In some shape, form, or way, there's always going to be at least one time in a GM's career where they came across a "biased or corrupt" situation. The question is, whether or not they have the will power to keep things as fair as possible.
It's human to have flaws and make mistakes, and if you're someone who thinks they can claim that they are perfect and makes no mistakes, may you be the first to cast the stone upon. I know for a fact I've made mistakes, I can admit it. I know that I've made slightly biased decisions before, be it as a GM, as a player, or iRL. People get touchy feely about the idea of a biased GM, and even though I can understand, biased is a word that's thrown around too easily towards people who only make these small mistakes. It's true, some GMs actually
do do it on purpose, and some GMs honestly just don't care, but I know that out of the majority of honest GMs versus the minority of actual corrupt/biased GMs, the majority is always ruled corrupt and unfair. I have seen so many GMs with a potential either be forced to leave, or quit over one mistake that was made that was ruled to be biased or unfair. Quite honestly, people should just stop throwing these words around everywhere they could possibly fit just to better benefit a situation to themselves. Now, this isn't an insult to everyone who does use the term biased towards a lot of GMs, simply stating the obvious, in my own personal opinion.
Aside from that, quite honestly, the thing that makes a good GM, to me, is kindness, professionalism, randomness, knowledge and goofyness. There are way too many people out there who say that being a GM is all about being the strict-"icanthaveanyfunandihavetobeinyourfaceallthetime" figure. However, there's a huge difference between laying back and relaxing every now and again, and abusing your powers as a GM to entertain/benefit yourself or your friends. It definitely is a plus when actual in-game GMs know what they're doing universally, but let's be honest, 5/10 GMs out there aren't going to have a clue about actual scripting when they're hired, and if they do, it's slim to nothing. There's nothing wrong with training the interested, though. Also, I don't entirely agree with the idea that they won't help the server move if they can't do everything. That's not true, because with an honest, good GM that's simply there to enforce, support or throw events (and they actually know what they're doing, not just slinging around crap), that's going to be huge steps in your community, which quite honestly, is the most important thing a server can have - an amazing community.
All in all, I believe the qualities of a GM would consist of, but not limit to:
- kindess - which is a key virtue
- patience - which is something most players expect, as well as administrators
- randomness - when I say randomness, I mean personality-wise, which isn't a widely known virtue that people would honestly like in their staff. I, personally, would prefer random-ish people among my staff, simply because that's the kind of person that makes me laugh, and that's the kind of person I like to surround myself with.
- professionalism - quite obviously, it's a given. if you don't know the appropriate times to be professional about a certain situation, you probably shouldn't be looking for a job as a GM.
- goofy - this kind of goes in with being random. some GMs just need to learn how to relax and have fun with the people around them. I, personally, as a player, love goofy GMs, and absolutely adore GMs that now how to lay back and have a good time.
- knowledge - obviously. if you don't know much about the field you've been hired to specialize in, you really.. shouldn't be on a staff.
