Category: Staff

Good Grief.

About 8 months ago, I relaxed our no-griefing rules, specifically because they were causing entirely too much policing from the admin staff. As a part of that, we went from, “You can’t do it at all,” to “You can do it, but only with wood or twig, and if you use turrets, you have to take them down when you’re done, and you can do whatever you want against raid bases and outposts.”These adjustments were made to allow players to engage a more aggressive play style, and to reduce the amount of hand-holding and babysitting that the admins would have to do.

In the last 2-3 months, there has been a major escalation in the amount of situations where people will push the absolute limits of these rules and try to see just how hard/far they can push the boundaries of the rules. Let me just tell you: That shit is exhausting. Seriously, it’s kind of like being on year 3 of a 3-year-long roadtrip with two kids in the back pointing their fingers millimeters from each other’s eyes, yelling back and forth, “I’M NOT TOUCHING YOU!”

Stop that. I’m pretty much sick to death of having to amend the game rules on account of either rules lawyers that find one specific and ridiculous set of circumstances that I’ve not specifically written about and then they want to moan, “Oh, but it wasn’t in the rules,” or the people who just expect to get a second or third or fourth chance…? No.The server runs on good faith. The people who donate or subscribe to keep the server turned on do so in good faith that the staff and I will keep the peace. The people who play do so in good faith that they will have a fair and relatively stable gaming experience. People who play for free do so in the good faith that those of us charged with running the server will do so in an equitable and transparent manner.

Well, that’s goes two ways. We also put forth the community guidelines in good faith that people won’t try to be dick-nosed little weasels that will try and worm their way into any and every advantage with people, and, “You know, people can just complain, and the admins will sort it out, and if I went too far, I’ll say sorry.”

No. Not any more. Not ever again.

Read the rules. Take some time to grasp the subtext. Play to the spirit of the rules, and DO NOT BE A FUCKING ASSHOLE TO OTHER PLAYERS. Seriously. Play the game, raid each other, kill the hell outta folks, but there’s never a need to do things to intentionally push people off of the server and ruin their desire to play the game.

If you absolutely, positively MUST go super-hard and destroy any and everything around you, GO. PLAY. ON. SVRED.

Seriously, I made a server where you can be just as hard and just as nasty to people as you want. There’s even a monthly competition to see who can be the biggest complete bastard to each other. Do not make Main a hostile place to play.

 I will be watching the rest of this year very, very closely. In the event that the whole boundary-pushing crap continues, we will go back to, “No griefing,” and the staff will be instructed to pursue it just the same way we go after hate speech. Likewise, someone claiming griefing when there was none will receive temporary bans. Yes, this server has an active admin staff. No, we are not here to hold anyone’s hand. Y’all need to consider trying to sort some of this stuff out between each other before you bring us in to deal with it.

Full Disclosure, Transparency, and Rumor Control:

This evening, I was forced to remove a member of the administrative staff. It was found that the admin in question was using their powers as an admin to create items and give them to friends, and that the admin in question was also playing and benefiting from those items. In particular, a member of senior staff and I found that a metal base had been created, armored doors had been placed, and it appears very reasonable that garage doors had been spawned and placed for this base.

This, of course, calls into question any and all actions from the player and the admin for legitimacy, and in this break with public trust, the admin has been removed, and their player account has been banned from Serenity Valley Rust servers. As we don’t know how much benefit was given to the player account through admin action, while a ban appeal as a player is certainly on the table, we owe it to you, our players, to make certain that they are unable to play until a BP wipe has leveled the playing field. My commitment remains, 100% to the integrity and enjoyability of your play experience on our servers, and we will continue to carefully monitor and jealously pursue any hints of wrongdoing, whether from a player or a member of staff.

In addition to the server’s rules, all of my staff are asked to follow several additional guidelines beyond the standard community guidelines, in order to preserve the fragile trust that exists between player and administrator and the good faith that everyone can enjoy a fair play experience. These guidelines are are:

1. Integrity First
2. Excellent in Everything We Do
3. Service Before Self
4. Always Avoid the Appearance of Evil

I am deeply embarrassed and and immensely disappointed that your trust was violated, and I will redouble my efforts to instill the best behaviors in staff and work to guarantee that no such further lapses in that trust occur.

Serenity Valley: Now Hiring!


