Ublicto

BYOND Key: Ublicto Discord Username: GalacticEmpireLover Character Name: Elwood Johnson Item Name: Solarian Marines 32nd Regiment Flag Item Function(s): It's a flag of a Solarian military unit. It should have no difference mechanically from a normal flag. Item Description: A flag representing the Solarian Marines 32nd Regiment. The text on the left of the flag is the motto of the unit, "Always ready, always loyal." On the right the year "2461" is written. Why is your character bringing this item to work?: They were in the 32nd Regiment during their last years of military service, and the unit itself means a lot considering that it was made up in large part by 33rd marines which did not join the SRF and fought on the side of the Alliance government. How did your character obtain this item?: They were part of the unit. What value does this item have to your character, and what story does it tell?: It's a representation of a lot of their values and something they take a lot of pride in. Even though they're out of the military and nearing retirement the flag to them represents many of the principles they chose to live by as well as part of their personal history. Sprites: attached to this post, there is only one. Folded there's no reason it shouldn't look like every other flag does. Additional Comments: None 32nd_Regiment_flag.dmi

This is another excellent point. I frequently find that antag teams tend to be a mixed bag and the number of skilled people willing to play antag regularly is limited. I feel like a formalization of existing rules which aren't clear or a change to the rules regarding the way antag players are moderated would be positive here but that's something the staff team must discuss.

I am solidly in support of this change. Nerfing sensors makes it much better to play antags such as ling and will decrease the reliance on certain less fun traitor tools. It opens up a lot for antagging and is a very positive change. First responder before this was one of the most oppressive roles for a ling and having two FRs was worse in many ways than having more sec. However, I do think adding sensors back to non-work uniforms would be a positive change and I dislike tying suit sensors to alert level because this incentivizes raising the alert level whenever any crew anywhere could be in danger. Instead I think the tracking level of suit sensors should be totally removed and the highest level should be vitals which can be available at all times. The other changes I have no criticisms of because to me they are very positive, especially taking sensors off PDAs and tablets.

Reporting Personnel: Maximilian Burns Job Title of Reporting Personnel: Captain Game ID: cq6-dCq8 Commended Personnel: Jamari Sauter - Chef Gregory Digson - Bartender Witnesses: Maximilian Burns, Captain - Attended feast and saw large assortment of beverages and excellent food prepared. Cordia Caladius, Executive Officer - Organized feast and spoke highly of the preparations Sauter and Digson made for it, as well as the end result. Xuq Gir-Loveq, Research Director - Observed the feast and spoke highly of both Sauter and Digson's work. Time of Commendable Act: 00:40 Real Time: 8:00 EST Location of Act: Holodeck Alpha Overview: Chef Sauter in cooperation with Bartender Digson prepared a large feast for the Dominian Feast of Rewnewal. Despite neither of them being Dominian themselves they put above and beyond effort into it and prepared a wide variety of dishes and drinks. They spent two days before the feast preparing and provided an excellent experience for the entire crew. Seeing as how both went above and beyond to raise crew morale and encourage a spirit of cooperation among a culturally diverse crew it is my opinion, and the opinion of the other heads of staff present for the shift including the organizer of the feast Executive Officer Cordia Caladius that both Chef Jamari Sauter and Bartender Gregory Digson deserve a formal commendation and all associated benefits for their efforts. Additional Notes: None

Two consulars is a great ideal. Opening up the command department to more people and making it less 'sectioned off' from the ship is excellent as well.

