Girdio

Some of this I feel like is a not really an issue, especially There's a statement regarding places being suboptimal and comparing it to the Horizon. I think this shouldn't be changed, at least for the arc so far. The medbay being underequipped and under supplied would track well for the state of Adhomai, which isn't going to have the same access to supplies that the S.C.C. and Horizon is. You could argue that "well the SCC would be setting up forward camps of their own!" but I feel like that takes away from the possibility of adding more "show not tell" worldbuilding. I don't think the off-site maps, especially the last two have been underdeveloped, at least in the areas that the crew would primarily be in. The museum for example was a one-off, and while not every single spot had it's own unique sprites, it was given enough attention to stand out, and that applies to the event Sunday as well. Furthermore, restricting events to ONLY being onboard the Horizon (I'm not sure if this is the suggestion, but it seems that way as it's stated the Horizon has better design) takes away the exploration possibilities that people were wanting from the previous arc. In the first suggestion, you propose keeping both the Horizon and off-site maps for events, giving people the possibility to not engage in the event if their character shouldn't. I feel like an issue with this is that people play event rounds to play the event, not to just play another normal round while everyone else goes off to do the big cool canon stuff. While I can't remember too much of the events of old, I feel that having a situation where there's a clear departmental structure and command in line possibly runs the risk of gate-keeping people out of events because of this statement: "This has the very nice quality to it, in that characters who have no business interacting with the event, can just stay on Horizon and do things as normal." The service department, science, and engineering as a whole generally aren't going to be the first pick for a lot of events, as not every event is going to involve something needing researched or looked into. With events coming to the Horizon, everyone onboard is in a way forced to be involved. With everyone being off-duty and off-world, there's not a possibility of "well, you're not security/medical so you shouldn't be here". That said, I feel like that would be a very real issue if you have a guideline of "what characters should be allowed to interact with this event and who can't", as I can see Command telling security and medical that "they're needed off-world, everyone else should stay on the ship". Of course, I'm sure most command players would offer the tried-and-true "volunteers are welcome" motif as well but still. I also don't like the idea of: "If things go bad on the event map, crew could medevac up to horizon with a critical patient, or go up to change gear, regroup, rethink the situation, etc." Because it gives people the go-ahead, both ICly and OOCly to be more loose with their decisions. After all, if you know you can just be whisked away to the Horizon if you do something silly, people are going to be more out to do something silly. I also don't see how the crew can't regroup, or rethink their plans while off the Horizon. For the most recent events (I guess, directly the one Sunday since it was so combat heavy), there was nothing stopping from the crew from regrouping in the base camp. This actually happened once or twice if I'm not mistaken too, once things started to unravel. That said, Solution #2 doesn't sound bad. It is true that the crew being all off-duty causes problems with a lack of order and cohesion. It certainly wouldn't stop everyone from just going off and doing whatever they wanted, but it would provide people with a rally-point in case they either didn't know where to go/what to do.

