kyres1 synthdev app 2

[kyres1]

Ckey/BYOND Username: kyres1

Discord Name: noodle_buster#1934

Position Being Applied For: (coder, mapper, spriter) : Synthetic loredev
Past Experiences/Knowledge : About 2-3 years in Aurora lore. Might be longer. At least a year as synth dev, about 6 months as synth deputy, at least a year as deputy LM.
Examples of Past Work: Very difficult to encompass literally everything but if I had to pick examples it'd be the Scarabs, a lot of IPC lore, and some Human planets, namely Xanu Prime and Medina. The chapter system, background summary, etc. are all my doing but wouldn't be really relevant to synthetic development seeing as it's above and beyond my purview.
Additional Comments:

IPC LORE!

It’s been a long time since I’ve actually taken to writing synthetic lore. It was my original baby here in the lore department, however, before I stepped up to loremaster - actually, I was synthdev for longer than I was interim deputy lore master.

The core of synthetic lore has not changed for about 4 years. Throughout my, cake, nienna’s, and whoever came before (I don’t even remember at this point) ‘s time here, actual squat has changed the meaty bits of synthlore. It is unique in the sense that this lore has been taken, refined, and turned into an absolute jewel of our server.

Questions from the application request :

What I Think About The State Of Synthlore : 
 

Spoiler

 

I’ll start with one of the primary reasons I love synthetic lore in general, especially the way it is right now.

Synthetics offer the most malleable characters, and also the deepest. They offer the most intricate narratives, and also the most shallow.

This is not a coincidence! We’ve basically propped up our lore to become a mirror reflection of two things ; the most believable (NOT REALISTIC) depiction possible of synthetics, and the most freeform depiction possible of synthetics.

Balancing believability and freedom like this has put in a system where we’ve laid out extremely simplistic and only occasionally convoluted rules. We’ve created robots which are simple enough for even the dumbest player to comprehend but deep enough for the most weathered players to make original concepts. That is the beauty of synthlore! Everyone can take part in it because nobody is hit by the roadblock obstacle of them being alien. This is because people are not roleplaying an alien - they are roleplaying something far more intimately connected to the Human nature, while maintaining a disconnect that is mostly easy to understand.

Certain behavioral parts of synthetic lore require refining. Over specification is the bane of maintaining the mentioned easy disconnect, and thus certain things like behavioral adjustments and limitations must be addressed. These include but are not limited to :

The existence of combat IPCs and the lack of proliferation of them ICly.

The existence of expected behaviors, such as rampancy or decline at older ages (beyond what was already explored in my era, see : positronic growth/deviation via age). These mostly involve predicted behaviors such as Rampancy, to what its purpose may be I’m not sure.

Elder IPCs and the existence of death by age. I primarily plan to tackle this by either neutralizing the thought as theory (by making it a literal thing) or removing it entirely. The latter seems more interesting to me personally mostly because their life isn’t entirely hopeless if they are actually undying.

 

Where Would I Like To Take Synthlore :
 

Spoiler

 

The answer is absolutely everywhere - but this is hard to say with the NBT swinging around. Provided I had all the time in the world, though, chances are I’d be interested in running Arcs!

Arc ideas can’t be shared, obviously, so I’ll focus on something that can be shared.

I want synthetics in general to get the love that IPCs have gotten. This doesn’t mean I plan to ask anybody for stationbound reworks - far from it, actually. I’d pursue depictions of synthetics on station that fill niches not seen, such as giant fukken robots, playable nanite repair swarms or even tastefully revisiting the idea of robot+gun (Secborgs, never again).

Outside of mechanic additions, there’s not much to speak of beyond refining what we’ve got and running arcs to progress the situation ICly. This is ridiculously easy to do - synthlore is not especially massive, thankfully, and the possibilities for events or interaction is boundless.

 

 

Kyres why did you step down from deputy loremaster just to sign back onto lore like two months later?

because synthdev is nowheres near as stressful. As well, I don't need to devote a tenth of the time or patience or absolute devotion to the position, and I can still do more than what's expected of me. Synthlore is also where I started, delving into it should be easy peasy TM.

