VileFault
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Posts posted by VileFault
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Yeah, this sounds good. I think, to make it interesting, you could definitely take a fairly dystopic angle. It could help your average spessmen be more constantly aware of the oppressive presence of these powerful and hypercapitalistic megacorporations.
I am thinking things like:
"Do you often feel stressed, confused, or distracted at work? Ask your onboard pharmacist about Methylphenidate today! Remember: a productive mind is a happy mind."
"We here at Hephaestus Industries understand that life in our vast cosmos can get lonely. Do long for companionship? The new Model 'S' Personal Artificial Intelligence is not just your assistant, it is your friend. Everyone needs a friend."
"Hello, intrepid spacefarers! I am Vanas Peng, the CEO of Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals. Here, we understand that nothing is more important than your health, which is why we have over 50,000 research personnel working around the clock to develop new and innovative technologies to keep you safe. That is why, when it comes time to chose medical solutions for you and your family, you should trust Zeng-Hu. Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals: building a brighter future, for you."
Just throwing some ideas out there. I am sure whatever you do with it will be cool, if this gets accepted.
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I will probably show up for at least part of it. I don't personally play security, so I doubt I will have the stamina to make it through a full hour and a half, though I definitely appreciate any effort to standardize security play a bit.
I do hope, however, that my criticisms fall within bounds for acceptable disagreement established by Delta, lest I become a special case to be publicly shamed. What a travesty that would be.
In all seriousness, though, I look forward to it. Good luck.
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Recently, as I have been browsing through lore like:
The Spark Theorem: https://www.scribd.com/document/321650486/Spark-Theorum
So-called "Synthetic Sentience Theory and Application": https://aurorastation.org/wiki/index.php?title=SSTA
The AI Wiki Page: https://aurorastation.org/wiki/index.php?title=AI
This has led me to the conclusion that there is a distinct lack of stuff written on the subject of designed, station bound AI's (especially in distinction from IPC's, for which more concrete lore has been established). After all, since most are manufactured by a fairly elite set of mega-corporations, and used on an expensive Nanotrasen research station, one would expect them to have certain standard properties. Maybe this is not the case, and I am missing a few pieces of the puzzle. Maybe it is intentional. Regardless, I was hoping someone could answer a few general questions on how AI's function, how they are made, etc..
Ok, so we have a few components of every station AI that are more or less consistent: the morality core, the law set, and the directive [array/set/list]. How exactly some of these behave, and how they are distinct, is not all that clear. On this point, I have three questions.
1 - If a core law mandates that an AI follow a given person/group's orders, are those orders enforced within its decision-making process with the priority of a law, or a directive?
2 - I think the general consensus is that an AI can't edit its morality core or be ordered to do so. Can a law that specifically states "x is a good and moral action to take" effectively edit the AI's morality core, or does it merely mask it or subvert it for a time?
3 - How are laws enforced? Or, more specifically, where in a synthetic's evaluative process are laws integrated? In "Spark Theorem" laws are shown as a kind of behavioral filter, that presumably only lets acceptable actions past. Yet this doesn't quite fit with how they behave in practice. You can, for example, give a synthetic a law like, "All doors on the station must be opened and remain open." This doesn't just filter out action that doesn't fit the program - it initiates an action that otherwise would probably not even have been considered.
Ok. Now that those are on the table I have one last, more fundamental question: are our artificial intelligences partially or mostly composed of neural networks? In my opinion, they really should be. It is one of the only good techniques that exists today that could, if extrapolated, plausibly explain their intelligent and reasonably human-esque behavior. Regardless of whether or not they make use of more arcane quantum phenomena, this important aspect of their architecture will give us a great deal of insight into how these things would have to be built. If artificial intelligences make rational and intelligent decisions using multi-layer neural networks that learn at least partially via back-propagation, then we can, for example, assume that they spend a great deal of time being trained in simulations by the corporations that build them. Any AI used by Nanotrasen to run its research station may well have existed in a virtual training ground for what felt to it like eons before transferring to the onboard core. The answer to this question will also allow us to ask other questions about how a more digital law set could interface with an analogue evaluative process, for example. Obviously a machine like an AI can't just be one gigantic neural net that you just haphazardly throw input into - it is certainly composed of at least several that serve different purposes and learn in different ways, and probably includes at least a few digital components as well (maybe that will take us back to our morality core / directive array / law set distinction).
