A Community Assessment

Discussion in 'Community Discussion' started by CadenMann, Jul 13, 2015.

  1. Dearest Empirians,

    To put it simply, the community is not the same. I agree that it is not forward thinking to think but of the past, however, you should still look back at history to learn from mistakes. The community does not feel at home anymore. While many mistakes were made in the IcecreamCow and JustinGuy era, we need to realize that the community has more issues now due of the absence of these principles. The community appears to be almost robotic – almost like some sort of brick wall. It does not feel normal, and I find some threads to be like arguing like brick walls. Before I continue my rant, I would like to state that it is not the fault of the staff members (or the community, for that matter). No single person, decision, or any single action will fix this, nor did any of the listed caused this scare. What I am saying is no guarantee, and it is definitely not trying to be hurtful to any party. The people who run this server do nothing but put their heart into it, while sacrificing their time into keeping EMC a safe place and happy place.

    1. The first problem, is that moderation as a whole has become much safer, and definitely not in a good way. The position is, quite simply, much overprotected. Any sort of action seems to be very light, used rarely, and too clean cut. The addition of the muting action, in my opinion, has not been a good one. Back in the older days, if you were spamming, you were straight up disciplined. The same goes for any sort of chat offence. I am one hundred percent for warning players, but if someone does something wrong, it appears that staff member will always ask them nicely to stop, and the issue still persists. And of course, it happens again and again. Rinse and repeat. I cannot give a solid example, but I know the community knows what I am talking about. We have players on EMC who persist breaking the rules and refuse to learn from their mistakes. And, of course, they are let go, with multiple slaps on the wrist. This is not enough. I believe, in my humble opinion, that it is time for a change in the way of moderating the community. It is not the same, and it is time for a change.
    2. While I am on the topic of moderation in the Empire, I will display my second point. The staff team choices have not been the best. The staff members that are being chosen are in no way bad people or bad choices for a moderation position at all. From the extent of my knowledge, they are selected because they have absolutely no risk of causing any problems, they have no history at all, and they have no negative image on the community. That may seem all good to you, but what this means is that there isn’t any actual variety in the staff team (which is what we want, in the end). It appears that they are choosing them because they have zero chance of being a bad moderator or making lots of mistakes. Close to all the time, when there is a new staff promotion, I rarely see someone promoted that I know is well-known. That also means that there is no impression made on the community at all. As stated above, they are all people who simply have a perfect record, and no risk of being bad mods. When people see a new staff member that they love in the community, that they know and love, they feel more comfortable with interacting with them. I will not play the “blame game” and I will definitely not point fingers at any names, but some staff (not all of them) have felt more robotic rather than natural to react with What I am trying to get at here is not that the staff do not understand what they are doing; it’s simply that it all feels like it is a technical process. In an environment in which your job is to be a people person, this is not the best of attitudes. On a different but related notes, the Empire needs more strong community members as staff. People who make the community and staff interaction feel comfortable.The reason why you no longer see veteran players as staff, is that no matter who you are, if you have been playing on EMC for a long time, you have stepped on someone’s buttons, or have some sort of history. We need people who the community loves as staff to help tie it together. We need more good community members and veterans in circulation around the staff system.
    3. The community seems to be timid or scared of making new projects because of how technical the process is. To put it simply, the Empire no longer feels like a family. I have noticed that players no longer want to invest in projects or contests, because the staff members have taken the steering wheel of the project and the players no longer have any interest in it. There are monthly contests, many events weekly, and many staff projects that make players think that it is useless to add something else to the community when these are all going on. This is not an issue with staff, this is an issue that needs to be fixed within the players of the community itself. This issue has nothing to do with staff and does not mean that they should step away from the community (in fact, that’s the last thing they need to do) – the community simply has to get more involved with the flow of the Empire.


    These are three loose ideas. I am not sure if you all agree or not, and that is fine. I want to build upon these ideas to make the Empire a greater and more pleasant place for both new players and old. I do not think EMC is bad, I just feel like we need to improve. We need to strive for self-improvement because of how much I (and I’m sure you do too) love the community and want to make it strong. Improvement is never a bad thing. Together, we can make the Empire great again.

