Member Discussions

I noticed tonight that the Staff recruitment forum here has a rather significant number of posts more than the recruitment forum for Players. It seems odd to me...so I pose the following questions to people.

What is your process for recruiting staff members? Do you have specific things that you make people do to get a position? Do you look to promote from within, or hire on from without? And if the latter, how do you really deal with the trusting of an unknown person issue?

I have personally never posted for staff OR players, but I will respond anyway. :)

What is your process for recruiting staff members? No policy as I don't recruit.

Do you have specific things that you make people do to get a position? Absolutely. They must play the game through atleast once. After that, if they express an interest in becoming staff they are given the opportunity to help out (with no immediate tangible award) and they are watched for a while (both with and without their knowledge) to see how well we think they would work out, and if in fact they are helping rather than merely giving the impression of helping while someone is watching. If everything is a go there, then we vote on the.

Do you look to promote from within, or hire on from without? We only promote within. Unless I was just starting out I would never hire off the street as whoever I hired would come in having no clue whatsoever about the mud which is NOT a good thing.

And if the latter, how do you really deal with the trusting of an unknown person issue? I am curious to see the responses to this also.

'What is your process for recruiting staff members? '
Players can apply on our website for builder or GM positions.

'Do you have specific things that you make people do to get a position?'
There are time requirements that have to be met before we'll even look at the application. Of course there's also obvious things like if they're retarded or have a builders application that have to be spellchecked, that will get them tossed out right away.

'Do you look to promote from within, or hire on from without?'
Always and only from within, if a person doesn't like the MUD enough to play it then why would I want that person on the staff?

'how do you really deal with the trusting of an unknown person issue?'
Even when hiring from within you have to deal with this. How well do you know anyone on a MUD? Bob may seem like a nice guy, he may have played for a year. But given some power Bob just might try and go berserk.
So you start them off gradually and when they've shown they can be trusted with what you've given them, maybe you give them some more. Just make sure things are in place to report or prevent abuse, and be ready to deal with it. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst I always say.

What is your process for recruiting staff members?

Generally, we run a talent search every six months. Current cast members can second someone into the program also. Applicants must be 18 or a high school graduate, and pass an interview process of varying horror, depending on the component they applied to.

We prefer to take Native applicants because they already have a non-portable stake in the world, but Dreamshadow has been forced into a situation after the MMORPG boom where we can't do that; the entire playerbase buggered off to play Everquest. Imagine my joy.

Do you have specific things that you make people do to get a position? And if the latter, how do you really deal with the trusting of an unknown person issue?

Support staff - player volunteers who do things like guest safety, concierge services, etc. - used to attend a 2-week orientation at Camp Mahasapateeya. I think this changed to an on-the-job-training model but I'm not sure...decentralized control can be a bitch. ;)

Officer staff are shipped off to Gauken Island to spend 8-12 weeks on Campus, getting a crash course in the how and why of what there is, how it works, and how to run the place if the admins disappear for weeks. This means C2 systems, Guest relations, the POC, Architecture I and II, composition, law enforcement, and professional ethics. One of the highlights is Field Week, where we'd turn over mother's little darlings to the support staff leads, who they'd serve under and be rated by for a week to see what it's like.

Of course, some people come to Campus with some skills already. If they don't think they need a particular course, they can test out by demonstrating the skills covered there.

Oddly, nobody ever manages to get around to actually doing that, no matter how much they bitch that they know everything.

Trust tends to not be an issue because 3133t kidz don't have the attention span or (usually) the acting skills to make it through.

"What is your process for recruiting staff members?"

We're a new MUD. That is, we've been around for less than 6 months, and are currently closed to the public. Which means that there is simply no conceiveable way to hire builders from our player base; We don't have one.

This makes things a little tough at times. Importing from without is, in my opinion, one of the worst ways you can go about doing it. It seems like every time I try hiring from the outside, I pick up every tick, burr, and pimply-faced teenager that thinks building means slapping down entrances randomly.

"Do you have specific things that you make people do to get a position?"

I try to cull the herd by putting the applicants through a not-so-pretty interview, followed by a 5-5-5 building test. By 5-5-5, I mean 5 rooms, 5 mobs, 5 objects. Not exactly original, but moderately effective.

Those that pass are kept at Trainee level, until they complete a full zone that is accepted for induction into the MUD. Few applicants ever make it this far. Most disappear mysteriously by day 4.

"How do you really deal with the trusting of an unknown person issue?"

The Implementor and I keep a tight watch on the young'uns. We'll usually have snoops going all the time, so it's easy to monitor their actions and progress.

Also, we have our lowest 'Trainee' level set so that they really can't do much of anything besides use basic OLC commands. That takes away most of the threat, meaning that they're practically harmless.

By the time they complete 100 rooms, we've gathered enough info and know whether they're actually trustworthy or not.

Of course there's also obvious things like if they're retarded or have a builders application that have to be spellchecked, that will get them tossed out right away.

spell checked...not spellchecked ;)

Kitkat - a comma after power would not hurt -