There are a lot of topics to cover, so I will be posting what I can think of a few at a time while everyone engages in the discussions. The next topic to discuss is the Moderators. Although there are no Moderators at this time, I feel it is important to start planning ahead and present a platform for lucidrains to work with. Not only having Moderators, we also need the security of control to maintain the environment as friendly as possible.

Moderators

First thing that lucidrains need to do is to create an application with series of questions and tests. This is a helpful tool to determine who is actually qualified to assume the position of being a Moderator. Another tool for lucidrains to use is by knowledge and history of players whom he trusts, but he can not use favoritism.

- Moderation power only on the main account.

- No moderation power on the alternate accounts.

- Special place or forum for Moderators to discuss.

- An icon near the avatar showing as Moderator (maybe a gold M).

- Ability to kick only in Pregame in both ranked and un-ranked games.

- Ability to suspend players for limited time.

- Special font color for username and chat text in games.

- All actions done by Moderators to be logged.

Before players can initially be qualified to apply for a Moderator position, there should be a set time frame as a member on EpicMafia. This will help prevent swarms of applications with request for such position. Basic initial qualifications:

- 6 months active membership.

- Certain score-points achieved.

- Acceptable positive karma.

- General community feedback.

If a Moderator at any time becomes inactive for a set time frame, then the Moderator position should be lost. In case of extreme situation, lucidrains should be contacted.

Being a Moderator is high-ranking authority next to lucidrains being the Administrator. Because of this, moderation access should only be on the main account. There is no sense to be a Moderator on multiple alternate accounts and it will only confuse the players.

Much like the forums we currently have, there should be a place only visible to the Moderators and lucidrains. This is a place where the staff can engage in important discussions without the interference of the public.

Moderators need to make their presence known. This is why an icon should be shown by their name/avatar everywhere. There should be a page that will list all Moderators and linking to their profiles. With this, the players can approach a known Moderator to seek help or express concerns. This will prevent random players to go around declaring, “I am the Moderator, what can I do for you?”

Being a Moderator comes with great responsibility. This is not a thrill position to abuse. I believe the Moderators should be allowed to kick players only during Pregame for both ranked and unranked games. Favoritism can not be allowed ever at all time. If a known player comes in for the sole purpose to troll, then I believe it is important to kick.

Similar to suicide time-out, Moderators should be able to suspend a player for trolling, use of offensive language, and anything else considered unacceptable. Each time a Moderator suspend a player, there should be a field where they can type the reason for suspension. The timing to suspend a player is an important discussion… Should a player be suspended during ranked game? If yes, then the game should automatically become unranked. However, the Moderators can not abuse this by suspending a player for the sole purpose of making the game go unranked. Another option is to continue through the game and then suspend a player in Endgame. This is when the “Suspend a Player” option only becomes available in Endgame listing only the players of that game.

It can be time-consuming for the Moderators to help maintain the friendly atmosphere, so why not make it more fun for them? How about we give them a special color for their username and in-game chat text?

Log All Actions

Moderation is not a perfect world. Someone is bound to go on a power-trip, abuse the system, or simply be destructive. In order to prevent this, all actions should be logged. Every bit of action that they have done, no matter how big or small should be logged. lucidrains will have a place/page viewable only by himself to review the logged actions for each Moderator. This will prevent a Moderator from pointing blame toward another Moderator.

The one very-strict rule that should be put in place is No Account Sharing. This means that no one else other than the owner should be allowed to log into the account with Moderation access. If a Moderator is found to be allowing a friend to login, then lucidrains will need to learn the phrase, “You’re fired!”

Community Control

On a side note regarding the features, Report Player and Kick, these should be available to regular members to an extent. Players should only be able to report a player in Endgame when such button appears. The report will automatically include the game link, selected player, and a short report. I think this system should be set up in a way similar to the common Support System/Ticket, where Moderators can view the list of submitted reports. As for the kick feature, these should be done in Pregame only for unranked games among the regular members. Having a kick done by the game creator is better than having multiple players to kick. As for the Platinum members, they should be able to kick players only in Pregame for both ranked and unranked games.

If a Moderator is abusing the position during a game such as, “Listen you idiot, I am the Moderator and if you do not vote for GaryOak, I will kick or report you for trolling.” This kind of abusive behavior should not be allowed! At no time should a Moderator use such position to sway opinions and actions in a game. If a Moderator is committing such abusive action, then players will be able to report the Moderator in Endgame.

I have listed most of the basics to discuss and now everyone should present their suggestions and opinions. Together, we can help lucidrains to move EpicMafia forward.

