Vacations stories
Once in a blue moon, I'll go out on vacations, with limited to no Internet access. Of course, during that time, I want things to keep running smoothly for everyone. The websites and forums do fine, as they're stable and need little maintenance. The game servers are another story! I make it a point to keep things running even if I'm not available, but at the same time, you can only plan so much for the unexpected. To keep the odds in my favor, I avoid making any major changes right before leaving. Sometimes, this will go as far as delaying version upgrades. I don't like doing this as waiting too long to update versions can cause us to lose some players, but at the same time, I feel that overall stability is more important.
If something breaks
That's when things get interesting. I keep an eye on things, of course, but not as often when I'm busy visiting somewhere. The moment I either notice that something is not right, or get a notification from another of the staff members, I jump in however I can to set things right. This can be through any available wi-fi hotspot, data access through my website, or even sometimes through someone else's computer.
I've installed the required tools to connect remotely through my computers, my tablet or my phone, so I can login to the dedi and run any commands necessary. If it's something more minor, any web browser will allow me to check on each server through the consoles.
The northern Canada example
A fun example of this happened back in 2013, when I took a long train trip to the western coast. A mere day or so after leaving, Laurasia went down without warning. Nowadays, if that happens, people can easily move on to other servers through the lobby. At the time, though, Laurasia was the entirety of the Creeper's Lab, so losing it was pretty critical. There was one big problem for me: I was in the middle of nowhere. I barely received a text message notification that the server was down, then I promptly lost all network connection to my phone, even for calls. Cell coverage in Northern Canada can be quite spotty...
I had to wait about two full days for a longer stop in that trip, where I was able to find a public wi-fi hotspot. From there, I logged in to the server's web interface and restarted it. Thankfully, it went back online without a hitch and remained that way for the rest of my vacations!
– Doctacosa