After the recent campfire removal, there has been a lot of frustration and confusion and also the concern of people not knowing where to go to seek help. Although there are some challenges at the moment with the onboarding of new users to the platform who would struggle to find the worlds beta option in their menu etc, let’s explore one different perspective from a moderation role after the announcements.

I have seen more AltspaceVR staff in the last week than the last year

Staff are more visible with unconfirmed reports of at least 5 new Altspace-gold-badged staff starting in the last week. They have been present at events and hosts have confirmed to me they have been present in their events which may cause some unease tense feelings at the moment because it had been uncommon to see staff in events prior to these recent changes.

Over the last few days, I have seen more staff in the last week than the last year in terms of active staff members. The last few nights I have noticed staff present across the network even in the early hours of the US timezones.

As I explain and demonstrate in this video there are 3 people modding the most popular world on the platform at 10.30 PM. Before the recording, I did spot an additional campfire admin inside the world briefly. All the frustrations aside, I wanted to share this fair perspective on why putting moderation in the hands of the users is beneficial. Considering as well that the new Altspace staff members aren’t familiar with all the tools at the present time, however, they can take care of nasty users so at the moment platform moderation has improved.

What could be improved

  • More useful tools such as giving mods the ability to toggle environment clipping to see through walls but not be able to bypass walls. Having this mod ability would allow us to moderate and see potential troublesome users who may hide in things. Although existing mod tools does allow us to navigate a disruptive user that we can’t see.
  • Staff onboarding hasn’t been fantastic with lots of new admins having issues with microphone feedback and all sorts of teething issues. I think it would be great if there was a buddy system in place with community helpers so that they can co-mod the platform and assist the new staff with issues they may have missed during onboarding.

Disclaimer: Thoughts and opinions are my own and I am not affiliated with Microsoft or Altspace.