To moderate a UPick game, you must meet the following requirements:
If the game is a Micro or Mini UPick (ten or less players, twelve to thirteen players):
- You must have been active on this site for at least three months and have completed at least one Mafia game as a player.
- You must have successfully moderated one Mafia game. The best queues to gain moderating experience are Mini Normals and Approved Open setups (these game types do not require any experience to moderate games).
If the game is a Large UPick (fourteen or more players):
- You must have been active on this site for at least six months and have completed at least one Large game as a player.
- You must have successfully moderated two Mafia games.
If the game is an Ideal UPick (eleven players):
- You must have been active on this site for at least eleven months and have completed at least one Large game as a player.
- You must have successfully moderated two Mafia games OR been on the site for eleven years.
If joining the moderation queue could cause you to be moderating multiple games at once, you need at least as many games of moderating experience as the number of simultaneous games you might be moderating.
If you have experience moderating offsite games, you may request these games to be considered as equivalent experience. It is up to the Listmod's discretion whether they will qualify.
Backup/co-moderator requirements:
A backup or co-mod will be required for all UPick games unless it is the only game you are running across all queues
and
your game has ten or less players or twelve to thirteen players. If this is the only game you are running across all queues and your game has ten or less players or twelve to thirteen players, a backup/co-mod is strongly recommended but not required. If your game has fourteen or more players or your game has eleven players but you haven't been on the site eleven years, a backup or co-mod is always required. If your game has eleven players and you have been on the site eleven years, a backup/co-mod is strongly recommended but not required. Backup mods/co-mods must also meet the modding requirements for the game on their own such that they would be qualified to take over in the event the original game moderator cannot continue moderating the game.
Thread access: You must make a moderator private topic in the
Private Topics subforum that fully describes your setup and contains the list of roles assigned to players. If you have a backup/co-mod, you must give them access to this and all PTs you make for the game, and make them a thread moderator for your main game thread. If you do not have a backup/co-mod, you must give access to your PTs to the Listmod.
All closed setups for non-Ideal UPick games are required to be reviewed. Review is still strongly recommended for open setups, but not required. Game moderators who wish to utilize the private topic feature in order to facilitate a setup review can contact the Listmod to set one up. When advertising, game moderators should only cite reviewers who have explicitly approved the final version of the setup.
Game moderators can run a maximum of two games with ten or more players at a time. Game moderators must wait until they are only running one game with ten or more players before they can enter a queue for ten or more players again.
There is no limit to the number of games with nine or fewer players that a game moderator can run at a time. However, game moderators cannot enter a new game into the queue until any games they have previously queued have entered signups. This is to prevent a game moderator from taking up multiple consecutive spots in the queue when there are multiple other game moderators waiting to run games as well.
Players can directly contact the game moderator before a game goes into signups to request a reserved slot ("pre-in"). Games are allowed to have up to half of its slots, rounded down, reserved for pre-ins.
Once a game has entered signups, the game moderator has 72 hours to confirm their game slot and list any pre-ins in the queue thread. It is the game moderator's responsibility to make sure that players with pre-in slots confirm them within 72 hours of the game entering signups.
Game moderators can reject signups from players for any reason, referred to as "Wisdom of the Mod" (WOTM). The game moderator has final discretion over their player list.
If you are moderating an Ideal or Large UPick game, once your game has been accepted into the queue, you will be given permission to create threads in the Queue subforum, where you will need to post a separate thread for signups. You should include the information from your queue form.
Moderation activity expectations:
Moderators should create their game thread within 72 hours of receiving their playerlist, moderator access to the subforum, and game number, and start the game within 10 days of receiving their playerlist. If they fail to do so, the game will be considered abandoned. Moderators should update their games at least as often as the prod timer for their game, and if they fail to update it after triple the prod timer for their game, the Listmod may have someone else take over moderation for the game (and there will be other penalties if this happens.) You should treat moderating a game as a commitment. Note that backup moderators and co-moderators are an excellent way to avoid these scenarios. Backup/co-mods should be prepared to run the game to completion if the game moderator is unable to do so.
Other game moderator expectations:
Game moderators must follow the
Rules for Mafia Game Moderators section of the Forum Rules and Guidelines.
Game elements at moderator discretion:
The following game elements can be decided at a game moderator’s discretion, and must be announced when entering the queue as part of the queue entry form:
Hydra policy
: By default, hydras can enter any game entered in the UPick Queue, and must publicly declare themselves as hydras and reveal the identities of their main accounts when signing up for a game. However, game moderators can choose to change the restrictions on hydras for their game, including:
- completely prohibiting hydras
- setting a maximum number of hydras allowed in the game
- setting a maximum number of hydra heads allowed in the game (either per account or collectively)
- allowing hydras to keep the identities of their main accounts hidden from the player list and/or game moderator (note that game moderators can still require hydras to reveal their identities later on in certain cases, i.e. if a rule infraction occurs)
Alt policy
: Alts are not required by default to declare themselves or reveal the identity of their main account when signing up for a game. However, game moderators may choose to require all alts to disclose their identities to the game moderator. Game moderators can also require alts to reveal their main account later on in certain cases, i.e. if a rule infraction occurs.
Player list discretion
: Game moderators have full discretion over their player lists, including the use of WOTM or WOTC, as well as whether they wish to consider blacklists. Game moderators should exercise this discretion over player signups by privately contacting players to let them know their signup is not being accepted. If a player does not remove their signup on their own, the game moderator may then post publicly in the queue thread to remove the player’s signup.
- Wisdom of the Mod (WOTM): The game moderator can choose to reject players from their player list at their own discretion.
- Wisdom of the Crowd (WOTC)/Blacklisting: Players can privately contact the game moderator if a player signs up after them that they will not play with. The game moderator has discretion over whether to accept the player’s signup. Generally this option requires multiple players to WOTC a player before a game moderator would choose not to accept a player’s signup, although ultimately the game moderator can decide the threshold they require in order to remove a player’s signup.
Other restrictions on players
: Game moderators can choose to require players to meet other criteria to be eligible to play, such as a minimum number of games played or an experience requirement.
Requesting exceptions to site rules
: Game moderators can request certain exceptions to the site’s mafia rules, including players being able to replace back into their slot after previously replacing out, allowing discussion of their game in other threads while it is ongoing, requesting to be able to use site users in flavor without requiring listmod review of the text, etc. Game moderators may not supersede site rules without prior Listmod approval.
Game moderators should also describe any other nonstandard elements to their setup or rules when entering the queue.
