How should Admins... Admin ?.

[RimBlock]

Whilst not using the Godmode is good, how to prevent players killing you whist you are testing or fixing or performing some other admin action rather than playing ?.

 

I do like Cens direction with transparency for the user base and think this is a great way to build up trust.  In a way the player base can also police the admins and report to the server owner should someone be abusing their powers.

 

I can fully understand owners not trusting admins, especially when starting out, as their credentials and trustworthyness may not have been proven.  One rouge admin can do a lot of damage and some people can go off on a pretty radical tangent if they feel slighted sometimes.  Best solution really is to make sure you have decent, regular backups :D

[Mercules]

I have personally watched admins spawn in tanks and blow up a bunch of barracks. I called them out on it and the response I got was, "So what... they will be back after the restart." Except, I was a new player who had specifically made my way to that area with the idea of picking up some much needed gear like a solid gun, NVGs, GPS, Range Finder, Larger Backpack, and such. I had picked up enough food and drink and a enfield to just get there hoping to find at least one of the above especially a Backpack. Restart was 3 hours away.

So my options were now, make my way to one of the other places military loot spawns which would take an hour or more, sit around for 3 hours, log out for the night, or wander around looting residential stuff for the night of play. I chose the other option I didn't mention, never logging into that server again.

On another server an admin had an M110 with a TWS. He decided to help me while I was playing by teleporting to me and starting to shoot the zeds around. I had been carefully making my way around the city and had somewhat fixed up a Fuel tanker I was going to sell when I reached a trader. Well, he missed on of the zeds and shot the tanker which blew up. Then he wanted to give me the gun he was using and some briefcases when I started complaining about him basically ruining my game(drew down all the spawned zeds in the area on us as well).

He didn't understand I didn't WANT free stuff or help. I wanted to play the game. He got all irate when I refused his stuff and finally I logged out and never went back there.

So what you want in Admins are people who are going to be available but NOT SCREW WITH THINGS. Don't help out people who don't ask for it. Don't get bored and blow stuff up for fun because someone else might be wanting those building whole. Don't use gear other players can't even loot/purchase.

[JackalopeHunter]

Admin issues...

 

As the senior admin on our Epoch server, I have had my share of being called a hacker/admin abuser. I have been an admin for almost every game our community plays, from BF2 to DayZ. Anytime you are better, or they think so players will look for a way to make it so its not that they just suck, or that you got the better of them.This is why I employ all my admin to watch the others. If anything seems off they report it to me and I look it over. I have removed admin rights from a few admin who thought it was OK to use admin powers to play pranks on players, or out right kill them. 

 

I myself don't really play the game for the most part. I try to play basically PVE and avoid players when I can. But as said already, many players just like to scream "admin abuse". 

 

I believe a good admin team is just that, a team. 

Main admin to over see the server and the other admin.

A good group (2 to 4) of admin who help out and will stop what they are doing to help players with true server issues.

Then a number of admin who can use very little ingame powers, mainly just to spectate a possible hacker, which you must have them record to show proof. Then they can use rcon to ban/kick. 

 

In all checks and balances make good admin. No matter what you do, people being able to account for actions will keep admin inline. 

Without admin, a server will die. With the wrong admin, a server will die. Its a very hard line. 

[hambeast]

God mode is good.  What if I'm handling an admin call and I spook the player and they shoot me.  Happens more times than not.

 

If I ever screw up and have god mode turned on during a fight, I'll kill myself and announce I had it on and apologize.

 

 

Like others said the entitlement is ridiculous.  Everyone seems to think the world owes them something.  Take this case for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Isla_Vista_killings 

 

One of these entitled shitheads decided the world didn't give him what he "deserved" and killed a bunch of people.

 

If people start bitching like that on our servers, its a warning first then perma ban.  We don't tolerate it.

 

 

edit: I do police my admin's logs regularly.  If I see anything off or get reports I investigate.  Admins who abuse their powers are banned from the server.  No questions asked.

[JackalopeHunter]

God mode is good.  What if I'm handling an admin call and I spook the player and they shoot me.  Happens more times than not.

