Staff Complaint - Melariara

[UnknownMurder]

BYOND Key: UnknownMurder

Staff BYOND Key: Melariara

Game ID: b7u-aztE

Reason for complaint: So, here's the story of how my interactions had occurred with Detective Locke. I make a deal with Detective Locke, he gets the 10,000 space credit and freedom in exchange to murder Chief Engineer Imran (unknown lastname) whom cryo'd then I changed the target to murdering Crime Scene Investigator Ana Roh'hi'tin. While Detective Locke is going off murdering a person, I speak with Lohiker and Aubrey Piper to not to interfere with Detective Locke. They acknowledge. I go on differently my happily merry sabotaging the holodeck then releasing carps and maintenance drone to attack Medical Bay. After these two gimmicks were done, I decide to settle in at the Kitchen talking with Amanda Miller. I call in the Janitor IPC Ticket and overwrite their memory that it was Janitor IPC Ticket who had done all these malicious incidents. Ticket goes to turn themselves in to Security. I remain at the kitchen with Amanda Miller and talking about her food to specific details. Locke comes in to the kitchen, aims an ion rifle at me, and tells Amanda Miller to leave. I insisted that Amanda Miller to stay. Detective Locke allows me to use items so I pull out a PDA to PDA the Captain about this. I was given a message, "This is over." and immediately fired upon. Amanda Miller immediately left the scene.  I responded to detective's firing upon me by "Error." "Unable to compute." I was once fired upon over and over without a word to me or an attempt to restrain me. The security was just watching me being ion'd and didn't interfere or charge Locke with automacide. They were all pretty much chill and overlooked it, the AI (Charles Jean-Rossasseu something) was blasting uneccessary statements about how I was ion'd.  During the ion, we were on Code Blue. 

I spoke with the staff and you may see for the logs. I should not need to explain unless requested by anyone - the log pretty much covers the whole conversation between myself and Melariara. The decision that I am contesting is the improper escalation and other reasons. My entire time on Aurora Station, I have avoided killing people or giving a one-liner execution because it does not generates enough escalation, it is an outright removal of the round, is a bad gameplay impression, and increases the demand to play a hero. Had there been a conversation or a willingful detainment, this would have not had happened. I am aware of the people that have been spoken about to regarding executions/outright removal from the round. A ghost also mentioned it looked like a random RDM and I should ahelp it just in case, I did agree with the ghost and ahelped.

Evidence/logs/etc:

Additional remarks:

So, here's the thing. I like Melariara as a friend and as a person. I know they do a very good job in keeping up a positive attitude like Yonnimer. Under no circumstances do I mean to lash out or to label Melariara as a bad moderator or doesn't put in a good effort. I mean Melariara no malicious activity or harm. I only wish for a further discussion instead of just IC issue then outright closing the report, it is not like I can just call up the CCIAA. "IC issue" statement is a big pill you are forced to swallow and I have swallowed many big pills and I do not want to swallow this particular big pill. 

[Susan]

I was directly involved in this round, as the target you set for Locke.

I witnessed you provide him credits. I witnessed you provide him a lethal weapon. I called him out on these things, and it ended in a tense stand-off in Locke's office where myself and Locke roleplayed extensively as he had a gun trained on me. For about twenty or so minutes we went back and forth and eventually I managed to talk him down by reminding him that even if he was being blackmailed, he had friends (myself) to help him, and that if he wanted to rise above the constraints of a machine he would have to make a choice to do the right thing. My words were something like 'a machine does what it is told, but a man chooses'.

My character also has connections to Captain Dawkins; they have an old friendship. After the situation was defused I took Locke directly to the Captain and we revealed the blackmailing plot to him. We offered to protect Locke - my character vouched for them, because she and Locke were close partners, and Dawkins as my friend accepted that I vouched for him even in light of the revelation of the blackmail plot. To that end, the Captain permitted us to use the ion to effect a detainment of you, but it was unspoken that your character was going to get their just desserts for everything that you did. Locke and I understood that allowing you to live put the information you had on him at risk.

