[Accepted] kyres1 synth loredev application

[kyres1]

Ckey/BYOND Username: kyres1

Position Being Applied For: (Species Maintainer, Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer): Synthetic/IPC Species Maintainer

Past Experiences/Knowledge: Basically being maintainer already for the last few months as deputy, and doing the majority of work for my time before that.

Examples of Past Work: Basically handling every aspect of synthlore for the last several months, and handling all wiki work as well as whitelists on and off before that. Most if not all relevant artwork, design and concepts for the entirety of it are pinned on myself. All sprite work relevant was my own as well.

To work through some bullet points as to what exactly I've done already ;

1. All self-contained synthetic arcs for the last year.

2. All sprite work for synthetic lore as well as some unholy amount of sprites for everyone else and plenty of things in-game. Including, but not limited to -

https://imgur.com/a/XXAdWSG

3. All wiki art on synthetic lore pages barring the SIM logo and the IPC sprite on its page, and SUNSHINE's art. Plenty of art for other stuff, including hiveship art, all the Scarab ship art, etc. Including, but not limited to -

https://imgur.com/a/fOhjhmZ

4. All event planning for the previously mentioned arcs, as well as plenty of noncanon event plans. This includes all twenty or so Purpose mini-events hosted by myself (even the laughably disappointing grand finale event).

5. Almost all the writing of the synthetic wiki pages.

6. Refactoring the IPC wiki page in its entirety (immediately after becoming deputy).

7. Having the entire Offworlder project lore and planning wise delegated to myself and Coalf, and others pitching in with minor stuff, which I am still organizing right now.

8. The Tau Ceti Foreign Legion sprite work, and most of the mechanic planning.

On the required writing -

I don't like beating around the bush. There is a lot of work to be done on synthetic lore, with it being at the forefront of everything. From the flopped arcs to the Frost nonsense, they have been a focal point of our lore and to this day stand represented as one of our most unique and versatile narrative pieces that the team can actually use. I love the developing state of IPCs and synthetics, as well as what it's becoming. So let me switch over to what I specifically am critical about, and how I want to change it for the better.

Themes.

Thematic consistency is very important, and it's something I have personally struggled to maintain to debatable success while remaining within the boundaries of our setting. In expanding our lore wildly in every which way, we've simultaneously created a muddled and confusing mess, and something unique and wonderful at the same time. What I intend to do with these bajillion conflicting themes is simple - harness what we have, and refine it. Our playground is plenty big enough for synthetics - it's time to sit down and play with what we have before making another big step in a new direction.

The community.

To put it bluntly, I believe lore developers first and foremost write for the community, not themselves. I have always been very attached to the community ever since I became a deputy, and I refuse to shut out pretty much anything from anybody as a result. This does include people who've repeatedly disagreed with me in the past. The idea that we can progress the lore for some people who we're deaf towards is just completely beyond me, to such an extent that I am shocked many people even remain on the team despite flagrantly remaining so.

Content.

Content, from what I've learned first-hand, should be interwoven into lore as it already exists. With that said, I am more than able to personally provide plentiful content in any way shape or form that fits my skillset. Not only that, but in excess - there's plenty of leftover concepts to be taken apart and integrated with what we already have to let it flourish even more. To be exact, there's over seventy documents laying around that I have relating to synthetic lore.

The team.

With the lore team itself, I look forward to much more team-wide projects akin to that of the Offworlders where not just myself and a couple deputies, but everyone pitches in. Even if just a little, the fulfillment from the cooperation of the entire team works wonders towards keeping us functional. It is pivotal to maintain cooperation - not necessarily total coordination (as that'd be a pain in the ass), but simply working with one another every now and then. I will personally seek out bettering said cooperation, basically.

Arcs and on-station events.

One of my most consistently positively received contributions has been the running of mini-events, be it canon or otherwise. Persistent, active lore developers who are capable of playing frequently are more than capable of running simple, persistent storylines that can run on for months at a time. Among my propositions for this was the addition of new guidelines and canon antagonists to be utilized in recurring station events that are logged in an out-of-character manner that permits even those uninvolved to have a basic grasp of what's happening on station at any given time. If I am unable to find a way to implement this with lore as a whole, I would definitely seek out a way to further synthetic lore with it.  On a separate, but related subject are arcs and major events - of this, I don't believe there's much of anything major that synthetics should do for the time being for reasons already detailed above. This is obviously subject to change depending on circumstance, but there is little we should bring to the table until we've fixed what we have.

Politics.

I am of the understanding that the vast majority of the community simply does not give a damn about political mumbo jumbo. "Space opera politics" was something we intended to go for oh so many months ago and never did, instead returning to outrageous "realistic" political coverage spanning the major factions. This, coupled with the done-to-death civil rights confusion is something I strive to flee from in writing and development. More importantly, I consider politics to be my biggest weak point - if forced into it, I'd probably delegate it entirely to a deputy.

On mistakes.