    Sincerely,
    Caden

    EDIT: I give my most sincere apologies to any of those people offended by what I have said in this rant. I meant for it to be a party neutral. My apologies.
  2. Caden.. I want to respond to this but right now .. I just can't. :( This just makes me sad to read and I'm so sorry you feel that way. I will say.. if you only knew of all the thought and careful consideration that goes into the emc.. sigh.. just because you may not know that person, it doesn't mean that they are not an integral part of their community. I for one was kinda shocked at being chosen. Mine is not the sparkly glittery 'perfect' record. I am Not afraid to speak my mind or go against the "authority" when I feel there has been an injustice or maybe another way of doing things.
    .. but, I will now refrain from speaking more until maybe a later time.
    I still think yer awesome and oh so fun and bright Caden =] .. just don't happen to agree with this particular opinion. <3
  3. lol ill save my comment for when more people have said things, this post will be edited

    Edit:
    1. In the old days when i was mod there was a level of discretion a moderator had, if you felt a player was nothing but bad news and wasnt worth allowing in the empire you banned them and made a note on their square profile. now ive noticed that moderators are almost scared to make that decision, maybe theres new policies but i think if you are going to trust staff and they arent in training allow them to use their better judgement. Socks said something a while ago in mumble and ive been holding it in ever since but i think now is appropriate, he said every player is redeemable and shouldnt fear being banned for infractions without warning. I took a break from mumble for a while after that because he was new to staff and really didnt know alot of the players i was talking about so i didnt want to argue. but the truth is there are players out there whos only goal is to ruin everyone elses experience, the older staff have dealt with these types and can recognize them and i think most of them would agree that there are definitely players you simply want gone from the server.
    this sentiment represents a shift in philosophy that is both good and very bad, yes you want to try to let all players enjoy the server, but not at the cost of others experience and most certainly not at the risk of more damaging action being performed when they get away with whatever they did wrong. i play mostly on smp6, i love the new mods there and was really happy that they all were promoted. but ive also seen players even as recently as two days ago who repeatedly log in and harass players or curse or are just plain rude. theres a reason so many older players have histories of being tempbanned, not purged and even some on the moderation team. consequences produce results and changes in ones behavior. I've executed levels of consequences to many new players on 6 and they have improved as players because of it. kayliebacon and haley58 are excellent examples of citizens that have improved from being pariahs for their behavior in the past. I guess what im hinting at is the more senior moderators and staff should teach the younger ones how to properly use discretion, and when to just swing the hammer without fear.

    2. As far as veteran staff, there are many veteran staff currently "employed" i dont think krysyy chooses out of safety i'm pretty sure there's a testing process you arent even aware of. the reason many veteran players arent staff anymore/being selected is because most that qualify know the levels of time investment it takes to perform your duties and prefer being players. other veterans you may be speaking of caden/olaf have varied histories that you may not be aware of and thus dont quite rate yet. i think one of the main reasons you have this concern is the older staff lived on all the servers simultaneously out of necessity since there was reasons to go on every single server. emc has become alot more server specific now however, for instance theres plenty of shops now on smp6 unlike before and the only events i attend are death events and pvp (and occasional player drop parties) so for the most part i dont leave 6 anymore, but you wouldnt say im not well known would you? the only one i wasnt sure about is crystaldragon because she(?) had little to no server presence when promoted, and obviously that has since changed. im happy with all the promotions and think they are doing great jobs aside form the aforementioned light handedness.

    3. For projects im not quite sure what you would change? Most of the older staffs were the ones that threw events or had the larger projects in the old days anyways, robbiejoe had her whatever number of res project, deathtomb and dwight had the pyramid events and spleef tower, there were staff made wildbases on smp4 and smp6. i dont think there has been much change in the amount of staff versus player held events, i think your main issue is the lower quality player events that run rampant now aday's which isnt really an issue that can be solved by any small group of people.

    All in all, not much has changed except your perception.
    cadenman2002, 607, PenguinDJ and 2 others like this.
  4. Was that necessary?
  5. Agreed, loose ideas with a lot of verbage that doesn't seem to add up to much beyond, "I'm getting bored." If the players want player hosted events they will happen. If YOU want player hosted events, host one. As far as the moderation, I honestly am more happy with it lately than I was when I first joined. Maybe it's because I have seen less staff on when I play but it seems like there is less nitpicking when I play. The forums, not so much. There are a few people that like to nitpick everything on the forums and I can't /forum2. I haven't met a staff member that I have had trouble with yet. There may be one or two that I CONSISTENTLY disagree with and may annoy me to that effect but all the staff here are great. Why do we need mods that are going to cause problems?


