Reflection, Observation, and Expectation: Haydizzle's Deputy Lore Master App

[Haydizzle]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Haydizzle
Position Being Applied For: Deputy Lore Master
Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Most certainly!
Past Experiences/Knowledge: My last year as a deputy-then-developer for unathi; a strong collegiate background in communication and writing; relevant for this position, being a shift leader and running a floor of anywhere up to a dozen people at a time, coordinating meetings with my supervisors, and helping vet new hires, roughly two years doing all that.
Examples of Past Work: My last year of work or so is documented on the Aurora lore Discord! Most notably besides that, I have authored the Aut'akh rework and additions, added and contributed to the Izweski Nation page with DeadLantern, added Dominian unathi content, and various other additions and edits. A full history can be found in the lore Discord announcements channel.

Writing Supplement/"Game Plan":
Aurora lore, right now, is poised to be in one of the best positions it has been in a long time. The framework of the last arc left off on a good note overall— yet nothing feels like it has changed in game. Articles can assuage the problem of the galaxy feeling like it has barely changed even though it is in a recession of a valuable resource, but it does not tackle the core problem of rounds feeling samey and lore-bland. A struggle to retrieve phoron is a familiar constant newer players have never not known: it is no longer an inconvenience when you live to work around it. Basically, the presence of our lore in game, barring character representation, is starting to dwindle.

There are a couple of key things that stick out that I want to identify in order to address. 1) Lore has a passive affect on rounds, meaning most of the time it only informs characters and does not affect them directly past their conception; 2) articles can only carry the lore so far when it comes to showcasing it and getting people involved; and 3) conflict presented in game (by antags) is not inherently tied to conflict in lore, and presents an immediate, often non-canon way of creating an issue that needs solving, but these issues do not have lasting, developing effects on characters.

How can we alleviate these issues?

Ignoring outside influences and development, such as from the dev team, I see one potential route to take: encourage and facilitate more one-off events for players to host or participate in. This is a very ambitious goal, but it can also give players something spicier than just antag gimmicks to stick with. Smaller occurrences such as Ceres' Lance inspections, TCFL drives, xeno holidays, and others are hugely popular because it represents factions people play or are involved with and showcases to new players what our lore is like. Similar events can be ran with more conflict, such as a very aggressive Ceres' Lance raid, more corporate representatives and bodyguards coming to collect phoron, more hostile xenofauna attacking the station, the like. This helps break up the monotony of non-canon action (low stakes: dying doesn't matter when there are antags involved) and extended rounds with little engagement by introducing a refreshing element to the game. Getting CCIA and moderators involved, as well as player volunteers that coordinate with staff, is a recipe that has worked in the past and should work going forward. Species as well that suffer from lower player counts will benefit from the spotlight of having inclusion in events; speaking from historical example, the interest in unathi spiked after I ran the pair of holiday events back in December.

Why Haydizzle Should Get the Position:
I could lambast you all with a boring tirade of my qualifications, but I want to paint a different picture for a moment.

My first few months on Aurora were riddled with doubt about the bizarre 2D atmos simulator and if I was really enjoying it. A couple months into playing and I did not really read or engage with much of the lore. The only reason I had joined, initially, was because a long-running friend of mine invited me to his D&D game that a bunch of Aurora players were in. I ended up becoming friends with them and, long story short, playing Aurora through that. Even still, I didn't really click with the game. The only interest that kept me hanging on through a wave of challenging new mechanics and complex systems was a pair of IPC baselines I kept interacting with most rounds. I ran familiar circles with them, and through some wonderful roleplay on their part, despite my friends' insistence to read the faction pages, I got interested in synthetic and unathi lore by my interactions with them. If they never played when I was around, I do not think I would still be here honestly.

The lore Aurora has is part of what makes it so unique: few other servers have such a vast and rich narrative as this server. With an exceptionally talented team working now on their passion projects, my ideal game plan is not to host more events, but more accurately to support them in their writing and give something to the community for them to enjoy. I am honestly just along for the ride at this point.

