Admin for Dummies 2008 Revision »
Authored by SpawnPoint on 2008-01-04 03:33:54
This is the official ‘rulebook’ for all SPAWNPOINT administrators. Contained within this document are detailed rules and policies which you will be expected to uphold and follow within our servers. Please read this document in its entirety at least once.
Contents
- Server Rules
- Proper admin protocol
- Common Commands
Server Rules
- Respect all players, and admins
- No cheating
- No discrimination of any kind
- No inappropriate names or Language
- No inappropriate sprays
- No spamming of any kind
- No advertising
- No map ‘Glitch’ exploiting
- Server Specific Rules
The rules are straightforward enough. If everyone follows these rules, there would be no problems. Unfortunately there are always players out there who get their thrills ruining other people’s fun. Your duty as a SPAWNPOINT admin is to keep the servers clean of such ‘unwanted’ people. Within this document you will learn everything you will need to know to be a successful administrator within the SPAWNPOINT community.
No Cheating
SPAWNPOINT has a very effective way of dealing with cheater, but alas they will always be a problem within the servers.
Refer to the
How to Spot a Hacker handbook for details and tips on detecting cheaters, as well as a detailed explanation of what each of the different cheats do.
For detailed information on our anti-cheat system, please read through our
official guide to reporting cheaters.
As a SPAWNPOINT admin, you are required to record and submit demo’s of every cheater you ban, or they will be free to join the server again another day.
Never ban without a demo.
If you are not 100% sure a player is cheating, send in the demo but don’t ban the player.
Let the professionals in our anti-cheat team decide for sure.
No discrimination of any kind
There is a zero tolerance policy against any form of discrimination in all SPAWNPOINT servers. Sadly, racism is one of the big issues in today’s world. There are several levels of Racism, in my opinion, and an admin should act based on how severe the offence was. If a player is quoting something, like a song or movie, just give them a text warning. If it is of moderate offensiveness, slap or slay him, and use Admin Say: “Racism is not tolerated in SPAWNPOINT servers” or something along those lines. For the most severe offenses, an immediate ban is warranted, and it is your call whether or not to ban him/her on the spot, or to warn them first
Sexism is also an issue. Follow the same basic guidelines as for racism. Female players are more then welcome in PHXX/SPAWNPOINT servers and should NOT be harassed in them. Male players are no better then Female players in any way.
Discrimination in SPAWNPOINT servers can be punished with a global ban. Send a demo of the offender as you normally would a hacker, with notes specifying who the offender is, and a brief description of what happened during the demo.
No inappropriate Names or Language
The SPAWNPOINT gaming community was built to be a great place for gamers of all ages. Since younger individuals as well as older players play videogames, it is our responsibility to set a good example for these younger players.
Pay attention to the names being used within a server. If there are any of a questionable theme or nature, ask the player kindly to change it, reminding him/her of the server rules. If the player does not co-operate, you may use your power to fix the situation with a kick. Beware though; banning players like this can sometimes result in Connect-spamming of very inappropriate names. If you come across a stubborn player with a name, try and limit yourself to a kick if at all possible.
Keep a close eye on what the players within the servers are saying. If you notice a lot of swearing coming from a player, ask them kindly to stop, letting them know it is a no-swearing server. If the problem continues, you can use the Mute command in Mani to silence the player.
No inappropriate Sprays
The wonderful developers at Valve Software decided it would be a good idea to include an Upload button, for custom spray tags. This invites immature users to use inappropriate or even downright nasty spray tags, usually of a pornographic nature. Now, since SPAWNPOINT is a family friendly gaming community, we don’t want that kind of content in our servers.
There is a feature within the Mani menu, called “Spray Tag Tracker”. Move to a spray, and center it on your screen. Hit the spray tracker to find out who used it. Please note though, sometimes players spray over each other, make sure you tracked the right spray and not the one under it. If need be you can move to spectator and watch the player, waiting for him to use the spray. When you locate the right player, warn through Admin chat, asking him to change his spray and reconnect, or not use it again. If the player uses it again, even accidentally, ask him to change it, using admin chat, and then kick the player. Spray changes do not take effect until you reconnect, or the map changes.
No Spamming of any kind
Spamming can be defined as performing the same action repeatedly several times within a short time span. Spamming in Counter-Strike is just a downright annoyance. Spamming can be done with Grenades, Voice Commands, or Microphone. Most of the servers have filters that block Text spamming.
