Suggestion to help newcomers: A video explaining the whole Aurora Lore and the character creation process

[1jovemtr00]

I have seen some reddit posts recently touching the subject, which is the lore size, and imo some of the arguments made there are kinda valid regarding of how much of it is necessary. Im new to the server but I still haven't played a single round because I simply don't have the time to sit and read a bunch of wiki pages about the Aurora server's lore and then write a whole bunch of character background. 

Even though it's very well elaborated creative work and the Lore Summary page does help to understand the general points of it, it still, at least to me, left many questions unanswered and it's inevitable that in order to really get into it and FULLY understand the whole scenario, you gotta go through it step by step.... and that's the issue. I simply don't have the time. I could go into specifics about this, but again, the length of this post would be quite big ( unnecesarily big) and the time issue strikes again... but to name just a few:

-What's the use of having a description of each race at the Lore Summary and not tell the newcomer their relations to each other in a more specific way? Do Unathi, Skrells, Humans, Tajarians, Vaurcea, Diona, Xenos and Robots (or androids) all get along just fine? We have brief lines but it's generally pointed to a single race.  Is it ok for players to RP and generate disputes on this matter? ( Which is race differences) Does such a thing even exists or is it even allowed on the server?

-So we have the major factions. They are dominant political players in Orion according to wiki. But then we have a list of political parties for each planet and capital to be found at the wiki? How do we relate them with the factions or vice-versa? How is this applied when playing the game exactly? What kind of difference does it make? Do they allow any race? 

- Many entries about cultural aspects from capitals and such. Why do I need to know that, what kind of music or/art or whatever they are into? Why do I have to know and understand if a certain place is into RB& Soul, and Rap and whatever? Is this really necessary? If so, again, how does it apply when playing the game? Am I allowed to create disputes for instance, if my character is into Heavy Metal and dislikes Rap and RB& Soul? 

-The way criminal records and psychologial evalutions works( how is this even done or work before the character even exists?) are very confusing. So, I mention them on the character background along with my character's education and general qualification in order to be accepted to play a certain job / role. But if one's criminal and psychological records are so important and play a crucial part on being able to perform the duty, why anyone that wants to play for example, security or medical roles , would add to their character background that they are criminals or suffer from mental problems? Kinda doesn 't make sense! And how exactly the characters will be evaluated on that regard?  "Interview(s) with HR and department head(s)"? HR? Is that in game? 

Then after all of that still being left without answers TO ME ( so far, I still haven't read the whole lore) , I move to the guide/character creation page. And we are left with even more unanswered questions, even more things to read, even memorize and understand. 

So, here is my suggestion as a potential solution: How about a VIDEO  ( or more than one) to explain the lore and character creation process? We could listen to it while driving, having lunch, during work breaks, bathroom and such ( for those of course, who could do such a thing) and learn more swiftly about it since it's supposed to play such a key role on the server?Also it would be nice to have an example of a character creation to serve as guidelines from someone that is quite experience playing here! That could do wonders and save a lot of time for those who struggle to find some!
 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by 1jovemtr00

[kyres1]

Hi. I think you're on the right track by reaching out in good faith to offer wholehearted critique from the standpoint of someone who sees something wrong - not just on the SS13 reddit, but bringing it here is a positive thing. The community sees it easier, and in general very few new players or people seeking to enjoy the server have the will to do that basic act. It's hard to sort between those who care and are simply here to cause problems, after all.

That said, I'll offer some advice as a regular here and hopefully help you out a little.

A big draw to Aurora (as in, the SS13 server itself, offshoot things on Discord need not apply) is its presence in a larger and more coordinated story. This story has been progressing for a very long time ; so long in fact that we're very rapidly nearing an entire decade of being around. That's a long, long time. And throughout that time, we've undergone countless overhauls, reworks, updates, events, and progress that we starkly contrast what we even were starting out - with only our history existing to highlight the mistakes, or unique things we can do going forward.

Of course, this is a give-and-take situation. We're forced to face the fact that our setting gets more grossly complicated with each passing canon event (the term used to describe things that remain real in the universe' timeline) piling on to an increasingly complex, and incomprehensibly large mountain of unorganized mismatched text blocks.

At the end of the day, we obviously take away a lot from our history. If it weren't for our history, sticking to our current style of play would be profoundly pointless, and even detrimental due to its effects on our stagnation as a community. It does, however, intimidate people in its tremendous length, and this is unavoidable - a video below the length of twenty minutes couldn't easily explain a penny's worth of our lore, honestly.

