Staffing "Paying" Your Moderators

[Uaithne 543]

In a work environment, staff receives benefit for their labor usually in the form of cash but also in terms of insurance, discounts, and other benefits.

 

But in roleplay, staff members are expected to do the work without receiving anything that you wouldn't give a regular member.

 

I was trying to list the benefits of being staff for a staff request form, but I'm falling short. (Suggestions would be lovely.) The above realization made me wonder why we don't "pay" staff members - in fact, we discourage it. They don't get in-game points to spend in the store each month, or pinned plot threads to thank them for their hard work, or special characters for upholding their position.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic. There are many pros and cons to "paying" staff (more cons than pros in my humble opinion) but there isn't really a "right" answer . . . How we chose as an RP community to reward (or not) our hard-working staff could be vastly different from an RP community on the other side of the internet.

[Rune 1,099]

I think the primary reason is that they volunteer. And the idea that they are there to serve the site as opposed to "working" for the board. It's a weird mentality. That and staff is usually there first and gets prime claim to canons, ranks, etc. I've seen some sites offer extra character slots when there's a limitation. CW staff really just gets to skip posting in the AC because we keep track of one another. 

 

I like the idea, to an extent. As long as it didn't put everyone else at a disadvantage. Extra character slots or simplistic goodies seems the way to go. 

[Zahhy 130]

I've always struggled with this as well. If I had staff I would want to reward them in some way if I could, but I think that it would come from me personally and not from the forum - if that makes any sense. I might pay to have their character art commissioned or something. We all end up putting personal time and money into these things, so I can see why some people may feel a little uncomfortable about missing out on recognition.

 

Right now it is only ME & I worry that people will think I'm taking liberties or paying myself in ways that are unfair. There is this very serious mentality that Admin are supposed to play on the same field as everyone else so upper-hand/ favoritism is always looked down upon. To avoid any issue I settle for something menial that makes me feel good but couldn't be considered a site reward such as coloring myself a special token to indicate my Admin Status or as Rune suggests taking Ranked/ highly coveted character positions that I want (though I always follow the same rules of acquisition as my players).

 

I just make sure to reward myself the same way I reward players. If they create adoptables for marks, I make sure I give marks to myself for doing the same (Though I forget a LOT, like A LOT A LOT). 

 

I do like the idea of giving staff something extra and I think if you did it honestly and as part of the rules, nobody would question it. I don't think anyone would complain if there was a set system in which active Staff Members get regular in-game points to spend in the store each month, or pinned plot threads to thank them for their hard work, or special characters for upholding their position for a long period of time. Like yea, sure, if you suddenly start showing favoritism to certain people just because they HAPPEN to be staff, that might cause a stir, but if rewards are built into the game, and it just so happens that Staff get a little extra, I can't see people freaking out too much.

[Huskerdust 625]

Good point. I never really thought about it, but it's kinda true. Sure, they volunteer for the position but volunteers also have perks when they work somewhere for free. Like when I volunteered at the library, I always had first pick of new books coming in so I didn't have to wait on waiting lists to read them or request them, for example. 

[FriedKilamari 46]

I've seen a lot of varying opinions on whether or not moderation should be considered a "job" or not, and I've seen some gripes about the term "professionalism" being used in regards to staff behavior.

 

While staffers do volunteer for the position, it is a job. They have tasks they're required to do, many receive training periods, and in all of my experiences in moderation (be it roleplay or other forums) staff is held to higher standards than the average member. Staff are supposed to know the rules, abide by them, and enforce them (among other jobs assigned to them). They're supposed to be professional, and absolutely deserve some form of compensation for this.

 

Different rewards/perks vary, but I have seen some people considering actually paying their staffers in offline currency. This is relatively new, and I don't know for sure just exactly how popular it is, but I'm just throwing it out there as something I've seen recently! Other perks that haven't been mentioned are: access to private areas of the boards, knowledge about upcoming projects/updates, and perhaps even a bit more influence on their board to make various changes.

[xexes 108]

Because you want to help, because you like the place, because you like the job.

 

The reason we don't pay is very simple: with money comes a changed mindset, a changed dynamic, and expectations.

 

Suddenly, wage is about fairness, about competition, about hours and quality and even gaming the system for more. Suddenly there's deserving and owing and things aren't a game anymore, it becomes a job. Whenever you think of charging, ask yourself, "Am I prepared to deal with this on a professional level?".

 

Remember, there are two ways to loose a friend : one is to borrow, one is to owe.

Edited September 8, 2017 by xexes

[featherstone 69]

I don't think one should receive advantages other than, say, a special badge or artwork. What seems perfectly fair as a reward - say, being more lenient in applying the rules, allowing more powerful characters etc - can easily be seen as favouritism by other members, from whose point of view you're making exceptions for your friends. It can be disruptive for a community, so I'd rather not.