 

 

I use God mode when TP to players, more than once they have freaked out and shot me. Some have even then screamed admin abuse then stopped when I reminded them they called for an admin.  

[hambeast]

I use God mode when TP to players, more than once they have freaked out and shot me. Some have even then screamed admin abuse then stopped when I reminded them they called for an admin.  

oh god lol.  We had a case like this.  One of our admins was helping a player with god mode on, he accidentally blew the players vic up, so he spawned in a fresh one for him.

 

Another player saw this and was trying to shoot the admin during the whole process.  When he realized he couldn't kill the admin, he was screaming admin abuse up and down like crazy.  Ended up posting it to reddit / other forums trying to trash our server.

 

Could it have been handled differently, of course but there's always one who's gotta complain.

[insertcoins]

I like the: If you don't do this (a trivial server thing like up/lower the loot or make it sunny 24/7 or add extra missions or make the missions harder/easier, or my altime favorite: Add an ak to the spawngear) me an my team of x players (who you never see) will leave and take your players with us.

Here let me help you with a perma ban.

 

1. 11:43 PM - Nuko_San: 
   heh
2.  11:43 PM - Nuko_San: 
   once more deployed a bike...
3.  11:44 PM - Nuko_San: 
   4times today
4.  11:44 PM - Nuko_San: 
   such a useless thing
5.  11:44 PM - Nuko_San: 
   is that something that could be disabled?

[peter_panzer]

I myself have had fun time trying to keep admins under me to keep control of them self, ive seen one com on one night under another name and suddenly hes racked up a kill or two. Ive always said to our admins we are here to keep a little control and look out for the players doing things that are doggy we have an AI base if you want to go killing things, though most player were unaware i was not amused and remover his admin powers down to where he could do very little. It is stunts like this that can and does kill a server and though its had to police i take every report of admin abuse serious. I set up the 4degreesAU server because the server we played on and i was also an admin on had a 17 year old kid who just treated there server as his play ground and its something i have endevered to not happen  on this server.

 

P.S its 9am here and ive done a 12 hour night shift so please excuse the grammar :-P

[hobovu]

I'm curious, would you guys consider this admin abuse? I sometimes TP to bus stops when regulars of the sever bike up from the coast and I stand there looking at them (unarmed and wearing a pook medical skin) while they bike. I mainly do it to scare them, but they usually figure out it is me after the initial shock. I obviously don't do it people who have other people near them or new players on the sever. I never been accused of admin about via this little "prank" I guess you could say, but my sever seems to be pretty relaxed. It is especially funny ( to me at least) when you do this little prank on a night cycle under a street lamp. I would also like to point out, I don't just do this all the time as an admin, only when no one needs help with player drama, lost keys, and"accidentally" blowing up their vehicle nonsense that comes with being an admin. 

 

Back to the topic on how and admin should behave, I believe as long as said admin is being and admin first before a player there should usually be no problem with how an admin behaves. Although I would never PvP with my admin account, PVE is alright with me (only if you remove god mode, because it's no fun with god mode on). When I clear a mission by myself as an admin I usually delete all the bodies, gear, and vehicles due to the fact that I don't want anyone to just get easy money that way. It allows you as the admin to have a little fun, while not giving any player an advantage if they stumble upon a completed mission. Admin bases are fine with me, as long as they aren't used to kill other players or use an insane amount of items. On the sever I admin on we use our base as a impound lot (for vehicles that are left in a trader zone for a 24 hour period, we auction off expensive vehicles or vehicles with loot on them, and sell cheaper vehicles for 50% off.)

[Incar]

I'm curious, would you guys consider this admin abuse? I sometimes TP to bus stops when regulars of the sever bike up from the coast and I stand there looking at them (unarmed and wearing a pook medical skin) while they bike. I mainly do it to scare them, but they usually figure out it is me after the initial shock. I obviously don't do it people who have other people near them or new players on the sever. I never been accused of admin about via this little "prank" I guess you could say, but my sever seems to be pretty relaxed. It is especially funny ( to me at least) when you do this little prank on a night cycle under a street lamp. I would also like to point out, I don't just do this all the time as an admin, only when no one needs help with player drama, lost keys, and"accidentally" blowing up their vehicle nonsense that comes with being an admin. 