1. When compared to a lot of the other applicants I think I would offer a different level of depth to human lore. While many of their ideas are good and deserve implementation, I feel as if my suggestions for expansions in the lore and story arcs would make the Aurora universe feel more lived-in and give new meaning to many of the identities and ideas characters on the Horizon have. Having the Horizon participate in a lore arc as a minor element or even only observing the effects of the arc through a series of events and mini-events that have low to moderate stakes would encourage character development influenced by ongoing lore while also creating a solid middle ground between the Horizon being the center of the universe and just another space ship. A lot of the broader world-changing lore changes I support would also make the values and cultures of the characters on the Horizon more diverse. Another applicant has raised the fact that a lot of the lore is "Americentric" because 21st century American culture is treated as the default and they are absolutely correct. Aurora is heavily influenced by the cyberpunk genre which in turn reflects the concerns of Americans from the 1980s both in terms of foreign economic dominance and machines taking over from humans (a concern today as well). The changes I have said I would make in my application would do the most to change that I think. Among all applicants, I think the changes and new lore I would make would do the most to make Aurora's universe more unique and engaging for players. 2. Consulars are an excellent way to bring in geopolitics and for a while now I have thought we should have at least two slots for them. Besides that, I have said that I want to increase the cultural differences across the Aurora universe. I generally dislike how the baseline for culture in Aurora is 21st century American culture and am interested in taking different directions in different ways. While Biesel might be more "21st century" than the others, I think most of humanity should feel as different from us in our version of 500 years in the future as our ancestors were 500 years ago from now. In particular I think the implications of a lot of cultural practices are not explored. How would Eridani society sustain itself when societies that put career success above everything else right now suffer from demographic crisis? How would the genetic engineering of elite Dominians affect the population? Would it deprive them of whatever social mobility could exist for them in a society like Dominia? Maybe gene-boosted primaries have to be sectioned off from society because they're so resented by everyone else that excessive public exposure risks mob violence against them? How would the hyper-militarism of Gadpathur affect what jobs and communities its exiles organize. Maybe there are Gadpathurian exile mercenary companies because the only job skill many exiles might have is being a soldier. 3. I think my Elyra-Dominia arc could be as dangerous for the Horizon as the event organizers would like to make it. There could be away missions with little combat that focus mostly on engineering and medical, or there could be high intensity away missions where some faction mistakes the Horizon for their enemy or otherwise tries to force it or its away team away from something important. If we want to avoid combat or confrontation between factions however it might be best to focus on a diplomatic arc. It would be interesting for the Horizon to carry a Solarian delegation to a diplomatic meeting in the Republic of Biesel or carry a Bieselite delegation into Solarian space. I'm sure many would like to visit Earth as part of a peaceful event. The Horizon could also participate in a cooperative mission with the Coalition, Elyrans, Dominians, or any other power to find something of mutual interest to both the SCC and that power. Regardless of what is done I would like to see the Horizon be part of a larger story rather than the subject of the entire story or a bystander. Players should feel as if their characters live in the setting rather than that they are the setting. Having the Horizon not be the most important thing in the universe and contributing to a larger concern can do more for player engagement than maximizing the stakes or violence like the ICV Wolf event (which i enjoyed) did.

Thank you RTNP, I'll never steal a captain slot from you again!

BYOND Key: Ublicto Total Ban Length: Permanent Banning staff member's Key: ReadThisNamePlz Reason of Ban: Reason for Appeal: not me

Part of this I feel is because there was no HoS and no CMO so I was essentially coordinating three different teams of people and had little bandwidth left over for anything else. It was extremely difficult to pay attention to everything at once. The expedition was also going against turrets and mines so I decided to send a lot of sec down rather than research because I imagined they'd be fighting more than anything else. I would have given a lot of those short and decisive orders if I could have and in retrospect I probably should have made someone interm HoS and CMO so I didn't have to deal with all this. Live and learn. I apologize if some of my mistakes made the round worse for you, but all things considered I think it was an alright round and I did an alright job. Much of your critique has merit, some of it I do not agree with. Thank you for it regardless, I appreciate it.

I think Dagoth makes a really good point here, RnD is very outdated compared to a lot of other systems and there isn't enough to do in most of the science department. However, it would be good to add ship-side stuff for science to do like assemble probes that can be used to study planets, make custom artillery shells with specific substances in them (for fighting enemies that only take a certain type of damage maybe), and there could be additional tools for antag interactions like studying captured changelings and curing (or inducing) vampirism.

I enjoyed working with Sandra and they seem very competent as XO. They're sure to be a solid member of any command team. +1

I really like the "Johnny Five" aspect of your character and have no doubt you could play it well. Drood, despite his eccentricities and my initial reservations about him is a fun character to interact with. I have no doubt IHU-812 can make a good character with a story to tell. However, you might want to add more to this application. Look at some of the applications for IPC that were accepted and see what they did well - it's what I did when I was applying. +1