[Morrigan 1,826]

So it appears I'm going to be the odd man out here. Just because you volunteer your time doesn't mean that your time isn't valuable.I do agree that general "advantages" in the game are not the way to go but there should definitely be ways that you can make sure your staff knows you value their time.

 

My best example is that here on the Initiative, as long as the staff member is doing their jobs they are provided with advertising for their roleplays.

 

As for staff on roleplays I find that a little more difficult to come up with (because I'll be honest I hardly ever have staff when I run roleplays) however it should be something that normal members CAN get but with effort and the reward should match the effort. Additionally, I don't believe it would be seen as favoritism if it's clearly laid out that it's an advantage of being a staff member. On an old RP that I was on they had an OOC currency that as long as the staff was online and doing their jobs etc they earned some of that in game currency. It wasn't an outrageous amount. It was like 1 gem gor their gem shop where everythings costs like 5+ gems to buy anything, but it really does show that they value the persons time. I did not feel like this system was playing favorites.

 

So really it depends on the systems you have in place and what you have to offer.

 

@Uaithne

[Icewolf 258]

I would say that things like badges/artwork, in-game currency if you have it, links to websites are a good way of 'paying staff.'

 

I am not sure about giving them extra character slots (unless it's an original character of their own), and other perks is good for the other members. As staff, access to forums which regular members are not privy to comes with the job as their input is valued in regarding how the site is run, discussing what to do with 'problem members', streamlining rules, coming up with site-wide plots, etc. That I would consider is part of the job of being on staff. 

 

I there was a situation on a site I was on in the early days of the internet when staff seemed to 'win' all the awards when the forum had it's annual awards ceremony. (As a regular member, I could never work out if ordinary members had voted for them or if they'd been taking advantage of their position as staff - that's a situation to avoid, but as the site was small, it was difficult to have the awards ceremony without staff taking part because there wouldn't have been that many entrants.)

 

You have to be careful about this, I think, so it appears to be fair to everyone.

[xexes 108]

On 9/8/2017 at 8:02 AM, Morrigan said:

So it appears I'm going to be the odd man out here. Just because you volunteer your time doesn't mean that your time isn't valuable.I do agree that general "advantages" in the game are not the way to go but there should definitely be ways that you can make sure your staff knows you value their time.

 

My best example is that here on the Initiative, as long as the staff member is doing their jobs they are provided with advertising for their roleplays.

 

As for staff on roleplays I find that a little more difficult to come up with (because I'll be honest I hardly ever have staff when I run roleplays) however it should be something that normal members CAN get but with effort and the reward should match the effort. Additionally, I don't believe it would be seen as favoritism if it's clearly laid out that it's an advantage of being a staff member. On an old RP that I was on they had an OOC currency that as long as the staff was online and doing their jobs etc they earned some of that in game currency. It wasn't an outrageous amount. It was like 1 gem gor their gem shop where everythings costs like 5+ gems to buy anything, but it really does show that they value the persons time. I did not feel like this system was playing favorites.

 

So really it depends on the systems you have in place and what you have to offer.

 

@Uaithne

 

Wow what a great new view, I hadn't even thought of a wages outside of money.

 

Advertising and points are some great ways to reward hard work. I've seen it done in many places successfully - and not once done badly. There are a lot of staff that work hard at their jobs, and there are a lot of dirty, hard jobs that could use some more help.

[CovertSphinx 710]

If the reward is going to mean that staff is playing on different board rules than the members, then I don't recommend doing it. This is the fastest way to promote favoritism and a regime "clique". For example, the Easiest example I can explain is thus:  I've seen a several Bleach based fandoms back in the day were Staff members were allowed to apply directly for Captain positions (top rank) where-as regular members had to work their way up from the VERY bottom - leading to several stories from friends on said sites about members (many long standing) who weren't bffs with the staff got held back from improving their stats by indirect ("Indirect" to be read as: Clearcut but technically acceptable) abuses of in-game power. Harder feelings crept in when the newer members of staff were also newer members in general. Many hard feelings were had from what I heard through the grapevine.

 

Anything that won't "break the board" so-to-speak is generally a good idea:

• Special placement of advertisement in a prominent location
• Premium skin access
• SLIGHTLY faster Monetary accumulation
• badges/stickers
• special banners
• graphic spotlight (I had a special board headers made for a few people based on plots they were running or characters they had to highlight their awesomeness)
• an area/item/ other in-game function "named" for them
• extra character slot
• exemptions from activity checks
• special NPC rights
• little sprite pets