Guide to Becoming Helper

Might make this prettier in the future. Wanted to get this out quickly while I still have the idea fresh in my mind. May also add new sections/bullet-points after this is posted.

This is a guide that'll give you some advice on how to become a helper. This'll also provide some insight on what to expect when you become helper and how to perform well once you get promoted. I resigned from the staff team over a year ago so some of this information may be slightly outdated, but for the most part it should have relevant information. This information does not include specific advice for becoming factions staff, however much of the general info is useful for those that are pursuing it.

Guideline Basics

MCC has a basic set of requirements that you must meet in order to become helper. You can view them by clicking on this orange text. Most of these are self-explanatory but I will highlight some of the important requirements as well as some advice.
​

1. Age: There have been many people who have been accepted onto the team despite being younger than 14, both before and after this requirement was set in place. Most staff will claim that it's because of maturity but from personal experience, it is mainly because the position is often too stressful for young kids. I first became staff when I was 13-14 (over 5 years ago), and I often got overwhelmed. Being staff is definitely fun especially when you've never been staff before, but even the most mature staff members get stressed out sometimes. I would definitely encourage waiting until you meet the age requirement, not only because you'll probably get denied but because you'll be able to handle the stress better.

2. Activity, Maturity and Friendliness: I definitely want to stress activity here although friendliness ties in too. If you're an active, friendly person who doesn't break the rules (view them here), you'll have awesome chances at befriending people on the server including staff members. If you want to be staff but have some self-doubt, befriending staff members is a great stepping stone towards learning about their routines as well as what to expect when you get promoted. They can offer you tips of self-improvement as well as act as a "mentor" of sorts. As you become more and more active, you'll naturally learn more about the server and other active players, which will greatly increase your chance of acceptance. This also ties into other requirements such as becoming familiar with staff abilities, getting reports, etc. You will become more confident in yourself, which is one of the most important qualities of being a staff member. Increased confidence will help you deal with situations more maturely, which is another key part of being a good staff member.

3. Player Reports/Forum Posts: Before becoming a helper, you need a minimum of 50 reports and 20 forum posts. Player reports are definitely more important out of the 2 but posts are also great. They are an accurate indicator of your knowledge and maturity which greatly help determine whether you're a good candidate for helper. Reports show whether you're willing to help out the staff team by reporting players as well as showing your knowledge about the network rules. As you make more reports and posts, you'll expand your knowledge which will be particularly useful during your helper interview. It's very important that you meet these 2 requirements before applying, otherwise not only will you most likely get denied, but it's highly likely that you'll lack important knowledge about the server and it's rules. Before applying, I recommend having more than 50 reports and 20 posts in order to be prepared for your interview. If you want my personal recommendation, I suggest a minimum of 100 reports and 30 posts that do not include off-topic threads. By this point, you should have an appropriate amount of knowledge to get through the application and interview process as long as you've been active ingame.
​

If there's even one requirement you don't meet, your chance of being denied is almost certain. There have been exceptions in the past but they're extremely rare.​

​

Additional Advice​

• Don't just play on one or two subservers. It's fine if you have a preference for one, but try to learn at least the very basics of every subserver and all the minigames. As you become more and more active on the server and forums you'll naturally gain more knowledge, but be sure to know at least some info about every subserver. This is particularly important for potential factions staff helpers since you'll still be asked non-factions questions occasionally and you'll need to be prepared to answer them.
• Don't underestimate the power of Discord. If you're confidently answering questions accurately in #support, that'll look REALLY good when you apply for helper. I personally wasn't very active in #support and a lot of people criticized me about it, so I 100% recommend helping out as often as you can in there. If you aren't confident in your answer, don't answer. There's no shame in occasionally being wrong since a staff member can correct you, but if it's a constant thing, it'll severely hinder your chances at a promotion.
• Don't get involved in drama. Many community members and even staff get super involved in drama and it's extremely immature. Don't be that guy who always starts arguments or rants about people on their profile pages. If you get denied, don't start acting toxic just because you got denied. If you stay out of drama and are a fun person to be around, you'll be respected a LOT more than someone who's constantly being dramatic.

Post-Promotion​

​

Let's jump forward a bit to the helper promotion. You've got all this new information and cool commands, but you don't know where to begin. How can you make sure that you improve enough to not get demoted in a couple weeks?
To prevent leaking staff information + sharing outdated info, this section won't be too extensive. However, I'll still provide some advice based on how I got promoted.​

• Don't be scared, be confident! The number one thing that people are worried about is making senior staff upset. A lot of staff, especially helpers are scared to message senior mods and admins because they're worried it'll reflect poorly on them. Never be scared to ask other staff questions. Some helpers go their entire trial only PMing an admin once or twice. Sure, sometimes the admins do get annoying messages from people and I've definitely sent plenty myself (sorry Timpp & Teddy!!), but being too scared to ask a question or state an opinion is equally as bad. Take risks sometimes!
• Read your guidelines! I won't be going into details about the guidelines for obvious reasons, but it's no secret that staff have special guidelines they have to follow in order to perform to the best of their abilities. Be sure to read them all thoroughly. Hell, I asked people about the guidelines 10 times on my first day so that I wouldn't make a bunch of early mistakes. I know people who only skim through and end up asking extremely basic questions because of it. Asking basic questions is in no way a bad thing in the beginning, but if it becomes a continuous thing then it'll reflect badly on you. Never stop learning!
• Do as many chatreports as you can. You'll see a bunch of different situations, both normal and bizarre, and it's important to learn about them all. This also gives you the opportunity to ask fellow staff questions and learn early so that you can start answering questions before you even get promoted to mod.
• Things will get hectic sometimes. The experience will be full of surprises, good and bad, and you'll have to accept them. Try not to get overwhelmed. If you think you're getting a bit stressed, don't be scared to go on a leave of absence. When I was helper/mod, I went on LOA nearly every month because a lot of things were going on IRL. Stuff happens and fellow staff understand that. While you definitely shouldn't panic over anything, don't be afraid to voice your concerns and have things settled calmly.

I'll probably update this with more information when I think about this. None of this is exactly mind-blowing information, but hopefully some of you learned a bit!
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or comment below.​

 

Reserved in case I make multiple changes.

 

Thank you for the kind words everyone! I tried to make this as brief as I could but I tend to ramble a bit.. xD Glad that it still ended up being helpful :D

Helpers record hackers and send them to mods+. If it's on a non-minigame subserver, they can also ask a mod+ to spectate the player so that they don't have to record it and wait for someone to reply. Helper is a trial position where you moderate chat while learning about gameplay offences, so they're bound to make more mistakes than a mod.
As for your reports question, I would definitely say that more is better. It shows that you want to help out a lot and that you're dedicated to helping the staff team out by making more reports. "Accepted" is a key word there as well, having 200 accepted reports and 10 denied reports is a lot better than 200 accepted and 80 denied. Your accepted-to-denied ratio, although not the most important factor, is still something that can be noted. Having more reports also means you have the opportunity to see a variety of rules being broken rather than, say, just hacking and scamming all the time.

I've been staff a few times now so I don't plan on reapplying anytime soon. University eats up a lot of my time so I wouldn't be able to dedicate enough time towards staff. Thank you for the encouraging words though, I really do appreciate it! :D

 

Thanks for all of the kind words everyone! I'll be busy for the next couple days, but soon I'll be updating this with more information. I'm glad it's ended up being helpful, I was worried that I'd gotten a bit rusty.. xD