BYOND key: Ublicto Discord Username: GalacticEmpireLover Character names: Elwood Johnson and Athena are my most played characters. How long have you been playing on Aurora? Close to four months Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? I have received some notes and an antag ban. One note is for not understanding the role of Warden well enough, another is for too aggressive antag play which I also received the antag ban for. None of these interactions were caused by me acting in bad faith, and I have demonstrated a willingness to avoid past errors. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame? A head organizes their department to respond to the round and is a primary driver of the story. They direct their department's response to anything that could happen and also ensure that the proper materials are available to help their department do its job. In the case of new players, command staff should ensure that they have the resources to become used to their assignment and aren't pushed out by a lack of familiarity with the mechanics. A head of staff does not need to IC know how every part of their department works, but they should be familiar with their role and be able to organize other players. The primary skill of a head of staff is communication and organization. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them? They must facilitate role play in a constructive way and do what benefits the people playing the round best. That means ensuring departments have clear objectives and in situations where there is a threat to the ship or its crew respond in reasonable ways that are conducive to telling a story. With regard to antagonists, command players should generally give them leeway and allow them to pursue creative gimmicks within IC reason. During extended rounds departments receiving objectives or otherwise being given goals that allow role play that is not just having twenty people in the bar all the time might also be good and make the round more fun, and allow more canon experiences for characters. Explain how the recent events in the Spur changed your character and how they came to be employed on the SCCV Horizon. Maximilian Burns is a career explorer and merchant who is 37 years of age. His mother Andrea passed away early in his life, and his father Herbert who was the owner of the small trading firm "Burns Trading Company" would raise him on his home moon of Callisto, although Maximilian would attend higher education on Earth. The influence of his father would permeate Maximilian's life and grow his interest in the adventure and profit of interstellar trade, which his Father would cultivate even more so by ensuring his son would be employed in his business and eventually command one of the family's five trading ships. With megacorporate competition forcing the Burns company's profit margins down and the stagnant Alliance economy further limiting their avenues for growth the company would resort to riskier and riskier enterprises to make ends meet. When Herbert Burns died and the company passed to Maximilian it had virtually no liquid resources and was barely able to pay interest on its debts. Maximilian would do everything he could to save it, and quickly find that he would have to resort to riskier and riskier expeditions to Interstellar war era ruins, alien wrecks, and high value transport to keep the Burns Trading Company alive. He would even have to cross ethical and legal boundaries at times. Regardless of his efforts it was inevitable that he would fail. The collapse of organized authority in much of the Middle and Outer rings of the Sol Alliance would doom the Burns Trading Company's future prospects. With the writing on the wall, Maximilian broke up the Burns Shipping Company in 2562 and auctioned off its assets to pay back debts and save what he could of the small family fortune. He would find a way to do that through employment with the SCC. Being an experienced businessman and trader in difficult situations already he would find employment first as an operations manager aboard a space station before becoming the executive officer of the survey ship SCCV Advance that would be attacked on a mission to a deserted star system by Southern Solarian Military District raiders in 2564. The death of the SCCV Advance's Captain forced him to take command of the ship which he successfully guided to safety and prevented the capture of. This secured a chance for his promotion, which he took at the earliest possible time. He would be assigned to the SCCV Horizon, a much more advanced ship with a similar mission profile to his last posting. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Captain Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? Yes Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking: Maximilian Burns - Captain Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Yes, I expect to me stripped of the whitelist if I mess up in a major way or make a pattern of bad decision making. Have you linked your BYOND account to the Forums? Yes Extra notes:

1. I think in general crossover shouldn't put the aliens as part of a human story or the humans as part of an alien story. I think the tajara in particular have a lot of interesting stories to tell on their own and a larger power intervening on one side or the other too much can suppress that. What works best I think are stories that use humanity as a plot device to advance something related to the aliens. Maybe the tajara lore people want to restart their three way civil war again and use human weapons and aid to intensify it. Maybe the Skrell writers want to have traverse rebels hire human mercenaries or something to escalate the conflict and destroy what chance at peace exists. The way aliens interact with humans or other aliens should be much the same. I don't think humans or aliens should be imposing things on the other unless there's a good story reason to do so, all of their interactions should help advance their own story and use the other party as a plot device. I would be against something like the SCC taking over the Hegemony with a coup for a story where the SCC is the focus. If that happened it would have to contribute something positive to the Unathi's world. 2. The Coalition I think should be expanded and there should be some exploration into what its citizens view it as. Is it basically a military and economic alliance sort of like a combination between the EU and NATO, or is it a real state? I imagine there would be voices for centralization and voices against. Xanu and Gadpathur might like centralization as a domestic policy for different reasons even though they normally oppose each other on foreign policy for example. The Coalition's response to the Alliance's reunification can create a lot of interesting tension and should have a lot of news articles written about it especially when the Alliance starts reorganizing itself and becoming stronger as an institution so it can support looking outward. Dominia and Elyra have a lot to write about as well. Elyra is a state with a lot of religious influence in a very materialistic world and I think it would benefit to take Elyra in a direction which keeps it a secular state but extends the role of religion in a cultural way. In Dominia religion is politics and cannot be separated from the state. There i think it would be good to introduce some instability. Dominia has a social system which would generate a lot of dissatisfaction among large groups of people and give them little legal outlet to deal with their problems. Dominia deserves a story about struggling to reform or to resist reform and the consequences of that to their religious system. Maybe even as great as a short-lived (or permanent) schism of their church. In general though I think Elyra needs more religious influence and Dominia needs less stability. 3. I like the idea of scarabs but I dislike the fact that they're part of the Coalition and one mostly unified fleet. There is so much space and there should be a category of off-worlder who belong to no nation and are much more spread out. There would be countless isolated asteroid colonies, generation ships, or whatever else outside the boundaries of any state. It can be the case that the farthest humans from Earth are on generation ships that launched long before the Interstellar war. A new category of scarab or entirely different offworlder that represents more isolated ships or asteroid colonies/space stations could be a solid addition. They could also contribute to events for the Horizon in ways that scarabs could not. They could be an enemy more interesting than random pirates or be the crew of some of the stations that populate the space the Horizon is passing through. There are plenty of ideas for new ghost roles or antag gimmicks involving them as well. Alternatively off-worlders could remain almost entirely as is and only be tweaked slightly so that scarab is a more expansive term which encompasses people who aren't part of the main scarab fleet and crew those isolated ships and stations. Over a long time the scarabs could have split and the present scarab fleet is simply the largest group of them around. Whatever is done I think off-worlders in general need a way to be independent of any state or the larger scarab fleet without being a scarab sadar.

