wooders1996
Career
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2012
- Messages
- 1,010
- Reaction score
- 202
Hello and welcome to my MCSG story so far. I decided that it was time to write one of these to give you guys a flavour of my history at this awesome community. The main reason for this thread is that it is very near my 1 year anniversary as a staff member. It is very probably going to be a long and boring tale so if you’re Dave there will be a TLDR at the bottom 
So I guess it’s best to start right back in October 2012 when I created an account on the MCSG forums. I had been playing on the servers the night before with a few mates of mine and decided that it would be a good idea to get an account. I had been a member of FyreUK, the build team, for about half a year and had been playing minecraft for a year, so was familiar with the game, but found the idea behind the game enthralling. Being a major nerd I had read the Hunger Games (before they became mainstream, #hipster) and was really excited with the gametype. Around this time I got Veteran on FyreUK, for helping out around the server, and got talking with K1ll1er about an idea he had to build a Hunger Games Map. We began throwing around ideas.
Little known fact, the original Fyre Games 1 was going to be in 8 sections, with 8 different biomes and was going to have a giant Ziggurat (weird Aztec Temple) in the centre. We even got round to building a miniature and a half size of the Temple that is still sitting in the FyreUK server.
Eventually we got a basic idea and began building a plan for the map. At this point I drifted away from the project, focusing my efforts on the up and coming timelapse, The Vaederian Palace, and was replaced by NemesisArc and JenDrk, who soon became the second most important person on the project. The project was then approved by Matt and Phil, the FyreUK owners, and we set about building the map. After it was complete we all patted ourselves on the back and left K1ll1er to sort out the complexities of getting it on a server.
Then, in early 2013 K1ll1er messaged me on the FyreUK TeamSpeak to come down and chat with him. He said that Fyre Games was merging with MCSG and that Nemesis, JenDrk and I would get moderator on the server if we wanted it. I jumped at the chance and, with K1ll1er, jumped onto the MCSG Teamspeak to get taught what to do. I had a lovely meeting with some of the moderators and was given the rank on January 8th 2013.
But I didn’t really know how to moderate. So I went around to various staff members to see who could help.
To give a bit of backstory, the Admins at this point were Bic, Bessemer, Aeruner, Bowl, Exer, Acathine and Variede (Honorary)- This before the Hive. The Senior Staff were Dave, Antster, Gibbo, Frondome, Sixzo, SomeMugger and PanuterNut. Infact, it was so long ago our beloved Leo was only a normal Moderator (#SameRank). At around this time there were about 50 moderators active in the community and 25 inactive guys. However that wasn’t an issue as there were, at that point, only 30 US servers, 30 EU servers, 8 CA servers and 8 AU servers.
After a few days of just generally moseying around the community, I fell into conversation with two fine fellows, Aellios and Philly, who took me under their wing and taught me the ropes of moderating. I soon became fluent in the commands and ban times and so began to walk around doing my job properly. I had one massive advantage over most moderators, I was absolutely terrible at the game Even to this day my total wins are less than 20, and this meant that, whilst I was spectating my friends who had backstabbed me in the first 10 seconds of the game, I could keep an eye out for hackers.
After a few month or so, I began to really get involved in the behind the scenes work of the community, joining the connected groups and immersing myself in the community. I also started ‘Wooder’s Piano Live Streams’ where I would play through teamspeak any requested song, I pride myself on being a musician, and have 3 Grade 8’s under my belt. I became a moderator at MCTF2 and began work as a member of Team Elite, whilst also trying to maintain the strenuous link between FyreUK and MCSG (At this point I had been promoted to Trusted in the FyreUK community).
Just to give an overview, in FyreUk you start as a Builder or a Sponsor after donating to the server. Then if you work hard you are rewarded with the Veteran rank, and then, after more work, the Trusted rank (probably the best comparison to Mod over here). After that you, if you are deemed hard working enough, you are given moderator (the equivalent to somewhere in between senior moderator and admin over here).
