Hi,
As the person who has been managing the translation project since it exists on CubeCraft Games, I think it is about time for me to share my point of view about the translator rank topic.
As many of you may know, since I founded the translation team back in October 2018, we've crossed a number of milestones. We have over 230 active members, more than 27 working languages, as well as we have been working on many CubeCraft projects. These projects include the server official rules, HelpDesk, important forum threads, Discord, Bedrock and Java network. One of our future plans is to further expand our activity to more CubeCraft-related web content, such as the Store and Marketplace.
Now, to my actual opinion about the translator rank - I couldn't support that suggestion more. In fact, not so long ago I already had a discussion with Camezonda where I shared my suggestion and he had a pretty positive opinion about it, saying it is going to be considered. I really wanted the potential introduction of the rank to be a surprise for the community if it worked out, but it seems like I am going to need to share a part of it now, seeing the number of concerns related to the recognition of the team and some other issues.
Why do I support this suggestion?
Before I get to the myriad of benefits this rank would bring to the network, I would like to mention that my suggestion is not the same as the one that was presented on this thread. In my suggestion, the rank is still given as a reward to translators, but not to every member of the team.
I can see a lot of you were concerned that it is not exactly hard to become a member of the team, which is why the rank would cause a mess on the network if it were to be given to every person on the team. Sadly, this project does not allow me to be particularly picky with the people I let on the team. If I were to only accept quality helper applicants, we would have as many translators as we got helpers. This is far from what I want for the team, considering the project requires many people to participate and contribute with their work and skills. However, this will not be the case when it comes to the translator rank.
The translator rank would be given to the most trustworthy, hardworking and best behaved translators on the team. If the owners of this rank prove to not be responsible enough to own the rank (break rules, are rude to others, say offensive things, behave immaturely) that may lead to a removal of the rank. The same would happen if the translators become inactive on the team after reaching the position.
Pros:
- The rank would be a worthy reward for the work the team is putting into the server every day. They are just as much volunteers as Helpers are, and I do not see why they would not deserve the opportunity to receive such reward.
- The rank would of course be some very good marketing for the team and will entice more people to join the team.
- The rank would motivate the team to finish really large CubeCraft projects. Let's be honest, cubelets cannot achieve such great effect nor are they a really tempting reward in general. It may be true that the team is ready to work for the server not really wanting anything in return, as many of them showed with their comments on this thread, and believe me, I cannot be prouder of this fact. But, when a person has something they can actually achieve for themselves, there is no doubt that they would be a lot more motivated to work, to improve, to learn and develop.
- The rank would bring pride to the server. It will show how we not only have a translation team, but we also got people who have really good qualities and skills working on this team. It will once again show that CubeCraft is not just a bunch of toxicity in FFA, but got some really good people participating in the community, carrying for the server and giving their best to improve it.
- It would motivate people to be the best versions of themselves. As a leader of the team, It would give me the priceless opportunity to help people achieve their true potential.
- Translators would be more trusted than the rest of the members on the team. That being said, they may actually help solve numerous language issues in the work of the Moderation team. We may not have a Moderation team that is fluent in languages all over the world, but when we have people like translators, I do not see a reason why we should not use them to benefit CubeCraft as much as possible. (Examples for such issues: Mistakes with handling other language reports, difficulties dealing with other language rule breakers in general on any platform, difficulties communicating with other language people, etc)
Cons:
Haha, okay, that gif was more of a joke, but it is still not really far from the truth. Time to address some of the cons that have come to my mind and that I read on this thread:
- It would require some dev time to be implemented. Taking into consideration all the positivity it would bring to the server, I personally think it is worth it.
- Just like any other staff member (even if the rank would not be a staff one, it would look like it to people), there is always the possibility they would break a rule or say something bad. If they do it, it would harm the reputation of the staff team. Since I've led the team in a way that facilitates a friendly and open environment, where any interpersonal issues have been resolved quickly, I feel that I got the skills needed to take on the responsibility of handling such a situation, should it arise. I also would not be alone - Camezonda would be supporting me in this.
- People may only want to join the team for the rank. Although that may sound concerning at first, I would not say it is. Even if their only motives to join are the shiny rank, they will still need to earn it and prove they would be good owners of it. If they work for the rank and manage to prove these things, I do not see their motives as any concern at all.
Thanks for the suggestion. Pretty good timing to post it, to be honest....
- Suggestion escalated.