Choosing a GM wisely Options

[massdriller]

I'm not very sure where this goes, but i'll leave it ere. IF anybody knows exactly where is should go, tell me or manip move it for me...(IMG:http://www.eathena.ws/board/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) .

Meaning Of GM

What is the defination of GM. GM means Game Master. Game masters are people who control the game. They are the managers of the game.

GMs tend to be power hungry after a while. Why you ask? GMs holds power, the ability to manipulate the game to their forsight. GMs are basically those who are going to serve players in need and players who are going to be a pest.

GMs basically must live up to thir expectation. GMs have the responsibility to ensure law and order. Without any order or any law, the server will go into a state of anarch and evidently, you'll lose players and have to eventually close down.

GMs must be up to your expectation and must be up to your standard. GMs cannot be childish and immature. That will show the standard of your server. GMs are the symbols of your server's adminstration and also will showe how well you manage the server.

GMs always tend to change after they request for GMs powers. They will behave diffrently and sometimes abusing their power. This should be expected by every server owner. GMs tend to have the strange urge to be lame. Lame as in, they will behave in a way people might not think it is funny.

For example, a gm goes up to a player and reduces her/his level. That is not funny that is purely lame.

Another factor of a GM is that GMs tend to be either rude or aggresive after pressurised. GMs have the urge to just Showoff that they too have power. They tend to forget the requests or needs of players. Even if the players are annoying, they must always approach the players with kindness and never resort to aggrevating insults which will cause problem to the server owner.

Also, (thanks to manipulator for brining it up). Server owners sometimes pick their GMs from close friends and relatives which they deem trustworthy and such. But there will be a time where you will have to draw the line where servers and ms are concerned.

The earlier section is for Server owners that are hiring gms which they have not met before. But this section is for GMs that you have met before.

It takes courage to say no to a friend or a relative. It takes courage not to give in on their demand. It takes courage to run a perfect server.

GMs which are related, you have to see. IF you think you know them well enough, then give them the benifit of the doubt. If you are unsure, then say flatly no and wait and see.

Not all friends you know which are fairly good in reality can be devils when it comes to the world as servers. It takes courage to say no to a friend or a relative. It takes courage not to give in on their demand. It takes courage to run a perfect server.

In turn, the GMs are valuable assets in server and it is just a matter of you choosing wisely. Pick them wisely and you are on the road to a successful server with a bright future ahead.

I assure you that this entire report is done upon observation of th behaviour sequence of GMs. I have studied my server's gms for 5 months and notice their behaviour patterns.

Signed,
Massdriller

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Following is a recount of what everyone's opinion was on the issue. Irrelevent replies was removed.

heh....Ok..lemme Reinput what everyone's opinion was...

Manipulator

It takes a certain degree of maturity to be a GM.
"power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely" - Lord Acton (1834-1902)

Link Rulez
ever read Oedipus Trilogy? Power=arrogane=corruption=so true

Ozium
Server Owners may want to take note is the GM's ragnarok playing skills. Better players not only use powers less, but they are also more likely to be able to tell a player how to fix the problem without the need of a GM next time. New players will also be far more careless with items created or monsters, an experienced player see's more value in a doppelganger card than a new player does.

Also, if someone is in question of becoming a GM or just flat saying no I give them a bit of power first with no promise of more power later. If they don't abuse a power such as recall or pvp they are less likely to abuse monster or item.

Akuna

Most of them infact are rude. Very few GMs I know actually listen to the players. Most of them just ignore them and do thier own thing which is wrong. That just shows they will be a failure to their server in time.

Dark Severence
Abusive GMs was always something that made me stop playing on other people's servers. It always seemed like it was a game of, "Lets kiss the GM rear" as people begged for items, spawn monsters, money, etc.

On my server a GM has one purpose, his job is to solve any technical issues the player may have. It is one of the reasons I removed the ability for (GM) to show up next to players name when they do a @who. Everytime someone was just one to play they would get tons of whispers of people bugging them. If a character was stuck, issue with a mob, etc then the GM would be there otherwise they should of been able to act like every other players. It is for this reason we only have 3 GMs with full powers, Lead GM (me), Scripter, Tester.

We would always get tells that no GMs were around, they would never see any GMs. When you asked them why did they have to see a GM, they wouldn't be able to give a real answer. We searched for 3 Event GMs which we did add in to run events for people.

The one mistake I see a lot of servers do is when they give someone GM status, they give them access to a lot of skills which can essentially cause problems. The ability to select what @ command's a GM has is one way to limit the abusive GM. I didn't give them any item, level, stat commands because typically the first thing they do is level up to 99, give themselves god gear. Then they start passing out items, etc not paying attention to server balance of players.

When you look for a GM outline exactly what their duties will be. Don't just make them one because they said they were a GM on other servers. Pay attention to how they talk to you because you can typically spot people who will become abusive right off the bat. Don't be afraid to interview people. When I took applications for GM I made them type out in paragraphs what they intended to do and bring to the server. Some people said that is so strict, no one would be a GM on my server. Those are the people who don't understand what the purpose of a GM really is, nor did they understand I was looking for certain things.

