Girdio

I had always assumed that Aurora had a “roleplay” guide of some sort, but after checking the wiki and the forums, I realized that this isn’t the case. While Aurora is a heavy roleplay server, and we assume players would be aware of how to roleplay to begin with, I feel like a lot of times this isn’t the case. There will sometimes be those who are new to roleplaying stumbling into the server - or even people who may have experience but still need a little extra help! Ideally, this could be used as a resource for those new to roleplaying - but please let me know if this feels incomplete! Off the top of my head I feel like there's a bunch I'm forgetting to mention, that may help. _________________________________ What is roleplaying? Roleplaying is pretending to be someone you’re not. You’re quite literally playing a role. If you’ve ever played a game where you create a character’s appearance and pick choices for them, it’s quite similar. Here on Aurora, you’re being asked to take it one step further by putting yourself in the mindset of this crafted character. Are there different levels of roleplaying? In the Space Station 13 community, there are a few universally accepted levels of “roleplay”. Aurora is considered a heavy roleplay server. LRP (aka, Low Roleplay) Low roleplay servers put the least emphasis on roleplay, if any at all. These servers will typically still enforce limited rules, but not impose a barrier on what characters are allowed to do. Servers of this style will usually emphasize the combat or mechanical side of Space Station 13. MRP (aka, Medium Roleplay) Medium roleplay servers put a heavy emphasis on remaining in character at all times, but may have looser rules regarding what characters can do. For example, a medium roleplay server may be fine with the Chef setting up the power. HRP (aka, Heavy Roleplay) Heavy roleplay servers put the most restrictions on what characters can know and can do - for the sake of immersing players into the created setting. Those in their assigned roles can only do their job’s duties (within reason), for example. Basic Roleplaying Terms IC (aka, In Character) - This is what happens in-game. It reflects the world that your character exists in. Your character is not aware that they are in a video game. Events that occur during any round are considered IC actions. OOC (aka, Out of Character) - This refers to anything outside the game, in our real world. This is what the player can interact with, and the knowledge that you have of both our world and the game. OOC matters cannot be discussed IC, and you cannot discuss (current) round IC information in OOC discussions. IC in OOC - While it may seem self-explanatory, IC in OOC refers to talking about IC matters in OOC. This could be something such as "help I'm being killed by mining!" or "lol we have no medical on shift". The opposite should not happen either, such as talking about "Dropout just released a new episode of GameChangers!" or "I've been scrolling through Youtube this whole round." LOOC (aka, Local Out of Character) - This is a localized form of OOC chat for your immediate area. This can be used commonly to alert nearby players that you are taking a break for a moment, have questions, or need help. SSD (aka, Space Sleeping Disorder) - This is the IC explanation as to why characters will suddenly fall asleep if a player disconnects. You will see a "ZZZ"/sleeping bubble appear next to a character if they have disconnected (gone SSD). During this time, do not try to interact with them and wait until the bubble is gone and the character is reactive again. Ground Rules for Roleplaying on Aurora When you start in any roleplay community, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. Firstly, remain in character! As mentioned in the roleplaying terms, you should NOT bring up real-world matters of any kind, ICly. You should, as much as you are able, act in the way your character would act. You must also play realistically. While the server rules cover a lot of this, the simple rundown is this: act as if you were out at work or school. This means that playing a character bashing their head into the wall for fun, or threatening to shoot everyone, is not the behavior someone would realistically do. Maintain a division between the player and the character. No matter if a character insults, befriends, assaults, or romances your character, it is critical to remember this is not reflective of the player’s feelings of you as a player. While it is great to become friends with other players, it can lead to uncomfortable encounters if you assume a player is angry with you just because their character is. Ask for help! Roleplaying can be daunting starting out, and it’s something that’s always a learning experience. You should never feel ashamed for being a new player, as everyone starts somewhere. If you vocalize being unsure on what to do, someone will reach out to assist. This can be as small as helping you pick out a character’s mannerisms, or as big as helping create a character idea to get you started. __________________ Okay, I won’t IC in OOC. What’s next? After learning the basics, you have the fun stuff! Creating your character. Firstly, you will need a small understanding of Aurora’s lore. It’s not expected for you to memorize this. Aurora’s lore can be very daunting and very intimidating. A quick skim over the New Player Lore Guide can give you a basic understanding, but the wiki itself is a very handy resource, from your first day on Aurora to your tenth year. Avoid creating a self-insert! A self-insert is any character that’s a stand-in for you, the player. They act as you do, they talk as you do, and they may even look as you do. While you’re surely a lovely person, we don’t want you to play yourself - you need to be someone entirely different! If you start creating a character, and you realize it’s more of your own opinions or behaviors than something you’ve created, start over! While it’s fine to have some elements of