[The Stryker]

I understand you took this job because it's not as stressful as deputy loremaster, but can you balance both the writing and moderation aspect of the job while still having your commitment as a spriter? What's to stop you resigning again?

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The existence of combat IPCs and the lack of proliferation of them ICly.

Can you expand on this a bit more? You mentioned this below, "secborgs never again."

Quote

Arc ideas can’t be shared, obviously, so I’ll focus on something that can be shared.

In order to keep it a surprise?

Quote

I want synthetics in general to get the love that IPCs have gotten. This doesn’t mean I plan to ask anybody for stationbound reworks - far from it, actually. I’d pursue depictions of synthetics on station that fill niches not seen, such as giant fukken robots, playable nanite repair swarms or even tastefully revisiting the idea of robot+gun (Secborgs, never again).

What about the realm of cyborgs and FBPs given that those were a contentious issue in the previous synth team?

Quote

The answer is absolutely everywhere - but this is hard to say with the NBT swinging around.

Do you have any non-arc plans specifically for NBT?

Do you have any plans for the IPC factions, i.e Trinary Perfection, Purpose, etc?

How malleable/negotiable is your vision of IPCs? Will you still take lore canon apps? How open are you to input from the community?

[niennab]

During your tenure as the lore deputy, I saw you overwork yourself to the point of crashing and burning. And from the outside looking in, I got the same impression from your work as the previous synthetic maintainer. Will this happen again?

While you were the synthetic maintainer, a few changes you made were half implemented and had to be picked up by my team. Barring stationbounds from becoming IPCs is one of them. 

The ‘Stationbound to IPC’ change was implemented without clarity on if people would be grandfathered in as well as a lack of information as to why in the lore it cannot be possible. I was left with only the information that a megacorporation wouldn’t elevate a stationbound to the status of an IPC. However, since it isn’t concrete, it means that through illegal endeavours or kindness, someone could theoretically spawn in with that background.

Right now in the code, a positronic brain can be placed into a stationbound or an IPC without any stated reason for why then that positronic brain cannot then be moved to an IPC chassis. Although my team worked to clarify some of the details left unstated, the project was never resolved due to its complexity as well as other projects taking priority. However I believe even after my tenure, this change remains unresolved and messy. Will you be implementing future changes in the same way?

You mention removing the theory of rampancy which, although as a theory it is inconsequential and could be removed, I think this highlights an issue. Is there more that you intend on removing?

[The Stryker]

Applicant responded on Discord:
 

[Caelphon]

Hi there! Just a few questions.

Quote

1. Synthetics, and the Corporate Reconstruction Zone. Lets say you had complete and total support to add whatever you want here, how do you plan on doing so? (I see you mentioned it in your replies, but just hoping on an expansion)

2. What is your perspective on IPC and their relations to Megacorporation? Do you like its current state, or do you plan on changing them? (either through expansion or rewriting)

3. Do you think Synthetic Lore could do with additional relations to other species? Why, or why not?

4. Do you have any plans on expanding IPC Culture, that doesn't involve taking elements from planets in which they were activated on? 

5.

"Shell Infiltrators

The development of Shells as a means of infiltrating strategically important areas has been prolific in Tau Ceti, from using them as fearless unquestioning suicide bombers to short-term high ranking impersonation. Shells rarely last long before whoever they truly are is revealed, meaning they are fortunately only briefly found in illegitimately assumed positions of power. Untagged Shells in unassuming positions, however, have been known to last years without being caught, and potentially unknown numbers of these machines exist.

With the advent of synthetic tagging in the system, Shells who have been found to infiltrate society are given much harsher punishments for the inherently hostile nature of their deception."

How do you feel about the above extract?

Goodluck. There are no wrong answers. 

[kyres1]

10 hours ago, niennab said:

During your tenure as the lore deputy, I saw you overwork yourself to the point of crashing and burning. And from the outside looking in, I got the same impression from your work as the previous synthetic maintainer. Will this happen again?

