What does it take to become a Player Relations?

Hey Guys,

Before we begin. I want to discuss something that is relevant to this topic and can cause some controversy around the topic. And it's a fact from my point of view.
I've witnessed many PRA's hiring those who are well known, and are like really close friends. This is a problem as nowadays, there are barely any PR's online, like seriously, there are players who aren't a PRA's friend and are active and doing whatever it takes to become a PR. But some of those players don't know what it takes to becoming a PR, and I am not saying this as they don't have a good understanding and perspective of it, I am saying this as they think it's that easy to become a PR.
In this thread, I will be going over some quality possessions on becoming a PR from my past experience of being a staff on a few servers.


Maturity
This is crucial when being hired, the server doesn't want a staff member who can't understand consequences - in fact, they need people who are committed and are able to cooperate with the community like a professional. If handling a situation with no maturity and take it as a problem the players could solve themselves, like being jailed for no reason. They're looking for people that can handle these types of situations and don't muck up like a rimmage (a made-up word I use to call someone a doo-doo). They need people who are able to cooperate concisely.


Experience
Another topic to be discussed is experience, I am talking about two types of experiences in this context.
1. Experience in what it takes of becoming a PR
and
2. Game experience

Let's talk about being a staff member. You need to be able to have a familiar aspect with the Graal clientside of things, and you're familiar with the Remote Control , knowing what the function of it is. You will also need to learn the HUD of a staff member as it can be confusing -- PRA's will teach you, don't stress too much.

Now, moving onto game experience. You will need to be familiar with the game, an engaged aspect of things. If a player is requesting the location for a specific location, you will need to quickly have an answer in mind -- you can't be hesitant, you will usually need to ignore harassing players and do something about it. But other than that, you'll be required to know much about the game and how it functions, where shops/ places are, and describing jobs as a whole.


Conviviality
This is another vital quality you must have is conviviality - or the ability to cooperate easily with other players, contributing the community with ease. You are required to be able to have this quality, friendliness and affability is crucial, and it will be needed if you're scaring players easily - especially those who are under-aged and will need aid if they need it. You will need to realise this game is based of Mafia and modern era, therefore, you will have to still realise you will need to be nice to all players and staff members.


Those were three quality possessions I've been wanting to bring out to the community for a while now. I hope this helps those applicants who have applied for PR. And I wish them goodluck :D

The theme of Mafia and modern era has really nothing to do with how a PR should act, just saying

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Originally Posted by Seany

The theme of Mafia and modern era has really nothing to do with how a PR should act, just saying

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I'll just have to agree with this one lol

To me, a huge part of being a PR is knowing how to communicate effectively. You have to help players who may be a lot younger or may not speak English very well. You have to be patient in getting your point across to people who may not understand what you’re saying. And of course, you have to be mature and professional enough to not become visibly frustrated with players, even if they harass you about things. There are times where a PR might not know the answer to a question. It’s up to the PR to explain that they don’t know and to find out the answer or redirect the player to someone who can help them.

Personally, experience isn’t one of the most critical factors. Sure, some PRs might know the tiniest detail about the game, but what good is that if they can’t communitcate it? Questions like where to upgrade a gun or where to buy an item can be easily found by a PR by running around the different shops or asking another PR. It is not hard to come back to the game after a few years and quickly become familiar with where things are and what’s new. Experience with the game is important, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see it as anywhere near as important as communication skills and maturity.

That being said, I do not think standing around start all day answering questions is an effective way to get hired. Would you rather trust someone who stands around all day or someone who actually plays the game and knows how it works to answer questions?

In regards to friends of staff members being hired as PRs - this may not be fair at all, but this is how it works in real life too. Would you rather hire someone you hardly know based off an application and a resume, or someone that was recommended by an employee who already understands the job and is familiar with how their friend interacts with other people and in similar situations?

In the real world like you said, most people looking to get a job will get a chance because they just have an application and resume, but having a recommendation is a BONUS and will raise your chances to become hired.

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Originally Posted by failure

To me, a huge part of being a PR is knowing how to communicate effectively. You have to help players who may be a lot younger or may not speak English very well. You have to be patient in getting your point across to people who may not understand what you’re saying. And of course, you have to be mature and professional enough to not become visibly frustrated with players, even if they harass you about things. There are times where a PR might not know the answer to a question. It’s up to the PR to explain that they don’t know and to find out the answer or redirect the player to someone who can help them.

