Endless Adventures Ontario Support Team Manual

Purpose

First and foremost is to promote all EAO games in a positive light in all public actions and words. Provide for the community of all EAO games a friendly and helpful access point to bring any issues forward and assist the player, as needed, in bringing these issues to the proper channels for solutions.

Goal

Provide guidance for all EAO game Players who are experiencing an issue which lessens their enjoyment of the game and in doing so, develop and maintain a friendly and welcoming community for all EAO game Players.

Request for Support 

Should a situation you wish to request support for arises, please reach out to an EAO Support Team member as soon as possible!

Generally, requests can be settled much easier if they are brought to the attention of the EAO Support Team member immediately. They are prepared to take time during a game, or when they can between games, to assist our players.

All requests for support brought to us will be taken seriously!

In-between event requests:

Requests for support may be submitted by either of these two methods:

  • Privately message an Owner.

Owners can be reached through either Facebook Messenger or via email: Owners@fantasyalivelrp.com 

Please note that if you choose to email, one selected EAO Support Team member and the Directors of EAO will be able to view the initial request. From there, a specific EAO Support Team member will be assigned to your request and take over the discussion of it privately.

  • Privately message an EAO Support Team member

While reaching out to a member of the EAO Support Team privately is allowed, please be aware that depending on the situation, a more formal method of resolving any requests may be applied.

In this initial request for support, we ask that you provide only this information:

  1. Your name.
  2. Explicitly state that you would like to submit a request for support. 
  3. Provide the method in which you would prefer to be contacted about this issue (i.e. Messenger chat, voice or video call, email, etc.) * Please note that Owners and/or an EAO Support Team member may request additional forms of contact to better provide assistance.
  4. Optionally, you may request a specific EAO Support Team member to take on the request for support. That EAO Support Team member may or may not accept this based on their and the Owner’s discretion.

After the initial request has been submitted, please allow 2-7 days for a response. At that time the EAO Support Team member and/or Owner will discuss the matter with the Player.

During an Event requests:

During an event, you may approach any Owner or Team member(s) and request a chance to speak to them out-of-game. The Owner or Team member(s) will extract themselves from their current situation as soon as possible and will bring the requester to a quiet place to talk out-of-game.

If you speak to the Team member, these follow-up type questions will be asked. This will allow us to better support you.

Would you like me to go with you to speak to the Owners or a Player about your concern?

Would you like me to speak to the EAO Support Team and Owners about your concern?

Would you like to be anonymous or may I use your name to speak to the EAO Support Team and Owners?

Are there member(s) of the EAO Support Team you do not want involved? 

The first action of the EAO Support Team member approached with a support request will be to assess the situation and take any necessary actions to resolve immediate concerns. Players who are addressed by the EAO Support Team member during this time, whether they are bringing the issue forward or are players involved in the issue, are required to defer to the EAO Support Team member until such time as the immediate concerns are resolved. This deference may involve separation from the other players involved in the issue, stepping out-of-game and aside for a private talk, escorting a player or players directly to an Owner for a discussion or any other actions the EAO Support Team member believes is necessary to assist with immediate concerns.

At the Team member’s discretion, they may offer to act as a support agent to the player making the request. In this case, the Team member will assist the player in working to resolve their request on their own. Should this method not resolve the request, or the EAO Support Team member believes further action is needed, the issue must then be brought to the attention of the Owners, if not brought directly to them at the start. The Owners will then decide how to handle the issue. Based on the issue, these actions can range from a quick chat with the player(s) involved, to a full investigation of the incident, to taking the issue to the proper legal authorities.

The Directors of EAO and Owners of EAO Games will generally decide on their actions based on consultations with an EAO Support Team member, or the entire Team. Though in some circumstances, this consultation may not be done depending on the sensitivity of the issue, the player(s) requests for anonymity or other factors. Players bringing forth issues may also request that certain members of the EAO Support Team be not consulted on the issue, and this request will always be accepted.

As necessary, EAO will apply resources to ensure the issue is handled properly and resolved appropriately.

