Mods...

[Sonic_Raptor]

I'm going to be honest, I do feel like every staff should at least consider every side of the story if it is more of a "complex" situation, as a certain one thats happened on survival not too long ago, I'm not going to name the situation as I'm not involved with it, but I feel like (iykyk) that would be a perfect example to see both sides as where one of the punishments could have not been involved with what it looks like. In those types of situations, yes there can be appeals involved, but I seriously believe that if there was communication on that specific judgment in the situation, there wouldn't be this betrayal feeling a lot of survival players are feeling at the moment and it would've saved more time than dealing with an appeal. But only should there be a visual on both sides if its necessary or more complex than just someone having video proof of someone xraying. A good staff member I feel like should have a load of patience, and expect a LOT of people having high standards and not taking it personal, and that they should prepare themselves for that right from the start. (Honestly its a little disappointing how high the standards are when someone becomes a helper, which im sorry you staff members have to deal with). Another thing i would think would be best for someone who wants to apply is, ask other staff what its like being "on the field" of being a staff member, so then the person really takes in on what it takes to become one and what to expect. Its certainly not an easy job as every staff member has made a mistake some time down the road. And when you come to making that mistake you should own up to it, because us as a community looks at that and when you own up to a mistake it shows us you're honest and that you plan on doing your best to learn from it, rather than pushing it off and saying "eh stuff happens". I've been apart of the community for 3 years (4 this September) and ive seen quite a lot of people become staff, some I feel like weren't mature or ready enough at the moment but they changed and adapted for the better. Some changed in a way that wasn't so well. I know my essay goes all over the place and is probably hard to read and understand. In the end, honestly, I think a really good staff member is someone who doesn't look at it as a job or a chore, or as a responsibility, but as a hobby, something they enjoy to do, because the moment they do it as something they want to do, is the moment they have fun doing it, where you can see they try their best everyday that they come on. Its also when the community notices them and has a feeling of joy when they come on. Even though I haven't met all the staff here, one thing I can tell from the get go is that the majority of them were smartly picked and were picked for a good reason, and I hope you all continue to try your best, and to keep an open mind to all these suggestions as a lot of them are really good. ❤❤

I agree

 

[superflyguy5121]

What makes a good mod?

Someone who doesn't let compliments or insults effect them

 

[pestolicious]

I obviously say islands. The player base dramatically decreased roughly 4 months in, and now it is a few regulars that play. Season 5 is over a year old, and it is due for a reset imo.

To keep it short, I believe a good mod is someone who simply puts the work in to create a more accepting and enjoyable community.

 

[Acrellux]

Hey Everyone,

I have a cool question for the people on the forums again and its about what makes a good moderator in the eyes of the community. What moderating is and how I view it has changed drastically since I became one myself from view. For me understanding the rules and appeal process to a deeper degree has really changed how I view moderating. Another part of this is being busier and exposed to a part of the player base on Manacube when I was just a player.

So what I really want to know is, What makes a good moderator? Keen to hear everyones thoughts and having discussion about it. As always feel free to ask questions of me about anything and I'll do my best to answer them.

Rap

A good moderator? You.
You've helped me through all of my messups and gave me confidence I could change for the better.

 

[IPenguinI]

I obviously say islands. The player base dramatically decreased roughly 4 months in, and now it is a few regulars that play. Season 5 is over a year old, and it is due for a reset imo.

To keep it short, I believe a good mod is someone who simply puts the work in to create a more accepting and enjoyable community.

Islands = Smell!

 

[DylanB_666]

Islands = Smell!

I cant help smelling!!

 

[No_Swaze]

I personally think a good mod is someone who is active with the community and can help out and generally be kind

 

[EvanTech]

Voted islands but if by revamp you mean removing then I'm all in

 

[jacobsfunparty]

I won't answer the question about what makes a good moderator here because I agree almost entirely with both Dylan's and Kayla's posts. However, I would like to delve into which servers I believe should reset/reboot & in which order:

1. KitPvP

Spoiler

I believe resetting KitPvP first would be the smartest business move. KitPvP has been on the same season for just over a year now. It has a relatively large community and I believe a reset would bring some players back and some new players as well. I would also suggest adding elite crates, etc. to possibly get some more money out of this gamemode.

2. Islands

Spoiler

Islands has been on Season 5 for even longer than KitPvP has been on season 10. The only reason they are not above Kit in this list is because they have a smaller playerbase and the difference in length of seasons is only a month or so. That being said, a revamp could still boost the total players & thus, boost the sales. I don't know too much about this gamemode so I can't make specific suggestions.

3. Skyblock

Spoiler

Skyblock has been on the same season for 9 months and, as Kayla mentioned above, it does get boring after a while. This community is very large and a new season would bring on a lot of sales. It might make more sense to reset this gamemode before the other two for monetary gain, but I feel like it's important to keep players interested in all areas of the server. Once again, I don't have much experience with this gamemode so I can't make specific suggestions.

4. Creative

Spoiler

I ramble here a lot even though the question didn't ask what I wanted to see in a revamp, just if I thought it should have one. Tl;dr of the bullets is I would like to see creative crates, bug fixes, a server update to a more recent version, and custom flatworlds (although this is impractical currently).

