Yea, I was the one who hired him. He was after me and I think he was GP two times, and I think I even hired him for Guns Admin position before also.

Well congrats

You made Meph GBA, Then.. Meph and gave GBA to Diaz.

Oh ok, because I wasnt sure if he was before or after you, I remember when you came about on Era, but I remember seeing Masa there when I logged on first time to Era, wasnt sure if he was a gp, I thought he had been it 2 times.

The only reason im asking this is because I know his brother Ryan and I slightly know Patrick irl. Ryan told me he was GP like about 2.5 years ago, around the time I started with Era

Meph was never GBA..

You know what makes me happy from a players point of view, is that all of the new GPs are currently on the events team also. I like this because it limits the percentage of the whole server being on the staff team. On their side, it may be difficult to do both jobs at once; but its way better than a bunch of noobs running around. With boots. And a tag.

What im trying to get at is that having an et/gp would allow them to see, "oh events need to be hosted, best get on et tag now!" And lets say theres a hacker in their event, "yep now we can just get on PR tag and jail the hacker."

So far I like the outcome, I would only just hope the power doesnt go to their heads.

I think he was

Why are they all ETs?

This isnt working out, they all want to be on PR tag all the time, I never see them actually hosting events anymore.

Staff should only be able to hold 1 position. As you have seen, the 2 position thing doesnt work out.

all pr's have et tag anyways

There's an excessive amount of Event Team Members, I wouldn't care if someone would take the liberty to give players the option of ignoring event messages (bottom right). Its laggy and annoying, attend to this.

Back to your regular scheduled programming,

Why was Erik fired?

Well, anywho... me being me, I'm going to come right out and say this, Exolia will fail as a PR, perhaps Casper but my level of certainty on him isn't as high.

Travis... who the hell? Didn't he die like years ago?

The method by which PRs are hired is really idiotic, it nullifies the need for even a PR Applicaiton. They aren't used, from the looks of it. Like Lexus said, its all based on opinion, better yet.. bias. I personally could careless, just take away the front of PR Applications. If you're hiring, hire... rather than being understaffed for two weeks (while already knowing who you'll hire).

Most of your current PRs are hardly ever on, Crackwizard? What does he do? Gabriel, is he still alive? MontyPython, he's as frequent as Friday the 13th.

Abit off-topic, but who's incharge of Gangs and Businesses?

Furthermore, Snerdly's back. Ain't that cool?

Agreed, especially when casper likes to make those messages about cupcakes and other topics of pure bull ****.

Question I have is that isnt it a bit odd/strange that all the new PRs are also hang-out buddies, best friends?


I only saw travis come around like 1.5 months ago, to me it just seems like he hooked up with the right group of people and got the nice things they did.
Agreed.
Also agreed. I do like Crackwizar as a PR though, hes is one of the nicest guys ive known, and hes staff. That doesnt come around often.

But I do agree that all of them need to be more active.

Ideally all staff should be able to get along.

I don't remember him, but apparently he's been playing for years.

I have to disagree with you. maybe it's because i am able to overlook differences but the opinion a pr chief has of a player should matter. It matters because anyone can fill out a nice application, but that just shows you can write good, not how well you can act. Not to mention, the GP Chief's opinion of a player should be an overall opinion which means the GP chief has seen the player's actions and reactions to problems while not running for a staff position. Lets be honest, when a player runs for a position, he will usually change his attitude and start being nice. So it's good for a chief to see how you react on a regular day. Now if their opinion of someone is based off of jealousy or something other, then that is an issue. In real life, when you apply for a job you do a face-to-face interview in addition to filling out an application. What i sometimes did for applications when i hired people was have people put their account name and contact info at the bottom of their apps so i could judge them without fear of being biased.

But in the end, if i knew someone would be a bad staff member based on how he treats players, how he responds to problems, etc., the chances of him/her getting hired is slim.

The PR team application system just gives us a general idea of the person. We also look at various other factors as well. The PR team Does take time to further research a potential individual.

Hm, well lets explore that a little.

To be honest, when getting hired for a job. Employers hardly give two-****s about how you act on a day-to-day base. When you're on duty, its their concern. Any other time, do you. So don't attempt to relate that to this, its not compatible.

In any event, I understand your point.
How you act toward players is important, seeing as your job is Player Relations.
That being said, all of the PRs hired as of now, were poor when it came to player-relations. I think a majority of the ones who knew them beforehand still dislike them to this day. Even as PRs, they are stuck-up and pompous, believe they're "better" than regular players.

I mean, if your judgement character or behaviour toward players, where did MontyPython come from? Shoot, even before then... Gabriel? Lets just say his FAQ Admin carreer was a less than reputable one (Being nice). Squirt as of late (past few months), as I've seen and heard has been purely antisocial.

