Thothie’s Quick Administrator Tutorial - AMX

Administrators of Divine Justice Policy

Thou shalt be a stealthy and unobtrusive admin: The AoDJ on Thothie’s veil themselves in subtlety. They do not reveal themselves to be an admin unless the occasion should truly call for the Hand of the Divine AMX. If someone asks if they are an admin, they do not reply "yes!", but rather "why?". If it all possible, no one should ever discover their presence without using amx_who.

Actions that may incur the wrath of the AoDJ: The golden rule of the AoDJ is: CLIENT FLOW IS EVERYTHING. If a player is driving clientele off the server, then it is up to the AoDJ to force them to change their ways without adding to the damage already done. Should they prove incorrigible, and their souls cannot be saved, they shall be removed from the world for the sake of the all important client flow. Client flow, is, everything. Keeping the server as full as possible is the true AoDJ’s ultimate objective. This is accomplished by encouraging harmony amongst the populous. Rampant PK’ers, blockers, and AMX abusers, shall all be punished - but only when they truly jeopardize the harmony that keeps the server populated.

Hypocrisy is Poison: The AoDJ must provide a golden example to the players he reigns over, be they aware of it or not. Should the AoDJ hamper the client flow in anyway, either through abuse of his powers, or through mundane actions that a true AoDJ would find offensive, surely, their power will fade away. The hand of the law is not above the law, but rather is a shining example of the law obeyed.

Encourage the Flow: The AoDJ should be friendly, should give advice liberally and freely, but should also allow players to acquire things for themselves and fight their own battles. Through his mundane actions, the AoDJ should be a guide, but not a guardian. A client who receives too many free meals, will soon be sated, and cease returning to the server.



The Administration of Wrath:

Like the wrath of divine karma, the punishment of the AoDJ is slow and subtle, but it does eventually reach a pinnacle of fatal proportions.

I. The Divine Word of AMX (amx_csay / amx_tsay): This is the simplest, least violent tool at the administrators disposal, and should be the first to be used. It causes the Divine Law to be placed upon the screen of all clientele.

Syntax:
amx_csay [red | green | blue | yellow] [message]

Example usage:
amx_csay red Thou shall not kill n00bs!!!
amx_tsay blue Do not block passageways, n00b!


II. The Divine Hand of Justice (amx_slap / amx_slapmenu): Should words fail, use the fist. When using the amx_slapmenu, be sure it is set to slap and not slay (MS admins should be aware that slay will cause issues with the program, do not use it at all). If one should opt to instead use the command itself, first the AoDJ must use amx_who to identify the true name or user # of the intended sinner. In most instances, only the first few letters of the name of the sinner are needed.

Example usage:
bind f2 amx_slapmenu
amx_slap lord

Should the offense continue, many applications of the Divine Hand of Justice can be applied in quick succession, either through the menu, or by simply pressing the up arrow in console to repeat the command.


III. The Divine Eye (amx_who): This command allows the AoDJ to gather all necessary knowledge of players on the server, including their true names, unique ID’s, and IPs. Knowledge of this power is required for the steps of wrath that follow.

Example usage:
amx_who

Example Output w/Color Key:
Clients on server:
# nickauthiduseridimmresaccess
1 Saint ThothSTEAM_0:0:45287611noyesbcdefghijklmnopqrs
2 CyaxSTEAM_0:0:36480282nonofj
3 Lord MatthiasSTEAM_0:1:2055843nonofj
Total 3
Green = Nickname
Red = SteamID
Blue = #User

The usage of this data is explained later.

Remember, it is possible to highlight an item in console by dragging over it with the mouse, right clicking on it, and clicking copy. Pressing Ctrl-V in the console line will then reproduce the data. This saves much time.


IV. The Divine Foot (amx_kick): The divine foot can be used to remove a particularly incorrigible sinner from the server. This is an extreme punishment, and should be only used when all else has failed, and repeatedly so.

Syntax:
amx_kick <name or #user> [reason]

Example Usage (based on the above amx_who table):
To kick Cyax:
amx_kick #2
or
amx_kick cy
or
amx_kick Cyax "just testing this"


V. Damnation (amx_ban): When all else fails, when the player continues to return to the server, and continues to exemplify the same behavior, spreading discourse and displeasure, this final, and most extreme measure is to be used. It is to be used with the utmost reluctance, as there are so few souls left in our little MS world.

Syntax:
amx_ban <"SteamID" | ip> <minutes> [reason]
* only superadmins can ban by IP

Important: Whenever using a SteamID, it must be placed in "quotes".

Example Usage (based on the above amx_who table):
To ban Lord Matthias for 5 minutes:
amx_ban "STEAM_0:1:205584" 5 "Just Testing"

Levels of Damnation:
I. Niflheim: 5 Minutes. Give them some time to cool off.
II. Limbo: 99 Minutes. No need to see them for a bit.
III. The City of Dis: 999 Minutes. Dis ’em for a summer’s day.
IV. The Malebolge : 9999 Minutes. About a week.
V. Cocytus: 0 Minutes. Permanent Ban.

If an AoDJ feels the need to instill a permanent ban, he MUST contact Thothie as soon as possible afterwards, either via IM or e-mail (spam(at)thothie.com). It is a grave event indeed when we lose a soul forever. One should always include a reason for any ban over five minutes.

Should the AoDJ make a ban of any sort, he should store the ID using the condump console command. This will cause the AoDJ to lag a bit, and then store his entire console (complete with IDs) in a text file within his MS folder, called "condumpxxx.txt".


Galilean Rebeautification (amx_unban): The AoDJ does not consider himself infallible. Should one accidentally ban someone, or feel they have earned forgiveness through the cries of their piers, he shall use the unban command. (This is also why one stores ID’s via condump).

Syntax:
amx_unban <"SteamID" | ip>

Example Usage (based on the above amx_who table):
To remove the ban on Lord Matthias:
amx_unban "STEAM_0:1:205584"


Other Divine Powers...

Not all of the AoDJ powers are destructive. Many are actually beneficial to one and all with harm to no one.

World Shaping (amx_map): This should be used whenever a map transition fails and the server crashes. It should never be used to force players to a map they didn’t choose to travel to, en mass. For this is why we have the amx_votemap command.

Example Usage:
amx_map lowlands


Angelic Tongue: (amx_chat): AoDJ’s and other administrators can talk amongst themselves without being heard by the other players.

Example Usage:
amx_chat wassup AoDJ dudes?

This can also be bound to a key, thusly:
bind f1 "messagemode amx_chat"

One can use this, press F1, and enter the desired text from the Hud, rather than the console.

Normally, this can also be accomplished by prefixing any team chat with @. However, this will not work in MS. Instead you get a shortcut to amx_tsay. If for instance, one types in chat (not console, but chat):
@rGreetings Traveler!
All clients will receive a red "Greetings Traveler!" message in the bottom left of their screen.


For more info on AoDJ powers, use the command amx_help in console. To see more items, type amx_help followed by a number up to that indicated at the bottom of the output.



"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. This is why the world suffers, as power is sought with most fervor, by those least fit to wield it."
- Martin & Machiavelli