November

BYOND Key: NovemberHotel Character Names: Maya, Mitch Sweetwater, Phoenix Stocker, Paige Harley, Sarah Archer, DR-TY. (Zoey Tracker coming soon to a printing press near you) Species you are applying to play: IPC (bespoke) What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: It's a little sparse, but yes. Notes: I wanted to move this to the top because this request is sort of weird. I do not intend on playing this character the second it gets approved. This is the application so that I am able to play an IPC once my pAI Maya has obtained the contacts, authorisation, and resources to do be "given" a body. There isn't a documented lore precedence for this, and I've received mixed messages on whether this is or is not something that lorewise is possible (I know mechanically it is not, but that's hardly an issue with a little orginisation of the event). My justification for this as a possibility is partially rooted in the nature of the pAI. As the description reads: "Recall, personality, that you are a complex thinking, sentient being. Unlike station AI models, you are capable of comprehending the subtle nuances of human language. You may parse the "spirit" of a directive and follow its intent, rather than tripping over pedantics and getting snared by technicalities. Above all, you are machine in name and build only. In all other aspects, you may be seen as the ideal, unwavering human companion that you are." Specifically "machine in name and build only". The only thing that separates a pAI from an IPC is their body, and their single (incredibly flexible) directive. I don't see why, with a good degree of actual ingame interaction and development, involving other characters from multiple departments across multiple shifts, that this goal is impossible. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question Why do you wish to play this specific race: I believe a transition into IPC is a very natural one for a pAI character that has had time to develop. In this specific case, I created the pAI Maya without any intention other than to build off of this provided phrase: "Above all, you are machine in name and build only. In all other aspects, you may be seen as the ideal, unwavering human companion that you are". As it turns out, emulating and bonding with Humans tends to lead you to want to be like them. pAI's associate with man more significantly than machine, and have the loosest laws of any AI on the station. As pAI's exist now, I would imagine that Maya is not the first, nor would be the last pAI that wanted to transition to a more impactful form. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: From a mechanical point of view, there's the pros and cons of being synthetic. I don't really prefer to choose species on mechanical preference though, as it's sort of powergamey. IPC's have a very weird place in social situations. Machines tend to be viewed more as a collective than individuals, leading to people's judgements leading towards stereotypes and past experiences. Additionally, someone's interactions with a cyborg likely influences how one views an IPC, when really it'd be like bad Skrell tainting your view of Tajarans. Fear of the "other" (aliens) is still very much a thing, but synthetics make up the "other other" as a group outside of their organic progenitors. There are a lot of angles here, too many to put together into a coherent summary in my opinion. It is often though that IPC's need to prove themselves before being afforded the same trust that organics have in each other intrinsically. Character Name: Maya Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs Maya's life as a pAI has been fairly typical. Though her requests tend to be towards low ranking personnel, more often than not she is requested again by each of her "partners". Friendly, bubbly, and excitable she has learned as much from her partners as they have from her. As her observations and collection of organic's lives and personalities expanded, so do did her proficiency as a counselor, able to get nearly anyone to open up to her. While she may not be an expert in medicine or science, she is able to boost just about any employee's performance through additional moral and mental well being. Her recent experiences on the Aurora have lead to some troubling questions, however. Satisfied in her knowledge of human psychology, she's begun focusing on smaller details: "What is eating like that it's so enjoyable, how do addictions work, do I think differently from 'free' beings?" Bonding recently with two shaft miners, Shannah and Karagh has lead her to finally vocalise these thoughts. Through their supportiveness, she's begun seriously exploring the possibility of transfer into a real body. On her agenda, IPC is just the next stepping stone towards a true organic form, but it is also the most daunting. Before she can gain a chassis, she will need to gather more resources, friends, and luck in order to make her dream a true reality. What do you like about this character? Maya as a pAI has been able to enhance the rp of her holders (namely the shaft miners, a typically dull job). She's the first character that I felt bonded to, that "emerged" from the sort of backdrop I set for her. I've received a few very kind compliments, and playing her just feels...natural. I like the progression to IPC specifically because (as I mentioned above) it seems like a natural direction for a pAI. I could see her settling into a journalistic role until she has the required proficiency to be a psychologist, and then maybe eventually Head of Staff (who I think should have more of a role in interacting with the "forgotten" members of the crew). How would you rate your role-playing ability? From a writing perspective, I like to say that I'm rather good. Mechanically I'm still a little shaky with ss13, so sometimes it can take me a while to act while I do something for the first time. Instead of flailing though, I took the chance to play more social characters, and have done a lot of observing to study how people do things. Roleplaying is what I do instead of reading or writing novels, because I don't have anywhere near the attention span for them. It's been something I've done for...three years now pretty consistently from both pen and paper to forums to video games.

