Meet the Community Management Team
Miscellaneous
Written by Serpentella
Edited by MakkChi
Hello lovely readers, and welcome back to the
Daily Diviner! Today, we will be exploring the final team on Potterworld in the last installment of the
Meet the Staff mini-series. The previous issue highlighted the fantastic work of the Technology & Development team. Now, we’ll be taking a closer look at the
Community Management team as the series concludes.
This fantastic department seeks to provide the best player experience! From answering questions in chat to listening and responding to player feedback, the work of the Community Management team is apparent on Potterworld! The friendly faces of this team can be seen both in-game, on the Discord server, and on the official Potterworld website. I interviewed some members of Community Management to get a better idea of their work, team environment, and behind-the-scenes activities. I spoke to
Rani, representing the Prefect team;
Zach, representing the Discord Moderators;
Carlie, representing the Wizencouncil team;
Grace, representing the Poltergeists;
Gospojken, representing the Store Managers; and
Tang, representing the Scribe team. Let’s see their responses!
What do you do in this position?
Zach: “I help players out on the Discord server, make sure all players are abiding by the rules, and intervene whenever anyone (staff or player) needs help on the Discord server!”
Rani: “Like any other member of the moderation team, my main duties include answering questions, responding to tickets and handling rule-breaking situations as they come up. As a Senior Prefect, I also help the CM leadership team respond to ban appeals.”
Grace: “As a Sr. Poltergeist, we have the same tasks as a regular Poltergeist while also having a few more responsibilities. We typically help in bringing up the different suggestions on the forums along with feedback left by the Poltergeists to the respective heads and leads. Additionally, we will help create feedback forms, different spreadsheets, summaries, and give general feedback to each other on numerous different projects.”
Carlie: “The Wizencouncil team is responsible for moderating the forums. This means that we make sure posts/threads are in the correct places as well as make sure they are following the forum rules. We also manage and respond to website support tickets!”
Tang: “I'm a Scribe Publisher, part of the team who works on creating a Potterworld wiki for release! My main responsibilities in the role include editing and implementing information written by Scribe Interns, on to our wiki.”
Gospojken: “As a Store Manager, I work on maintaining the online store as well as the Potter Points store. I come up with ideas for future releases, sales, and other ideas for the store that I then discuss with the other Store Managers. I also implement new additions and test so that everything works as expected before we release these. As a Store Manager, I also contribute to the decisions on students and staffs' suggestions for the store. Additionally, I also aid students and staff when they need help with store issues.”
With its varied roles,
Community Management deals with a multitude of tasks on the server! As explained by the interviewees, they each have a unique experience in the department:
What is your favorite thing about this department/position?
Zach: “It's always great to help people out. I love assisting people and helping solve problems.”
Rani: “The hardest thing about being in this position is probably just how chaotic it can be sometimes. You have no idea when tickets will come through or people will break the rules, so you need to be on your toes a lot. This is especially the case when a group of people start causing trouble. You need to handle each situation differently and keep track of a lot of different factors.”
Grace: “I think my favorite part about the department/position would have to be getting to interact and connect with the players more personally. The CM department in general focuses on helping improve the server through the players and that is something I love getting to do. A lot of the things that I get to do as a Sr. Poltergeist are ones that I actually enjoy and have a lot of passion for which has made it a really amazing experience.”
Carlie: “My favorite aspect of Wizencouncil is the fact that it involves another form of communication for the Potterworld community besides just being in-game. It’s really cool to be able to see the sorts of interactions between players on the forums.”
Tang: “I really enjoy working with the team; we all get along super well and are quite a small team! As part of my role, I really enjoy reading about the lore in our current world, and seeing how it is combined with information and put on our wiki.”
Gospojken: “This is a really tricky question because I absolutely love all the elements of the Store Manager role. However, I'd say my absolute favourite thing is working on bigger projects such as the in-game store, specifically projects that make the user experience when interacting with the store much nicer.”
What do you find to be the most unique thing about this team?