yourself in your character, it should never be a carbon copy. When you are trying to consider what sort of character you would like, think about other characters you’ve seen in media and enjoyed! While you cannot play these characters directly, you can create characters with many of their traits! Consider what your characters act like. Think about how those characters in your favorite media act. Are they brave, kind, and courteous? Or are they cunning, rude, and cowardly? You can even pull from people you see in your everyday life - what does it look like when someone is self-confident? How do they carry themselves? How do they interact with others? These traits can be shown off in your own character, and thinking of how they show up in others is a perfect way to illustrate it yourself! Think about how your character talks. Maybe they have an accent? Maybe their sentences are really long and run on because they ramble a lot, and you just know they’re running out of breath. Or not. They might talk less. Waste little words. Whatever the case, finding out how your character talks can yet them apart, just as much as how they act around others! Feel free to observe a round or two, to get a general idea of how other players have made their characters. Many times, you can pick up elements of experienced roleplayers and have a better understanding of what makes a character work well. Of course, even experienced roleplayers learn from each other too! ________________________________ The Basics Are Down, What Now? Once you feel comfortable with your general idea of a character, you can join a round at any time! Being able to start playing and getting a feel for how your character acts and behaves, and can help immerse you into the community and the universe of Aurora. With that in mind, if you would like, you can also use the opportunity to further develop your character. This is not a requirement, and some players may never engage in something like this, or in this format. That said, this may help you further understand your character’s headspace and enjoy playing them more. Developing a backstory is a perfect way to let your character feel alive, once you have established their personality. A backstory can be completed a multitude of ways, but something that works well is remembering the “Five Ws” you may have learned in school - who, what, when, where, and why. An example is attached: My character is generally timid and soft-spoken, but loyal and quick to stand up for their friends. You could ask, “why are they timid and soft-spoken?” The answer may be: they were bullied and targeted as a kid, so they don't feel like they can speak up. But, because of this, they're loyal and don't want their friends to go through the same thing. From this, you could ask a variety of questions. Perhaps you could ask who bullied them (they may have unsolved grudges), why they were bullied (maybe this is something they still have as an adult), or anything else you can think of. Do not be afraid to play a backstory someone else has already. Something writers often struggle with is the old saying - "nothing is original - everything has been created already." This can apply to creating a backstory, too. You may want to avoid creating a backstory because it doesn't seem original. Simply put - backstories are ideas, and everyone has ideas. The way you execute a backstory is what's important, and what is truly unique to you. Nobody else will be able to play a character with the same backstory as you, and this means you will always be providing a unique experience to the game and community. You can also always refer to the lore. The lore of Aurora is, as stated previously, overwhelming and a lot to go through sometimes. It is also the perfect way to help build a character's backstory. Not only does the lore give you an understanding of a planet, but it also helps give you things your character may be aware of, and things they may or may not like. Give your character likes and dislikes. These don't have to be very strong likes and dislikes, but there should be something. Maybe they don't like a certain planet in the lore because they saw an article one day. Maybe they don't like a certain show because it seems boring. Maybe they love the color teal, and are obsessed with finding everything teal for their room. Whatever the case, have things that the character can realistically weigh in on. Similarly, give your character hobbies. This can provide you with another thing for a character to talk about. Maybe your character knits during their off-shifts, or maybe they're a really good cook. They could love producing music, and they might even make songs from their dorm. These all bring life to your character, give your character something to talk about, and help provide things for other characters to talk about to your character. ___________________________________ Advanced Roleplaying Terms Meta Knowledge: Similar to metagaming (which is directly forbidden in the rules), meta knowledge is anything going on out of character, and using that in character. In a roleplay situation, meta knowledge refers to knowing information about a character through out-of-character means, and acting on it. Perhaps a player mentions their character is a criminal or has been stealing secrets from the SCC. If your character does not know this, and you discuss it in character, this is acting on meta knowledge and should not occur. Metagruding: Another 'meta' form, metagruding consists of targeting a player out of character, due to actions commited in character. This can be anything from insulting/attacking a player in LOOC or OOC chat due to actions done by their character. It can also include creating characters specifically designed to harass or inconvenience another player due to actions their character has done to you. If you ever feel like you are wronged by a player on an OOC level, metagruding is not the answer - and either discussing the issue with the player (or staff member) is ideal.

