Staff Guidelines

Below, you will find info on how staff are expected to go about their duties. For a list of the duties staff are expected to cover for the Runsafe Minecraft server, see Staff Duties. For a list of commands players & staff have access to, see Command Reference. For info on the different player ranks, and lists of current Staff Team members, see Player Ranks.

Runsafe staff are expected to stick to the guidelines listed on this page, to the best of their abilities.

These updated guidelines are in effect as of November 1st 2023.

• 1. Assist players who need help, manage troublemakers, and set an overall good example. As a staff member, the default principle of your role is to help the server run smoother by moderating the playerbase and contributing positively. Take the time to help players with honest questions & confusion as they play on the server, and seek to enforce our Rules with your most sensible discretion. Notably, you should also follow our rules when they don’t conflict with your Staff Duties.

• 2. Conduct yourself with as much maturity as you can muster. As staff, you represent the server itself to some extent. Maturity looks like intelligence, wisdom, patience, open mindedness, empathy, kindness, strength, and bravery. You’re not going to pull all of that that off regularly as a Minecraft moderator, but it’s something to aim for. Notably, the administration will likely cut slack for sharp retorts to particularly undesirable player conduct, but we would encourage you to merely diffuse situations if you can.

• 3. Keep disputes with other staff members out of the public channels (Minecraft & Discord). Staff members clashing severely in the public eye indicates a server that is disjoint and sloppily run, and can even hinder the solving of another active problem. Use private channels to resolve staff disagreements. If it ultimately becomes clear that another staff member handled one of their duties poorly, those wrongs can be righted without a public fight.

• 4. If you believe a player is breaking the Rules or causing a problem, it is often best make them aware of what they should be doing first, rather than immediately punishing. Ideally, do not instantly kick/mute a player etc. without giving them verbal instructions to follow first. Exceptions can be made for urgent hacking situations, severe misbehavior, being ignored, or simply assessing that a player should know better. But notably, when a player disregards or combats staff instruction first, this is in many situations the ideal place to punish from.

• 5. The needs of the playerbase take priority over your own gaming experience. If a player is in need of assistance, and receiving no support from other staff, you should seek to put your own gameplay on pause to help them. Unless you are urgently fending off base invaders, or stuck in some other pressing matter, it should be very doable to lend others a hand for a moment.

• 6. Do not abuse any staff abilities to gain an advantage over other players in the survival world/mini games. The extra permissions granted to staff members are there to help them fulfill duties, and nothing else. This includes teleporting to players as a way of meeting up with them to legitimately play in the survival world.

• 7. Do not compete with other staff or overwhelm players with an excess of assistance. While you may feel the need to demonstrate your usefulness as staff, the reality is that much of the time, another staff member has it handled. This is perfectly fine, your staff role isn’t based on how actively you manage to be the one to answer a question. Aim to fill gaps when they actually exist, not when they don’t. Be ready to help, and ready to sit back when it isn’t needed.

• 8. Do not overstep or bloat a situation in chat when an admin is handling it. You might feel you have the perfect thing to say, or wish to see through an interaction that began with your involvement, but bloating a conflict in chat usually does more harm than good. Nobody can follow messages from 3+ staff members saying a bunch of similar but different things. When admins are clearly actively talking, please take a step back.

• 9. Account sharing as a staff member on Runsafe is not allowed under any circumstances. If you wish to allow someone else to play on your account, make administration aware, so that a solution can be found without granting an unverified player your extended permissions.

Failure to adhere to the above guidelines may result in suitable penalty, possibly escalating to demotion or removal from the server.