Limiting Contractors

[Susan]

I realize that a vast majority of players greatly enjoy playing their contracted characters, but as of late it has become apparent (especially in Security) that there are way too many than what should be reasonable for a station such as the Aurora. As such, I suggest that we limit the amount of contractors that can be played per round. The Aurora should be staffed primarily by NanoTrasen employees, and not outsourced individuals. Contracted employees should not supplement the company workforce.

An abundance of contractors in departments such as Science and Security is a direct threat to NanoTrasen's work. The Aurora is the only Phoron research station in Tau Ceti space (according to the wiki). Having the vast majority of Science staff be contractors presents a risk to the company, since these individuals are in most cases the company's competitors. Equally, an abundance of contractors in Security gives them the ability to view the entire station and its personnel records, short of the SAT area, leaving the door open for that information to slip out to competitors. NanoTrasen is a phoron research company and a biomedical company. They also produce food products and weapons. This falls under the interest of competitors such as Zheng-Hu, Necropolis Industries, Hephaestus and Einstein Engines. Weapons tech, biomedical research, phoron combustion technology, Supermatter...  you get the idea.

Thusly I propose we limit contractors in one of two ways (that I've managed to think about idk):

• Two contractors per department, per shift. No more 3 NI officers, 2 EPMCS, 1 Idris Detective and the only NT staff being the Head of Security.
•  Limit an X amount of contractors per round, rather than per department. 5? 6? Not sure what would be the best.

There may be more elegant solutions to this but I think a hard cap of some kind is in order. We're a NanoTrasen station, second behind the Upsilon. It should be majority NT staff. 

[AmoryBlaine]

I second this for the reasons stated above.

[Doxxmedearly]

Please. I'm so over Necropolis Station.

[Dark1Star]

+1 What Doxx said.

[geeves]

I love this idea, as long as Alb codes it and not me.

[Zundy]

Why? Realistically companies can and do have entire departments contracted out for months/years/for their entire lives. Gameplay wise they are there to make characters on edge as their outside employees who need to be watched.

 

What's the point in limiting them so only the lucky few get to play them? What about the other departments? This feels like a security department issue with necrosec. You'll be wiping out long standing characters.

[Itanimulli]

This sounds utterly rediculous. Companies subcontract work out all the time. Does it somehow destroy your gameplay to see and NI officer?

 

What about people who play Zheng in medical? Why limit them? This seems exclusively against security as a whole, and even the examples you've given are sec roles.

 

What about the heph players in sci, or the idris service workers?

Limitations like this are rather shallow.

[Snoopy11]

I agree on this one unfortunately, a couple of contractors sounds reasonable.  Research and security full of them seems a little on the unbelievable side, considering supposed to be a high-tech research and mining facility.

[Rushodan]

There's no point to this change other than 'I don't like it'. Interacting with other contractors / as a contractor is pretty fun in my opinion and departments being contracted out is something that happens in real life. It's fine to not like it, people don't like it in real life either and yet it still happens.

 

As with 'station secrets' being leaked out - what is to stop sci contractors from leaking info or even NT workers from giving away information? Anything that would apply to an NT worker can easily apply to an NI or Heph contractor, as they would have to sign a contract before operating on station.

 

Hard -1 here 

[Zundy]

Since it's clearly a sec issue limit it in sec then if that's what sec mains want.

[Susan]

I do not think 'realistically' can be applied here because there is no direct comparison for any kind of company like NT in our actual lives. Megacorporations of that extent simply do not exist, and there have been cases of contractors fucking over current companies anyway. Like the Capital One data breach lmaooooo. Either way, NT is very wealthy due to their monopoly on phoron-related products and keeping their trade secrets... secret should be important for them.

As for the argument about characters, it personally doesn't move me very much. I do not like, nor do I prescribe to the idea that people should be entitled to do something simply because. I cannot play the game at all when Security is full, as I have no alternate well-established character. That is life. Sometimes, things do not go the way you want them to. Sometimes, things are not fair. I don't make a suggestion to increase security slots so I can play. 