So, you were killed. Your actions caused plenty of roleplay that round. Had I not been able to count on Dawkins as a character friend, Locke would have killed me. Make no mistake, I sat there with his gun aimed at me for a very long time trying to talk to him and prevent my death. We had a lot of roleplay, and I believe Locke acted as best he could in that situation. Ultimately, because of your blackmailing and the threats you made against him and his friends, we chose not to detain you. Had he not used the ion, I had the revolver you gave him and a lethal weapon and I would have assisted him in killing you. You did try, in essence, to kill my character, who is a known anti-synthetic. 

Security was cool with it because I purposely helped Locke cover it up. The Captain was aware of what was happening. This was a direct result of your actions in that round, and I believe all of this was totally IC. In fact, I had a lot of great roleplay that round spurred by you as the catalyst, so I am honestly a bit confused at this complaint. A ton of roleplay happened as a result of your actions - you just didn't see it, and it it was in no way RDM. It as planned.

[Flamingo]

@Goret and I will be handling this complaint. Please give us some time to go over everything.

 

Just so I am 100% sure I understand correctly. @UnknownMurder you think what happened was gank, and @Melariara deemed it an IC issue, correct?

[niennab]

I was indirectly involved in the round as Aubrey Piper but I thought I would offer my two cents from what I saw and how the round played out for me. If the admins deem my response unnecessary, they are welcome to delete it.

I joined the round about an hour in but when I did, Locke made it very clear to Aubrey that his secret (antag info) was compromised. Later, it became clear that Aubrey's secret was also compromised by Ethernet themselves. These secrets, for Locke and Aubrey, are effectively a do, flee, or die situation. They, although more-so Locke, ((since Aubrey was largely thrown in as a threat to get Locke to comply)) were left with the situation of listening to Ethernet, killing Ethernet, or dying. Moreover, Locke and Aubrey are incredibly close. As such, Locke wasn't only saving himself by destroying Ethernet, but Aubrey as well.

It was honestly a great round and your work as an antagonist drummed up a lot of conflict. I love any chance where my antag information gets used. Aubrey and Likho, ended up hiding in Advanced Tool's Storage, prepared to smuggle Locke and musing on their own fears regarding the situation. Likho attempted to pin a crime on Ethernet with hope of thwarting them and there was an entire situation where, as a result of our paranoia and building a Security Camera Console in Advanced Tools Storage, Likho and Aubrey caught the ire of the Captain and found themselves searched by the ISD.

Ultimately, I mostly just want to offer all the good that came out of the round and present what, from my perspective as Aubrey, lead to Ethernet's destruction.

[UnknownMurder]

4 hours ago, Flamingo said:

Just so I am 100% sure I understand correctly. @UnknownMurder you think what happened was gank, and @Melariara deemed it an IC issue, correct?

You understand correctly.

Edited June 4, 2020 by UnknownMurder

[UnknownMurder]

8 hours ago, Susan said:

My character also has connections to Captain Dawkins; they have an old friendship. After the situation was defused I took Locke directly to the Captain and we revealed the blackmailing plot to him. We offered to protect Locke - my character vouched for them, because she and Locke were close partners, and Dawkins as my friend accepted that I vouched for him even in light of the revelation of the blackmail plot.

Am I to understand that the Captain took your word for it instead of asking questions or taking it with a grain of salt? There are many questions that needs to be asked by the Captain such as but not limited to:

• Where did the untraceable 10,000 space credit come from?
• If it came, from Ethernet... Where and how did Ethernet get this much money? How do we know if he didn't steal from NT. 
• R&D does not produce that specific fancy revolver but nor does the Security Department have a gun like that. Where did the revolver come from? Was it smuggled onboard? 
• Who are Ethernet's allies?
• How do we know for certain that CSI and Detective is telling the truth? I will assume the answer is because they're meta-clique friends with the Captain.

