Xeno Shells

[SampleTex]

From what I hear the Aurora used to have shells for alien races. I also hear that the IPC whitelist needed to get access to them was abused as a means of bypassing all the other whitelists. The reason I'm proposing bringing them back (with some tweaks to help prevent abuse) is because ICly I'm sure shells of xeno races exist.

Method 1: Multiple Whitelists.

Multiple whitelists (mainly IPC and the race the shell will be of) would be a simple way of preventing abuse, as it would require a player to have knowledge of both races. If that doesn't prove enough, a slightly excessive but still viable solution would be miniwhitelists granted on the fly by admins to players they believe would be able to play the shell in question properly. This would be the more hands off way of allowing xenoshells to be played, sparing the admins handing out miniwhitelists on the fly.

Method 2: It's own whitelist.

Yes more whitelists, but it's another option. It could possibly require one whitelist (either IPC or race the shell will be) and then the whitelist itself for xenoshells. This is the more hands on approach to allowing xenoshells back.

Method 3: Antag only club

This one is pretty self explanatory, only antagonists (see tators and maybe merc/raiders/ninjas), have the ability to be a xenoshells and only for the duration of round. For our traitor friends maybe just a small TC cost to become a full fledged IPC shell (EMP sheilding and suit coolers not included). For our merc/raider/ninja friends they get the option to choose to be a shell for species they have the respective whitelists for (so if you have a tajaran whitelist but not a unathi one you can't be a unathi shell, soulless machine). It'd essentially be vox, but a little less restricted to raider only in terms of antagery. What raider team wouldn't want a stolen tajaran shell to confuse the crew, or a private mercenary team buying a sturdy unathi shell for scaring and hurting people?

To note, this is a shot in the wild, I have no idea how people would respond to this for the most part, but curiosity and the idea of playing a xenoshell made me want to suggest this.

[Sandvich123]

Going to +1 this, for method 2 at least. I have one question for you, would a Diona shell vs a Unathi shell have any different game mechanics? I am excited to see this, as this would open many RP choices, and many antag possibilities

[SampleTex]

Going to +1 this, for method 2 at least. I have one question for you, would a Diona shell vs a Unathi shell have any different game mechanics? I am excited to see this, as this would open many RP choices, and many antag possibilities

You'd probably want to ask the IPC, Dionaea, and Unathi loredevs this, as for a dionaea IPC I'm not entirely sure if that would be possible, considering the nature of dionaea. Theoretically for the unathi they'd probably be tough and a little slower.

[LordFowl]

Xeno shells were removed at the request of the loredevs because each xeno loredev respectively felt that their species was being abused by shell players - that they did not respect the lore and overall reduced the quality of roleplay. I can tell you right now that a species requiring a dual whitelist to exist is pretty unlikely (I don't even know what kind of snowflake code that would require), and a whitelist just for xeno shells doesn't really fix the problem, which was the original loredevs of the alien species feeling like their xenos were receiving the butte end of roleplay. It led to first Dionaea shells being impossible at the request of the loredev, then Skrell shells, then Vaurca shells, and then pretty much every loredev agreed it was a bad idea.

Ultimately, even if the above problems were solved, xeno shells are not returning unless the loredevs agree to it, so necessarily this suggestion will require [mention]Senpai Jackboot[/mention] and [mention]Mofo1995[/mention].

[Sytic]

None of the species either care, are advanced enough, or want a Shell variant of themselves outside of Humanity.

-1 this.

(Unathi think they are soulless, Tajara are in WW2, Skrell are Skrell, Diona don't even have the form or the body for it, Vaurca already have biological robots, etc etc.)

[Butterrobber202]

If the Lore devs allow it, I'd Support a Dual-Whitelist requirement as stated in Method 1.

But as said above, only Human Xenophillics would even consider constructing these.

[Pratepresidenten]

I mean, seems like a pretty easy fix. If this should be re-implemented at any point, and someone is caught using it for a species they dont have, they lose their IPC whitelist on the spot, be it for a year or permanently. Simple as that.

As for the xeno shells, I was always a fan of these, so Im supportive of the reintroduction of them.

[Kaed]

I don't get the controversy.

A robot that looks like a human is not a human. It is a robot wearing a human skin.

Nor is a robot that looks like a cat a tajaran. It's a robot in a fursuit.

????

You shouldn't need an unathi whitelist to be a robot that looks like an unathi, because *you are not an unathi*. No unathi in existence will treat you like one, and will openly revile you for existing to boot, because you are soulless automaton wearing a their skin.

As an unathi main, I personally support this solely for the opportunity to flip the fuck out and break a robonathi for being an abomination. Fuck robots.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Guest

[MoondancerPony]

The issue is that it's being used to play extremely unbelievable characters. Requiring a whitelist for IPCs and the target species sounds like a good way to vet xeno shell players and keep them relatively rare.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

The issue is that it's being used to play extremely unbelievable characters. Requiring a whitelist for IPCs and the target species sounds like a good way to vet xeno shell players and keep them relatively rare.

This is very complicated for us. I dont want any race or sub race to require several layers of beuacracy to get. And losing one whitelist kills 2 playable species for you. And which whitelist maintainer handles it? I would not want to go through so much fuss for a race and I wouldnt ask anyone else to go through it.