BYOND Key: Girdio Character Names: Veronica Brax, Reki Atoro Species you are applying to play: Tajaran What color do you plan on making your first alien character: Cinammon colored Njarir as a base, but using the following lore to create a tortoise-shell pattern: Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, I've looked over all three-factions, both religions, and believe I had a good understanding of Adhomai, Hro'zamal, and the Poles as well as the historical periods throughout Tajara lore. I'll need to do more work to be able to quickly recall information though obviously. 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: Tajara lore is incredibly fleshed out, and in turn gives an opportunity for characters from a vast degree of backgrounds. The ability to interact, and add to the complexity that a Tajaran character is without a doubt going to experience is inviting. Adapting to how a character from the Free Tajaran Council for example will react to a character from Adhomai, or vice versa for example is a really good thought experiment, and helps bring life to not only the ship but the "world" of the Spur as a whole. Furthermore, playing as a Tajara gives distinict opportunities for vastly different experiences in life. The PRA, DPRA, and NKA all have polar opposite views, and with a vast number of regions, with an equally vast amount of possibilities, it means that a Tajaran character can be extremely complicated and diverse in their views of the world. Being able to breath life into a character is always interesting. As well, similar to Unathi, Tajara get to explore the concept of interacting with a species too early. Unlike Unathi though, you have the ability to explore a race that is continuously still fighting to regain land and are constantly on the edge of a new war. Living life under the constant threat of basically OOT Cold War fears is something you can't really get outside of the Tajara (unless I've totally missed another planet's lore where it's similar). Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Simply put, life for an average Tajaran is hell. Or, more specifically was hell. Life on Adhomai is anything but pleasant and it could be argued that life never was good unless you were part of the nobility. For Tajaran, they have to be involved in politics to some extent, because unlike a lot of other planets in human space, their entire being thrives on what political group will end up doing. As well, as noted above, Adhomai has been at near constant war for the entirety of some Tajara's life is uniquely different compared to human planets who don't have to deal with that, at a planet-wide level. For some Tajara, there is literally nothing to define Adhomai besides war, and then the question becomes "what does Adhomai look like if peace is truly achieved"? Culturally, Tajara has a caste system that you don't see in human space, although there are of course similarities with the Dominians. This social pressure to either stay in or to revolt against your pre-determined station in life defines not only a Tajaran's job but their beliefs, their values, and their desires in life. Character Name: Ramala Halaby Please provide a short backstory for this character: (Accidentally didn't know this was supposed to be only two paragraphs, and I typed up like a page and a half. I'll attach that in a spoiler because I don't want to waste it lmao, but will remove it if asked.) Two Paragraphs: Ramala was born in 2438 to her parents, former Barons in what used to be Duchy of Dolor. During the onset of the First Revolution, her parents did everything they could to hide the fact that they were nobility, including using dye to stain her fur black, and revoke their titles and lands (not before draining them of wealth to sustain themselves). Eventually, as the Republic of Adhomai finally was established and rumors of nobility and hiding became more rampart in, they traveled north, to Northern Harr'masir, whereupon Ramala would soon be born. Growing up around almost only nobility caused her to be given a one-sided view of history, and what could have been. Despising the PRA for stealing what she felt was her birthright away from her, she became deeply entrenched in the belief that the PRA, and similar like-minded people were simply commoners who didn't know their proper place on Adhomai. Her birthright stolen, and her rightful title gone, Ramala desperately wanted to regain what should have been hers from birth, but had only a few options. Her family meanwhile, avoided fostering their own hatred and anger and instead saught respite in Azubarre and Marryam. As she got older, Ramala was granted the ability to work with the Royal Navy in Miran'mir when she was 15, and in 2455 she was given a full-fledged position as a gunner on a naval ship. A perfect way to enact both her own "vengeance" on the PRA, and possibly earn enough reputation to get good graces with other nobility, to one day secure herself a title. With time and experience, she worked her way through the ranks before eventually being granted the chance to fly in the Royal Flying Corps near the end of the war. Minharrzka's grace was not on her side though, as she was shot down, leading to a loss of an eye and multiple broken bones - injuries that she couldn't work past until the end of the war. Following the end of the war, Ramala realized that simply being the in the Royal Navy was not enough to land her a title, and it certainly wasn't enough to afford to buy a title of nobility either. In turn, her option turned to working with a megacorporation, but it took her a few years until the Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group, having recently been contracted to the PMCG. Her experience with the KOG led to her being noticed by the SCC in time, giving her the opportunity to represent the Kingdom and her skills on a wider, more impressive scale. What do you like about this character?: She's a young Royalist who was spoon-fed NKA propaganda growing up her whole life, and for good reason. Being a young Njarir makes her the perfect candidate for anyone wanting to make someone hate the idea of democracy. She is not a good person, but she's also not comically evil (or even, evil at all). She is selfish, self-centered, and egotistical but she believes that it's because she was destined for greatness and had it cruelly ripped away from her before she was even thought of. Unlike those who were fighting on land, being in the Navy and later Royal Corps gave her a more impersonal view of the war, and she was able to (like others in the Royal Corps) give it a more "noble" view compared to the cold, harsh reality of the Imperial Army. Even as a kid, before she when to help the Royal Navy, all she would know of the war would be what other supporters of the Kingdom were telling her: that the PRA was attempting to destroy what little they already had. Also, being a Njarir forced to work in roles that she shouldn't have to under the caste system? Even better, as it gives her more resentment towards the PRA, and more support to the NKA itself. The fact that her views are also slightly delusional adds the ability for a harsh reality check when exposed to different ways of life. Growing around nobility, being exposed to commoner Tajara and simply other life that wouldn't be happily greeting her with open arms once she revealed her goals to restricting education towards those who deserved it? How would you rate your role-playing ability?: I would put my skills slightly above average, but not by very much. There's obviously still always room for growth, and I feel like it would be silly to pretend otherwise. Notes: She is intended to be a BC member, but I'm unsure the vision requirements on BC as it's not listed on the wiki. If her only have eyesight in one eye would be an issue, that can be removed as it isn't anything too major, besides me trying to make her more unique. (and she would still have gotten broken bones anyways). Attached as well is a markup of what I'm thinking she would look like. I realized it was really hard to make a "tortie pattern", so this is the best that I could do. It uses the Ruddy and Cream colors, mixed with the Cinammon fur base. I know that Njarir don't usually have dark fur (direct quote from the wiki lists it as "and they do not generally have dark fur" but not never), but seeing as it's a staple of the tortie-pattern, I'm going to guess this is part of the recessive genes?