Lore Impact: Small Team Purview: Human (Potentially Synthetic, for one section.) Short Description: This is adding four new entries to the entertainment section. How will this be reflected on-station?: This provides more opportunities to talk about shows and games people both like and don't like. By having things canonical on the wiki, players can also add it their character's list of knowledge - and headcanon their own additions as well. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: No, it simply provides more options and helps flesh things out. Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team? Yes Long Description: Blood and Ash Putting players into the shoes of a Mendell City Police Department homicide detective, Blood and Ash is a popular combat-light, puzzle-heavy game. The main character is set loose in a linear story to uncover a sinister plot tied across all of Mendell’s districts. For many players, the story is the largest draw, with a small cast (though impressive) of characters, with the different races of the Spur having at least some presence in the game, even if very minor. Although the gameplay has been criticized for being unremarkable. Blood and Ash has also been noted for both looking at the idealized image of Mendell, where so many can come together and prosper under the guiding hand of Biesel’s government and the SCC, and also where Mendell has failed its people. District 14 and District 9 get a substantial section in the game as the character and their partner discover more clues rooted in these areas, with effort going to portray these districts in a bleak and neglected experience. Love in a Vacuum While many reality shows out there exist from Venus, Love in a Vacuum has managed to churn through the years where others have failed. Contestants are flown off to an undisclosed Ferry-class ship, where they are locked out from all outside contact for the filming period. The goal of the show is for characters to form romantic relationships with limited privacy on the ship, along with trying to overcome challenges for prizes (in the form of additional resources on the ship, more alone time with another contestant, or, in rare cases, actual credits). While all the challenges are faked by the crew and designed to foster the budding relationships, they are intended to replicate real emergencies out in space - low resources, electronic malfunctions, and gravity difficulty. Elimination from the show means a contestant is shot out of an “escape pod”, which is simply a redecorated shuttle. The show has a huge fanbase that will commonly pair contestants together during a season and will follow them even after the season’s finale. It has obtained some feedback that the representation of life out in space is not representative of reality, although the show runners have attested that they're "not going for realistic, and going for entertaining." Neon Dreams A recent visual novel coming from Konyang, Neon Dreams, tackles the subject of the Rampancy Virus from the eyes of a shell affected by it. Taking place a year after the Rampancy Virus, it features a rebuilding Konyang climbing from the ashes of a disaster. Throughout the story, Ember finds themself attempting to integrate back into their daily life, and spends much of the visual novel trying their best to pretend that everything is the same as always. Players go through most of the game as Ember, having fun, hanging out with their friends. While there are occasional indications of one of Ember’s friends being missing, most everything seems normal. Until the halfway point. At this point, one of the friends asks if they are “not going to acknowledge what happened”, at which point the art direction, text style, and mood drastically shift. The remainder of the visual novel is set through flashbacks that Ember is noted to not entirely remember, with the gist being that Ember was affected by the Rampancy Virus and killed one of their friends during this period. The game’s ending is something heavily discussed, as it has been left open for interpretation. Some view it as Ember shutting out what happened and pretending nothing has changed, while others view it as Ember dying in either a symbolic or literal manner. Interestingly, it’s been noted that small elements in the game have been included that IPC players (and those willing to really dig into the visual novel’s files) are able to pick up that a non-synthetic would be unable to. The Quiet Deep One of the more controversial video games to come out of Sol, is a horror game set on Europa. The player starts out with the knowledge that they’re a long-time Zeng-Hu employee who has been on countless expeditions into the depths of Europa. Given the character’s experience and skill, they (along with a few other characters) are sent down one of the megacorp’s most advanced submarines, with the goal of reaching a depth nobody had yet, and returning with as much information as possible. As players soon find out, though, all of the supposed comforts offered is just there to lure them into a false sense of security. It doesn’t take long for things to go wrong in the game, and the character and their crew begin suffering from hearing noises, to swearing they saw one of Europa’s many cryptids. The vast majority of the game is trying to manage both the crew’s sanity and reach the goal that Zeng-Hu wanted, and getting out alive. Due to the dark nature of the game, its difficulty is notorious, and getting through it with the entire crew alive is unlikely on a first playthrough. That said, the game does have multiple endings depending on how many (if any) return and what findings they have brought with them. The game has received scathing feedback, claiming that it takes the matter of High-Depth Antisocial Personality Syndrome too lightly, while also presenting sufferers as cartoonish and exaggerated. On the other hand, though, players have noted that the game is very terrifying, and the multiple endings result in a high level of replay value.

