---

These Volunteer Staff Application Terms & Conditions constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity (“you”) and Star by Star Gaming ("Company", “we”, “us”, or “our”), concerning your volunteer services on any of our services and or platforms such as and not limited to, our websites, game servers, any other media form, media channel, console or PC application, mobile website or mobile application related, linked, or otherwise connected thereto. You agree that by posting this application and or responding to application question (1.) with "Yes, I do agree to these terms and conditions.", you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by all of these terms and conditions. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, THEN YOU ARE EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED FROM APPLYING FOR A VOLUNTEER STAFF POSITION AND YOU MUST DISCONTINUE YOUR APPLICATION PROCESS IMMEDIATELY.

You accept and understand that you are not any form of an employee, contractor, or agent of Star by Star Gaming. You accept and understand that the volunteer services you provide will be a donation and under no circumstances will you expect wages, salary, or benefits from Star by Star Gaming for the services provided during your time as a Volunteer Staff member. We reserve the right to remove or let go of any volunteer staff member for any reason and at any time at our sole discretion.

Any and all actions, including and not limited to, player and or user punishment, such as issued bans or otherwise on our game servers, websites, or other platforms, as well as any statements made by you, or any behavioral misconduct, does not express the views of Star by Star Gaming and are conducted at your sole discretion. You agree that all of these are of your own and you withhold full personal responsibility. Your actions, behavior, and or statements will be taken or given at your sole discretion and you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless, including our subsidiaries, affiliates, and all of our respective officers, agents, partners, contractors, volunteers, volunteer staff, and employees, from and against any loss, damage, liability, claim, or demand due to the outcomes of your gross negligence, willful misconduct, actions, statements, and or behaviors or any other conduct on your behalf, which cause or may give rise to criminal liability while performing volunteer staff services for Star by Star Gaming.

IN NO EVENT WILL WE OR OUR DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, VOLUNTEERS, VOLUNTEER STAFF, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFIT, LOST REVENUE, LOSS OF DATA, OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR VOLUNTEER SERVICES, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

These Volunteer Staff Application Terms & Conditions can and may be updated at any time without notice at our discretion, so be sure to frequently check back for any updates to these terms and conditions. An effort to inform you that they've been updated will be made, but not promised, so it's your responsibility to periodically check back. By posting this application and or responding to application question (1.) with "Yes, I do agree to these terms and conditions.", you are accepting and agreeing to these terms and conditions indefinitely regardless of any changes or amendments to these terms and conditions unless or until you are no longer a Volunteer Staff member. If at any point you no longer agree to these terms and conditions, you must immediately resign from your Volunteer Staff position and cease to continue your volunteer services immediately.

---

(1.) Do you agree to and accept the Volunteer Staff Application Terms & Conditions? If so, please answer with "Yes, I do agree and accept these terms and conditions." -  Yes, I do agree and accept these terms and conditions.
 
(1a) What name and or alias are you most commonly known as within the SBS community? -  Yaycob Brooks-Nova, or Brooks by some
 
(1b.) What is your age? - 12

(2.) Which volunteer community staff position is your application for? -  Galaxy of Magic Interim Staff Manager Application
 
(3.) Approximately, when was the first time that you joined our community and how did you initially discover it? - Waaaay back in 2016, I was waiting on a buddy of mine to play some games with. He was taking a bit so I loaded up gmod to mess around while I waited. I saw a category named "[REDACTED]RP] and thought hey, messing with some [RE DACTED] dorks could be a fun time. Well, I was messing around for a bit, but I grew sorta attached. Met some fun people and started playing frequently, talking to community members off server, you get the gist. I got into the community's other server, Clone Wars, and the forums, too. Since then I've always stuck around at least a bit. Some times more than other, but I've never completely left.
 