I’ve talked about it for a good, long time and now it’s here!  We’re finally at the point that it’s time to bring on some fresh blood, start building our support team, and reach a point where players can get help for their game 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are a few different ways we’re doing this. The first is that we’re implementing a new trouble ticket system where people can offer feedback,  lodge complaints, request assistance, and appeal administrative actions. That system is up and being updated almost daily at http://rust.ars-insolitus.com/help. With time, we’ll be building up a knowledge base through the help portal as well, so that when player have questions about how to accomplish a task, rules clarifications, and more, it’s all in one, easy to search place.

The second step relates to the first as I’m currently writing the application process for these positions through the help system, but very soon we’ll be accepting applications for a number of support roles that we’re looking to fill to help the server run smoothly. These are volunteer positions. Each of these roles offer some in-game perks, but some of them come with restrictions, and all of them demand an absolute respect for and adherence to the community’s guidelines. Each of these positions starts with a 60-day probationary period so we can all determine if this is going to be a good fit. Without further ado, the new positions being created for Serenity Valley gaming:

Customer Service Representative (CSR): The CSR will be a first line of contact for many player issues, answering questions about rules, policies, benefits, and services on our server. This role will be able to work across all servers and comes with no play restrictions. Ideally, we will have 1-2 CSR’s on each server, all of whom can answer player questions and point them toward helpful resources on Discord or in-game. Questions or requests beyond the CSR’s responsibilities are forwarded to the admin team for resolution. This role is expected to work at least 5 hours/week. There’s a small reporting component with this role so that notes and the questions being asked can be collected by management and either added to the knowledge base or policies adjusted accordingly. If you like helping people, showing off your expert skills, or writing correspondence, this is a great role!

Server Administrator (Admin): The Admins are responsible for enforcing the servers’ rules within fixed guidelines, assisting players in-game, fulfilling sponsorship awards, and designing/maintaining the server store. This role will be unable to play on any server that they work as an Admin. Ideally, there will be 1-2 Admins per server, with Mr. D serving as backup/floater between all servers. Admins will also provide enforcement of the community guidelines on the server’s Discord server. Admins will also be the go-to for conducting server events, adding extra elements of fun, PVP, or player interactivity for their assigned server(s) and must be able to maintain professionalism and respect. This role is expected to work at least 10 hours/week. Each day will include a small after-action report. If you like being hands-on, working with people, or enjoy building creative things in Rust, this will be a very enjoyable role for you!

New Player Ambassadors (NPA): NPA’s are players who primarily play solo and make themselves available for new players to join them for 1-2 wipes in order to learn the four core pillars of the game: Farming, Building, PVP, and Raiding. These players will reach out to newer players, offer them safe-haven, and introduce them to the NPA service where they can join a temporary friendship/alliance and learn the game with the active involvement/support of an experienced player. These players are also asked to help new members of the community get to know the rules, expectations, and ways to get help within our community. This role has no hours requirements or reporting requirements, and is best suited for people who love playing, love teaching, and love making new friends!

Community Manager: The community manager coordinates with the lead Admin and each server’s admin staff to design and conduct regular events across all Serenity Valley servers. This role will require a good familiarity with all games in the Serenity Valley network, a moderate understanding of game design and balance, or a similar understanding of economics. The ideal community manager will be upbeat, positive, and willing and able to engage the community in a friendly, welcoming manner. This role will also interact heavily with the Discord community, engaging in conversation, seeking feedback, and working with the community to develop ideas for the sorts of content they wish to see in the game.  The Community Manager will have some light supervisory duties in working with, consolidating feedback from, and training for CSR’s as this role develops. The Community Manager’s time expectations are fluid and as-needed, but are anticipated at taking no less than 5-10 hours per week.

Media Team: If you’re interested in producing art, music, or video content for Serenity Valley, let us know! We’re very interested in and excited for more development and interaction with the community at large, and we’re looking for a more creative eye to help offset Mr D’s seemingly endless analytics.

Each of these positions will have an application form on our help portal (soon), and will be available for players to apply. Players can apply for any and all roles that they feel that they are suited. As mentioned above, there is a probationary period for each of these roles. We won’t start giving volunteer perks until after the first wipe that a person has worked in their assigned role, and during probation, they’ll receive one half of their reward stipends. Probation status lasts from 60 days past their start date. During and throughout probation, new volunteers will be evaluated, tested, and given training to make sure they’re a good fit for their assigned positions. These roles will remain open and available for all to apply until all roles are filled, and before we add additional servers, more positions will open to fill those staff roles before the new server(s) start. Please leave a comment here, send a feedback ticket, or message @admin on Discord if you have any questions!

NOTE:  This posting is up a few minutes ahead of the applications being posted.  Applications will be live as soon as the announcement hits Discord.