    That's cheating! :p
  6. You see, we do not need mods that are going to cause problems. We need moderators that have experience, that can make a real impression on the community and be a leader rather than just someone who gives an almost automated response. I love the staff as well, and I think they do a wonderful job. However, I believe this is a place to improve upon.
  7. I both agree and disagree with this statement at the same time. The being for my disagreement is for the fact that just because you do not know somebody (but at the same time they do need some recognition), does not mean that they can make a good impression to the server.
    MistyLou and cadenman2002 like this.
  8. Leadership is great - until you disagree with the direction they're leading you in.
    Moderators aren't intended to be the leadership of EMC, but its peacekeepers. They're here to make sure everyone plays together respectfully, curbstomp griefers, and keep the wheels turning smoothly. A police force, if you will? Volunteer firefighters, to put out the digital flames. Not elected officials to govern us.
  9. The quote below is a new edit In I want everyone to read regarding my involvement in this thread, as well as my new views.
    Heya crystal, I am a friend of yours and a friend of caden. I helped him edit this and I share some opinions with him, and I just wanted to clear something up. I felt sad reading this, because there is a misunderstanding. This does not characterize a singler specific person. In hindsight, I should have helped edit this a bit more. This was meant to be a completely party neutral. I know they come off a bit harsh, and I want to fix somethings. None of the new staff are bad people, nor are they bad choices. This is supposed to be constructive criticism, and like all constructive criticism, it is an opinion and only an opinion. We are not right or wrong here, and neither is anyone else. We love the staff and do not dislike any staff in any way, shape, or form. This was meant to be party neutral, and we are both sorry if anyone was offended. I know as your friend how much work you put in to EMC, and I was crying tears of joy to see you get staff. This was never meant to target you or a specific staff, nor to make them feel bad. I feel that were was some stuff lost in translation, and I feel terrible about that. You and all the other staff ROCK! You and others are what make EMC great. No buts; I am ending on that note.
  10. So much this.

    As it may have come off a bit harsh at the beginning, please excuse me. I take full responsibility if any party was offended by this post. As Olaf said, this post was intended to be party neutral. Once more, the staff are the backbone of this society and I think that you all deserve many fist bumps.
    Kytula, SoulPunisher and 607 like this.
  11. I think this is where your frustration is coming from, of course it could just be my perception. The staff aren't the backbone of EMC, the players are. The staff are the skin that keeps everything from going out in all directions :D ...the ligaments maybe? lol. Either way, if you are playing in EMC those that you are playing with (even if you go way out in the wild and just play by yourself for the most part, I know a couple) should be the backbone of your experience. Staff should be there to foster an environment that is capable of allowing the players to experience the game the best way it can: the EMC way :D
  12. Since we are talking about the players of the community, I feel like the Empire Community has taken a hit over the past few months. I left the server for a few weeks a couple months back, and when I returned the "skin comps" have run rampant through the town.
    I'm not sure about other servers, but on SMP3, many of the younger players are destroying the town chat with their skin comps. I can see how the mute button temporarily fixes the situation, but the problem persists. In my opinion, that is the point in which the mods should administer a temp. ban to show the other players that it is against the rules to keep spamming the chat after being warned, and [in method] should make people realize that it is wrong to go against the rules, and it makes an example out of that person.
    But the problem is not just with the skin comps. There are horse races sometimes (not as much as the skin comps) and the same players are warned to stop the spamming with "Oh, (insert name here) is in the lead going into the second bend of the track."
    We get that they are trying to advertise for their "business" but after spamming the chat, it has become more of a detriment than a benefit.
    Recently I have taken to turning off town chat, which in my opinion is not the best option because it blocks out people who want to communicate with me, but it helps with the constant spamming of the skin comp advertisements.

    I believe that the skin comps should be banned for the reason of the spam and the arguments that come after the skin comps in town chat because some of the players are mad about who's skin is better. They turn player against player, and they end up spamming the town chat with nonsense.