Zach: “There are only a few people on this team, which means we all rely really heavily on one another. We communicate a lot about decisions regarding anything on the Discord server, and it always feels like we're all on the same page.”
Rani: “Probably how we can all just understand where another member is coming through and can have a laugh about situations later. No matter if the member is new or old, everyone goes through the same thing on the moderation team, and we get to share many inside jokes that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”
Grace: “Poltergeists tend to focus a lot on the forums and handling the different suggestions that get posted. Rather than creating something, we will leave our own feedback and ideas on how to improve an aspect of the server. While some of the responsibilities involve behind-the-scenes things, our main priority is to make sure the players have an overall great time on Potterworld.”
Carlie: “The most unique thing about Wizencouncil is that there are only a small amount of us on the team, but we all have different helpful perspectives when it comes to moderating the forums and answering questions. Our other roles and experiences allow us to find the best solutions to the issues presented to us.”
Tang: “One of the most unique things about this team is that we're all working on a really big project for release; we all collaborate together to create this big wiki we're really proud of. It's tricky because players haven't gotten to see what we have been working on at all, but we know it will be worth it when it all comes together and players can see it!”
Gospojken: “I believe I'd say that [the] most unique thing about the team is the team itself. We're a small team that works on the store, and it's incredibly fun and exciting to get to know the team better each day and to hear their ideas!”
What kinds of projects are you currently working on?
Zach: “We don't normally have any specific projects since we just handle situations as they come up.”
Rani: “Members of the moderation team don’t really have projects. We tend to just answer questions and handle situations as they appear. However, as a Staff Training Crew Member I’m helping to train other staff members in moderation every month.”
Grace: “A lot of the projects I am working on at the moment involve the regular responsibilities of a Sr. Poltergeist. We are continuously bringing up the ideas being suggested by the playerbase to the different heads and leads. There have also been a couple of forms that we have created about the different events and sent out or are planning to send out.”
Carlie: “We don’t usually have many projects since our main goal is moderation, but we do look for ways to improve or better organize student’s experiences on the forums.”
Tang: “In the scribe team we've been writing pages documenting past events, as well as collating information on world locations recently!”
Gospojken: “Currently, I'm mainly working on coming with ideas for future store releases. However, one recent project I worked on was implementing back buttons to the Potter Points store and also ensuring that the Potter Points store reopens after you have bought an item. We hope this makes your shopping more convenient! I have also helped out with implementing the in-game store when we did that.”
As with any team, one may encounter some hardships along the way. Our interviewees today discuss the trials and tribulations of their respective roles:
What is the hardest part of being in this position?
Zach: “It can sometimes be difficult to handle situations where players do not follow the rules. However, it's something you definitely get used to as time goes on in the position, and I'm pretty comfortable in most of those situations.”
Rani: “Probably either being able to help out players or how just being a part of the team opens you to a lot of different opportunities. Learning to keep calm when things get tough, the ability to think situations through from all angles and even just opportunities to meet friends that share your interest. You learn and gain a lot!”
Grace: “I think the hardest part of being a Sr. Poltergeist is probably that at times it can get slightly overwhelming depending on how many projects are going on at the time. Along with handling the suggestions, Poltergeists also help test different upcoming events and leave feedback on the gameplay. It can sometimes get a bit harder to set aside time to complete everything depending on the deadlines and how many projects we have.”
Carlie: “The hardest part of Wizencouncil is probably dealing with complex support tickets. We do our best to direct support tickets to the staff members that will be able to provide the most accurate help for specific issues, but sometimes getting to the right person can take a little while.”
Tang: “I believe one of the hardest parts of the role right now is trying to gather and recall information from the past of Potterworld. The game has changed so much and it can be tricky to remember history to have it documented, but we're all trying our best and using all resources available!”
Gospojken: “I'd say that the hardest part of the position is to figure out what items we want in our releases, so your suggestions are truly valuable here! While we do use some Potterworld technology that could be perceived as difficult, that's still quite an easy task after just a few weeks of practice.”
