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Help Wanted: GS is hiring GameHosts – February 2018

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Last Updated On
ByNewsby

GM Kaikala announces that GS is looking for Gamehosts. She answers some questions and shares the application link for you. Do you have helpfulness built in? You might want to think about it!

http://bit.ly/2Eu8c7W

Category: Discussions with Simutronics
Topic: Help Wanted: GemStone Staff Teams

Date: 02/08/2018 10:01 PM CST
From: GS4-KAIKALA
Subj: Hiring for GameHosts!
Hey guys,

We are also hiring for GameHosts!

What’s a GameHost, you may ask? GameHosts volunteer their time to serve as our front-line when it comes to customer service – they are primarily responsible for working the ASSIST queues that players utilize for all forms of customer-related issues. If you’ve ever assisted in-game for any reason at all, chances are that a GameHost helped you out at some point in the process. GameHosts are fairly knowledgeable about the basics of gameplay. That does not mean that they are necessarily GS encyclopedias of knowledge, but they do know how to research an answer and, most importantly, interact and communicate with others via the GS interface in a professional manner.

What’s required of a GameHost? GameHosts work 3 shifts a week (shifts run ~2 hours) and attend 1 team meeting a month. During training, GameHosts attend trainer shifts (and we will attempt to make that possible within your schedule restraints); after training, you choose your 3 set shifts based on your availability and our needs. That’s the basic jist of it. There are some other, non-required items GameHosts are able to participate in from time-to-time if they are interested.

What do we look for in potential GameHosts? Actively playing, account in good standing, comfortable talking about basic technical aspects of GS and gameplay (or at least not afraid to try it!), ability to consistently commit to 3 shifts a week, decent typing speed, and a good quantity of patience. Customer service experience in pretty much any field is extremely helpful, though certainly not required to be considered. Note that these are the broad strokes of the qualities that we look for, but there is no cookie-cutter mold — if you don’t quite fit into the above but think you might be a good GameHost, use the application to explain why!

A few extra notes: (1) We often get questions regarding past warnings and whether or not you are eligible to apply if you have any: yes, you are — we take into consideration the warning type, how egregious you were about it, and how long ago it was when making decisions. (2) You must have been actively playing for the past 6 months to be considered currently.

If you are interested in becoming a GameHost: Go to https://www.play.net/gs4/apply/apply.asp and click on the “Join the Team” link under the GameHosts section. Once you do that, there are three parts to the application: (1) Personal Info; (2) Application (Questionarre); (3) GameHost Application/Test. You must have all three parts filled out and submitted in order to be considered. Bear in mind that comprehensive answers to questions (where applicable) give a much better picture of a candidate than one-word answer ones.

We will be looking at applications submitted and/or updated between September 1st of last year and February 25th of this year. If you submitted an application prior to September 1st and wish to be considered, please be sure to update the “Application” portion to fall within our viewing time-frame (to do that, find some time before February 25th comes to an end to click on “Update Application,” scroll to the bottom, and click on “Submit.” That will update the timestamp, even if you aren’t changing any of your info).

If you have any questions, please feel welcome to post them here or shoot an email to both myself and GM Palvella (gs4-kaikala@play.net, gs4-palvella@play.net)!

~Kaikala

Date: 02/10/2018 04:16 AM CST
From: VICIMER
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
I saw Wyrom mention what GMs receive in compensation; are there any perks for Hosts?

**********************
A quick flick of Wyrom’s wrist sends a dagger into flight!
The thorny barrier surrounding you blocks Wyrom’s attack!
One of the vines surrounding you lashes out at Wyrom, driving a thorn into his skin! Wyrom flinches slightly.

Date: 02/10/2018 09:28 AM CST
From: GS4-TAMUZ
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
Cookies!

ASGM

Date: 02/11/2018 10:04 AM CST
From: SIMU-WYROM
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
>>I saw Wyrom mention what GMs receive in compensation; are there any perks for Hosts?

GameHosts receive a complimentary account and have some other in-game rewards.

Wyrom, PM

Date: 02/12/2018 10:47 AM CST
From: KRAKII
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
Note for the record that “complimentary account” means “base fee” == Prime subscriber.
You wantadditional character slots beside that, or Premium (or Plat) on top of that, or Shattered below that… those are on your own dime.

