Kurva Gaming
Kurva Gaming is an online community that hosts primarily SCP: Secret Laboratory servers. The community is currently the maintainer of the US East official SCP: Secret Laboratory server, and in 2019 held over 20% of the concurrent player population for the game.[1]
 | |
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Established | 2018 |
| Owner | CTCookiie |
| Registered Members | 6,186 (as of December 9, 2022) |
| Joining Process | Participation |
| Website | Website |
| Social Media | |
| Discord | Discord server |
| Patreon | Patreon |
Structure
Joining process
Joining the community is done by playing on the servers and optionally joining the Discord server.
User expectations
The entirety of the rules that members must follow is contained on a single Google Doc which covers Discord, SCP: Secret Laboratory, and actions that are prohibited globally. Some rules are very specific in nature, indicating a preference to explicitly prohibit repeated situations, but outside of these instances the rules fall well within norms. The escalation of staff response for most offenses is a single warning, followed by a 24 hour ban, then a 3-day ban, then a week ban, and then a permanent ban.
Governance
The community makes use of a non-linear rank structure where each service has a hierarchy of staff, with the head of each hierarchy reporting to the community's owner, of who has total and complete control. The top of the hierarchy is referred to as the head of the service, and they presumably make all decisions relating to it's operation. Immediately below the head are supervisors who oversee groups of base staff members, with each group being given a name in numerical order, with the base staff members directly reported to the supervisor in charge of their particular group.
Staff members also have ranks that go in the following order, sequentially: trial moderator, moderator, senior moderator, administrator, then senior administrator. These ranks appear to represent levels of access to the service and do not represent the person's relative authority (e.g it is possible for a senior administrator to report to a senior administrator, as the former is a base staff member and the latter is the supervisor of their group). Because of this, it is possible for the same staff member to have a different rank for each service while also having a position within the global hierarchy.
Separately from the hierarchies are 3 named positions: chief technical officer, community manager, and director of communications. These all appear to be positions that are lateral to the head of a service, and so all directly report to the owner.
Also separate from the hierarchy altogether are various committees that perform specific functions that involve more than just moderation. The committees are player relations, staff processing, interviewing, training, and ban appeals. The player relations committee has 5 sub-committees, which are events, rules, outreach, development, and media. Each committee has a similar hierarchal structure to services, but the supervisor position is instead called a vice head. Each sub-committee has a single position (aside from general membership) called lead.
History
2019
On May 20, Kurva announces that the servers are offline, citing issues with PayPal and obtaining funds. The servers returned 3 days later.[2]
On June 1, previous community owner Alby makes an announcement on the official Discord server with a server-wide ping which is an advertisement for IcedHost.[3]
On August 3, a bot attack was launched against SCP: Secret Laboratory[4] which interrupted a community event scheduled for the same day.[5] A workaround was attempted by using a direct connection IP address[6] which was unsuccessful[7] The event would later go on due to a reprieve in the attack.[8]
On December 14, Kurva announces the desire for a Lua developer to work on a "newer game". Compensation is promised.[9]
2020
On January 14, Alby makes an announcement calling attention to Wendy Williams who allegedly made fun of a physical disability they share. With a server-wide ping to 2,000 people[10], Alby asks members to "investigate" an attached tweet and that they were "outraged by the fact that someone could do this".[11] Alby would later clarify that they do not endorse attacking the subject.[12]
On March 4, Kurva announces the launch of a Rust server.[13]
On March 8, staff member Cherry announces with a server-wide ping that community servers are down due to insufficient funds, that a temporary server had been established, and asks members to consider pledging on Patreon.[14] 4 hours later, Alby would clarify that the servers were actually down to to their inability to go to their bank and pull the funds necessary to pay the server bill.[15]
On March 26, Kurva announces that their 2nd and 3rd SCP: Secret Laboratory servers were being turned off to make space for the Rust server which had accumulated 119 concurrent players.[16]
On May 16, Cherry announces that the Patreon is raising $203 monthly and thanks the community for putting Kurva in a financially stable position.[17]
On May 19, Kurva calls for artists to create a new logo for the community. Compensation promised was a $20 STEAM Gift Card.[18] The result of the call for logo voting, ending May 27, is the now current logo.[19]
On May 28, Kurva announces the hosting of an SCP: Secret Laboratory tournament.[20] It would later be cancelled due to a key organizer being unable to attend.[21]
On June 6, Alby announces that there was a situation where there were numerous "bans, mutes, and general fuckery" on June 4 and apologizes for the behavior. They state that all future major events in the community will be ran and monitored by them.[22]
On July 19, Kurva announces that a staff member's account had been hacked and to not join server invite links they may send.[23]
On August 24, Kurva announces the termination of a high profile staff member due to their failure to maintain confidentiality and the abuse of elevated privileges.[24] The subject would later make a ping in the official announcements channel to a high profile server role on September 18[25], and make a server-wide ping on October 16.[26]
2021-Present
On May 2, 2021, Kurva announces an "Admin Abuse Sunday" event where SCP: Secret Laboratory staff members are authorized to misuse their permissions within reason.[27]
On October 13, CTCookiie makes an announcement that Alby has stepped down as the owner and that they are taking over the position.[28]
On September 27, 2022, Kurva announces that a rouge staff member performed a myriad of unjustified bans and that the issue was resolved.[29]
References
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