I crashed and burned? Sorry, I'm either misreading words here, or you're just insulting me right out the gate. If you want a more concise or perhaps different answer to that I'll happily provide, but I would never have said I "crashed and burned."

10 hours ago, niennab said:

While you were the synthetic maintainer, a few changes you made were half implemented and had to be picked up by my team. Barring stationbounds from becoming IPCs is one of them. 

cover these "few" or don't bring them up

10 hours ago, niennab said:

The ‘Stationbound to IPC’ change was implemented without clarity on if people would be grandfathered in as well as a lack of information as to why in the lore it cannot be possible. I was left with only the information that a megacorporation wouldn’t elevate a stationbound to the status of an IPC. However, since it isn’t concrete, it means that through illegal endeavours or kindness, someone could theoretically spawn in with that background.

So my writing isn't watertight. This is not remarkable news, or even news for that matter. Are you complaining because you had to pick up an oversight, or because I made a mess that you had to clean up?

In the case of "picking up an oversight," that's basically an expectation of lore developers.

In the case of "I made a mess," I didn't. That would be like saying you made a mess by resigning when there are things I can disagree with on synthlore.

10 hours ago, niennab said:

Right now in the code, a positronic brain can be placed into a stationbound or an IPC without any stated reason for why then that positronic brain cannot then be moved to an IPC chassis. Although my team worked to clarify some of the details left unstated, the project was never resolved due to its complexity as well as other projects taking priority. However I believe even after my tenure, this change remains unresolved and messy. Will you be implementing future changes in the same way?

No. If it were up to me I'd just scrap the mechanics of being able to put positronics into bounds entirely. This was one of my goals long ago but it was never visited after we permanently synthbanned the biggest problem players the lore ever had.

10 hours ago, niennab said:

You mention removing the theory of rampancy which, although as a theory it is inconsequential and could be removed, I think this highlights an issue. Is there more that you intend on removing?

Not really, not without a comprehensive combing of the IPC page, which is overdue but is not something I would like to immediately pursue.

[kyres1]

@Caelphon

1. It's a big swath of space. Running arcs here was mostly what I meant by bringing it up, because it's extremely nearby and also formerly Solarian territories - anything could be there, synthetic wise.

Otherwise I'd love to cover actual emerging IPC havens rising up amidst the chaos and newfound Republic rule.

2. Synths and megacorporations go hand in hand. Hephaestus robotics needs a big bloating, honestly, because they were always intended to be The robot people, at least during my tenure.

3. No but only because species coordination is an absolute mess right now. Coordinating between two species is asking for disaster when two people have ultimate power over two completely different things but need a myriad of cooperative plays to make anything work. I learned this the hard way as LM, asking literally anybody to do anything - it'd result in basically running into the stone wall of people wanting to do their own thing. This doesn't mean to say I want to exclusively do my own thing - I do intend to help carry out some obligations I once had with Human lore, namely bloating some planets I wrote and (god permitting) finishing the Earth and timeline writeup we spoke of.

4. YES. Synthetic factions making major cultural impacts on IPCs is a fucking HUGE thing I want to pursue. An ancient master of the lore techniques by the name of Loow once told me that these factions as they stood would pay off in the long run - in 3-4 years, we'd get to explore more detailed outcomes with them as they settled into the community as facts of life rather than asspulls. It is time to explore those impacts....

5. I wrote it. It's alright. I'd do some refining though

 

[niennab]

You are misconstruing my words and taking offense where none is intended. In applying for the position, you are opening yourself to questions and criticisms.

The role of a species maintainer involves moderating players and oftentimes keeping a cool head. What I provided were my observations and my thoughts. All things you were (and still are) welcome to offer counter arguments for. However, if this is the tone you’re going to take, then I will have to -1 this application.

Edited June 15, 2021 by niennab

[Kintsugi]

I am somewhat surprised to see Kyres applying for a lore developer so soon after resigning from his previous position. I think he'd do a good job - nobody can deny his enthusiasm and general interest - I am just curious about the decision to try to get back into the lore team so soon after getting out. At the same time, though, I guess dissatisfaction with one job doesn't mean he can't try to get another.

