Member Plus Headquarters: Orientation Documents

Congratulations on becoming a Level 2 Member Plus. By now you hopefully have become familiar with the notions of VOICE and Respect for others on Voobly. In case you forgot, however, we have included a recap of key topics covered in the Level 1 Orientation.

Recap of Level One Orientation​

As a Level One Member Plus, you will be issued a “+” by your username. As explained in the structural overview of the Member Plus program, Level 1 membership will give you an opportunity to see first hand how Member Pluses help to assist players and help to make Voobly a better place. You will also have the opportunity to use your most powerful privilege on the Voobly… your Voice

Voice​

Your Voice is the most important privilege available. Your Voice can help you mediate situations, help users, and make new friends! Voice is manifested by what you type on the screen while on Voobly. As people cannot hear the intonations of your actual voice, what you type online is very important, for that is what users will see. For example, short, curt, one word replies are often perceived as being rude, online. Likewise, typing in all CAPITAL LETTERS is considered rude, as that is the online equivalent to shouting. When interacting with users online, it is best to avoid behaviors that are considered rude – remember that you “Catch more flies with honey”.

Your Voice is how you present yourself to other players. Are you the chatty/friendly type or are you terse and gruff with your responses? Do you make others relaxed when you talk with them or are other users up tight and silent when you are around? These reactions by players are totally dependent on your Voice.

Another way of thinking about Voice is that it is a way of explaining to a user why a particular behavior is objectionable in attempt to stop that particular action. Often times, if a person realizes that a certain action is “bad” they will no longer continue that behavior. One thing to remember, try and be specific as to why a particular action is objectionable. For example, when trying to use your Voice with a flooder, you could explain that flooding is bad because it prevents other users from interacting with one another and also prevents them from finding others to play against in a certain game.

Not only will use of Voice be helpful in stopping objectionable behavior, by educating users as to why their actions are contrary to the Code of Conduct, you will be helping to prevent future infractions. This serves to “save the player” and it helps to make the overall experience on Voobly, better for all users.

When interacting with other users on Voobly, it is best that you be yourself. As you already know, it is often easy to distinguish between those users who are telling the truth and those feeding you a line. People will appreciate your honesty and openness with them. Of course, you should only engage other users as determined by your own comfort level and your personal willingness to interact. Set your own boundaries and others will respect them.

Remember that as a Member Plus, if you so choose, you can assist other players with their inquiries and questions to the best of your ability. If you are uncomfortable with a particular situation, or unsure of how to respond to a user, do not hesitate to ask other Member Pluses or the Online Hosts (denoted by “@voobly”) since they are there to assist you and all Voobly users.

Respect​

Along the same lines as your VOICE, it is important to have respect for everyone on Voobly, regardless of perceived age, race, religion, Member Plus status, etc. While there are certainly many differences among all the players, we are all united by the passion for gaming. If users perceive disrespect from you, your experiences online will not be very pleasant. You can be guaranteed that they will tell one of their friends, who in turn tells one of their friends, and pretty soon, you have a whole group of people making your online experience difficult. Remember that respect leads to respect, and disrespect leads to disrespect. If you are trying to make the online gaming experience better for all Voobly users, treat everyone with equal respect, and in turn, you will experience the same.

Rough Rooms​

If you have been on Voobly for awhile, you are probably thinking, “Respect is all fine and good, but what about all those rough rooms where the users hate any sort of authority figure?” Indeed, that is a very good question, as there are certain groups of users who have it in for Member Pluses. In situations such as this, it is important that you keep a calm head, thick skin, and treat everyone with respect as you would in another room. It may also be a good idea to ask another Member Plus to come in and assist you when trying to reason with a rough room. Not only can another person serve as an effective backup, just having a different approach to the room could help calm things down. Remember that VOICE and RESPECT will be the best privileges available to you. Mutes should only be utilized in extreme cases, and boots should be used rarely, if ever. Lastly, remember that the Member Plus program is to allow you to have fun and try and make Voobly a better place. If you are uncomfortable because of a certain room, by all means go to a different room, or take a break from the computer if you need to.

Orientation​

Here is a quick summary of what we will go over in this orientation.

Unfortunately the command is not available at this time. In order to change a game room description or title, simply hold down the left CTRL on your keyboard and click on the button next to the game room, to view the table description The settings menu should now pop up and you will be able to edit the game room title or description.

