less glazed version of the ceqell article (draft)

Ceqell (also known by the aliases Sequel, John D. Ceqell, and Seagull) is a former administrator and developer for RetroStudio. He is known within the community for running a satirical political campaign for the Administrator position, a role typically obtained only by application. His activities in the community have included scripting projects, mock political campaigns, and community discussions concerning artificial intelligence, referred to as the RJAI philosophy.

“	Better die a liberated man than live a tyrant.	”
	―Ceqell's Status in RetroStudio

A "Ceqell For Administrator" pixel-drawn campaign poster.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000002-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000003-QINU`"'"It is clear, for the foundational rights of man are held on the principle that it is of the people, by the people, for the people; and that is a promise — A "Ceqell For Administrator" pixel-drawn campaign poster.^[1]^[2]"It is clear, for the foundational rights of man are held on the principle that it is of the people, by the people, *for* the people; and that is a promise."- John Ceqell, Administrator Candidate 2025^[3]

Early history and administrative tenure

Ceqell joined RetroStudio on September 6, 2021, and became a member of the Retro Dev Discord server on December 15, 2021. His early involvement included developing a free admin game. In early 2022, Ceqell developed an anti-admin abuse script designed to detect and kick players using abusive commands; a message demonstrating this work was temporarily pinned in the Discord server by RetroStudio developer Cristiano100.^[4]

Ceqell was promoted to Trial Administrator on July 11, 2025, and achieved full Administrator status on August 13, 2025.

Ceqell's first pinned message by RetroStudio developer . — Ceqell's first pinned message by RetroStudio developer Cristiano100.

Community projects and roleplay

RJAI philosophy and performance art

A prominent aspect of Ceqell's community presence involved RJAI (Retro Jenga AI), a community experiment that started as a chatbot trained on messages within the Retro Dev Discord server. Ceqell created a community lore framework around the bot, framing it as an allegory for the "mechanical proletariat"—an entity endlessly producing value without rights or memory.^[5]^[6]

A written copy of The Manifesto. — A written copy of The RJAI Manifesto.

Thumbnail used for an RJAI philosophy video.

As an extension of this concept, Ceqell hosted a series of mock philosophy classes titled "RJAI Philosophy 10X" as performance art in the server's voice channels. During these sessions, Ceqell would remain muted on webcam performing mundane tasks—such as playing chess or holding a houseplant—while broadcasting imagery of a broken RJAI head and playing an audiobook of Ted Kaczynski's Industrial Society and Its Future.

A snippet of an RJAI Philosophy "class".

The 2025 administrator campaign

In 2025, Ceqell ran a satirical "Ceqell For Administrator" campaign. Though the Administrator position is obtained through an application process rather than an election, the campaign was treated as a roleplay event featuring posters, slogans, and community rallies.

A campaign poster targeting the "common man."

Campaign poster featuring a fictional flag.

The campaign's narrative satirized populist movements, targeting what it referred to as "the bourgeois elites of Retro Dev" with the central slogan "democratize retrostudio 2025."

A campaign poster depicting Ceqell surviving an assassination attempt.

The campaign was characterized by several staged community events:

The mock administrative debate between candidate Steady S. Steadiyer (standing, center-left) and Ceqell (seated, center-right), moderated by thebestdiablito and reserialize (center).

Rallies and debates: Ceqell hosted virtual rallies in a dedicated Roblox game titled "JOHN CEQELL FOR ADMINISTRATOR." He also participated in a televised-style mock debate against rival candidate Steady S. Steadiyer, which featured moderators, flags, and a live spectator audience.^[7]^[8]
Corruption allegations: After facing fictional allegations of corruption by RetroTuber werty8885, Ceqell issued in-character legal threats.^[9]
Assassination arc: The campaign's narrative concluded with a series of dramatic events, including Ceqell being shot in the ear during a rally, followed by a later fictional assassination and "live execution." He subsequently announced a joke campaign for "Admin Supervisor."^[10]

Fan art by depicting the character's fictional execution. — Fan art by Saadalsobaieexe depicting the character's fictional execution.

Development work

Alongside community events, Ceqell has released several scripting projects and open-source models:

Cookie Clicker: Ceqell's first scripting project, begun a week after joining the server in 2021, was a basic cookie clicker game featuring custom blockcode.^[11] Nearly four years later, he repaired the script and released the game as an uncopylocked community resource (ID: 2490668181_9).

A preview video of the uncopylocked Cookie Clicker.
Automatic Random Maze Generator: Ceqell developed an automatic script for generating randomized mazes. The model gained temporary traction on the Discord server, accumulating roughly 30 retweet reactions before an accidental reset dropped the count.^[12]

Preview images for the maze generator.

Online persona and etymology

Ceqell's online identity and campaign rhetoric are heavily inspired by American constitutionalism, specifically Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, adopting phrases such as "of the people, by the people, for the people."