Grenade Spamming is when a player stays within a Buy Zone and purchases grenades as he/she throws them, allowing the player to throw as many grenades as he/she has enough money to afford. This causes an unfair advantage in maps such as cs_italy, and cs_assault.
Voice-Command spamming is generally when a player uses the voice commands more that could possibly be needed. Voice commands are fine, and serve as a great form of quick communication, but a player will never need to say, “Go! Go! Go!” seventy-three times in a row.
Microphone spamming is perhaps the most annoying and common in Counter-Strike. This is when a player uses his microphone very excessively, with the intention of annoying other users. This is commonly done with ‘sound effects’, music, random noise, or a player just talking to himself/herself for the whole round.
All spammers are to get the same treatment, warnings, and mutes (microphone/text spammer only), and kicks. In rare cases, or when it is discriminatory comments being spammed, a ban is warranted.
No Advertising
This is a video game, not television. Advertisements do not belong. If you see a player with a URL as a name, or with a bind saying go to whichever website, ask them kindly not to advertise in SpawnPoints servers. Use common sense when dealing with players advertising within a server.
Advertising for SPAWNPOINT on the other hand is not only allowed, it’s encouraged!
No map ‘Glitch’ exploiting
Most maps have a ‘glitch’ somewhere in them. One common example would be cs_assault. There is an area near the ‘Control Room’, which can be reached, resulting in an advantage over any oncoming players. The ceiling of that particular room is textured with what is called a ‘nodraw’ texture. ‘Nodraw’ textures are in all maps; these are the walls that can be seen though. They are there to lower the texture areas and result in much better frame rates than would be possible without them.
A ‘glitch’ can be classified as any part of a map in which players can be seen through a nodraw, or any area that requires the use of more than 2 people to reach. This includes the top of the building in cs_assault, for example, where you can see through the room on top of the building as well as part of the Vent.
Climbing on top of boxes in maps is however not considered a glitch, as long as it can be reached with one or two people. Glitchers should be warned via Admin chat, and slapped or slayed if they do not cooperate.
Server Specific Rules
Some servers have their own set of rules. All servers follow the rules outlined in this document, but always keep an eye on the green Adverts in servers, as they will inform you of any server specific rules that may be in place.
Proper admin protocol
Admin chat
As an administrator of a SPAWNPOINT server you will represent the entire community with your actions and decisions within the servers. Admin say for example (The Light green text visible to all players) is not to be overused. This command is supposed to get the attention of every player in the server with specific instruction, or warnings. If it is used to say “nice shot” or “WTF” or something of that nature, it loses its eye catching power overtime. Using this command to ‘chat’ with the living while you are dead is also frowned upon.
Other Admins
If you have a problem with another admin, leave it outside. There have been issues in the past with disputes between admins within a server, using admin chat to argue in front of the whole server. This makes us as admins look bad, and also distracts from the game and responsibilities you hold as a SPAWNPOINT admin. Even if you hate another admin with a passion, leave it outside the server. Argue all you want in Steam Friends, or email, or even the admin private section, but never in public.
Never use your power against another admin within a server.
Record a demo, and send it to
abuse@SPAWNPOINT.com.
If you can, try and find a senior admin to join the server and deal with the admin personally.
Never be afraid to report a fellow admin, even if it is a friend of yours.
If you are seen not taking action in a server with an abusive admin, you both may have your admin revoked from that server.
The Warn Tree
Even for extreme offenders of the above rules (excluding Cheating) every player deserves a warning. This will give the player a chance to avoid being kicked, and also cover you against any attempt to report you as an abuser. Try and remain as calm as possible when dealing with an offender. Remember, your actions reflect on SPAWNPOINT as a whole, so please try and stay mature
The Warning Tree we try to use for most cases is as follows;
Voice warning, Text warning, Admin text warning, Slap, Slay, kick, Temp Ban
It is always best to take screenshots whenever warning a player, as a form of proof that you did in fact warn before slaying, or kicking. Keep in mind screenshots can be fabricated so they will NOT serve as definite proof in an admin abuse complaint, they do however serve as a good reference for Server Logs to be searched, which ARE definite proof. This system can be cut down for more severe offenders, or skipped altogether for racist/discriminatory players.