Once more, there are still many more questions that needs to be answered.

7 hours ago, Susan said:

Security was cool with it because I purposely helped Locke cover it up. The Captain was aware of what was happening. This was a direct result of your actions in that round, and I believe all of this was totally IC. In fact, I had a lot of great roleplay that round spurred by you as the catalyst, so I am honestly a bit confused at this complaint. A ton of roleplay happened as a result of your actions - you just didn't see it, and it it was in no way RDM. It as planned.

       So, it was some Godfather stuff where Security acts as a mafia. In my perspective, 40-50 minutes past, I'm already doing my thing with someone and some side gimmicks. Suddenly, Locke shows up and points an ion rifle and tells me "It's over." aka "Omae wa mou shindeiru" and then ions me. With Captain and Security with being chill that a security's response to a broken corporate regulations is to break a corporate regulations instead of like arresting. I had already informed Locke that there are people who knows about them and they did actually know. I've already told Amanda Miller about Locke's secret parts and made sure that Locke knows. Locke did not go after Amanda Miller but chose to go after me. I also mentioned about Ticket being an "ally" who turned themselves in after I overwrote their memory. 

5 hours ago, niennab said:

Likho attempted to pin a crime on Ethernet with hope of thwarting them and there was an entire situation where, as a result of our paranoia and building a Security Camera Console in Advanced Tools Storage, Likho and Aubrey caught the ire of the Captain and found themselves searched by the ISD.

Lol. So, that's what happened. I was confused and asked myself "What did Likho and Aubrey do? I didn't do anything to them to get them in trouble."

 

Don't get me wrong. I feel as this is something that should be looked into with further scrutiny from all aspects.

[Dbrg]

I was the captain. I can personally confirm most of what both Sue and Nienna have posted. From my perspective, this is how the round unfolded.

Shortly after joining, I learned of three major issues (order largely forgotten):

• Security seems to have credible intel that Ethernet was responsible for a bomb threat, as per the radio chatter and search effort (see Nienna's response for why)
• There is an issue with people actively biting officers
• I was told Locke was being blackmailed and ordered to kill Ana, after being handed a revolver

For context, Dawkins was the only command staff member at the time. Since I had a seemingly competent security team, I left issue number two to them, with their assent, then focused on dealing with investigative's problem. I made an initial judgement call to detain Ethernet for questioning, based on the following items of evidence:

• A photo of Ethernet in Locke's office, offering either credits or a gun (I forget), as taken and provided by Ana
• The revolver in question, offered by Locke
• Security's pre-existing suspicions that Ethernet was dangerous and possibly orchestrating a bombing

At this time, I took the revolver from Locke to ensure he doesn't do anything stupid. I was then informed that Likho and Aubrey were in tech storage, watching my office. We raided tech storage, searched and questioned them, and they indicated that they were also in danger, which was consistent with Locke and Ana's testimony. The security officers then said something about "dealing with bloodsuckers", and, in light of the reported bites, panicked yelling via the security radio, and that comment, I decided to allow investigative to handle Ethernet instead.

For clarity, they were at no point under any orders to destroy Ethernet. I accepted that risk because security had its hands full, Ethernet was already suspected of planning to bomb something (see Likho's work), and we were pressed for time: you do not want a bomb on a transfer shuttle.

As for the IC motivation behind Dawkins' inaction upon realizing that Locke did a fucky-wuck, a few more dreaded bullet points:

• In the end, Ethernet is, at best, a self-owned piece of equipment. To directly cite the wiki's lore section: "Free IPCs (in this case, those granted citizenship) are held to the same legal expectations as Humans in regards to their positronic - which is, in turn, given responsibility and ownership of the chassis which houses it. They, however, are subject to dismantlement over infractions which Humans would normally serve minor sentences over. Free IPCs are rarely given trials.". This might refer to off-station crimes, but it should give you an idea of the importance of an IPC's existence contrasted with a human's.
• All security responders on scene clearly intended to cover the matter up, and pragmatically speaking, that makes it easier to feign ignorance with no personal consequences. Loyalty implants are no longer a thing.
• Finally, a simple calculation: the lives and careers of a bunch of security people you know and trust will naturally have more weight than justice for a dead robot terrorist.

