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OK, As you have probably all noticed, there have seem to be a shitload of threads popping up on the issue of staff being axed, abusing, newbie staff, et cedera. I noticed this about 1-2 weeks ago, and since then have been compiling noted and thinking the problem over. (Yes. Even during school. If you want ill scan some scratch I did during algebra 
)
First off, you might be wondering, "Jerome you have only been playing TW for about a month now. what makes you qualified to make these statements?" Well, thats partly true. I've played on past aliases, before RoboHelp, even when people said "Wanna SD?" instead of "DD?" I then retired from TW under mounting pressure of alot of my friends from SVS zones and the general non-TW community. for about a year I worked my way through the rest of the SS community -- Mod at a SSDZ zone, then worked my way to a head GroupOp on the SSDZ Biller, then staffed at SSXH Kaos, then SSXH RedStar, then kind of jumped around at various places. I finally returned to TW hoping to pursue high quality events hosted by high quality staff, staff I wish i had worked with in other zones.
And, I walked into..this.
So, I offer my views as advice for something. One of the problems with TW is how the Staff seem to be monolithic in their operation -- after posting this, nothing will be solved, nor any action taken. But by posting this I can do my part. [cue corny novel into] And So, I Begin. [/cue]
First off, I have noticed through and through that the players seem to think the Staff are horrible. This is only half true. The lack of proper Staff is a DIREC impact of Veterans. Yes, Veterans.
Think about it. You're a newbie in go base listening to Veteran A and Veteran B talk about the good days and TW.
Vet A> damn, staff sucks.
Anon> lol Vet A thats only because u never got on it
Vet B> duh he never did, staff is so shitty being on it would be an embarrassment.
Newb> Oh boy! if i get on staff, i'll be made fun of! better go read forums and turn into Annux, ppl LOVE Annux!
Now, any self-respecting person or someone who wants to be 'popular' will follow social norms. And right now, the social norm is fairly Anti-Staff. And the problem is perpetuated by the anti-staff rhetoric flowing around these forums, in the game, everywhere. I have a Extremely accurate example: myself. I've wanted to be on TW Staff a number of times. But recently, I'm sure someone here can find a quote that I posted, somehow flaming the Staff.
So Folks, to summarize the chapter:
-"Vets" are in part contributing to the TWStaff ("TWS") downfall; instead of contributing their wisdom as a <ZH> or <ER> they simply harass the TWS.
-Newbies who are most potential for TWS are seemingly 'driven off' by these Veterans. (Ex: I'm sure some newbie is trolling these forums reading about Icey <ZH>.)
OK, so i've placed some of the blame in the hands of the Player base of Trench Wars. So, it's time to deal out my argument against the Staff.
DISCAIMER: I Will be tuning most of this argument against the Zone Helper, because thats where most staff start out at and where most "go wrong",
FIRST OFF: I will propose and Alternative use for RoboHelp. RoboHelp is the single number one cause for <ZH> decline. Another example from personal experiences:
Jerome> ?help (question, important at the time concernign my computer moniter)
RoboHelp> blah blah trenchwars tech help forums blah.
...5 minutes...
Name <ZH> lol sry bro i was playing deathmatch, what do you need?
This also brings in a sub-argument: Staff also seem to think that their playing of games takes precedence over the players of Trench Wars. But back on track...
That alternative I said I would propose earlier, well here it is: I think that RoboHelp should be placed in an arena such as ?go Help, and newbies can simply !help how do i blah. I understand this system is open for 'abuse and flooding', but hell--the sysops made the bot, they can sureashell add a spam-kicking feature, after like 4 questions in 30 seconds or something the player will be silenced or kicked...or, maybe a 1-question-per-minute thing.
This would eliminate the bot having to answer through ?help calls and save the staff the problem of answering them.
"But omg jerome, if i dont answer 30 help calls in a month ill be axed!!!"
"!TELL IS NOT "ANSWERING", GG
The short-term effects might be less than par -- several <ZH>'s who LIVED off of !tell will be axed, but in the long run <ZH>'s will have to be more educated in order to help ?helpers.