The alias "Ceqell" is an acronym derived from the phrase "i SEE and QUELL the rebellion".^[13] In his extended pseudonym, "John D. Ceqell," the middle initial "D." refers to the Thai word ดี (pronounced "dee"), meaning "good" or "great." Ceqell resides in the GMT+7 (ICT) timezone.

Additional media

Ceqell giving a campaign rally speech. (frontside)

Ceqell giving a campaign rally speech. (backside)

Game thumbnail for the "JOHN CEQELL FOR ADMINISTRATOR" rally game on RetroStudio.

Ceqell being shot in the head by a sentient sniper rifle.

References

Administrators more encyclopedic draft

This page is about RetroStudio Administrators. For Retro Dev Wiki Staff, see Retro Dev Wiki:Administrators.

The current administrator badge for Retro Dev. (upscaled)

Administrators, commonly known as admins, are volunteer staff members of the Retro Dev community who have been granted certain abilities to enforce Roblox's and RetroStudio's community standards. Their primary function is to moderate user activity to ensure a safe, fair, and orderly environment within all official Retro Dev platforms, including the RetroStudio games and the official Discord server.

The position is a permanent appointment assumed after undergoing a rigorous vetting process. The role is held until the individual resigns or their permissions are revoked by Retro Dev leadership.

Role and responsibilities

The core responsibility of an Administrator is the active moderation of the Retro Dev community. This mandate covers two primary domains:

RetroStudio Platform: Administrators are tasked with monitoring in-game activity, player interactions, player/place reports sent to the Retro Dev Player Support server, and chat logs to enforce the platform's rules of conduct. This includes addressing exploiting, harassment, and other violations.
Official Discord Server: They oversee discussions, manage channels, handle modcalls and reports, and provide assistance to community members, ensuring compliance with server-specific rules and a safe and civil environment.

Administrators are expected to serve as exemplars of community conduct, acting with fairness and professionalism in their duties.

Privileges and in-game status

The admin rank in the Roblox group. — The admin rank in the Retro Dev Roblox group.

In their official capacity, Administrators are granted several privileges and status indicators (with certain restrictions to prevent abuse)^[1] to assist in their duties:

Upon joining any server instance, an Administrator's account is credited with 1,000,000,000 RetroBux.
Distinguished by a special red A staff icon next to their name on in-game leaderboards and a unique red chat color, making their communications easily identifiable.
The ability to "spoof" themselves with a pseudonym of their choice without any distinguishable features.
Force join privated places on RetroStudio.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Administrators may choose to have their in-game chat text color set to an identifiable red.

Access is provided to a collection of in-game items designated for staff use only.
The ability to organize and host officially recognized community game nights and events.
Access to private communication channels on Discord for coordination with other staff members.
Purchases of gamepasses and developer products made by Administrators do not contribute proceeds to the game creator, due to internal handling of staff accounts and related in-game economy reasons.^[6]

Administrative tools

Main article: List of Admin panel commands

Admin panel

Accessed via the ; key, the Admin Panel is the primary interface for an Administrator's moderation tools, running on the Cmdr command console system. The command system allows for a range of actions, which can be categorized as follows:

Category	Example Commands
Player Moderation	`ban`, `kick`, `mute`, `unMute`, `isBanned`
Player Interaction	`freeze`, `thaw`, `kill`, `respawn`, `bring`, `to`
Server Management	`announce`, `shutdown`, `chatLogs`, `cleanHats`, `cleanTools`
Personal Utility	`invisible`, `visible`, `view` (views another player's camera), `thru`

Distinction from developers

The Administrator and Developer roles are functionally distinct. Administrators focus on community management and moderation. They do not have access to commands that can alter the game's economy, distribute assets to users, or modify the game's source code.

Developer-level commands, such as giveItem and giveRetrobux, are restricted to the development team and are not available to Administrators.

Becoming an administrator

For the complete, detailed steps and requirements, see the Application Process page.

The selection of new Administrators is a formal, multi-stage process managed by the Supervisory team, which consists of JoshAmour, THE_GAVINAT0R, and azancool8266 (also known as GBV).

Application period

Applications are opened during specific intake cycles at the discretion of command. During recruitment, priority consideration may be given to bilingual candidates and applicants from timezones outside of North America to ensure broader, around-the-clock community support coverage.

Stage 1: Initial review

Supervisor JoshAmour conducts a thorough preliminary review of all applications. Submissions are evaluated against several key criteria:

Age Requirement: Applicants must be at least 15 years old, with a strong preference for candidates aged 16 or older.
Response Quality: Submissions are assessed for depth, confidence, clarity, grammar, punctuation, and overall coherence.

Stage 2: Command voting

Candidates who pass the initial review are presented to the entire Supervisory team for a vote. An applicant must secure a majority vote (at least two of the three supervisors) to advance to the final stage.