Firstly, I understand that I'm trying to be as objective about this situation, as I was not directly involved with any of the WL/unbans or so-forth. I've interacted with Sniblet, Zulu, and UASOS both ICly and OOCly and have enjoyed interactions with all three of them. I do not intend to make my posts seem biased to them, or towards staff, so I apologize if anything comes off like that. That said, after running through the thread a few things stuck out. I think, mainly the issue with this thread is the same issue that came with UASOS' complaint about Mel. This thread puts the entire server in this awkward spot, as noted by UASOS' recent reply. While the intention might not be this, it comes off as you wanting people to personally come forward with anecdotal remarks about the forums being toxic. This is similar to asking people to vote up or down if they've had negative interactions with staff. To put it bluntly, I believe a large chunk of people aren't really comfortable airing their grievances into the void, to be dissected by everyone else. That said, Peppermint asked, "there are a lot of battle cries over how staff are crushing down the players beneath a boot threatening to murder them if they speak out - but again, where has this happened?". This isn't something the staff has intentionally created, but there is any sense of this in environments like Aurora. Having authority figures with the ability to bar someone from a community will make people nervous to speak out, even if there is no evidence of this behavior happening. There is always this assumption of "yeah, it hasn't happened but what if I'm the first?" As well, I don't feel that it's not surprising that people don't feel comfortable addressing concerns, especially regarding staff, with staff. It is unfortunate, but there has been a noted few incidents of Aurora staff talking about players behind their back in the past in a way that was disappointing (I think the security discord situation was the biggest example of this). With this in mind, is it really surprising why someone might not want to come forward and label themselves as a whiner or something similar by the staff or other vocal players? Yes, you can state "this hasn't happened and won't happen", but there will always remain that stigma that will make it hard to convince players to come forward and speak on issues. I don't have an answer to how to fix it, but I do think it's worthwhile to explain the perspective of why people might be nervous to speak out. Personally? I can outwardly state I don't have any issues with the staff but I can understand why someone may be hesitant to come out and speak. I thought about posting this big reply but think it's easier to ask a simple question: what exactly is the goal of the thread? It really just seems all over the place. At some points, it seems like it's advocating for policy change, at others it seems just like an open-ended complaint thread against the entire staff, despite not being in the complaints forum. I've reworded and rephrased this a ton, so let me know if it's confusing or whatever.