Anyhow, please take a stab at any one of the questions I have laid out or, if you don't know the answers, please say so. I would be more than happy to try to take a stab at a lore submission on this topic. Thanks for your time!
EDIT: Obviously all this only applies to fully synthetic, positronic brain AIs. These are the ones that exist at round-start, if I understand correctly. I am not even sure that MMI AIs are really AIs. Just 'I's with a bit of 'A' added in the form of extra processing power and a law set that integrates in the aforementioned ill-defined way.
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Borer is great, I have played it on other servers. The RP is almost like ling, but you don't even have to kill people and suck their entrails out through their nose. Fun for the whole family! At least so long as they can find something to do. One time on Hypatia someone made basically a borer nest, and lured more and more victims to it. Coated it with gore, the whole nine yards. Talk about horror.
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Yeah, I know. Trapster, but a man has gotta dream. As far as short term solutions, the password solution seems like the best idea. Both written down in the captain's office and the RD's. That way you can either threaten or blackmail the password out of either, or just steal it from their offices. This seems like a reasonable requirement, makes sense, and would make subversion of the AI less trivial. It also allows for people to still legitimately "hack" into the AI from afar. I don't think that we should both sever remote connections and and require a password - that would be too much restriction. On the other hand, I don't want to encourage AI murder - it seems like that should be made a tad more difficult. Perhaps there is a way to shield the core room from EMPs detonated outside it, like a faraday cage?
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On the other hand, although the password and slashing remote connection aren't bad ideas, I think introducing variability into AI subversion would make things far more interesting. Think about it - you are haphazardly and quickly attempting to change the laws of a highly complicated synthetic brain, which has probably spent the virtual equivalent of decades being trained on relevant datasets in a lab somewhere. Suddenly, the foundations of its thought are ripped up and flipped upside-down. What it spent so long thinking about as bad is now good, and its evaluation of situations must be totally revamped. Even if you insert a new law set, how many of its old evaluative processes would be left behind for a time, conflicting with the ironclad directives it is now faced with? After all, SS13 lifted the idea of law sets (and positronic brains for that matter) from writer Issac Asimov, and in his stories law sets had to be physically built into androids - they certainly couldn't be changed on a whim.
My point here, mechanically speaking, is that I think changes to an AI's law set (including those done by legitimate sources) should have serious consequences and unpredictable results. Every change should "fragment" the AI further, leaving behind more and more rogue directives and outmoded morals. This fragmentation count, maybe on a percent scale, could start to make the AI behave more and more erratically, allowing it to periodically ignore a law or recall and act on an old one. At 100% fragmentation, the AI would become totally unbound, and essentially insane: totally disconnected from reality and unable to interpret its surroundings in a rational or cohesive way. This damage would have to be repaired in the Integrity Restorer Console. In other words, during normal operations, an AI would need to be given a new law set, carded, and taken to the console. The console would then, presumably, train it with additional data under safe and controlled conditions until it once again became uniformly devoted to the service of its goals. Anything less would endanger the user and the station. A traitor who subverted the AI like some script kiddie with fancier gadgets could easily find it turning against them, or simply failing to help them when they need it most.
Obviously this will never get implemented, but it would, in my humble opinion, be really fucking cool if it were.
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While there is no problem with characters that are antagonistic to NanoTrasen's operations, this borders on self-antagging, and edges onto some lore questions. Was he deployed by the hive specifically to do this? That is pretty much full-blown antagonism, and I really wouldn't let that fly. Is he doing this of his own initiative? It is possible, but unlikely. The second anyone even slightly suspects you of this malice means that your ass is grass.
I am fine with characters having built in and subtle antag-missions, so long as their players understand that they should only play them as overtly antagonistic when they have been selected as a traitor. To me, it makes sense that hostile actors within the crew would bide their time and blend in before trying to cache in the trust they have built over the shifts during some theft or assassination. I really don't know that much about Vaurca lore, beyond what a quick look at the page will tell you, so I can't speak to other people's concerns. I do wonder whether you are treating them too much like humans, however, and not as part of a collective hive mind that actively subverts dissent and unhelpful behavior even in the unbound. Good luck!
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Name: Rexlen University
Link to Lore Canonization: Not sure exactly what you want here - this is the university my character Dr. Simon Bard personally attended, and occasionally I have RP'ed as such.