Privacy and EAO Support Team

We take privacy very seriously. All information about a request will be kept confidential by the EAO Support Team member and Owners. This includes keeping names of both requester and any players involved in the request private as well as all details provided during the private discussion. This includes keeping confidential any current support requests or any past requests or issues. There is no time-frame at which the information about an EAO Support request for support will be available to the public, so all information will be kept private indefinitely.

Each request made will generally include 1 EAO Support Team member and the Owners. In some cases the Owners may ask the Player requesting support to include one or more EAO Support Team member or a DIrector of EAO, but will only do so at the approval of the Player. 

Please note all EAO Support requests for support are discussed with the Owners. This is necessary for them to be able to keep records and continuity. You can remain anonymous to the Owners, in most cases. If you have asked to be anonymous and the EAO Support Team member or Owner feels they need to know who you are, the EAO Support Team member will speak to you first and have a discussion around why this may be necessary (ex: legal ramification or a discussion with another player and you is the next possible step in resolving the request.) 

Goal of Support Request

Whether the request for support is between or during an event, the final question that will be asked of you is: 

What do you hope to accomplish from your request for support? 

Answers to this question can be whatever the Player feels. For example, “I don’t currently feel comfortable because of <THIS> reason at the game and my goal would be to feel comfortable again” or “I feel that this <THING> is making it hard for me to play the game and I would like it reviewed and possibly changed.” 

Our Goal as the EAO Support Team is to support players while also making sure all requests have a clear goal of what that player wants to accomplish. This is done so that we limit confusion or misunderstanding of the player’s request.

Documentation

Regardless of the issue brought forward, or the extent of the Owner’s actions, all issues will be documented. 

The details of the issue will be logged in official EAO records, including all information brought forward as part of the issue. This includes notes on verbal meetings, exact unaltered text from written testimonies, recorded voice or video meetings and any other information which arises during the handling of an issue.

When documenting an issue, the EAO Support Team will aim to answer these questions:

  • Who  – Who is the situation about? Who was involved? Who knows about it or witnessed it happen?
  • What – What happened? What were they doing at the time? What may have caused the situation?
  • When – When did the situation take place? Has it happened on multiple occasions?
  • Where  – Where did it happen?
  • How – How are they feeling after the incident? How can you help them? How would they like to see it resolved?

Documentation of past issues will be used to determine the results of a support request, with each documented breach of the Code of Conduct or other negative actions used to cause more strict corrective actions.

Interviews/Investigation

For some support requests, the Owners may decide that the issue requires an investigation to give the necessary information to make a proper and fair decision to settle the issue. These investigations can involve in-person, video, voice or text interviews with any player related to the issue and/or requests for information, official documents or any other items could be used for proof of a claim.

All participation in an EAO investigation is voluntary and any player may elect to leave the process at any time. Any legal/Government/personal documents or other personal items shown to EAO as part of an investigation within the EAO organization will not be held for any length of time or copies made for documentation.

Interviews or other aspects of an investigation will be performed by the Owners. A member of the EAO Support Team may be empowered by the Owners to take on aspects of an investigation but may only do so if approved by the Owners.

Investigations may require multiple interviews or meetings. All aspects of an investigation are voluntary but in order to obtain all the information we require to make a proper judgment, we request that all players agree to participate.

Time-frame of Investigation

Investigations into issues will be completed in as quick a time as possible while still ensuring all the necessary information is gathered to make a proper decision. 

Issues brought to the EAO Support Team immediately following an incident at an in-person game will be attempted to be settled at that time while all players involved are available. 

Issues brought to the EAO Support Team by other methods will likely take longer to settle as contacting all players involved can take time. 

Investigations may take some time but Team members will perform check-ins and keep players apprised of any implementations or decisions.

Decisions and Resolutions

When possible, the EAO Support Team member will work with all players involved in a support request to come to a solution that is acceptable to all. This method of resolution will be attempted first in all but the most severe cases. 