Personally, experience isn’t one of the most critical factors. Sure, some PRs might know the tiniest detail about the game, but what good is that if they can’t communitcate it? Questions like where to upgrade a gun or where to buy an item can be easily found by a PR by running around the different shops or asking another PR. It is not hard to come back to the game after a few years and quickly become familiar with where things are and what’s new. Experience with the game is important, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see it as anywhere near as important as communication skills and maturity.

That being said, I do not think standing around start all day answering questions is an effective way to get hired. Would you rather trust someone who stands around all day or someone who actually plays the game and knows how it works to answer questions?

In regards to friends of staff members being hired as PRs - this may not be fair at all, but this is how it works in real life too. Would you rather hire someone you hardly know based off an application and a resume, or someone that was recommended by an employee who already understands the job and is familiar with how their friend interacts with other people and in similar situations?

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Like I had mentioned, there are a lot of PRs that go into inactivity. Besides that, I did say there are players who are active that are willing to whatever it takes to become a PR.

I’m 18 and have played Era for 4+ yet my account has a bunch of warnings, especially hacking, glitching and forum disruption.

I can communicate easily with players, I’m mature and have plenty of experience, yet ,y application WASN’T approved.

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Originally Posted by failure

To me, a huge part of being a PR is knowing how to communicate effectively. You have to help players who may be a lot younger or may not speak English very well. You have to be patient in getting your point across to people who may not understand what you’re saying. And of course, you have to be mature and professional enough to not become visibly frustrated with players, even if they harass you about things. There are times where a PR might not know the answer to a question. It’s up to the PR to explain that they don’t know and to find out the answer or redirect the player to someone who can help them.

Personally, experience isn’t one of the most critical factors. Sure, some PRs might know the tiniest detail about the game, but what good is that if they can’t communitcate it? Questions like where to upgrade a gun or where to buy an item can be easily found by a PR by running around the different shops or asking another PR. It is not hard to come back to the game after a few years and quickly become familiar with where things are and what’s new. Experience with the game is important, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see it as anywhere near as important as communication skills and maturity.

That being said, I do not think standing around start all day answering questions is an effective way to get hired. Would you rather trust someone who stands around all day or someone who actually plays the game and knows how it works to answer questions?

In regards to friends of staff members being hired as PRs - this may not be fair at all, but this is how it works in real life too. Would you rather hire someone you hardly know based off an application and a resume, or someone that was recommended by an employee who already understands the job and is familiar with how their friend interacts with other people and in similar situations?

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Does this mean that autistic individuals such as myself can’t be a PR?

It's not my intent to literally start a bias and saying those people can't become a PR.

I said it was just some quality possessions.

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Originally Posted by Chopsticks

I’m 18 and have played Era for 4+ yet my account has a bunch of warnings, especially hacking, glitching and forum disruption.

I can communicate easily with players, I’m mature and have plenty of experience, yet ,y application WASN’T approved.

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Does this mean that autistic individuals such as myself can’t be a PR?

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Anyone can become a PR, autistic or otherwise.

All I meant to say is that I personally place a lot of value into communication skills. I am not a PRA, but communication is what I personally think one of the most important aspects of PR work is.

I can’t speak as to why you weren’t hired. I don’t deny that you appear mature and effective at communication. While I personally place a lot of value into communication, I do not think that it is the only quality that makes an effective PR. Warnings show a history of poor behavior, maturity shows that someone would be able to withstand the kind of harassment some staff members get, etc. All together, there are probably countless qualities that would make the perfect PR, no single quality can determine if someone will be a good PR.

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Originally Posted by DanielCathcart

Like I had mentioned, there are a lot of PRs that go into inactivity. Besides that, I did say there are players who are active that are willing to whatever it takes to become a PR.

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It’s true that a lot of people become inactive and that there are more players willing to do whatever it takes to become a PR. Inactivity just sort of comes with life, everyone has a life outside of Era and I doubt anyone could do this work forever. Sometimes things in life come up, and a PR isn’t able to be on for awhile. I know a lot of people want to become a PR, and I know that it’s really difficult, but you have to find something to make yourself stand out above others. Write a good application, make it unique and not a generic sounding one that everyone else can write. Tell the truth, don’t make outrageous lies just to get hired (such as saying that you can be on for 12 hours a day everyday, it would be insane if you could actually do that).

You don’t necessarily need to be friends with them. If you communicate with a few here and there and they don’t find you sounding like you’re kissing their asses to get hired. They’ll probably recommend u