[Denied] King's IPC Whitelist Application

[KingOfThePing]

BYOND Key: KingOfThePing

Character Names:

Sei Armas: Paramedic

Julienne Turner: Bartender

SPRITE: pAI

The rest is amazingly irrelevant.

Species you are applying to play: IPC

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): Exempt

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Absolutely

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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 are fast cats, Diona are slow trees, Unathi are robust lizard people and Skrell are just weird. None of them appeal to me. A non-biological species, though sounds the most interesting to me. Not being able to understand what's so bad about losing your arm (or maybe not caring too much), because you can just replace it, not fully understanding what's so bad about a crewmember dying, since your own positronic brain can just be put into another shell (Dramatic phrasing). Even if this doesnt mean you can go full rampage, since you still have a sense of self-preservation, it opens up a lot of options. IPCs can utilize so many playstyles, its amazing. Also, IPCs, especially the Shells are deep in the uncanny valley, I just love it.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

It starts at the way you talk. You can either be more human-like, without being able to 100% copy a human, or just go full robot and talk in half-sentences, clipped, cold and, well, robotic, obviously. Since you dont need air to breathe, "only" to be cooled, depressurized areas aren't as dangerous. You dont have organs that can just pop or stop working. Since you dont feel pain or are overly emotional, IPCs are, to some degree, calculable in their behaviour, which makes it interesting to play or be played around. IPCs are machines, calculating, analysing and acting according to their programming, which I imagine to be very interesting to play.

 

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Character Name: INGRAM

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs

INGRAM is one of the old Baseline Frames. It's frame outdated, clunky, rusty. Originally, he was built to do office work, replacing human workers and increasing efficiency. The company’s own robotics department, who built INGRAM, using stock assembly parts went bankrupt, after some bad investments were made over a decade ago. In a last attempt to get some money from company assets, INGRAM was sold and went through quite some hands ever since, as well as through replacement parts. INGRAM was mostly involved in manual labor and lately research related work, deemed too unsafe for organic workers and he always fulfilled his duties to the utmost satisfaction.

Lately INGRAM got obtained by NT, it’s positronic brain repurposed to be fully utilized in the company’s science department. NT has it’s own Xenoarcheology department as a little side project, in the hopes to maybe find something incredible valuable in the vast galaxy and a reliable, but in the worst case, expendable IPC is exactly what they wanted and needed. Baseline frames are allrounders, suitable for EVA operations, without any great downside, so INGRAM is being thrown back into the fray again, for work that’s often too dangerous for organics, has only little or questionable outcome but still needs great precision and durability and patience many organics just cant provice in outside, airless, low-gravity-enviroments.

What do you like about this character?

He’s been an owned shell ever since, with no real chance of ever being free. He’s been used for work no one wanted to do, for whatever reason and maybe that changed his view on the world around him. He dreams to be free one day and I’d like to explore the political side of the lore with this character.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? Rating yourself is presumptuous.

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Notes: Do your worst.

[kyres1]

It's been a few days, but I'll provide some feedback from my own point of view in absence of others. I like the answers to some of these questions - they're pretty clear, contrary to how most people believe they must search for some abstract answer to each of the ones on their application. I'll move on to my two questions, in that case.

What did NanoTrasen see in INGRAM that could not be seen in a positronic actually built for the work intended in xenoarchaeology? I ask this since you stated that INGRAM was originally built to do office work. How did this translate into EVA excavation of highly valuable artifacts?

Did the replacement parts INGRAM received when moving through several company's hands mean anything in the end - did this harm their frame's work in any way? Were they regulation, or mismatched parts?

[KingOfThePing]

What did NanoTrasen see in INGRAM that could not be seen in a positronic actually built for the work intended in xenoarchaeology? I ask this since you stated that INGRAM was originally built to do office work. How did this translate into EVA excavation of highly valuable artifacts?

