Our Values and Mission Statement

We strive to bring high quality storytelling to the Weird-West Roleplaying Genre of RedM through our core values. We aim to uplift artists, storytellers, creative types and to amplify LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC stories. 

Collaboration, Consent, Curiosity, Immersion, Education, Accessibility, Community Engagement, Play.

Hold these core values close to you as you engage with each other and our players. 

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

To establish clear guidelines of staff expectations and provide foundational information for staff conduct while maintaining ongoing transparency with the community. By accepting a staff position, you agree to uphold the standards outlined in this Code of Conduct.

Staff expectations & Standards

1. Staff members are expected to interact with fellow staff and players with equal courtesy, respect, and professionalism. Discrimination based on a person's race, religion, sexuality, gender identity, age, disability, or country of origin will not be tolerated. Additionally, discrimination based on one’s own personal biases against another shall not be acceptable staff behavior.  

2. Staff shall not disclose information to players that is not already publicly available - this includes information about lore, events, and mechanics not yet announced as well as private information regarding reports, tickets, and staff documents. Under no circumstances shall a staff member discuss information that is deemed confidential to anyone except the owners in or out of roleplay, unless specifically directed to by team leads.

3. Staff members are not allowed to play the role of  Player Characters (PC) while holding the position of “staff member”. Instead, they take on the role of ‘supporting characters’ (SC), whose primary directive is to facilitate RP for players and assist with world building in the playspace. This is to ensure fair treatment across players and to avoid favoritism and sycophancy. Should you wish to play a PC, you will need to step down as a staff member first.

4. For the protection of our IP, members of the creative team (lore/writing, event running, visual) are required to sign an NDA.

5. Take ownership and accept responsibility for your own actions and areas of accountability.

6. No discussion of personal business in channels where players can see it. 

7. Be respectful of other’s time and areas of responsibility.

8. Understand that you are in a position of power and access, both in perception and in a very tangible manner. You have been given trust to represent and advocate for the community. Do not take that lightly. 

Staff Applications & Accountability

Qualifications & Application Process

Past experience with RedM development or administration is not necessary but can be a plus. When hiring staff members we look for a number of different qualities: 

• Professionalism & Friendliness

• Previous experience with Human Resources, Administrative/Logistic Work, or Customer Service

• Creativity

• Familiarity with long form collaborative storytelling

• Willingness to learn and adapt 

• Ability to work well in a team environment

• Applications are reviewed by our ownership team and then invited to interview with us. Other staff members or leads may be involved in the process based on the particular role being filled.

  To alleviate stress and to better the  share work load, we have a number of different teams, each with a specific focus and set of responsibilities:

• Game Development 

• Community Management (Conflict Resolution)

• Lore/Writing Team

• Visual Development 

• Event Running

• Logistics / Administrative

Reporting Guidelines

If any member of the community (staff or player) has witnessed another member of the community engage in behavior that is against the rules, policies, or Code of Conduct of this game, we ask that a report be filed. Anyone - witness, friend, or target - can file a report. This includes filing a report on behalf of someone else, as long as that person is okay with being spoken with by staff about the situation leading to the report.

Reportable behavior can be online or in-person, and is not limited to behavior in game spaces or game-related web spaces. It covers anything that a community member is doing to other community members.
Reports filed against Staff Members may be made directly to Ownership, at the comfort of the reporting party.  

Behavior that should lead to a report includes, but is not limited to:

• Any behavior that falls under our Harassment Policy

• Behavior that actively undermines the safety of the game community, including physical, mental, and emotional

• Violations of the Eden RP’s rules, policies, or Code of Conduct

• Utilizing out-of-game knowledge to undermine the game’s story and/or player enjoyment (negative metagaming)

• Violations of federal, state, or local laws

Corrective Action Process

Staff members are held to a higher standard of behavior. Disciplinary action will be taken against staff members who repeatedly or intentionally fail to follow our code of conduct. Severity of disciplinary actions may vary based on the violation, but they are never to be taken lightly.

Possible consequences include:

• Improvement plans with specific benchmarks that must be met in order to reinstate full staff status

• Suspension or termination of staff status

Investigations

• Once a report is received, there will always be an investigation that will follow. The investigations will be conducted by one or more Staff Members or Lead Admins.
  

• Communication will begin between investigators and the individuals who filed the report, as well as any witnesses. Investigators will gather information from affected parties via text, voice chat, recorded media (we encourage players to utilize recording software such as OBS or Medal during gameplay to aid in evidence gathering), and screenshots. If any of these people or media are unable to make themselves available for contact in a timely manner with the investigator, the investigation may stall or be concluded without their cooperation. The investigator may discuss the case internally with other members of staff, but every effort will be made to ensure that the identities of those involved and details of the investigation are kept reasonably confidential. 
  

