Best Posts in Thread: Blackoak999's Helper Application

ACCEPTED FOR INTERVIEW

 

In Game Name: blackoak999
Skype: Yes - blackoak999
Teamspeak Username: blackoak999
Mic use: Yes
Age: 27
Timezone: Pacific Standard Time
Hours online per weekday: 4-6
Hours online per weekend: 4-6
Position Changes: Citizen to Helper

Introduction:

You know me as blackoak999 though many players just call me oak or black or blackoak, either ingame or on teamspeak. Players often ask me where I got my IGN. Blackoak999 came from several things. Regarding 999 I just wanted an easy number that wouldn’t be picked already. Regarding blackoak, on one level I just love trees, especially oak trees, forests, and especially old dark mossy and cool forests of any kind. Consequently, I really like the dark oak biome in minecraft. In real life I love, love, love to climb trees, jump around in the branches, and have even slept in a tree from time to time. When I lived at home with my parents I would spend a lot of time in our two acre fruit tree orchard, up in a tree or under one, usually reading a book. At other times we would go camping or backpacking in the Californian Sierras. When I was about 14 I started spending the days by myself in deep forests, fishing all day, no people around, the only other big creatures being bear or cougar or deer. It’s very interesting negotiating with a predator. Surprisingly, you can convince them not to eat you if you stay calm and interact with them in a certain way. haha That always made me feel stronger afterwards. It was great catching my own trout, cooking them right away, and eating them just after I caught them.

Later I got into deer hunting for the same reasons above, but a level above trout fishing. Deer hunting requires even more patience. Sometimes you don’t get a deer, that’s why they call it hunting. lol But I think wild food is the best possible. In deer hunting I was taught never to miss and make the animal suffer; if you can’t do that don’t take the shot. I use that philosophy ingame and in city-life too. I make sure I can do a thing before I do it, but sometimes you just have to take the chance.

If you didn’t already know, I am married, I’m 27 and I have a son who just turned nine. Yes, I had a kid early, but luckily my wife and I could afford him. It’s a bit easier when you live in a small town; some expenses are less. I know I’m pretty lucky to live in a nice house and already have most of the things people want. That’s one of the reasons why, most of the time, I feel like I should help people. This is true ingame and in real life. Sometimes, because I am helpful, people think I’m a pushover. Don’t think this.

I work as a writer, mostly non-fiction so far. I have written several children’s books, and hope to have one illustrated soon. Don’t ask me about the non-fiction, you would be bored to tears. Ok, maybe not, but I’m here to decompress from all that writing.

I’ve been playing minecraft for a long time - almost from the beginning of it being announced as a new sandbox. It’s such an interesting environment to explore - sometimes I think this is the beginning of virtual reality, except that right now it has huge grains or blocks that are one meter.

I’ve been playing Meepcraft since November 28, 2013 which is about 10 months now. I really liked Meepcraft from the start. For the first two weeks I just played mini-games like Hunger Games, ran around spawn, and made a house in the wild that never was raided or attacked. After that I did Skyblock and made a huge multilevel island. That was fun. I still remember MistressMacabre’s awesome Sb shop. Once I had 100k I went to towny and became a resident. No, I didn’t buy a town at that point because 100k was the cost of town, but you need more than the minimum to be successful. Then I was an assistant of a town and learned the permissions; after a few months I bought a town and made Everest into the metropolis it is today.

Why should you be helper?

This is kind of corny, but I like helping people and I think I can make a difference. I’ve volunteered for different groups and organizations before, sometimes as the president, but not always. One such club was the Outdoor Adventure Club, which sounds like what it is: we would go backpacking, kayaking, skiing, on trail-walks, etc. Often I would act as a docent or helper, pointing out what the plants in the area were, their names and what they can be used for - food, fibers, or tinder. Sometimes I would teach people how to do archery. Everyone loved learning how to shoot a bow, and it was easy for me, since my dad taught me archery starting about the age of 6. I’ve been shooting a bow forever. I love teaching people how to do things. It’s one of my favorite things to do - it makes me learn even more when helping.

Like I mentioned above, Ive been playing Meep for almost 10 months now, playing in the different mini-games, in Sb, and in Towny. I’ve learned all of the permissions for Sb and towny, and I shout help to players or /msg help to players fairly often. My town Everest is a very stable town, and I can almost always handle a problem myself in Everest, either by reimbursing people for lost armor, or money, or just negotiating a peace. I often port to players to help them with a problem or question also. In a way, I’ve been acting as a helper for a while without anyone knowing it.

I think the fact that I have a young boy makes it easier for me to be patient with younger people and understand their moods and where they are coming from. My son loves to play minecraft also now, which I think is pretty funny and cool. He’s such an awesome guy, I really love him.

I never really thought I would make a staff application, since I like to play Meep and I love building and planning in Towny. But recently so many people have been asking me, “When are you submitting a staff application?” or saying, “You should join staff.” This made me rethink that position. Now I think I would like to be a join staff to help the server work. When I see people in Teamspeak or /g saying things that are disruptive I wish I could do something to help the other players. This is especially true when I do /modlist and see no staff are online. I might be inclined to volunteer at night at the time when few staff are on. I think I could time-manage that, even if it took setting my alarm to wake-up at night for a few hours.

