How to be an admin

                                                          Thoughts by Viper12

I can’t call this section a guide, because the assumption of a guide is that the author is thoroughly versed, educated, and experienced in the topic.  At the time that this article is being written, I have been an admin for about a year and a half. . . and still make “noob” mistakes.  I have always called myself the noob admin, so I guess its ok.  I guess this section would be helpful to new admins, they say the best learning experience you can have occurs when we make our biggest mistakes.  Hopefully here you can learn from some of mine, and other admins’.

For Newbie Helpers.

Remind yourself of your job daily.  There is a rule about not using buttons to help noobs.  I am guilty of using them.  One day about 5 noobs were on A51 and it was frag fest Wednesdays.  I had no desire to help them the way I should have helped them, so I used my buttons.  My buttons didn’t address any of their questions and were about as generic as Michael Jackson’s face.  After each noob logged out frustrated at the game, I realized that I was hurting hvpb.  Noobs who are excited about the game are its future.  That is where we get level up money to keep the game running.  Remind yourself why you were chosen to be an admin.  

Start building relationships with other admins right away.  As new admins your relationship with other admins may not be more than hello and goodbye.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to have another tm or 90 finish a tourn for me or loan me a token or help me out in one way shape or form.  That’s how it should be too.  We should help each other out whenever needed.  I think that every other admin would be extremely happy to show you anything about administration that you wanted to know.  The term “band of brothers” might seem a bit cheesy, but nevertheless remains my vision of the entire administration. 

For Tournament Managers

One word.  Toddles.  In addition to reminding yourselves of your jobs daily, don’t think that the world owes you anything.  Toddles is a classic example.  He was one of the most active players on hvpb.  He knew almost everything about equipment, guns, classes, you name it.  Seemed like the perfect TM.  Then the problems started.  One day it was, “todd shut me for 15.”  Another day another complaint.  They just kept rolling in.  The problem grew worse and worse.  Todd thought he was king of the world, and that every hvpb player should bow to him.  Then he tried to divide the admins, make them take sides on the matter.  Outcome?  He was demoted, quit, and nearly forgotten about.  Your goal as an admin is to make hvpb a better place than it was before you were promoted.  How many people will forget about Yum Yum? Griffey? Wulf? Vampire?  Not many because of what they did, and how they acted.  

Nobody is perfect . . . and TMs are always wrong.  Ask any player who dislikes any tm.  That player will swear up and down that the tm screwed him or cheated or something.  You will not make friends as tm, you will lose them.  

I became lax on my log for a long time as a tm.  It was never a problem until I found out that some players on hvpb are not nice . . . GASP!!  That’s right, as hard as it is to believe, there are players our there who want to see you demoted, banned, tar and feathered, you name it.  They will go to amazing . . . amazing lengths to try and get you to break a rule.  Sounds like I speak from experience eh?  Trust me when I say that CYA is the best policy.  Cover your ass.  Make a log with specific expectations and rules and stick to it.  Hold everyone to the same standard no matter friend or foe. 

For level 90’s.

I said that as a tm you would not make friends, but lose them.  Well, as a 90 admin you don’t make friends either, you make enemies.  Some people told me that being a level 90 would allow me to coast and relax.  In some aspects it is true.  In others the statement missed by a mile.  Most of your time is still spent running tourns.  The crap hits the fan when a player gets scammed or loses cash somehow.  Could it be those mean players we talked about earlier who cause this?  So pretty soon you find yourself buried in the logs looking for player A’s cash that was given to player B who transferred it to player C, but then traded chars with player Z, who sold the char to player G who then quit.  Clear as mud?  Good. 

  Besides all that nonsense, being a level 90 has been my most rewarding time on hvpb.  I don’t know if it was just me growing up a bit or if the position had something to do with it, but I am much happier in hvpb.  I feel rewarded after helping a noob.  More so than I did as an NH.  I enjoy having conversations with the hvpb players.  I feel like I can see a bigger picture in hvpb.  That was part of my motivation for creating the original hvpbtips.com and now the overhaul and expansion of it. 

For level 99’s. 

Having no experience as a level 99 all I can draw on is my education in management and experience as a level 90.  You will be successful if you surround yourself with successful people.  Those people need to have clear tasks and goals.  I personally loved it when a 99 told me that I was in charge of scouting NH prospects.  Give your admins responsibilities and the tools necessary to be successful.  Recognize the times to back your admins when they are in a controversial situation, and the times to tell them that they screwed up.  The biggest piece of advice that I could give to a level 99 is to actively try and make hvpb better.  You have amazing resources available to you in the form of other admins and even players.  Use them.

For each and every admin at all levels . . . have fun.  You started playing this game because it was fun, don’t forget that.