Do I think condensing our lore and introduction into something bite-sized is a good thing? Yes, almost universally. Is it as simple as writing a script and talking over a slideshow to explain the lore? No. You'd have to adequately cover a pretty wide base to introduce brand-new players to the setting entirely, and it would easily spiral into a long-winded and overly detailed essay. Worse yet, it'd need to be updated on a month-by-month basis unless it explains themes in a very broad and nondescript manner. So, this is basically all hard to summarize. Therefore, it hasn't been summarized. That's all I can say about the video suggestion, regrettably.

 

This suggestion also involved a lot of questions, of which I'll answer as best I can to help you out. All of that is covered below.

44 minutes ago, 1jovemtr00 said:

What's the use of having a description of each race at the Lore Summary and not tell the newcomer their relations to each other in a more specific way? Do Unathi, Skrells, Humans, Tajarians, Vaurcea, Diona, Xenos and Robots (or androids) all get along just fine?

The intricacies of this are implied through the faction or origin you end up deciding upon. While things like autocanon (the ability to canonize your own frontier planet so long as it is believable and doesnt contradict current lore) exist, they are still heavily rooted in the idea that you'd have at least a cursory understanding of the galactic stage. The background summary page (which I assume you've read entirely) decently covers the overall galactic situation ; as for how your character would treat particular species or "get along," that's virtually entirely your liberty to pursue as a player within the believability rules.

48 minutes ago, 1jovemtr00 said:

Is it ok for players to RP and generate disputes on this matter? ( Which is race differences) Does such a thing even exists or is it even allowed on the server?

Yes. In fact, this is such an exaggerated and cartoonish aspect that players and staff alike frequently joke about the matter of inter-species "racism" (in actuality, xenophobia) on a near-daily basis. The discrimination of other species between the regions and factions is extremely critical in our lore. It often decides how roleplay pans out before it even begins, with Dominian-aligned mercenaries hunting synthetics because Dominia itself despises synthetics as part of their state religion, and so on.

50 minutes ago, 1jovemtr00 said:

-So we have the major factions. They are dominant political players in Orion according to wiki. But then we have a list of political parties for each planet and capital to be found at the wiki? How do we relate them with the factions or vice-versa? How is this applied when playing the game exactly? What kind of difference does it make? Do they allowed any race? 

The major factions play in with the megacorporations - picture a series of corporations that operate above a national level, and hire from virtually any citizenship regardless of affiliation or alignment. As long as it makes the corporation money, you - or your people in general - are likely to be employed by them. The megacorporations are who we, the players work for, so that neatly ties into character creation to help out.

52 minutes ago, 1jovemtr00 said:

- Many entries about cultural aspects from capitals and such. Why do I need to know that, what kind of music or/art or whatever they are into? Why do I have to know and understand if a certain place is into RB& Soul, and Rap and whatever? Is this really necessary? If so, again, how does it apply when playing the game? Am I allowed to create disputes for instance, if my character is into Heavy Metal and dislikes Rap and RB& Soul? 

As said in the first portion of this reply, Aurora relies heavily on an established universe to generate consistent interactions between developed characters that can reliably build into years-long stories. In many cases, extraneous "fluff" or inconsequential information is easy to spot. Arguably, you aren't expected or mandated to know even an inkling of it - your character could be a shut-in, or contrarily be tuned in with the mainstream. This is again up to your own perception and ideal playstyle. As long as what you do doesn't override what exists you're given a lot of freedom here.

55 minutes ago, 1jovemtr00 said:

-The way criminal records and psychologial evalutions works( how is this even done or work before the character even exists?) are very confusing. So, I mention them on the character background along with my character's education and general qualification in order to be accepted to play a certain job / role. But if one's criminal and psychological records are so important and play a crucial part on being able to perform the duty, why anyone that wants to play for example, security or medical roles , would add to their character background that they are criminals or suffer from mental problems? Kinda doesn 't make sense! And how exactly the characters will be evaluated on that regard?  "Interview(s) with HR and department head(s)"? HR? Is that in game? 

Not to beat a dead horse, but this is a continuation of the previous points as well. Records work pretty simply. You input the records in any manner you wish, and many people opt to use "formats" or just link to documents/images that cover their character's records in detail. Personally, I use records to cover important details for my character's background. If those details are relevant, like an assistant having extensive EVA training, or an engineer having a pilot's license, I can bring them up ICly - if they're believable, people can easily act with them fairly, and for example permit your engineer to fly. That's an example, obviously, I'm not sure if engineers could feasibly have pilot's licenses for the sake of having bridge crew keep their jobs. I hope that simplifies it.

