Mentor Guidelines

Mentors are a key part of the SS13 player support team, and as such, there are certain standards we must insist mentors maintain. Mentors are seen by players as a position of authority and trust - you're given tools that the average player doesn't have access to, so the average player sees the behavior of any given mentor as a reflection of Goonstation principles.

ENCOURAGED:

• Use mentor-locked chat channels (the mentor channel in discord, mentorhelp responses to other mentors) to share knowledge to better assist players
• Make a point of responding to mentorhelp requests that align with their own areas of expertise, and pay close attention to mentorhelps outside of their own areas of expertise, to expand their knowledge base.
• Use the wiki as a resource, both for your own reference, and directing players to it for their own reference.
• Refer most rules questions to the admin team - simple stuff is fine, but anything that you're not a hundred percent sure about, or gets into complicated territory, should go to the admin team.
• Communicate with the admin team if someone breaks the rules in a mentorhelp, or gives you reason to believe they plan to break a rule in the very near future. "Hi I built this big bomb to blow up the bar because I'm mad I didn't roll traitor this round, but I can't figure out how to attach a signaler to it" would be a very good thing to let us know about!
• Tailor their responses to mentorhelp requests with the goal of maximizing the player's fun. Keep in mind it's easy to take this too far - if a player is asking about how to use the science teleporter, it would be great to mention that there's stuff out there they might want to bring friends for. Giving them a shopping list of what exactly they should bring to handle any threats would be too much, and ruin the 'joy' of 'discovery' that comes from getting eaten by yetis because they didn't think to bring a weapon.

DISCOURAGED:

• Don't answer too far past the question - let players play and make their own mistakes and discoveries. Avoid 'backseat driving'.
• Don't communicate in any open Goonstation-branded context in a way that is insulting or abusive to players when your mentor status is apparent. Discord, forums, and OOC chat all clearly indicate your mentor status - and whether or not you intend it, there's the appearance of speaking from authority. Don't use that to hurt people.
• Don't maintain negative or antagonistic conversational habits in Goonstation-branded spaces, even when it doesn't rise to the level of abuse - you're representing our community, please don't make us look bad.

FORBIDDEN:

• Don't use information gained from mentorhelp conversations to influence their play during the current round. This includes antagonist status, discussion of current or future events, or anything else that would be considered meta-gaming if it were among players.
• Don't use your mentor status or abilities to correct player behavior that should otherwise be dealt with by admins, i.e. backseat adminning.
• Don't lie, mislead, or otherwise communicate in bad faith to players in mentorhelp conversations.
• Don't use insulting or abusive language in mentorhelp responses. This game has a learning curve that approaches vertical, there's always going to be people asking what seems to be dumb questions.
• Don't give players secret recipes or other information in mentorhelp responses that would get you yelled at for spoilers if you gave that information over the radio (or any other sort of open chat channel)

Administration Policies
Staff guidelines and expectations: Admin Guidelines · Mentor Guidelines