    But then again, that is just my opinion.
  13. The staff are often idolized by the EMC community which is fine. Idolizing someone can present false narratives and glamorous expectations though. The stuff the staff do for EMC is truely amazing. They shouldn't have to amaze and awe people at every turn though. EMC really is special. As much as the shouting EMC is the best is fun, EMC really is an amazing server. The staff, moderators, contribution team, senior staff and everyone else that works on the server/forums/marketing/development have a LOT of stuff to do. They can't come out every day to throw a ball with us. When they do it is a lot of fun but we/you shouldn't be waiting for them to come out and play in order to have fun. There is soooooo much to do on EMC. SO MANY people, remember that whole /event thing? yeah there are a few people here and more every day ;-). Not many reasons you can't have fun or have to rely on staff to feel "fulfilled?"
  14. What he said =D --> Gawadrolt
    edited to add:
    I just reread this and Gawadrolt.. I so wanna hug you. That's how I felt before becoming staff and how I still do. Thank you for 'voicing' that. *hugs* =D
    Gawadrolt, 607 and cadenman2002 like this.
  15. I like the development EMC has taken in the past year, I see significant improvements.
    The recent addition of moderators is a very good move and I'd also say that it was necessary for several reasons.

    More careful and light staff action shows maturity, wisdom and culture,
    while harsh punishments, "straight up discipline", "make an example out of that person" and similar is
    pertinent to underdeveloped communities, immaturity, rule of a minority over the majority, dictatorship.

    As others have pointed out above, staff is not there to entertain, not there to take leadership of the community,
    but to help people and enforce the rules - to prevent harassment and damage.

    There are people who would like to see EMC staff lead them and provide entertainment, but I don't think that this could work, because I think this is a minority.
    I guess the majority likes to provide for themselves.

    There are people who like it "kindergarten style", who like having teachers around who will lead them, who will show them the toys and who will always (act as if they would) know what's right and what's wrong.
    But I expect that the majority of EMC users are not of that kind.

    Around JustinGuy, EMC was run by a group of friends and it was "their game". Discussions about social circumstances on EMC often ended with something like "It is their game, so if you don't like it, you can leave."
    "It's their way or highway."
    There was censorship and silencing opposition on regular basis.

    Remember, EMC was seriously on a downwards slope when Aikar took over.
    I would not like to go back to that time and that experience.

    If you love them - set them free.
  16. (edit: I sometimes dislike this editor a lot, mucking up my post formatting :/)

    Honestly last post and honestly I shall try to 'behave'. But this is one of those subjects which hits a nerve (I really like the Empire, its the best thing on MC that has happened to me) so I shall speak my mind.

    I am skipping your comments on the past because its simply unfair for me to comment. I do consider myself a veteran but I know I'm not, not to those extends anyway. Not yet.

    Disclaimer: I take this very seriously and as such I shall include comments & opinions in comparison to my previous server. For the record: I play on 1 server only. And me hopping servers is very big deal to me.

    Agreed. Muting a player protects the channel from their outbursts but I don't think it really sends out a good signal to the offending player. With all due respect (seriously!): when 'we' (no comment) got here we were both impressed by the professionalism of the staff but were also puzzled. In comparison the staff here is much more lenient towards offenders than on "other places".

    Which by itself means nothing; different servers, different customs, etc.

    Even so... What signal doest muting a player give? It has always puzzled me. Because while they cannot speak they can still enjoy the game. "Oh, I'll just keep my keyboard shut for a while and when <mod> leaves..." (opinion based on facts).

    In my biased opinion the moderators should use /kick as their minimal tool of enforcement, not /mute. Because that sends out a signal ("uh oh, now I risk not being able to play the game!").

    Ignoring the second comment because... I honestly dunno. Here's a noodle for you: how sure are you that the chosen staff members aren't ALT's of some better known member? I dunno, I really don't, but if there's one thing I learned from EMC its that things don't always are what they seem.
    One comment though: If they can get the job done then how would you top that?
    This isn't an appreciation contest, its about regulation.

    And thinking about this I can actually counter your comment, even though I actually somewhat agree with it: having no history also means that they likely also have less bias. And that is a HUGE thing for moderators. I know when I'm biased, but that doesn't apply to everyone. I can also put aside my bias if I need to, but... same.

    Within that context... less bias = better moderator.

    Post about projects.. truly no comment, I don't participate much in events, I have some projects but those are long termed... I cannot comment.

