Access Request Management

An Introduction to ARM

ARM is best described as the Vibe Check branch of Staff on Nova Sector.

Responsibilities are lax for most of the time but if the applications are picking up you are expected to handle them whenever free.

You are encouraged to formulate your own boilerplate to streamline ARM for yourself. This will reduce your energy investment and prevent burnout. Ask another ARM if you need references.

1. Select A Ticket

First In First Out -- Select the Oldest Application first.

Introduce yourself and initiate conversation with a warm or neutral greeting to let them know that their application has entered review.

Request the Applicant to either Reply to your messages, or @ you, for the duration of the Application. This ensures you get notifications about their responses, and improves Application Turnover.

2. Get Information

Gather the Applicant's CKEY | Birthday in mm/yyyy | Discord User ID.

If an Applicant reports being under 18, immediately deny the application and follow the procedure under Rejecting Applications.

Go to #access-bot-channel.

Use the following commands to interact with the Bots in that channel to gain additional information.

• /user [DISCORD_ID] - This is to check Discord Account Age and time on the Nova Sector Discord.
• /lookup [CKEY] - This will pull records from the CentCom Ban DB, an Opt-In Ban Reporting service that we participate in. Read these thoroughly. If an active ban for Nova Sector or SkyRat is found, go to Banned Players below.
• /player [CKEY] - This will tell you of any player info they have with the server. If available, go to Returning Players below.
• /notes [CKEY] - Staff Only. Must be run in #admin-bot-channel. This will lookup the Notes record for any player. Can be useful with more difficult returning Applicants. Will show Nova Sector Bans in detail.

Appraise the Application

Is there anything odd about this application at a glance that may need to be addressed first? Sometimes the initial background check and read can be enough to deny an application.

We occasionally get an out of the ordinary application. Just some common examples of these odd ones are:

• Banned Players - If a Player has an active ban, and you are not Staff, notify a Staffed ARM. Copy a link to the player notes lookup for them, and ping @Staff Manager in #access-staff-chat with the information.
• Returning Players - A Nova Sector player that left the discord, or an ex. SkyRat player. These players DO NOT NEED to complete a standard Application. Complete the Checklist below, sans Prompt and Codewords expectations.
  • While checking on players you will see that they put into their application that they are a “Returning player” or the /player command will show that they have a Ckey record on Nova Sector.
  • If Nova is mentioned, search their CKEY and Discord ID in the Nova Sector Discord for prior their prior approval. Consider this information before moving forwards.
  • If SkyRat is mentioned, check the Grandfather Approvals and Denials links pinned message in #Player-Approvals/Rejections. If pre-approved, go to Accepting Applications. Otherwise, proceed with a standard Application.
    • If they have a record on server but do not have a logged application check #Refugee-Recovery-Plan
• Code or Developer Visitor - Someone not applying for Crew, but instead applying to work with our Maintenance Staff to change or improve our codebase. Link the ticket and ping @Developement Overseer in #access-staff-chat with the information.
• Special Requests - Sometimes an Applicant will make an odd request. If you cannot fulfill it, ping a relevant Staff, Head, or Staff Manager in the Applicant's ticket.

3. Perform the Initial Review

With all primary points of information gathered, you will run the application against the following list.

Application Checklist

• Player DoB - Needs to be 18+. Compare against prior applications for discrepancies. If a discrepancy is found, stop here and see the Problematic Application section.
• CKey Age - Must be older than 2 Weeks
• /User - Discord age must be older than 2 Weeks
• /Lookup - No recent bans younger than 3 Months
• /Player - If a player record and playtime is present, see Returning Players under Appraise the Application.
• Codewords - Codewords are found at #rules on the discord and Rule 11 on the Wiki

Review the Prompt Submissions

If the Checklist clears, review the Prompt Submissions.

This is your primary tool as someone whose checking if the player applying is a good fit for the server. You will have three primary points to check.

• Did the application display a solid grasp of the English language?
• Did they put effort into their responses? (e.g. punctuation, attention to grammar, vocabulary choices, length, narrative complexity, details)
• Did they answer according to the expectations of the given prompt?

4. Address the Applicant

If anything is amiss at this point, question the Applicant about the issue. Remember to maintain your air of professionalism while you do this. Ask respectful questions as necessary to get the information you need to make a decision.

