Double post <3
Here is the soundtrack to this story:
I joined in Feb of 2012 on Lava, after a build server that I had got 'Super moderator' or some joke like that on. I remember being angry that promotions to Mod+ were no longer based on buildings on that server, but now on how well they moderate. How was I supposed to moderate? How would I prove myself? Either way, server had a bit of rough uptimes before it was shut down for good, sadly. Guess its name 'Newb City' was the perfect place for me.
Aaaanyway, after getting the rank of crafter on lava... and funny unrelated story - I remember going to bed, but I kept my keyboard and mouse in bed with me and AFK'd on lava so as not to get kicked. I ended up getting AFK kicked for not talking or something, which I was mad about, because I made such an effort not to. Also a really stupid one.
One day I heard two staff members talking about the TNT tourney. They were asking each other if they signed up for the TNT tournament. I was interested so I looked it up on the forums. I signed up and went to TNT and played it. I played my first match on TheKeep and I loved it. Some samples of my first-day logs:
[2012-03-30 20:55:50] superstein: what block is pistol?
[2012-03-30 20:55:56] [Grenadier] SparklyMuffinz: Medium gray for pistol
(thanks
SparklyMuffinz )
[2012-03-30 21:01:36] superstein: sparkly how do you get ranks
[2012-03-30 21:02:23] superstein: how do i buy multiple pistils?
[2012-03-30 21:12:21] 1. superstein - K: 13 D: 12
[2012-03-30 21:13:05] superstein: i am epic at this lol
I played this for a while and waited for my tournament. My partner and I tried to find each other, but eventually he gave up and I passed the round. My other partner too did not show up, so I was on my third match, in the second round. I was playing
HarmakPaul and I got crushed. It was on BridgeOfFate and I recall only getting about 2 or 3 kills. I was mad but I didn't really care. I kept playing TNT for a while and applied for Trusted as soon as time allowed me to. I was denied, but given some encouraging comments:
No offense, but I do not think he is ready at all for it. Having him a staff rank, would only make me feel uncomfortable.
Dont think he is ready for the responsibility. At least not yet
I'm a little concerned that he might not make the activity checks consistently
(but in actuality, the comments were way too kind for how I actually was at the time)
The next month was entirely focused on becoming a Trusted. I tried very very very hard and when the month passed I dropped another application in the form. A week or so later, I got my reply after school. I was so very excited! I joined the IRC, I joined in-game and had a ton of fun on my first day. I got really really nervous when I had to warn a player for teamswitching and I asked 3 or so Operators if my actions were justified. They said yes, thankfully.
I staffed for a while, made great friends with most all of the TNT staff, and eventually took a month break. Upon my return, I played more than ever, then started to get a feeling I would be promoted to Op soon. The end of that week, I was promoted! I had quite the freakout, and again had a ton of fun as an Operator. Somewhere between this timeframe, I also became Adventure and Tournament staff. I was pretty inactive there and to be honest, was really keeping the rank to keep it. Right before I was going to resign, boom, the server shuts down.
A few months after I had become Op, classic TNT became a ghost town. I was very sure the server was going to shut down, and I had heard far too many rumors to know it was only but true. Once the new SMP came out, I wanted to still be staff, so I stuck to the premium option. I applied for Op and got Trusted out of it on Elysium. After a few weeks enjoying this rank, Marnixxie calls me on to the server because a 'guest is saying weird stuff about me.' I did not expect a promotion at all, but I joined and he gave me a 'LOL' and said 'Sorry, but you can have this.' I was an Op there now! At this point, I was regularly with Baker, Marnixxie, Qube, and lots of other SMP staff, and they became my good friends. They also taught me a lot about staffing and how things work, and to be honest it could be a big reason why I got to the position I did. I applied for VetOp when I felt it was right, and was soon accepted as the Economist. I was thrilled, it was amazing to finally be a VetOp.
I soon learned of a Premium TNT server, and we were invited to the server the day after. I thought the server was awesome. Here's a special picture of my first death:
I helped a bunch on it and was super excited for release. I had been given hints of me being promoted to a higher rank, but those soon became useless. I was offered Elysium Controller by Qube after Marnixxie's resignation and I accepted. I took the rank and Sploorky migrated to Elysium from classic Lava once it shut down, and we were a team of controllers. After a month at these positions, we were approached and were quickly given the topic of the conversation: the server needs a new Director. I didn't believe it. Sploorky and I took the roles of Director and we ran the server for a good month. He was promoted to Admin and I went on my month-long break after this, where he took over again.
I returned, and soon realized that I could not juggle a server and school. I resigned with very much hesitation and left JohnOgozalek in charge. And here I am now, very busy but with still some time to do things.
Props to those who read the whole thing! :D