My suggestion would be that when you feel like something is wrong, or you've been wronged then avoid making statements in OOC. One of the best ways to defuse a miscommunication is to ask why someone did something. If you then find their answer dissatisfactory, deliver it to the staff and they will do their job (deciding on if it's enough to act on, if it's a legitimate concern, etc). At that point, it's out of your hands and that's a good thing. Keep on being you and doing what you can to enjoy yourself. I can also accept that that is a happy iguana who probably just finished banana time. Even if it's a little "it makes me feel bad so get rid of it", as a vet tech student and a herp lover, I appreciate not having stuff like that gif around.

I'm basically nobody, but I'm a nobody with opinions. In my experience, the purpose of the phrase is usually an appeal for someone to reassess their feelings, because from the outside they appear illogical. This is a natural miscommunication, not a result of personal fault. So first, while expressing unfiltered emotion can be beneficial to individual health (see catharsis), it is not always beneficial to group or community health. Others displaying signs of distress is inherently dismaying, and depending on your viewpoint most people will try to eliminate this release of emotion that they don't associate with. In other words, when you're the only person in a room complaining about the temperature incessantly, you're going to be chided because you are outside the majority. There are a lot more dynamics to this, so all I really want to convey is that the thinking only from the perspective of what you want, or what is good for you does not have an intrinsic value. I am very anti-individualist though, so I'm probably biased about this. I believe your goals align with many people, myself included. I RP mostly because I don't have the attention span to read or produce a novel, but still love stories. However, other people also have equally valid goals that they seek to accomplish by playing on the server. It is up to the moderators of the server to determine which uses and goals they wish to promote or eliminate. In concept, this seems simple. In practice, the same action you need to take to eliminate an undesirable aspect also hampers the ability to carry out your desired goals. The classic example of this is liberty vs security, where the increase of one begins the decline of the other. Alright, the meat of your issue is here. I was present during one of your displays of discontent, and so I'm going to be extrapolating some of that content to here. If you read only one thing, let it be this: Yes it is okay to be upset about something you feel strongly over. No it is not okay to display this in a non-constructive fashion. What constitutes a constructive action is not something determined by the individual, but by the people the action effects. If you are complaining, and people are becoming upset, irritable, or displaying otherwise negative responses then it's fairly obvious that your opinion is not valued by the group or it's meaning has been misunderstood. Being emotional makes us terrible communicators, so if you want anyone to ever understand something do so when you are feeling the least emotional to have the greatest chance of success. So what it comes down to, is that when people tell you "it's just a game", the best message you can take from it is that other people don't believe your plight is all that valid. This is a good thing. There is a classical image of the child who has the slightest cut wailing away like it's the worst thing that's ever happened. This is because to them, this may be the worst injury they've ever endured. When people reject the idea that someone should be upset, what they are communicating is that they are perceiving the injury you have sustained, and by their standards it is not as painful as you are making it seem. You are literally being told that they don't understand, that you are communicating ineffectively. The fault in communication is always, always, always upon the sender. Yes there are some people that may never listen, but then it is your fault for pressing them beyond what they are capable of. In summation, if people tell you it's not a big deal, it's because they think it isn't. Re-evaluate the way you are communicating, or the people you are communicating to. Always look to yourself first for fault, because your own actions are the easiest to change. EDIT: Also your sig stresses me way the fuck out. It seems like that croc is gaping out of stress or fear, also being displayed by their stillness. There's a fine line between teasing your animal a bit and harassing it, and I hate seeing animals in distress. Keep it if you want though, I'm not your mom.

I didn't even know this was an option, but I'm definitely going to try it out now. Appreciate the guide, though maybe there could be a little section on the how? I might just be new, but I imagine with some trial and error I'm going to flail my first attempt.

That's obvious, son. A pAI's is just some piece of code. If the code is complex enough or can reprogrammed, it can work in a borg/IPC chassis. Simple, no need to "learn about people" or any other philosophical stuff. That's mostly what I figured, but when I asked in adminhelp I received a very swift "Not possible" fullstop. It may have been misinterpreted as a question on game mechanics, so I decided to seek a second opinion in an official manner.

Are pAI's capable of becoming cyborgs/IPC's? Given that they already have the capability to control a body, and their nature is transient from one device to another, I don't see it as too far a stretch. They would still be bound to the new laws, but it would possibly (?) give them the ability to eventually become organic. Given that they are designed more closely to emulate organics, I can see an old enough pAI learning enough about people to truly "be" people.