58 minutes ago, 1jovemtr00 said:

Then after all of that still being left without answers TO ME ( so far, I still haven't read the whole lore) , I move to the guide/character creation page. And we are left with even more unanswered questions, even more things to read, even memorize and understand. 

You won't! A lot of the lore, and to many people the majority of the lore that exists plainly won't interest you. To play very believable characters, despite what Reddit might say, you only need a very broad understanding of it. There's many simple avenues to approach that are purposely designed to accommodate new players, such as Biesel. It's not any less fleshed out or historically valuable, but it's far easier to quickly ingest and make a character with. To this day, I still play Biesellites because they're just as deep as any other character.

 

I hope all of this helps understand the server better. I'm aware it's all a very complicated thing to approach as a new player in any circumstance, and for what it's worth, I hope this reply serves as a warm welcome to you or anybody else reading it to give Aurora a try.

 

 

[Granodd]

I'll admit that the idea of narrated Aurora lore has crossed my mind once or twice in the past, though a few things come along with that too.

The first thing is that Aurora has a lot of lore. Like, a lot a lot. A singular video on the matter would be extremely long, and multiple videos would lead to there being a lot. They would be extremely useful to have, but it would likely take a really long time to make all of it, too. Something like an abridged version of "The basics of what you NEED to know" as the most basic of roles on the ship might be useful. For example, you can play someone from Earth, and your understanding of the Spur might only encompass Sol, Biesel, the Corporations that be, and then a brief idea of some of the alien species.

Though the other thing that comes to mind is that the lore frequently sees updates, and in some cases entire retcons and revisions that can make previous bits of lore either different or completely irrelevant. Videos on affected topics would need to be redone, or if it was a single video, reedited.

All in all, a good concept in theory, though difficult to pull off in practice without someone willing to put in the hours and editing to make it.

[Girdio]

Hi!

I recently returned to Aurora after being away for a few years, so I totally understand where you're coming from with the lore being a bit overwhelming. That's totally normal, as you pointed out there's quite a lot to go through. In an effort not to repeat what has been said already I'll try to respond more generally to your statements.

I feel like an underlying concern or question you had throughout the entire post is the concept of "why should this matter to me as a player?" and I feel like that's a great question and perfectly illustrates the enjoyment that comes with roleplaying. You have the ability to dictate what matters to your character, through drafting them up. You don't need to the name of every famous celebrity across the Spur, but it's there if you want your character to be interested in music, movies, or some other form of entertainment.

In other words, a lot of the stuff that may seem unnecessary is there to give you room to, to put it simply and generically, "breathe life" into the character. It helps you give your character passions, hobbies, and knowledge outside of their immediate job and it gives you hooks to interact with other players. If you're familiar with TTRPGs, imagine it like you're telling the DM what your character liked to do growing up and how that shaped them. A good DM might use this knowledge to run engagements with your character. In this situation though, you're both crafting your backstory and also leading the engagement. This can certainly be overwhelming but I feel that it leads to more opportunities and freedom!

This same philosophy pulls through into your questions regarding security and medical information. You're inquiring as to why someone would give their characters a history of security records or medical records and that yet again goes back to the idea of making your character feel alive. Every character comes from a different background, and everyone has a vision when it comes to who their character is and what they've endured. This commonly manifests itself in the form of security records or mental health notes. As long as you're ensuring your character isn't too unbelievable, records are generally going to be a good way for both other players and yourself to engage with your character. There are both characters on the station and people in real life who have a history of security records, yet still hold pretty decent jobs where you wouldn't know that. As well, I feel like mental health problems is, amusingly, quite common in the medical field both in real life and in-game, so the disqualify someone from working in medical for mental health concerns wouldn't work too well (although I understand the line of thought!)

In the end, a lot of your questions can be answered with the statement that a lot of the mechanics and seemingly endless fluff is there for you to make your character yours. In a lot of ways, character creation is an exercise in creative writing. It should be fun and enjoyable, but if you're finding yourself overwhelmed then you should feel free to step back and take time to reassess what's causing you problems.

As stated above, you don't need to know every piece of lore to create a good character. While there is some basic information (mainly on the lore summary) that your character would know, it can also be fun playing a character who doesn't know much about the in game universe. This is an excellent opportunity for you to interact with other characters as well, because if something comes up in-game that you don't understand, there certainly will be a player/character more than eager to explain since it gives them the opportunity to express their own character.