 

Back to the topic on how and admin should behave, I believe as long as said admin is being and admin first before a player there should usually be no problem with how an admin behaves. Although I would never PvP with my admin account, PVE is alright with me (only if you remove god mode, because it's no fun with god mode on). When I clear a mission by myself as an admin I usually delete all the bodies, gear, and vehicles due to the fact that I don't want anyone to just get easy money that way. It allows you as the admin to have a little fun, while not giving any player an advantage if they stumble upon a completed mission. Admin bases are fine with me, as long as they aren't used to kill other players or use an insane amount of items. On the sever I admin on we use our base as a impound lot (for vehicles that are left in a trader zone for a 24 hour period, we auction off expensive vehicles or vehicles with loot on them, and sell cheaper vehicles for 50% off.)

I wouldn't consider it abuse, but at the same time I wouldn't do it because a lot of players would. The way they'll react is, if you do random stuff to mess with us, who's to say you won't cheat in a battle? turn on player markers on maps? or heal yourself, etc... In the end I guess it comes down to whether or not you actually play though. On my server I actually play, I made the server for me to be honest, so I need to play. Thankfully the regulars I have know I don't cheat with admin powers (or atleast I hope they don't doubt me, lol), as we've had encounters where they handed my ass to me.

[MGT]

The way that works for us is we only intervene when there's an emergency or a rule breaker, that way the players can deal with things on their own.

 

For example, our no ramming in trader rule.

 

A player rams by accident, it's usually sorted out by the rammer being forced to pay up or risk them being ambushed at their base etc by the person who was rammed and their squad. Quite good really, by empowering the playerbase to deal with things it creates more of a society and encourages players to return.

[1R0NS1DE]

For our server i changed our admin tools to suit our own needs, and one of the main things i changed was making it so that while in god mode you could not shoot anyone, (just like if you walked into a safezone) you could shoot all you wanted, but all you would be doing is wasting your bullets

 

<< these were the tools i was using at the time

 

the script i changed was located in

 

Epoch-Admin-Tools / admintools / tools / AdminMode / GodModePlayer.sqf

 

this is the modded code

 

 

private ["_playerGM"];
_playerGM = _this select 0;
if (_playerGM) then
{
    player_zombieCheck = {};
    fnc_usec_damageHandler = {};
    fnc_usec_unconscious = {};
    (vehicle player) removeAllEventHandlers "handleDamage";
    (vehicle player) addEventHandler ["handleDamage", { false }];    
    (vehicle player) allowDamage false;
    r_player_unconscious = false;
    r_player_infected = false;
    r_player_injured = false;
    r_player_inpain = false;
    r_player_loaded = false;
    r_player_cardiac = false;
    r_player_lowblood = false;
    r_fracture_legs = false;
    r_fracture_arms = false;
    r_player_blood = 11999;
    r_player_timeout = 0;
    r_handlerCount = 0;
    dayz_sourceBleeding = objNull;
    dayz_hunger    = 0;
    dayz_thirst = 0;
    dayz_temperatur = 100;
    disableUserInput false;
    player setVariable ["USEC_injured",false,true];
    {player setVariable[_x,false,true];} forEach USEC_woundHit;
    player setVariable ["unconsciousTime", r_player_timeout, true];
    player setHit ['legs',0];
    player setVariable ['hit_legs',0,false];
    player setVariable['medForceUpdate',true,true];
    CancelGunfireEvent = player addEventHandler ["Fired", {
        titleText ["You can not fire in god mode.","PLAIN"]; titleFadeOut 3;
        NearestObject [_this select 0,_this select 4] setPos[0,0,0];
    }];
}
else
{
    player_zombieCheck = compile preprocessFileLineNumbers "\z\addons\dayz_code\compile\player_zombieCheck.sqf";
    fnc_usec_damageHandler = compile preprocessFileLineNumbers "\z\addons\dayz_code\compile\fn_damageHandler.sqf";
    fnc_usec_unconscious = compile preprocessFileLineNumbers "\z\addons\dayz_code\compile\fn_unconscious.sqf";    
    player addEventHandler ["handleDamage", {true}];
    player removeAllEventHandlers "handleDamage";
    player removeEventHandler ["Fired", CancelGunfireEvent];
    player allowDamage true;
};

 

using this solved the problem of getting into a fight with godmode on

[FJack]

I'd seriously like to know why admins TP without advising the player before by some automated message. Its a game-breaker to me and many times gives me minor heart attacks (figuratively) when admins TP to me for no good reason without warning then vanish seconds later.