It's been only a few months, but it feels like the forum reactions have quickly snowballed into something negative. I'm guilty of it on occasion as well, but the (haha) and (confused) reactions have been simply used to foster negativity on the forums. I feel like this doesn't need much explanation, as you can go through most of the Complaints/Unban/Whitelist threads and see a trend of people reacting with (haha) and (confused) reactions to things that they're not involved with. It is funny sometimes, but I feel like it's more-so making a conversation negative without any positive impact. If forums reactions could be selectively removed, or limited to certain boards that would be fantastic, but apparently it's not possible. So, until that point I feel like the worthwhile steps towards fostering a positive community is to simply remove the forum reactions. By taking them away, nothing truly is lost. It can be chalked up as a failed experiment (which happens), and possibly brought back in the system can be changed. Conversations go back to the way they were before, which wasn't a bad thing to begin with.

Holy shit! Yeahchris! Honestly never expected to see your name around again. I don't remember if you remember VoltageHero from super old Aurora, but that's me. I had actually mentioned you a few weeks ago when talking about some of the really early admins, and partially the fact that we had two Chris admins back to back, which was pretty funny. I'm sure you remember F_Sphere but I'm almost certain I've seen him brought up in passing as well, recently.

The horrors of a failed server restart.

First and most importantly, I would hope that this would be a team-effort. I am by no means an expert on good character creation, and I don't want to pretend I am. In turn, hopefully people are able to add their own pieces of advice. In an ideal world, players would be able to look over the thread, and find posts from their favorite roleplayers and follow their advice, since Aurora currently has some very skilled roleplayers. But, that's being dreamy. The intent is to provide players (who are primarily) new to roleplay and SS13, a resource they can access when it comes to creating a character. Secondly, this is not necessarily a guide to roleplaying a character. You can create the perfect character, and then when it comes time to actually play them it all falls apart. That's okay! It's all about trial and error, and working through what characters you can pull off and what ones don't really hold up when it comes time to test them in action Personally, I have been involved in roleplay (should it be Aurora, DnD, forums, or other formats) and story-writing for quite honestly a lot of my life, and character creation is always a blast. I adore the ability to paint a character in your mind, craft their lives and their personality in your hands. I will be stealing points from other people as I've watched tons of character creating videos because I'm always terrified of my characters being unrealistic, no matter the medium. Finally, before getting into tips on my end, keep in mind that none of these tips are be-all, end-all. You don't have to conform to any of these tips if you want, and can pick and choose what sounds helpful to you. Starting off, the biggest thing I like to focus on is the idea of goals/motivation. This may seem simple, but sometimes people don't have a concrete goal in mind for their character. Sometimes, a player will create a character whose entire existence is as if they poofed into existence one day, with nothing in mind besides "I am alive and I must work". Goals are something simple for a character to work towards, and they don't have to be extreme (although they can be). Something as easy as "making enough credits to help my family" or "wanting to see the Spur" are great, because it opens the door to (a theme that helps in character building) asking why. Why does your character want to help their family? Do they have a strong connection to them? Is there something that their family can't handle? Why see the Spur? Does your character want to see anywhere in particular, interact with someone from anywhere in particular? These are straightforward and something you as a player will know, and in time other characters will know as well. On the other hand, a more tricky concept is the idea of giving your characters needs. In particular, this is referring to the concept of "wants vs needs". To quote the book Creating Character Arcs, by K.M Weiland, "your character will spend most of the story pursuing an outer, plot-related goal related to the thing he wants. But what the story is truly about, on a deeper level, is his growth into a place where he, first subconsciously and then consciously, recognizes and pursues his inner goal - the thing he needs." In other words. Your characters external goals are what's driving your character forward from day-to-day, but there's something they as a character needs to address about themselves, their need, usually something they're not going to really acknowledge or be aware of. Your character's goal might be "getting enough credits to not have to worry about people again" but their need could be "realizing that it's safe to trust people without getting hurt", or their goal could be "exploring the Spur" but their need could be "finding one's self-worth in the galaxy and becoming confident in their place".