Mentors

Resonite Mentors logo/badge.

The Mentors is a volunteer-based program run by the Mentor Lead Team and overseen by the Resonite Trust and Safety team. Those who are a part of it are volunteers from the Resonite community who help out, educate, or assist other users in their free time. They aim to provide help, assistance, and support to the entire community, especially to new players who need guidance. Mentors act as a bit of a welcoming committee for those who are new to the community.

What is a Mentor?

A Mentor is a member of the community that has volunteered their time to help users of all experience levels. They serve as an essential part of the new user experience by reinforcing the friendly, welcoming community atmosphere that Resonite provides.

How do I Find a Mentor

Mentors can be identified in-game by their unique green name color and badge (as shown above), and they can be found through a couple of methods.

• Reach out on the Resonite Discord through the #questions-help forum channel
• Include a request for mentors or help in the name of your session. When opening a new world, you will be prompted to give it a name, with the default being “<User name>'s World”. Clicking on this will spawn a keyboard, allowing you to edit the world name.

Who are the Mentor Leads?

The role of a Mentor Lead is to oversee the Mentor Program and provide structure, feedback, management, and resources to the program. Every Mentor Lead should be able to autonomously handle things like tweaking the guidelines, correcting grammatical mistakes, implementing quality-of-life changes, and onboarding new applicants.

Current Mentor Leads can be found on the Mentor Matrix, or in the following list;

• BigRedWolfy
• Holy_Water
• orange
• Rabbuttz
• Ukilop
• Veer

(Current as of 6th of March, 2024)

What is the Criteria for being a Mentor?

The willingness to teach and learn, and a baseline of experience with the tools of Resonite. The Role does not come with a quota to fulfill, but rather with an expectation to represent Resonite and the friendly, open community that it houses.

What comes with the Mentor role?

• Recognition and thanks for their time and assistance as a volunteer.
• Recognition of their Mentor role via a badge and nameplate color, enabling users in need of help to more easily seek them out.
• Access to the Resonite Volunteer Team Discord to receive Mentor-related announcements, updates, and to communicate and coordinate with other mentors and members of the other volunteer teams.
• Access to the Resonite Mentor Public Shared folder, with tools and resources to help users.
  • Mentors can also submit items for addition to this folder by contacting the Mentor Lead BigRedWolfy

How do I become a Mentor?

Listed in the Mentor Resources below is an application form; the process of becoming a Mentor has been largely streamlined and made less opaque by the inclusion of the new Mentor Trainer System, which you can read through in the resources below as well.

Mentor Resources

Below is a list of Front-Facing Documentation & Resources that the Mentor Team uses. All information displayed is fit for public consumption and intended to give one a broad overview of the Mentor Program and what it entails.

• Mentor Program Application is the application for the Mentor Program. The Mentor Program is open to new applicants.
  • It is suggested to use the link in the Mentor Certification Center to fill out this form, as clicking it there will pre-fill most fields in the Application.

• The Mentor Matrix is a document displaying current Mentors, Mentor Trainees, their time zones, and their languages.

• Mentor Certification System is a compulsory system that all new Mentors are put through to establish a baseline of skills and expectations. It functions as an acculturation process, a probationary period, and an onboarding period for the new Mentor. More information can be found in the volunteer discord and Mentor Certification Centre.

• The Mentor Certification Centre is a world accessible from within Resonite (record URL being resrec:///G-1M33eu0F6rA/R-9d0e0329-40d6-4a02-8f41-9a0070356cf6) allowing you to get ready for the mentor test. You will find there quizzes about diverse subjects as well as a training area to sharpen your skills with multiple tools. As aforementioned, you will also find there a link for the mentor application that will auto-fill some information such as your userid.

Mentor Code of Conduct

1. Follow the Resonite User Guidelines
2. Respect fellow Users
   1. Consider personal space, comfort, ear, and eye safety.
   2. Make sure to consider what the User you’re helping is actually interested in.
3. While acting as a Mentor, Avoid Biases and Conflict
   1. De-escalate if a situation drifts too far into a discussion/argument.
   2. Personal likes/dislikes and opinions should not be forced upon other Users.
4. Do not abuse the Mentor Role
   1. Do not lie about your rights, impersonate Moderators, or generally put yourself above other Users based on your Role.
   2. Avoid manipulating a User to follow personal beliefs/opinions on the basis of your Mentor Role.
   3. Being a mentor does not grant exclusivity in teaching users. Anyone can teach, and one should not override that teaching unless it violates Resonite Usage Guidelines.
5. Avoid disruptive Tools/Gadgets
   1. New Users shouldn't be overwhelmed by displacement gadgets (push tools/guns, gravity tools, hand/proxy grabbers) or loud/bright effects (such as realistic guns, flashbangs or the visual filters found on vapes/bongs).
   2. Similarly, a complex Multi-tool can eschew the new user experience and expectation, keep to simple or default tools when possible with new users.
6. Act polite and dignified
   1. Have patience with Users, especially when it comes to technical issues or them needing more time to understand. Do not become pushy.
   2. Remember that the badge comes with recognition and represents the Resonite platform to a degree.
7. Stay open to constructive criticism, listen to feedback
   1. Not every possible problem can be covered in the guidelines. If another User, fellow Mentor, or Lead approaches you with an issue, please be considerate and listen.