The issue I had however was that I was too over worked. My real life caught up with me. I was doing 5 A Levels and have just been elected as a senior prefect at my school, and so I made the difficult decision to step down as a moderator. It didn’t last long. I just couldn’t stop the pull of the community and would often find myself back on the teamspeak, chatting with friends, even though I had attempted to stop. I then realised that it wasn’t the community that was putting me under pressure, it was my work schedule, and so i cut down on the faffing about and began to focus my attention on things when I needed to.
After a month of this break i decided that it was a good time for me to reapply. So I went through the moderator application process and was rehired. Even though i was technically on an extended leave, I felt it was best to go through the correct route. After what seemed to me only a few minutes of my application sitting in the waiting area, i had been accepted by Gibbo. The community was still small and, because I was a moderator before, the senior staff at the time fast tracked my application. Later that week I sat down for my Moderator interview, which was with Dave and Gibbo. They started all of the usual tricks but, because of my previous history, it broke into a casual talk. They decided that, due to my previous knowledge on the subject, they would give my rank back.
At this point my immersion in the community had grown, I was asked to be an MCTF2 Senior Moderator by Gibbo and had started to be a more prominent member of Team Elite. At around this time I began to drift away from FyreUk. I was never that good of a builder, and decided that the building life wasn’t for me.
The Senior Staff was really small at this time. Bic and Aeruner were the only admins, with whispers of Dave, Ant and a spectral Col. Star soon brandishing the Diamond sword, and Leo, Antster, Dave, Gibbo and Slasher were the only senior moderators.
After a month of being back, I was selected, along with ARB1T3R, Mr_Dice and MCJackson, to take part in the first ever run of trial senior moderators. We had been picked for our continued efforts to help the community and were given a certain period in time in which to prove ourselves as senior moderators.
Another small fact here. Joshkey had been given Senior Moderator the day before us, and so didn’t have to do the trial. He was an older moderator though and was known by the community as the #SeniorInDenial.
Around this time we had expanded the servers to 50 EU, 50 US, 12 CA and 12 AU, so the job of moderating the community, with the added pressures of moderator complaints and issues, moderator applications and ban disputes, was suddenly a little harder.
The trial period was a solid 2 months, ending on July the 10th when the top dogs decided to give ARB1T3R and I the official rank of Senior Moderator. To be honest, we had thought that they had forgotten about us, and even out unsubtle, subtle hints were falling on deaf ears. From there it was just business as usual, there were a few hiccups and bumps in the road, but the community was on the up, and steadily becoming one of the top Minecraft communities around.
It was all going fine until my results day struck for my exams. My original plan to go to Oxford to study Music had been thwarted and I felt that it was caused by my online presence. So I decided that it would be best to take a small step back from my duties on the interwebs and focus in on my studies. So on August 19th I layed down my Golden Swords and went out into the world of studies. After 2 months of focus I felt that I was far enough ahead of my studies to join back, and so I dusted off my Moderator Manual and picked up my rusty gold swords (possibly, not sure if gold actually rusts, or maybe they’re just painted gold). Though technically I was one of the oldest senior moderators (bar Slasher and Joshkey), a lot had changed in the 2 months I had been away for so had to relearn most of the techniques that had been worked on and improved in my absence.
And so, that takes me up to now, I continue to this day being a senior moderator, dealing with issues, moderator applications and ban disputes. The only major issue is that, due to my terrible laptop and how i’m used to working, I don’t talk much on the teamspeak (#TypeMaster) and so my behind the scenes work goes mostly unnoticed. I focus on making sure the moderators are doing okay, taking notes in meetings and just generally being around. It is true that everything has expanded, from a server that had 76 servers when I joined to now over 300. The staff has expanded from 75 moderators to over 175 and it’s all run by the awesome players who have made my last year here, awesome. My goal is to just continue helping and growing the community. Even if I do behind the scenes help, it just makes me happy to know that this community is growing and growing, and I have had a part, even if it is a small one, in that incredible expansion.
