Posts: 216
Threads: 2
Joined: May 10, 2008
I wasn't there, I don't know what happened, I felt I should still offer an opinion of sorts. I've been in many online comminutes and have had complete control over many servers and the 'leader' of many of those communities. Not saying this to brag or throw in anyone’s face, just a statement of where I, personally, am coming from.
On popular servers, I find admins tend to give rcon (or password or .. what ever the term is these days) access to the people they trust the most. And to me, that really is the key issue. They don't just pick their friends, as I know a few of mine would make horrible admins ... nothing against them, just not something they can handle. Being a friend of the person who controls the server adds little. I won't say it can't help, but from my personal experience, is a very minor role in the choosing of an admin. They also don't choose admins because there is promise of cyber or cause they have boobies and any number of other arguments people make against female admins.
What is looked upon is how that player interacts with the community and how that player has a rapport with the majority of its user base. Will you find some one to admin your server that absolutely everyone will love and no one will have issues with? No. It's impossible. Instead you try to find people that mesh well with the vast majority of the player base, one that interacts with the server and is not just another player content with their own business. Someone who adds something to the server.
Another key ingredient is trust. Trust is a very, very hard thing to build online, especially in a gaming community. Not that you need to worry about someone stealing your car or something, rather people can misrepresent them selves rather well. In fact, there are people who have made nearly a career out of seeing what the can get out of a community before they are exposed. Giving the power to remove and control players on your server is something I imagine DF would take very seriously. As evident by the number of admins he has chosen, imo. Obviously DF trusts Kaylee to make competent decisions about how to run the server. He has given her the license to judge an issue based on her feelings for the situation at hand. It's a very broad license and potentially very easy to abuse.
The point is, for someone to be given the power to view an issue and judge it objectively based on their feelings about the situation, requires a great deal of trust. In such that I believe Kaylee probably admins the server very much like DF would. I believe that DF wouldn't have batted an eye lash if it were him in place of Kaylee, I also imagine he would have been given more respect by the players in the server at the time then was extended to Kaylee and things may not have progressed as they have. There is obviously issues between players that are separate as to the initial infraction. While one party may feel completely justified in how they acted, another party may feel like they are just acting out of remorse and because of past issues. Something like that will always be difficult with powers as broad as judging situations by your personal feelings.
The point in my long, probably unnecessary post? I imagine anything Kaylee did, DF would have done as well. I don't believe it would have escalated to this level if he were in her place however.
From what I've read in this post, and this post alone, I did not read anything that made me believe that she was out to 'get' anyone or start down the path of getting someone banned permanently.
For what it is worth, I remember a few weeks ago or so, when I was last on the server, someone was using the mic a lot. I don't recall the name, I'm sorry. But this individual for the most part, communicated. It was indeed refreshing. However, the same individual was quite rude at times as well, I believe even made a remark to the class I chose or how I was playing it, I can not recall fully. The comments I didn't appreciate at all and really kind of turned _my_ gaming experience for the night on the server in to a sour experience. I wasn't enjoying the time on the server as much as I had been till then. I had considered muting them and continuing on, but by that time, the 'damage' is already done and for the most part, they were communicating. Did it cause emotional scaring? Of course not, but it did make the time on the server less enjoyable than it was, previous to the comment.
Some people take pride in being able to 'tell it like it is', but take little - if any - consideration to other peoples feelings. To some extent, I can understand - its just another name to that person and they're there to have fun, with little regard to anyone else. Some times it even adds to their enjoyment, ruining someone else’s fun, to which I have a hard time understanding. I wonder if they don't pull the wings off flies as well, just to watch them suffer, laughing maniacally. I think it would do well to consider other peoples feelings and to think about how you talk to other people in the server and extend them at least a little bit of respect.
Trash talking and having fun is nice and all, everyone does it. But there is a point when it crosses the line and everyone knows it. Moving that line a little farther away from you and moving closer to the community would serve everyone better and make any communication given over the mic, that much more valuable.
I'm sorry if that’s too long for some people, I guess I felt like I just had a lot to say about the topic. I hope I didn't put anyone out.