Which brings me to another point: <ZH> knowledge. I have noticed this through a number of random ?helps on other aliases, but the staff seems to have shot for brains when it comes to many problems asked by a number of players. Now I sure as hell am not saying every <ZH> should know everything before being staffed, but they should expertise in something. Personally, I've been helping newbies set up their game--simple tricks like adding ?messages and ?chats=this,this into their Auto part of their profile to make their day easier, to more technical things like using ctrl in spec to spectate ticked names.
Sub-argument: many staff must obviously think theyre too important to talk directly to the player. Many times I will see a newb in like ?go Public10 (instead of the real Public arena) and I will go in. Sometimes, I even go AFK. when I come back, 2 or 3 staffers have passed through the arena and the newb is still there. So I message him with tips on using ?arena or escape-a and how to scroll and goto and arena, and he says "hey thanks!", insinuating the staff either didnt talk to him or they explained it too vaguely, or probably used RoboHelp to talk to the poor guy.
But back to the main point, It seems the staff isnt too trained anymore -- again, the staff cant get experienced players because theyre too assholish to be staff or they were staff but thought they were too superior to be caught abusing.
This brings me to an IMPORTANT Issue. It seems to me that eople complain about, say, 2dragons lagging in elims, or staffers 'trucing' elims, but someone like Tigerex does a ?help call or two and gets axed.
I can understand why some staff arent being axed, with a 'shortage' of competent players, the TWs are probably valuing their own.
But on the other hand, it creates more anti-staff sentiment. A <ZH> tries to replicate a higher staff's Actions (like trucing) and get the axe. They then flame staff on TWS and get their position back.
So whats causing all this abuse? Whats causing more and more staff to be Axed?
The people. People hate staff, Staff positions become less-appreciated, staffers get bored with players flaming them and they abuse. Staffers flame staff for getting axed, players side gets strengthened.
I Just kind of got a writers block and flamed out, so i'll either continue this later or just see what you guys think. Feel free to argue my points, I'm not useing quliaifed sources so i'm sure i got something wrong.
)First off, you might be wondering, "Jerome you have only been playing TW for about a month now. what makes you qualified to make these statements?" Well, thats partly true. I've played on past aliases, before RoboHelp, even when people said "Wanna SD?" instead of "DD?" I then retired from TW under mounting pressure of alot of my friends from SVS zones and the general non-TW community. for about a year I worked my way through the rest of the SS community -- Mod at a SSDZ zone, then worked my way to a head GroupOp on the SSDZ Biller, then staffed at SSXH Kaos, then SSXH RedStar, then kind of jumped around at various places. I finally returned to TW hoping to pursue high quality events hosted by high quality staff, staff I wish i had worked with in other zones.
And, I walked into..this.
So, I offer my views as advice for something. One of the problems with TW is how the Staff seem to be monolithic in their operation -- after posting this, nothing will be solved, nor any action taken. But by posting this I can do my part. [cue corny novel into] And So, I Begin. [/cue]
First off, I have noticed through and through that the players seem to think the Staff are horrible. This is only half true. The lack of proper Staff is a DIREC impact of Veterans. Yes, Veterans.
Think about it. You're a newbie in go base listening to Veteran A and Veteran B talk about the good days and TW.
Vet A> damn, staff sucks.
Anon> lol Vet A thats only because u never got on it
Vet B> duh he never did, staff is so shitty being on it would be an embarrassment.
Newb> Oh boy! if i get on staff, i'll be made fun of! better go read forums and turn into Annux, ppl LOVE Annux!
Now, any self-respecting person or someone who wants to be 'popular' will follow social norms. And right now, the social norm is fairly Anti-Staff. And the problem is perpetuated by the anti-staff rhetoric flowing around these forums, in the game, everywhere. I have a Extremely accurate example: myself. I've wanted to be on TW Staff a number of times. But recently, I'm sure someone here can find a quote that I posted, somehow flaming the Staff.