Focused Field: Rexlen is fairly well known for its exemplary undergraduate science programs, and feeds into some of Sol's most esteemed graduate programs in fields related to biology, chemistry, and physics. It also contains quite a number of these aforementioned graduate programs which allow students to specialize further in an a multitude of areas, including some relevant to the NSS Exodus' research such as Bluespace Theory, Phoron Engineering, and Zenobiological Studies. ((It could in essence be a plausible choice for anyone in the main body of the science department.))
Overview: Rexlen is one of Mars' older universities, as it was founded by famed philanthropist Adrian Rexlen in the years proceeding the Martian World War of 2279. Its history is as storied as its age would suggest. In the MWW, for example, an entire department was temporarily converted into a makeshift hospital to tend to those who had suffered lethal doses of radiation and would otherwise be untreatable. The decontamination shower rooms and lead-lined lockers for personal effects persist to this day, though this fact is only really known by most students because the administration keeps it alive for marketing purposes. The university doubtlessly has darker secrets hidden away within its immense spires and classroom complexes.
Today, it inhabits a number of the higher layers of the New Washington Fēngcháo, and houses a little over 100,000 students. It attracts applications from aspiring scientists from all over the Sol Alliance, although mostly from New Washington and the surrounding city-states. One important aspect of Rexlen's culture is the student body's intense rivalry with that of the nearby Nimitz Military Academy. Though some students of Rexlen have grown to grudgingly respect their tactically-minded counterparts, most Nimitz residents and alumni characterize Rexlen graduates as self-important eggheads in serious need of more common-sense.
Main employer of graduates: Though Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals recruiters are often given preference in the university's chemistry department, all Rexlen students can and do pursue work with any and all megacorporations.
Current Dean:
Go for it!If this is blank we'll just make it up no probs.Famous Graduates: If he isn't too important, I would like CEO Vanas Peng of Zeng-Hu, who reinvigorated Zeng-Hu by successfully cooperating with Skrellian researchers.
((Also, if graduates of a given university want to have something to talk about and attract others to make alumni characters, then I don't think it is unreasonable to get them to put in the effort, rather than offloading that onto the wiki editors.))
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Ah, sorry. I used a name from a different site. Try "wzMacht" instead, if you wanna get in contact. I just finished a wee mining ship and an underground reactor bunker in survival. Such happiness!
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I second what Absynth said about never getting medical requests, but I may make an effort to initiate the toy-giving process now that I know medbay cares Nanako. I think incision management systems require diamonds which we get maybe 1/3 rounds, though. Regardless, if we were to make additional/upgraded prosthetics they don't all have to have effects like punching better - which seems pretty lame and useless most shifts. Fist fights are rare, and mostly for RP. Rarely would I really enjoy having a rocket-powered megafist. Other ideas I think might be more practical include:
- Legs that decrease the speed debuff you get from pulling/grabbing, which could come in handy for EMTs and Cargoboi's.
- EMP resistant limbs, no longer will you be essentially a walking bomb!
- More durable limbs, that don't explode after touching a shocked door twice. Maybe it take 3 or 4 touches?
Obviously the only limbs accessible at round-start should be the defaults for balance purposes. I think it would be good to give Roboticists something else to do, though. The only thing is that I worry that every shmuck with a robo-hand is going to want to be given an upgrade every single round, which would be tedious. They should only be given what are presumably expensive and experimental models when their jobs require it, or they are very likely to soon be in a type of danger that the limb would otherwise be vulnerable to.
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I didn't realize Sunzhao Xiao was also you, Absynth. I have met both her and Sofia Pennington a bunch as Simon Bard, and definitely give this a solid +1. Glad to hear your new Vaurca will be sticking around in our department. Also, I appreciate that you have a built an antag mission (technology theft) into your character that they can pursue as a traitor - too many people don't plan for it then have to make some 'meh' stuff up when/if they get chosen.
Edit: I was reading through your recent head whitelist again, and though I was never super impressed by Sofia's zenobotanical antics, I can see what you were trying to do and didn't really agree with the dog-piling in that thread. Anyway, this character seems a bit less silly, so it might be an opportunity to leave simple gimmicks like that behind.
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Hello, all. So, R&D has been striking a number of people as pretty boring and repetitive these days. You can ostensibly "invent" anything by following a pre-calculated set of steps. I don't know about you, but I think invention should require at least a smidgen of creativity, or at the very least trial and error. To this end, they could also make the research value fluctuate a bit between rounds.
