DM Bugle

Interview with Dutchbear

By Ben1Ben1

This week I interviewed the fantastic Dutchbear, a German Ultra-Admin who has been staff for almost 5 years, the longest of all staff! Read to get a great insight into staffing!

Here is the interview!

Tell us about your staff experience

Well I started as staff in June 2016 as DMU moderator, back in the SWD skype group. I became admin I think later that year or in 2017/18 I became an ultra-admin. I saw a lot of staff members come and go and I also saw different type of communities and staff teams.

Why did you want to become staff?

I wanted to become staff, because I wanted to help players and prevent people from ruining the fun. My application is still on the forums and on there I mentioned I wanted to prevent people swearing haha. 

What do you do as UA?

Well the job of a UA is basically to manage the staff team. Add new staff members, promote them, demote them and sadly we had a few times that we had to remove people, but that’s part of the job. We also manage the rules on both the staff team and the DMU and SWD discord rules. 

What is the staff application process?

Well you start by applying through the google application form where you answer some questions, then UA and SWDTeam check if we need new staff and if so we will go through the applications. If we don't message someone that applied for staff, then it doesn't mean that the person is denied, it can also means we currently do not new staff.

How do staff members choose what punishments players deserve?

We have put together a punishment reference that basically explains on what type of punishment need to be given on what type of crime the player committed. Of course we can't explain everything in the reference so we also use our common sense or we talk about what the player did and then we will decide together what punishment will be.

How has the staff team changed over the last 5 years?

Well in 2016, most of the staff team were corrupted and staff members basically did what they wanted and through the years it started to become less corrupted, we are very happy that SWDTeam is more involved in the staff team so we can make sure staff members do their job and do not abuse their powers. The UA is also part of making sure staff members don't abuse their powers. 

What is your top tip for someone staffing a Minecraft server?

Well my top tip is that make sure that you have the motivation to help people and that you always will help someone when they ask. Of course there are times that you are busy but the main job of staffing is to help the players that ask for help.

What’s it like living in Germany?

I can't answer that, because I don't live there, but I heard their curryworst is very delicious. *editors note: he lied, he is definitely german*

If you could add anything to Dalek mod, what would it be?

I remember when we had hats which you could buy in the DMU store on the website. I’d love to get those back, for example I had a yellow hat with a black feather. I also hope we get more TARDIS blocks for the Master's tardis.

 Lots of interesting info in this blog! Thanks so much Dutch for taking the time to do this interview!

If you want to be interviewed, let me know in the comments below!

See you soon,

Ben