By far, I am not the best candidate to want this position. I do not think I ever will be, frankly. I can manage the team as best as I can, though I will surely make mistakes along the way if I do. The only reason I've been able to put out the lore I have is through working with other people, and I think, besides my experience, that is what sets me apart from other applicants.

Additional Comments:
Maybe a little corny, but I am just a guy with a passionate hobby. Please do not hesitate to give me criticism, concerns, or feedback on my application here. If you feel it is too personal for a public audience, then contact me on the forums in my DMs.

[Lmwevil]

You self admit to being not the best candidate for the position, so I ask mostly why you applied if you don't think you're as suitable as your competitors. All in all I think you'd do fine, we've had our differences but despite that work quite well together so that's a pretty positive thing to put for ya. 

"only reason I've been able to put out the lore I have is through working with other people, and I think, besides my experience, that is what sets me apart from other applicants." - as a note this reads as the other applicants are unable to work with others to make lore, is that the case or is it just poorly worded? 

Don't take this as too negative, I just saw two bits that stood out to me. 

[niennab]

You are a great writer, creative but most importantly communicative and level headed. I have had zero issues working with you and you have my full support. +1

Do you believe that you'll be able to navigate and address conflicts that come up between team members? Not that I have any particular doubts, but it may be the greatest change in responsibilities moving forward.

Edited May 13, 2021 by niennab

[Haydizzle]

Not at all, I think it is an interesting way to look at and interpret it. It also offers me a chance at some much needed clarity.

19 minutes ago, Lmwevil said:

You self admit to being not the best candidate for the position, so I ask mostly why you applied if you don't think you're as suitable as your competitors.

I say this because, in my mind, I feel that I could not replace Kyres. We will likely not see a drive like his in tandem with his skillset for a while on the team. Less present tense and more past tense, if that makes sense.

22 minutes ago, Lmwevil said:

as a note this reads as the other applicants are unable to work with others to make lore, is that the case or is it just poorly worded? 

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses: I think that one is mine and makes me stand out. I do not really hold any grudges with any of the other lore writers for disagreeing with me when they have remained cordial, and I hope they view it similarly. Cael has shown that his strong suit is his ability to generate ideas; I cannot attest to Cnaym's as I have not worked with them closely to make an observation.

[MattAtlas]

I think that this kind of job is one that you need resolve for. You'll have to go against many of your friends and tell them things that you don't want to say, you'll have to impose restrictions that will piss people off, et cetera. I can see you having this resolve, but as you said, I haven't seen it from you. Perhaps you'll develop it in time.

Now my biggest concern with a candidate from inside the lore team is that you'll have a lot of pull as deputy loremaster and conflicts of interests are abound. Would you retire from your position of Unathi lore developer? Do you plan on using your position to push anything that may have been denied before?

Do you plan to change what species can be which jobs in any way?

Do you plan to change what species can be which contractors in any way?

[Haydizzle]

9 minutes ago, niennab said:

Do you believe that you'll be able to navigate and address conflicts that come up between team members? Not that I have any particular doubts, but it may be the greatest change in responsibilities moving forward.

4 minutes ago, MattAtlas said:

You'll have to go against many of your friends and tell them things that you don't want to say, you'll have to impose restrictions that will piss people off, et cetera. I can see you having this resolve, but as you said, I haven't seen it from you. Perhaps you'll develop it in time.

One of the biggest struggles I had to overcome at my last job was this, really. Working there meant making friends with some coworkers, but after getting promoted, I would often have to be their boss as well. In any case, I do think that being promoted will change my relationship with people invariably. I am optimistic, yet I am not overly naive either. Similarly, people that value me as a friend will recognize the difference between my professionalism and my interactions with them as a friend and, hopefully, approach me if they feel I am breaching that and vice versa. Even with the experience under my belt, it is always a challenge to climb to. I am just glad I have what knowledge I do have currently to help me avoid mistakes going forward.

8 minutes ago, MattAtlas said:

Now my biggest concern with a candidate from inside the lore team is that you'll have a lot of pull as deputy loremaster and conflicts of interests are abound. Would you retire from your position of Unathi lore developer? Do you plan on using your position to push anything that may have been denied before?