So yeah, thats my MCGamer story so far, after 1 incredible year still going strong and heres to another. I’m sorry to the millions of people i missed out, KR, Benny, etc. etc. etc. If i had time to do everyone I wouldn’t be doing my job (Also use ‘’ waaaay too much)
Oh and finally for Dave,
TLDR: Been Good year. Hoping for an even better one this year.
So I guess it’s best to start right back in October 2012 when I created an account on the MCSG forums. I had been playing on the servers the night before with a few mates of mine and decided that it would be a good idea to get an account. I had been a member of FyreUK, the build team, for about half a year and had been playing minecraft for a year, so was familiar with the game, but found the idea behind the game enthralling. Being a major nerd I had read the Hunger Games (before they became mainstream, #hipster) and was really excited with the gametype. Around this time I got Veteran on FyreUK, for helping out around the server, and got talking with K1ll1er about an idea he had to build a Hunger Games Map. We began throwing around ideas.
Little known fact, the original Fyre Games 1 was going to be in 8 sections, with 8 different biomes and was going to have a giant Ziggurat (weird Aztec Temple) in the centre. We even got round to building a miniature and a half size of the Temple that is still sitting in the FyreUK server.
Eventually we got a basic idea and began building a plan for the map. At this point I drifted away from the project, focusing my efforts on the up and coming timelapse, The Vaederian Palace, and was replaced by NemesisArc and JenDrk, who soon became the second most important person on the project. The project was then approved by Matt and Phil, the FyreUK owners, and we set about building the map. After it was complete we all patted ourselves on the back and left K1ll1er to sort out the complexities of getting it on a server.
Then, in early 2013 K1ll1er messaged me on the FyreUK TeamSpeak to come down and chat with him. He said that Fyre Games was merging with MCSG and that Nemesis, JenDrk and I would get moderator on the server if we wanted it. I jumped at the chance and, with K1ll1er, jumped onto the MCSG Teamspeak to get taught what to do. I had a lovely meeting with some of the moderators and was given the rank on January 8th 2013.
But I didn’t really know how to moderate. So I went around to various staff members to see who could help.
To give a bit of backstory, the Admins at this point were Bic, Bessemer, Aeruner, Bowl, Exer, Acathine and Variede (Honorary)- This before the Hive. The Senior Staff were Dave, Antster, Gibbo, Frondome, Sixzo, SomeMugger and PanuterNut. Infact, it was so long ago our beloved Leo was only a normal Moderator (#SameRank). At around this time there were about 50 moderators active in the community and 25 inactive guys. However that wasn’t an issue as there were, at that point, only 30 US servers, 30 EU servers, 8 CA servers and 8 AU servers.
After a few days of just generally moseying around the community, I fell into conversation with two fine fellows, Aellios and Philly, who took me under their wing and taught me the ropes of moderating. I soon became fluent in the commands and ban times and so began to walk around doing my job properly. I had one massive advantage over most moderators, I was absolutely terrible at the game
Even to this day my total wins are less than 20, and this meant that, whilst I was spectating my friends who had backstabbed me in the first 10 seconds of the game, I could keep an eye out for hackers.After a few month or so, I began to really get involved in the behind the scenes work of the community, joining the connected groups and immersing myself in the community. I also started ‘Wooder’s Piano Live Streams’ where I would play through teamspeak any requested song, I pride myself on being a musician, and have 3 Grade 8’s under my belt. I became a moderator at MCTF2 and began work as a member of Team Elite, whilst also trying to maintain the strenuous link between FyreUK and MCSG (At this point I had been promoted to Trusted in the FyreUK community).
Just to give an overview, in FyreUk you start as a Builder or a Sponsor after donating to the server. Then if you work hard you are rewarded with the Veteran rank, and then, after more work, the Trusted rank (probably the best comparison to Mod over here). After that you, if you are deemed hard working enough, you are given moderator (the equivalent to somewhere in between senior moderator and admin over here).
The issue I had however was that I was too over worked. My real life caught up with me. I was doing 5 A Levels and have just been elected as a senior prefect at my school, and so I made the difficult decision to step down as a moderator. It didn’t last long. I just couldn’t stop the pull of the community and would often find myself back on the teamspeak, chatting with friends, even though I had attempted to stop. I then realised that it wasn’t the community that was putting me under pressure, it was my work schedule, and so i cut down on the faffing about and began to focus my attention on things when I needed to.