Example arc idea has been edited.

Ckey/BYOND Username: Ublicto Position Being Applied For: (Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer): Human Lore Deputy Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page? Yes Past Experiences/Knowledge: None, but I like to think I can write well. Examples of Past Work: None, but I can write a sample news article or something if you need it. Time on server: Probably close to four months Why are you applying for this position and why do you believe you would make a good Human Lore Deputy? I have a strong interest in Aurora's lore and enjoy world building. Aurora has a strong universe already established and I think it could benefit from filling in many details especially when it comes to being able to create more unique characters for the role playing game Aurora's lore revolves around. I am most interested in expanding Aurora's depth rather than its breadth and elaborating on the implications of various parts of the lore I don't think are explored. For example, how would the average citizen of the ASSN react to their country losing very close to half its territory? How would the average Bieselite who believes in the Republic respond to the Nanotrasen dominance over their government? Both of these questions among others create a good basis for stories to expand the Aurora universe. What is your favourite part of Human Lore and why? What is your least favourite? (Note: If you submitted something that was canonised and is now part of human lore, you may not select your own canonised submission as your favourite or least favourite part of the lore.) I am a fan of the Solarian Alliance's warlord period, and dislike the Nanotrasen stranglehold on Biesel. The warlords of the Alliance create a lot of interesting circumstances for Alliance origin characters and serve as an excellent way to force the ASSN to reform and push forward the story of that state in particular. The story of military usurpers and regional military commands losing direct contact with the central government reminds me vaguely of the late Roman Empire to a degree and there is a lot of room for lore expansion coming from that angle. The ASSN as this slowly dying state that refuses to go peacefully into history or as an empire given new life by a close brush with death both give some really good ways to tell a story. However, Biesel is at the other end of the spectrum as far as states go. It is too stable and too predictable. For a Republic that must justify itself to its people with republican principles it delivers on little of its promises. The Nanotrasen control of the state and lack of real internal problems or opposition creates a stagnant and less interesting environment for story telling I think. Biesel needs a certain degree of stability to be the basis of the Horizon and to make sense as the home of Aurora's story, but it also needs real challenges and real internal problems to make it a more interesting state to create characters from and a good place to tell stories around or in. What are three projects (medium to large sized additions, reworks, or arcs) you would like to do or help organize if made Human Lore deputy? (NEW PLANETS OR FACTIONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM ADDITION AT THIS PRESENT TIME. DO NOT INCLUDE THEM IN YOUR ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION.) I would add or change details about the structure of human governments and make sure these reflect different values. I would like to see the ASSN reworked into a more unitary government or at least the way planetary leadership interacts with the central government elaborated on to reflect the authoritarianism that permeates its political system. I would also like to create more significant differences in the values each state beyond what exists now. Biesel and the Alliance should have different cultures and I am a fan of the work that was put in to make the Empire of Dominia culturally and organizationally unique. The Coalition of Colonies and Elyra could also greatly benefit from going into more details about the structure of their government and how that reflects their values or histories. . For example, in such a decentralized state the capital could move every time a new leader is chosen to the leader's planet. One year Galatea might have the capitol and the next year Xanu. This could also be a great way to add details to less explored parts of the Coalition where maybe some power sharing agreement results in the capitol being moved to a With regards to arcs I think one about the internal politics of the Republic of Biesel would be great. Biesel in general can take interest from the politics of historical Republics where elite interests and popular interests were constantly interacting with each other and running into conflicts. A good arc can be a constitutional crisis caused by a powerful and popular populist senator being killed by the SCC after demanding economic or poltical reform. It would create a lot of tension between what Biesel is supposed to be and what it actually is and can be reflected in game with new antag gimmicks or events that divide the crew and change characters even if they don't involve very much shooting. An arc about Biesel's politics would also create more lore depth for the faction in general. A second idea is the Sol