You Gets One Character Free.

.

However, there are in-game perqs, as well.
You frequently get called on to serve as NPCs (like the Bregandian war).
You some times get drafted to watch player-weddings and make sure the messaging going out is tupo-free. [heh]
Speaking of weddings, you get to hand off wedding outfits and invitations. (Sadly, you do not typically get to lurk around the changing room of <whichever side of the wedding equation happens to float your boat>.)
They also have a work-based reward system.

.

And–last but not least–you get to field one metric crap-ton of flak from players dis-satisfied with <pick an issue>, or reply to bone-heads who have temporarily gone lame-brained.
(I remember whistling up an Assist one time with my Fighter–it had been a long time since he logged in…–trying to figure out why my weapon-AS was abnormally high. Stat, skill, Enchant, Society… I forgot to account for the CMranks/2, also. Derp.)

Date: 02/12/2018 06:57 PM CST
From: GS4-KAIKALA
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
>>Krakii’s post

Some of that is pretty inaccurate in this modern age of ours. I would stick with Wyrom’s summary in this case 😉

~Kaikala

Date: 02/12/2018 08:19 PM CST
From: KRAKII
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
Given that the retired host slot on my account is nearly age of consent… yeah, small surprise my info is probably dated. 🙂

Still, there are probably, “Things you get to do in-game,” and “in-game benefits that you can accrue,” and so on.

Date: 02/12/2018 09:01 PM CST
From: SIMU-WYROM
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
We updated it quite a bit. You get a complimentary Platinum account. We always have a reward program for doing shifts and taking NPC opportunities.

Wyrom, PM

Date: 02/13/2018 08:23 AM CST
From: KRAKII
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
That is quite an update!
(Also, of course, even more important that they now report their $600 of income every year, since it’s now a lot more than the $120 we used to get… Not, you know. Like I’ve got “tax thoughts” on my mind this time of year, or anything. 🙂

Date: 02/13/2018 09:19 AM CST
From: SIMU-WYROM
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
No taxes, as we simply give you a complimentary account for joining the GameHost Program. It’s not in the form of an award, prize, or winnings, and it’s not any sort of income. Plus, Platinum for the year is only $599.40.

Wyrom, PM

Date: 02/13/2018 10:22 AM CST
From: KRAKII
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
It’s still compensation, and has to be reported as earned income. Trust me.
(You’re right on the monetary amount though, because the IRS doesn’t want pennies. So $599.)

The firm should properly be issuing 1099s to everyone, though they probably aren’t to anyone but the GMs.

.

Now, on the bright side! That portion of the cost of your computer that you use for business purposes, can be written off! Probably no commuting miles, though….

Date: 02/13/2018 11:33 AM CST
From: AMMINAR
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
>It’s still compensation, and has to be reported as earned income. Trust me.
> (You’re right on the monetary amount though, because the IRS doesn’t want pennies. So $599.)
>The firm should properly be issuing 1099s to everyone, though they probably aren’t to anyone but the GMs.
>Now, on the bright side! That portion of the cost of your computer that you use for business purposes, can be written off! Probably no commuting miles, though….

I think this is more like an airline giving empty seats to their employees, which is not taxable as compensation. I’d call it a fringe benefit provided at no additional cost.

Also, even if you were right about it being compensation, you don’t need to issue 1099 if the total compensation for the year is less than $600.

Personally, I wouldn’t report a comped GemStone account as income. But consult your tax professional if you need tax advice you can count on. As a general rule, no one should rely on anonymous internet people on a play.net forum for legal or tax advice.

Date: 02/13/2018 12:37 PM CST
From: KRAKII
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
I agree with the consultation part! 🙂

And I disagree with it being a fringe benefit; that would be more like, “attend this event for free.” The core pay is “get the account for free.”
Comparable to deadheading: that probably is more correctly a fringe benefit, because the core pay is, “you get a salary.”
(And technically, “deadheading” is a reference to the deduction for the plane, flying from here to there with no paying passengers on that leg, rather than necessarily staffers occupying seats.)

.

Still… that’s why you consult your tax professional!

Date: 02/25/2018 07:22 PM CST
From: LTLPRPRINCESS
Subj: Re: Hiring for GameHosts!
I just submitted and I hope it didn’t go in too late!

#bardlife

 

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