Been away for about a year, but had been thinking about Aurora and spied this. On the whole this looks like a really interesting change of pace. The server has for the last decade, and despite lore changes, overall been "megacorp focused". As mentioned elsewhere, I don't think the current setting lines up with the attitude or beliefs I've seen IC regarding the corporations. There has been a significant detachment of "this is a pretty bad setting to live in" from the lore, to how characters interact with the setting. Making the lore and gameplay interwoven hopefully will fix that significantly. The twenty-or-so year time skip seems pretty short for something of this impact, but I understand the necessity to avoid a complete reboot of the setting, and to let people keep their characters if wanted. Personally, I believe that the lack of new players is a difficult-to-fix situation. It's been going on for years. I feel like it was a discussion even back in 2014-2015, with F_Sphere and everyone. The primary (or only) people know about the server is through word of mouth, for example. As much as I love the idea of an Aurora YouTube channel or Tiktok, I also know that's pretty unrealistic, as is paying for ad space without donations (and avoiding attracting TOO many people). That said, I'm hopeful that this will fix a significant portion of the issues of cliques/chair-RP that has established itself again. I can see a more engaging game mode being a good way to have established characters naturally interact with new players. It would incentive for established players to talk to new players as well. My biggest concern is that with everything being persistent, new players won't be getting the same experience as players here for the initial change. While obviously the setting being largely "the same" gets stale, it does prevent players feeling like they've missed crucial points. Like yes, the events are always fun and rewarding but you can survive not seeing them. From what's described here, it seems like everyone is working towards a goal of improving their lot in life. Making the ship look better, their overall situation better or whatever. How long does it take for that to go from the "we're struggling together" aesthetic to "we are comfortable and can relax". I feel like if there's no meaningful change to life on the ship, we're right back here talking about how everything is stale and nothing canon. But then, a new player joins and they've missed out on all this. Sure, they have the goal of "you see what we've done, we can do even more!" and that's fun itself. How long would it be until new players were coming into a setting they couldn't influence anymore though? My overarching question is that, I think. Are there plans to address both letting the ship improve and change with time, but also preventing a situation where new players don't feel like they've missed out for not joining at an arbitrary date? Outside of "oopsie an asteroid crashed into the ship and now everything you worked for is moot, rebuild it, hehe"? Also, I didn't see anything in regards to a timeline. I wasn't active when the server went from the Aurora Station to Horizon, so I don't know if a timeline was presented there. I see mentions of this being a several-years-in-the-making situation. Is there a current rough estimate of when everything would begin shifting over?

