game Forum has been dormant for days and will surely be deleted soon. People have moved on to something has to talk about. Claartje and WizardOfFire are up there at the top of the User Online page in their loving shade of green and RefuTwo is enjoying his yellow shimmer. The Mods seemed to have gone straight to work as well with the brand new feature of 'Community Challenge' that supposedly was their idea, every though it hasn't been greeted with a huge wave of joy for many different reasons; at least they are being something new to the game that it's community is always asking for.
In my final comment I want to thank everyone interviewed and wish the three promoted players the best of luck with their new roles.
’. Finally she gave some advice to those hoping for a place in the staff ranks, 'Be friendly and helpful to other players. Be active, and don't annoy or harass the staff’.