Respect
Respect has always been number one in our book. If you show everyone respect, you will be respected in return. Show all players an equal amount of respect; even if it is a player running around with an aimbot, there is no reason not to show some respect. The absolute best thing to do in that situation is record the demo, and then let the player know he can protest his ban at Spawnpoint.com. Not only will this show strong character and professionalism to the other players in the server, but will also most likely annoy the *censored* out of the Cheater. They generally want to make people mad, so show them how calm you are. It’s a win win!
Forum activity
Visiting the forums regularly is mandatory for all administrators. This is so any issues that may present themselves such as ‘abuse’ complaints can be responded to. Check the report an incident section at least once a day, especially if you had just banned or ‘disciplined’ a player. More forum activity is always a plus, as long as you aren’t spamming.
Requests
Players will make requests when the play in a server, it will always happen. Some maps are more popular than others, some weapons not so popular, and well sometimes a knife round is in order. Whenever some players make a request, for example restricting a certain weapon, always start a vote first. Proper use of the vote feature will be discussed later in this document.
Support your Community
Feel free to advertise SPAWNPOINT.com within the servers!
There is no harm in having a bind to say “Register at
www.SPAWNPOINT.com” every 10 minutes.
If a player asks a question about SPAWNPOINT or the server in general, try and help them out however you can, ask them to join the SPAWNPOINT forums.
Players always have questions like “how can I get admin”.
Tell them!
It’s no secret; we welcome new admins in our servers.
Everyone makes mistakes
At some point, you’re going to kick the wrong guy, or mute the wrong guy. Don’t worry about it we all make mistakes. If you happen to ban a player accidentally, unban the player as soon as possible if you have the SteamID. If not, make note of his name and immediately go to the website and make a post in the Report an Incident section. With any luck the player will go to the website asking why he was banned, and it can all be cleared up then and there. This is one of the many reasons most admins can only Temporarily ban players. Even if the player doesn’t go to the forums, he will still be able to play the next day.
For example;
I’ve personally permanently banned myself twice, kicked or banned the wrong player a dozen times, and accidentally slayed 6 people in one round once (The menu I was pressing numbers to turned out not to be my buy menu!)
You’re being watched!
Always keep in mind that while you are an administrator for one of our servers, you may be monitored in the servers periodically. Don’t take it personally; monitoring your administrative decisions and behavior will help us to determine your performance as an administrator. It is also how the “Admin of the Week” is decided.
Enjoyment
Sometimes people forget that this is a video game. Don’t forget to have some fun while you do your administrative duties. Even if there is a chance you are being watched, don’t be a drone! We like our administrators to have a reputation as a good, fun admin, not a strict quiet one. Play the game, chat with the people, and make some friends, just don’t forget your responsibilities! If you are liked and respected as an admin you are likely to hold your position a lot longer, and it will be a much more pleasant experience for you.
Common Commands
Getting started
Before you do anything with Mani Admin mod, you will need to bind a key to the Mani Menu. This can be any key you wish, however it is recommended you use one that you are not likely to accidentally press. To bind it to the k key, for example, you would type the following into your Console [~ key]
Unbind k (this will clear anything that may have been previously Binded to the k key
Bind k “admin” (Admin is the command used to bring up the Mani Admin menu under Mani in all supported Source engine games like Counter-Strike: Source, and Day of Defeat: Source)
There are some commands you will need to use to properly perform your duties as an administrator.
All of our Counter-Strike Source server use ‘Mani Mod’.
Full documentation for this mod can be found
here.
You will notice that many of the commands used in Mani mod are disabled for your use.
This is to protect our servers from attacks.
Not necessarily from you, but Steam Accounts
can be hacked, and little brother and sisters can be pretty mean….
Of the commands you do have access to, these are among the most common.
Ma_votequestion
Ma_votequestion is a very useful command. This can be used instead of starting separate votes such as votemap. This method will allow you to create your own custom question, and custom answers. An example of use would be a vote to restrict the AWP Sniper Rifle. The best way to use this vote would be to use the following in your Console:
Ma_votequestion “Restrict the AWP?” “Yes” “No”
This will show up as a standard vote, with the Question “Restrict the AWP?”. Answer 1. would be “Yes” and answer 2. would be “No”
Now, if you were to type the following;
Ma_votequestion Restrict the AWP Yes No
You would get a question saying “Restrict” with the answers “the” “AWP” “Yes” “No”. It is very important to use “” to separate question and answers when using the votequestion command.