Not following the Mentor Code of Conduct as an established Mentor may result in consequences which can range from a warning to removal from the Program.

Removal Decisions will always be made by the Mentor Leads as a whole.

Code of Conduct Violations

If you feel as if a mentor has violated the above code of conduct, you may submit a complaint using this form.

Frequently Asked Questions

(Updated 10/MAR/2024)

Q: How do I join the Mentor Program

A: Fill out an Application, as listed above.

Q: What is the Criteria for becoming a Mentor?

A: We require you to at least be proficient with the DevToolTip and Inspector, and know how to create an Avatar, and have the mindset to help users regardless of skill level or technical understanding. Everything else can be taught by our Mentor Certification Program.

Q: What comes with the Mentor Role?

A: An expectation to help users, access to a Volunteer Discord, access to a Group Inventory containing useful resources for helping users.

Q: Are the Mentors the only ones who can Teach new users?

A: No, the Mentor Program holds no exclusivity over teaching users and it isn’t so much ‘first come first served’, as it is how the user gets on with their teacher. Generally, a Mentor will not interject unless it is a blatant violation of the Platform Guidelines, or hurting the new user.

Q: Why is one of the requirements for the Mentor Program to be Over 18?

A: As a platform with User Generated Content, we are not immune to Adult Content, and helping new users set up their avatars invariably runs the risk of exposure to Adult Content. It would be ignorant to allow a minor into a space that could expose them to such content.

Q: Do I have to be a Furry/Anime/Robot to be a Mentor

A: There is no requirement to be a specific type of avatar in the Mentor Program. Be what you want to be, providing it doesn’t violate the Platform Guidelines.

Q: One of the Code of Conduct points mentions an “appropriate avatar”, what do you define that as?

A: While we have no intent to create a ‘style guide’ a-la some roleplay groups, the avatar should look “decent” if presented in daytime news or a publication. If in doubt, show it to a Mentor and ask “would this be fine in the media?”.

Q: What do I do if I encounter someone I don’t like/want to teach

A: The Mentor role comes with no quota to fulfill, it is a voluntary position, you can retract your services, but we insist that if it is done for personal bias, you defer them to another Mentor.

Q: What if I don’t feel like helping people today?

A: The Mentor Badge and Tag Color comes with the expectation of being a helper, but it is a voluntary role. If you do not feel like helping someone today, feel free to switch to an avatar where the badge isn’t visible, or hide it.

Q: What do I do if I am being abused by a Mentor?

A: First of all, is it a violation of the Platform Guidelines? If so, file a Moderation Ticket, using the “Mentor/Mod/Team Complaint” Category, to provide as much evidence as possible.

Q: What do I do if I am uncomfortable with the conduct of a Mentor, or if they were ‘unbecoming’ of the role of Mentor

A: File a Report of Misconduct.

Q: Can I be removed from the Mentor Program for Inactivity?

A: No, however your status can be changed to ‘On Leave’ and you may have to recectify if it is over 6 months. The only criteria for removal from the Program is Misconduct or Breach of Guidelines.

Q: When do you stop accepting applicants?

A: Generally we will not stop accepting applicants unless the total trainees exceeds our trainer pool by a significant amount, or if we meet our buffer to safeguard against “unsustainable new user influx”.

Q: What is an “Unsustainable New User Influx”?

A: It is an event where the concurrent active player base not merely doubles, but triples in a given month. This is usually the result of mass media coverage or a highly trending piece of content.

An unsustainable new user influx, is, as its name implies, unsustainable, as it brings in a large amount of new users that are not acculturated to the platform and its regulars, and risks alienating said regulars.

Our intent with the Mentor Program is that there should never be an event where there isn’t at least one Mentor per session to serve as a touchstone to the wider community, and give these new users a point of reference for their expectations and guide them.

Q: Does becoming a Mentor have anything to do with becoming a Moderator?

A: No. They are both positions of trust within the community, but have their own criteria and process for application/training.