Change for EM – Discussion

I see some people are still too ignorant to realize the cost of running a massive dedicated server for EpicMafia. Here are some of the quotes…

Germatron: Im NOT paying $5 a month. if it costs $100 dollars a month to keep the site afloat (less with the subscription) and lets say we give lucid $100 a month for his work thats still just 40 x 5. and Im pretty sure we have more than 40 active members. Why pay so much when the extra money has no where to go?

A few dollars a month does not really impact your financial security. As I have stated that $3 a month is doable, but PayPal does charge a transaction fee, so think about that, Germatron. Of course, there may be extra funds for EpicMafia, but it is important to always have the financial security. lucidrains spent time and money to build EpicMafia, so I do not see anything wrong for him to keep a portion of the funds for himself. He has spent so much already out of his own pocket.

Rodnazics: I paid for alts, and I wouldn't have been opposed to paying a dollar to sign up. But a monthly fee is too far.

EpicMafia can afford to lose you. It does not hurt EpicMafia when the few players run away from paying. The majority of the member base will pay. Now, load up Google.com and do a search for Dedicated Servers. The starting price ranges from $99 to $300. Much more when bandwidth limit is constantly exceeding. This month, lucidrains had to keep buying more bandwidth! Don’t forget, hosting companies offering packages, such as $99 for a dedicated server is often known as oversellers and should be avoided at all cost. Honest, reliable, and dependable hosting companies will be honest and price it at $300 or higher.

sunstorm: I skimmed it. Anything that requires money such as making new members pay a dollar to actually join is outright stupid. AND i would never do it even if I was new. To deal with cost I think Lucid should think of more incentives for people to buy/donate. We only have the alt thing and the message system(fail). Such as maybe being entered for a lottery to get a prize (IDK what) everytime you donate. Or yadda yadda, ok done thinking.

Stupid? You are the one being stupid and ignorant. Like I have stated previously, I am only offering suggestions to start a discussion and work together for the best solutions that will benefit everyone and for lucidrains. It is not stupid to pay a mere one dollar for account registration. Beside, there are more pros than cons for such registration method. The only thing good that you have posted was about incentives. Good idea, but you did not list any.

There are players that do not donate regularly. For example: Karmaloop may buy tokens, create additional alts, but that may be the only time he gives money. He may not donate regularly. This only result in new revenue coming from new players and that is pretty damn tough as we had already witnessed.

The lottery system is a great idea. We can set it up for players to get one point for each ranked game won. Each lottery ticket cost one point. Players can redeem the points for tickets or save. Random lottery winner can be announced by the system each week. The system either gives all the points in the pot to the winner or the points go away. As for the prize, it can be tokens or something special such as cash donation thru PayPal or gift certificate to an online store. If EpicMafia is to generate revenue through monthly subscriptions, then lucidrains will be able to give back to the community, such as lottery winners (gift certificates online).

thebandit: So the solution for epicmafia is to wake up lucidrains? Sweet, wanna chip in for a clock radio

Oh, the irony! I wonder if he is actually reading all of this…. He better read with eyes open if he wants to keep EpicMafia afloat. Do not say that I did not warn you all when EpicMafia sinks!

Dreamcatcher: Thank god for Jesse

I know, right. It is hard to find anyone to be serious about this.

Karmaloop: lol i was coming to post this

Don’t worry. I already have a messenger on standby.

Stranger: Paying a dollar to join is tying with "deformed pig born in a tub of lard" for the stupidest thing that's ever come out of that moron's mouth. People won't be willing to pay to sample a flash based browser game, that would probably kill the flow of new players pretty
dead.

Oh and myspace customization lolol. There's a reason most people over the age of 16 don't use myspace; namely that most people have no idea what looks good and what doesn't and 99% of profiles were fuck ugly. Your website is a good example of what the internet should've stopped looking like in 1999. And top friends, seriously?

You're permabanned, shut the fuck up.

inb4 i was trolled

It is pretty much sad and unfortunate for you to believe that supporting EpicMafia to have a stable and steady revenue to be the stupidest thing in the world. Flash, where? Wake up! There is no flash… You failed to read properly regarding “sampling the games,” because I obviously suggested that guests should be able to spectate unranked games to learn the processes. The MySpace suggestion was only an example as to what I was meaning to say is for players to have the option of putting their avatar on the other side, change the order of sections (such as friends, last games played, etc). I think that everyone will absolutely love having a background picture for their profile. If you do not have anything serious to post, then I suggest you burrow in your rabbit hole until Christmas. FYI, I am not “permabanned.” :-)

DreamWorksStudios, do you realize how stupid you just made yourself on here? Congratulations on having a lot of people laughing at how the very few brain cells you have left failed to function. I am not JesseDaJester and he did not type this up. He is the messenger and he will deliver what I type up. I do not need to expose myself on my accounts here just to have trolls harass me in games.

So much to discuss, so short on time! All in all, this is serious that we all need to confront, despite our busy schedules. Act now before it is all too late.