Thanks to Gabby and Hansolo (I realize I've never had to actually address your username, so hopefully that actually works lmao) for feedback. Thanks to CatsinHD for feedback, and for helping expand the concept of Tajara tail's sporadic 'flicking'. Lore Impact (Small/Medium/Large): Small Species: Tajara Short Description: This will expand the body language and non-verbal communication exhibited by Tajara, which all affect their social realm. How will this be reflected on-station?: It will give characters more 'uniform' Tajara actions, that more people will be able to interact with and engage with. To phrase it differently, it will allow players to have quick and easy references as to ways to flavor actions their Tajara is doing, or ways they could respond to actions from others. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: I believe so. Currently, (and as far as I know. If I'm wrong, it's going to be really awkward), the only discussion on the wiki of how Tajara may non-verbally express their emotions, affection/trust with each other or anything else is relegated to: "Because of their anatomy, Tajara are capable of using their appendages to express their emotions. Folding one’s ear back usually expresses fear or worry. Ears perked forward to demonstrate interest or attention. Ears also flick involuntarily when exposed to unexpected or loud sounds. Swaying one’s tail continuously is considered a childish way to express satisfaction. Curving down and blistering is a sign of hostility. Bumping muzzles and holding someone’s wrist are common displays of affection." I believe that fleshing this area out lets it fill in a gap not currently achieved by what's on the wiki. Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team?: Yes. Long Description: I couldn't think of any better way to include everything, so I put it in quotes. Obviously, tried to keep it relatively short. I attempted to avoid any possibility of unwanted consequences from occurring due to the area of "expressing affection", but I feel most players granted a whitelist are wise enough not to make their characters unrealistic/inappropriate when it comes to showing affection to other characters. I also attempted to write things in a way that would not retroactively damage existing characters (e.g, nothing is written to imply every Tajara must do this or adhere to any of it), or players that simply don't want to engage with this particular area.

Not in favor of this. We already have security checkpoints (three, iirc) and they get used a total of never. I can't see this suddenly making them occupied, and it's at the cost of negatively impacting Service/janitors. You could argue that it's because they're in areas only sometimes used, but the fact is that they do exist already, I don't really want to add more to a role/department that has a lot, while taking away from a role that doesn't. There's already not a lot of people who play janitors on the server, why take something they could use away from them? Furthermore, I don't really know if it adds anything to security, that they don't already have. Security already hangs out around the medical hallway, and in the service hallway, so they've had the opportunity for (basically) desk RP in that area for a while. If you REALLY wanted security to have a checkpoint in this spot, I feel like switching the janitorial closet, and the security checkpoint near operations would have to be the move. I could see an argument of "it makes more sense for the bug zappers to in a more central spot".

Don't know if this has been mentioned before, but remove this water cool/table combo in the interrogation room. I get flavor-wise why it's here ("do you want some water?", and it gets swabbed for DNA later) but realistically it's rarely used and kinda just clogs up the room. Firstly, since the 'default' sitting arrangement most people take is the suspect closet to the wall, and the interrogator near the door, any third-person in the room has to awkwardly stand in the corner, near the door as well - like this. I feel like, realistically if someone else wanted to sit in for an interrogation (and not in the hall or in the interrogation booth), it would make more sense for them to be positioned behind the 'suspect', like this, or where the table's at. Obviously, you could argue 'well, if someone else wants to sit in, just flip the seating arrangement and your problem is solved'. Luckily, there's also the additional changes you get by cutting it out mainly? The room will be even and look neater lol.

A missing cheese case, you say? Say no more, I know my first suspect.

A real monkey business meeting. Go on apes, escape.

Are spirometers already in the medbay to an extent? No idea what all medical actually has.

Hey! Noticed nobody had said anything for two days, so I decided to stop by. Have only a passing knowledge of your characters, so I can't weigh in there. I guess the easiest questions are always the repeated ones. I know you mentioned what seems like mixed views on the monarchy itself by Masha. Is she someone who would find herself more in line with the Commoners' party? Also going off that, how do you imagine her beliefs of the DPRA or PRA may be? It's intriguing, and it'd be interesting to hear more, she has views of the PRA having been relatively good to her, but simultaneously is following in the teachings of her parents. While not a necessity, religion is also a pretty big chunk of life for a lot of Tajara, but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere - does she have any particular leanings to/feelings towards the Parivara or the Ma'ta'ke pantheon?

