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This is our comical, yet logically sound answer to the Question "What is an Admin or Administrator".
In order to best understand what an "Administrator" is, we need to understand the context it is used in, we need to consider the word admin it's self, and for this understanding we will simply use the definition provided by our lovely Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Merriam-Webster Defines Administrator as...
Now, of course, there are other definitions, and while they are not related to the administration of computers or services related to internets or networks, they are much the same in the fact that they are what can be referred to as the highest form of "authority" to the particular topic, act, or process that is being managed.
It's like saying "Guru" in some cultures, a reference to indicate a large than average amount of exp or knowledge in a specific area of life, habit, hobby, career or interests. Of course, if you're a dancer in an adult club you're not a administrator of the pole, but instead you are a Professional Dancer. We could go really far into discussion on this matter and try to logic out the reasons as to why it is that a dancer is the professional in this situation, and the guy that tends to the maintenance and the upkeep of the stage and pole is the administrator (or as some may prefer "Janitor"), but the end result is still the same, someone that is in charge of the operations and upkeep of the task, process, etc related to a particular area, field, expertise.
With regards to DayZ, the players are the dancers, the stage is the server, the pole is the configuration... and just who is a professional or who is not, well that's not anything we're trying to debate in this thread, as far as we're concerned as administrators everyone has the capacity to be a professional, as administrators we just keep the stage safe, the pole clean, and the shots comin!!
Pew Pew Pew!!
Ok, in all seriousness, putting aside all humor and twisted metaphorical-awesome-icity (yes that's a real thing)...
An Admin or Administrator in DayZ can be, and is, a bit more complicated than to just say "I have a dayz server, I'm an admin!".
This is not to take away from the role you play, would like to play, nor rob you of the false sense of power you posses within your control over the "enable/dis-able" switch that starts or stops your game server. It's also not to say that you can not become one, and excel as a "Game Administrator" but I mention the following in an effort to keep everyone humble. Me sayin "you ain't no admin" is my way of continuing to encourage you to grow, to become an actual administrator and not "just another owner of a hosted/rented game server with the false sense that he or she is now an uber admin" because that is not how any of this works. If this information offends you, get mad, get invested, and read the rest of this post
it's going to help you find your current place in the list of what is, and offer you some direction on the steps you can take to actually become more invested in your role as a "game server hoster" as well as help you figure out just how far you want to go into "Sys-Admin", because while we may not have ALL THE INFOs, we are here to help, we are here to offer encouragement and help you find solutions to complications you may encounter, and most importantly we are here to grow with you as you delve into the world of Game Servers & Sys-Admin.
For the sake of clarity, lets put things into much more easily understandable or comprehensive terms. Lets look at some situations that will help shed some light and awareness to, permit us all to understand that good ol "what is...".
- You, as well as some friends, start playing dayz, you come to find that you enjoy the game, but you want something more than cheater central... errr, I mean more than unmoderated vanilla servers. So you decide to pitch in your nickles and you all rent a game server with 30 some odd slots, 16Gigs of ram, and you even get yourselves that CPU priority... Congratulations, you now have what is refered to as a Game Server.
Of course, it's not ever just that cut and dry...
- So now, with all the above in mind, you have a friend that has a bit more knowledge in the area of how game servers work, so your friend sets up the server. We call this server configuration, a process that is exceptionally easy through game server hosts, something that is not so easy when installing, configuring, and making accessible on/from a private network. This does not mean your friend is a guaranteed full fledge Game Server Admin, but it does give him a bit more clout than you may have in the area. Not a huge deal, you are just starting out, and once again, we are currently just putting things into perspective!
- Now that your server is configured, you can get in, gradually begin to learn the in game admin control panel (ACP), and in due time you learn to quickly & easily begin watching, and assisting the people as well as the happenings inside your game server... Congratulations you may now safely refer to yourself as an "In-Game Admin" or "Moderator" depending on your level of access or restrictions to in-game tools.
So, here we are, 6 months or a year down the road of running a server, the collective of admin, moderators, and the community that you have managed to grow and have frequent your game server, have all decided they want to run a new map, lets say you've all agreed on something like namalsk, deer isle, valning, all of these are community developed maps, and all of these require more than just the process of changing a line or two in the cfg file so the new map works. These all require some additional back end knowledge, changes, and optional configuration adjustments in order to start your server and play the map.
The problem here is that your friend that was doing all your Game Server Administration is no longer playing DayZ. For shits and giggles he has moved away to China, to play with hello kitty keychains, drink Sake, sing Karaoke, and have random sexual encounters with multiple Asian women every night... Why? because he's a fool and gave up on pursuing his hopes and dreams of becoming an even more powerful Sys-Admin Wizard... which is clearly something you have no interest in giving up on, clearly, because you're still here reading this, and working towards fame and fortune as a DayZ - Game Server - Administrator... and then some, perhaps... So congratulations! you are now ready to begin your journey into Game Server Administration.
With all of this said... Administrators take on many different types of roles or positions, however, when it comes to the people we aim to cater to here on our website, as well as the level of information we provide, or the tools we will be offering... our idea of an Administrator is the individual that actively, eagerly, and effectively manages (at minimum) the core files of not only a game server installation, but also the configuration of what makes up the game server. In addition the individual also actively and eagerly has the capacity to install mods and/or trouble shoot (again at minimum) any basic start up complications and/or reported errors.
If you are here, actively using our website, contributing to the information, assisting where and how you may be able, then you're very likely a game server admin, or well on your way to being such. Of course, we also cater to a much larger realm of nerd-ism, we are coders, programmers, learners of the matrix core
So don't just limit yourself to becoming a game server administrator... and yes, we will grow into uber Sys-Admin with you as well... So long as you don't decide to run away to China for hello kitty and random multiple Asian women
Not that we have anything against China, it's just that you will be on a different network and have so many different conditions regarding your ability to internet ...