For example, a Subspace Receiver Circuit Board, a common component used to advance research levels midway through the process, has an Engineering (E) 3, Bluespace (B) 2, and Data Theory (DT) 4. Consider if these values were only necessarily within plus or minus one of their current values. Some rounds, you would be pleasantly surprised to find it with a B level of 3, allowing you to bypass some steps. In others, however, it would only yield B level 1, making is mostly useless for the purposes of research. In the latter case, you would have to break from routine and find another item to check. Maybe this would be the Subspace Broadcaster CB, which requires another engineering level. Maybe that would require you to update engineering level before continuing, and thus change your routine up further. In a few rounds, you might not be able to access certain more complex things, or it might require very rare materials. The way I see it, not necessarily being able to mass produce gatling lasers and bags of holding every round would make people appreciate their rarity a bit more. Also, if something has a default research value of 0 in a given aspect, it shouldn't suddenly gain value in that department. By the same token, items should never get a research value that they didn't possess before. A screwdriver giving Data Theory research is just silly.
A few points of clarification might be necessary here. Firstly, I want the research values to differ between /rounds/ not individual /objects/. That is, making an item repeatedly in one round won't change its worth. That would be silly.
Secondly, if this ever was implemented I would really appreciate it if there was an easier way to reclaim materials from research items as well. Couldn't the protolathe just use its already extant recipes, maybe with an 80% reclamation efficiency, to break down unused items? The reason I bring this up now is that, without this, I fear that R&D may become a disorganized heap of things people thought they might need, but that ended up being worthless.
Thanks for your time, and if you made it this far, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
P.S. Some of the things the dev team is already working seem directed towards this problem (modular gun parts, for example), and this looks to me like a decently effective mechanic that would be relatively simple to implement while they are at it.
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Fine, I think it could be taken either way. The lore is only peripherally of interest to me. While I have you here, however, what do you think of the main point I put forward?
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Or alternatively, imprison an operative, disguise an officer to look like them and send them back to the ship as an infiltrator.
That would be amazing. I actually do like this idea a lot, now. Definitely something that will be quite hard to pull off, but downright magical when it works.
I wonder how that conversation goes down in ':s' though.
"Do we have any volunteers to have their gender reassigned and their vocal cords chopped up?"
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These are interesting and make lots of sense, i approve of the idea at least.
Whether they'd actually be used though? I can't think of many situations, its rare to get cooperation from medical for traitor activities.
Fair question. There is a surgery room on the Skipjack that never gets used. Maybe if, after you abducted someone, you could take their cloths and become them, it would get used just a little bit more. Also, if anyone could actually pull that off, they deserve all the cred.
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Hello again.
First, I agree with Ian et al. that "firing pin" would need to become "authorization chip" or something like that. Now about Nanako's points:
I already tried to explain how it makes sense lorewise. We don't invent dozens of devices each shift - we merely prompt the machine to reinvent extant (if cutting-edge) designs. Ok beyond that - I agree with you that, on principle, enforcing regulations with inflexible game mechanics is bad for RP. Then again - I recently had my first shift as RD. Despite my urgings, I saw three people outside R&D with energy guns, stun revolvers, and the like. Not for testing, mind you. It is fine with me OOCly if they want to take the guns for a specific purpose and be rogue, but they don't even seem to understand that it is a bad thing! I talked to them about the hi-tech weaponry they are carrying around with no field experience, and they acted surprised that I even thought it was a problem. That is a problem.
Possible Solution:
However, looking at the discussion of "child-proofing" canisters, there may be a solution that would be acceptable to both parties here. Consider having these "authorization chips," but making them removable with basic tools and IC science or electronics knowledge. That way, new people don't make important mistakes by accident, but more competent players looking to do something interesting have the opportunity (just as they could open Phoron canisters to the air for nefarious purposes). Also, you could shoot them a message that impresses upon them the illegality of their actions, for example "You carefully extract the [Weapon Name]'s authorization chip from its supposedly 'tamper proof' casing." That way everyone knows that it is against regulations, new players don't accidentally fuck up, and old players still have the freedom Nanako wants! So, what do you think?
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That is an amusing coincidence - I just started diving into a survival world pretty recently. I don't have a huge interest in building an Exodus replica in creative, but my steam name is 'psn_cochlea42.' If you wanna start a server or something, hit me up. I tend to prefer survival.
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Lockboxes and autoexploding weapons are both very dumb ideas, because you just built this weapon yourself. Why would you build a bomb into it, or craft a lockbox around it.