Furthermore, their opinion should not play a big role. Simply because its just that, opinion. Easily-biased, and if you can find me an unbiased PR Admin, I 100% agree with you. Players are people, people generally have bias in all that they do. We all try to be practical, if a man wrongs you... and you can obtain revenge with impunity, you will take the opportunity. Its human nature.

Squirt can deny a player PR position because of a personal reason and mask it with another of no significance. I mean, I heard he fired Erik for attempting to Fix Dunez's mistake. As I know, from our conversations... he's been planning to fire Erik for quite some time, since his dislike of him. Perfect example.

So please, never ever rely on the opinion of a single person. We're all biased in our own way, my point is... if he's going to use bias to hire. Skip the application step, its a waste of time. He can simply hire who he knows he'll hire anyway, rather than being understaffed in order to setup a "front" that everyone will read right through.

To Gabriel: That is such a political response, save it. Lol. Funny kid.

I actually agree with Wil, or at least I did a while back (haven't read his last posts). The long PR application is pretty ridiculous. When I was looking through apps, I skimmed through a couple of questions and then rated the app based on how I know them from in-game.

Anyone can write well, which is why I've never really liked traditional applications.

I have been more inactive and have been playing less in general since school, my assignments, and work. Therefore, you won't find me be as active in a gang/raiding or even going on Ventrillo like I have done so before. However, that does not mean I won't answer peoples questions/concerns if they have one. They can leave a support ticket, message me on AIM, forum PM, and a whole host of other things to contact me.

Now, in regards to PR applications. I would say out of the three people going through the applications I was the most lenient with a persons prior history. Just because someone has a big ban history, or has a bad reputation since how he acts does not mean that I won't hire them. If they show that they would be professional and show that they REALLY want to be part of the team I would be willing to give them a chance.

Also, I never fired Erik just because I dislike him. I'm good friends with Erik (still am for what I know) and I always went on ventrillo with him and etc. His removal has nothing to do with my personal opinion with him.

PS- Lexus has no grounds in making his accusations. He didn't even apply for PR in the first place.

Our choices are not solely based on an application or "how much we like you" -- they are based on a number of things. Personally, I look at the following (in no particular order):

How you act in game and on the forums. Are you a trouble maker? Mature? Do you only look out for yourself or do you actually seem to care about others?

Your jail/ban histories. Chances are that if you have had lots of jails/bans you will not be hired.

Your application. Did you take it seriously? How did you answer the situational questions? Do you seem like someone who will be able to make good, logical decisions?

Prior experience. Don't really care about this, but if you have experience I will look at how well you handled the job in the past.

Wil brought up a good point. Why was Erik fired, being as staff works for us the players, We demand an answer

I don't really see why it matters...Simply put: he just wasn't doing his job very well anymore.

Sales is right about how they do check the person as an individual, check the jails/bans, etc. But I honestly do believe that there is a huge percentage in matter of opinion for hiring someone. That will never stop, even as much as we want it to. Staff will deny it to the day they die but thats the truth, thats human nature.

Me myself (as an example) ill probably never get hired again, why? Because I usually end up pissing people off with my very outward opinion. Ive also come to accept this, because I have gotten in a few jams in the past.

But saying that opinions and likes and dislikes dont play a role. Ha. I can garantee everyone it plays a major role in graal itself. It will never change, so dont expect it to.

If we were playing cards I would call 'Bull ****'.

He was probably the most active PR on the roster, far exceeded the maximum potential of the new cadets, and from a personal point was (with Dunez sometimes) the only one to actually answer my PMs or take time to help me with anything. (Minus the time Gabe actually answered me in regards to Sigma, then totally went out of his way to have him in jail for a prolonged period and fired for his own personal biased reasons, but lets not get into that)

Seriously now, I'm not playing favorites here, I barely know any of the new PRs, or Erik for that matter. But from what I've seen over the past week of the new cadets, I could laugh for hours.:asleep::asleep: (Travis = 5 hour jail for typing an essay?) And from what I know (sources not to be revealed) Exolia had PR/GP rights before the applications were even out to the public. Stop trying to mask the obvious, we're not all retarded.:asleep::asleep:

To address everyone who is saying that staff are chosen based on our opinion of the person and that people are fired for biased reasons: you're totally right.

Personally, I don't want to live in a world where the people up top choose things from looking at a piece of paper and not even taking into account previous issues. If I knew someone was a trouble maker or was constantly harassing players/staff, of course I'd "veto" their application. Why does that not make sense? :p


As for firing staff, that's bit more controversial, but understand this: no one has a "right" to be staff, regardless of how much work they've done, how well they do their job, etc. I'm not talking about anyone in specific here, but if the rest of the staff team (or even the administration) thinks someone is doing their job poorly, do they really need an official documented reason to fire them from an online game?

