[ACCEPTED] Sycmos - Command/Head of Staff Application

[Sycmos]

BYOND key: Sycmos

Character names: Nikita Yutani, Saulden Ramses, Lionel Kaspersen, Ciaran McGrath, Lucien Saravah, Ananse Twumasi, Zosar Al-Sayed, Reynir Jotunheim, Djimon Ashraf. Of my list of characters I have only played Nikita Yutani recently and regularly, the others being relatively new characters or being old characters that I've since decided to retire. I would consider Nikita Yutani my "main" character, as I've logged considerably more hours on him than really any other character since I joined the server. This year has been the most I've played consecutively in any lengthy period of time, so I've logged quite a bit of time under his name to the point that I feel like his character is relatively recognizable at this point. I frequently use the Discord NT Relay under his name as well, for the added RP experience outside of the actual game. Sometimes I use the Relay more than I actually play in a given week, entirely depending on the trend of rounds.

How long have you been playing on Aurora?: I've been playing SS13 and on Aurora, and only on Aurora, on and off for roughly 7ish years since creating my BYOND account in 2012 and first joining the server in late 2013 to early 2014, unsure. I largely flew under the radar with most of my characters and did not participate in many past events, save for a few where one of my characters canonically died and thus was retired. I took an extended hiatus with the occasional log-in around the middle of 2017 until March of this year where I regularly playing again. With COVID having stopped a lot of normal life in its tracks I've had a lot more spare time to devote to hobbies and I found myself hooked on Aurora again, albeit much more this time around as I'm not distracted by the woes of work or other obligations. I usually play around 3AM-10AM EST because my sleep schedule is in ruins and it just happens to coincide with the play schedule of other people that I like playing with.

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?:For the most part I avoided applying for any whitelists for the duration of my tenure on the server out of a feeling of inadequacy in my roleplaying ability, coupled by personal issues (college, stress, other life events) that led to some relatively poor interactions during the first two years of my participation on the server. I was immensely self-conscious about my ability to conduct myself in a manner befitting command staff and thus avoided the idea entirely, which led to me also avoiding applying to any species whitelists as well (save for Tajara, which I have had the WL for since 2014). Since then I've floated in and out over the years playing non-command roles, largely relegated to either Engineering or Service positions where I felt I was most comfortable practicing my RP ability and getting a knack for game mechanics as I was pretty 'bald' when it came to actual antag play. Overall I learned to enjoy the RP/extended round aspects of the game more as I got older, deciding to turn my antag roles off and focus on character interaction whenever I could. During my hiatus from 2017 to now I moved twice and held two jobs that were incredibly important to me since graduating college and settled back down in my hometown, working on a budding interest in amateur writing as well as refocusing on my lifelong reading habits. I feel that since I've left my early twenties behind and fully embraced life as a working adult (save for the current pandemic, although I am doing freelance web design as a side gig) I've developed a stronger sense of perspective for interacting with others on a workplace basis, particularly with service-related positions as I worked numerous sales and food service jobs throughout college, including in management. Now more than ever during my stay on the server I feel confident in my ability to play a command staff role competently, particularly Head of Personnel given that a large majority of my IC experience has been with Service roles. I think that I can positively contribute to the role given that it seems to be the most neglected slot during a large majority of rounds, second only to possibly Research Director, despite having massive importance.

Why did you come to Aurora?:Truthfully I cannot remember why I did as it's been years since and my life has drastically changed in the time that I joined to now. Prior to creating my BYOND account in 2012 I participated on a number of different forums that had roleplay subforums or roleplay elements, and dabbled occasionally in other games that had roleplay servers or roleplay aspects. Somewhere along the line I stumbled across SS13 while trawling through my usual threads on forums I used to regularly frequent, and decided to give it a shot. Whether or not it was the "heavy roleplay" tag that interested me or the fact that I simply picked Aurora first is beyond me, but it's been the only server that I've played on since and I don't feel inclined to play anywhere else. Though I've taken several breaks and come back to completely different communities and circles I've enjoyed my time on Aurora every time. I'd say for this specific stint that I've been on I've probably enjoyed the server and the community the most, though.