So Folks, to summarize the chapter:
-"Vets" are in part contributing to the TWStaff ("TWS") downfall; instead of contributing their wisdom as a <ZH> or <ER> they simply harass the TWS.
-Newbies who are most potential for TWS are seemingly 'driven off' by these Veterans. (Ex: I'm sure some newbie is trolling these forums reading about Icey <ZH>.)
OK, so i've placed some of the blame in the hands of the Player base of Trench Wars. So, it's time to deal out my argument against the Staff.
DISCAIMER: I Will be tuning most of this argument against the Zone Helper, because thats where most staff start out at and where most "go wrong",
FIRST OFF: I will propose and Alternative use for RoboHelp. RoboHelp is the single number one cause for <ZH> decline. Another example from personal experiences:
Jerome> ?help (question, important at the time concernign my computer moniter)
RoboHelp> blah blah trenchwars tech help forums blah.
...5 minutes...
Name <ZH> lol sry bro i was playing deathmatch, what do you need?
This also brings in a sub-argument: Staff also seem to think that their playing of games takes precedence over the players of Trench Wars. But back on track...
That alternative I said I would propose earlier, well here it is: I think that RoboHelp should be placed in an arena such as ?go Help, and newbies can simply !help how do i blah. I understand this system is open for 'abuse and flooding', but hell--the sysops made the bot, they can sureashell add a spam-kicking feature, after like 4 questions in 30 seconds or something the player will be silenced or kicked...or, maybe a 1-question-per-minute thing.
This would eliminate the bot having to answer through ?help calls and save the staff the problem of answering them.
"But omg jerome, if i dont answer 30 help calls in a month ill be axed!!!"
"!TELL IS NOT "ANSWERING", GG
The short-term effects might be less than par -- several <ZH>'s who LIVED off of !tell will be axed, but in the long run <ZH>'s will have to be more educated in order to help ?helpers.
Which brings me to another point: <ZH> knowledge. I have noticed this through a number of random ?helps on other aliases, but the staff seems to have shot for brains when it comes to many problems asked by a number of players. Now I sure as hell am not saying every <ZH> should know everything before being staffed, but they should expertise in something. Personally, I've been helping newbies set up their game--simple tricks like adding ?messages and ?chats=this,this into their Auto part of their profile to make their day easier, to more technical things like using ctrl in spec to spectate ticked names.
Sub-argument: many staff must obviously think theyre too important to talk directly to the player. Many times I will see a newb in like ?go Public10 (instead of the real Public arena) and I will go in. Sometimes, I even go AFK. when I come back, 2 or 3 staffers have passed through the arena and the newb is still there. So I message him with tips on using ?arena or escape-a and how to scroll and goto and arena, and he says "hey thanks!", insinuating the staff either didnt talk to him or they explained it too vaguely, or probably used RoboHelp to talk to the poor guy.
But back to the main point, It seems the staff isnt too trained anymore -- again, the staff cant get experienced players because theyre too assholish to be staff or they were staff but thought they were too superior to be caught abusing.
This brings me to an IMPORTANT Issue. It seems to me that eople complain about, say, 2dragons lagging in elims, or staffers 'trucing' elims, but someone like Tigerex does a ?help call or two and gets axed.
I can understand why some staff arent being axed, with a 'shortage' of competent players, the TWs are probably valuing their own.
But on the other hand, it creates more anti-staff sentiment. A <ZH> tries to replicate a higher staff's Actions (like trucing) and get the axe. They then flame staff on TWS and get their position back.
So whats causing all this abuse? Whats causing more and more staff to be Axed?
The people. People hate staff, Staff positions become less-appreciated, staffers get bored with players flaming them and they abuse. Staffers flame staff for getting axed, players side gets strengthened.
I Just kind of got a writers block and flamed out, so i'll either continue this later or just see what you guys think. Feel free to argue my points, I'm not useing quliaifed sources so i'm sure i got something wrong.
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