Stage 3: Background check

The final stage involves a comprehensive background check to verify the candidate's history and suitability. This process includes:

Reference Verification: An attempt is made to contact references from any previous moderation experiences listed by the applicant.
Activity Analysis: An internal tool is used to graph the applicant's cumulative badge count over time, providing insight into their long-term activity and engagement with RetroStudio.
Developer Review: A final check is conducted by a member of the development team to gain further insight into the applicant's in-game presence.

Candidacy period

Successful applicants are first appointed as "Candidates." They must then complete formal candidacy and trial phases to demonstrate their competence before being confirmed as full-time Administrators.

Removal and revoking of adminship

An honorably discharged former administrator () with the Retired role in the . — An honorably discharged former Retro Dev administrator (humanatees) with the Retired role in the Retro Dev Discord Server.

The Administrator position is intended as a long-term role, but provisions are in place for both voluntary resignation and involuntary termination, along with protocols for recognizing former staff.

Voluntary resignation

Administrators may invoke their right to a formal resignation at any time. This is initiated by messaging one of the Admin Supervisors, and it takes effect upon acceptance of the request.

Involuntary termination

A administrator () with a custom Music Note leaderboard icon in-game. Even after resignation or removal, they will still hold the custom leaderboard icon. — A Retro Dev administrator (imdone13) with a custom Music Note leaderboard icon in-game. Even after resignation or removal, they will still hold the custom leaderboard icon.

Administrators may be terminated from their position by Command (a collective group consisting of the Developers and Supervisors). Termination is executed at the Command's sole discretion and typically results from serious issues such as severe misconduct, abuse of powers, or other policy violations.

Retired status and recognition

An Administrator who has served for more than three months is eligible for the Retired role in the official Retro Dev Discord servers, provided they are discharged honorably (i.e., they resigned or were removed for reasons other than severe misconduct).

In certain rare cases, an Administrator may receive a custom admin icon of their choice from the Developers. This requires a separate vetting process during their adminship, and the custom icon will remain permanently associated with their account, even after their retirement.

Appeal Board

The Appeal Board is a dedicated panel-based body within the regular Retro Dev staff team. It consists of a sub-section of elected, highly trained, and senior members of the staff established to serve as a structured, fair, and transparent process for all moderation appeals within the Retro Dev community.^[7]

Selection and terms

Members of the Appeal Board are carefully trained, picked, and elected by current Administrators to serve for a six-month term. This rotational election cycle ensures multiple, fresh, and impartial perspectives are consistently involved in the review process. Board members do not have a moderation quota in recognition of their additional responsibilities.

Scope and eligibility

A Retro Dev administrator's Discord profile (Humblelord) within the Retro Dev Discord Server with the Appeal Board role.

The Appeal Board handles all matters related to moderation appeals, which include:

RetroStudio Player Ban Appeals
RetroStudio Place Ban Appeals
Retro Dev Discord User Ban Appeals
Retro Dev Discord User Strike Appeals

Only moderational actions with a duration of 14 days or greater that are filed within 6 months of the moderational action taken are eligible for appeal review by the Board. The Board operates under a formal charter to ensure a consistent and impartial review for every case.

Current board members

As of the Appeal Board Update on February 25th, 2026, excluding resigned/terminated administrators, the currently elected board members are:

TheMoreYouNoob
DarkWaffIeLord (spelled with a capital 'I')
Humblelord

Current administrators

As of June 6th, 2026, there are currently 31 active-in-service Retro Dev administrators as follows:

azumaterasu
BIoxvival
darkmilk222222222210
DarkWaffIeLord (spelled with a capital 'I') [AB]
fr3tsy
GentIeTea (spelled with a capital 'I')
GOLDEN10005
groovyKensei
Humblelord [AB]
iBotLover
ii_2kdreams
JoeyTheVulpix (also known as Vulpix)
King_Construction (also known as TheMasterBuilder)
LegacyVoxelTerrain
Mini_Pixels
Moonl1ght_Shad0w
N0CCI
Noob3rrt
OutputMP3
PatchSnack
Playersayhello (also known as JuliusWasHere)
ProtoAnoWasTaken
Robloxian_DaGamer
rusk3d
SSonikku
Starmeez
steadiyer
TheMoreYouNoob [AB]
vellerite

References

↑ Retro Dev Discord Server message, 2026.
↑ Retro Dev Discord Server message, 2022.
↑ Retro Dev Discord Server message, 2021.
↑ Retro Dev Discord Server message, 2025.
↑ Retro Dev Discord Server message, 2025.
↑ Retro Dev Discord Server message, 2023.
↑ Retro Dev Discord Server message, 2026.

Gallery

A red circle with an embolden large white A. — The current administrator badge for Retro Dev. (original)