why do you want to be a mod?

that's arguably the most important question of all.

i meet people everyday, and all they ask is "how do you become a mod?" or "is this against the rules?"

i give them the answers, but if they probe further, all i have to say is why.

why do you think it's against the rules?

why do you want to become a mod?

that usually shuts them up. otherwise, i've so far only received two valid responses (imo "the crown is cool" doesn't apply).

that leaves "i deserve it." or "i want to make rs a better place."

i further probe the former till the arrogant little twit realises the answers he has that are true are answers he cannot give me. those who fit into this category typically don't even think about the latter reply. as to the latter, my next question, then, goes back to how.

that shuts them up too, eventually.

how do temporary mutes make rs a better place? why can't you make rs a better place anyway, or do you think that's only the responsibility of mods? how do you think...

writing all this down makes it seem like a job interview, or even a test. but that isn't my intention at all. all i want to do is let them know themselves. let them know why they want what they claim to want. let them judge, for themselves, of themselves.

writing all this down makes me seem cruel. excuses, excuses, you might say, but i say i have a right to them. i don't say all this to "shut them up", to shame them. right after, i move on to another topic. it's their choice if they want to continue talking, and i don't intentionally try to crush them, nor do i. i've become quite the expert at changing the subject now, and it's easy when the person you're talking to wants something mundane to converse about just so they can think, at the same time.

because all most people want is the perceived popularity and prestige that comes with what they want most of all, that little crown by the side of their name.

saddest of all, i think, might be a boy i met, who hasn't spoken three sentences to me since i declined his trade of an emerald ring and expressed my views in a way such as would soften the impact of my opinion on online dating. apparently that didn't work very well, and it's one of the things i've most regretted. it's also one of the things i'd probably do all over again.

my point, anyway, being what he told me. "i want to be a mod so people will listen to me."

i want so much to make people understand. if you have the potential to become a mod, or if you should be one, people will listen to you anyway. people will respect you precisely because you deserve their respect and attention as much, or more so than any mod's.

i've only met a few who don't want to be mods, and that's because they dread the attention, and the time they'll have to sacrifice combating said attention.

it's strange, really. i'm still trying to figure out the lure of it. is it like wanting to become a prefect in school? except many, many people didn't want prefectship, myself included. the desire to prove yourself, desire for popularity, that aside, is there anything left?

the "i want to make rs a better place" works. the problem is, how? by muting people? when it's less necessary i try not to mute because i want to change the person. i want to persuade the person not to, i want to hear what they have to say. sometimes i succeed, other times, i don't.

either way, i don't regret my decisions.

i go about playing in, you might say, the same way i always did. sometimes i remember that my account was modded, and i'm surprised all over again. then i forget it, let it retreat into the background.

before, i did want to be a mod. had you asked me, though, i'd have given you the second response. you'd have been able to shut me up, to make me think, because frankly, i wouldn't have known why.

now i do.

what did you think? i'm not about to tell you. that'll be too easy. it's personal, but aspects of it may well be universal, and not without cause.

what do you think?

think, because the answer's worth it.