    Alas, this is my idea on the points which I think I can comment on ;)




  17. i can not agree with you here. cause when i got promoted. i was in fact well known. ON smp6. so was Manchildie, Baradar67, EffinBatman and Breezyman. i had no idea who Seffychan was, or even Crystaldragon13. but apparently they were really and highly known on their servers.
    so you can not say these newest of mods are not known, just cause they were not known by you.

    the selection of moderators. ill admit i have no idea what so ever how this is done, how they choose those players. but if i were to guess by the players that are moderators now,

    they check their crime history.. you dont want a "police" that has a crime record do you? why would you want a moderator to have one?
    How helpful are they, and how active and chatty are they?
    i can tell you that the smp6 staff that i named are all of those things. they were well known by the smp6 community, they chatted and were quick to help out, they did not lash out in public chats, just cause they did not like another player, they handled it they way the server rules say you should. and they left other peoples building alone, just that simple.
    i had a long history my self. i can tell you that, i reported some people for breaking the rules, i was griefed and had to call a staff to help me. i had a store on smp6 that was known and attracting players. you cant say that i was not known, just cause you did not know who i was, we were simply not playing on the same smp's or times.
    and this i can generalize over Manchildie and Baradar67. having played with them since i started this server last August.

    its not hard to keep a clean record, no matter how long you play just don't break the rules. don't break blocks that you did not place, and don't be rude, or mean to players. its such a simple line to walk. its not even hard. (this is my personal opinion)

    the mute function i like, it gives us a tool to silence people who are acting out, trolling, and in that the mute function is really a good function.

    you might say, that the problem persists. well did you /report it? if not.. how can we know that they are still spamming? there has been some clarification to the chat rules ( http://empireminecraft.com/wiki/chat-language/) i recommend checking it out.

    with your number 3.
    yeah that is something for the community to figure out, i don't understand why they should be at all afraid to do events, or projects or have fun. you don't need someone with a green name to have fun or make plans. and a player can have their event on the calendar, just post it on here http://emc.gs/submitevent/ at least in a day in advance so i can put it on the calendar.
    i don't like people who rant and want things changed, but do nothing to change things them self's, so if this is just not idle rant you are making, i expect to see a submission in that link from you soon. :) i would love to see what events you have sneaking in your mind.

    to ChamelonNYC



    i don't agree with you there. and why?

    [Edit] i would like to edit this part after reading krysyy's reply, cause i agree with her
    it is against the rules to spam, yes and our way to deal with said spam, is to deny the player the rights to talk. mute affects all sides of chat, not just town chat. they cant even send a pm. I will only Guide a player for the acts that need Guiding, I will never punish a player to make an example out of them, to teach other people what is right and wrong. i think that is wrong and its a form of humiliation i would not take part of.

    rather i would individually deal with any player spamming, and Guide each player to the right path
    than to teach many in the form of humiliating one.

    since this is not suppose to happen, i am guessing this is not being reported, cause no staff would let someone spam town chat this way, and in this situation a mute would be really effective, cause who wants to be muted in the middle of their horse race event? if this is happening to you a lot, i would like to remind you of the /report function.

    Best Regards
    Dramanya
  18. Good morning.

    Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. I can shed a little light on a few things that go on to help explain some of our decisions.

    Muting and Minimal Staff Action:
    The Staff of the past was a lot more strict, but we also had a different player base. Minecraft as a game went from being the focus of 13+ to having players as young as 6 online and playing. As a result, it was necessary to change the staff actions. I don't actually like to call them punishments because unless the player is doing it on purpose in order to cause mayhem, really they just need a reminder of the rules. A punishment is too harsh sounding and makes it seem like we are out to make an example out of people. The Staff is present to be the guiding hand of the community, keeping people from breaking the rules with reminders of when you cross that line, not to be breathing down your necks threatening to use a ban-hammer 24/7. Granted there are still times when that hammer still comes out of the closet with force, but only when necessary.

    To put it bluntly, if a player is playing just fine, but makes a few slips in the chat, they should be punished where they broke the rules. If a player griefs, we purge them, taking their items away. If a player curses, their voice is taken away momentarily. It's standard concept and it works. If we dropped a ban-hammer every time that a player slipped up and spammed chat, or was in the wrong channel, etc, then we wouldn't have any players left. Keep in mind I have access to everyone's profile here and can see chat infractions on almost everyone, including myself. I think the issue here stems from some players' idea of punishment needing to be clear and severe vs a guiding hand to the correct path.

    Our staff are not robots, but we do have an actual system in place in order to structure their punishments to be similar. This isn't designed to make the staff actions lifeless, but IS designed to protect the players from staff that might be unknowingly harsher on some days over others. I see many players on a daily basis appeal for a ban that happened years ago. Time passes and people change for the most part, but some of their appeals really break my heart because they shouldn't have been permanently banned in the first place. Not everyone knows (no matter how many times we repeat it) that you CAN appeal/dispute a ban. So I see players that if they had disputed, would have been able to come back easily, because the staff that took action did not make the correct decision. However, because they didn't, they left the Empire for 2+ years, all because they were too afraid to question their ban.