Have you read the Aurora wiki on the head roles and qualifications you plan on playing?: I've read the wiki page for Head of Personnel likely a dozen or more times while I've been writing this app, and plenty more times while I was considering applying for command. I cannot see myself playing any other command roles until I have a better grasp on their departments, so it's unlikely for some time I'll be attempting any other command slot. I've also had some brief experience as Head of Personnel on the handful of antag rounds where Nikita was injudiciously given the platform by an antag with the means to do so, and largely spent most of those rounds either dealing with hacked accounts or giving certain staff access. Nothing terribly extraordinary.

Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they?To my knowledge I've received notes prior to 2020 for small mistakes I've made while playing, largely due to the fact that I was (and sometimes am) pretty 'bald' and didn't know how things work - for example, not being able to use the stunbaton properly while playing as Sec and harmbatoning someone on accident. As for recent times I was talked to regarding disconnecting as an antag and chain-EMPing robotics, but both were resolved given the fact that I had a power outage during the former and unfortunately fat-fingered the EMP spell during the latter. I'm not the GREATEST gamer by any means and largely tend to focus on RP more than actual game mechanics, but I'm doing my best to avoid having further bald episodes in the future.

Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each.

Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about:I believe that roleplay is the transplant of one's experiences and imagination into a medium that allows for free expression of the untapped potential of a person's identity. Obviously we are not at the stage in human civilization that we are free to roam the stars as we do as our characters in SS13, and none of us will likely live long enough to see that day come. Still the human capacity for imagination and creativity leads us to assembling ideas, concepts and dreams of what life in an intergalactic community would be like, and ultimately the collective work of hundreds of people over years in this community has led to what we know as the Aurora today. I feel that it's not only healthy for an individual to participate in a sort of roleplaying community as means of exercising their creativity and to manage stress, but also important to one's identity to be able to realize their own ideas in a way that allows others to interact with them and help them grow. I think that roleplay should be about cooperation, working with others who share similar and different views in order to assemble individual ideas into a greater picture that draws from those individual influences, creating something that all parties involved can not only enjoy but draw further inspiration from ICly and OOCly. More or less everything that makes up the community that staffs from the Aurora comes from a primitive idea in someone's head that they decide to pursue to make something bigger, and I feel like the mutual sharing and benevolent discussion of ideas is incredibly important to sustaining a healthy and lively roleplay community as well as healthy and happy participants. In turn those participants benefit OOCly as well as their imagination is allowed to be expressed without the constraints of our mundane everyday lives.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?:A player who maintains a Head of Staff position is not only responsible for behaving in a professional manner befitting of leadership, but also to set an example for others who interact with them and those who strive to acquire a Head of Staff position. Said players should know not only the ins and outs of their respective departments but also the collective consciousness of each group, able to discern the mood of each subdivision and utilize the staff within each to their strengths while mitigating their weaknesses with strong direction but a willingness to compromise. A Head of Staff should also have a strong sense of vision for their department and have the aptitude to work towards that vision, pushing the department towards greater cohesion with the remainder of the station in order to make it more prosperous and enjoyable. A good Head of Staff will set an example that others will follow not only while they are present, but while they are away and will use to instruct others. A good Head of Staff will set a healthy precedent for his fellow Heads of Staff, and encourage them to work towards a common goal that benefits every department. Not only should these qualities be carried ICly but they should also carry OOCly, influencing players in their department to be more polite and cooperative with the community and each other OOCly.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?:It is important that Whitelisted players maintain a standard of excellence for non-whitelisted players to look to, doing their best to uphold a sense of responsibility, integrity, thoroughness and fairness when it comes to IC play but also knowing when to extend a helping hand OOCly when a player is in need of aid in their department, or when to give critical feedback when they feel something in their department needs to be changed. When these qualities are exercised they are an effective boon to their department ICly and OOCly, pushing towards an environment that is not only cohesive and productive but enjoyable to play with others or on one's own. When players enjoy their rounds more frequently they are more likely to stay and contribute positively, which in turn leads to more positive outcomes for future changes and events. This cycle of mutual cooperation only stands to benefit the community in the long-term, and has to start with those experienced enough to take on the more difficult roles to push it. As most Heads of Staff are likely to be longer-term players it's up to them to hold the standard and not waver, regardless of the ebb and tide of yearly player shifts.

