I think it's funny. Op wants to open up a discussion about mods however has a title "The Problem with Player Mods". Which already possesses such an insulting tone. Ofc a mod would get offended. I'm laughing right now. Edit:Can anyone else say pizzaguy?
Haha that's a great connection. Didn't even cross my mind. But good point about the title. If this isn't a thread based solely on what's wrong with player mods as the op has stated, then perhaps a different title was needed.
It's not hard to create emotional disconnect. Some mods have done it better than others. Sometimes... the person behind the screen is more machine than human after modship. It's not a pretty thing. It doesn't add to the community. It takes away from that person's enjoyment of the game. It becomes a job. Human mods are the only way to go, if you want the community to feel like they can actually find help amongst themselves. It important. It's necessary.
That's a good question. Moose was the public face of the mod team, no info about his 'disappearance' was revealed unless you had high-up sources. It was what? 1 year ago and we still have people wondering, smh.
One thing to consider could be cycling through a duration of time as mod then having to give it up for an amount of time. 4 months on, 2 months off, that kind of thing. It's not a well constructed idea and I haven't put a ton of thought into it but it does allow mods to decompress from dealing with us idiots as well as connect as a normal player instead of a green name. Could help settle the discord
An interesting idea. It would as you said essentially give mods time to enjoy the game as 'normal' players, and allow the wider playerbase to enjoy (or despise) the mods as fellow players.
Mods are volunteers. I'm sure they understand the stress etc. involved with the task when they signed on. Everyone needs a holiday, that's something I can agree with but removing a moderator from their timezone leaves more offences sliding through and more issues that need to be addressed. It hinders rather than helps. rip
Being one of the newer mods & seeing as though my time as mod has been a short 4+ months, my findings/generalizations/conclusions/opinions might differ greatly from the mods who have held their position for a much longer time frame. Regardless, I'm in no position to speak on anyone's behalf except my own. So, in response to your points: 1) I wouldn't consider myself exactly well known in the kawmunity. Regardless, my "friends" already know that if I see that they have bypassed in wc or on someone's wall, they will be silenced just as quickly as I have silenced someone I do not know. They understand and respect me for my fairness, a quality I have seen from all mods currently. 2) Please do not make the mistake of grouping one alliance & mods who reside in that alliance as having taken "questionable courses of actions". Our actions are well documented in the system. Every silence we make. Every forum ban we impose. We are constantly under scrutiny from the general public & that's fine. We freely give of ourselves & our time to help the kawmunity. That is what we applied & signed up for. We are not perfect but we do try our hardest to help & make kaw a better place for ALL....not just for our clans or alliance. Lastly, see my comments in #1 as it pertains to this. I will gladly silence my clan members if they break tou. 3) I don't fully understand your third point. But if I understand it correctly, I have very little influence in bringing new players into the game. All I can do is try to help them once they get here. If the game continues, I will do my best to help anyone (new players, old players, lb players, non lb players, etc..). As for "modbots", I have to agree with whomever said that humans will always find a way to exploit the system (i.e. gh/sh builds in war about 3 1/2 years ago I believe). Mods are put in extraordinary circumstances on a daily basis. Just because you do not see it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. And for those that state that mods abuse their power, silencing & forum banning is hardly considered power. Good luck with this thread. Interesting idea but I think player mods is as good as its going to get in my opinion. P.S. Based on actions I've seen in forums, Pizzaguy or whomever you mentioned was repeatedly warned about clogging up Active Topics with meaningless threads. He consciously made the decision to continue to post these threads fully knowing what consequences were at stake. Active topics were meant for threads like these. I was glad there weren't spammy threads where I may have missed this one.
Earlier in the thread, people were saying they miss moose. And I think I know why. Before he became a mod, he had this amazing gif of a gazelle eating popcorn. He used it whenever forum drama stirred. (More common in those days.) This reminds me of it.
Hey, I've retired from the game, not the forums You'll still see me around on occasion. But I won't be continuing the script saga
I'm not sure that an open discussion thread to debate the pros and cons of different approaches and then fail to endorse one option is a good thing. If we can't endorse the current system in place then really, what are we saying? If we can't endorse a costed alternative system then really we have to get behind the system of human, player-mods, and suck-up the occassional attitude/mistake. After all the mods are doing us all a favour by moderating the bad behaviour of the players (in fact a small minority) that would otherwise have to be performed by ATA staff. I think game company employees have better things to be doing than sorting out issues of player immaturity in a MMO. Ideally I wish there would be no need for player moderators if we were all mature enough to not break the rules. The two infractions that I frequently see are breaking the language filter, and promoting third-party products. The latter is inconsistent and I wonder sometimes if mods actually know what a third-party means to a legal agreement between two parties (i.e. ATA is one party, you are the second party; the third party is a person/company not covered in the agreement). Therefore the only practical alternative to player moderators that I can see is to scrap the language filter, accept the higher age-appropriate rating (as pimd), and make incidencies of tou violation easier to Report.