Good Day, I have noticed there seem to be an abundance of Moderator applications, but the overall content of most of them is a bit lacking. I thought I would put together a list items that can help set you up for success as an applicant. Are you a good candidate? This is a tough thing to ask yourself. Many people believe they want Moderator, but you should ask yourself a few tough questions. How active am I going to be over the next 3-6 months? This is important because your time for the next month or two may work well for being a Moderator, but if the server is going to invest its time in you as a Moderator, you need to commit long term. Do you have thick skin? (Ability to tolerate insults) A Moderator's life is never easy. You are constantly working between helping players and dealing punishment to rule breakers. This means that you will inevitably make enemies who may say some hurtful things either in game or on the forums. A good candidate should not let this frustrate/upset them. Are you willing to not "play" at times in order to help the community? A Moderator often finds themselves the target of endless whispers or requests for help, either in game or on the forums. While you can (and should) take time to play the game, there are times where you may need to put your personal preferences aside in order assist those in need. Are you willing to lead by example? I mention this as you will constantly be looked up to, or looked to for guidance. Your playing experience will be under the microscope as you represent MineVerse. You can still laugh and joke obviously, but should be aware of your chat and how you interact with the community. A single moment of frustration in chat can lose you weeks of hard fought respect. Are you active on the forums as well as in-game? While playing the game is the primary purpose and joy of MineVerse, you should be aware of the forums. There is an entirely different side of the community on the forums that any prospective Moderator candidate should get to know. Take some time to post in the suggestions, discussions, or provide feedback for other Moderator applicants in order to get your name out there and learn more about the community. The Application There are a number of applicants out there who do not take the time they should when applying for Moderator. The list of below items may be helpful when creating your application. Formatting Ensure your application is easy to read and follow. A large "wall of text" tends to not look very professional and can make it much harder for would be readers. Formatting can include use of bullets, color, varying text size, bold or underline. You should find what works well for your content and adjust as needed. Ensure when using color or different fonts, that it is readable. A large amount of small yellow or cyan colored text will hurt the readability of the document. Spelling/Grammar We are lucky that we live in a world with a number of tools to allow us to easily review our grammar and spelling. Before posting your application, you should type the content up in something like google docs, Microsoft Word, or a similar word processor. These tools have grammar and spelling tools that should correct most issues. Reread before posting Whenever writing a formal document (in school or here) you should always reread what you have written. When you make your initial pass, you know what you wish to write, but it does not always come out as coherent sentences. By rereading your application, you can catch run-on sentences or areas where you may want more/less detail. "Bump" posts Inevitable you will need to bump your application back up in order to prevent it from getting lost. When you do this, you should keep this to a limit of one per day, and clean up these posts over time. This means that if you "bump" and there are no responses the next day when you "bump", you should consider deleting the first post in order to make sure the thread stays compact and easily readable. Ask for feedback from a trusted or well known member before posting I mention this as there are a number of members in the community that are very active in offering feedback to applicants. Do not be afraid to reach out to some of these members for a quick review. Provided the feedback is constructive, it can help to ensure that your first post is professional and ready for the community feedback. Take a look at other applications Do not be afraid to see what other members of the community have put out there for applications. Many of these will have evolved over time to improve content, format, etc and may help ensure your first draft is a good one. The above being said, you should never straight copy another player's work. Your applications is just that...your application. You may use a couple of formatting ideas, or it may help give you ideas for content on your own application, but copying is not ok. I hope you found the above information helpful as you evaluate applying to be a Moderator. All of the feedback provided is based on my own personal experience and common feedback applications tend to receive. Should anyone have additional pieces of advice, please let me know and I will update this post accordingly. Best Regards, Melgrath
Apologies, I had used the brackets to denote it applied to everyone and not a specific gamemode. Aside from that, I felt it was more of a guide than anything else. If this is not the correct forum for this, it can of course be moved. EDIT: Thread title updated to avoid any confusion. Thanks, Melgrath