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This command is identical to the table command with the exception that this command changes the information “on” the table instead of the table name.

The functionality is similar to the table command as well, in that you will type the command, target, and desired text.

e.g. /gamedesc 5 my game

Once that command is issued, the information listed for game 5 will now read “my game.”

As you recall, any abuse of this privilege or any others associated with the Member Plus program, as defined by the Code of Conduct, can result in the revocation of your Member Plus status.

Unfortunately the command is not available at this time. In order to change a game room description or title, simply hold down the left CTRL on your keyboard and click on the button next to the game room, to view the table description The settings menu should now pop up and you will be able to edit the game room title or description.

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The gameinfo command allows you to change the title text of a game so that you can change inappropriate and offensive table names. Once the name is changed, you cannot change it again until the table is emptied.

In using this command, the format is quite similar to that of the message command. Type the command, then the target, and the desired message.

e.g. /gameinfo 5 hello

This will change the name of Game 5 to “hello.” Keep in mind, you don’t always have to use words or letters for the name of a table. You could just as easily change the name of the room to a keyboard symbol or a number.

As you recall, any abuse of this privilege or any others associated with the Member Plus program, as defined by the Code of Conduct for Voobly, can result in the revocation of your Member Plus status.

The history command will load the chat history from the chat buffer after you entered the room. This will not change what you see in the chat room, but if there were multiple lines of profanity for example, you will now be able to read any of this text prior to the issuing of the history command.

To use this command, all you need to do is type it in the chat lobby you would like to read.

e.g. /history

This will load the chat history from the chat buffer present before you entered the room.

This command sends a pop-up message to a user that only they can see. The user must also clear the message before they can do anything else in the lobby. Since you can create and personalize the message that appears in the grey pop-up box, this is an effective extension of your Voice as a Member Plus. Furthermore, it’s a great command to use considering it looks “official” and regular users do not have access to this privilege.

To issue a message to a user, just type in the command followed by the username, and then the specific message you wish to send to that user.

e.g. /msgbox Bill This is a Test

Once that command is issued, a grey pop-up box will appear on Bill’s screen saying “This is a Test.” Bill will then have to click the OK button in the box before continuing with whatever he was doing before. If this privilege is abused, according to what is outlined in the Code of Conduct, Member Plus privileges may be revoked.

Unlike Voobly messenger, this type of message CANNOT be ignored.

From time to time there will be situations that require more than use of VOICE. While these should be few and far between, as VOICE is the most effective privilege on Voobly, there are some “Force” tools available to make Voobly a better place. These privileges are commonly referred to mute and boot.

A common question that the Voobly Community team fields is, “Which is better to use: A mute or a boot?” To be perfectly frank, one is not better than the other, however, boots should not be used unless all other privileges short of a boot have been tried and exhausted. The same can be said for mutes in that a mute should not be used unless VOICE is tried and exhausted. The reasoning behind this is to ensure consistency with one of the notion of respect for all players. Respect for an individual is manifested in VOICE – in taking time to explain to a user why certain behaviors are inappropriate for Voobly. Furthermore, having the progression from one privilege to another helps to ensure that all users are treated the same—that they are granted the same respect as someone else on Voobly, regardless of behavior. The Member Plus program is designed to make Voobly a fun place for all users, and the only way that could occur is if there is a mutual respect across the board.

From time to time, you will encounter a user who is persistent in their violations of Voobly’s Code of Conduct or Terms of Service. The user may have been muted repeatedly in one room and may have since realized that he/she can then talk in other rooms. When this occurs, a Voobly-wide mute for five minutes may be necessary. The mute5 command works just as the mute command, except the mute5 command mutes the user in ALL Voobly rooms.

The format of the mute5 privilege is the same as the mute privilege. Type the command followed by a specific user name:

e.g. /mute5 Bill flooding

By issuing that command, the user named Bill will be prevented from chatting in the main lobbies throughout Voobly. Bill will still be able to play games and chat in private, though he cannot chat publicly for five minutes.

The mute5 privilege is only to be used in situations where all prior privileges have failed. Almost all situations can be effectively diffused with use of VOICE, /mute or /mute5 in that order. The mute5 privilege is used for violations of Voobly’s Code of Conduct or Terms of Service. Use of the mute5 privilege when no violation of Voobly’s Code of Conduct or Terms of Use is present, will be considered an unwarranted use of this privilege, and thus considered to be an abuse of Member Plus privileges. Any abuse of this privilege, or any others associated with the Member Plus program, can result in the revocation of your Member Plus status.

