Staff Professionalism

I am becoming increasingly aware of a lack of delineation between Staff's personal statements versus official statements that represent the MapleRoyals staff.

I'm sure we are all aware that on social media, official corporations require that staff members do not post anything that could potentially misrepresent the company's values. It is required that personal accounts have the disclaimer that the statements made on there do not represent the respective corporation.

While MapleRoyals is certainly not a large corporation or professional business, I think that a basic level of professionalism is indeed expected out of the staff members. Even in the recent revamped staff applications, you can see that it is required that "you agree to represent yourself as a GM Intern in a professional manner to the rest of the community". Thus, I question why Staff are not created new forum accounts in order to keep that level of professionalism possible. Personal opinions are of course always allowed, but when they are posted from an account that has the "GM" tag on it, it is very hard not to feel that it represents the MapleRoyals staff.

I am going to make specific examples that will support my statements, and unfortunately I will have to use names. As a disclaimer, I do not have a personal vendetta against any of the GMs. One example to illustrate this confusion is that Becca has made several statements that state that "Matt and I". It is becoming increasingly confusing when Becca is making non-official or official statements. Because she states that she and the server owner have been considering something together, it can be misconstrued as an official statement on behalf of the MapleRoyals staff. If she had instead posted this on a "personal account", this might have been less confusing and unprofessional.


In addition, I have noticed that the thread "Get It Off Your Chest" (which is naturally popular amongst all forum frequenters) has several posts made by GMs which convey negative personal vendettas. While I have nothing against any of the GMs who post on GIOYC, when these statements are posted by an account with an official "GM" tag, it is not a great representation for the MapleRoyals staff.



Although this is not entirely on topic, I would also note that in other cases I have noticed that professionalism from staff members is entirely non-existent. I am aware that there are many personal grudges between players, but since the new staff applications directly reference the fact that a GM must be professional, I think it is worth bringing up that these personal grudges are sometimes causing a lack of professionalism to happen. For example, Solenopsis here was kicked from a GM Event because they complained about the GM Event.

In my opinion, all the actions taken on a GM account represent the MapleRoyals staff, and it's not acceptable to kick someone from an event because they expressed their opinion. Regardless of personal grudges or vendettas, Staff should maintain professionalism when on their GM accounts.

TLDR: Make separate forum accounts for MapleRoyals staff members to maintain professionalism and lower confusion, and to uphold professionalism standards to all new and existing staff members.

 

This feedback is not only about creating a separate forum account, but to highlight inconsistencies in professionalism in staff members. Creating a separate account will help some of these issues, but not all.

Thus, I will ask you Dave, do you think it is professional for a GM who is not treated any differently from any other GM or staff member to make statements that her and the server owner are considering server decisions together?

 

Not sure if game changes should be commented on outside of official channels in the first place - isn't it a lot more professional to have monthly GM blogs rather than reduce the frequency down to quarterly because no one aside from Joel can be bothered writing essays?

Staff should be considered accountable for what they say and what they do - and should be expected to uphold a professional standard when they respond on their staff account.

I agree if you want to go and post a passive aggressive comment in get it off your chest you should go and do it on a personal account, and expect to be reported with appropriate action from forum moderators if there is clear violation of the rules.

 

Thick skin should be a requirement for joining staff, trolls are rampant in online communities and people definitely look for reactions where they can farm them. Can't be getting triggered over posts in "Get It Off Your Chest" that might not even be referring to them.

 

What point would a separate 'personal' account do when everyone would know the alternate identity? It would only cause confusion among players.

You say you aren't after anyone in particular but the only example you have chosen for forum post unprofessionalism is Becca saying 'Matt and I'. Seems to me that the barrier you feel has been broken here can only be done by two staff members dating. With only these two examples shown and none from other staff posting things in a non professional manner, this post is coming off as being directed at Becca. If @Gert and I were romantically involved would I no longer be able to reference anything I did with him in the game? That would just be outright mean. Without having a link or the time right now to dig for that post that is 90 days old, I would have to assume it is in response to a feedback thread or some sort of request about an event. Becca wouldn't be able to respond with such a post as a player.

Your examples also show instances happening 3 months ago, only one of which was on the forum. A separate forum account would not change anything with the in game screenshot situation you described. The screenshot from the other player you posted here also does not seem to prove they were kicked from the event in any way, and if they were, that is within a GM's right to do so if they feel such actions are fitting. Many GMs in the past have removed players from events for being rude or obnoxious and it will happen again in the future. If the player felt it was done for no reason then a thread in Report Abuse should be made to highlight a staff member's actions.

And please keep in mind we are human volunteers. We are allowed to have personal relationships in and out of the game and not be chastised for that.