Could you give us the gist of what is currently happening in Tau Ceti and how it affected your character and their career?As it stands for my main character, Nikita Yutani, it is incredibly unlikely for him to be able to return to Mars for the foreseeable future. Seeing that whistleblower August Maldarth was a Martian and given Mars' previous history with the Sol Alliance it would not be out of sorts for the Sol government to crack down on dissidents on the Red Planet, as it's likely that his example will stir a familiar sense of Martian patriotism that has more or less disappeared from the surface since the war. Though he draws a sense of distinct stubbornness and recklessness from the collective consciousness of the Martian identity Mendell and by extension Biesel and Tau Ceti is his new home, having established a completely different life while living on Biesel that runs in total contrast to his life on Mars. If anything his life has made a considerably turn for the better since departing, no longer bound by the bleak urban living of Olympia and free to expand his horizons with a clean slate in a different system. He has recently acquired a new job, met who he feels is the love of his life, and is living comfortably for the first time in a considerably long time. That being said his familial ties still bind him to Sol and Mars, and it fatigues on him daily to imagine what mess home will get into now that the focus is on Maldarth's assassination, and by association of his personhood the Martian identity as it stands in Sol-governed space.

What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted?The only role that I anticipate playing in any serious manner is Head of Personnel. The Service wing is what I am familiar with the most, having spent a majority of my time playing Nikita in both the diner and in cargo. I feel like I have a fairly good grasp of the community that inhabits both divisions and I feel that I can effectively play into their unique identities to try and push for a narrative of a more unified, cooperative department. I think that the department could stand to benefit from a Head of Personnel who plays more frequently and is willing to participate in each division on a more personal basis, seeing that the Head of Personnel is one of the least-played command roles while simultaneously being incredibly important crucial to the operation of certain station activities. A lot of the capacities at their disposal can be used to great advantage to help mitigate damages during station dilemmas or to contribute to collective efforts across departments. Unless I become more familiar with Engineering or Science I likely will stick to Head of Personnel for the foreseeable future.

Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking.: I will be playing a new character named Kasper Kallstrom, a Ganymedian Sol Marine veteran who expatriated to the Republic of Biesel to start a new life shortly after he was honorably discharged. He will be my primary Head of Personnel character for the time being, unless something changes for Nikita in the FAR future where he decided to pursue a college education. I usually play anywhere between 8PM to 8AM, as my sleep schedule is quite erratic.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?: I've been actively participating in RP communities since I was 13-14, across numerous forums and several other video games that held RP communities. While I feel like I'm well-written for the most part now that I'm older I feel that my writing suffered for a number of years after I took a decidedly turbulent break from reading and writing while in college due to stress. After I quit in 2017 I got occupied with work and didn't do any real RP until I returned to the server last March, where my initial idea of playing bartender with Nikita was to brush up on my RP chops. All told I feel like I'm pretty comfortable at a solid... 7.5/10.

Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Absolutely. I don't plan to do anything drastic or insane, outside of accidentally keysmashing things because I'm bald at the game. I've done my best to stay out of the searchlight since then, even bothered to turn antag off because I got tired of it. 

Have you familiarize yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? I've more or less read every command wiki page a couple of times, but I keep the Head of Personnel wiki page as well as the Chain of Command wiki page open more or less at all times just as a refresher. I always have a number of pages from the wiki open in case I need to reference something specific.

Extra notes: It's been literally 7 years since I joined the server and I am just now applying for command and I am STILL nervous! I hope my app is good! Please ask me anything about my app if you need clarification! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Edited October 11, 2020 by MattAtlas

[Connorjg1]

Yes.

