Combat Moderation Guidelines

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May 2012

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[Mel Fitzcarraldo]

Greetings fellow Gor Peoples

I am looking to put together some guidelines for combat moderators, as the title suggests. I did do a search of the forums here and didn't come up with what I'm looking for. Examples would be:

• Calm all associated with the dispute down before gathering information.
• Use IM's to get each party's view of what happened.
• Gather logs from multiple people to try to verify events if needed
• etc.

I'm looking for opinions of what features make good combat moderators.

Thanks for your input!
Meletius

[Xaz Elephas]

The Mod should not have been a part of the role-play.
When the Mod shows up everyone should shut up.
When the Mod makes his ruling, both sides should accept it and behave as good sports.

[Delaynie Barbosa]

Moderation will be conducted by a dedicated Combat Moderator if one is available.
Cheating will not be tolerated. Follow the rules or don't raid.


Here is an idea as well - if you have more then one group on your sim get the moderator to come from the other group. Or, use someone who has no interest in combat, such a female moderator, if it won't throw the men into a tizzy over having a female moderator. The idea is to get someone with as little interest in combat as possible to be as nuetral as possible.

[Triad Fallen]

use someone who has no interest in combat, such a female moderator, if it won't throw the men into a tizzy over having a female moderator. The idea is to get someone with as little interest in combat as possible to be as nuetral as possible.

Have to disagree on this, that's the same as getting  a plumber to look at your wiring.

[Nigaltwaddlesworthiii]

use someone who has no interest in combat, such a female moderator, if it won't throw the men into a tizzy over having a female moderator. The idea is to get someone with as little interest in combat as possible to be as nuetral as possible.

Have to disagree on this, that's the same as getting  a plumber to look at your wiring.

Not to mention that there are plenty of female players who are not only interested in combat.. but know a thing or two about it.. just sayin..

[Kaitlin Eiren]

use someone who has no interest in combat, such a female moderator, if it won't throw the men into a tizzy over having a female moderator. The idea is to get someone with as little interest in combat as possible to be as nuetral as possible.

Have to disagree on this, that's the same as getting  a plumber to look at your wiring.

That depends on the player.  Having no interest in engaging in combat is not the same as having no knowledge of combat.  With clear rules a female can easily moderate combat issues.  In fact a female is often the best choice since the first rule should be not to moderate RP if you were a part of the scene.  I've never engaged in fighting in SL other than panther night and capture the flag but I easily handled mod calls for Treve and the Alar and neither cities had an issue with it being a woman because with their numbers all of our other moderators were fighting.

[Garrgon Resident]

I disagree that you need someone with little interest in combat to be neutral. A mod's job is to be neutral. If something like combat causes them to fall off the neutral-wagon, then they need to rethink being a moderator.

I also disagree on the plumbing vs wiring analogy. A moderator would have, at least, an understanding of how combat works even if he/she wasn't an active participant.

Being neutral has nothing to do with whether or not you enjoy or actively take part in combat or what gender your avatar is.

Mel: I think you have a good grasp on it by your OP. Between that and what Xaz added, you're off to a pretty good start.

[Delaynie Barbosa]

Let me rephrase that.  By little interest, I don't mean no interest in combat.  I mean no vested interest in the battle being moderated.  So again, for example, women on a BTB sim, women don't usually directly participate in battle. So even if they love to pew-pew in all their other time, the time spent roleplaying non-combat on a BTB sim makes them a good candidate for combat moderation because they have nothing invested emotionally in the battle. Does that mean they won't want to rule in favor of their home sim? Maybe, maybe not, but by removing vested interest, it helps to remove the temptation of loyalty. It's not a guarantee of course, but by using someone in a nuetral position anyway, is a step toward helping maintain neutrality overall.

[Mel Fitzcarraldo]

I'm combat modding this thread and shuffling everybody back on topic  

Thanks Garrgon, I have some ideas and a couple of examples but I wanted to get everybody's ideas, especially those with more experience with this than I have.

Meletius.

[Garrgon Resident]

I'm combat modding this thread and shuffling everybody back on topic  

Thanks Garrgon, I have some ideas and a couple of examples but I wanted to get everybody's ideas, especially those with more experience with this than I have.

Meletius.

The rules of Moderation that I always went by were:

- Always treat everyone with equal respect and patience.
- Never mod a situation that you were actively part of.
- First step to moderation should always be to calm the open roleplay area for others. One way that I used to do that was to lay out the rules of moderation. For example, I used to say "No more talking in open chat. Pass me your logs, and send me your complaints in IM". Sometimes I had to add in an "Open chat is now back IC." statement and a few reminders.
- As tempting as it is to have your text seen above all others...NEVER TYPE IN ALL CAPS. Well, unless you really are yelling lol I've seen Mods do this and I just think it's really bad form.
- Look over the logs, ask questions until you fully understand what happened and what the complaint is. Don't rule if you're confused on the issue.
- Make your ruling and stick by it. Understand the difference between someone abiding by your decision even if they don't agree and someone arguing or challenging your decision.
- Don't be afraid to boot the ones that challenge you, but give them fair warning first and only make it a cooling off boot, not a permanent one.
- If a player calls for a mod, voices a complaint, then starts to insult, berate, mouth off or just won't shut up in open chat while you read the logs and talk in IMs, don't be afraid to drop the mod call, rule in favor of the other person and tell the mouthy one to learn to listen to a mod.

