[Brody]

Whether it's a conflict of interest depends on a couple of factors:

1) Are you using your admin powers to *help* advance your character and make them look better?
2) Are you using your "mortal" character to push forward the story in an evolving plot (and thus helping generate activity for the playerbase)?

If the answer to 1 is yes, then it's a conflict of interest. If the answer to 2 is yes, then it's not.

I've seen quite a few people who are staffers manage to play starship commanders or scientists or soldiers as characters separate from their admin personas, and they've done it without abusing code on their characters' behalf.

Of course, our games are much more roleplay/story-oriented than some, so it's not that easy (or even appealing) to try and "cheat" the system. I could see the concern if it was a game that was all about the leveling and the equipment and such.