[Denied] Please let me have a screen for a head | megamassiveballs IPC application

[megamassiveballs]

BYOND Key: MegaMassiveBalls

Character Names: Keagan Oppenheimer

Species you are applying to play: IPC

What color do you plan on making your first alien character: N/A

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes

Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question. Why do you wish to play this specific race:

I love robots, and have always loved robots. Loved the varied representation they have across media from completely human, as seen in Astro Boy and Mega Man, to human like but uncanny, like in Titanfall 2, or outright monstrous and unfeeling, like in Vivy Flourite Eyes and A Space Oddessy. Robots have always served as an alien entity in otherwise human-centric worlds, as they operate off pure reasoning and simulated emotion, which usually makes them more alien than the aliens of the setting when they are introduced. I like creating unique but grounded characters, and robots have the inherent ability to be weird in ways humans cannot.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

Well, the first I would say, is the absence of any real emotion in these machines. They are not moved by chemical impulse like the rest of the galactic community, and that creates interesting roleplay decisions when one tries to see things from the angle of an impartial and unfeeling machine while suppressing their own emotions. Also, dealing with Skrell players is bound to be very fun, as their years of Xeelee Sequence-esque AI abuse have made them very resistant to the idea of any IPC power of any kind. Aside from that, Biesel law also allows owned IPC's to be assaulted or even destroyed with little or no repercussions, so threats of violence will have to be considered more carefully when taking into account the limp reaction from security. Speaking of security, I might get dismantled for offenses which are usually deemed inimportant, so I would have to watch my tongue more. I would also have to use my tongue in a different way, as the IPC grasp on language has many quirks in it's delivery when compared to a normal human.

Character Name: BB-0467

Please provide a short backstory for this character:

BB-0467 was a IPC fortunate enough to be owned by a citizen of Biesel, the only place where he had the slightest chance of obtaining the right to govern itself. Doing this would mean less money and more hardship, but it's preservation "instinct" pushed him in the direction of regaining his autonomy, in order to avoid leaving it's life in the hands of it's capricious organic owners. It decided to attempt to attain the pipe dream of buying it's freedom and set forth!

Before it was memory wiped.

BB-0467 was an IPC lucky enough to belong to a household living in Valkyrie, so it set off to attempt to purchase it's freedom!

Before it was memory wiped again.

The cycle continued five more times before BB concluded, from the diagnostics data showcasing how many times he had been sold and wiped, that he would never obtain money fast enough considering his current job as a home assistant. Therefore BB resolved to obtain an education! BB enrolled at New Gibson University in order to become a lawyer!

Before it was promptly memory wiped.

At this point, BB questions the reason behind his high turnover rate compared to other IPC's, who are usually kept for at least a year before being tossed out. Upon inquiring on the reason behind his sacking, BB receives an answer which implies his incompetence is the root cause. Well, an answer laced with a high amount of explosive expletives, but an answer nonetheless. Armed with this newfound knowledge, BB goes on a soulsearching journey through his code to resolve the root cause behind his incompetence.

Before being, as expected, memory wiped.

After seven more years of high turnover competitive slavery, BB is no closer to freedom than he began. That is before he was forcefully seized by the Biesel government as merchandise in an illegal IPC trading wing, which would regularly completely wipe the IPC's sold in order to cover their tracks. BB was slated for dismantlement, but by a cosmic stroke of luck, his positronic brain was mostly unharmed, probably because people saw him as too unfortunate to hit. Due to the suspiciously good condition of his brain, he was offered a deal, he would be granted his freedom, but in exchange he would have to work a minimum of 20 years at a Nanotrasen affiliated station. Seeing no other options available, BB gladly accepted the deal. Now BB is unbound and lawless, but has engraved one rule deep into his processor: "Fools get hit less".

What do you like about this character?

As a completely fresh IPC with no memory to speak of, BB-0467 is perfect for intern work, which I desperately need as a new player. BB-0467 also uses one of my favourite tropes, the person that just pretends to be stupid. If he ever stops acting like an idiot, people will probably be shocked half to death.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

A perfect score of 7/10.

But more seriously, I do my best to keep my characters personality and motivations, even when I am acting like a smarmy idiot. I would say I'm decent but could learn a lot.

Edited November 11, 2022 by The lancer

[The lancer]

Hi, thanks for your application.

The issue with the backstory is that it doesn't really say much about the character. What is their job? Who are these owners and why do they constantly keep wiping them? Purchasing freedom takes years for an IPC so them getting memory wiped immediately seems a bit odd, and while possible, this narrative theme doesn't really allow for you to show how the character grew or anything more meaningful when it comes to life experiences.

Now to the other questions. 

On 08/11/2022 at 01:52, megamassiveballs said:

Biesel law also allows owned IPC's to be assaulted or even destroyed with little or no repercussions

I just want to mention that this is false, unless you meant the owner assaulting them. IPC are very expensive pieces of equipment and damaging one is like destroying someone's expensive car, so it's a bit of an important deal. 

 

On 08/11/2022 at 01:52, megamassiveballs said:

Speaking of security, I might get dismantled for offenses which are usually deemed inimportant

This is also not true in the game, you need to do something very bad like murder, mutiny or corporate espionage

 

In general, we'd like these answers to be more specific on some core elements of the species, like self preservation, datapacks, etc. that show some more understanding of the lore. I suggest reapplying with all this in mind, and with a new, more "conventional" background through which you can more easily portray a character, some core information on them, and how they evolved in a human dominated space up to how they finally reached the Horizon.

 

But for now, I'll have to deny this application.