Creative has been on the same version for a year and a half. As Kayla mentioned, competitors are moving up and if Manacube doesn't switch versions soon I fear that the gamemode might be removed. Here are some things I'd like to see added:

- Crates: I realize this would require a new plugin which takes work, but the absence of crates & other ways of generating income is putting this gamemode at risk. The only thing that's selling is ranks, and most people won't even get Elite because the only perks are a bold nick & the ability to change the Elite prefix, in addition to shouts. Coupled with the small playerbase, I fear that it is bringing in less money than it takes to keep it running and that it might suffer a similar fate as the Death Run bee server.
- General Bug Fixes: The Creative server is riddled with bugs, and it's understandable that these have less priority than other servers with more players. However, serious builders have said building on Manacube is more annoying than relaxing due to all of these glitches. They are going to other servers for this reason.
- Server Update: I'd love to see the server update to at least 1.14.4 for all of the blocks people most commonly ask about, like lanterns, different signs, different slabs/stairs, etc. or preferably 1.16.5 or whatever the most recent update is. I included brief reasoning for this above, but if competitors are updating and we aren't, there will be fewer and fewer players coming to Manacube Creative due to the lack of pull factors.
- Custom Worlds for A+, Megaplots switched to an A- or A feature: I realize this is probably impractical for the near future as Creative almost definitely doesn't make enough money for this, but if crates, etc. are added, I'd love to see this in a couple years. A server I'll call BR has these for members, and they are a huge pull factor for professional builders. Basically, you can have custom flatworlds, download them, etc. Players can make commission builds here & maps for different servers. I believe this would draw more experienced builders into the community & keep "normal" builders here for longer, instead of either leaving Creative for a different Manacube gamemode or transitioning more to BR.
- Build Battles: I would love to see build battles functioning. This is a really popular minigame on larger servers and it could draw another audience into Creative.

5. Survival

Spoiler

Survival has a large playerbase and deserves an update eventually. They've just gotten the most recent one, save Factions & Olympus' next one, so that's why they are lower on this list. I don't know too much about the server so I can't give my opinion on that.

6. Parkour

Spoiler

Parkour got a pretty significant update this autumn, so I don't necessarily think they need a new one. If the community wants a reset of all stats, they could do that at pretty much any time tbh as I doubt it would take as much effort as a complete revamp. There are plenty of ideas across the forums for any future updates, so I don't think my input would necessarily add anything new.

Not to say Parkour should be prioritized for a reset/update but the update was mostly bug fixes (which I love) but there wasn’t a lot of new stuff content wise besides spawn and Adventure maps which I think were both made by people in the community? (Correct me if I’m wrong about spawn) and the daily rewards which I think was a great addition.

I’d like to see a kit reset cause I just like the gamemode and having a new map would be interesting.


And for what makes a good staff I’m not really sure. What everyone else said was pretty good. I guess the best thing for me would be listening. Listening to criticism from other staff, listening to both other staff and players opinions. I’d say listening is pretty important because it is how you grow as a staff member as well as improving/growing the server.

 

[caleb!]

Not to say Parkour should be prioritized for a reset/update but the update was mostly bug fixes (which I love) but there wasn’t a lot of new stuff content wise besides spawn and Adventure maps which I think were both made by people in the community? (Correct me if I’m wrong about spawn) and the daily rewards which I think was a great addition.

Yeah, I guess I kinda just see it as new maps are being put out constantly and since there are already many different things to do, (parkour maps, adventure maps, droppers, building maps, etc.) and it did have a recent update that was slightly more significant, it isn't at the top of my list, I guess. The only reason I put it last was because I know I wouldn't want a parkour reset ever, but smaller updates such as the spawn & new adventure maps would be nice once or twice a year. To me, though, it seems like new players are coming in all the time to parkour and a huge update isn't as significant in keeping their interest as it would be on other servers.

That being said, I do have limited experience on parkour compared to a lot of other players, like you. My opinion isn't necessarily right, so I appreciate your response & any others who choose to share their take!

 

[Cookie Kat]

What about we stop debating which server should get a reset, and reset all the servers at the same time!!! JK I think that would be too chaotic- but seriously... it's not a matter of who gets first priority, imo I think it's just important that all the game modes get reset/updated. I see a lot of imbalance in that department- though I do understand that it's a lot of work... so I can't really complain too much.

As for what makes a good mod? If we're gonna be super technical, they obviously have to be an outstanding HELPER before they can get mod- you can't just get mod straight off the bat! I realize that's a bit controversial seeing as some helpers are promoted within a short amount of time while some helpers have to wait longer before getting promoted to mod... I trust that the staff management team knows what they're doing, and that's all I have to say on that. I'm gonna be saying a lot of things that other people have already said- I believe that a good mod is someone who has an open mindset. They are willing to listen to the community, and realize that they don't know everything... hey, you can say you're human but if you're human you can't know everything, so also showing humility is important. Part of being a good mod is knowing your limits, moderating can be really stressful, and can be mentally draining so take some time off if you have to. Obviously don't be going on hiatus for long periods of time without letting anyone know, but if you tell other staff that you are going on a short mental break, that's okay. I believe that patience is also extremely important, on other servers I met mods who weren't the most patient and they would complain about how they would ask a player to do something, but then no one would listen to them. While that is frustrating, it's important to stay calm in those kinds of situations. If that does happen, the mod should ask for help from another staff member. One person cannot do everything alone, the staff IS a team, so they should be working as one. Another thing that I think is important is open communication- especially when it comes to the rules. There have been instances where players are unsure what counts as hatespeech, and a mod will say that something doesn't count as hatespeech, just disrespect while another mod will say it is hatespeech. I understand that everyone has different views on what is and isn't hatespeech, but for the sake of avoiding any confusion, I feel that everyone should be on the same page. A good mod should also be able to take constructive criticism from the community and other staff members, denying that they didn't do something wrong, or that they did everything right and couldn't have handled a situation better isn't a good way to respond.

If I think of anything else I'll either edit it in or just make a new post If anyone wants any clarification on anything I said, just let me know and I will do my best to clear up any confusion.

 

[lavi]

What makes a good moderator?
The only answer I think can shine above all that caring crap is Comunication A staff member that can communicate well with players ends up being the most respected and looked up to staff member.