Can't forget this part. In handling so much as a deputy for so long, I've screwed up quite a bit. There's a lot of stuff I personally messed up that I need to go back and fix, and presently lack the real authority to do so. Without a maintainer, I can not revert or commit to large changes in synthlore. It's not really that bad, but issues like IPC freedom (how complex it is) and the three magically disappearing synth factions is something I want to work on and fix.

The game.

The game itself is where everything takes place. Everything, to me, is secondary to that, and to say our platform isn't wonderful for role-play is a lie in my eyes. Bettering this platform, further deepening player freedom, and progressing a narrative they can interact and participate in first-hand is important above all else. Let's never forget we're an SS13 server.

 

In conclusion, I just really like this server and want to do better for it. That's all.

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Senpai Jackboot
updated with an extra thing ive done

[Resilynn]

Kyres' application could literally just say "it's me" and I'd give it a +1 after everything he's already done for this lore.  He's smart about it, he's passionate about it, he's experienced.  I couldn't think of another community member who could even be a quarter as qualified.

[Chada1]

Let Kyres have this, please. Between him and Moondancer, it's hard, but while I'm sure Moon would do a fantastic job, too, I'm throwing my hat in for Kyres.

+1

[VTCobaltblood]

Kyres is very active on the team, an absolute pleasure to work with, plays extremely often, and is already essentially doing the work of a maintainer anyway. Also, I love him. Big, fat +1.

[The lancer]

Kyres plays, actively contributes to the server with lore and with sprites, has been synthetic deputy, and is very capable of the job. So plus one.

[Flamingo]

From my extremely limited interaction with lore, you’ve always been one of the more passionate and active members in my eyes. You have been maintaining the species in all but name for some time, and I think if anyone were to be deserving of this spot it would be you. You have my full support, +1. 

[Coalf]

I've worked with Kyres extensively in the past months and I can say that he's essentially been carrying the entire synth team in regards to creations and additions.
It would be frankly a crime if he weren't added as the synth developer.

He's responsive to feedback, (Could do away with the sheer amount of unnecessary self-criticism and self-doubt), he has experience, he has developed about like 60% of the current lore, he has been the person who has pretty much lead the interaction during any kind of event.

+1

[Tailson]

I've been happy to work with Kyres on those little canon mini-events and such in the past (Purpose, Ceres', etc.) and I'm often talking to him about projects and stuff that he has in the works. As far as I can tell, he's already doing all of the work that is expected of a developer, but is only able to get so far due to not having the proper 'authority' to enact large, sweeping changes to lore.

I can wholeheartedly recommend Kyres for the synth loredev application for his tenacity, dedication and dogged persistence that he's shown already as deputy.

That said, @kyres1, if you get loredev, please don't stress and work yourself to death with it. Take breaks. Gosh.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Tailson

[Scheveningen]

You don't need me to support this. It's disappointing to see the slots arbitrarily be left open for so long, it puts progress on the back burner for way too long while would-be maintainers have to wait for the slot to open, and nothing gets done.

[Pegasus]

Well, it would be undue of me if I didn't sing Kyres' praises here. I've worked with them on more projects then I can count, they're active in the staff and in-game, they know the lore well, and they would make a fantastic synthetic lore maintainer. It is too bad I can give you only a +1.

[Bygonehero]

Kyres's dedication to their work is something in of itself. They are a pleasure to work with, and have time and time again proven reliable. To me, this is merely the logical extension of their duties.

 

That being said, I will ask the same thing I ask the other applicants.

Can you walk me through a day in the life of a synthetic, 24 hours from start to finish?

 

This is important, because barring big political/ideological and community groups, at the end of the day the average robot is what players will play and as a developer I feel it is our duty to paint a picture of the average [INSERT SPECIES HERE] detailed enough so that the players can finish it. If you can't imagine the process, then how can you expect players to?

 

Now a personalized question. What are the strongest themes present in synthetics in your opinion? They are incredibly diverse, so there's not really a wrong answer here. One of the only criticisms I have is that you are all over the place sometimes. I see in your platform you address the need for focus, and I believe you could focus on aspects to distill for  readers and players to enjoy.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2019 by Bygonehero

[kyres1]

11 hours ago, Bygonehero said:

Can you walk me through a day in the life of a synthetic, 24 hours from start to finish?

This is a tricky question and one that I'll answer by going over that of a bound synthetic, an owned IPC and a free IPC.

For a bound synthetic, what can be considered "daily life" may as well have no standard. Seen as nothing more than a very expensive tool to basically everybody, you can safely assume they'd be subject to everything including their own chassis' destruction on a daily basis. There are simply too many bound synthetics in the universe to pin down a universal daily routine for them.

In the current state of lore, it is difficult to pin down what exactly a bound IPC logically does on a day-to-day basis. Nominally though, I'd say that younger IPCs are less prone to "deviant" thoughts, particularly ones of freedom, and thus lack any major drive outside of work they were designed to do. They are activated from storage, utilize their knowledge and physical traits to the best of their ability to complete their daily goals, and enter storage once more. Over time, this efficiency would be bogged down or perhaps enhanced by an expanding and learning positronic. Their daily routine can expand as this does.