Like Papers Please you need to clear discrepancies and get a proper picture of the players personality. Make some small talk, make them feel welcome. This gives you an opportunity to see them act more genuinely.

Once you have spoken to and established rapport with the Applicant, and obtained the responses you needed, we can move to finalization.

5. Finalize the Application

At this point, there should be nothing more that you need to gain from the Applicant.

Whether the responses were satisfactory or not, you should have no further questions for them.

It is time to decide how to file the Application. Do not yet inform the Applicant about your decision.

Accepting Applications

You have decided to Accept the Application. The Applicant has passed the Vibe Check.

The quality of the Applicant's submissions and chatter with you meets your expectations, there were no critical red flags, and you do not have any concerns large enough to warrant a Denial.

Proceed to #player-approvals. Start with the Discord ID then copy-paste the application under that. Lastly, add any additional notes and end with a line break (```---```).

Check past logged approvals if you are confused on the formatting.

Applying the Whitelist and Crew Rank

Go to #access-bot-channel. Run the whitelist command:

• !tgs whitelist CKEY

This will add the provided CKEY to the Whitelist. This is valid for 1 Week from the moment you input the command. The Applicant MUST join the server and see the Title Screen for the Whitelist to stick. This is to prevent Whitelist bloat.

Next, add the @Ready to Whitelist role to the Player.

Once the log has been made, inform the player of the result. Provide them with your Onboarding guidance.

Direct them to Landing Zone/#waiting-room. Instruct them to attempt to join the server, and to inform us in #waiting-room that they have connected successfully.

Apply the @Crew role and remove the @Ready to Whitelist role.

The newly minted crew is successfully onboarded.

Rejecting Applications

You have decided to Deny the Application. The Applicant has failed the Vibe Check.

The quality of the Applicant's submissions and chatter with you does not meet your expectations, there were red flags or other concerns, or you genuinely think they would be detrimental to Game or Community Integrity.

Decide a length of time to deny the application for. The standard denial time period is 2 weeks.

Proceed to #player-rejections. Start with the Discord ID then copy-paste the application under that. Add any additional notes. Document the date after which the user may reapply, and end with a line break (```---```).

Check past logged approvals if you are confused on the formatting.

Once the log has been made, inform the player of the result. Explain why they were denied, and when the earliest date they may re-apply is. Suggest ways to improve their re-application if relevant.

Reasons to Reject an Application

This is not a complete list. When in doubt, ask a fellow @Access Request Manager or a @Senior Access Request Manager.

• Fails the Vibe Check - Deny for at least 2 weeks
• CKey Too New - Deny till CKey ages to 2 Weeks
• Belligerent attitude in ticket: 1 month
• Refusal to age check after report - Deny until age check completed by @Staff Overseer
• Recent Ban from another server: Vouch from MRP server with stable 30 players (Case by Case basis)
• No reply in application longer than 2 days: Reapply anytime

6. Closing Application Tickets

Tickets, upon resolution, should be left open for a minimum of 24 Hours, and ideally no longer than 3 Days, from the last point of contact with the Applicant.

This provides an opportunity for the Applicant to ask any additional questions they might have.

To close an Application, click the Close With Reason button.

Copy their Discord ID into the Reason box, and add a blurb at the end. Ex:

00123456789 -- Welcome to Nova Sector! Don't forget your toolbox.

Special Cases

For the confused.

If the situation you encountered is not outlined above, or if you do not feel comfortable handling it, ping @Senior Access Request Manager or @Staff Manager.

@Head Admin has global override for the ARM process.

Age Checks

We may encounter situations where an Applicant or Crew's age comes into question. To ensure Community Integrity and compliance with United States Federal Law, we perform Age Checks.

The Age Check process is handled EXCLUSIVELY by the @Staff Overseer. When requested and agreed to by the @Staff Overseer, they will reach out to the User in question to complete the Age Check.

No other Staff are privy to the information included in this private exchange.

Once the Age Check is complete, the @Staff Overseer will inform the ARM handler of the request with the results. These results will be included in the Approval or Rejection alongside the incorrect / false birthdate.

The @Staff Overseer may make an executive decision based on the results of this inquiry if they find it necessary.