Reminds me that we did once have only Respected, Admins, and I think Super Admin/Owner but that was it. Then came in Reg and VIP and out with Respected. So the system's already kind of gone through some of the transitions and what not suggested just not to the extents mentioned.
Oft in the olden days of yore, indeed, such a system did exist.
The ranks were: Respected, Admin, Superadmin, Owner
Respected had the ability to initiate votekicks and votebans, pretty much what VIP is now.
The frequency it was handed out was just slightly more stringent than what regular is now.
It worked reasonably well when there was a low number of servers.
Advantages:
- The wide distribution of power made it so most problems were very quickly resolved.
- Lower workload on administration team
Disadvantages:
- A group of people that knew each other could effectively take control of a server by votebanning/kicking anyone they don't like
- The system tended to be overzealous in its persecution of players
- Poor control over what players banned for
For when the servers were still growing it worked out pretty well, it kept the games running smoothly for the most part; since the total players interested in the servers were low enough on average the disadvantages weren't that apparent.
However as the community grew and the servers became more popular the respected user base became over saturated, and the disadvantages started to outweigh the advantages (to put it lightly).
So the system was scrapped, and if I remember correctly we didn't have any respected/vip/regular rank at all, with the admin team taking up all the slack; we might have enabled votekick for everyone I cant really remember to be honest.
Most people don't really understand that there is no such thing as a perfect (or even close to) system for this kind of thing. Look at our legal system for example, or any legal system worldwide. There are always mistakes, there are always times where someone is wrongfully convicted, or over prosecuted, or w/e.
And we have spent 10,000 years attempting to get the best legal system for us as humans to live with each other, and to this day we have not been successful in creating the "perfect" system.
So that is the challenge faced in administrating a community, no the consequences and crimes are not the same, however the basic ideas surrounding everything are the same.
There are many factors involved with admining the community that aren't something that you can just say "it needs to be this". They are a slider with an infinite variance in what it can be, with either extreme being unacceptable, but somewhere in the middle there is a place that we can at least accept.
Examples:
Admin workload - (ideally admins would admin 24/7 and there would be no problems on server, however coolz doesn't pay us, and we require sleep, so too much workload will drive away admins, not intentionally but because admins will view it as a bigger commitment in their life and set it aside when they have other things in their lives contesting for the time.)
Punishment Severity - (Increased severity leads to more people feeling like they were treated unfairly, too soft and you might as well not punish at all)
Leniency in convictions - (Being able to be flexible with people tends to convert a good many people into being good players as they feel you are on their side. However you still need to draw a line when people are trying to take advantage of you, cops face the same problem with becoming too friendly with people, you set yourself up for uncomfortable situations)
Spread of Power - ( Too diluted power spread pretty much makes it so people do whatever the hell they want (aka anarchy) Too strict either overloads the admins, or makes it more likely to create an insular environment for the admin team (aka kings of the lands of Rnd))
These are only the factors that I can think of off the top of my head. This situation becomes even more complicated because, every community is different! What works with one group of people will create absolute chaos in the next. Even then people change over time, especially in your guys' age groups. What people are fine with one year will be unacceptable the next.
On top of all this, the system doesn't provide instant feedback (for the most part) most of the time if you are doing it correctly, it will take weeks to months for you to really get an idea if the system is working.
So scrapping or drastically changing the system might feel like a good idea. (and if the potential risks associated with changing the system are outweighed by what is currently taking place, it actually is a good idea) However, For the rest of the time, you are just playing Russian roulette with 4 rounds in the chamber. There is a chance that you will succeed in your drastic change, but you might also just drive everyone away.
So this is a bit of an look into what kind of problem coolz or any community manager faces. Most do not look at the problem in this manner, but this is really getting at the heart of the issue.
There isn't one good answer, there are only answers. Some good, some bad, most being both, and you can only see the answer through fogged glasses and an angry mob is outside your house trying bludgeon you.
You will find this same situation of trades many, many times in your lives; for some reason the universe just wants to work like that.
