Over the years, Aether Hunts has meant many things, to many people, both good and bad.
Aether Hunts was originally started in April 2019 by Koishi and Satori Komeiji. In patch 4.5, FFXIV servers would introduce crossworld travel. In anticipation of hunt communities merging, the two had made Aether Hunts in order to gather the blending of hunt communities in one spot. After years of isolation and each world forming their own hunt culture, hunts would grow much bigger.
The two had managed the server until they felt it was time to pass the torch. In November of 2021, Koishi stepped down as Owner/Admin, and passed it to Specter Saruu.
As the game’s community grew, so too, did Aether Hunts. The hunting community as a whole had some growing pains to go through as we all navigated how to work with each other with crossworld. Leadership has seen many people come and go, with changes in vision and ideals. It is for this reason we wanted to put our mission statement out for all to read, so that people know what to expect from us, and what we’re about.
Our Mission
Aether Hunt’s mission and goal is to provide a safe, welcoming hunting community where people can get the information and updates they need in a central space. We want to enable a variety of players, from those who want notifications and nothing else, to those looking for a social hub. We want people of marginalized communities to feel safe and protected against bigotry. Overall, we want to be best place we can be.
Our Vision
Komeiji had once described running Aether Hunts as an airport, though Specter has now suggested running it similar to the European Union or the United Nations. With this metaphor, each country (server) is capable of having its own leadership and governing itself, and the Union (Aether Hunts) should only interfere when absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, major decisions made by the previous administration came with a lot of backstage drama that severely affected hunt communities.. Going forward, we acknowledge the impact and sway our decisions have over the community, and as a result, don’t want to involve ourselves unless absolutely necessary.
This isn’t to say we will only step in if it only concerns us, but we prefer each world to try and work it out their problems internally before turning to Aether Hunts as a neutral party.
Our vision and mission are not concrete. Just as society should and adapt and change to its needs, so too will we adapt and change with the community’s needs.
Our Staff
What’s the Difference Between Reps and Mods (and Admins)?
The true answer is that currently, these roles are still changing. The roles of both Reps and Mods have changed since the server first started, but we will explain their current function here:
Reps are members of the community who are not just helpful on their server, but want to help out in the Discord as well. Reps are extra eyes and ears for their servers should issues arise. They also have the ability to add emoji/stickers, add/remove roles, and handle Faloop and Role tickets.
Mods are most often pillars of their respective communities. Depending on need, some people do not have to be a Rep before they become a Mod. They have the ability to do everything Reps can, as well as expected Mod duties such as kicking/banning members, and managing order in the server where needed. They can also view Mod and Feedback tickets.
Admins are Mods with the extra responsibility of managing the Discord’s appearance. They are able to add and edit the embeds you see in channels, as well as manage the bots.
Reps are now involved in processes that were previously restricted to Mods. Things such a rule revision, community decisions, or how an embed is formatted involves both Reps and Mods. By increasing Rep involvement, we have more voices and opinions. This also lets people get a feel for how being on the team will be. From there, if the Mod team feels a Rep is a good fit, they can be promoted to Mod.
There is no working toward being promoted to Admin; they are chosen by the current owner.
We have expressed in previous surveys that we prefer to keep a smaller team. We have found in other areas that having too many people on the team can lead to prolonged decision making. By keeping both Rep and Mod teams a decent size, we can get a varied pool of opinions without the debate getting derailed too much.
We hope this sates your curiosity on how our staff is chosen!