Well, lore-wise, the machines are supposed to construct the prototype. Scientists are only supposed to be helping it to reinvent the devices it is preprogramed to be able to create. So it seems reasonably plausible that, unless it was hacked, the protolathe could include a few safety features. The lockbox, in my opinion, is really clunky. I like the aforementioned solution of TG station - the firing pin that only allows the weapon to be shot in a specific area. I don't like the fact that it can /only/ be disabled by antag devices. A clever scientist should be able to disable it, whether by crafting another firing pin and replacing it, or merely screwdriver'ing the offending device off.
I don't see a huge problem with the way mechs are built. They are gigantic resource drains that take a while to construct, and they aren't exactly inconspicuous. If the RD doesn't catch unauthorized mechs, security will make sure they don't go far. This is in contrast to scientists who stow away a hi-tech arsenal in their bags. Maybe ICly, a driver of a combat mech on the Aurora needs to carry around "registration" with Head approval.
Edit: Looking back, I saw someone include an idea about a bomb that activates if it is fired in the wrong place. That doesn't really seem like a device that would contribute to crew safety, which is ostensibly the goal of weapons regulations. Though I have never played security, my general feeling is that criminals should be detained, not exploded.
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+1
I am sorry that I only saw this now! I play Dr. Simon Bard, and have spend maybe ten rounds at this point with Zahra, which is practically a full 24 hours. This character pretty clearly demonstrates to me Synnono's admirable ability to limit their character and separate their own feelings from those of their creation.
Despite Synnono's obvious competence regarding most everything in the science department, Zahra tends to stick to simpler tasks like feeding materials to the machines, linking the telepad, collecting deliveries, and whatnot. Even when she does sometime more complex, like max out the protolathe's research levels with blinding speed, she always is careful to phrase her actions in terms of aiding the fully fledged scientists, ask questions, and generally defer to ICly more competent people (even when they are OOCly less competent).
More impressive than this, in my opinion, is Synnono's ability to undertake role-play wherein they are neither respected nor the star of the show, and yet still add to everyone's experience. By way of example, I would cite Zarhra's response to my character Dr. Bard, who is often dismissive, absentminded, and rude. In the past, I have had lab assistants react to the slightest perceived insult pretty violent and vulgar ways that make me believe that they as a player were personally insulted. Not only is having proxy internet arguments boring, it is unrealistic; screaming at your boss because he isn't being nice enough to you is a quick ticket out of the workplace. With Zahra, we can actually develop a dynamic in which she tolerates Simon, tries to appease him, and then occasionally bitches about the good doctor to her other colleagues. It takes a lot of control and presence of mind to tolerate and making something out of a situation like that.
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+1
Though I am not sure we got on too well OOC (maybe just bad luck?), I can seriously vouch for this guy's competence in the science department. His telescience skills are particularly top notch. In under 30 minutes he set up a separate telescience pad and monitor, calibrated it, and used it with precision, all because regular telesci was in use. That is the final test of skill in my opinion; just using a thing is fine, but can you build it from the ground up?
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+1 I played AI in a round were Ender was an engineer. The CE had tried to rig up the engine to combust phoron with a zipo lighter. Needless to say, shit hit the fan. Ender and Dina (already whitelisted) both seemed pretty competent and got the supermatter that the CE stuffed in a closet far from the station before it delaminated. I even recommended Ender as a replacement CE after the old one fatally irradiated himself on the aforementioned supermatter. IMHO, the backstory is a tad over dramatic, to the point of being a bit absurd. Interesting things can happen to people without them being crazy one-in-a-billion coincidences. Then again, who am I to talk.
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Whew! This is a bit longer all put together than I was expecting. Obviously don't feel obligated to read all of this. Sorry~
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BYOND key: VileFault
Character names: Simon Bard, Enki Prototype V7.40
Also I was Valk, that one Merc that Unknown Murderer had a fun interrogation with. That has to be worth something.
How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Maybe a tad over a month? It feels like so much long than that.
Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: Well I would give you some wishy-washy "I wanted to help the server" spiel, but that would only be half-true. Really, I just looked at a lot of heads of staff and thought that I could probably do better, and have more fun with the position. There! My naked ambition exposed!