There can be as many as 8 different answers. Note that if you do not include answers and type only “ma_votequestion “Restrict the AWP?” You will still get the right answers. If no answer parameters are given votequestion will by default use the answers Yes and No. This goes for most commands in Mani. Always separate parameters with quotation marks to avoid confusion. Experiment a little on bots if you like, to take some commands for a test run. Kicking, burning, slaying, and drugging bots is not against the rules, as long as no one else is on the server that may see it as unfair.
Ma_restrict
This is another command you should familiarize yourself with. Seems simple enough yes, but there is more than meets the eye! In most basic form, ma restrict can be used to completely restrict any weapon or item from being purchased in Counter-Strike: Source. As an example, the following would restrict the AWP.
Ma_restrict awp or ma_restrict weapon_awp
Simple, right? But there’s more! You can limit the amount of any weapon to any number per team. For example, if you wanted to limit the AWP to 2 per team, you would use the following.
Ma_resitrict awp 2
(For the restrict command, the quotation marks are not necessary)
Here is a list of all of the weapon names in CS:S. Mani does not require the “weapon_” prefix for weapon restrictions
|
AK-47
|
weapon_ak47 |
| Benneli xm1014 |
weapon_xm1014 |
| C4 |
weapon_c4 |
| Colt M4a1 carbine |
weapon_m4a1 |
| Commando |
weapon_sg552 |
| Dual Berettas |
weapon_elite |
| Fn P90 |
weapon_p90 |
| Glock 18 pistol |
weapon_glock18 |
| HE grenade |
weapon_hegrenade |
| M3 super shotgun |
weapon_m3 |
| MAC-10 |
weapon_mac 10 |
| MP5 |
weapon_mp5navy |
| Para |
weapon_m249 |
| Scout |
weapon_scout |
| SIG p228 |
weapon_p228 |
| Steyr Aug |
weapon_aug |
| H&K Sniper Rifle |
weapon_g3sg1 |
| Desert eagle |
weapon_deagle |
| Flashbang |
weapon_flashbang |
| Bomb defuser |
weapon_defuser |
| Smoke grenade |
weapon_smokegrenade |
| Kevlar Vest |
weapon_kevlar |
| Nightvision goggles |
weapon_nightvision |
| Sig 550 |
weapon_sig550 |
| Artic |
weapon_awp |
| Ump.45 |
weapon_ump45 |
| Usp.45 pistol |
weapon_usp |
Group and General Commands
Within Mani Admin Mod there are some ‘group’ commands. This means you will be able to execute commands on specific groups of people. This applies to any command in which a Username is one of the parameters (ma_slay for example).
Mani will detect partial names, SteamID’s, and IP addresses in the name parameter. Partial names is what we want to focus on for right now. If you were playing in a server you administer, and four hackers came in wearing the tag [HAX], you could remove all four of them simultaneously, after recording demo’s of course.
The command would be
Ma_ban “[HAX]” “1000” (NOTE: The maximum value usable by most admins is 1440, equivalent to 24 hours)
This tells Mani to ban anyone in the server with [HAX] somewhere in the title, for 1000 minutes. Be very careful with this method, if you were to accidentally type ma_ban “a” “1000” you would ban everyone with the letter a in their name, for 1000 minutes.
This can be a handy feature for clearing a server full of myg0ts or other troublemaking clans/groups of people. Always place quotes around tags when using a command on multiple users.
The ‘Group’ commands are the following
#CT will select all Counter-Terrorists under Counter-Strike: Source
#T will select all Terrorists under Counter-Strike: Source
#ALIVE will select all players who are alive in any Source Mod
#DEAD will select all players who have died in any Source mod
#HUMAN will select all Human players, versus Humans and Bot’s
#BOT will select all Bot players, versus both Humans and Bot’s
#ALL will select all players in the server regardless of team or status
These can be used in place of the Name/SteamID in any command where that information may be required. An example of its use would be in CS_Assault, if all of the Counter-Terrorists are camping their spawn. The command
Ma_psay #CT “Get out of spawn” can be used to message only the CT’s with “Get out of spawn”
Ma_psay and other say commands will be covered a little later.
Another example would be in a server with bots, and players complaining about the bots. The following command could be used to clear them all out at once, without negotiating the menu system.
Ma_kick #bot
This command would kick all bots at once.