Duo

In any community, be it IRC, and the position of IRCop. Forums, and the position of Moderator, or any online game where there are "GM" level people around, a good rule of thumb should be used to measure the nature of such a "society", or community. And, it's this:

A good Admin, GM, Police Officer (in real life), IRCop, realize first and foremost, that, they are CITIZENS first..and foremost. The fact that they have the power they do, should never ever take away from their stature as a CITIZEN.

As such, if they act like citizens first, and use their power as an *afterthought*, you have a good admin. In otherwords...the power should be fairly invisible to the user. A good admin uses power when all other options are not viable. Not because it's the easiest way to solve a problem, per se.

The power is a nice extra, but, thats all it is. A good admin is a member of the community that they administrate. The ones who treat it in such a way that they would live by the law they enforce, are keepers.

The ones who use power, for the mere sake of it, are the ones who should be immediately removed.

A good example of this idealogy is Manipulator. He is a forum mod. However, unlike *alot* of forum mods out there these days, he actively participates in the community he helps administrate. When you see messages from him, more often than not, he is contributing and growing things. He's not the zoom in and ban/delete post type, who then promptly disapears again after enforcing his will.

He acts like a citizen of the community. His extra abilities are mostly invisible, until there is a need. And, that's how it should be. With any position of trust and authority.

Consider this, the next time you see a GM in action. =)

massdriller

what i tentend of doing was to shed light on an important issue. GMs. Gms are relatively what makes a player stay or quit. Pick them wisely. Not all the peopl you know make good GMS. You must know whichone is the best. That being said, keep an eye out for potential gms in your server, it could be one of the best thing you did

Alexkruez
its very simple .. only give your GM the limited powers that they need to do their job...

massdriller

that's the problem...sometimes, when you ask your friends to become gm, you never know who you can trust. You never know whe they'll spawn shit on your server.

Even your best friend mihgt turn on you in game.

You shoul feel sure that a person is suitable to be a gm then let him be a gm. If you still insist, don't give the person other characters editing powers and item spawning and monster spawning. These 3 should only be given to the most trusted of them all.

Dragoness
In my experience, I've found that people who have no desire to actually PLAY RO (they were former players though) but instead administer it make for great GM's. These people realize the importance of getting things fair and square and are less inclined to break rules and help players.

Also, you need someone that won't bend to players' requests. Lastly, massdriller is correct in saying that you have to be careful of who you give item, char, and spawn commands too.

Vich
Definitely, I believe players make awesome choices for GMs. I myself used to be just a lowly player on a server, then I became very interested in the workings of the server. About a year later I became the main GM as the others went away dry.gif

If you want to trial GMs eathena has great control over which GMs can use which commands. Tinker with atcommand_athena.conf and you can raise the required levels for any command, then give your new GMs a lower level.

If you have a newer version of the server you can also log GM activites. Reviewing what commands GMs have used can help you determine what kind of person they are. I've found there are GMs who like to hide away spawning monsters for themselves to fight and others who play tricks on players. Some GMs spawn the best items they can think of and parade around town wearing them to show off.

What I told the staff of my server is that the GM account is for GM activites, and I'd expect them to use their regular account most of the time to actually play the game. If a problem arises or an event is to be held, then they can use the account...

Much like a player levels up their characters in the game you can raise the level of your GMs as you grow to trust them more wink.gif

me10
You shouldn't do anything but enforce the rules of the server and host events if your a GM... Maybe occasionally disguise yourself laugh.gif . I like playing as a normal player and hosting events, I hate when I have to punish people, but it has to be done.


I've only ever been a GM on my own server though, but it's just for testing builds laugh.gif . In my opinion, GM's shouldn't be much different from regular players except they can punish people and host events. If people you send to jail keep bugging you.... ignore them, if they spam, kick them.

I'm probibly never going to be a GM on a RO server because... I don't really know how I can make people trust me? It doesn't really matter though, I like to play the game more than enforcing rules anyways tongue.gif

That's it. So far all your comments are well....Carry on the comments. (IMG:http://www.eathena.ws/board/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice: You are permitted to add this defination to your website/requirements lists. But must leave the credits and the contents untouched. This is for purely done by research and not one part of it is made up. The content must remain untouched and unmodified.

Why am i always doing this kind of things?
I am a researcher, a curious person at one's bahaviour and how they can achieve the pattern they have. I study how people interact with other people.

I have published a few guides which can help the server people run to become better. In terms of Mental factors and how the server can improve. I hope you find all my information usefull.

Happy GM hunting (IMG:http://www.eathena.ws/board/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[davidchak]

Good job. Nice guide nice topic.

[hamison]

i am always there to support

[dunno]

An interesting knowledge. Thanks for the info, rather appreciate your reseach. If you have more information either with the same topic as this or not, hope you'll not forget to share 'em.

Happy to know that there's malaysian that have this such of curiosity and will to do the reseach.

[anonymous]

It takes a certain degree of maturity to be a GM.

"power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely" - Lord Acton (1834-1902)

[NaMeLeSS_OnE]

Very nice job and guide.

Manipulator: you're Totally right.