If a solution both parties can agree on cannot be found, or an issue is found to require corrective action under the Code of Conduct (https://fantasyalivelrp.com/pages/code-of-conduct) then the decision on the issue is made solely by the Owners. This decision may be made while in consultation with the EAO Support Team, but the final word is provided by the Owners.

A decision on an issue brought to the players by the Owners is the final word on the issue. All players must abide by that decision and accept any requirements laid out in that decision.

Decisions will be communicated to the players involved in the issue in as much detail as can be given while still maintaining the privacy of all players involved. All decisions will be fully recorded in the documentation.  

Aftermath

Following the resolution of a support request, all players are required to abide by the details of the resolution or decision. 

Any player failing to abide by the decision of the Owners will be subject to corrective actions based on the severity of the breach.

Should new information arise concerning an issue, then a player may bring that information to the EAO Support Team member. This information may reopen an investigation or change a decision made by the Owners, but only at the discretion of the Owners in consultation with the EAO Support Team member.

An Owner or an EAO Support Team member will get back to any player involved in the support request to inform them that the request has been fulfilled and provide what information is acceptable while still maintaining the privacy and safety of the players and the game.

EAO Support Team member Role

An EAO Support Team member’s role is to support the Owners in handling player support requests and promote the friendly positive community of all EAO games. They act as advisors to the Owners to provide alternative perspectives and useful ideas. Team members are empowered to provide support to players who request assistance in resolving their own requests. They will sometimes be empowered by the Owners to perform interviews, investigations or mediation on some issues, but may not perform any investigation or interviews without express permission from the Owners. EAO Support Team members may never give the final decision on any issue.

EAO Support Team members are a voluntary position and may choose to assist with an issue or not at their discretion. The Owners may also choose to remove a Team member from the discussion on a support request at their discretion. This removal may be done with or without a reason given to the Team member at the Owner’s discretion. 

EAO Support Team members are required to conduct themselves with care and compassion while handling a support request. When empowered to investigate, the EAO Support Team member must respect the position of authority they have been granted and act only in ways which uphold EAO’s ideals of a welcoming and respectful community. 

EAO Support Team members receiving a support request which is part of another aspect of an EAO game, such as Rules or Plot, should direct the player to the proper channel to express their issue. 

EAO Support Team

This position is responsible for providing support for players and all positions within EAO games. They will generally assist players by bringing their concerns to the proper person to be handled, but they may also remain within the request for support if requested by any of the parties involved. This position works under the supervision of the Owners and Directors of EAO.

Specific Responsibilities

  • Be available during EAO game events for players to speak to for support requests.
  • Be available between EAO game events to assist players and Position holders.
  • Assist players with reporting issues or requests for assistance to Owners.
  • Following completion of a Support Case, they must take one month of break from all responsibilities of the Position. Returning to the Team at the discretion of the Support Team member and the EAO Directors.
  • Maintain the privacy of any player approaching the EAO Support Team member if so requested.
  • Work directly with any players or Position to assist in resolving requests for support.
  • Assist in the timely response to emails sent to the EAO Support Team email.
  • Ensure that all character, player, investigation or other information collected is kept private and only provided at the discretion of an Owner.
  • May be authorised to do investigations for Owners and/or EAO Directors at their request and the agreement of the EAO Support Team member. 
  • EAO Support Team members are NOT authorised to do any punishments or corrective actions as these must be decided and laid down by an Owner.
  • Formal training will be provided by EAO to assist in the Position.  

Term of Position

  • 3 year term with option for renewal.
  • May be removed from the Position at the EAO Support Team member’s request or at the discretion of the EAO Directors.

Application Requirements

  • Minimum 6 months of event attendance
  • Proven record of fairness and sensitivity to Player’s needs
  • Completion of formal training courses equivalent or provided by EAO Directors.
  • A non-disclosure agreement must be agreed upon and signed.

Expected Time Spent each month on Position:

  • Between Events: 4h
  • During each Event: 1.5h

Compensation

  • 150 OC per event attended.
  • 1 Free event for each Case resolved to the satisfaction of the EAO Consultant and the Owner(s).
Posted by Ian Patterson