Hello ! I am Fire Woven.

I have decided to write an article on something that is actually rather important when dealing with any public multiplayer server; the way server staff is structured. I know that sounds like a rather... bland topic, as opposed to building, surviving, wiring your redstone (or other) contraptions, and socializing. But if you play a public multiplayer server, there's a good chance you have to deal with staff. If you ARE a staff, then you obviously deal with it.

Just a note, skip the next four paragraphs if you honestly don't care about the story, and will believe that I know what I'm talking about.

Anyway let me start by saying I've been playing on public servers since roughly two years ago. (September-ish 2010) My first server was a pretty standard SMP for the time. A few plugins, some basic donor perks you could get. But a few months after I began playing there, my friend and I applied for moderator. He was accepted, and began his own journey down the road of server moderating. Suffice to say the staff structure of the server was rather simple. Mods were mods, there were three admins (all personal friends, it seemed) and that was about it. Due to him and I being young and unenlightened, he was later fired for power abuse (spawning items for himself and me). We left that server, and it shut down a month later. I then played on a small roleplaying server after that. But that's actually irrelevant to the topic really.

The next server I played on was another SMP, but this was in March 2011. I will save you the story and just say it was ruined by a LOT of abuse of power by some admins, and the owner was MIA. So it went away. That was the first time I saw true admin abuse. And it was... odd.

Finally, I joined the server that I would play on for a long, long time. In April 2011, I joined up on some small server I found on the Minecraft forums. I wound up buying the highest donor package (basically OP) and made quite a few friends there. After the powers of donors were chopped down a bit, me and a few of the others were made moderators. for righteous usage of powers. So I was a mod, and played there. Became a Senior Moderator later that summer, and an Administrator in December. I played there until June of this year, and learned a LOT about what running a server really takes. We were one of the best in the world for a while there, but we eventually fell on hard times. Me and most of the senior staff resigned in June, and helped found another server with our other former co-workers.

I had played on that server until just recently When hired on, they needed extra help with development and bacvkend server work. So I volunteered, handed the Head Administrator position off to Harris4, and became a Developer. After some leave and a busy schedule, I was removed from Developing as I could not meet the time requirements that our Head Developer required. So I wound up being hired back on by the admins as a Sr. Moderator. I recently left their due to dispute with the owners. And am currently heading up a personal project with some others.

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So basically, all of the above can be described in one sentence. I know what I'm talking about. Now, on to the important bit of the article. I will actually be writing this as a short series of them (maybe three) so that I don't feel like wrapping something up because I've wasted enough of your time with it.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THESE ARE SIMPLY MY INTERPRETATION OF THESE RANKS

Let's start with the types of staff. The "big three" being-

• Moderator
  
• Administrator
  
• Developer
  

Now these have gone by different names, and are not the same duties. But they are all important

Moderators are the most common staff type, as they are the most needed. There is no "magic number" for how many mods you need. That depends on too many variables (how many people are on when they are. how many other mods are on when they are, ect.), so it's really to the discretion of the admins. However they have a very important job. Keep the players in line, and keep them happy. A mod should be watching the chat of a server, assisting players as needed, and be friendly and approachable. Players shouldn't fear mods, they should be friends with them. And not just because of the perks of having a mod friend.
Administrators (admins) are the mods for the mods. Sort of. They oversee them, and make sure that they are doing what they need to be. Typically, they either helped to create the server, or are mods who have earned a promotion. They can in some cases become less attached to the major community, and stay more involved with the mods. However if a major dispute arises, or anything involving a mod comes up, they would probably get involved.
Developers are probably the most important part of a server, simply because they're the ones who keep it going. They maintain the plugins and mods, solve any bugs and problems, add and tweak content, and keep the dreaded lag beasts at bay. This rank has gone by several names (System Admin, some servers use Admin to mean this, ect.) but they are always important. The involvement between a Dev and the community doesn't even need to exist, technically. As long as they work with the other staff, especially administration, they are technically doing their job. However Dev interaction with players is strongly recommended, so that they can work directly with the people.

That covers the main three sections of staff. These can be further divided though. However these ranks are somewhat less common and more specified.

Trial Moderators: Trial Mod, Jr. Mod, Assistant Mod, Helper, call it what you will. This rank is for the players who are proving themselves as moderating staff. They can gnerally carry out basic moderation (kicking, muting, possibly tempbanning), but are not fully mods yet. They aren't technically staff, and are still earning that title. However they are essential to growing your staff, and replacing those who leave it.

Sr. Moderators: A Sr. Moderator is a rank some servers use to both reward a devoted moderator, and ease the duties of admins. They generally have more of a say in who is hired, and they take a more active role in training the Trial Moderators in order to ensure they are ready for the task. When a major dispute arises, especially between to staff, and no administrators are around, a Sr. Mod may step in to resolve the issues.

Head Administrator: This is one of the highest ranking people on the server. The Head Admin (HA) oversees the admins, devs, mods, and players. They step in when absolutely necessary, and must oversee the admins. All admin candidates should be approved by them first. They answer to the owner, and are on par with the Head Dev (both only if applicable)

Manager: The Managers are people that are so well trusted, they gain the authority of the owners. They can speak and act on their behalf, unless going directly against what an owner has said or done. They should be treated as owners in most respects.

Owner: This is the person(people) who founded the server. They own it, and are in charge. What they say goes. Unless they become incapable, they are in charge.

Jr. Developer: These are the Developers that are either earning the trust of their superiors or are learning the ins and outs of the server. They generally are not directly in the server, and hand work over to full developers.

Sr. Developer: These are the Admins of the Development staff. They dictate who does what, and have final say in what gets done. They answer to the Head Developer, and to the Admins in some cases. If they want something done, it gets done.

Head Developer: This is the person in charge of all the Developers and has final say in what gets done to the server (Owner excluded) They are generally someone who knows their stuff, and should actually be regarded highly in that respect.

That'll cover the three main fields quite nicely. Now for a few other odds 'n ends.

Builder: Builders are people that your server trusts with permission to spawn items, fly, us WE in some cases, ect. They are also good at creating eye-please structures. Whether brought on temporarily, or just left around, builders can be useful to have. If you want a new spawn, or any public build that's staff-endorsed, it will fall to them to build it. Overseen by a member of staff, or a Head Builder, they are guided on how to get the job done.

Advertiser: These are the guys who need to maintain the public image of the server. Making videos, taking screenshots, posting on forum sites, and other things that give a server popularity, all fall to them. They are what brings in new players, and should be overseen by a member of staff because of this.

Whether your server uses all of these ranks, more of them, less of them, or none of them, they are still some standard rate things. Not every server needs to be staffed like this, but it's a good start if you don't know where to look.

Thanks for reading! I'll be sure to get part two done next week!

~Fire