As a Level 2 Member Plus you will have the ability to prevent users from streaming in the main lobbies of a specific room, while still leaving them the ability to chat and play, without interrupting their streaming on Twitch. The streamdisable privilege works when you type in the command followed by a specific user name.

e.g. /streamdisable Bill streaming non-Voobly games

Once a Member Plus enters this command in the lobby, the user named Bill will have the streaming icon removed. Once the user is streamdisabled, you cannot change it, until the player starts streaming again. This is especially useful when a particular player is streaming something inappropriate and you want to immediately stop that action. Once the user is streamdisabled, you can then talk to the user privately and explain why he/she should stop a specific unacceptable action. Use of a streamdisable is preferable over use of all other privileges, not including VOICE.

The streamdisable privilege is to be used only when all other attempts at using your Voice have failed. The streamdisable privilege is used for violations of Voobly’s Code of Conduct or Terms of Service. Use of the streamdisable privilege when no violation of Voobly’s Code of Conduct or Terms of Use is present, will be considered an unwarranted use of this privilege, and thus considered to be an abuse of Member Plus privileges. Any abuse of this privilege, or any others associated with the Member Plus program, can result in the revocation of your Member Plus status.

Muting a user can be quite useful, however, often times realize the error of their ways prior to the mute releasing itself. As a result, a privilege to “unmute” a person is also provided for your use. As expected, this privilege works much like mute and mute5 in terms of command format.

Type the command followed by a specific user name:

e.g. /unmute Bill

When such a command is issued, the user named Bill will be instantly unmuted and will be allowed to chat in Voobly lobbies again.

Keep in mind, it is best to ONLY unmute those users that you have muted firsthand. How would you like it if you muted a troublemaker only to find out that this user sweet-talked another Member Plus into unmuting them? Unmuting users not muted by you is considered to be an abuse of your Member Plus status and you may be removed from the program. Furthermore, muting and unmuting yourself is also considered an abuse of your Member Plus status and you can be removed from the program.

The warn command sends a canned warning message to the user advising them that they are violating Voobly’s Code of Conduct. Like the message command, it requires the user to click the “OK” button on the warning prior to performing other actions in the lobby.

As with the message command, to issue a user a warning message you will need to type in the command followed by the user name.

e.g. /warn Bill Please stop flooding.

This command will send the canned warning message to the user named Bill and he will need to click “OK” before continuing on his way.

If this privilege is abused, according to what is outlined in the Code of Conduct, Member Plus privileges may be revoked.

As a Level 2 Member Plus you will have the ability to set and remove /welcome in tournament lobbies.

Type the command followed by the desired welcome message:

e.g. /welcome Welcome to the […]

When such a command is issued, all users entering the tournament lobby will see the set welcome message.

The welcome command was given to hosts, so they could announce tournament rules and brackets they are currently hosting, not to announce a tournament that may be held in a couple of days or even a day away. Sometimes a host will post a cancel for the welcome message, if they didn’t have time to have the tournament cancelled, but they need to make sure, they get this removed asap, either by themselves or arrange for another host to do it for them. It’s acceptable for hosts to use the welcome message to announce, that the tournament is closed, sign-ups are open, etc.

All welcomes messages should be cleared by the host at the end of their tournament.

While there are several privileges available to you to use as a Member Plus, they are there purely for you to enrich your experience online in the manner you see fit. Should you decide that you do not want to use them, that’s fine. Likewise, if you choose to use them, that’s fine too. The Member Plus program is here to help you find a richer, more fulfilling experience while online.

Please keep in mind though, should you choose to use the privileges available to you as a Member Plus, it is best that you adhere to the suggested uses below. Any abuse of Member Plus privileges may lead to the revocation of your Member Plus status.

Abuse of Member Plus privileges is defined as, but not limited to, unwarranted mutes or boots, flooding of /msgbox’es, removal of privileges that were not issued by you, or muting or booting another Member Plus. Muting or booting another Member Plus will result in immediate termination of your Member Plus Status. The frequency of the use of privileges (i.e. multiple mutes or boots in a given amount of time) may be considered an abuse of tools and can result in eventual removal from the program.