staff | Suggestion Box | Forum

The requirement for 18 years isn't so much how well one can answer questions.  Whenever there are applications for staff on any forum, or even IRL jobs, the ability answer questions is usually there.  If the question is asked, "how will you handle a griefer?" no one with an ounce of intelligence is going to say anything immature.  The answers will be thoughtful and polite and sound perfectly mature.  Unfortunately, it's 1) easy to fake maturity, and 2) answering questions is not a true measure of one's maturity level.

The age requirement of 18, as I see it, is multifaceted:

• By the age of 18, players have enough IRL experience in dealing with problems that they can approach moderator duties with an appropriate perspective.  Especially when serving in leadership roles.  I have lost count of promising young forum moderators who have gone mad with power or who have lost their cool when under pressure.
• By 18, players have stabilized from their teen years.  All this isn't to say that there aren't mature teens out there, but even the most mature 13-17 year old is a volatile mix of hormones, self-assurance, and self-esteem issues.  There is a reason why 18 is widely accepted as a "coming of age" in our society.
• It's a delay mechanism.  Let's face it: teens are impatient.  A lot of teens who want to be staff (and it's not just here but anywhere on the internet) may in fact want to help, but in the teen years that desire to help can disappear quickly and be replaced by laziness or power lust.  Neither would make for a good moderator.  Having the age limit of 18 is useful for allowing a young member to decide what they want to do with their own time.
• Many players over 18 don't even really want to be moderators.  And those make the best kinds.  The saying goes "Those who desire power are the people from whom it should be kept the furthest from."  It's an old quote, so the grammar is off.  But the gist of it is that if you want the power, you should NEVER have it.  It's one of the reasons why this site doesn't accept moderator applications, and there are many out there that think the same way.  After the age of 18, though, players have college, jobs, families, etc. that take a lot of time, and videogames like Minecraft are a lower priority.  I feel that many staff, like myself, were recruited because we DIDN'T want the job.  

But try not to look at the "age of 18" as a hard threshold.  I don't know of ANY staff that were offered the job on their 18th birthday, and I'm sure that any player that said, "Hey, my birthday is today, I'm 18 now, can I be staff?" would be immediately disqualified.

Look rather at the qualifications for staff as a whole: over 18, mature, long-time player who has shown to be helpful to newbies and other players, friendly, doesn't skirt the rules or complain, etc....if you're looking for a single over-arching word for what sort of player can become staff: an adult.

But my advice is to not worry about it.  Just have fun in VeteranCraft and be glad you don't have to stop playing every 10 minutes to do a ban report or investigate a theft, grief, x-ray, or the like.

ryanpitts said

LightWarriorK said

But try not to look at the "age of 18" as a hard threshold.  I don't know of ANY staff that were offered the job on their 18th birthday, and I'm sure that any player that said, "Hey, my birthday is today, I'm 18 now, can I be staff?" would be immediately disqualified.

*cough* Isly *cough*

Ryan stop trying to get me in trouble omg