 

That some characters are more readily trusted than others based on prior IC interactions is the nature of a heavy roleplay server. I would urge you to separate how the execution/murder was carried out (in terms of potential gankiness) from how everything else was handled. I understand that you're frustrated, but I think resorting to immediate accusations of meta-cliquing does not strengthen your case, nor does it go over particularly well.

 

Edit: To add a further note on meta-cliquing, I have never OOCly talked to Locke's player, and I exchange about two phrases with Sue once in a blue moon.

 

Edit #2:
 

Quote

 

Am I to understand that the Captain took your word for it instead of asking questions or taking it with a grain of salt? There are many questions that needs to be asked by the Captain such as but not limited to:

Where did the untraceable 10,000 space credit come from?

If it came, from Ethernet... Where and how did Ethernet get this much money? How do we know if he didn't steal from NT. 

R&D does not produce that specific fancy revolver but nor does the Security Department have a gun like that. Where did the revolver come from? Was it smuggled onboard? 

Who are Ethernet's allies?

How do we know for certain that CSI and Detective is telling the truth? I will assume the answer is because they're meta-clique friends with the Captain.

 

 

Questions 1, 2, 3, 4 are irrelevant in light of an ongoing emergency. Contain first, then look for the non-critical info. Allies could be relevant, but we get to them quickest by getting to you, your PDA, your belongings.

Question 5: Please refer to the second list, up above.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Dbrg

[Susan]

I'd also like to mention that Locke told me you were SLF, so your connection to a hostile, radical synthetic liberation group could easily explain the money and the smuggling of the firearm onto the station, as well as your 'allies'. I had photographic evidence of the contraband in your possession. I had my friend in robotics fixing Ticket, and as he turned himself in, he was not a threat like you were as the orchestrator of his malfunctioning. I knew it was you who did it, too, as during your whole interaction with Ticket I had a circuit device in my pocket translating your robot language. We had so much evidence against you being behind so many things.

I really don't like the meta-clique insinuation. When you knowingly target characters with friends and connections (be it mine or anyone else's) you shouldn't cry foul when those connections are used in their defense. It is your job as an antagonist to anticipate these relationships, as you did with Locke and Aubrey. This is a heavy roleplay server, where relationships are forged over long periods of time. It is a risk you run targeting well-known individuals.

I've said my piece, so after this clarification I'll leave it to the admins; I maintain all the roleplay was very fun and IC and above board that round, and I completely disagree with any notion of 'gank' because there was a lot of IC stuff at stake, a ton of escalation behind the scenes, and realistically this situation is no different than security gearing up for 10 minutes to go shoot the wizard - simply because they didn't see all that roleplay doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Susan

[Melariara]

Hello.

Quote

I make a deal with Detective Locke, he gets the 10,000 space credit and freedom in exchange to murder Chief Engineer Imran (unknown lastname) whom cryo'd then I changed the target to murdering Crime Scene Investigator Ana Roh'hi'tin

From what I remember, you were blackmailing him. I believe I was told you told Locke to shoot Ana or you would tell people sensitive information. People tend to get a little offended about their information being spewed out like that and may react poorly.

(Locke) -> Melariara: Locke was told to kill Ana or get his shit exposed. Locke has a moral struggle. Locke decides to not kill Ana and says she can speak with the Captain. We weigh our options. We decide the only way out is to kill Ethernet to prevent him from exposing Locke and anyone else. Locke ends Ethernet.
(Locke) -> Melariara: *because Ana says she can speak with the Captain.
Melariara -> (Locke): Whotold Locke to kill Ana?
(Locke) -> Melariara: Ethernet. He was an antag that was blackmailing Locke (and others I presume)

It felt like an IC issue because you had been threatening so many characters that round (pretty sure you also did the flobbed announcement at the start?) so, that's my side.