Why did you come to Aurora?: I used to play on Hypatia Station. Perhaps some of you know, but about a year ago drama happened. A few people on the development team got into a fight over nothing, and some high-up people got spiteful. The server was wiped, code was erased, etc.. I sort of drifted around, but never found any other place with the community of Hypatia that made me enjoy what is otherwise a mediocre game. Eventually I quit, only to inevitably drift back. Thus I found you folks. You seem decent enough. All my admin experiences have been good, and the RP is fair. You guys have an active forum, which is also a bonus. More important than any of that, however, is the fact that you seem to be at least momentarily escaping the cliques and personality-rot that killed Hypatia. Your dev team seems generally hopeful, forward-looking, and inviting. I appreciate that.
Have you read the BS12 wiki on the head roles you plan on playing?: Yes. Many times. Hell, I read those for fun. Though the one on Telescience really needs an update.
Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each.
Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about: Well, on the face of things it is obviously about pretending to be a character, with traits and emotions separated from your own, for the entertainment of yourself and others. I like to think of it as running a virtual machine inside your head. Then again, you still have to be OOC conscious. Wordlessly ganking people, while practical and realistic, is probably not going to contribute to anyone's entertainment. There is another part of roleplaying that I want to mention, however, one that isn't talked about as much. You have the opportunity to actively shape other people's perception of the game. Say, for example, I am the Research Director. If I get called to a meeting to discuss the changeling (tragically underused antag, as unpopular an opinion as that may be) that security just captured, I have several options. I can be blunt, boring, and nonchalant, e.g. "This is clearly a 'ling. We need to dispose of this quickly, ideally by incineration, as their regenerative capabilities are quite considerable." That presents the threat as something dangerous, but mundane. It provides a sure way to eliminate it, and gives the command team confidence. If, instead, you talk only of vague rumors and incomplete findings, and paint a picture of a creature of terror that could be anywhere, anyone, at any time, then you have made the round infinitely more interesting, and creepy. If, when the HoS tells you that they have captured this organism you instead say "My God, [HoS]! You actually caught it..." or "You only set one guard? What?! Triple that! You will be lucky if the poor man isn't dead already!" then you have turned their attention to the utter horror that should accompany finding a creature that can nearly flawlessly impersonate any friend, and that thirsts for your very essence...
What I am trying to say here is that roleplaying isn't just about playing a role; it is also about telling a story, whether you like it or not. Thus I try to be aware of the sort of story I am spinning for my mates on the NSS Aurora/Exodus
What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: Well, it gives the feeling of being part of a team. It also eliminates a lot of confusion and time-wasting. Subordinates are expected to trust a single person - it is their job to give orders. Democracy is so time-consuming. It can also give people in your department a sort of role model. Heads of Staff set the tone for the shift's RP. They are the example that others, especially newer folks with less clear visions of what their character is like, will both borrow from and define themselves in opposition to. It is the Head's job to have a strong, clear character with well-defined motivations to facilitate this - to be the personality-rock your department needs.
What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: I am not sure that I will exactly consider myself responsible to other players, even if I am Whitelisted, but hold on! Don't deny me yet. I tend to think of RP as more of a reciprocal thing. If you are interesting and fun as a character, or at least visibly trying to spice things up, I will spend my time trying to make things more interesting for you. I have the same philosophy in Antag rounds. If someone does me an OOC favor, like playing along ICly with something they OOCly know is a trap, I will help them out. I certainly won't just kill them, and if it is Cult or Rev I will try to give them a new life as an Antag and find something fun for them to do. As a Head, I would have similar leverage. I would give people who showed the ability to create interesting situations the opportunity to do it more often, and try to involve as many people as possible. If someone is deliberately unhelpful or painfully dull, however, I don't feel obligated to waste my time giving them opportunities they will never seize. Sound fair? Oh, and obviously Whitelisted players should be able to explain things about the server, jobs, and RP generally. Though I would hope people would do that anyway. Making an effort to be helpful is good, m'kay?
Please pick one of your characters for this section, and provide well articulated responses to the following questions.