* Moving on, try to nail down a good personality. Unlike goals and needs, a personality is something that is the most overt thing possible, and is the first thing anyone will notice about your character. This is a straightforward concept on paper, but sometimes it's hard to figure out your character's personality. You don't want your character moving through life, and the Spur, without a personality. Focus on your character's beliefs of different regions of the Spur, their attitude towards life in general. Determine why your character acts the way they do. Did some trauma cause them to become more soft-spoken and keeping people away, afraid to tread on feet in case the same happens again? Are they outspoken, loud and quick to join themselves into a group because they've grown up defending people who can't do it for themselves? Are they constantly cracking jokes at others' expense and laughing to cover up their own fears? These are all good starting points for a personality, but obviously are not complete. Ideally, a character's personality comes from something in their childhood, or their backstory. Something that caused them to be the way they are today.** Some points to avoid. All of these can be avoided if you truly, absolutely want to have these in mind. And they can be utilized great! But, if you want to utilize them, you have to be aware of the pitfalls they come with. Firstly, if you're new try to avoid making a standoff-ish character right away. Sometimes these characters can go great, and I've seen more than a few on Aurora over the years prosper! The important point here is that they're almost always piloted by a player with experienced roleplay knowledge, who are able to weave a cold and brash character, while also managing to stay involved and interacted with. For a lot of characters, if their main personality or quirk is "they don't talk to a lot of people until they get to know them", then you're going to not get a lot of interaction and unfortunately probably get bored with the character. Your character by no means should interact with everyone they meet, but if you're hoping for people to initiate roleplay with a 'fresh, out of the box' character, then you're going to usually have a hard time. Furthermore, while the concept of mysterious characters with super in-depth backstories is amazing (you love to see it, honest), keep in mind this creates an issue as well when it comes towards interaction. If your character is too mysterious (as in, they don't open up at all) then you're setting yourself up for a tough spot. Sometimes a character who is super reserved and mysterious can have a great reveal when they get super close to another character, but often it will also fall flat. In other words, feel free to make a mysterious character but limit your expectations for how other characters will react to their big mystery, and also be prepared for it to never come up. Finally, don't be afraid to do something you think other people have. Personally, this is my biggest issue when it comes to writing in general, as I'm always terrified that I'm copying someone else. But, as the common saying goes in writing, "nothing is truly original, someone is stealing from someone else." Every character concept you can think of, most likely has existed in some form or fashion even if you weren't around to see it (keep in mind, Aurora has been around for nearly a decade). Instead of being a bad thing, rejoice! Knowing that your character has (probably) existed in some way means you can create whatever you want (within lore and realism reason). *I'm aware this whole section is a little long-winded and could be a bit confusing, so I apologize. I simply didn't really know a better way to phrase everything without it becoming wordy. **A video on this idea that I took a percentage of the paragraph from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHPa7HwLkws

Pretty straightforward, especially since the concept (in general) was decently supported on the other thread. The gloves have an IC reason to exist, and are not going to be something that can be aabused.