[UnknownMurder]

2 hours ago, Melariara said:

It felt like an IC issue because you had been threatening so many characters that round so, that's my side.

The people that were directly threatened by me were Likho, Aubrey Piper, and Locke. The people that were indirectly threatened were Chief Engineer Imran whom cryo'd (nothing happened to Chief Engineer) and Crime Scene Investigator Ana Roh'hi'tin. The person that were forcibly manipulated is Ticket whom lost memory. The person that were alright with cooperating and posed no hostile to each other is Amanda Miller. 

2 hours ago, Melariara said:

(pretty sure you also did the flobbed announcement at the start?)

I received a refund back from @Yonnimer as it was a fumbled announcement with people calling it out as fake when announcement could be real then Aubrey Piper and Likho arrived and everyone was 100% sure it was a fake. I firmly stand my ground that must have been either a improper escalation, gank and/or outright removal of the round, bad gameplay impression, and an attempt to play a hero. This is an opinion from me, I hypothesize if this remains ruled as IC issue then we can expect a similar trend impacting the antagonists negatively.

[Flamingo]

Alright, I apologize for the delay. @Goret and I have had some time to go over the logs and review the events throughout the round. We've both independently come to the conclusion that there was sufficient reason for Locke to kill Ethernet, so it was by no means gank. Furthermore, we've concluded that there was sufficient escalation throughout the round leading up to the death, as Ethernet pretty much told Locke that if they didn't kill Imran (at the time, but later Ana), they would be exposed to the authorities, as well as several other conversations throughout the round.

 

In the end, it comes down to whether or not Locke reacted reasonably to the threats Ethernet put forth, and we've determined that they did so. Just how a security officer can be killed if they walk in on an ongoing crime without the antag having to sit there and monologue, the antag should be prepared to be killed if they make threats that could reasonably be met with lethal intent. In this case, the antag in question threatened Locke with blackmail that would lead to their destruction if they did not comply, but it backfired due to the actions of several other characters.

 

If there are no further concerns, either Goret or I will mark this complaint as resolved and lock this thread in 24 hours.

[UnknownMurder]

Your explanation wrapped up everything that I wished and needed to hear rather being told "IC issue" then wrapped up. For your clear explanation, I will back down and apologize to @Melariara. I have no further complaints in this complaint thread. But two questions if I may before you resolve. These two questions may help me understand better about antagonist escalation and crew's response. This is to help me better understand our limitations besides releasing singularity or wordlessly kidnapping someone then killing them. 

Question One: I've mentioned in my OP that this would become a trend. If this incident does become a trend based on your precedent ruling and thus becoming a negative issue, what could be done to improve on either sides?

Question Two: I have been spoken to by an administrative staff about attacking a victim when a Captain entered my ongoing crime. I believe I have may be noted about this. If you like, we can speak about this in discord, it might be off-topic.

[Flamingo]

Unfortunately I cannot speculate on how to improve on a possible future trend. While there was no breach of the rules in this specific incident, I would caution participants in potential future incidents to consider carefully their characters' motivations. Not every blackmail attempt should be met with murder. This was a specific case in which the blackmailed character had a sufficient support structure, and through the actions of other characters, was able to formulate a plan that involved neutralizing the offending traitor.

 

As for question two, feel free to contact me privately on discord, as that seems tangentially related to the complaint, and it will be easier to speak in such a format, as I can reference your notes directly without putting them out on the public forums.

 

Let me know if you have further concerns about this complaint, otherwise I will mark it resolved.

[UnknownMurder]

No. Nothing else for now. I will contact you privately in discord.

Edited June 12, 2020 by UnknownMurder
nah.

[Flamingo]

Excellent.

 

Locking and Archiving.