(4.) Community staff are held to a much higher standard both in general and with activity when compared to standard game server staff. In this case, do you understand that you can be let go at any time for excessive inactivity at our discretion? -  Of course

(4a) How can we be certain that you will remain active on the server upon being accepted for a volunteer staffing position? -  I'm not sure if there's a way to have people be 100% certain, but I fully intend to remain active during my time as interim. My activity is admittedly pretty spotty since the last time I held a server position, but I can also confidently say that in any of my prior positions, the moment I felt myself becoming inactive, I would give myself a short period to see if that would change, and if it didn't I would resign so the position could be filled by someone active and deserving. If I do not want to fulfill the position's duties, I will not hold them hostage and have little be done. All of that being said, the fact that this is an interim position should make it very unlikely I burn out. I'm interested and excited to get back into things and integrate back with the team for the time I'm here :)
 
(5.) Tell us a little about yourself and why you would like to be accepted for a volunteer staffing position on SBS. (100 words or less) -  Hi I'm Yaycob! I've been here for a while. I'm relatively easy to get along with, I talk a ton tbh. Some stuff I'm really into are Astronomy or MMA. Not a lot to me, I'm a pretty simple guy. I'd like to be accepted for the position because I genuinely do feel I'd be a good fit here (although this app is being posted after lol. I was approached with the offer to server as the interim manager until the next is chosen. I'll be honest and say I had a lot of concerns I voiced and had to think about and get input about. I'm normally against a position like this being appointed this way, but after a lot of lengthy discussion regarding my concerns I figured that since it was an interim position I could definitely serve as a (at least) decent hold-me-over until someone permanent comes along as manager. Since it's more of a temporary position, I figure that even in a hypothetical worst-case-scenario, things would still be okay as they wouldn't last long. I seriously doubt it comes to that, I think I can work with the team just fine.  I have the time to spare right now, I've done it before and did pretty decent, I think I'm ready to jump back into it. Jumping head first is a bit scary though, won't lie. I have a lot to learn about the current team.
 
(6.) In your opinion, which quality of yourself do you feel that you need to improve on the most? -  I would definitely describe myself as a pretty lenient and playful person. That can be a good thing, I like to mess around (within reason) a little bit with whatever I'm involved in and try to create a fun environment. I'm prone to making mistakes just like anyone. Sometimes I may get a bit too wild or not notice something I'm doing may not be okay. It doesn't happen often at all, but I have in the past had someone provide criticism on things I have done that I, in the moment, thought weren't a big deal. It's important I'm very receptive to criticism when it comes to that.

(6a) In your opinion, which skill set of yours do you feel that you need to improve on the most? -  As an entire skillset, and not that I think I'm horrible at it, but professionalism probably. I'm a very casual and easy going guy. That probably shows even in serious situations a bit. I can get more serious when I need, but at the end of the day I'm still pretty joke-y and loose. In some situations that's not the way to be.
 
(7.) How would having you on our volunteer staff team benefit our community and what qualities set you apart from the rest of the applicants? -  To put it simply, the community is in a big transition phase right now while the GoM server is being fleshed out and completed. It's gonna take a lot of work to have things feel "normal" again. I think that with past experience and an open mind, I can help in our beginning stages of that as the interim. Having someone from outside of the team come in this way can have both good and bad consequences. One particularly good consequence is that I may be able to provide a different perspective on current and future issues, as an outsider to the current team, that may not have been thought about before. I'm going to actively strive to learn more about this team and do my best to be communicative and beneficial to them. Lastly, I think I am particularly good at putting myself into other peoples' perspectives, both staff or players', and seeing things from a different point of view. I try to think of things from multiple angles and at the very least understand the opposing opinions too.
 
(8.) Have you ever previously maintained a game server staffing position, or currently are, on any other Garry's Mod servers? If so, which ones, and in which staffing positions? (List them if possible) -  
Oh lord, here we go! Might get some details wrong, it's been a minute:
- Dark Obelisk Gaming (Mod, TTT/Prop Hunt/Murder)
- Light Totem Gaming (Admin, TTT/Prop Hunt/Murder)
- Grudge Gaming (Mod, DarkRP)
- StarByStar Gaming (Forum Admin, CW Staff Manager, HW Staff Manager)

(9) How would you rate your skills overall out of 10 (E.g., patience, response time, etc.) - 
I'd put myself at a solid 8 overall. 
For different skills individually:

Patience, 7:  I think I'm good at keeping patient when need be, but I can definitely improve here. I'm good at listening, but I do need to work on biting my tongue and letting people finish. I can sometimes be quick to responding to an individual point someone has without letting them finish. It's something I'm aware of and mindful of.