This actually has three separate chunks to it that I'd like to address individually.

This may seem like a red herring to throw out for shock factor, but I do not really believe there is a conflict of interest. But how could I say something like that when I am my own boss in a way? There are two reasons for this: the first being that I see the lore master and lore dev responsibilities as being two separate entities in most cases (I do not need approval from lore masters to write religious lore for unathi, for example), and the second being that there is an entirely different issue this may cause. Being in both roles isn't a conflict of interest in a majority of cases due to their different responsibilities, but these different responsibilities would mean that, as a friend pointed out, I would either be giving my lore master duties too much time, my unathi dev duties too much time, or barely walking the fine line between both.

Would I retire from my position as lore developer? It depends. In a completely hypothetical situation, my deputies may either be fine with my additional responsibilities or may want me to step down so a new maintainer could take over. I feel that their opinion on it would matter heavily here as this choice most heavily impacts them. I'm not opposed to retiring, though I would like to wrap up most or all of my existing projects before departing.

As for the last question, this is my long-term philosophy regarding lore, perhaps something that is important to flag on an application that affects policy heavily. I do not really believe in overriding a previous developer or lore master on choices they make. Even though I have stated before I disagreed with a lot of Marlon's directions, a lot of the major content in his lore I try to leave unabated. There was a hard line at Aut'akh as the decision to rework the faction was already made, and I merely picked up the reigns on the project. Otherwise, retconning or going against a prior decision is not really something I want to entertain as an option often. Let's say you were the lore developer for humans. You added a new planet to the Serene Republic of Elyra and think it's really good! The lore master approved it and everything. Fast forward a couple years to when there is a new lore master and human developer. Sure there might be some issues, but it is still a well-received planet: is it worth deleting? I believe that we should set a precedent against retconning anything minor and focus for the major stuff for now, as a way to safeguard against overwriting the narrative of previous maintainers.

This was a very long winded way of answering that, apologies, but in regards to that specifically? No. If a choice was made, I do not really intend to override something, especially that minor in the scope of things.

18 minutes ago, MattAtlas said:

Do you plan to change what species can be which jobs in any way?

A shorter answer: this is up to species devs entirely I would say. It is their narrative they are trying to tell. I may disagree with them and voice concerns, but unless I think they are making an irreversibly bad mistake, most cases it defaults to the maintainer of the species, such as diona and G2s regarding first responders. I would like to be as minimally invasive as possible for the teams; they should be nearly autonomous regarding internal matters.

20 minutes ago, MattAtlas said:

Do you plan to change what species can be which contractors in any way?

After the last discussion in lore, probably not. I still hold a different opinion than most on this front, but I think it would be a shallow move to disregard the voices of the many here. Unless the lore team collectively decides to change how we tell the narrative in game, I am not interested in overhauling contractor restrictions.

[MattAtlas]

6 minutes ago, Haydizzle said:

I would like to be as minimally invasive as possible for the teams; they should be nearly autonomous regarding internal matters.

Do you consider what species can be which jobs to be an internal species matter only? This is a pretty big thing and I want to be clear on your answer.

Edited May 13, 2021 by MattAtlas

[Haydizzle]

10 minutes ago, MattAtlas said:

Do you consider what species can be which jobs to be an internal species matter only? This is a pretty big thing and I want to be clear on your answer.

My first thought leapt immediately to the G2 and diona example and I did not really stop to consider the restrictions on command or the situation with vaurca, apologies. The first responder example came up because those two decisions were made largely by their respective teams if I recall.

Barring the exceptions I mentioned above, I believe there are no restrictions on what jobs a species can pick with NanoTrasen. Any change to the status quo is likely with command restrictions and Akaix, and those should be a head staff/lore master decisions on if those should change. If I missed any particular situations for certain species, feel free to bring those up and I can comment on them as well.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Haydizzle
Added a sentence

[Peppermint]

Hiya,

I echo Matt's concerns regarding the bias issue between being both a maintainer and a deputy. I have no doubt you have the mentality and attitude to do well at the role, but I can imagine so many potential issues regarding that combination even if you do not act on them. This isn't a lack of support, more so a concern. 