After a month of this break i decided that it was a good time for me to reapply. So I went through the moderator application process and was rehired. Even though i was technically on an extended leave, I felt it was best to go through the correct route. After what seemed to me only a few minutes of my application sitting in the waiting area, i had been accepted by Gibbo. The community was still small and, because I was a moderator before, the senior staff at the time fast tracked my application. Later that week I sat down for my Moderator interview, which was with Dave and Gibbo. They started all of the usual tricks but, because of my previous history, it broke into a casual talk. They decided that, due to my previous knowledge on the subject, they would give my rank back.
At this point my immersion in the community had grown, I was asked to be an MCTF2 Senior Moderator by Gibbo and had started to be a more prominent member of Team Elite. At around this time I began to drift away from FyreUk. I was never that good of a builder, and decided that the building life wasn’t for me.
The Senior Staff was really small at this time. Bic and Aeruner were the only admins, with whispers of Dave, Ant and a spectral Col. Star soon brandishing the Diamond sword, and Leo, Antster, Dave, Gibbo and Slasher were the only senior moderators.
After a month of being back, I was selected, along with ARB1T3R, Mr_Dice and MCJackson, to take part in the first ever run of trial senior moderators. We had been picked for our continued efforts to help the community and were given a certain period in time in which to prove ourselves as senior moderators.
Another small fact here. Joshkey had been given Senior Moderator the day before us, and so didn’t have to do the trial. He was an older moderator though and was known by the community as the #SeniorInDenial.
Around this time we had expanded the servers to 50 EU, 50 US, 12 CA and 12 AU, so the job of moderating the community, with the added pressures of moderator complaints and issues, moderator applications and ban disputes, was suddenly a little harder.
The trial period was a solid 2 months, ending on July the 10th when the top dogs decided to give ARB1T3R and I the official rank of Senior Moderator. To be honest, we had thought that they had forgotten about us, and even out unsubtle, subtle hints were falling on deaf ears. From there it was just business as usual, there were a few hiccups and bumps in the road, but the community was on the up, and steadily becoming one of the top Minecraft communities around.
It was all going fine until my results day struck for my exams. My original plan to go to Oxford to study Music had been thwarted and I felt that it was caused by my online presence. So I decided that it would be best to take a small step back from my duties on the interwebs and focus in on my studies. So on August 19th I layed down my Golden Swords and went out into the world of studies. After 2 months of focus I felt that I was far enough ahead of my studies to join back, and so I dusted off my Moderator Manual and picked up my rusty gold swords (possibly, not sure if gold actually rusts, or maybe they’re just painted gold). Though technically I was one of the oldest senior moderators (bar Slasher and Joshkey), a lot had changed in the 2 months I had been away for so had to relearn most of the techniques that had been worked on and improved in my absence.
And so, that takes me up to now, I continue to this day being a senior moderator, dealing with issues, moderator applications and ban disputes. The only major issue is that, due to my terrible laptop and how i’m used to working, I don’t talk much on the teamspeak (#TypeMaster) and so my behind the scenes work goes mostly unnoticed. I focus on making sure the moderators are doing okay, taking notes in meetings and just generally being around. It is true that everything has expanded, from a server that had 76 servers when I joined to now over 300. The staff has expanded from 75 moderators to over 175 and it’s all run by the awesome players who have made my last year here, awesome. My goal is to just continue helping and growing the community. Even if I do behind the scenes help, it just makes me happy to know that this community is growing and growing, and I have had a part, even if it is a small one, in that incredible expansion.
So yeah, thats my MCGamer story so far, after 1 incredible year still going strong and heres to another. I’m sorry to the millions of people i missed out, KR, Benny, etc. etc. etc. If i had time to do everyone I wouldn’t be doing my job
(Also use ‘’ waaaay too much)Oh and finally for Dave,
TLDR: Been Good year. Hoping for an even better one this year.