• Investigations will be resolved within 7-14 days unless extenuating circumstances prevent a resolution.
  

• Once an investigation is concluded, a written summary of the investigation will be created by the investigator. Lead Admins or Staff Members will then make a decision on what would be the best resolution of the conflict, which may include gathering opinions from other members of staff and/or the wronged party. In the event that a Lead Admin or Staff Member is involved or is the subject of the report, other uninvolved staff members or lead admins will lead the investigation.
  Corrective actions and/or Bans will be based upon the corrective actions and bans outlined in our rules & community standards.
  

• The scale of any corrective action levied will seek to be commensurate to the level of harm the offending activity or behavior had on any victims and upon the community at large. Repeat offenses will be taken into account and will increase the severity of penalties appropriately. In the event that a staff member is the subject of an investigation, they may be suspended from staff duties until the investigation is concluded.

• Investigation details shall not be made public without the express permission of all affected persons. However, general information about investigations, once concluded, may be shared, by Owners only, if deemed necessary, primarily to convey details of the circumstance to other RedM communities and for the betterment of the Eden RP Community. This will be for only the rarest and most extreme of circumstances.

• Additionally, a staff member shall not take lead on an investigation of a player that they are personal friends with. If you find yourself handling a ticket with a player you are personally close with, you shall request another staff member lead the ticket and investigation and recuse yourself from the process.

Supporting Characters VS Player Characters

What’s the difference? What are supporting characters prohibited from doing? 

• Player Character (PC): Defined as the Character of a whitelisted player. They are the “main characters”, so to speak, in the story. Their job is to explore and interact with the world-at-large to discover the mysteries and move the story forward.

• Supporting Character (SC): Defined as the Character of a staff member. They act as a guiding hand in the world to enhance the PC experience.

• Supporting Characters can NOT initiate CVC, but can respond to CVC if initiated by the other party. 

• SCs must maintain a high standard of roleplay and immersion. SCs should always endeavor to remain neutral and stick to their designated realms of engagement.

• Supporting characters are great sources of information and interaction, meant to improve roleplay experiences, but will take a more passive approach to engagement on the server. You may find them at their local haunts and invite them along on your adventure, but you should expect them to only initiate quests or missions for the purpose of guiding PCs to plot points, rather than them making impactful decisions themselves.

• SC cannot own property, run businesses outside of specified lore/event team circumstances, or start conflict with PCs. SC may initiate conflict with other SC should plot dictate it.

• SCs who initiate conflict, overpower RP situations with PCs regularly, disclose confidential information to PCs in or out of character, or claim/own property (including “claiming” a territory as their own) are subject to corrective actions such as warnings, temporary bans, demotions, revocation of roles, and in worst case scenarios - permanent bans. 

• Because SCs do not have any real stake in the world, they may have staff exclusive items in their inventory for storytelling and facilitation purposes. For this reason, they cannot be  mechanically robbed and should not be treated as loot pinatas. Going out of your way to rob an SC will be considered meta and is a punishable offense. 

• SCs should be treated just like any other living breathing person in the world. Roleplay with them, engage with them, build relations–they are functionally here to provide opportunities for PCs and guide them, but do not expect to walk up to an SC and simply demand quest locations or other important story information without any buildup. It needs to feel natural. Staff deserve to enjoy their time, too!

• SCs are allowed to join player run gangs HOWEVER, in no way shape or form should they use their position to provide their gang with any kind of unfair advantage. They should take on strictly a supporting role and must not initiate conflict on behalf of their gang. Any abuse of their position will swiftly warrant corrective action. As it currently stands, the right for SCs to join player run gangs is a privilege and can and will be revoked if necessary.

•  SCs are not permitted to spawn in items without prior approval. If they are caught spawning in items for friends, for instance, without prior approval or appropriate reasoning, they will be subject to corrective action.

Staff vs Paid Staff vs Volunteers

What’s the difference? What are the expectations for each?

• All Staff members are expected to “lead by example” by representing our team’s values and mission statement, show up to meetings, deliver deliverables on schedule, and take initiative to work on tasks set by team leads. 

• Paid Staff are expected to uphold all above guidelines and virtues AND  dedicate 10 hours MINIMUM a week towards working on server related tasks. This includes but is not limited to: writing lore, planning events, answering tickets, moderating discord, attending meetings, playtesting, doing administrative work, etc.

• Volunteers are unpaid members of the team. They are expected to uphold the same morals & mission statement outlined above, abide by  IC and OOC guidelines as staff members, and be a representative of the server, but have a generally lower time commitment towards the project.

• While we will always strive to initiate corrective and productive conversations for staff/admins who fail to meet the expectations outlined above, positions and privileges can be terminated at any time by owners, should the need arise.