And, as for Heph players in science or what have you, I've already explained. Hephaestus is an industrial supplier. Science makes plenty of tech for mining, including tech using phoron. This isn't a stretch by any means. Science supplies Medical with new biomedical tech, and so on.

[Itanimulli]

4 minutes ago, Susan said:

I do not think 'realistically' can be applied here because there is no direct comparison for any kind of company like NT in our actual lives. Megacorporations of that extent simply do not exist, and there have been cases of contractors fucking over current companies anyway. Like the Capital One data breach lmaooooo. Either way, NT is very wealthy due to their monopoly on phoron-related products and keeping their trade secrets... secret should be important for them.

As for the argument about characters, it personally doesn't move me very much. I do not like, nor do I prescribe to the idea that people should be entitled to do something simply because. I cannot play the game at all when Security is full, as I have no alternate well-established character. That is life. Sometimes, things do not go the way you want them to. Sometimes, things are not fair. I don't make a suggestion to increase security slots so I can play. 

And, as for Heph players in science or what have you, I've already explained. Hephaestus is an industrial supplier. Science makes plenty of tech for mining, including tech using phoron. This isn't a stretch by any means. Science supplies Medical with new biomedical tech, and so on.

Your entire argument is "because."

[VVipEdout]

As was said, so far all complaints have been levied specifically to and from Security, which is ridiculous. The corporate liaisons, representatives, the literal half of possible factions that don't even handle sec work, EPMC paramedics, Necropolis medical, Hephaestus mining, so on, so forth; to cripple possible options because 'me no like contractor officer' is short-sighted and fun for nobody.

That, and the idea of the entire contractor rework was specifically to involve corporate espionage and introduce a component of distrust; if NT employees aren't taking steps against secrets being leaked, it's nobody's fault but their own. How aren't Hephaestus scientists going to leave with bags full of research data and prototypes, if nobody mans the checkpoint? How does the representative's office immunity matter, if contractors are never suspect?

Removal for the sake of removal and/or completely personal takes on play does not add to enjoyment of a round or RP. If one has issues with contractors regarding espionage or sensitive positions, handling them OOC instead of IC is wasting an avenue for storytelling.

[Susan]

I've explained why hiring contractors from your direct competitors and giving them free reign is a bad idea. Dunno how that's just 'because'. I get along fine with contractor characters. None of them 'make me mad' or 'I don't like it'. It doesn't make sense with the established setting.

 

1 minute ago, ChloralCocktails said:

As was said, so far all complaints have been levied specifically to and from Security, which is ridiculous.

This is incorrect. Factually and blatantly incorrect. Even in the opening post I address how other contractors outside of security can equally compromise NanoTrasen's research and products, and I don't know why people have failed to either read that statement or comprehend my words. KAs are made with phoron and other in-house developed, prototype, pre-mass-production technology. Science supplies medical new equipment, chemlab can create new chemical mixes, engineering works on prototype and trademarked engineering systems, the list can go on and on. This is not simple security and I find it irritating for it to be dismissed out of hand as such.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Susan

[Zundy]

I disagree. I think it makes perfect sense. Limit them from sec since it appears to be a sec issue.

[Itanimulli]

5 minutes ago, Susan said:

I've explained why hiring contractors from your direct competitors and giving them free reign is a bad idea. Dunno how that's just 'because'. I get along fine with contractor characters. None of them 'make me mad' or 'I don't like it'. It doesn't make sense with the established setting.

It makes so much sense that it was literally implemented into the game by the loreteam.

You're just trying to push your own point.

[Susan]

I mean, so was Crevus, which equally didn't make sense in the established setting. Then it was changed later. After suggestions...?

[Itanimulli]

2 minutes ago, Susan said:

I mean, so was Crevus, which equally didn't make sense in the established setting. Then it was changed later. After suggestions...?

Crevus is the product of tajaran lore and solely tajaran lore.

And there are zero mechanics for it.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Itanimulli

[geeves]

7 minutes ago, Itanimulli said:

It makes so much sense that it was literally implemented into the game by the loreteam.

