There are a lot of servers out there. How many server in the list? Like 7 server. Good work, everyone, let's keep it up.

With so many, there are bound to be many Players who are Staff on at least one server. Many are well-organized, have reasonable permissions and duties for each title, and generally are fairly good all around. Unfortunately, many people just don't understand what the titles are supposed to mean and how to properly organize their servers.

Take a look at the PMC Website hierarchy. It's reasonably well set up and suits its purposes. The staff have their individual duties and areas of responsibility, as well as a direct line for who answers to whom. The Administrators at the top, Super Moderators just below them, and then the other Moderators. I'm not counting Judges and Retired, as they aren't relevant to the purposes of this posting.

If you just don't understand what their duties are from that example, allow me to go into greater detail about what each level is meant for.

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Administrators

These are the people who do the technical things that keep the server (or site, in PMC's case) running. They are generally NOT for dealing with player disputes. You should have VERY FEW Administrators on your server in comparison to all other staff.

Administrators are typically supposed to work with plugins, manage the economy, set (though NOT enforce) the rules, and deal with anything extreme that requires a lot of work. Though they also can do much of the building for a server, most have a dedicated Builder level instead. Think of the Administrators as the Government.

Administrators manage the Staff below them only as needed. There will typically be a dedicated Head <Insert Job Here> that takes care of the normal <Insert Job Here> members in their group, but the Admins may have to deal with inter-departmental disputes. On PMC, this is actually done through the Super Moderator rank, as it is more of a Moderation than Administration area.

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Moderators

Moderators are actually meant as a rank In-Between Staff and Player. They are just normal players who are meant to enforce the rules—the Police, if you will. Police can be considered Civilians, but they make sure that the Law is followed. PMC's Super Moderator rank is much like Internal Affairs, following that comparison.

Moderators are NOT meant to run the server. They are only there to make sure the rules are followed.

Different types of Moderators can exist, too. Chat Moderators ensure that the Chat is kept as it should be. General Moderators ensure general rules are followed. Super/Head Moderators ensure the Mods are following the rules, in addition to normally being General Mods. Building Moderators, Skin Moderators, Thought Moderators... you get the idea. Adding a specific duty to the front of Moderator takes a little bit more of the general power away from them so that they can focus on specific infractions.

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Optional Staff

It should be fairly obvious that not all ranks are needed. There are some "Staff" members that have very small, very defined duties that means they are only good for doing one quick thing and are then done with for the time.

Builders

These people take Building responsibility away from the Administrators to allow them to focus more on the technical side of things. That's about it.

Devs

These are... confusing to say the least. Though they do work with Plugins, which is part of an Administrator's job, they normally shouldn't get access to anything more than a Player does on a server (unless their plugin requires that touch in-game). It may be nice to point out who is a Dev, they are more like outside, Freelancer help that isn't really "staff".

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Question: What About Owner and Co-Owner?

While it is common practice to point out who owns the server, Owner and Co-Owner statuses are equivalent to being "Head Administrator(s)." For all purposes of this, remember that whenever I say Administrator, that includes those who own the server, too.

Also keep in mind that it's just stupid phrasing to have an Owner and a Co-Owner rank on the same server. The Co- prefix stands for "Collective," "Cooperative," "Conjoined," or whatever word works for you to realize that it means Co-Owner means Owner, but just states that there is more than one. You could get rid of the Co- prefix altogether and it would mean the same thing. Having both is poor organization and shows just how little you understand about the hierarchy.

Think of the Co-Owner status as a member of the Senate. Each one has just as much say as the other(s), so it is important to choose a Co-Owner that you can agree with on enough technical standpoints and be able to work cohesively through any and all disagreements, also trying to make any disagreements better the server instead of break it.

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What Permissions Should Staff Have?

This is an important point to keep in mind. The upper ranks get everything from below, but it is important to know when someone gets what.

Administrator:

Literally everything.

Moderators:

Any appropriate command related to muting, jailing, and certain banning. It is important to keep in mind only Upper-Level Moderators should have banning capabilities, with lower ones getting Temporary Banning at the very most.

Moderators should NOT get access to Creative, Lightning, Fireball, WorldEdit, or any other command that is outside of being a tool for rule enforcement. I give my Moderators access to /fly, inventory see (but NOT the ability to move items in it), /feed (themselves, NOT others), and a couple other things that can be seen as Non-Rule Enforcement tools, but I do. Use your better judgement to know what CAN and CAN'T be a tool for this.

Builders:

As an optional rank, it is outside the normal flow of commands going upward. It does not get commands from Moderator, nor does it give commands to Moderator.

Builders should get access to WorldEdit, Creative, and Fly. Maybe /enderchest so that they can store their Survival inventories without fear of losing too much if your builders actually play on the server, too. Other than that, they should get NOTHING.

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Pyramid Schemes

Yes, your staff should be organized as a Pyramid. You need few Administrators, some Moderators, but far more Players. In order of Fewest to Most, it should be in that order. Too much staff makes Players feel over-watched (it's High Noon, amIright?), but too few leads to either technical issues or rampant rule-breaking. Adjust your staff count in response to the needs of your server. I have 3 Administrators (That includes myself), Three Moderators, One Builder, and one Dev. Sure, Mods and Admins are tied, but we are still a team of 6 people when not including the Optional. We might not need quite this many, but they are all useful and following their respective duties.

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If you want to join a 1.10 Fantasy/Steampunk Roleplaying server, then Neue Welt Roleplay might be the one for you. Apply today at http://neueweltroleplay.wix.com/home or in a Private Message to the Neue Welt Roleplay PMC account.