Application for Moderator, News Writer, and/or Guide Writer
Hey hey! Noticed this thread while checking up on the Heroes of Newerth forums and thought sending an application might be beneficial for both our parties. While I can write this as formally as possible and persuade you of something I am not, I am going to just throw at you an application showing what having me aboard your team would ensue. I do keep things clean, fairly organized, and as easy to read as possible, but I try to make sure that does not get in the way of more important motives behind my writing, leading, and direction, which is to show the gamer in me to those I encounter. I would imagine everyone signing up plays Heroes of Newerth, correct? :-). Anyhow.
Vague, yet informative backround on who I am
Age: 17. I will be 18 next February. If this is a problem, well, I would suggest you to read on, but if it is unacceptable save yourself some time.
Residence: Southern California. Have lived there my whole life, visited other states, never out of country, though.
Hobbies: Computer. I sit at one nearly all day. My time at a computer is roughly 30% gaming, 40% browsing forums/image boards, 20% watching anime/reading novels/manga, and 10% idling.
Occupation: Student. However, due to circumstances I am free and have access to a computer everyday of the week for large incriments of time.
History with Moderation: I have led several gaming organizations sizing from half a dozen to nearly eighty people. I have moderated forums for friends and many of these gaming organizations I have been a part of. I have been an administrator for many Ventrilo servers, including my own, for several years.
History with News Writing: Well, the closest I have come to a task such as this would be writing news stories on forums. My formal experience with this is practically zero, but it seems like it would be an interesting time consumer along with benefits for both of us.
History with Guide Writing: Using my writing skills to pubicly guide gamers into the assumed right direction has been a new area for me that I started exploring about a year ago. Up until that point it has only been teaching and instructing friends in the gaming genres of RTS/FPS/MMORPG verbally over Ventrilo or in person. I have grown up showing people how to do things from real life to gaming and it is something that comes natural. As far as DotA guides, they are all gone with my old harddrive and the wipe of our ancient forum, but the most recent work can be found here. [Note: Excuse the obssesive color coding. That work is ancient, started it soon after I started playing HoN (early july). I recently just color coded it due to demand from several private messages. Ha-ha. I started it so I could help several friends at the same time and in the future. Never finished it due to all my friends learning how to play and not enough demand. That could very soon change ;-)]
History with Writing: Might not have a highschool diploma, yet, or any work I can show you other than that guide and this application, but several peers have revered me in the past as an excelent writer. There might not be perfect grammar, usually almost spot on though, I might not know all the proper techniques to formal writing, yet, and
www.dictionary.com is a big friend of mine, but my writing never fails to convey its message. That is assuming you read the whole thing!
History with Gaming: Well, since the days I was recognized as a tottler I have been clinging to a gameboy, snes, or whatever I could get a hold of. Started playing online games when I was seven years old with Starcraft. Played semi-competitively and also learned to use the much too simple map editor. Got competitive later on in Counter-Strike 1.6. Got as far as Cal-M. Played World of Warcraft up until season 3 in the first expansion, Burnign Crusade. Managed to pull off 2300 in every bracket season 2. Had top end raiding gear pre-Burning Crusade. When I quit World of Warcraft I started up DotA. Played that on and off until Heroes of Newerth became available. I have gone from being pretty competitive to being more laid back and enjoying other fine aspects of the internet other than gaming since my earlier years.
Heroes of Newerth Skill Level: I am good. Not professional, but good. I play with friends roughly my level and some several levels lower, but all in all I would consider myself in the 97th percentile. [Note: No actual statistics, just guesstimation. Not sure your skill backround in any competitive games, but the difference in the top 3% and bottom 97% is huuuge. Hence why I say the 97th percentile.]
Alrighty! Hopefully you have read until this point and have not already gotten bored of me typing, ha-ha. Anyhow, if you need any details or specifics regarding any information up there just e-mail me back, but don't think you're out of reading this just yet! To conclude this application I will give you some rounded information regarding what you should expect if you plan to put me aboard and reasons why I would be a good candidate for one, two, if not all three of these positions.
While this might sound raunchy, one of my strong points is being able to relate to how others are feeling. I can sympathise with other people during nearly any situation. While this might seem deeming of a good person, what does it do for anything other than being "the nice guy"? Well, being a leader for several years I can tell you that a leader who can understand what is going on with themselves and their collegues has a much sharper edge on the competition versus someone who can only portray the scenario off their own experiences with no outside grasps on others' experiences. I have used my keen human perception to know when and what to do when working with people. I also have very strong personality via text. Well, at first glance that might seem like a useless skill, I can argue otherwise. While it isn't spoken of much in words, it is almost an unspoken rule, per se, when dealing with moderation on forums. Inexperienced, or clumbsy, moderators will often step into a situation and let off a bad vibe. People can take what you say with text many different ways. Without a facial expression or tone of voice to guide us we often will have people getting angry at misinterruptretations that could be entirely avoided. My personality as a moderator is laid back while strict, and gives off the vibes that I am not searching for the bad guy in a forum dispute, but rather to solve the problem for everyone.
The above paragraph sure does back up my forum moderation position, but what about the other two? Well, to be frank I don't have much more I can say other than what I already have with my vague, yet informative, self description. Others have noted my writing talent, and I can garauntee that it will be an endless endevour to perfect my technique, but other than that I have no other information to compare it to. You mostly just have that guide and this application to base the News Writer and Guide Writer positions on.
Time of truth. Now to openly persuade you rather than relying on a promoting backround. What could you gain and what would I gain? I would gain something to do in my free time, help out a starting community, and meet new people. You could possibly gain a dedicated moderator, news writer, and guide writer. Most people, I would assume, would just try their luck with one of these positions. However, I want to aim for something bigger. Moderating is something I am very comfortable with, guide writing so-so, and news writing I wouldn't know for certain, but more the reason to try it out! With one person under three positions you save resources, time, and give the community someone with a larger image to look up to in times of stress and joy.
To conclude this application I will tell you a few more things about myself. I rage, I laugh, I cry, I remain silent. I do it all. One of my philosohpies is that you cannot go your whole life without experiencing a tad bit of everything. If you laugh and enjoy yourself too much, then expect to feel pain and sorrow later, and vice versa. Our bodies can't remain inbalanced for too long and that is why it is okay to feel sad, mad, or depressed, just as much as it is okay to feel happy, joyous, and pleasure. I stick to this philosophy and it really shapes my view on the world and the experiences I have with it, or maybe I shape it? :-).
Thanks for reading and considering.
[Note: Oh ya, I know a small amount of video editing, photo editing, sound editing, and a lot about the internet. Don't know any heavy duty coding though, or even HTML for that matter (ha-ha). Job for another day, I suppose.]
Kowz
i wonder if they will google this. lewl
