I wanted to follow up Motor’s “Cheating or Sneak Bugger” article with one about the GMs.  The GM’s are player-volunteers.  They could be your friends or squad mates and range from day one players to ones who have only been playing for a few years.  Their job is a tough and thankless one because sometimes they are asked to take action on  situations that can sometimes be pretty cloudy.

One misconception is that GM’s investigate every /report that is submitted. They don’t because about 70% of the what’s reported  consist of bug reports like the following:

“engine bug”

“tree inside the depot”

GMs don't respond to these, they are logged and the Community Management and Production Teams review them daily and take any action necessary, be it to investigate or ticket for a fix.

What GMs do act on are reports like these:

“clipper in Andenne spawnable”

“Player shooting thru AB wall at Gilze”

These are investigated by a GM as soon as they can get there.  Sometimes the reports cause them to warn or remove a player from the server but much of the time there is nothing to act on.  I’m not saying that what players report is wrong but the perception may be inaccurate.  Sometimes a clipper is just someone who is well hidden. On the occasions that the reports can be verified, GMs have the authority to boot the offending player.

Why don’t the GM’s respond to the player that submitted a .report?  That’s because we don’t want them to.  Anonymity allows the GM to do his/her job without fear of retaliation or never ending PM’s.

The GM’s are not on 24/7 power trip and not the bad guys.  They are simply doing their part to ensure you have the most trouble-free game they can provide.  They don’t make up rules either. That's up to CRS and the CM team.

The GM corps has about a 30+ page GM Policy Manual that they must read and agree to before they become a GM.  They also have their own forum where they can communicate amongst themselves and receive updates from the Community Management Team. Every potential GM is screened very closely.  We weed out the power-trippers and the like to ensure we have GM’s that are patient, understanding, detail oriented, and calm.  The best GM’s have all of those qualities and more.  Rarely do the GM’s make a mistake but they are human and it can happen.  That’s why it’s important that if you feel you have been treated unfairly that you contact TROPER as soon a possible so he can investigate the incident.

Some believe that only RATS are GMs.  Well we are, meaning that we have the same tools – plus several more – that the player-volunteer GM’s do and we follow the same policy they do.  We can, and sometimes do, take summary action on a player but that’s pretty rare.

The Lead Game Moderator is TROPER and does a fantastic job keeping the GM Corps running smoothly.  And it’s because of TROPER and his GM’s that you are free to enjoy your time in-game.