    Staff Choosing:
    Only the Senior Staff and Admins are involved in choosing staff. The process is as follows:
    -Read Application, looking for a few key things (humility, details, etc)
    -Check Square for any outstanding issues in the past 6 months to a year and activity logs. Everyoen makes mistakes, but our notes in Square help to determine things like attitude in the face of dramatic situations, overall bias, etc.
    -Check forums if player is active on them. Looking for how they speak to the community. We aren't against players that ask questions or simply want to share their opinions. However, HOW it is done is the key here.

    If a player makes it past these 3 things, then we start looking at in-game activity. If your session activity shows that you play 10+ hours a day, but everytime I go to follow you, you are afk at a farm, you won't be getting Staff Rank. Sorry, but not sorry. That doesn't count as active playing. I need to know that you will be available when a player has an issue. That's why, if you notice, Mods don't afk.

    If activity looks good, then I might run a few scenarios (no one is graded on just one) with a account that needs help. Whether that player is me on an alt or an actual player, I like to see how you'll respond when a player needs help. If you take time out of your day as a normal player to help, then I know you'll do the same as a Staff member. If you don't, then you aren't worth my time because the community definitely isn't worth yours.

    All of the the players that have become Staff have passed these rigorous trials. It's not easy to be Staff and simply being well-known doesn't really mean a thing when it comes to how you'll treat the players. We need staff that put players above everything else.

    New Projects:
    Staff-Run events are around because players were complaining that there wasn't enough to do on a constant basis and they couldn't PLAN for events. I still see PLENTY of player-run events. We've made it easier to be noticed with the events calendar, but it's not mandatory. The players that run well organized events still get just as much interest as the staff-run ones. I've seen noted that players don't like when others are telling them about skin competitions or horse races, yet these ARE player-run events. Perhaps the issue is that the community is stifling the players that want to run events. Repetitive silencing of these players results in others not wanting to do it either.

    The next time someone asks if you'll come to their residence for a skin contest, horse race, etc, instead of asking what the prize is or telling them off for sharing their event in chat (still considering spam limitations), you should take the time and actually GO to one of the events.

    I hope that the above comments have cleared things up from the Staff side. I know you aren't attacking the Staff in particular and designed this to be neutral, but I feel that some of the issues are caused due to misunderstandings that hopefully I have alleviated.
  19. I think I am known as one of the lenient mods?

    Commonly I am asked why I gave such a light punishment to someone that maybe another moderator would've done differently. Mods aren't here to punish players, in my opinion, we are here to help you realize what you did was wrong and show you the right path, which in turn sometimes leads to a punishment. Giving a player a 10 minute mute instead of a 10 minute temp ban is a lot more friendly, it's pretty much saying "yeah you messed up, but we aren't going to take away from actually playing the game, just go sit in a corner and think about your actions for a bit." Giving a player even a short ban is still saying, "you messed up, but you're going to have to leave for a few minutes, seeya!" Now which one would you rather have if you're a new player. (Both situations have warning(s) beforehand and obviously vary on the situation. If I was a new player and I even got a temp ban I would be furious, and I have been in that scenario before where I was temp banned for a day and was distraught.

    I like being a part of the community, if a player looks up to me as a leader then all I hope to show them is that EMC is what you make of it, it can be a wonderful experience where you meet tons of new people, spend late nights on mumble laughing and having a great time with friends, or even just play alone and keep to yourself. It can be WHATEVER YOU WANT! You don't need someone to be constantly telling you what you need to do, or having to keep up with an exact code, and EMC shouldn't go into the direction of designated leaders that dictate everything. Even before I was a moderator I ran Friday Night Miners (no staff interaction at the time) as a community member and I was fairly well known on the servers from the amount of time I played.

    For the moderators having no variety, I highly disagree. I was a very immature as a younger player, but over time I realized that what I was doing/saying was highly unintelligent and made me look like a real [REMOVED BY KRYSYY]. Say they just kicked me out right there or put me down with a long temp ban or what not, would I really want to come back? Yes I've changed drastically, but that means all of the new players have just as much potential as I had back then, and look at me now.

    To just wrap up this post as I could go on forever, us mods aren't here to punish, we are here to show you what you did wrong, and hope that you realize that and can make the appropriate change. It's pretty nice to hear a player reply with, "Sorry I didn't know that, won't happen again!" when you give a warning, some people really just don't know.