From our previous installments of this series, we’ve had the chance to hear about the team environment of the other teams on Potterworld. This unique group brings a new perspective to the table:
What is the team environment like in this position?
Zach: “We all get along really well! It can be really nice to have a small team sometimes because you have to work so much closer together. All of us get along and we're able to depend on each other!”
Rani: “The team environment for the moderation team Is pretty laid back. Everyone’s friendly and with shared experiences you’ll find a friend among just about everyone, even if you guys aren’t close. When push comes to shove though, we all play our part, and work together to make sure everyone has the best experience on the server!”
Grace: “The team environment is absolutely amazing. I feel like we are one small family and it has been such a great experience getting to connect and interact with the other Poltergeists. We are constantly joking around with each other and there has been nothing but respect and love within the team.”
Carlie: “The team is very small, and we only have about five Wizencouncil members. The position doesn’t usually require a whole lot of collaborative work, but we do rely on each other for second opinions and things like that.”
Tang: “We're quite a small team, but we help each other out when writing pages and get along very well! We all have different histories and experiences on the server so some of us are more knowledgeable about different topics. We bounce ideas off each other and help provide information and all are glad to!”
Gospojken: “Like I mentioned a bit earlier, the team is definitely a team to enjoy. We're a small team and as a result of that, we work very tightly together and can work efficiently. Additionally, we're able to distribute the workload evenly between everyone which is wonderful. We also have tons of fun together!”
Community Management has a multitude of roles that students can apply for! If you’re interested in joining this wonderful team, you can check out the Jr. Prefect, Scribe Intern, and Poltergeist applications on the website.
What did you expect when applying for this position? Was it anything like you thought it would be?
Zach: “I was hoping to be able to help out in a new and unique role when I first applied for Discord Moderator over a year ago. I definitely felt that way after I got the position, and it was really exciting to take on a new role that I enjoyed! The people were also super welcoming and I felt like I was a part of a super fun and friendly team.”
Rani: “When applying for Trainee, which was the original Jr. Prefect, I expected my duties to be exactly what they were now. Answering questions for players and handling situations when rules were broken. I was well prepared and knew exactly what I was getting into, and while adjusting to any new situation can be hard, it made it 10 times easier when everyone around me had my back.”
Grace: “When I applied for the position, I already had a slight idea of what a Poltergeist did due to having a couple friends already being one. I had a few expectations for what it would be like, but honestly it was a lot more fun and enjoyable once I actually became one. I have really loved being a part of this team and getting to be a Sr. Poltergeist.”
Carlie: “I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I applied! I had heard of Wizencouncil, but I didn’t really understand the goals and purpose until I was able to experience it. It’s definitely a unique position and gives me an opportunity to problem-solve!”
Tang: “It was really tricky when I first applied; the idea of the wiki had just been pitched and applications were just opening. I didn't know what the vision was for the wiki, and honestly nobody had a concrete vision for it all, which was great! Over the past almost year, we have all contributed to providing pages and making the wiki the best it can be.”
Gospojken: “The Store Manager position definitely meets the expectations I had when I applied back in August 2020, and it even goes beyond that! Already when I applied, I knew I was going to love this position and my expectations were basically doing the things mentioned earlier in this interview. However, the elements are even more fun than I expected them to be at first! Especially the technical bits and aiding students and staff are extremely fun and enriching!”
With that, our final interview of the mini-series draws to a close. I would like to thank
Rani,
Zach,
Carlie,
Grace, Gospojken, and
Tang for participating today. They’ve offered valuable perspectives, and hearing about their experiences was the perfect way to close out this series. The work of
Community Management and the multiple roles that make up the department is apparent in the community; their impact on the players, staff, and server can be recognized by everyone. I would like to offer my sincere gratitude for all the Community Management team does for the server. Finally, I would like to thank you all for tuning in to the last part of the
Meet the Staff series. Thank you all for your dedication and support. Have a fantastic day!