For more direct questions, a lot of the changes you suggest are all really interesting, but would require a lot of work from multiple different areas of staff as well as the player base. How would you put these forwards in a way that are sustainable?

Secondly, for the stuff regarding the phoron crisis and it impacting the station, how do you plan on balancing mechanical realism and enjoyment?

[MattAtlas]

1 minute ago, Haydizzle said:

Any change to the status quo is likely with command restrictions and Akaix, and those should be a head staff/lore master decisions on if those should change.

You hit the nail on what I meant, but that's why I'm asking your stance on this. Would you change them if you could? And what changes would they be?

Similarly, would you change contractor restrictions if you could? What changes would those be?

[Kintsugi]

I’m going to echo Matt’s comments and concerns, here. Respectfully, I am worried about the potential for bias to emerge here regarding your species and also job-based species restrictions.

[Haydizzle]

7 minutes ago, MattAtlas said:

You hit the nail on what I meant, but that's why I'm asking your stance on this. Would you change them if you could? And what changes would they be?

Similarly, would you change contractor restrictions if you could? What changes would those be?

This is honestly hard for me to pin down. A lot of my future ideas for changes depend heavily on the direction of development for the NBT. So, for now, my realist answer and my speculative one.

Assuming that the NBT changes nothing to the status quo of jobs— the same roles on station, no drastic overhaul with the SCC leading to joint-ownership of the new setting, no species arcs leading to revoked command— I honestly could not see any changes happening to command and contractor restrictions. And I mean, why would there be? At best, there might be a year-long arc of development that leads to a change in one command job for one species, and even then I do not see it being plausible. Anything else right now would be too forced or heavy handed.

Assuming that the NBT rocks the boat— new roles on station, the SCC is in charge and NT does not have sole propriety of the new setting, species development adding to the narrative— it would be interesting to rethink the corporate model and how contractors work. Command restrictions become more heavy depending on your faction, but also more loose for others (for example, Zeng-Hu wouldn't even hire tajara, Idris would keep some on as lower level staff, and NanoTrasen keeps njarir as command or maybe even added as captain, depending on development); in effect, this would be one way of displaying the relationship of each corporation with different species to players who do not frequent the lore. This could also be applied to human factions too if possible; a Dominian might be a Zavodskoi head of staff for the NBT, but NanoTrasen wouldn't tolerate them as command.

[Haydizzle]

Oh oof I missed a reply.

26 minutes ago, Lemei said:

For more direct questions, a lot of the changes you suggest are all really interesting, but would require a lot of work from multiple different areas of staff as well as the player base. How would you put these forwards in a way that are sustainable?

Secondly, for the stuff regarding the phoron crisis and it impacting the station, how do you plan on balancing mechanical realism and enjoyment?

Sustainability wise, we have TONS of content to work with in the lore for things that can happen on or around the station. Tons. I think when it comes to ideas, the lore team will hardly be lacking as the things my coworkers (co-volunteers? Dunno) come up with are pretty cool. Lore is also the biggest team, so an added bonus for how many people can help with or be willing to run events.

Now, players? It is a hard gamble, though historically calling for volunteers is met with a positive and willing reaction. Even less played species like skrell and unathi get something around ten volunteers signing up after a rolecall. Even then though, I would want to shake up the paradigm a bit further. Let's say you, Peppermint, are super passionate about tajara lore (hypothetical, may or may not be true). You are literally BURSTING with passion for tajara and love the PRA faction so much that you want to perhaps write an event for it (hypothetical as well). To this end, the lore canonization forums could be repurposed a bit: you submit your event idea, and a relevant lore writer reaches out to help polish your game plan before giving it approval. The step after that would be finding an admin to run it during a time you're both available.

This is entirely a paper plan, of course. But I believe that trying to give everyday players the chance to be passionate about something and get other people to be passionate about it too is worth a shot.