 

Sycmos is a fantastic role-player and I have interacted with there character Yutani on many occasions. His app shows a extremely clear dedication to the position.

 

Very big +1 

[Sheeplets]

I crawled out of bed at 5:00 in the morning like a corpse clawing out of a coffin just to make this post.

Nikita is, has been, and probably will remain one of my favorite members of Service and Cargo to date. Period. He's incredibly enjoyable to work with both as his subordinate in mining and his colleage in the kitchen. I haven't had a single negative experience with him as a character or Sycmos as a person. Not so much as a single gripe or grievance. Sycmos seems to be incredibly competent and capable both in the departments they play and as a roleplayer, and I would absolutely recommend them for a Command whitelist. 

I look forward to working under you. +1

[geeves]

i don't tend to say a lot of words on these things, but i endorse few of them as is, so uh yeah fuck +1 i trust they'll be good

[Eple]

Somehow, i remember sombody named nikita that worked in bar alot couple of months back, i think im confuseing the characters.

[Sycmos]

1 minute ago, Eple said:

Somehow, i remember sombody named nikita that worked in bar alot couple of months back, i think im confuseing the characters.

Same character, I moved to cargo but I still bartend from time to time. ^w^

[Vulcenus]

I like the grounded progression of Nikita Yutani from Bartender to Quartermaster, and I don't have any doubt their Command characters will also be down to earth and competent. It won't stop me from canon killing the traitor Sol marine expat, though. +1

[niennab]

An easy +1. It's been great seeing Yutani's character development and ship. You are fun to roleplay with and have well-rounded, interesting characters. I am certain you will do perfectly in command.

[Estoytrucha]

Sycmos is an excellent roleplayer and has thought long and hard about this application. Slaved over it, really. They know as a player the expectations of command, too. I have never been so quick or happy to place my +1 on a command application. 

[Waff-AI]

Easily among the best character job progressions I've seen in years, done by an exceptionally skilled roleplayer and all-around cool player. Easy endorsement, it's essentially where he belongs.

 

+1

[Hepatica]

I agree with pretty much everything everyone else has said, +1

[ryog]

Can't do much more than echo the sentiment already posted in this thread, Sycmos is a wonderful person to RP with and puts a lot of thought and care into his portrayals, I have full confidence he'll do great. +1

[Haydizzle]

Alright. I finally managed to come back to give feedback on a whitelist application for once. I'm not one for simple +1's though, so I'm going to grill you a bit here with a few questions that came to mind as I went over your app. Nonetheless I am enthused you decided to apply for command because I figured you'd be top notch at it and be an exemplar example for people getting into the game

Anyway, getting right into it, I hope you're ready for some grilling:

18 hours ago, Sycmos V2 said:

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?

1) There was a lot of good things to read for your answer to this question. It paints a pretty good picture of why you haven't applied for (most) whitelists until now, but I feel as though the core of it went unanswered. Simply put, what drove you to apply to play Head of Personnel? Lack of command in the spot, a desire to play Paperwork Simulator™️, organize a usually open department, or some other reason(s)?

18 hours ago, Sycmos V2 said:

The only role that I anticipate playing in any serious manner is Head of Personnel.

2) You seem to be cut from the same cloth as I in relation to why we both applied for command as we both enjoy a lot of heavy RP and shy away from antag related jobs and mechanics. I will warn you in advance though, that playing solo head of personnel can be very stressful, and often there isn't a lot of time to sit down and enjoy finer moments of RP due to being an almost de facto head of security. How do you think you will fare in these situations?

18 hours ago, Sycmos V2 said:

I feel that I can effectively play into their unique identities to try and push for a narrative of a more unified, cooperative department.

3) This is a really interesting take actually and caught my attention. I've always felt as though cargo and service were meant to be separate and have unique identities as separate departments. This said, I don't think I'm opposed to this idea, but could you explain on what you meant by this a little bit?