Is the TP menu confusing or is it bugged? Why would admins pop up then quickly disappear? Is it just human error?

It happens quite often and I'm not sure if its the admin actually TPing to me or just a glitch that causes them to pass by players. It happens in servers that i'm trusted in so I doubt its admin checking on me... happens too fast, about as fast as the switch that takes place when changing clothes.

[Incar]

I'd seriously like to know why admins TP without advising the player before by some automated message. Its a game-breaker to me and many times gives me minor heart attacks (figuratively) when admins TP to me for no good reason without warning then vanish seconds later.

Is the TP menu confusing or is it bugged? Why would admins pop up then quickly disappear? Is it just human error?

It happens quite often and I'm not sure if its the admin actually TPing to me or just a glitch that causes them to pass by players. It happens in servers that i'm trusted in so I doubt its admin checking on me... happens too fast, about as fast as the switch that takes place when changing clothes.

 

TP is pretty straight forward with infiSTAR, bout all I can comment on at this time. Never encountered bugs with it personally, odds are admins on those servers are just hopping all over. Perhaps they're trying to mess with the players, hard to know for sure.

[FJack]

TP is pretty straight forward with infiSTAR, bout all I can comment on at this time. Never encountered bugs with it personally, odds are admins on those servers are just hopping all over. Perhaps they're trying to mess with the players, hard to know for sure.

some claim they didnt TP to me or were not even TPing at the time. I think it may be a bug or I'm just hallucinating.

[cring0]

I do like Cens direction with transparency for the user base and think this is a great way to build up trust.  In a way the player base can also police the admins and report to the server owner should someone be abusing their powers.

Yeah, I agree, I think that's a pretty awesome idea Cen!  Admin transparency would solve a lot of player trust issues that I've seen on multiple servers.

 

I used to play on a heavily populated server where the mods were given access to codes and a couple of them went around pulling up everyone's safes, boasted about it in side chat, and only received a slap on the wrist for it...  It still amazes me how some admins run their servers.  Why would you give any kind of powers like that out to someone you don't really know, let alone someone who blatantly abuses them? o.O

[auzgamer]

I use 2 accounts one for admining and the other for playing I bandit a lot and never have any issues with players complaining my players know I play fair so I guess that's why but I have been on servers where is you kill an admin they will tp to you and kill you. It's all got to do with your players if they trust you or not I guess.

[VentZer0]

People in dayz tend to be very ... dumb, sad but true. It happened on multiple occasions where we announced we gonna TP to a person because he asked for an admin:
~TP~  "sidechat: HAAAAAAACKER" ~starts emptying his mags on us while we tell him we are the admins he called~ "sidechat: ADMIN THERE'S A HACKER TPING TO ME" ... I can't even ...

Things like this really makes you lose faith in humanity in general. How do these people survive in the realworld? I am geniunely curious.

For the admin thing, I can share the burden a couple of them already expressed, you play on your own server kill a bunch of people and they imidiately say things like "dat ESP", "admin abuse", ... etc
I will get a capture card for myself to record every encounter with people, so if they throw a fit I can get them back on the ground and just show them how bad they are at the game.
Example: We have Laserdesignators on our server, they are like rangefinders but with a twist, you have normal, NV, AND thermal mode. So we were driving around finding a mission and some people already being at it. "open fire" we open up on them with L115s and KSVKs from around 1.4km they run like chicken on the crest of the hill they were on. I was spotting them with the laserfinder. Later they were convinced that we used ESP and shit. I had to take one of them give him a laserfinder, TP myself to the position they were before we killed them, and only then he understood that he had to learn a lot about ArmA.


Does anyone know a way to broadcast the use of admintools to the RPT file?
Like the second you use the option "admin menu" from Epoch Admin Tools 1.8.x it will tell you Admin X used admin menu.