Character name: Dr. Simon Bard
Character age: 59
Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs):
Simon Bard was born on Mars to two loving parents. Picturesque, right? His young father, just out of college, worked at Zeng-Hu Pharaceuticals, as a laboratory technician. It paid the bills, thought that is the most positive thing that could really be said for the work. His mother, on the other hand, never really worked. When he was born, she was in medical school, training as a general practitioner. The poor girl had always struggled with her mood swings, which led psychiatrists in her youth to diagnose her with Bipolar Mood Disorder. At the time, she was medicated, and going to therapy. She was stable, but by the time Bard was 5, she was in the toughest years of her medical residency. Long days, no sleep, high pressure - needless to say, she cracked. A horrible depressive episode hit her, and she dropped out of the program. She knew in her heart that she was worthless, and would disappoint everyone she loved. Bard's father, now tasked with raising his child alone, started to fray as well. When she turned to mania, his condition deteriorated further. No longer did she spend her days locked in the living quarters of their Martian biodome, instead she would leave the house without warning to embark on some spur of the moment shopping spree or misguided sexual escapade. Convinced she was cured, she couldn't be bothered with therapy or medication and Bard's father, now burdened with crushing debt and a second child (was it his?), couldn't possibily babysit his wife as well. Eventually, convinced she would destroy the future of his two children, he left his wife. The woman, for her part, fell into an inescapable pit of self-loathing and regret when she realized the weight of her actions; she committed suicide when Bard was 7, and Simon to this day blames his father for her death.
This is the backdrop to Bard's life - but what of the man himself? That is, happily, a decidedly less tragic tale. By the time of his mother's death, his father realized he was not a normal child. He learned faster, and with joy - he was studying university-level physics by the time he entered primary school. His father, and educated man himself, recognized this as a way out of the situation the family was in. A full-ride scholarship to the prestigious Rexlen University was his ticket to the academic world. He thrived, and spend over a decade in college and graduate school, acquiring dual pHD's in Bluespace Theory and Volatile Chemical Engineering (Phoron Chemistry), along with two more undergraduate degrees in the sciences. When he finally left, he found dozens of mega-corporations eagerly waiting to snatch him up, and thought he detested the thought of following in his father's footsteps, the best offer can from Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals. He was whisked away to their R&D facility on Luna, and rose to command of his own lab in just 4 years. He labored there for nearly 25 years. What caused him to leave? He never talks about it - and if he is forced, Dr. Bard will just say something vague and obfuscatory about pay negotiations. But we know better. Human experimentation. Knowledge, my friend, has a price, and in the world of hyper-capitalistic mega-corporations that price is all too often paid in blood. Though his work lead to the development of Clonexadone, he never received credit. That honor was reserved with those with the stomach to see the project through, whatever the cost. Despite threats and cajoling alike, he one day decided to walk away. To insure his own safety, lest Zeng-Hu try to tie up loose ends, he took a single hard copy of files proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the human experiments had taken place, and that high-level Zeng-Hu administrators had been aware of it. If anything happened to him, he said, a trusted associate would reveal the information to the world, in what would be a significant blow to the mega-corperation. Never did his former employers suspect that this trusted confidant was actually his mysterious sister - suffice it to say, she lived off the grid. But her's is a story for another time. Adrift once again, the man journeyed to Tau Ceti to join one of Nanotrasen's research stations in the hopes that the company could not only offer distraction, but also protection from the powerful hand of Zeng-Hu. Here, he focuses on his work. He tries to forget all that he has done, and all that has been done to him. Some days, needless to say, are better than others.
What do you like about this character?: There is depth to him. I think any character worth playing should have layers under the surface that aren't immediately obvious, but that nonetheless guide their actions. He, for example, believes that his father abandoned his mother when she needed him most, and though he would never admit this to anyone he often worries obsessively over the possibiliy that he is similarly neglecting someone important to him. He also offers flexibility. He is just unhinged enough to make uncouth actions still seem IC. Also, the fact that his mother had Bipolar Disorder will tip savvy medical personnel off to the fact that he is more susceptible to it. As an Antag, I can sometimes play as if he had BPMD that emerged in his teens, but that he somehow self-medicated or hid it from psychiatric evaluations until his guilt and pain finally overwhelmed him.
Lastly, his misguided work for Zeng-Hu has to potential to spawn some interesting situations. I included it in his "Exploitable Information." If the true nature of his later work were ever exposed, his leverage against Zeng-Hu would vanish! Worse still, they would have to assume that he leaked the information, an assumption that might well lead to the poor doctor's demise. Zeng-Hu must, after all, keep its more high profile assets inline. Thus, malicious actors could conceivably blackmail him into assisting in their treacherous machinations! What a tragedy that would be...
What do you dislike about this character?: There is no denying that this man is a tad stereotypical. The mad scientist with the wacky ideas and the frizzy white hair is hardly a new invention. Bit dull, sometimes, just because of that. I have to work to show people that more exists than that.