Well, no I'm not a new player "exactly" given that my original account (https://forums.aurorastation.org/profile/24-voltagehero/) was here during the start of Aurora and I have been pretty decently involved lol. Obviously, it has been a while and I don't say that to pull out the "I've actually seen a lot card!" but it seems like you're trying to give your opinion more weight due to seniority. I have seen multiple mute and deaf characters over the years on the server, and there has been some that I don't really find enjoyable to interact with. That said, even in the characters I didn't like they generally were not causing harm to my own RP and were things I could ignore. This follows through here as well. Even if I were a new player, telling someone their input on this situation isn't worthwhile, due to them being a newer player, isn't really constructive. You didn't explain why this is a bad idea or why it actively harms RP or would cause problems for the server besides simply "I don't like mute/deaf/etc characters." I feel giving the reasoning of "this shouldn't exist because it can create bad characters" isn't unique to mute/deaf characters. A poorly done character can be created no matter if they are able-bodied, are racked with health concerns or otherwise, and this is usually dealt with on the individual basis, not through cutting it off at the head. I don't really see how adding gloves or similar mechanics would expand this problem. To avoid the thread turning into a possible argument though, I'm not going to reply anymore since I don't think I have anything useful to add that hasn't been mentioned.

It seems like a straight forward thing to add, as I'm not really quite sure of any possible downsides. It facilitates more roleplay opportunities, while not being mechanically dangerous if the wrong players are using it. It also isn't something any character in particular has to use if they don't want to. Calling player concepts cringe is hostile, despite saying "no offense", and it's not really constructive to add. The simple answer is to simply not interact with a character if you find the concept to be something you don't enjoy, instead of limiting options that they have.

I'm in both agreement, and disagreement with this point. On one hand, I asked the character ICly where they were from (again, I don't have a round ID here, simply using it as an example and not a dig at the character/player), due to their accent "sounding familiar", only to get told that they didn't know where they were from. This was of course amusing just due to the idea of someone having no idea where they were from in real life, but it also painted a pretty solid picture of the player not knowing much about the lore, which is understandable. But I don't know if that's a point against the player. The lore is hefty, and it's something that's hard to go through, especially for people new to SS13 (which I believe they are, going from other statement regarding SS13 itself). It (your screenshots) feels like a situation in which the player was genuinely trying to interact with the lore and universe of Aurora, but didn't have the best understanding and worked with what they could. To go off this, I completely understand, and don't want to appear to be simply trashing a certain character or a player. At the same time, due to the circumstances it's kinda hard to pin down particular rounds it's moreso a persistent character element. I think, personally the issue is that Titus just doesn't come off as a believable character. On a positive note though and at the risk of going off topic, I've seen other people on the Discord speak to Rachel about Titus, and ways to possibly improve and it does seem like they've tried to take some of these elements to heart, so they're not actively trying to just goof off. I could be wrong, but it feels as if the player could be new to roleplay in general. I don't think the player would be adverse to constructive criticism.