This is probably my biggest concern here as well, and I feel like more details would be helpful in this regard. From the way it reads, without a Storyteller role you're simply going into the Mission with a similar outline as the other times it cycled to this particular mission. I can see this being exciting for the first few dozen times it gets run, but in time it'll lead to the same issue that Adhomai/Konyang had regarding planet-side ghost-roles. After a while, people get tired of the same exact thing, and it feels as if there would be a good chunk of limitations to the average "Actor" player in regards to telling a story, since a heavy emphasis is being placed on the story-teller to create 'mini-events' almost. That said: I do think this will be a good solution for juggling the people who want high-intensity/combat in a round, and those who would prefer not to at the moment or in general without having to play extended. As it stands currently, playing off-duty doesn't make you exempt to getting kidnapped and killed by the mercs, or accidentally getting set on fire by the techno. Surprisingly, people usually don't enjoy this happening. Dividing the ship into two sections feels like it would create an environment where both subsets of players are being seen to. In an ideal world obviously, you wouldn't have people complaining about there being too little or too much action because they chose to stay on the ship or go down. Of course, that's implying this implementation works perfectly. I think my only other comment is similar to the questions about how secret will be changed, but more specifically: what is the rollout in this going to look like? I don't see it mentioned in the Doc anywhere. Will this be something that gets drip-fed to the playerbase with like, a Mission round every weekend to get them used to idea, is it going to be a flooding-like situation where the server is rapidly shifted over to the concept? Perhaps that's outside of the current scope of the basic suggestion, but I'd still like to know how this would be implemented for the average player if it did go through. Is there a current timeline of when these changes would be made to begin with, if they went through? I know the statement is that it's been 'in the works' for six months, as a brainstorm but is there any idea on how long this concept would take to implement? I'm assuming it would be a massive ordeal, so is this something that would be a year? A couple years? As it stands, the concept is unique and a refreshing take that would keep Aurora uniquely different from other servers, while being a positive step forward for RP in general. I just feel like I'd appreciate more details for the finer stuff at some point.

I think these parts really hone in on what I've thought about recently. Maybe I'm missing the mark here, but the fact that we have such intense, Spur defining actions on the one hand, and then fuck all happens with that after makes it kinda feel like "what's the point?" These things happen in the moment, they're cool in the moment - and then it feels like it never mattered.

Personally, there were parts of the ship that I think was better flipped. As I mentioned throughout the day, I feel like some places having stuff closer in the foreground/closer to the viewer made it look more natural. Like the Service wing for example.

I think my biggest piece of feedback, is concerning the events during this arc all falling on the same day of the week. I know it's not always practical for lore-devs to have events alternate between Saturdays or Sundays, but it would have been nice. I know a good chunk of players, myself included mentioned off-handily the fact that they simply weren't able to be involved in really any of the events because they had work on Saturdays, or other pre-existing matters that were set in stone on Saturdays, but not Sundays. Hosting it on Sundays means that some players can't partake still, sure. Players who would have been able to play Saturday but not Sunday are left out - but that's why I feel like the events being switched between Saturdays and Sundays would have helped involve as many players as possible (and, yes I am aware that the events had a sizeable amount of players on). I know one event was hosted on a Sunday, the repeated shore leave to let people explore P.V. from the previous week, but I'm not quite sure why this didn't set up a trend. While I was able to cancel my weekly plans once to attend one of the events, I can see it leaving a bad taste for the players who simply didn't have that luxury and therefore didn't get to be involved with the events during the arc. Furthermore, I agree with Shimmer that P.V. was a little bit TOO detailed. Outside of the two-shore leave events, and the very initial off-duty waves, P.V. felt barren. There were simply TOO MANY things for the crew to interact with, which obviously adds flavor but means a lot of times people are walking around going "there's nothing here, I'm bored!".

Soul wins in the truest fashion.