 

 

Artifacts, alien devices and whatnot often need to be handled with care, I think it's not too farfetched to say an office robot was outfited to, say, carry files (or even coffee, if you want) which also share the propriety of needing to be carefully handled and, in the case of files, not to be disorganized. The trait to handle things with care and keep everything in order was never lost over the years. Why did NT intend to use him instead of a specifically built unit for the task of excavating artifacts? Let's be realistic: Xenoarcheology is a niche sub-department within research that doesnt get much attention. Or any, sometimes. So, budget is tight, INGRAM on the one hand has handled sensitive objects before (even if it was in a whole different context) but on the other hand he also experienced hard manual labor in dangerous enviroment (we all agree that being EVA is dangerous, even for an IPC, right?). So when NT got it's hands on him and his file landed on the right desk at the right time his past got him into Xenoarcheology. Maybe some budget cuts also did their thing.

 

Did the replacement parts INGRAM received when moving through several company's hands mean anything in the end - did this harm their frame's work in any way? Were they regulation, or mismatched parts?

 

 

No mismatched parts. This was more of a flavour thing, really. Maybe I'll make him rusty or the like, maybe I'll apply for a custom sprite, who knows. It's at least something for a rich flavour text. It didn't harm his frame in any way, it was just to emphazise that he is old, he has seen some shit but he is hanging in there. All for the possibility of freedom in the end.

[Doxxmedearly]

I didn't really know you were applying. Sell yourself more in OOC, nerd.

I'm not 100% sold that an office worker translates to xenoarch just because they can carry things carefully. It involves EVA, careful mining, planning, etc. This, to me, is the weakest part of an otherwise strong application. Perhaps if the office work was related to science/archaeology in the past, it would be more believable. As it stands now... I just don't see it.

However, I throw my support fully behind your RP abilities. Sei is an excellent character who doesn't just wordlessly treat patients. I've no doubt you can play an IPC properly on-station. As well, your answers to the questions are very good. You've my +1 in this regard.

[KingOfThePing]

Still waiting, bois.

[CakeIsOssim]

Tell me more about INGRAM's interactions with people and how they would be played as an IPC role, rather than what IPCs can (or would) be doing mechanically. It's good you have some familiarity with their mechanics, but I already know all of that stuff. Tell me more about the character, their aspirations, prejudices, or literally anything else.

EDIT: Additionally, "no one ever plays that job" is not a sufficient justification for weird job placement, in my book. But that's just a minor gripe. I really just want to know if you're ready to jump into the world of being a synthetic. A lot of IPC players in the past tend to break character under pressure, and believe me, there will be pressures

[KingOfThePing]

A lot of IPC players in the past tend to break character under pressure, and believe me, there will be pressures

 

If you think this would apply to me, then no essay about this character's motivations would prove you otherwise. This statement seems a bit disconnected from the rest of your post. It reads like you are more on about critiquing my roleplay, which is fine, if that's what you are worried about. All I can say is that my most played character is often under high pressure and I never broke role, but oh well.

e: Also please point out the passage where the impression emerged, that this character is only working in Xenoarcheology, just because "no one ever plays that job".

[CakeIsOssim]

I'm not asking you about your roleplay - I'm asking you to describe more of your application's character to me. I'm also not accusing you of anything. Regardless, you failed to provide any additional information to the requests I made, and instead, elected to point out your personal opinions towards the requests themselves. Any short number of answers would have sufficed. An essay was not required.

Now, I'm going to be candid with you. I would be out of my place to imply that I have anything to prove to you. You are the applicant and you are requesting something from me. I am giving you requirements to meet, and you have only opinionated them. I do apologize for the extended wait period of your application, but I am seriously turned off by your attitude towards this whitelist. If you were going to show me you genuinely wanted it, you would make every effort to attempt to help me understand why you want it. I will humor you nonetheless:

 

Why did NT intend to use him instead of a specifically built unit for the task of excavating artifacts? Let's be realistic: Xenoarcheology is a niche sub-department within research that doesnt get much attention. Or any, sometimes. So, budget is tight, INGRAM on the one hand has handled sensitive objects before (even if it was in a whole different context) but on the other hand he also experienced hard manual labor in dangerous enviroment (we all agree that being EVA is dangerous, even for an IPC, right?).

 

I do not pretend to rule over IPC whitelists with an iron fist, so I'm not giving you any more of a hard time than I usually give anyone else. Like I said, your attitude matters. And it really could just be a misunderstanding, but until you have proven to me otherwise, this application is denied. You are free to reapply whenever you so desire, I will not bar you from such. If there is a next time, please reconsider your approach. If you have questions or comments, you can contact me on discord at Cake#4864.