Jedi Academy Knight

A JAK is a position at The Jedi Academy which provides a vital link between the students and trainers. These JAK are shining products of the Academy's teachings. A JAK does not have the ability to teach classes but can assist students in one-on-one training and take over classes if needed. The primary role of the Knights are to be admins on the servers and enforce the rules.

Description

Quote from the Academy's Holocron:
Jedi Academy Knight (JAK) - Knights are the bridge between the upper management and the students, so if you feel ignored from the big boys, go to the JAKs and they will support you. These are the students’ best friends. Treat them that way. They are meant to assist the teachers on giving classes, keeping order on servers and generally helping students out. Knights are not chosen for “l33t” skills (although they should be good fighters of course) but for their attitude. Also, they have limited access to admin commands, so they can keep order at the servers as well. If you’re having trouble or want to learn some basic stuff, knights are the first place to go to.

The Selection Process - Becoming a Knight

Toggling

Knights are selected from the Academy Student body by the Jedi Academy Trainers. Other Knights can make recommendations but only the JATs have the power to "toggle" a Student. Typically, a Student must be a member of the Academy for at least 4 months before being eligable for Knighthood. Most Knights have been JA Students for 6 months to over a year before reaching that rank, though. Students are recommended for Knighthood both by the Students and by other Knights in their respective threads at the Academy's Forums. When the JATs and the JACs decide the Academy needs more Knights, the JATs go through the recommendations and toggle a "batch" of potential Knights. Batches are usually between 3-7 potentials. Today, the actual toggling is done by the JACs and the JATs simply vote in a thread for each potential. Each JAT has a limited number of votes they can use. If a potential gets enough votes, he or she gets toggled by the JAC. Once toggled, they can take the next step: the written test.

Desired Qualities

Potential Knights usually have these qualities:

Attitude - Knights must be likeable and mature. They need to be able to think through conflicts rationally and not display negative emotion towards others. Knights must respect each member of the Academy. Basically, they need to act like "Knights."
Skilled - The Academy wants its Knights to be good examples as fighters. The Knights are the future Trainers and need to be able to play the game well.
Popular - The Academy has a lot of students and it's hard to stand out amongst them. Almost all of the Academy's Knights are well liked and popular with both the students and the staff.
Able to Teach - While the Knights do not teach classes at the Academy, they are the next in line to do so. Therefore, a potential's ability to teach is usually a hot topic in the Knight selection process.

The Written Exam

Once toggled, a slight change happens on the Academy's website that lets the student know he's been selected. Through this, the student can take the written exam required before taking the trial. The exam is a special part of the website that asks roughly 5-6 questions and gives spaces for the answers. Questions range in topics about the game, about administration, and about the student's experience at the Academy. Most toggled students will discover that everytime they load the exam page different questions are asked. This can be very frustrating to students who have written their answers in a word processor and are returning to post their answers. Once submitted, the Knights, Trainers, and Council review and comment on the answers. A JAC's approval is required for the toggled student to advance to the trials. Most students end up having to modify and resubmit their exams to pass.

The Trial

The Knight Trial is the most secretive part of the selection process. It is also the most difficult. While the actual details of the trial cannot be revealed, it's common knowledge that the trials test an individual on their skill in the game and their ability to handle special situations. The Knight Trials have been through many renovations through the existance of the Academy. Currently, the trials are divided up into multiple parts with special maps made for each one. For a trial to take place, at least 1 JAT must be present and leads the trial. There also must be at least 2 other ranked members of the Academy there. The trial cannot have more than 5 people attending - including the potential knight. The outcome of the trial is determined by the leading JAT with the input of the others administering it. If the potential fails, he or she will have one more oppourtunity in two weeks before being detoggled.

Powers and Abilities

"Knight Level" Admin Access

On the Academy servers, the Knights have these abilities:

Status (amstatus): Shows all connected clients, their ID number, and their IP address. Knights use this command to give the IP addresses to higher ranked members to either take action against or look up information on. The ID numbers can also be used to excecute other commands.
Admin Chat (amsay): A special chat visable only to logged-in admins. Knights use this to talk about things they don't want the Students to know about or simply talk to other admins.
Origin (amorigin): Tells the Knight the location of a certain player on the map in X, Y, Z, YAW format, where YAW is the direction the player is facing.
Teleport (amtele): A Knight can "teleport" himself or another person to any coordinate on the map.
Silence (amsilence & amunsilence): Removes a client's ability to chat.
MP Say (ampsay): Displays a special message to the selected individual and appears in the middle of the players screen
Kick (amkick): Removes someone from the server.
Sleep (amsleep and amwake): Sleeps the selected player, rendering them immobile.
Protect (amprotect and amunprotect): Protects the selected player against all damage.
Show MOTD (amshowmotd): Shows the MOTD to the selected player.

With the rebirth of the JAbot, Knights have "Knight Level Access" commands which include kicking and host specific banning users in the #jedi-academy channel on IRC.

The Knights have no admin access on the website, but they do have access to the ftp server.

"Official" Padawans

One of the perks of being a Knight is the ability to take a student as your padawan. The padawans of Knights are considered "official padawans" in the Academy and show up under the Knight's profile.

Official Event Coordinators

Among their responsibilities to the Academy, Knights commonly plan, organize, and lead official events and projects. These events primarily include tournaments (The Thanksgiving Invitational Tournament and JAK+ Tournament). A few examples of projects that JAKs have had an active role in would be the making of the current JA Skin Pack and Hilt Pack (currently in the works).