[DeadLantern]

Any issues or complaints relating to Haydizzle's shared responsibilities of being a Maintainer and a Loremaster are solved. We discussed at great length on what would occur if Haydizzle did get promoted to Loremaster, and I think we both determined that any scenario resulting from that will be good, whether or not you end up resigning from the Unathi team.

As an Unathi Lore Deputy, I was immediately faced by Haydizzle's conduct when I was promoted. He is professional and funny. More importantly, he can identify the important things required when crafting lore and see it to its end. More more importantly, he knows how to manage and treat his underlings well. He communicates, he proof-reads, and he gives a fair shake at any idea you throw at him. My experience with him has been nothing but positive, and working directly under him, I feel as if I can say that with the greatest confidence.

We have spoke before about species restrictions and disagreed, but I think the opinion that you state in this thread shows that you know how to synthesize an opinion from many different viewpoints, which is something any wise loremaster needs when determining which opinions to collect and which ones to ignore. In any case, denying Haydizzle the position just because his views on one thing relating to species restrictions is not the best idea. He has shown the ability to listen and appraise; even if he disagrees with me on certain opinions, I know that that mindset is essential when approaching a position like this. 

I also think that any qualms about species favoritism should be squashed. I just don't think that's possible. Haydizzle has cared immensely about Unathi lore since day one of his promotion; if he gets this Loremaster position, he will obviously shift his focuses to the wider range of Aurora lore. After working with him for a few projects, I really don't think something like species bias is going to happen.

I think Haydizzle is the best candidate so far. precisely for his ability to manage and forge a direction for lore. I support Haydizzle becoming the deputy loremaster.

[Shenaanigans]

My experiences working with Haydizzle from within lore have been nothing but positive and he has what I consider to be the most valuable quality for a loremaster position-- approachability. He has never failed to be reasonable when discussing lore matters and doesn't fall into the trap of passive aggression when debates become more heated while likewise remaining available and responsive when needed, which are traits that I would look for even more so than creative power and writing ability. The loremaster is a management role, in charge of bringing some order and cohesiveness to a team of about 20 people who are all passionate about their ideas, and while I think it's a good idea to have some direction in mind for where to push lore as we approach the NBT, what I really want to see in the spot is someone I can talk to and trust to seriously take concerns into account. Great lore ideas do nothing for us if the team can't even function.

5 hours ago, Haydizzle said:

By far, I am not the best candidate to want this position. I do not think I ever will be, frankly.

Frankly I think you're being too harsh on yourself with this. Don't go into the position (if you do get it) with the attitude that you'll never live up to Kyres-- that's just setting yourself up to fail --and instead recognize what you can bring to the team that it doesn't have with an empty spot. I personally think you do very well on the management side and would feel comfortable having you as deputy loremaster for when I need to bring up conflicts or questions that can't be solved by just talking to the rest of the team. That said, there is the aspect of how much demand having both that spot and the unathi maintainer role will put on you and, personally, I don't really like the idea of a loremaster having any other role within the lore team for the sake of remaining unbiased in their responsibilities to all species. If you think you can balance the two, though, I would put the feeling aside to see how that goes and we've already discussed a bit about how that's your intention right now. Overall, this is a +1.

I'll leave off with a question that's more from my own curiosity: if you were to be given the position right here and now, what would be your first act in using it?

[Marlon P.]

Hello, I'm one of the former loremasters of Aurora. I sometimes still check this forums activity feed to see art threads from the community's talented artists.

I saw this application and wanted to give you my support. I remember how you were very invested in the unathi and how you became a very active and passionate lore dev.

I also want to suggest that you be thoughtful on giving up a lore writer position to become a strictly managerial staff member. Without feeding into your passion for writing the burdens of management and administration may sap the drive out of the experience. I haven't fully read this thread to see if that was resolved; i just wanted to bring my own perspective there.

If you bring the same energy and good vibes you've put in that you have before then I am positive in the hopefully long tenure you'll have that you'll leave aurora with a more positive and engaging community and staff team, and fun lore to server developments.

+1 and good luck.