Response Time, 9: I can be reached very easily and pretty quickly. Lots of things are sort of time sensitive, a quick response is usually always a good thing. Off the forums / server, I'm very easy to get a hold of as well. I keep my notifications on and frequently check if I receive any messages from people.

Communication, 10:  As I spoke about before, I can talk a lot at times. I like to debate things and flesh ideas out more than they already are. I like hearing other perspectives, opinions, criticisms, concerns. I like voicing my own back. I like trying to figure things out, weeding out bad solutions, finding the best possible way to handle things. I think talking to people directly and asking for others' opinions is very important. I think my communication is one of my better qualities, for sure.

Flexibility, 8: I can adapt to different things that are decided on even if I personally do not agree with them. I will debate my own feelings of course, in good faith, but if that is not the general consensus, I can adapt and be completely fine with that outcome. I won't be right about everything. I think I also can see things very clearly through some else's perspective, and that very much can help me understand things and be flexible.

Honesty, 9: To keep this short and pretty, I'm a pretty honest and open person. Outside of possible small white lies, this shouldn't be an issue at all.

Loyalty, 10: I've been here more than 6 years. There's been plenty of opportunities to jump ship. Plenty of ups and downs. Plenty of big drama, drastic decisions, and cataclysmic outcomes. I've had opportunities to join other similar servers trying to branch off. Through that all I'm still here and interacting with the community. I think I'll be here until SBS no longer is.

(10.) Provide a couple of examples of situations or issues you may encounter and how you would handle them in the position you are applying for -  For the community members that are active on the forums, I'm sure you may have seen how I handle certain things that have come up that I've dealt with. Whether that be input on server drama, a staff report, the Ebony report specifically on me, I think so far I have dealt with most everything pretty professionally and good. For some examples:
- Staff member leaking: Depending on the severity here, the punishment changes drastically. Are they literally streaming the staff meeting, or did they tell someone why the staff don't want to implement a suggestion they made? In the first case, that'd be considered severe. I'd take that very seriously and a demotion would be a possibility there. In the second, I view that as acceptable and communicative with the player. Unless there's some sort of sensitive information shared (like maybe a future update? really depends), that's really a non-issue and is a good thing.
- Staff member found breaking rules: I feel like this is about to get repeated a lot, but context can matter. Are they mass RDMing and using godmode to mess with the players? In that instance, it's obvious a demotion would be necessary. The more likely scenario is a staff member goofing off with some friends. Maybe they allow some micspam, some friendly RDM, some light minging? This can be handled by a quick one on one talk, making it clear that that's not acceptable behavior and that bias isn't tolerated. It'd be made clear that their staff duties still matter, regardless of friends or not. Regardless of situation though, they must always be talked to and levelled with. Communication is key.
- Staff member abusing their in-game powers: Let's say a staff member were to buddha themselves during a lockdown so they couldn't be killed. That is a blatant abuse of the powers that isn't tolerable. This could be solved by a quick chat making it clear that their behavior isn't okay and that isn't something they're allowed to do. Something that I actually dealt with in the past, I had an admin abusing their power to set themselves to peoples' custom jobs, despite not being whitelisted. I made it clear that that wasn't okay behavior and there was some push back. Regardless of the push back, I emphasized that they absolutely could not be using jobs they are not whitelisted to. They were found one time after that doing it again, and I made it clear I would not be warning them again to quit. I told them if I see this any more, they will have that power removed from them and they'd be either demoted to mod, or entirely. That issue stopped happening after that. I don't usually like to get strict, but some instances call for it. If there is repetition in power abuse, it becomes more of a problem. A warning only goes so far if the problem keeps happening. Punishments may get more severe and suspensions / demotions may become a possibility depending on the severity of abuse.