[insertcoins]

People in dayz tend to be very ... dumb, sad but true. It happened on multiple occasions where we announced we gonna TP to a person because he asked for an admin:

~TP~  "sidechat: HAAAAAAACKER" ~starts emptying his mags on us while we tell him we are the admins he called~ "sidechat: ADMIN THERE'S A HACKER TPING TO ME" ... I can't even ...

Things like this really makes you lose faith in humanity in general. How do these people survive in the realworld? I am geniunely curious.

For the admin thing, I can share the burden a couple of them already expressed, you play on your own server kill a bunch of people and they imidiately say things like "dat ESP", "admin abuse", ... etc

I will get a capture card for myself to record every encounter with people, so if they throw a fit I can get them back on the ground and just show them how bad they are at the game.

Example: We have Laserdesignators on our server, they are like rangefinders but with a twist, you have normal, NV, AND thermal mode. So we were driving around finding a mission and some people already being at it. "open fire" we open up on them with L115s and KSVKs from around 1.4km they run like chicken on the crest of the hill they were on. I was spotting them with the laserfinder. Later they were convinced that we used ESP and shit. I had to take one of them give him a laserfinder, TP myself to the position they were before we killed them, and only then he understood that he had to learn a lot about ArmA.

Does anyone know a way to broadcast the use of admintools to the RPT file?

Like the second you use the option "admin menu" from Epoch Admin Tools 1.8.x it will tell you Admin X used admin menu.

 

Just add a dialog line to every action in the admin tools

[VentZer0]

Just add a dialog line to every action in the admin tools

I was not sure if that would work so easy.

[hogscraper]

 

Does anyone know a way to broadcast the use of admintools to the RPT file?

Like the second you use the option "admin menu" from Epoch Admin Tools 1.8.x it will tell you Admin X used admin menu.

That's probably my favorite thing about infistar. Just about everything is logged to the rpt, even when players unlock things and how many attempts they made. It also lets you limit certain things people can do. I think that is by far the most important thing to have, no matter what admin tools you use. Being able to limit people to only a few things that can help players without allowing them to grief or cheat is huge.

[VentZer0]

That's probably my favorite thing about infistar. Just about everything is logged to the rpt, even when players unlock things and how many attempts they made. It also lets you limit certain things people can do. I think that is by far the most important thing to have, no matter what admin tools you use. Being able to limit people to only a few things that can help players without allowing them to grief or cheat is huge.

That must be pretty costly in server performance I guess? I am tempted to use infiStar, but I am also a bit reluctent to try because 1. I heard rumors he also sells hacks (well rumors, can someone clarify?) and 2. I don't know how it is with all the scripts I have and if they would work with that antihack, moreover how I can get my own scripts to run.

I really like the idea of having everything logged though.  Log everything .. kinda like the NSA ;D

It makes things much less time consuming for certain issues players have, and it reduces frustration on my part having to go Magnum P.I. on the database and RPT logs all the time, cus there's always this guy who wants something.

[insertcoins]

That must be pretty costly in server performance I guess? I am tempted to use infiStar, but I am also a bit reluctent to try because 1. I heard rumors he also sells hacks (well rumors, can someone clarify?) and 2. I don't know how it is with all the scripts I have and if they would work with that antihack, moreover how I can get my own scripts to run.

I really like the idea of having everything logged though.  Log everything .. kinda like the NSA ;D

It makes things much less time consuming for certain issues players have, and it reduces frustration on my part having to go Magnum P.I. on the database and RPT logs all the time, cus there's always this guy who wants something.

 

You could always add BE triggers for all events

[VentZer0]

You could always add BE triggers for all events

Isnt that even more work intensive for the server?

[hogscraper]

That must be pretty costly in server performance I guess? I am tempted to use infiStar, but I am also a bit reluctent to try because 1. I heard rumors he also sells hacks (well rumors, can someone clarify?) and 2. I don't know how it is with all the scripts I have and if they would work with that antihack, moreover how I can get my own scripts to run.

 

I don't think it adds that much at all to the server load. Its not literally recording everything but it does record every action taken by an admin and many things that players do while interacting with the environment.