[Scheveningen]

A few things. You seem to really undercut yourself in relation to this position. Consider how long Kyres was in this position - and it was a sizeable amount of time that rivals most singular staff positions. He still ran out of stamina eventually. Success as a staff member is partly supported by an individual's own self confidence, measured and moderated by some other attributes not incredibly important considering you have them in spades anyway. You're not an aggressive, combative or hostile person, you're known in the community as a peacemaker. And your constant efforts in humility are appreciated by many, but be careful to not act in the expense of yourself if you want to act in that position for a long time.

Secondly, there seems to be this feeling of bias - one I do not share, but this seems to be a hot button topic anyway, and the conversation seems to be leading to a point where this hypothetical may become reality. Let us say the staff sentiment here required you to recuse yourself from Unathi lore in order to acquire the deputy loremaster position. Would that be something you would understand and be ready to make such a sacrifice, leaving a sudden vacuum in Unathi lore development that you so enjoyed managing, or is this something you'd be extremely hesitant to do, valuing current status quo over the other? Pretend also there isn't a compromise midway choice, considering the amount of staff members in the past that not only wore many hats, but also commanded responsibility and power in relative senses in the community. 

Personally, I don't view you as the type as a powermod/user. So assuming a compromise situation did occur where you could be deputy loremaster and unathi maintainer at the same time, I feel as though you'd manage the twin responsibilities fairly. Besides, if you really were so bad, the Izweski Hegemony would be rolling over the Coalition or Dominia with their super dreadnoughts right now in lore or something ridiculous, which isn't the case. I unfortunately expect it to be a possibility that you end up being required to abandon the Unathi maintainer post, less out of necessity and more within line of current staff principles.

Anyway, I personally view you to be the best of the candidates - not to say the others are bad - as you have the strongest attributes that would generally be a pre-requisite for the position. You have my resounding endorsement.

[Kintsugi]

On 13/05/2021 at 08:23, Haydizzle said:

Writing Supplement/"Game Plan":

-snip-

While I feel some of the issues you identify with Auroralore as it is here are valid, and some solutions/ideas that you would like to move forward with are good ones, I feel as if this isn't precisely a "game plan". If you were to become deputy loremaster, I want to know specifically some of the things you'd like to accomplish with the position - and what direction would you like to move the lore in? So to speak - what is on your agenda, as loremaster?

[Haydizzle]

On 14/05/2021 at 15:02, DanseMacabre said:

I want to know specifically some of the things you'd like to accomplish with the position - and what direction would you like to move the lore in? So to speak - what is on your agenda, as loremaster?

My primary "game plan" is what I outlined above. I do not think most people are aware of how much time, effort, and stress goes into planning events, even meager ones. Bad Moon, King of the World, the Tajaran Civil War, they all required a lot of time for coordination, planning, and execution. Even just hosting the unathi holiday stuff absorbed a lot of my attention for the week leading up to it.

Outside of this and the typical managerial stuff, I guess anything else I would like to do would be fostering inter-faction/species/corp lore and how they are faring during the scarcity. Getting species relations with corps to evolve so they become more engrossed, involved, and relevant in the setting; going over loose ends regarding King of the World and the ongoing scarcity; talk with different lore teams about how their species could reflect the scarcity as well with narrative developments; all of these would be other side projects.

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Out of our current candidates you are, in my opinion, the person I would most like to work under. I've had no major issues working alongside you and you've proven to be amenable to cooperation between the teams, which is a good sign to me. But despite this I cannot support you if you wish to remain the unathi maintainer/developer while also being the deputy loremaster as it is (in my view) a potentially very frightening conflict of interest. My only question for your application is this: will you relinquish the position of unathi maintainer/developer if you are granted the position of deputy loremaster?

[Roostercat]

Haydizzle is probably one of my longer running friends on the server, so my views may be a teeeeeensy bit biased, but I believe Haydizzle is the best pick for loremaster out of the current nominees. He is pretty much always active, always down to handle questions and very rarely forgets to do things (for long). He's always been wonderful to work with and I do not think I have ever genuinely seen him get angry at someone, making his attitude great for lorewriter. He is also capable of shitposting and being serious at the same time. So a huge +1 from me. 