Weaknesses:

I’m sure I have weaknesses - everyone does. They are often hard to see in yourself, which is partly the point of this question.

I will never use hacks or cheat on Meep; it would take the fun out of winning. Consequently, other staff will have to tell me how to see the signs of hacking ingame. I mean, I understand some of what hacking would look like on Meep, but I would need extra information.

I am the Mayor of the metropolis called Everest. That does tend to use some of my time. Hopefully I will still be able to visit my town an hour per day, or something. I put this here in weakness because I feel like my town might compete for time with being helper. However, I know players who are staff and have towns, so this should be manageable.

I like to play KitPvP, but again, I would never hack there. I’ve seen the hacks, been killed over and over by them, and I basically know what they are. But I would need someone to more fully explain how to find and describe them.

I never play parkour, mostly because I am usually so good at games and the interface between a keyboard and mouse are just way different and not as tight. As a result someone will have to explain problems that come up with parkour and how to deal with them. I do know people can glitch through places in parkour.

I have a lot of patience, and I don’t rage, and I don’t think I would abuse powers. Maybe a weakness would be I would look into a /modreq problem too carefully, take a while and try to see both sides? I could probably live with a little not-quite accurate punishment of troublemakers though.

If you can point-out any other weakness I will try not to take it personally. Probably I just won’t respond, so a he-said/she-said thread doesn’t happen.

Conclusion:

I know people have said this before, but I feel like Meep is a unique place. Meep can have issues like any system or group, but I’ve never seen a more interesting chat and multiplayer environment. I love the economy aspect of this server - there is such a large array of selling and trading. It’s simple and complex at the same time.

Talking to players in Teamspeak while playing makes the game-play even easier. It’s fun to talk on Teamspeak with the other players and joke around with them. I imaging this would be even more common if I am accepted to staff. I’ve been very active on Teamspeak for about a month now and I’m active on Skype. Please feel free to message me on either at any time.

I probably should have gone on meep ts 10 months ago. If I had, maybe I would have submitted a staff application a few months ago. In any case, now I feel like I know all of the towny permissions. Sometimes I even have helpers ask me what the permission commands are. I’ve read all the rules many times in forums in the rules tab - global, forums, teamspeak, parkour, PvP, Sb, and towny. Mostly I read the Meep rules for myself, but I also read the rules to help people who asked for clarification of a rule. I even know a few of the rules that are not updated in the rules list.

I can be on Meep as a staff for an extended period of time. Because of my work situation I have large periods of time I can devote. Actually, this helps me decompress from work that is very different in nature. Meep and my in real life work happen to have a good synergy.

I’ve been told that being staff makes Meep almost into a different game, a different puzzle. I think that makes sense. I think I would like that challenge.

 

Thank you Diana - Your response means a lot to me!

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014, Original Post Date: Sep 14, 2014 ---

Thank you very much 618awesome. You are awesome

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014 ---

Thanks monkeyhead1999! *said in sonorous voice*
Wait, my voice sounds funny to me...

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014 ---

Wow, thank you bob4444444!

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014 ---

Thank you JumboAce That means so much to me!

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014 ---

Owen, that's really nice of you to say! I really appreciate it.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014 ---

Pyro707, thanks man! I do like joking around sometimes. By the way, I would love it if you had the time to make another ice castle in Everest! (You don't have to if you don't have the time, of course.)

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014 ---

Thank you so much benster82!

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014 ---

BobJon, If I get accepted I look forward to working with you at night!
Thanks man!

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 14, 2014 ---

Happy Birthday Fang!
Wow, you read the whole thing? Any typos? haha
Yeah, I really appreciate your help with that modreq. That and your subsequent help was invaluable.
I will always strive to be fair to every player.

 

Let me be the first to say.... FINALLY! You will be great. Your actions in game and on Team Speak say volumes about you! You will go far, I am sure. +1

 

Whoa, alright, I was not expecting this.

Your application, absolutely amazing. Your in-game, forums, and team speak activity are all impeccable.

The posts above summed it up perfectly.

+1

 

You applied! Here's my +1.

From what I've seen, you are friendly and patient with other players, and you already make an effort to help people out. You're active, dedicated, and intelligent. I can tell you put a lot of thought into this application, and it isn't a decision you're making lightly. And it was great to read where your name came from and learn a little more about you. (You're a writer too!)

I can't personally think of anything you need to work on right now, but I think you have the maturity and self-awareness to address those as they come up. As Fang said, don't worry about not knowing everything up-front - as long as you're willing to learn and take the time, other staff members will be glad to help you get the hang of it. I think you'd be a great addition to the team.

 

Black, it's high time you applied for staff. You're one of the most mature and nice people in the community, and you really deserve this position.
Pros
- Helpful
- Really nice
- Active on 2/2 aspects (I don't have teamspeak)
- dude. It's you.
Cons
- Nothing
- Nothing
-Nothing
-Nothing
Ect.
Good luck mate!
- Ranger_621

 

still waiting for him to get admin.....

 

Thank you Ugly! Beautifully ugly unicorn!
(Edit: Ok, I will shut up now.) haha