We can worry about the discussion of what is a Sys-Admin, in another post.
In order to best understand what an "Administrator" is, we need to understand the context it is used in, we need to consider the word admin it's self, and for this understanding we will simply use the definition provided by our lovely Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Merriam-Webster Defines Administrator as...
a: one who administers especially business, school, or governmental affairs
b: a person who manages a computer network or system
network administrators
Now, of course, there are other definitions, and while they are not related to the administration of computers or services related to internets or networks, they are much the same in the fact that they are what can be referred to as the highest form of "authority" to the particular topic, act, or process that is being managed.
It's like saying "Guru" in some cultures, a reference to indicate a large than average amount of exp or knowledge in a specific area of life, habit, hobby, career or interests. Of course, if you're a dancer in an adult club you're not a administrator of the pole, but instead you are a Professional Dancer. We could go really far into discussion on this matter and try to logic out the reasons as to why it is that a dancer is the professional in this situation, and the guy that tends to the maintenance and the upkeep of the stage and pole is the administrator (or as some may prefer "Janitor"), but the end result is still the same, someone that is in charge of the operations and upkeep of the task, process, etc related to a particular area, field, expertise.
With regards to DayZ, the players are the dancers, the stage is the server, the pole is the configuration... and just who is a professional or who is not, well that's not anything we're trying to debate in this thread, as far as we're concerned as administrators everyone has the capacity to be a professional, as administrators we just keep the stage safe, the pole clean, and the shots comin!!
Pew Pew Pew!!
Ok, in all seriousness, putting aside all humor and twisted metaphorical-awesome-icity (yes that's a real thing)...
An Admin or Administrator in DayZ can be, and is, a bit more complicated than to just say "I have a dayz server, I'm an admin!".
This is not to take away from the role you play, would like to play, nor rob you of the false sense of power you posses within your control over the "enable/dis-able" switch that starts or stops your game server. It's also not to say that you can not become one, and excel as a "Game Administrator" but I mention the following in an effort to keep everyone humble. Me sayin "you ain't no admin" is my way of continuing to encourage you to grow, to become an actual administrator and not "just another owner of a hosted/rented game server with the false sense that he or she is now an uber admin" because that is not how any of this works. If this information offends you, get mad, get invested, and read the rest of this post
For the sake of clarity, lets put things into much more easily understandable or comprehensive terms. Lets look at some situations that will help shed some light and awareness to, permit us all to understand that good ol "what is...".
- You, as well as some friends, start playing dayz, you come to find that you enjoy the game, but you want something more than cheater central... errr, I mean more than unmoderated vanilla servers. So you decide to pitch in your nickles and you all rent a game server with 30 some odd slots, 16Gigs of ram, and you even get yourselves that CPU priority... Congratulations, you now have what is refered to as a Game Server.
Of course, it's not ever just that cut and dry...
- So now, with all the above in mind, you have a friend that has a bit more knowledge in the area of how game servers work, so your friend sets up the server. We call this server configuration, a process that is exceptionally easy through game server hosts, something that is not so easy when installing, configuring, and making accessible on/from a private network. This does not mean your friend is a guaranteed full fledge Game Server Admin, but it does give him a bit more clout than you may have in the area. Not a huge deal, you are just starting out, and once again, we are currently just putting things into perspective!
- Now that your server is configured, you can get in, gradually begin to learn the in game admin control panel (ACP), and in due time you learn to quickly & easily begin watching, and assisting the people as well as the happenings inside your game server... Congratulations you may now safely refer to yourself as an "In-Game Admin" or "Moderator" depending on your level of access or restrictions to in-game tools.
So, here we are, 6 months or a year down the road of running a server, the collective of admin, moderators, and the community that you have managed to grow and have frequent your game server, have all decided they want to run a new map, lets say you've all agreed on something like namalsk, deer isle, valning, all of these are community developed maps, and all of these require more than just the process of changing a line or two in the cfg file so the new map works. These all require some additional back end knowledge, changes, and optional configuration adjustments in order to start your server and play the map.
The problem here is that your friend that was doing all your Game Server Administration is no longer playing DayZ. For shits and giggles he has moved away to China, to play with hello kitty keychains, drink Sake, sing Karaoke, and have random sexual encounters with multiple Asian women every night... Why? because he's a fool and gave up on pursuing his hopes and dreams of becoming an even more powerful Sys-Admin Wizard... which is clearly something you have no interest in giving up on, clearly, because you're still here reading this, and working towards fame and fortune as a DayZ - Game Server - Administrator... and then some, perhaps... So congratulations! you are now ready to begin your journey into Game Server Administration.
With all of this said... Administrators take on many different types of roles or positions, however, when it comes to the people we aim to cater to here on our website, as well as the level of information we provide, or the tools we will be offering... our idea of an Administrator is the individual that actively, eagerly, and effectively manages (at minimum) the core files of not only a game server installation, but also the configuration of what makes up the game server. In addition the individual also actively and eagerly has the capacity to install mods and/or trouble shoot (again at minimum) any basic start up complications and/or reported errors.
If you are here, actively using our website, contributing to the information, assisting where and how you may be able, then you're very likely a game server admin, or well on your way to being such. Of course, we also cater to a much larger realm of nerd-ism, we are coders, programmers, learners of the matrix core
Not that we have anything against China, it's just that you will be on a different network and have so many different conditions regarding your ability to internet ...
We can worry about the discussion of what is a Sys-Admin, in another post.