There is no means to integrate these xeno shells as standard playable races in a way that isnt a mess ooc or ic.

However being able to convert to a shell agent when antag to be a cylon would be sick.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Marlon Phoenix

[Alberyk]

Speaking from experience, they were terrible in the roleplay and mechanical aspect. Besides, I do agree with jackboot's points about the whitelist.

[Sytic]

I do approve of introducing xeno shells as the SYNTHETIC MENACE for antag rounds. Potentially you could spawn yourself in like a kit that changes your race on yourself if you're a Traitor, so you could roleplay as a synthetic version of yourself who has taken over and integrated themselves in your place?

[Mofo1995]

I really didn't like Xeno Shells when they were around and I really don't want Tajaran shells. Tajara are too poor to make their own IPCs, and generally too poor to buy them either. They're also the subject of racism from humans, so I also don't see why humans would make them either. I do like the antag only option though, the SYNTHETIC MENACE.

[Pratepresidenten]

The species themselves doesnt necessarily have to be the constructing party. Im sure humans make plenty of Tajara shells to put around into key places to ensure stability and favor for the greedy human race.

Who is truly flesh and blood? Is your best friend like you, or have they been a machine all along!?

[Asheram]

Could we get a synthetic lore dev in here, because to me it sounds like the majority of shells are custom made anyhow? So, in theory, it wouldn't be prohibitively more costly to make, say, a Tajaran Shell for anyone who wishes to purchase one.

As it is, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a niche market for Xeno shells for those who want to have their shell stand out a bit.

And, as earlier mentioned, a Xeno Shell isn't the race of said Shell. It's a regular old Shell with a cosmetic mod.

I don't see how you would need an additional whitelist for them.

[Kaed]

Could we get a synthetic lore dev in here, because to me it sounds like the majority of shells are custom made anyhow? So, in theory, it wouldn't be prohibitively more costly to make, say, a Tajaran Shell for anyone who wishes to purchase one.

As it is, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a niche market for Xeno shells for those who want to have their shell stand out a bit.

And, as earlier mentioned, a Xeno Shell isn't the race of said Shell. It's a regular old Shell with a cosmetic mod.

I don't see how you would need an additional whitelist for them.

 

The problem that people are dodging around directly addressing is a fear that xeno shells will become a facilitating factor for 'furry trash'. They are afraid that doing this will encourage people to start making K1T-E, the robot in a hot pink fursuit that flirts with everyone, or L1FTS-H3R-T4IL, the slutty lizard ex-sexbot robot maid, or other horrible things that will make people want to die on sight. (these are extreme examples, obviously)

To be honest, however, all of these issues are things that can be moderated. I see a lot of people saying 'it may encourage bad roleplay' when what they are really saying is 'I'm uncomfortable with having to deal with possible consequences of allowing it'. Xeno shells in themselves are not a problem, and we shouldn't let fear of furry bullshit stop us from adding potentially interesting content. We're already locking IPCs behind a whitelist. That should be enough.

It's not even hard to come up with IC laws/regulations in Biesel on why publicly visible tajaran/unathi shelled IPCs aren't allowed to have bizzare color schemes - it makes them too obviously a robot and causes discomfort in the populace. Shells are supposed to let a robot emulate a species, not act as a fursuit. If the color is unnatural, it belongs in the private sector, in some weirdo's robot hentai collection, not working on a station. The species in question could even take stuff like a hot pink tajaran shell as an insult to their species, which is bad publicity.

[Mofo1995]

They're also the subject of racism from humans, so I also don't see why humans would make them either.

 

Why would humans rich enough to commission IPCs and shells be willing to commission a robot from what is considered to be the terrorism-infested source of refugees and cheap labor known as Adhomai? Especially considering humans dislike the Tajara enough that the largest human state in the galaxy voted to ban them all from travelling there and refuses to renew their green cards? It's not only a whitelist standards enforcement or roleplay quality issue, it's also an oxymoron to the lore. If you wanna have fur you gotta apply for Tajara. Tajara shells would be so far out there and such an uncommon oddity, that seeing one on station that wasn't made for some devious and specialized antagonistic infiltration plan would be ludicrous, let alone the dozens or so that would follow. There's no money to be made in the market for Tajara shells, either from human consumers or Tajaran consumers, so the only Tajara shells that I could possibly see made are for those with unsavory predilections with a ton of credits to burn.

As far as stability agents on Adhomai, there's already plenty of far cheaper PRA yes-men to do that work, so I don't see why anyone would need to go through the hurdles of making a bunch of Tajaran shells to go there when there's already a whole faction fighting specifically for human corporate interests.

[Synnono]

I've always been of the opinion that humans absolutely would build these, as we are freaky as heck and would rather indulge our imaginations than respect any sort of cultural or societal more.

I'd love to see them come back, though I doubt the will is there on the development side.

[JMJ_99]

With sytic. None of the species bar humans have a reason to have/want shell frames

[Scheveningen]

Only if xeno shells are somehow tied to antagonist exclusivity based on the synthetic infiltrator sha-bang. Otherwise, I do not think it's not a good idea to reintroduce what was, for a long time, just adding robots in fursuits.