Staff have power over other people's time and builds. Choosing them is a judgement about character rather than about activity, and the two get confused constantly because activity is the thing you can see.
The person online the most is not automatically the person who should be handling a dispute at midnight. Hours played measures enthusiasm, not judgement, and promoting on hours alone is the single most common staffing mistake on small servers.
What to actually look for
| Signal | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Handles being wrong well | They will be wrong. What happens next is the whole question. |
| Helps people without being asked | Already doing the job unpaid is the strongest possible evidence. |
| Calm in an argument | Moderation is mostly de-escalation, not punishment. |
| Asks before acting | Someone who checks with you now will check with you later. |
| Wants the tag | A warning sign, not a qualification. |
Bringing someone in
- Start with a trial and say it is one
Two weeks, limited permissions, and an explicit conversation at the end. This makes «it did not work out» a normal outcome rather than a rejection.
- Give the smallest permission set that does the job
Kick and mute before ban. In-game before panel. There is a separate article on why panel access is the one to withhold.
- Write down what they can decide alone
«Ban for cheating without asking; ask me before banning for anything else» removes almost all of the uncertainty that makes new staff anxious.
- Check in after a fortnight
Both directions. Some people discover they hate moderating, and giving them a graceful exit keeps a good player.
When it goes wrong
Remove the panel access first, then in-game powers, then change any shared password. The order matters and there is a security article that walks through it.
Then say something short and factual in public. Silence after a staff member disappears generates a worse story than the truth, and the truth is usually undramatic.
Every additional staff member is another person who can make a decision you have to defend. A small team that talks to each other handles a server far better than a large one that does not.