Moderator Interview: Pastry

Could you briefly introduce yourself? 

I'm Tom and I play Pastry, a 115-M Ringmaster on the Mushpoie server.

I understand you are a Flyff moderator. How did you like the game before becoming moderator and how do you like it now?

I was very content playing as a non-mod for quite some time and although being a mod made me somewhat more well known in game and on the forums it didn't change my game play experience too much. The title itself doesn't change anything for me in game and too few players use the forums for it to change my experience in that respect.

How does it feel being able to help supervise the Flyff forums? 

It was a little daunting at first but being able to deal with the problems as they arise rather reporting and waiting is definitely a nice perk.

Why does Flyff need a forum moderator? 
Why it needs moderators I couldn't say, but I do think the forums benefit from having players with the ability to remove inappropriate and out of place content as well as people being able to pass messages to and from the Game Masters; this helps when they're too busy. For example, when they are running big events and if the servers go down, which albeit, is much scarcer lately.

How long have you been a “mod” for? 
Over a year with about a month or two break. I ended up a mod in march? last year I think.
 
How do you choose moderators for such a large forum? 
Well some our priorities overlap when choosing but personally my recommendations are people who I think are helpful, have strong game knowledge, would be useful to a section that is under-modded, have a good understanding of the rules, and quite importantly, who wouldn't go mad with the power.
 
Are moderators required to give reports? 
There is no fixed structure for the reports but yes, every week we have a mod meeting and the first order of business is usually to discuss any issues from the past week. Serious issues will usually have been discussed with the Community Manager whenever they arise but the more minor ones are also discussed here just as a heads up to everyone else on the team.
 
Do the other players know you’re a moderator? How do they react to your presence? 
Some do and some don't as, like I said, a good portion of the players don't use the forums; the people who don't use the forums a great deal quite often confuse mods with GM's. I try to draw the distinction quickly to avoid the next most common question, "Do you get free items and/or Penya??"
 
What would you say are the pros/cons of being a moderator? 
The Pro's for me would really be that people (I hope) tend to trust me a bit more than the average forum-er so my advice doesn't fall on deaf ears as often. Additionally,  people will pm me asking for help or just with general questions.

The Con's are that not everyone likes a moderator. We're in a position that is very open to criticism and we're seen just as often as forum suck-ups as we are forum helpers.
 
Well I believe that Moderators have a lot of work indeed, but no one really knows for sure, so has it been hard work so far? Do you get frustrated sometimes? 
Yeah I get frustrated sometimes but I think I'm reasonably laid back, so the frustrations don't really get to me. Logging into a section like general and seeing a load of red threads makes browsing annoying, so the frustrations really drive you to do the job sometimes.
 
Have you ever suggested something to the Flyff Developers that is now released to the public? 
I'm not sure if it counts since it's not released to the public yet, but I designed a masquerpet called "The Grey Earl" for the "Design a masquerpet contest" we had on the forums. Mine was one of the winners that will be implemented into the game for
events and raids.
 
How do you imagine Flyff 1 years from now? 
Well I'm really not sure what it would be like, but I'd personally like more and different PvP additions. Objective based PvP systems, separate areas for guild wars with more elaborate settings would be pretty cool. Other than that for Ringmasters to
inherit the Earth.
 
What is your favorite thing about Flyff? 
As cliche' as it'll sound, the friends I've made. I don't think I'd have played for that long on this game, or would on any other mmorpg had I not made good friends - that's really the whole point of a multiplayer game for me.
 
What sparked your interest in Flyff? 
A friend named Ana told me to download it a few years ago, so I played with her a bit. Although in the end as I met more people, I played more and I'm still on it long after she left the game.
 
How was the game at first sight? Did someone help you out to understand this game? 
Yes, Ana gave me a nice tutorial just outside of Flarine with a run down on the classes and different hot keys. It was a lot more confusing back then since that was before the new player tutorial and such had been re-done to be more user friendly.
 
Describe a typical day. 
Well when I go on the forums I usually deal with the reports I see while I browse; these are usually ones in general, the Mushpoie Sun, Off-topic and class sections. After that I'll check the list of open reports to see what else does or doesn't need attending too.

When I get the chance to go on Flyff, which isn't as often these days, I usually have a several PM windows open where I'm talking to people. My actual activity varies on the day. I really enjoyed the new dungeons and tower siege as well as main siege although
my character isn't really suited for that. I manage to survive for quite a while with less than half the hp most people have since I'm using a leveling build; I usually have around 70-80k but most people assume since I'm an RM that I'm full STA and have HP into the 120-130s so I can go about my holycrossing business in peace.
 
What is your favorite thing about moderating? 
Again it's really just being in an elevated position to help people, as well as having the power to deal with problems as they happen rather than watching them get out of control.
 
How much time do you spend on Flyff each day? 
A couple of hours a day if I have the time at least, I don't play it everyday at the moment though.
 
What are your favorite forum threads?
TheDarkPawn's record thread in the Mushpoie Sun has always been very well organized and maintained. It really attracts people to the section and plenty of people have been setting and breaking records since he made it.

I had a lot of fun with the "Locomochi hoax" thread which was completely not my idea.
 
In your opinion, what, ideally, is the role of a forum like ours? 
It's a place to share knowledge and information. My favourite people on the forums are usually the eccentrics and the very knowledgeable. People like sarisairis, herki, isingh, Filiachan etc who really know what's what in the game and definitely aren't shy about telling people what they know on the forums.

It's really also a place to enjoy yourself and, (provided they're sticking to the rules), the zany people like cowardspunks really make my day.
 
What are your future goals on Flyff and how would you like to improve the game? 
Getting to Hero is really the main one. It seems like everyone's done it but me but someday hopefully. For Improvements, as I said earlier, improved PvP advents would be the best thing in my opinion. Some people are so well geared and so experienced they can siege with their eyes closed so something a bit more challenging would provide some players with a lot more to do and a lot of fun.
 
What advice can you give too any player that would like to become a "mod" on Flyff? 
Don't try and force it just because you want the position. If you are a knowledgeable and helpful person we'll more than likely pick up on that, but there's no shame in just being a respected and trusted forum-er. You don't need to be a mod just to help out.
 
Do you tell people in real life that you are a moderator for Flyff? Is it hard to explain your profession to people in real life? 
A few IRL friends know and they understand what I'd be doing pretty well since they use other forums, but "I'm an internet forum moderator" doesn't often come up in conversation.
 
Do you look up too anybody on Flyff? Any shout outs? 
I have big respect for the knowledgeable people I listed earlier. I have a lot of very good friends in the game though and it'd take up way too much space to list them here but they should know who they are. Since I use too many words as it is, Ill leave it at that.
 
What do you think of the whole new version on Flyff? 
I like it, aesthetically each version is better than the last, as it should be I guess. Game play wise it's new content which is always good. The lower level dungeons are really nice although the new HERO dungeon was a let down for me. There's not really a
point in doing it unless you're a ranger or a knight since otherwise the rewards aren't good enough.
 
And last but not least, what advice can you give to moderators/admins of forums? 
Definitely don't accept the position unless you're really ready. I made that mistake by becoming a moderator only a month after coming to the forums and it was a pretty daunting experience but I'd like to think I've become at least a half decent moderator now. The bottom line is, if you're really mod material, the community manager and the other mods won't think less of you for waiting for a while and when you're ready to take on the position the chances are they won't mind you asking them to take them up on their offer later down the line.