I spoke to other players privately following this listed incident, to try and see if they felt the reaction others had during this time could have been seen as off-putting. Personally I was aware that there was a lot of discussion about new psych characters at the time, and I OOCly showed excitement towards creating my own psych character. I reached out to the player in question who plays Titus over Discord to try and gauge their feelings, to try and see if they were doing okay, so I'm hoping that they don't leave the server over this. I, like Zulu, haven't wanted to make a complaint against Titus. I've watched their character, and decided against really saying anything against them. Personally, I feel like silly(ish) characters have their space on HRP servers to an extent. If someone is doing no harm, and is just playing someone silly within reason? That's totally okay, because not everyone roleplays exactly the same. I don't expect every character to be ultra serious, and I feel like it would get dreary if it was. I want to focus mainly on Zulu's second listed point, that of Titus not being a psychologist. Firstly, I don't want to pretend that you have to have certain experience when playing different roles. It's silly to assume that a doctor character is run by a doctor IRL. That said, from what I've seen, Titus rarely does much besides get up to shenanigans at the bar, or talk about grilling. This is totally okay! I just don't feel like it's okay for someone who is supposed to be working in the field of mental health to be like this. It doesn't seem like something that should be expected of a therapist. In the few cases I've watched Titus attempt a therapy session, it doesn't really seem...proper? It feels as if Titus will get bored halfway through the session, deem the time is up (even if the other character is in the middle of talking about something), and walk out of her office to go somewhere. It feels like the therapy aspect is boring to Rachel as a player, and it makes it uninviting to really engage with their character, besides snickering at their antics. I would love to engage with more therapist characters, since Veronica has IC reasons to speak with them. But, when the only character who is coming on a lot seems like she wouldn't take any problems seriously, then both ICly and OOCly, there's not really any interest in going to their office. I'd like to clarify that personally, I have no problems with Titus as a character, but I don't think the role of therapist is right for the character, at least the way she's currently presented. Rachel made a statement in OOC, stating that they couldn't see Titus as any other role. To that, I would like to ask: why? Not to be accusatory, but what about Titus in particular makes her as a character only a therapist? As Zulu points out, I feel like they could be employed as a Counselor or something similar. Moving onto the first point, I'm not sure if Rachel was in particular trying to shame people into not playing psych, but more so venting their frustration about their character seemingly going underappreciated. I totally understand this, since obviously everyone in a HRP environment is attached to their character in some form or fashion. I get them being upset, but as mentioned this is a single-role slot. It's undeniable that in roles like this, that a psych character who isn't Titus would pop up anyways, blocking Rachel out from playing. You shouldn't feel required to play every single round, and single-slot roles are in particular fickle in the fact that if someone else wants to play, one of you will be losing out on the round. I think this mentality has to be accepted if you want to play any role that only has only slot (and, to be fair, I think besides heads this is only the Psych, Chaplain, Librarian, Reporter, and maybe Gardener?). Talking about quitting a character because someone took your slot for one round (or even multiple rounds) isn't a good look, to be honest. You should instead be happy that people are getting to play characters of their own. I don't think any single-role slot being filled by a character that isn't the "regular character" is a bad thing, at all. It gives these roles more breath and more diversity than just seeing the same character constantly. So, I feel that while I understand Rachel's feelings of possibly having their character sidelined, I think it's also a good opportunity to open oneself up to other characters as well, so that they don't feel like they're losing out on a round by not playing Titus. TL;DR: Titus herself is okay as a character, but I don't think she fits in the role of psych. Unless the character gets changed up in the way she acts (which might seem kinda odd as a player running her), she may be better suited to a different role.

Pretty straight forward, and I didn't see it mentioned elsewhere on the forums. I saw mention that other servers have this, but I'm unsure of the extent. Basically, give players the ability to speak different languages in the same sentence so it looks more fluid. A good chunk, if not all, of the characters know a language other than Basic, but the only time it's really used is to have private conversations with someone else. Obviously, that's entirely valid and not a point of diss, but I feel that having a change gives more roleplay and character depth ability. Currently, if you want to make it look like your character is interject a random phrase, word, or so-forth in a different language you would have to do something like "John says, "So like I was saying, those stupid- John says, ",1 pieces of filth- John says, "Were just asking for it." It looks a little wonky, and not as natural. In turn, I feel like having something that would let you type something like, ",0 So like I was saying those stupid ,1 pieces of filth ,0 were asking for it." or something similar would look more natural and flow better for a general conversation. You have the argument that "most people don't just throw in random words from different languages during their conversation", but I feel like there is still a substantial amount of people for this to be a realistic addition. On top of this, by giving this ability for players to "mix and match" what languages they're talking in the middle of a conversation, it allows for curses in different languages to be intermixed in Basic, a replacement for a word a character might not know in Basic (",0 how do you say ,1 [example] ,0 in Basic again?"), or to intentionally highlight words in Basic when you're speaking a different language, should it be someone's name or a planet or what have you. I'm not going to pretend to assume the difficulty on adding this to Aurora, but I feel like it could be used to more depth to general conversations around the station pretty well, and make the languages be used more often by players who might not want to go into full-fledged discussions with them.