Alliance rebuilding its international standing. The Horizon could host diplomatic missions or ferry an ambassador from Sol to Biesel with the possibility of attempts being made on their life or other interference that the crew would have to respond to. Depending on the crew's response and methods of dealing with the crisis - or failure to deal with the crisis - relations between two of the largest interstellar states in the game would be affected. A third idea is The Dominians and Elyrans stirring up chaos. There could be some sort of incident between the two states and the Horizon is called in to protect the SCC's interests. This could be reflected in game by Elyran and Dominian ghost roles being available at the same time or the Horizon having canon away missions where it has to potentially skirmish with Dominian or Elyran forces or simply retrieve some bit of technology that the locals may not want to give up. There are plenty of interesting things to do with this and a lot of them don't need to be world shaking. What do you believe are the current strengths and weaknesses of human lore? Why? What would you do to improve upon the weaknesses? A big strength is the diversity of peoples, states, and cultures. This gives a lot of room for story telling and a great diversity of characters to encounter in game. A weakness I think is the general homogeneity in social values between any culture which doesn't have a gimmick of sorts. I know that introducing some prejudices or values that are debated in the real world can make some people uncomfortable but if done right I think it could make the world much more engaging and give a lot of new ways for characters to relate or not to relate to each other in game. From a story telling perspective the SCC also seems much too powerful. Even though it has detailed lore and history it seems to win all the time and I think giant corporations openly defying state authority despite the fact that they lack armed force in most cases to back that defiance up is a little unrealistic. Especially considering that Hephaestus Industries just bought the Hegemony's economy. I always thought it would be nice if the SCC had real threats and there were times where the megacorporations that define so much of the story tended to blend with states and it wans't clear where the interests of the corporation ended and the state's interest began. Something like this exists in the Cyberpunk series where the mega corporation Militech has been nationalized by the United States government but still functions on its own and has its CEOs become American presidents. The line between Militech and the government in cyberpunk is very blurry and although we are getting some of that with Nanotrasen and Biesel I think a similar relationship could and should be extended to other states and other corporations to different degrees. What are your thoughts on the past arcs that have been organised by the human lore team? I was not here for many of those but I am a fan of the direction Mictlan is going. I like the potrayal of counter-insurgency and the realities of the Republic of Biesel's war effort on the planet. It feels realistic, its polarizing, and I can easily imagine a government in real life resorting to such brutal tactics because they do it all the time. Apart from that reading the wiki I really like the story of Admiral Frost. Obviously he's an incompetent fascist dictator but his rise and destruction of the Alliance's government is a good story and also feels believable in a number of ways. His fall is also similarly good and I like how despite his incompetence he died in power and made those who outlived him pay for his actions. He's a figure in the Aurora universe that casts a very long and dark shadow over it and tells a realistic and I think important story. What is an idea for a future arc that you would like to have a part in writing and organising in the future? (Note: If you provided an arc or arcs as part of your answer for question 3, you may expand on the ideas for that arc or arcs here, or you may provide another idea.) The Elyra-Dominia skirmish arc would feature a few away missions and some space missions as well as giving ghost roles work during extended or potentially regular rounds. Having the Horizon transit a region where little central authority exists going from one spot to another retrieving technology or otherwise checking up on SCC outposts could create a more "Star Trek" feeling that I think the HRP space ship based nature of the server can be really good at making interesting. Outposts could be afflicted by Elyran or Dominian saboteurs, tajara or unathi groups trying to take advantage of the chaos (although that would involve the other lore teams), or involved in a multitude of other problems or projects. An arc like this would not be aimed at giving the Horizon participation in some world changing battle or series of events but instead creating interesting missions for the Horizon crew and canon events in a more episodic way. Have you ever been subject to any strikes or bans of any kind from Aurora's moderators or admins? If so, how long ago were these actions and what were they for? Yes I have received a week long antag ban and some notes for extremely aggressive antag play. This was nearly two months ago by now and I haven't got any notes since then.