You're just trying to push your own point.

As both a lore staff member and a developer, the fact that the loreteam did something doesn't mean that it's:

1) Final

2) Sensible

 

The irony in the last sentence is palpable.

[Itanimulli]

Just now, geeves said:

As both a lore staff member and a developer, the fact that the loreteam did something doesn't mean that it's:

1) Final

2) Sensible

 

The irony in the last sentence is palpable.

Probably, but if someone says it doesn't make sense in lore, but it's...the lore itself...it's an easy argument.

 

[geeves]

5 minutes ago, Itanimulli said:

Probably, but if someone says it doesn't make sense in lore, but it's...the lore itself...it's an easy argument.

 

Sometimes the lore itself doesn't make sense. That's why we lorepeeps do tweaks every now and then.

[Pegasus]

Contractors save NanoTrasen money. If they were such a risk to hire they wouldn't be hired. I disagree with limiting contractors, especially when it's one specific contractor role from one specific megacorps being targeted. -1 

[Itanimulli]

1 minute ago, geeves said:

Sometimes the lore itself doesn't make sense. That's why we lorepeeps do tweaks every now and then.

In this particular case I'd say that the lore here is perfectly fine.

 

[Susan]

2 minutes ago, Pegasus said:

Contractors save NanoTrasen money. If they were such a risk to hire they wouldn't be hired. I disagree with limiting contractors, especially when it's one specific contractor role from one specific megacorps being targeted. -1 

 

26 minutes ago, Susan said:

This is incorrect. Factually and blatantly incorrect. Even in the opening post I address how other contractors outside of security can equally compromise NanoTrasen's research and products, and I don't know why people have failed to either read that statement or comprehend my words. KAs are made with phoron and other in-house developed, prototype, pre-mass-production technology. Science supplies medical new equipment, chemlab can create new chemical mixes, engineering works on prototype and trademarked engineering systems, the list can go on and on. This is not simple security and I find it irritating for it to be dismissed out of hand as such.

 

1 hour ago, Susan said:

This falls under the interest of competitors such as Zheng-Hu, Necropolis Industries, Hephaestus and Einstein Engines. Weapons tech, biomedical research, phoron combustion technology, Supermatter...  you get the idea.

It literally isn't just targeting Necropolis Industries.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Susan

[NewOriginalSchwann]

-1. All my reasoning has been listed above, so I have nothing else to add regarding that. Instead, I did this:

Quote

 

I realize that a vast majority of players greatly enjoy playing their alien characters, but as of late it has become apparent (especially in command) that there are way too many than what should be reasonable for a station such as the Aurora. As such, I suggest that we limit the amount of aliens that can be played per round. The Aurora should be staffed primarily by human employees, and not outsourced individuals from other species. Alien employees should not supplement the human workforce.

An abundance of aliens in departments such as Science and Security is a direct threat to NanoTrasen's work. The Aurora is the only Phoron research station in Tau Ceti space (according to the wiki). Having the vast majority of Science staff be aliens presents a risk to the company, since these individuals are in most cases from foreign governments that may have competing interests. Equally, an abundance of aliens in Security gives them the ability to view the entire station and its personnel records, short of the SAT area, leaving the door open for that information to slip out to other nations. NanoTrasen is a phoron research company and a biomedical company. They also produce food products and weapons. This falls under the interest of other nations such as Jargon, the PRA, NKA and vaurca hives. Weapons tech, biomedical research, phoron combustion technology, Supermatter...  you get the idea.

Thusly I propose we limit aliens in one of two ways (that I've managed to think about idk):

Two aliens per department, per shift. No more 3 tajrara heads, 2 skrell, the PRA rep and the only human staff being the captain.

 Limit an X amount of aliens per round, rather than per department. 5? 6? Not sure what would be the best.

There may be more elegant solutions to this but I think a hard cap of some kind is in order. We're a human-run station, it should be majority human staff. 

 

This is my method of showing how absurd this suggestion is to me. Thank you for coming to my talk.