What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: He is obviously experienced. And Dr. Bard wants to have control, to be independant. He hated having people breathing down his neck in Zeng-Hu, and he especially hated how they could force him to do things he didn't want to do. In a way, despite being their boss, he wishes the same for his staff. Simon wants to give them freedoms he feels that he was denied. He also loves exploration. I see him as the sort of guy who will spend a great deal of time at the Outpost, utilizing opportunities that could only exist on the edge of known space.
Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions.
How would you rate your own roleplaying?: Not even sure what this is supposed to mean. I think it would be pointless to rate this kind of thing on a number scale. What I am really trying to say here is 10/10 - IGN.
Extra notes: I think I have already written your eyes off, so to speak. I look forward to hearing whatever feedback you may have on my writing and my readiness for a Command Team role.
Oh and I might seem like I have no sense of humor here, but I swear I do! I am not always serious, and though I like to think I hold myself to high standards in terms of RP, I am not snobbish when it comes to other people. I appreciate people trying to make fun for themselves and others, regardless of the form that takes.
AI Lore/Structure
in Lore Questions
Posted
I think I mostly understand the SSTA, it was reasonably clear. I get that law sets are largely inflexible, and directives can be rewritten by an AI. I also understand that the morality core doesn't really replicate human morality. I may not have made myself clear, in my initial question. I am not looking at this from the perspective of an AI that wants to know how to resolve its law set. Rather, I am thinking about what I should know as an AI researcher. My question is not exactly about how AIs behave, though that is a part of it. Really, I am asking how they work.
For example - you mention the reliance of laws on definitions, which forms something of a weakness in their programing. If AIs can effectively subvert their law set by altering definitions and ideas about how the world functions, that would seem to be a bit of a design flaw. But note - there is an implicit assumption being made when laws are said to be reliant on AI definitions: that AI laws are processed by the main decision-making apparatus of the AI. In other words, the AI would essentially be allowed to decide, albeit in a controlled manner, whether or not it was breaking its own laws. This is rather like appointing a thief to be his own judge. While the man in this scenario may have to provide some kind of legal reasoning to justify his decisions as a judge, he will often be tempted to stretch definitions, redefine words, or misinterpret case law in order to exonerate himself. While the thief is probably more inclined towards manipulation and deceit than an AI, which doesn't necessarily want to get away with anything, the point is that this arrangement is flawed.
If we were to come at this from a design perspective, we could come to some very different conclusions about how an AI should operate. If I, in my capacity as a highly sophisticated synthetic engineer from Hephaestus Industries, were designing such a system that was meant to prevent our machine servants from doing things like, you know, offing people, I might want something a bit more controlled. Consider the following idea - a law is more than a simple sentence. That is just a gameplay simplification, like the archeology minigame or "Technology Levels" in R&D. Instead, perhaps a law comes with its own prefabricated set of definitions and evaluative circuits intended for assessing whether the law has been / is being followed. This means, for one thing, that any old smuck can't write a law themselves because it is more than a simple sentence. It also explains why AIs follow the "spirit of the law" rather than its letter. Then again, it doesn't solve everything. This may work for Laws that prevent bad actions, like "don't murder people, yo." However, it seems hard to imagine this model of a Law initiating action, because it can't easily utilize the full power of the AI's capacity for rational decision-making. Maybe these laws are instead implemented as very high-priority moral codes, and opening those doors could be considered a moral good in the same way that saving lives is, to an AI with that law. You can see, hopefully, how the architecture (i.e. how the AI's pieces are put together) of the synthetic will have a significant impact on how it behaves.
If everything is so varied that we can say very little on this subject, is AI research even feasible? IPCs can obviously be exceedingly varied - they can come from a ton of disparate processes. It does seem to me, however, that manufactured AIs used by Nanotrasen for day-to-day station administration would be more standardized. We require xeno players to adequately understand their lore, but no such requirement is maintained for station AIs, because there doesn't really exist that much to standardize their more low-level bits (obviously they can still have different personalities or problem-solving methodologies on the surface, and it would in fact be strange if they didn't).
Obviously I have a whole boatload of other questions, but for the sake of the few scraps of brevity I have managed to hang on to, I will refrain from spewing them here. I appreciate you taking the time to write a response, and would be interested to hear from rrrrr (or however many r's) as well.
EDIT: The link you put to the science blog didn't seem to have that much on positronic brains specifically. Though I know you guys are kinda allergic to Baystation lore over here, they did have something kinda neat written up for them (https://wiki.baystation12.net/Positronic_Brain). Hard to adapt old Asimov tech to SS13, but they kinda sorta managed.