A large contributor to this is that even if the antag can use their limited tools to their full effect, they are told not to and to prioritize telling a story (which usually means dont kill people and get brigged in practice). The crew meanwhile always plays to win, without exception.

Scheduling events will necessarily make non-event times less populated if all other rounds are extended. It will make it harder to gain new people and integrate them into the community which is a recipe for stagnation and a bleed of players. If you want more event-like antag rounds why not make a new WL category that gives some people certain powers (like spawning ships) when they roll antag to make the round more event-like? That seems like the best of both worlds, although I don't know how feasible it would be.

The easiest solution to this is to change server culture. Require people to "let the antag cook" among other things. Let it be known that during a round with antags, the course of the round and how fun it is generally depends on the antag. If antag was less of an OCC difficulty (including after the round where people shit on you) to play more people would probably do it.

"Insufferable pain in the ass" sounds like an OOC reason to me. My solution is that people who want quality antags should either be made to play antags or server culture must change and become more accommodating for antags, as I spoke about in the other thread. With regards to this thread, I think an announcement similar to the one that was made about command not sending confirmation messages for every antag fax would do a lot to fix some of the issues I and others have. What Lilahnovi wrote here with some changes about retaining valuable outside prisoners rather than borging them would do a lot of good if it was made official policy even if it is not everything I want.

Realistically a machinist will almost never have to borg someone and is there to maintain robots, not preform executions. Your argument would take a lot of the roleplay out of a borging and has a number of other implications I am sure you wouldn't like. If everyone is so "used" to doing evil things for megacorporations than it makes the game more boring and means players are essentially not allowed to have principles that might make them critical of anything.

"usually antags who get borged are just an insufferable pain in the ass or not containable" Half of this is an OOC reason and the other half does not warrant borging considering a prison break isn't a good reason to borg every antag. If you want less shitty antags why not discuss introducing an antag draft or finding other means to make more people play antag? That would make a good thread.

To add to N-8's point, I feel as if server culture incentivizes antag play which is generally unfun and places unreasonable burdens on antags while permitting what in any other circumstance would be ganking on security's part. The antag is expected to put a lot of effort into a gimmick, to engage as many people as possible, and to also avoid killing those people for as long as possible. Security is downright valid hunting a lot of the time and frequently opens fire on antags with little escalation or in fact to de-escalate the situation which is what realistically they should try first. An example of poor antag play caused by server culture is the reason why I received a note in a ninja round and a week long antag ban. When I was a ninja hunting people and aiming to take trophies I killed a janitor by essentially just running out from maints, bringing him down, and removing his hand for a trophy. This got me a bwoink because I prioritized game play over role play - however at the same time I thought doing something like that was necessary because all the janitor has to do to ruin my game is run away from me or yell out "SEC HELP" and I am through. The standard for me is much higher in this situation than the standard for them. Similarly the reason I received an antag ban was because as a ninja leading a team of traitors we were detected breaking into the crew armory and security was arming up. In order to stop us from being rolled by sec I immediately led the antag team to stop sec. We encountered the warden on the third deck and tried to hold them up but they simply ran away. Then we went below decks and tried to hold up the warden and other officers in the armory again but the warden picked up the nearest gun and started shooting at the five or six antags arranged against them. They were only "spoken to" for this while I received a ban for doing the reasonable thing and ensuring the antag team was not totally obliterated less than halfway into the round. This type of culture makes it impossible for me as an antag to rely on other players for telling a story. This is a cultural issue in general. I think some players are correct when they say borging is a symptom of a larger issue. The solution I suggest to this is an announcement similar to what solved a related cultural problem about command staff sending confirmation faxes too often. There could be an announcement that crew are expected to "let the antag cook" or otherwise engage in storytelling rather than simply valid hunting the antag which is what seems to happen a lot of the time. This way antags can point to something concrete when crew makes an unfair choice and the standard of behavior is changed. It has worked in the past, it will work again. It is very difficult to engage with crew if a random assistant or barkeep will say "heavily armed boarder next to me" whenever I show up. This is why antags are so evasive and tend to avoid confrontation and make the round less fun for everyone - they simply can't count on people "letting them cook"!