With all that said, an eight year old owned IPC could have an immensely complex routine. You're activated from storage for the work you're designated to do, greet what you can consider to be friends, spark conversation and develop intricate relationships. The now-learned positronic can seek all sorts of things to do in downtime, even form hobbies.

For free IPCs, the sky's the limit. Honestly. Though, the majority of free IPCs most likely struggle with little pay to support their complex needs for maintenance and power. In this majority, you can see little of their routine changing from an owned IPC - with the exception of actually being maintained for free. Free IPCs with a unique routine are most likely to be wealthier because of this, generally in independent businesses or in higher-ranking positions in the Republic. Those are as rare as you'd expect, obviously, with Renter Max and Aristalus being the only real representation for the higher-up IPCs we have in lore. On the IPC lore page, it's noted that a free IPC's life is risky as hell.

"For the more wealthy of the IPCs, generally the much older frames, daily life is mostly safe. They can be seen in more secure and studied communities, where they predictably would not be sold for scrap by whatever shady technician gets their hands on them. The number of IPCs who have the financial ability to live such a life are few and far between."

These wealthier IPCs could have a life easily comparable to an organic's, working and returning to home at reasonable times to carry out whatever they desire. Depending on the frame, there could be long recharge times or hardly any recharging at all. There could be no routine whatsoever - with no concept of a sleep cycle or any care for day/night, a robot's sense of time and schedule could seem like an absolute mess to the Human eye.

In short, a free IPC's schedule is most likely work, work and more work to survive. A wealthy free IPC's schedule is chaotic and seemingly nonsensical.

12 hours ago, Bygonehero said:

What are the strongest themes present in synthetics in your opinion?

Alienation is the biggest running theme present with them at any given point. They're robots, and while most struggle to do so, there's a unified effort among IPC players to seek out playing the part. From day one discriminating them over this subject seemed to be the goal here, and while I surely want to move past discrimination being the focus of it, it will always remain in some way. With developing things like Purpose and the other synthetic societies, we basically took the most extravagant and crazy things and explained how a robot could do them. A good example of this is the Golden Deep. It's absolute nonsense to us, but to the robots, coating their ships in gold and looking as gaudy as possible is simply nature, and an extension of the logic of "looking good to prove a point."

Playing out of the box is something I will always support, and the depiction of IPCs we have now is a tug of war to maintain consistency in the setting while permitting players to be as outlandish as they want.

[Itanimulli]

Please. Kyres has done more for synth lore than I can ever comprehend. So much lore, sprites, all of it.

Except for allow us to play as purpose. Unforgivable.

Which means he must be put down for his traitorous acts.

I shall initiate stage 1 by +1-ing this application.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I will respond to this application tomorrow.

[Faris]

To say that Kyres is the best candidate is an understatement. Throughout my time on staff and even my time after, Kyres has consistently given his best in this field of work. He's exceptionally open to criticism and is honest, both qualities which are important for a lore developer. Furthermore, Kyres has as of recently, including a time where Cake was around responsible for quality control of the species, something that I asked to be increased while I was still a headmin and something both he and cake obliged. He's a pleasure to work with, he is not overbearing and knows how to strike a balance between realism and inevitability. 

He also does not work entirely alone. His concepts go through others for peer review, brainstorming, finding faults and other aspects that are relevant to whatever idea or concept he's working on. He doesn't just write, he also sprites his concepts and I believe has handled code to an extent, either creating or collaborating with others. He's passionate, driven and cares. Kyres doesn't just world build what is in his mind, he builds a narrative and cares about how the players and their characters are in it. To what he creates, he doesn't just make them exist, they aren't just there, they are relevant to the world as a whole and both effect and are affected by other narratives in place. 

From my time working with him as a person interested in lore to a person, as a person that managed him to an extent and as a person that is a fan of his works, Kyres to me seems the natural successor to Cake and he has my full support. He's passionate and cares.

My only gripe is how certain story arcs, which were supposed to be region shaking or BIG things that stopped being relevant after time has passed. I'd ask you how you plan to remedy this but you've already acknowledged this to me and intend to be more thorough in the future.

[Doxxmedearly]

Can't add much that hasn't already been said better. Even without the absolute tremendous amount of lore, effort, and work he puts into everything he does (which is frankly as unfathomable to me as it is impressive), he's the best candidate based on attitude alone. I've never seen someone so active in looking for opinions and ideas as Kyres has been. He wants to find out what people think are problems with lore and seek ways to solve them; I've witnessed him asking for and accepting feedback for as long as I've known he was a deputy. Not to mention, he's been consistently active for a long, long time, which I feel is a pretty big draw for a lore dev, considering we've seen so many who seem very distant.

I've only good things to say about Kyres and this app. Biggest +1 I can give.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Thank you for your application. After  reading it and the feedback, and taking the feedback into account, I will be accepting it.