I've had the opportunity to hang around Freedom a couple times and really enjoy the character! As noted above, it feels pretty solid of a request, especially to characterize character development into something visual. +1

I agree more with the idea of people given random items instead of people concrete lore items. Giving the curator the ability to get new and random items is more in line with other servers, and is better for roleplay ability for the role. A curator being able to play up certain random rolls could give reason for players to come to the library more often. I feel that giving just canon lore items (unless you create a big random pool of lore items, instead of static ones, which sounds like a headache) means that the curator would be appealing, probably only once when they first got introduced, and then by new characters (if they're designed to be totally new to the ship) almost primarily. It feels like it wouldn't beneficial for the role besides people OOCly getting to go "I was there for that event!" In other words, it seems like turning the library into a museum and just giving the curator static lore items, it's going to be hard for the curator to come up with their own spin for items constantly without it becoming boring, but with random items they can come up with whatever story they want for the items, while remaining lore friendly.

Hi! I recently returned to Aurora after being away for a few years, so I totally understand where you're coming from with the lore being a bit overwhelming. That's totally normal, as you pointed out there's quite a lot to go through. In an effort not to repeat what has been said already I'll try to respond more generally to your statements. I feel like an underlying concern or question you had throughout the entire post is the concept of "why should this matter to me as a player?" and I feel like that's a great question and perfectly illustrates the enjoyment that comes with roleplaying. You have the ability to dictate what matters to your character, through drafting them up. You don't need to the name of every famous celebrity across the Spur, but it's there if you want your character to be interested in music, movies, or some other form of entertainment. In other words, a lot of the stuff that may seem unnecessary is there to give you room to, to put it simply and generically, "breathe life" into the character. It helps you give your character passions, hobbies, and knowledge outside of their immediate job and it gives you hooks to interact with other players. If you're familiar with TTRPGs, imagine it like you're telling the DM what your character liked to do growing up and how that shaped them. A good DM might use this knowledge to run engagements with your character. In this situation though, you're both crafting your backstory and also leading the engagement. This can certainly be overwhelming but I feel that it leads to more opportunities and freedom! This same philosophy pulls through into your questions regarding security and medical information. You're inquiring as to why someone would give their characters a history of security records or medical records and that yet again goes back to the idea of making your character feel alive. Every character comes from a different background, and everyone has a vision when it comes to who their character is and what they've endured. This commonly manifests itself in the form of security records or mental health notes. As long as you're ensuring your character isn't too unbelievable, records are generally going to be a good way for both other players and yourself to engage with your character. There are both characters on the station and people in real life who have a history of security records, yet still hold pretty decent jobs where you wouldn't know that. As well, I feel like mental health problems is, amusingly, quite common in the medical field both in real life and in-game, so the disqualify someone from working in medical for mental health concerns wouldn't work too well (although I understand the line of thought!) In the end, a lot of your questions can be answered with the statement that a lot of the mechanics and seemingly endless fluff is there for you to make your character yours. In a lot of ways, character creation is an exercise in creative writing. It should be fun and enjoyable, but if you're finding yourself overwhelmed then you should feel free to step back and take time to reassess what's causing you problems. As stated above, you don't need to know every piece of lore to create a good character. While there is some basic information (mainly on the lore summary) that your character would know, it can also be fun playing a character who doesn't know much about the in game universe. This is an excellent opportunity for you to interact with other characters as well, because if something comes up in-game that you don't understand, there certainly will be a player/character more than eager to explain since it gives them the opportunity to express their own character. Hopefully this helps! As you mentioned Reddit, if you have any questions feel free to message me at VoltageHero as I try to check in my messages pretty often. While I don't have as much of a grasp on the lore as people up-to-date on everything, such as some of the lore-devs and long-term players, I've been roleplaying for the better part of my life. I'm not the elite roleplayer that some people are, but I love creating characters and may be able to give you some pointers if you're a bit unfamiliar with the concept in general. If any of this seems confusing, someone please let me know. It's nearly 1 AM my time but I wanted to give my own insight as well.

Ok.

+1 Because Danse told me I had to +1 this post and I'm scared what will happen if I don't.