THAT BEING SAID, I do have a question that pertains to events. 

Over the several arcs we have had with lore, one topic of note is that they tend to have quite a lot of violence and death, especially the Bad Moon arc. While this can be a good thing, it often brings up the question of whether the death can get to a point of it being a very negative thing, as chars can't roleplay the aftermath if they are dead, it gets too grimdark etc. So, my question is: What do you consider good for an event content wise? More violent and adrenaline-heavy stuff? Or calmer things that, while they can be dangerous, they mostly serve to give cool experiences and drive the story?

Note: this is in the context of event ARCS, not just one-offs.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Roostercat

[Haydizzle]

On 21/05/2021 at 08:30, NewOriginalSchwann said:

My only question for your application is this: will you relinquish the position of unathi maintainer/developer if you are granted the position of deputy loremaster?

I don't really know still. To reiterate some of my earlier ideas, I do not see much overlap between the duties of developer versus this new position. There will be fleeting moments where these positions have an overlap in responsibility, such as heavy involvement in corporations, but I can always defer to Mofo in these matters and ask that my opinion in them only be treated as a developer rather than a lore master— or simply ignored entirely. It would be the responsible thing to do, even if it means taking an outcome I don't agree with.

Despite me seeing no concerns of bias, I do still think there is a very real possibility that I cannot perform both duties well should they both be overwhelming in tandem. I know Dead and Shen have given me their input on this matter, but should I feel that I need to relinquish the role as a result of not being able to keep up with it, I would. That is why I am still rather unsure as to if I'm keeping the position. Otherwise, ability to do so given, if bias was a concern when hiring on a deputy lore master, I do not think it would be allowed by the rules either.

22 hours ago, Roostercat said:

So, my question is: What do you consider good for an event content wise? More violent and adrenaline-heavy stuff? Or calmer things that, while they can be dangerous, they mostly serve to give cool experiences and drive the story?

It is important to have a variety! In this sense, the server has a lot in common with a tabletop. As event runners (DMs), it is important to consider a healthy mix of different events (challenges) for players to interact with or fight against. In D&D 5e for example, you balance combat, exploration, and social encounters and perhaps give more or less of some depending on the party composition and what players like. I think to a degree that this holds true here too: every event being a high-octane TDM is not realistic for satisfying everyone's palettes.

Conversely, it is also important for the event runner (DM) to have fun too. If Alb wanted to run another tajara arc with an ending that was rather violent because it is something he enjoys and is passionate about, then in my eyes that is fine as well. We have a variety of lore writers capable of delivering on events, and because of this, someone's events could easily be fixated on one of these components of storytelling without "lack of variety" being an issue.

In the end though, my personal opinion? If I ran an event, I enjoy striking a balance. It is why the holiday arc had a chance for socializing/exploration (exploration in D&D is less like wandering around, and more considered to be world building) as well as combat with dueling the kataphracts or other station characters. Different strokes are for different folks, and I think having a variety helps the server in the long run. Having either pure action or calm narrating does not cater to the entire server's tastes, basically.

[Peppermint]

Heyo,

Thank you for answering my questions.

However, I cannot support this application due to the potential issues of someone doing both loredep stuff and taking over as general deputy. This is not because I doubt your character, nor am I trying to suggest I believe you would use your newfound position to act on any biased; that isn't it at all,  and I am sure I know you better than that. However, I am concerned for the precedent this may cause,  as well as the potential for conflict. Eg. Two lore folks have a disagreement and ask you to handle it. It's between the unathi team and another team. Whilst the unathi team's issue has more merit and is objectively better and you side with them, the other team now feels slighted and questions whether or not it was really a fair decision, if you see where I'm going with this? To be quite honest, I also feel it's just generally the responsible thing to do.

Otherwise I'd fully support this, but still wish you all the luck in the world.

[Mofo1995]

Thanks for your application! You were a very strong candidate, and it was a very tough call between you and Caelphon. I was especially impressed with Marlon's endorsement here, and I think you would've been great for the role too based on your application, your handling of responses, and my personal experiences with you on the team. I appreciate you.