I have one question.

Quote

Nienna's roadmap before they left included mention of one concept, along with a design document's draft: biosynthetic shells. What is your take on biosynthetic shells, a la the androids of Alien or similar media? Are you conceptually opposed to them or are you interested in them? Would you have any plans to see them added to our lore and the game?

 

[kyres1]

@DanseMacabre

 

Would pursue if I had overwhelming developer support. Unfortunately this is probably not going to be the case especially for something as daunting and gargantuan as bioshells, for now.

Note : this was originally Cake's writeup, which then fell upon me to actually write on further, which I did not do. I have no clue if Nienna wrote any further into the mechanics of bioshells.

The framework for such a thing exists in our lore, but I would never go about introducing such a thing out of nowhere via retcon - it's simply too big and potential for an IC arc to introduce it is too great. So, tl;dr, yeah, if I had devs, I'd introduce bioshells happily, but only with IC predisposition.

 

A better question would be ; Why even introduce bioshells?

A big problem with our robots here is that we have a strict "no human+" rule, where people most often fall flat in playing robots. It is, quite honestly, extremely difficult to maintain the character of a robot at ALL times. People obviously screw up, and they do it a lot - this doesn't mean they're all gonna get whitelist stripped, but it does mean that the "no human+" rule is dubious. This is mainly why I never enforced it or plan to.

How does this factor into bioshells? Well, you're taking positronics and factoring out the mechanical aspect - in essence, this assumes we're utilizing a new brain. A new brain is a no-can-do for only one reason ; we can't really police it if it's biological in nature. Thus, outlandish behavior normalizes itself. Unless a totally new brain is created that ISN'T organic (for a biological body in this case) there's no way to actually hold the iron grip we have over people's behavior as we do.

This is not to say organic behavior can't be policed - it can be (see vaurca) but that's a whole can of worms. The material of a processor does not innately determine its purpose, nor its behavior - it's the overall design that can alter this, and designs can involve any material for any purpose. Thus, biological brains can be policed, but it's honestly not something I'd like to confuse players with. So I'd optimally just go all in and make a separate positronic brain to facilitate biological frames.

[Lmwevil]

This is a question to every applicant since it's something that will inevitably come up, we may as well know your stance: 

What are your thoughts on Full Body Prosthetics? Nienna was very opposed to them, do you share the same sentiment?

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Hello, and thank you for applying for the position of synthetic lore developer! Unfortunately, I cannot support your application due to several concerns I have with your past conduct as deputy loremaster.

I won’t deny that you have an immense amount of drive and passion for our lore but you tend to burn yourself out, which can lead to non-ideal results. I’ll echo Nienna here and say that you left a lot of work half-done or abandoned when you resigned, and resigned on pretty short notice. You seemed to have two states during your tenure as deputy loremaster: the first was a state of euphoria, where everybody loved your lore and nothing was wrong, and the second was this fugue state where everybody hated your lore and nothing was right. You spent most of your final two (perhaps three?) months as deputy loremaster in this fugue state and we were much worse off for it. Events like the conspiracy arc were first neglected and then abandoned completely, and the scarcity as a whole fell by the wayside. We completely dropped the momentum of the King of the World and returned to sitting on our hands and being told “wait for the NBT.”

Another issue that came up during these final months is your treatment of the lore team. Your fugue led into this state of paranoia where everybody was either out to sabotage what little good was left in our lore or out to get you as a person. You became confrontational -- even outright hostile at times to some people, particularly the diona team -- and began to see enemies everywhere. You also started being extremely negative towards additions to our lore, and particularly towards my additions. Accents became “bloat” that “only got added because I didn’t see it.” Everything I wrote became, to you, grotesquely overlong works that would be read by no one at all. It was both infuriating and demoralizing to deal with this. 

As a final note I find your responses to Nienna’s post to be unprofessional and, frankly, disappointing. The way in which you have responded to them, combined with my above concerns regarding your conduct as deputy loremaster, has led me to conclude that you are not the ideal candidate for the position.

