I want some opinions

[Lady Esdeath]

Well this is half venting / wanting some opinions from people.

Anyways, Last year I started playing a really good Pokemon MMO. Which can be found by clicking this HERE.

Now, I fell in love with the game immediately. And I played it very consistently until a couple weeks ago. I was a extremely loyal member to their community. I had around 150 - 200+ Hours of gameplay time on my main character(Not countings Alts), and I even donated when I could.

I had befriended one of the Senior GM's who is one of my best friends still, but I started talking to him about getting hired. I wasn't very active on their forums but I was on there when I could be, I was very active in-game however. So we kept talking about this on and off over the course of a couple weeks. And he said when I was ready that he would personally recommend me to one of the Head GM's / Administrators.

I had to leave the game for maybe a month due to some personal issues in my life that were going on and I had to settle those. When I came back, I got back into the same routine of playing it a lot and hanging out with old friends and making new ones. And I eventually decided that I was ready to ask my friend to Recommend me. But it turns out a couple days before I came back he resigned and quit the game due to have gotten a very time consuming job in real life. I was confused and I waited a couple days until I sent a PM on the forums to the three Head GM's.

A couple days pass before I get a response. I was happy at first like YAY! But... This is when things start bending and leading to me quitting...

I had sent the three Head GM's a very well thought out message, listing my Moderating and Administrating experience and even say in the message I can list off a number of references, and even my former bosses. They clearly could look up how active I was. They ask me to get on Teamspeak so they can conduct a interview. However I do not have a mic for my PC. I tell them this, but also strongly advise that it will not affect me doing my job if they decide to hire me, and that my former bosses can confirm this. I also tell them if they could conduct the interview in another way I could do that. Like if Teamspeak has a chat box or something, I'll listen and answer there.

So then I wait a couple more days and they respond telling me how unfortunate it is that I do not have a mic. And that if I want to be hired I absolutely have to have a mic. So I keep trying to fight this with them. Due to my current financial situation I barely ever have any money to myself and the money I am saving is going twords a new computer and I'm not spending any of it at all. And if I even got a Headset for my PC I wouldn't want a crappy 2 dollar one. Y'know?

After they told me they absolutely wouldn't hire me without a mic (Mic being the only factor I got shot down.) I quit playing and started raging to my friends about it. And everyone I know including my former bosses even said that just because I don't have a mic, doesn't mean I couldn't do the job or communicate with the team members, nor does it reflect on how I would do or negate any of my previous experience.

Do you guys think this is bullshit? I mean, when does a Mic dictate whether or not I can do the job? How passionate I was about your game and wanted to help out, or whether my previous experience is valid or not? Everyone I knew, knew that I had my heart set on that and they didn't care just because of that one little thing...

Opinions..? /End Rant.

[curtdawg21]

please dont take this the wrong way.

you're 26 years old, the same age as i am. if you want to be an admin or whatever for that game thats fine, if all that is holding you back from being one is a mic, by all means go buy one. i did some googleing and found one for $4.98 here i know you said you said you dont want a cheap one but if it gets you the mod job then who cares? if you cant afford $5 then you should probably look into getting a job instead. just saying, its funny to see how different people really are lol for instance in my shoes, i got 3 kids and a wife and im worried if i got everything done for their school shopping stuff, car insurance, license plates, birthday parties, gas money for work, and we only live off of my income lol well good luck to you whatever you choose to do

:)

[Lady Esdeath]

See, some people have told me the same thing. "Oh look! Cheap Mic go buy it!" If I want to talk to friends I do it on Xbox or on the phone or in person. The thing is, I think it's extremely BS for them to disregard everything else about me and only deny me because of something as insignificant as that. Not to mention I have two siblings living with me, putting them through school, and then taking care of my Two dogs, My cat, and my Iguana. Ontop of Bills, Food, and Insurance. The money I'm keeping for myself is going for that new computer, and adjustments I'm making to my home so that I can Adopt a baby Fox next summer since I just got my Permit for it. And I'm not spending a dime of either of those funds until I have enough for both. I have more important things to buy with my money.

[Emerald Lance]

There really are some pretty good mics out there that don't cost a lot. Headsets can be on the expensive side, but you can typically find an equal quality stand mic for less than $15. But that's beside the point. you didn't ask for info on getting a cheap mic, you asked for opinions on the fact that you were denied a staff position over the fact that you both did not own a mic and do not plan to buy one.

In any other instance I would agree with you, but in this I would stand by their point. Staff members need to be able to communicate with each other beyond website PMs. Staff members are also expected to be familiar with each other. And staff members (especially those of the banning persuasion) must be able to perform their duties without hindrance (especially when they are hindered by their own computer setup). On a website that's just a typical forum (such as this one), the rules for how staff members communicate with each other and with other members can be as lax or strict as the webmaster so chooses. However, on a website that runs a game (especially one where hundreds of players at a time interact with one another), I would expect for the moderators to be able to communicate via voice chat.

It comes down to the community. Using 360 Haven as an example, every administrator and moderator is hacking-literate to some degree. It's just part of the job description. The similar catch for an MMO website would likely be that every moderator and administrator must be able to communicate with other members (including each other) as one would with any other game: voice chat. Especially in a computer game, where the keyboard is preoccupied with the controls of the game, it's inefficient and sloppy to use text chat in place of voice chat. Staff members are expected to be the best any one online community has to offer, so it only makes sense that the staff members be picked for their ability to fall in line with those expectations. You're being trusted to uphold the integrity of the image of the website, after all.

Another thing is that, if the site is large enough, the staff members may expect to have meetings from time to time. That's probably also a big factor. Most websites don't interview total strangers for trusted positions of power; most websites will simply keep a quiet eye on a member and then contact him or her when they need a staff position filled. The only exceptions are huge game sites, especially MMOs. This is because their communities are so ridiculously huge that they have to have an appropriate number of moderators to help keep them in line. Chances are, if you were interviewed for the position, then the website in question is one such example. If a meeting needs to be called, chances are they'll want to do it via voice chat. (Maybe they have their own private staff server?)

At any rate, the point is thus: being a moderator for an MMO sucks. The community is loosely knit, you aren't really given all that much power, administrators tend to trust you only slightly more than the average user, and you're expendable. Oh, how expendable MMO moderators are! Case in point, how upset did they seem to not be getting you? Did it seem like they knew they were passing up a huge opportunity? Or was it just on to the next interview for them? I understand and agree with the prerequisite that an MMO moderator must be able to chat via mic. But you don't wanna be with those guys anyway (aforementioned reasons). The best communities to moderate are the closely knit ones. As the theme song to Cheers goes: where everybody knows your name.

[Lady Esdeath]

Every game I've moderated and Administrated on was an MMO.... And I did fine without a mic... t-t

[JMan1C1347]

Neither you or the company are inherently wrong.
They want to be able to talk to whoever they work with
& you shouldn't be necessarily required to do so, especially
if you're clearly well-versed in keeping open & frequent
communications every other way.

I find that the position itself lends more towards your argument
then it does theirs. You're not the "head honcho"
of the entire game or anything like it. Big
meetings with mics should hardly be required.
& in todays society a lot of people prefer
texting or something to that effect as opposed
to talking on the phone.

It's unfortunate that your dedication wouldn't
be enough to get you over that hump in their
eyes, but that's the way it is sometimes.
If it is something you're passionate about,
sometimes you concede to the other side,
if even humbly & regardless of the nonsensical
aspects. Not unlike having a girlfriend. Buzzinga...