I used to think they did, which is why I kept Mesh on the staff team for as long as I did; everyone familiar with that story can see what kind of mess that lead to >_<.

Um, practically every ETA had GP/PR rights. (Maverick, Zoo, etc.) They need it in regards to Event disruption and some other cases. However, he never had RC or anything. Therefore, I don't get why you need to say (sources not be revealed). It's common knowledge. Also, ETA has access to the support center in regards to the Event department.

Now, like I stated before. If you have any problems in regards to PRs abusing, or doing anything improper for that matter, you can PM me and i'll look into the accusations.

nevermind. Not worth it :)

I don't really care about how they're hired as long as they do their job.

I am sure that if you have a good reputation, a nice story as a player, and the potential of being good at the job, Staff will always take a good look.

I know little about the new PRs, though it's my fault for being inactive for the past days.

I remember about Exolia, he was Asst. ETA when Maverick was ETA I think? then he got fired for taking the ETA position without "permission" or something like that..

I know Casper for being a good gangster :P.

Can't say anything about the others, good luck to y'all

Crack is the best current PR IMO, I've always seen him on RC and most of the time working, he's a hard worker and I'm completly sure if you ask him for help he will the best he can.

Amsel I think

Amsel doesn't work on Era anymore. Sales, Squirt, and I take care of gang issues.

There's a fundamental difference between PR and all the other jobs on the server.

Player Relations is entirely about dealing with other people (no ****?), enforcing rules, and problem solving. Your day-to-day activities on Era are vitally important (much moreso than your token application). If you're an ET member and you're a jackass when you're off-tag or throwing out racial slurs, okay. That doesn't make it right, but your off-tag behaviour doesn't directly affect your ability to host events in any way. Likewise, if you're a developer, your off-tag behaviour isn't extremely important (we're not talking about major rule-breaking or abuse, just little things), because you're not hired because of your charisma or your impressively low ban/jail history. You're hired because you can (in theory) script/graphic/whateverthe**** well.

That being said, your personality and behaviour in the game as a PR is absolutely important. You're not hired to bring "work" talent. Your "work" talent is your personality/behaviour. You're there to sort out player's problems. Answer gameplay questions. Bring swift justice upon miscreants. So if you're off spouting racial slurs and being a general jackass when you're offtag, but then you get on-tag and jail someone for that exact same behaviour, that's not doing a good job. That makes you a terrible PR and an insufferable hypocrite.

The application itself, as far as I'm concerned, gives little-to-no evidence as to what kind of PR you'd actually make. It's just a hoop to jump through. It does prove you're at least half-way serious about the job, because you're taking the time to (hopefully) fill out the application to the best of your ability. But here's the problem: unless you're exceptionally stupid/honest, everyone knows what a "right" answer is on a PR application.
A classic question example would be a question that asks: "If your friend breaks the rules, what do you do?"
Hmmm, I wonder what an unbiased, upstanding PR would do...

In reality, your real application is your reputation (think kind/unkind; follows rules/doesn't follow rules; - I'm not talking about your "oldbie" bull**** status or your current e-peen size), your actions, and your jail/ban history. You can give all the right answers and promise to be the incarnation of Mother Teresa, but if you're known as a jackass and have a ban history that requires a mouse wheel to fully navigate through, I think I'll take my chances with someone else.

tl;dr plus I'm sure it's a rant.

You should take the time to read it. Sure, it's fairly long-winded, but the points it brings up amongst the extra wind are absolutely true and this is something I agree with entirely, if nothing else stands out in his post:

tl;dr

staff hirings have been biased for as long as i can remember. i don't see why you guys still waste your time *****ing about it. it'll never change.

Uhm, I was originally going to respond to Sales' listed reason but somewhere along the lines of everyone's ranting, I lost my train of thought.
Let me sum this all up, Staff Hirings, expecially PRs are EXTREMELY biased. All the politically correct excuses, and this that and the third doesn't change that. Its been that way, mostlikely will remain so.

My entire point was, do not put up the applications. Its a waste of time, you all agreed with that. Therefore, enforce it. Rather than waiting two weeks while understaffed for enough people to fill it out, just hire who you will. I can careless about the bias, just the next time I want someone to watch a trade, I shouldn't have to look. I want them to be there, on-command. Ya dig? I'm impatient, rightly so. We shouldn't have to go on expeditions to find PRs.