[Mofo1995]

The following is a copy paste on your competitors applications as well.

I have the good fortune of having my pick of three very strong candidates, and the length of this application process is a reflection of my indecision between three people I'm keen to have on the team. A good problem to have! To try and break the deadlock a bit and gain some more insights, I have decided to ask you and your competitors these questions. What, in your opinion, separates you from the other two applying for this position? Why do you believe you would be the best candidate, and can you give examples on why your opinions for the direction of synthetic lore would be better for the server than your competitors? 

[kyres1]

On 01/07/2021 at 21:48, Mofo1995 said:

What, in your opinion, separates you from the other two applying for this position?

Probably my inclination to drive an arc and refine what we have. I am very eager to begin arcs to test proof of concepts similar to KOTW's event week (where half the point of it was to prove that X was a worthwhile pursuit in the first place.)

On 01/07/2021 at 21:48, Mofo1995 said:

Why do you believe you would be the best candidate

Experience is the only objective "up" I have over the other candidates. To say any writeup I could make would be definitively better than theirs would be either presumptuous or just a little mean. The only fact I can point to, again, is just a mountainous heap of experience I can always defer to and draw from to solve things.

On 01/07/2021 at 21:48, Mofo1995 said:

and can you give examples on why your opinions for the direction of synthetic lore would be better for the server than your competitors? 

Server's in need of a push, always. Always. People can not sit on their hands and expect things to happen - God only knows how many passionate players we have, but 99% of them aren't willing or are too scared to apply for a position like this. I'm willing to be that person to make the push to keep this place moving and synthetic development is an excellent means to this end, seeing as it takes the helm of our most played species. Not to mention, it's so deeply tied to every other species at this point that it can involve them through any number of reasons.

On 20/06/2021 at 03:36, Lmwevil said:

This is a question to every applicant since it's something that will inevitably come up, we may as well know your stance: 

What are your thoughts on Full Body Prosthetics? Nienna was very opposed to them, do you share the same sentiment?

Sorry I forgot to even respond to this.

FBPs are really a concept ruined by its past, but definitely open to a very positive future. That is, if players never get their hands on it. This isn't to say players can't be trusted with the ability to play literal FBPs - it's just that single people have been such gargantuan issues that risking opening this can of worms up again is not worth it without vested development effort.

tl;dr not worth pursuit unless 100% of development is focused on proofing it from wacky abusive characters.

[Omicega]

I meant to get around to replying to this a while ago, but it's taken the 'last chance to give feedback!' post to push me into action. I wasn't really sure how I'd go about putting it all into words, either, and some of it has been said already, but better to speak now than forever keep quiet, right?

Interacting with you in any capacity whatsoever has steadily become more and more unpleasant over the past months since I first joined Aurora. I'm not going to speculate as to the hows and whys, but to me it speaks volumes that you can't even keep a lid on the more abrasive aspects of your personality long enough to coast through your application thread cleanly. Your replies to Nienna are more than a little brusque and dismissive, which mirrors my recent experiences regarding your overall attitude both in-game and out of it. Frankly, for me this overrides basically anything else I'd be worried about or interested in regarding your application -- you could have Nobel-prize winning ideas and themes up your sleeve and I still wouldn't be interested if you can't put them across even halfway neutrally.

I have no doubt that you're passionate about IPC development, and I have no doubts about your ability to write and develop IPC lore in a coherent manner of sufficient quality from this point onwards if you get the position. I would, however, prefer not to work with you compared to the other two applicants currently outstanding. Like I said regarding myself in my own lore app, 'passionate' gets used as a buzzword for people to cloak almost aggressive behaviour behind at times, so I'm going to take that adjective with a grain of salt.

[Mofo1995]

It was an EXTREMELY close race, as all applicants were exceptionally fit for the role. However, I have chosen one of your competitors. If another position opens up, I encourage you to apply, as this was the toughest staffing decision I've had to make as loremaster so far. Thank you!