As a part of the Source engine, there is one more shortcut that can be handy. Multiple commands can be executed at once via console, including Mani commands. For example;
Ma_restrict awp; ma_restrict sg550; ma_restrict g3sg1
That command will restrict the AWP, and both Auto-Sniper rifles in Counter-Strike: Source at the same time.
The Semicolon can be used to separate commands (that’s the one with the dot and the comma!). The possibilities are endless!
Messaging
I’ll end this section on messaging. There are three main types of messaging you may use on any given day. There is the Admin say, which everyone can see; admin private, which only admins can see, and the Private Message, can be sent to any one person.
There are also handy shortcuts for these commands, so they don’t need to be used from Console.
Admin say
While in game, press your Y key, or whatever key you may have Binded to Say (all).
Type an @ symbol, a space, and some text. It should be something like the following
Say: @ Test
What you and everyone else will see when you press enter is
(Admin) Yournamehere: Test in Light Green text, which everyone, dead and alive can see.
Admin Private
You can use a similar shortcut to send messages only to other admins within the server. It is exactly the same process, only instead of the Y key, you will use the U key (say Team).
Be careful which key you use if you are trying to send a message to admin only though, the keys are right next to each other, and one false move and the whole server will see your message!
Private Message
There is also a shortcut to use the ma_psay command, which was mentioned earlier. This command can be used to communicate privately with one player, or a group of players (group shortcuts on the prior page). This command shortcut is used by pressing the U key, and inserting two @ symbols, followed by name and then the message. For example;
Sayteam: @@ SomePlayer No swearing!
Someplayer will see:
Message from (ADMIN) Yournamehere: No swearing!
No one else will see that message, unless of course the Name parameter also matched another players name. If the player has a very similar name to another player, you can use the SteamID or their Session ID For example;
Sayteam: @@ STEAM_0:1:1337 No swearing!
Sayteam: @@ 123 No Swearing!
As mentioned previously, the Group tags can be used with the private say message.
Sayteam: @@ #CT Please do not spawn camp!
Other commands;
There are some other small commands that come in very handy within the servers.
Status
One of the most important of these would be status. Though it is not required, it is a very good idea to get into the habit of typing “status” or even “ma_users” in the console periodically. This will help prevent accidents like accidental bans, in situations where a user changes his name to another player in the server (so there are now two SomePlayer’s to choose from for the ban), you can go to the console at find the correct SteamID
Ma_users
Ma_users is similar to ‘status’, only it will show more, and neater information. SteamID, SessionID, IP address, and whether a player is an admin, or even a ghost. Players with a asterisk * next to their name are admins, and players with a “YES” next to their name are Ghosts – meaning they share an IP with another player on the server.
The ghost/YES users will generally come in pairs. There is no rule against sharing an IP with another player.
Ma_rates
Another handy little command, ma_rates will allow you to check every players network Rate settings in game. SPAWNPOINT servers allow any rate higher than 10 CMD, and 10 Update. Anything lower and the player will have a asterisk * next to their name. If a player is lagging or warping significantly, check the rates and make sure they are at acceptable levels. Though 10 is technically not against the rules, try and convince the user to run at at least 20 CMD and 30 update to reduce lag.
This has been a complete re-write of the Admin for Dummies 2007 handbook, accepted as the official reference and rulebook for all SPAWNPOINT.COM game servers. We encourage printing this document and having it handy for quick reference when playing within our servers; you never know when you might need to look something up. Please check back for updates and revisions, as this document is liable to change for any reason at any time without warning.
This concludes this revision of the Admin for Dummies handbook; I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Author: Mr_Me_II
Date: 11-25-07
Created for the www.SPAWNPOINT.com gaming community. I would like to thank all of the guest admins for SPAWNPOINT servers, without your assistance, and time, SPAWNPOINT could not be the great gaming community it is today. Keep up the good work.
BY ACCEPTING YOUR NEW POSITION AS AN ADMINISTRATOR OF ANY SPAWNPOINT.COM SERVER, YOU AGREE WITH AND WILL UPHOLD THE RULES AND GUIDELINES EXPRESSED WITHIN THIS DOCUMENT.
YOUR ADMINISTRATIVE POSITION ON SPAWNPOINT.COM SERVERS IS A PRIVILAGE, NOT A RIGHT, AND THIS PRIVILAGE MAY BE REMOVED, WITH OR WITHOUT ANY WARNING, AT ANY TIME, FOR ANY REASON.
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