I want to emphasize that communication is gonna be key in almost all situations that could happen. If I'm ever met with a situation where I'm not confident in how I feel about it, I will reach out to a fellow staff member and get a second or third opinion. It never hurts to discuss a bit and hear others' opinions.
 
(11.) If applicable, please provide a list of all your previous volunteer staff applications, provide a link to them if possible, and list any reasons why they may have been locked. If they were previously accepted, please provide a short explanation of why you are no longer volunteer staff at the time of this application. (Disregard if this is your first application) -
Since old forums are gone and these are wiped, this is hard to do - I will describe the positions though as best I can. It's been a long time and I can't check back for clarity, so the positioning might be slightly wrong, fair warning.

HW Moderator #1 - Accepted, served a few months happily. Had feedback to speak at a meeting that a lot of players wanted talked about and the team at the time was a bit dismissive. I wasn't happy with the lack of acknowledgement in the meeting and went to the forums seeking direct player input on my issue. Admittedly it was a bit rushed and resulted in my only demotion to date.

HW Moderator #2 - Accepted. Shortly after that demotion, maybe a week, I got moderator back. I held this position for a long time, even during my time as CW Staff Manager. I resigned from this position following unfortunate community drama with the then co owner.

CW Moderator #1 - Accepted, at the time the CW server wasn't in the best of shape. I held this position for a long time, with an absolutely AMAZING staff team, and helped to bring CW back to good activity (65+ daily). I held this until I got CW Staff Manager.

Forum Admin #1 - Accepted. Held this position for a very long time, even after the before mentioned drama. After resigning from the above server positions, I still held this position. I believe it wasn't until I resigned from HW StaffM that I resigned from this.

Community CVisor - Denied. This position had two applicants, me and Astro. Him and I were both active on both servers at the time (HW and CW). He was very much a good fit for the position, he did great.

CW Staff Manager - Accepted. Unfortunately I did not hold this position for as long as I wanted to. I will admit that this is the most fun I have had in a position on SBS. I adored CW, I loved what it had become, I loved the staff team, the RP leaders, everything was squeaky clean. We had pretty frequent updates, quickly added after being discussed in meetings. The community drama I talked about before with the co-owner at the time is the reason I resigned from this position. It was an extremely hard decision for me to make. I think I did a great job with this position specifically. My team was as happy as it had ever been on that server.

HW Moderator #3 - Accepted. I held this for a long time before being promoted to HW Staff Manager. I had a great time moderating, becoming admin, debating, making new friends on the staff team and meeting new people. Being a part of the new map's development a little was so fun at the time. This go around, having experience on two of SBS's servers, I used knowledge from both to pitch suggestions to improve what the team was already doing. Some of those still happen today. This whole run was a blast really.

HW Server Manager - Denied. Another applicant got the position over me. He was a great applicant at the time, a very solid admin. Completely fair.

HW Staff Manager - Accepted. I held this for a while, and like I had mentioned before in HW Mod 3, I used past knowledge from both servers, alongside current knowledge, to try to push for a bunch of changes that are lasting and had (in my opinion) good effects. We took a page out of CW's book and took meeting notes. We stopped banning people without first speaking to them or warning them, which was surprisingly common at the time. We loosened up some on name rules. I'd like to say the team worked excellent together, outside of the rare hiccup, and was very open to giving and receiving criticism from one another. After serving in this a while, I resigned from both this position and forum admin, and took a break from the community.

Forum Admin #2 - After a long and much needed break, I started peeking at the forums again. That became more common, I'd make the occasional and rare comment on the big threads, but I read most of everything. I was getting interest in the community again and a position had opened up, so I decided trying to apply again couldn't hurt. I still hold this position up until now. I think I've been a good, active, reasonable, and communicative forum admin, at least so far. Still going strong.


And here we are. I look forward to working with everyone : )