I might think of others after I've had more caffeine.

Delaynie: Gotcha

[thyri Carver]

My rules for modding have always been

1.  Treat every participant as you'd like to be treated
2.  Receive logs from both parties (and one independant party if possible)
3.  Calmly explain your decision to the person asking for a mod
4.  Attempt to diffuse the person asking for a mod (because they're likely upset and unfortunately many do not think rationally when upset)
5.  Never mod a situation involving your RP partner (FC, slave, master) unless absolutely noone else is available
6.  Never mod a situation involving someone you have a personal conflict with.  EVER
7.  When in doubt about a combat scenario, ask someone who you trust to offer insight (someone NOT involved in the situation)
8.  Offer an oppertunity to redo if the situation has degraded so much that RP at the present time is impossible
9.  ALWAYS try to preserve RP and try not to invalidate RP unless absolutely necessary

[Mercy Riiser]

My rules for modding have always been

1.  Treat every participant as you'd like to be treated
2.  Receive logs from both parties (and one independant party if possible)
3.  Calmly explain your decision to the person asking for a mod
4.  Attempt to diffuse the person asking for a mod (because they're likely upset and unfortunately many do not think rationally when upset)
5.  Never mod a situation involving your RP partner (FC, slave, master) unless absolutely noone else is available
6.  Never mod a situation involving someone you have a personal conflict with.  EVER
7.  When in doubt about a combat scenario, ask someone who you trust to offer insight (someone NOT involved in the situation)
8.  Offer an oppertunity to redo if the situation has degraded so much that RP at the present time is impossible
9.  ALWAYS try to preserve RP and try not to invalidate RP unless absolutely necessary

Good guideline!

[Syndel Daviau]

It's guidelines specifically for GM combat, guys
We already have moderation guidelines for general roleplay.

[Adoveea Rau]

Lifts an eyebrow, I've been a combat admin for way too many sims for too many years. I'm retired.

Combat moderators are very different from the standard Roleplay moderators.
Combat Mod Admin:
1) Know every single one of your sim rules on combat AND roleplay inside and out.
2) Be 100 % up to date on the latest weapons/cheats and methods of figuring out how cheats are done
Have that list of legal weapons for your sim memorized.
3) An proactive combat admin knows when a raid/war is coming, they check how many on a sim, check incoming raiders, check their weapons on them, check numbers
4) An pro active combat admin when combat starts, slaps on their ooc label , goes instantly to an out of place room with their camera on their fullest capability meter range watching the combat, with radar and world map up on the sim and waits for any calls for them. They stay out of roleplay/combat.
5) A good combat admin never gives their personal opinion on the fight/outcomes/people involved in the combat in any manner ooc or in roleplay.
6 A good combat admin ONLY goes in and mods when they are called for by the roleplayers/combatants, otherwise they do nothing, see rule #5 again as well.
7) A good combat admin has no sides, they are totally impartial and are only there to enforce the sim combat rules.
A good combat admin cuts straight to the point, "what sim rule is broken"
from whoever called them. You don't coddle egos, you don't listen to bad mouthing emotional outbursts, you go straight to the reason they called for you.
9) When you have verified a sim combat rule has been broken,  bluntly inform them of the penalty and enforce it. If it's not, state how and why, and determine from the two parties how they want to pick up the combat from that point.

[Kaitlin Eiren]

Lifts an eyebrow, I've been a combat admin for way too many sims for too many years. I'm retired.

Combat moderators are very different from the standard Roleplay moderators.
Combat Mod Admin:
1) Know every single one of your sim rules on combat AND roleplay inside and out.
2) Be 100 % up to date on the latest weapons/cheats and methods of figuring out how cheats are done
Have that list of legal weapons for your sim memorized.
3) An proactive combat admin knows when a raid/war is coming, they check how many on a sim, check incoming raiders, check their weapons on them, check numbers
4) An pro active combat admin when combat starts, slaps on their ooc label , goes instantly to an out of place room with their camera on their fullest capability meter range watching the combat, with radar and world map up on the sim and waits for any calls for them. They stay out of roleplay/combat.
5) A good combat admin never gives their personal opinion on the fight/outcomes/people involved in the combat in any manner ooc or in roleplay.
6 A good combat admin ONLY goes in and mods when they are called for by the roleplayers/combatants, otherwise they do nothing, see rule #5 again as well.
7) A good combat admin has no sides, they are totally impartial and are only there to enforce the sim combat rules.
A good combat admin cuts straight to the point, "what sim rule is broken"
from whoever called them. You don't coddle egos, you don't listen to bad mouthing emotional outbursts, you go straight to the reason they called for you.
9) When you have verified a sim combat rule has been broken,  bluntly inform them of the penalty and enforce it. If it's not, state how and why, and determine from the two parties how they want to pick up the combat from that point.

Great list.  It reminds me of something that was pitched a few years ago.  Truly neutral combat mods shared by the community.  I wish that had worked since what is needed does go over and above the skills needed for an RP mod.  I also believe there would be far fewer calls of INVALID!