Soft Antag Restrictions

[Skull132]

Okay,

So before everyone starts yelling at me with quotes along the lines of,

It's a game! Why are we restricting people!

allow me to actually explain the system at play.

Eversince last year's December, we have been hosting a database that enables us to "age" players. Every new player that plays on our server, will have their ckey carried over into a collection, and their first time of play dated. From there on out, we can check the age of this player in days. So, let's say I made a new accounted, played yesterday. As of today, the entry is one day old, and so my ckey/player age is considered to be one day.

Now, this enables us to install a few soft limites. Restrictions that are lifted automatically, and that can allow for the planned integration of new players.

Now, where do we apply this? Out of all of the antag modes, there are two which stand out as being considered a bit more demanding due to the nature of our server, and will require some familiar with how the server is managed: nuke and heist.

What would I suggest? Applying a 5 day age restriction for those two antag slots. 5 days, one work week, would enable new players to not get selected by accident, and chucked into the mix without having a solid grasp on the mechanics here (that right there is my main reason for suggesting this). It is also a short enough time that experienced players from other servers shouldn't get annoyed at their inability to play the role.

Also, guidance versus limitation. Other antag roles are primarily single-antag type. This enables a moderator or an admin to very clearly and without much effort to advise and guide the player, even if they're new. In nuke and heist, however, there are other teammembers who are involved, and the entire team sets the tempo that the newbie would then have to keep up with, all the while talking to a member of staff for guidance. I think that for this, a soft limit is better than saying, "We can teach'em!" For both, player and staff.

So, thoughts?

[SgtSammac]

Me gusta

[VikingPingvin]

Excellent idea. I would even say to raise the age restriction to somewhere areound 2 weeks.

[Skull132]

Excellent idea. I would even say to raise the age restriction to somewhere areound 2 weeks.

 

Nah, what we're doing isn't rocketscience. 5 days of play should be enough to get a feel for things, and start figuring out where you need to tread how; or when to ask what.

[Guest]

5 days is perfect, actually.

[canon35]

Sounds great.

[Chaznoodles]

Five days sounds nice. There used to be a restriction of this type over on LLA, and it helped a lot.

[EvilBrage]

Me also gusta. I'd also recommend extending it to cultists as well.

[Consgrove]

I really do like this. Some antags just aren't good antags (or have never played the role before) and need to settle in before they go right for it.

[K0NFL1QT]

I'd actually recommend we apply this to normal jobs, aswell. For your first few days on the server, you're restricted to entry level positions like cargo tech, cadet, engineering apprentice, nursing assistant, janitor. If you actually know what you're doing, you can say 'I was recently assigned to Aurora and CC wants to see how I perform here', and if you're genuinely new and do not know what you're doing you get to wear an obvious mark of newness. And not so you can be mocked and avoid, but so that people around you know to take you in and mentor you as appropriate. I know in Sec the attitude is very much 'always stick a cadet to an officer'. Medbay's so small you probably learn just being around. Engineering is the problem department.

Most engineers have a mindset of 'if you don't know what you're doing, don't do it yourself', and that's only because atmos and singulo are two of the most deadly and destructive forces on the station if not set right. Atmo techs are usually just happy for someone to talk to, so they'll help you learn how to set up atmos even if you don't fully understand if. But then there's the engine, and the round start rush to get it setup. If you can't identify who's doing what and where you can help, you're usually kicked out because radiation.

[Guest]

I'd actually recommend we apply this to normal jobs, aswell. For your first few days on the server, you're restricted to entry level positions like cargo tech, cadet, engineering apprentice, nursing assistant, janitor. If you actually know what you're doing, you can say 'I was recently assigned to Aurora and CC wants to see how I perform here', and if you're genuinely new and do not know what you're doing you get to wear an obvious mark of newness. And not so you can be mocked and avoid, but so that people around you know to take you in and mentor you as appropriate. I know in Sec the attitude is very much 'always stick a cadet to an officer'. Medbay's so small you probably learn just being around. Engineering is the problem department.

Most engineers have a mindset of 'if you don't know what you're doing, don't do it yourself', and that's only because atmos and singulo are two of the most deadly and destructive forces on the station if not set right. Atmo techs are usually just happy for someone to talk to, so they'll help you learn how to set up atmos even if you don't fully understand if. But then there's the engine, and the round start rush to get it setup. If you can't identify who's doing what and where you can help, you're usually kicked out because radiation.

 

I saw this on Hypathia a few days ago. I think it's a good idea only if no aditional restrictions are set in place (excluding the whitelist for heads). This means, once a player has 1 day of gameplay, they can play whatever they want. This would get rid of all the baldies that invade the server, by making sure they take only the basic roles and get weeded out before they do any real damage.

[Lady_of_Ravens]

Very short restrictions on most jobs would be pretty cool... especially if it's clear that it's short so new people aren't discouraged. Particularly for jobs favored by griefers, like engineer, geneticist and scientist, where showing up new, 30-years-old and bald means being subject to extra scrutiny by concerned players.