 

Questions aside, I really enjoyed reading this: your understanding of the lore feels appreciable, you are extremely fun and pleasant to interact with in round and on the relay, and I feel as though you rated your RP-ability a lot lower than it actually is. Good luck with your application, and thanks for taking the time to apply!

Edited October 1, 2020 by Haydizzle
Bad wording whoops

[MattAtlas]

On trial from 02OCT2020 to 09OCT2020.

[Sycmos]

12 hours ago, Haydizzle said:

1) There was a lot of good things to read for your answer to this question. It paints a pretty good picture of why you haven't applied for (most) whitelists until now, but I feel as though the core of it went unanswered. Simply put, what drove you to apply to play Head of Personnel? Lack of command in the spot, a desire to play Paperwork Simulator™️, organize a usually open department, or some other reason(s)?

2) You seem to be cut from the same cloth as I in relation to why we both applied for command as we both enjoy a lot of heavy RP and shy away from antag related jobs and mechanics. I will warn you in advance though, that playing solo head of personnel can be very stressful, and often there isn't a lot of time to sit down and enjoy finer moments of RP due to being an almost de facto head of security. How do you think you will fare in these situations?

3) This is a really interesting take actually and caught my attention. I've always felt as though cargo and service were meant to be separate and have unique identities as separate departments. This said, I don't think I'm opposed to this idea, but could you explain on what you meant by this a little bit?

1. More or less all of the above to one extent or another, but for the most part it had to be lack of command presence in the Head of Personnel office. I feel like people tend to avoid it because it's immensely stressful and gets little to no 'yield' for interaction when compared to Head of Security, Chief Engineer or Research Director - all of those heads can have a direct hand in how situations are handled by their departments whereas Head of Personnel generally plays a more logistical/bureaucratic role that facilitates departmental adjustments. It's more of a power utility role than anything else, or at least that's how I like to look at it - you're not directly involved, but you have a set of tools that make everyone else's jobs much easier. Maintaining profitability in Cargo as well as keeping tabs on the other service departments gives something of a managerial aspect to the job that I feel like I've grown comfortable with as Quartermaster over the last month, and I think that will translate over to my abilities as Head of Personnel and vice versa as I double between the two.

2. I'm going into the idea of playing command knowing that I will have to take care of business first before I can engage in any meaningful RP. More or less that is why I've decided to shelve any idea of using any current characters as my Head of Personnel option as I'd like to dedicate a new one to more job-focused gameplay. That way I can effectively build their character around the job instead of having a predisposed idea and having to make compromises. I think it's important to know when to avoid letting the biases of RP get in the way of performing job duties, namely when other people's experiences depend on your ability to be responsible.

3. Cargo and service are generally look at as different departments, but having played both and understanding that the Head of Personnel is responsible for both I think it's important to bridge the gap between the two and understand how their smaller communities interact. Playing bartender for several months made me realize that a significant portion of cargo players tend to come to the bar whether for bounties, to deliver materials for drinks or simply just to hang out. The bar and kitchen are right across from the cargo lobby and are the most convenient spot to engage in RP for cargo that isn't cargo itself. Oftentimes people also interchange occupations between the groups too, so you get a lot of intermingling. I feel that with some fine-tuning of cargo's current playerbase as well as tapping into the more seasoned players in service the two can be a little more tight-knit and in turn it'll help with improving the overall experience of the department in general. I am trying to do that currently as QM with Nikita, as he already has an established rapport with a share of the regular chefs and bartenders, trying to get cargo folks to interact with them more often and supply more goods faster and when needed. 
 

3 hours ago, MattAtlas said:

On trial from 02OCT2020 to 09OCT2020.

Thank you so much!

[Lmwevil]

Your HoP is good, and the way you RPed by trying to introduce yourself to every department was also a really good and simple trick. Keep it up +1

[Eple]

Really good hop, he called people to do appropriate jobs, made sure everything was done correctly and by the book, not even a lrp player like me could mess it up.

[DatSamTho]

Seems to be really competent, while playing their HoP, I didn't have any one on one RP with them, but I have no doubts about that. Easy +1 from me

[MattAtlas]

Accepted.