Lets face it, your job is simple enough. Its not the most difficult task on earth, yet you find ways to screwup and become complete dissapointments. I mean, I remember the team being so incompetent, that LORDSQUIRT himself acknowledged it. Thats sad. (Oops, I ranted.)

In any event, why was Erik fired? All I've gotten was bull**** answers that beat around the bush, and FYI Squirt, you don't like Erik or didn't awhile ago in a conversation with me.

MontyPython, I don't remember you being the most well-behaved player. Lol, I sort of remember quite the opposite. Talk about contradictory. :D

When did I ever say that I disliked Erik as a person? I doubt I ever said that. Also, from what I remember you have no respect for him always calling him 'thing 1' or w/e. Therefore, out of the two of us I think i'm the one who has more respect for him as a person.

I never agreed that applications are a waste of time...please read and do not put words in my mouth. Exolia is probably the only PR that would've been hired without an application, and that is because he is the ETA. I wouldn't have even considered LT as a candidate if it weren't for his application. Casper was the last person we decided on, and it was his well-written and thought out application that set him apart from the other possible choices.

Applications tell us a number of things: who's interested, how serious are they, and other reasons which I'm pretty sure I've already highlighted in this thread.

Ok heres something id like to bring up if you guys dont mind.

I'm not pointing out any PRs at all, this has been a trend with some of them.

Well, I noticed that alot of PRs like to think they are better than everyone, I think this way because of the way they talk to people/me. For instance, ill see a PR joking with friends using horrid grammer and cussing (ontag may I add). Ok so lets say I go up to this PR and ask a question, what id usually get is some snobby ass response with super grammer and such. Why is this? After I get the response they suddenly act all professional again, and act like they are majorly busy with something. I usually end up telling them that I dont like their attitude, and they end up pludering me with an array of big words.

I have one thing to say (past-future-present prs), cut the crap, if your going to act like you know everything, then act like it all the time. Dont just put on some half-ass act that implies that your bigger and better than a player. We have had some great PRs, and we currently have some great ones, but you dirty prs out there, you know who you are.

So stop it. Be nice and kind to players. Acting like an ******* will only make players think you are an ass-hole. So unless you got a badge that claims your a certified ass-hole, just be nice?

A little kindness can go a long way.

I learned this the hard way. Because when I was ET i let the power go to my head, then I became one of those half-faceed buttheads who was just plain mean. Thats why I quit ET.

Just be nice. Simple as that.

Ha, its so easy to claim the excellency of their applications, when no one outside of the administration can view them. But, oh no... soon as you tell us the applications were "excellent" all suspicion of rigging just magically whithers away. Hm?

No.

Thats based on your opinion, which includes your preference, which consists of bias... which in totality falls under the entirety of my point.

You knew who you wouldn't hire, and you knew who you would, applications did nothing more but extend the time-period you had to sift between those you had in your mind. Or, those Squirt had in his mind. I'm sure you didn't review all the applications (not much different even if you did), the PRA using his judgement (As stated above), chose a group from which you did your thing.

All in all, the applications were not needed. Squirt knew who we wanted, if anything, 2/3s of the positions were pre-selected, and 1/3 was a wildcard spot which LT snagged. Either way, the applications had little to nothing to do with the entire situation. Its a waste of time, even if you won't admit it... a majority of your administration does. Thats satisfactory enough. Even some of the PRs do.

(FYI: I didn't address your previous thread, nor did I even remember what it said by the time I got through reading those after. I didn't feel it important enough to going back and re-reading it, so apologies if I was mistaken on your standing.)

First, let me just tell you that we hired 4 PRs. Secondly, I did not pre-select any of the PRs. If you actually know me i'm not a fan of a person holding more than one position. I like people focusing on ONE thing so they could focus all their time on that one position. I have a bad experience with players having too many responsibilities and in the end they fail all of them. This even happened to me, being too inactive for my work load.

Therefore, no I never pre-selected any PRs. I honestly don't like mixing the staff team, and you could even ask Sales or Chris that.

Oh, now that you said you didn't. I take back everything! Thats all I wanted to hear.

Back to reality,
Hmk, if you say so. But uhh, next time skip the application step or move as quickly as possible, or do it before you become understaffed. Let the PRs notify you before they start to fail (rofl). My point: Takes too long to get the PRs in.

The input and output rate are imbalanced, they're dropping out too fast. Speed up the process, so its equivalent. (Exaggeration, but you get the point.)

Applications were/are useless, they take up the most time and are the least useful. They're disposable, sooner they're disposed of, sooner you can pick the PRs you're already going to pick, and the sooner I can have my handy-dandy PRs on-command. Everyone wins.

(Most-often, less handy and more dandy), but who cares about details. =o