[chaoscontrol]

I know it's hard to find a god GM these days, I'm GM on 4 different private servers... Some other GM's suck and I really want to take their GM power. My nephew is GM on AvalancheRO (sorry for advertisement, if seen as...) but to be honest, he's a total newbie and I don't know why I let him stay GM, maybe i'm hoping he will learn to respect power someday (IMG:http://www.eathena.ws/board/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

[Linkrulez]

ever read Oedipus Trilogy? Power=arrogane=corruption=so true

[Guest_Ozium_*]

Another thing server owners may want to take into mind is the GM's ragnarok playing skills. Better players not only use powers less, but they are also more likely to be able to tell a player how to fix the problem without the need of a GM next time. New players will also be far more careless with items created or monsters, an experienced player see's more value in a doppelganger card than a new player does.

Also, if someone is in question of becoming a GM or just flat saying no I give them a bit of power first with no promise of more power later. If they don't abuse a power such as recall or pvp they are less likely to abuse monster or item.

[Akuna]

Its true though, alot of GMs are like this. Most of them infact are rude. Very few GMs I know actually listen to the players. Most of them just ignore them and do thier own thing which is wrong. That just shows they will be a failure to their server in time.

[Dark Severance]

Abusive GMs was always something that made me stop playing on other people's servers. It always seemed like it was a game of, "Lets kiss the GM rear" as people begged for items, spawn monsters, money, etc.

On my server a GM has one purpose, his job is to solve any technical issues the player may have. It is one of the reasons I removed the ability for (GM) to show up next to players name when they do a @who. Everytime someone was just one to play they would get tons of whispers of people bugging them. If a character was stuck, issue with a mob, etc then the GM would be there otherwise they should of been able to act like every other players. It is for this reason we only have 3 GMs with full powers, Lead GM (me), Scripter, Tester.

We would always get tells that no GMs were around, they would never see any GMs. When you asked them why did they have to see a GM, they wouldn't be able to give a real answer. We searched for 3 Event GMs which we did add in to run events for people.

The one mistake I see a lot of servers do is when they give someone GM status, they give them access to a lot of skills which can essentially cause problems. The ability to select what @ command's a GM has is one way to limit the abusive GM. I didn't give them any item, level, stat commands because typically the first thing they do is level up to 99, give themselves god gear. Then they start passing out items, etc not paying attention to server balance of players.

When you look for a GM outline exactly what their duties will be. Don't just make them one because they said they were a GM on other servers. Pay attention to how they talk to you because you can typically spot people who will become abusive right off the bat. Don't be afraid to interview people. When I took applications for GM I made them type out in paragraphs what they intended to do and bring to the server. Some people said that is so strict, no one would be a GM on my server. Those are the people who don't understand what the purpose of a GM really is, nor did they understand I was looking for certain things.

[ogrethemage]

So true! One of the servers that I played on was plagued by the very issues discussed here. And when my friend decided to start his own server and finally granted me GM status, I vowed to never ever abuse my power! Of course being older than almost everyone else who plays this game (35), I have learned to wield power correctly and I (having recently completed a Bachelors degree in Management) am applying what I have learned in order to be a fair person and to maintain the balance of the game!

By the way, Manipulator, thanks for putting in that power quote, as I had forgotten who said it from way back when I learned it in High School.

[Duo]

I'd like to add my $0.02.

In any community, be it IRC, and the position of IRCop. Forums, and the position of Moderator, or any online game where there are "GM" level people around, a good rule of thumb should be used to measure the nature of such a "society", or community. And, it's this:

A good Admin, GM, Police Officer (in real life), IRCop, realize first and foremost, that, they are CITIZENS first..and foremost. The fact that they have the power they do, should never ever take away from their stature as a CITIZEN.

As such, if they act like citizens first, and use their power as an *afterthought*, you have a good admin. In otherwords...the power should be fairly invisible to the user. A good admin uses power when all other options are not viable. Not because it's the easiest way to solve a problem, per se.

The power is a nice extra, but, thats all it is. A good admin is a member of the community that they administrate. The ones who treat it in such a way that they would live by the law they enforce, are keepers.

The ones who use power, for the mere sake of it, are the ones who should be immediately removed.

A good example of this idealogy is Manipulator. He is a forum mod. However, unlike *alot* of forum mods out there these days, he actively participates in the community he helps administrate. When you see messages from him, more often than not, he is contributing and growing things. He's not the zoom in and ban/delete post type, who then promptly disapears again after enforcing his will.

He acts like a citizen of the community. His extra abilities are mostly invisible, until there is a need. And, that's how it should be. With any position of trust and authority.

Consider this, the next time you see a GM in action. =)

[yusmol]

Uncle Ben did say, With great power comes great responsibility.<Spider-Man 2>

Gonna link this to YusRO forum.

So the GM can read and understand.

Nice tips.

[massdriller]

what i tentend of doing was to shed light on an important issue. GMs. Gms are relatively what makes a player stay or quit. Pick them wisely. Not all the peopl you know make good GMS. You must know whichone is the best. That being said, keep an eye out for potential gms in your server, it could be one of the best thing you did (IMG:http://www.eathena.ws/board/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)