Hopefully this helps! As you mentioned Reddit, if you have any questions feel free to message me at VoltageHero as I try to check in my messages pretty often. While I don't have as much of a grasp on the lore as people up-to-date on everything, such as some of the lore-devs and long-term players, I've been roleplaying for the better part of my life. I'm not the elite roleplayer that some people are, but I love creating characters and may be able to give you some pointers if you're a bit unfamiliar with the concept in general.

If any of this seems confusing, someone please let me know. It's nearly 1 AM my time but I wanted to give my own insight as well.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by Girdio

[SilverSZ]

Whilst alot has been said by other people I'd just like to chip in my own perspective on how I would reccomend someone deal with our lore base if they were just getting into the server and I've talked a few people into trying the server over the years who have enjoyed and this is the same way I encouraged them to engage with the lore starting off.

I think a key thing for me is that I don't think you need to know all or even most lore for your first character (unless you really want to know everything and read everything of course) but if you don't you really don't. Infact, I'd argue finding out the lore in the game actually makes it way more fun starting out as a player. Being able to genuinely walk up to characters, human or alien and then ask where they are from or what they think or are like with genuine curiousity is an experience I wish I could have again, I think learning about every faction or race and stuff about them would be a detriment more than a good thing.

My recommendation to new people starting was always to just, skim over the human planets and find one you like the vibe with, then read about that and the faction they belong too, and then the megacorporation you're going to have your character work for but then just... Make a character who wouldn't really know much else and enjoy the discovery of the lore in-game, find out how aliens react to humans by how they react to you or what others say about them, find out about factions by asking about them ingame and all that.

I think other people do make good points on how we could make our lore more accessible in some ways, and I think producing an updated summary could help but honestly my recommendation would just be to narrow down what lore you have to learn by making a character who doesn't need to do much and discover the setting and lore in-game, maybe read a little bit now and again if something bought up interests you particularly.

My last advice would be that Aurora exists to be a place for people to create creative, interesting and fun characters. The lore exists to facilitate this and put some guidelines in place to ensure that characters remain within the scope of what is allowed on the server. But really your goal looking at lore shouldn't be to be to perfectly adhere to every cultural aspect or exactly how the lore says you should but to take the lore and use it to make something you enjoy playing and others enjoy interacting with. 

So I wouldn't be too stressed or concerned about understanding every in and out of lore or every scenario and little piece. Find something you think is cool, make something cool from it and just hop into the game. By the time you want to make another character you'll probably understand the lore far better just from meeting people who used other parts of the lore for their characters. 

 

[1jovemtr00]

Thank you all for the very thoughtful and very well elaborated replies! It helped a lot!

Im glad that you all understood that my objective is to learn and give constructive , thoughtful suggestions and feedback!

I will surely apply everything I learned here and from the wiki and hopefully do things properly when creating my character!

Regarding my suggestion, Im aware it ain't an easy one to put into practice and would take a lot of effort and time to make it happen!

See you all in the game hopefully! Cheers!

[NerdyVampire]

On 04/01/2023 at 05:46, 1jovemtr00 said:

See you all in the game hopefully!

Best advice I have is to learn while you play. I have played for several years by now, and I barely know the true depth of the lore, most of it I've not read but interacted with in some manner. It isn't a full requirement to enjoy the game that you know too much, as long as you are willing to listen and learn as you play. And ask questions in game! Those who know the lore usually also loves sharing it.

If you want to keep it simple, then make a an enthusiastic 20 year old from Sol (Earth) who knows nothing of the universe at large and is eager to learn.  Great excuse to gawk at the giant insect walking around and chittering, ask borderline-offensive questions about the cats, learn the hard way how unathi react when you challenge their pride, and discuss philosophy with IPCs regarding whether they experience true emotions or not, and what implications that has.

If someone has the knowledge/time/skills/endurance to make videos, then that would be great. But I sadly doubt it, especially when retcons are a thing.

[1jovemtr00]

On 20/01/2023 at 06:32, NerdyVampire said:

Best advice I have is to learn while you play. I have played for several years by now, and I barely know the true depth of the lore, most of it I've not read but interacted with in some manner. It isn't a full requirement to enjoy the game that you know too much, as long as you are willing to listen and learn as you play. And ask questions in game! Those who know the lore usually also loves sharing it.

If you want to keep it simple, then make a an enthusiastic 20 year old from Sol (Earth) who knows nothing of the universe at large and is eager to learn.  Great excuse to gawk at the giant insect walking around and chittering, ask borderline-offensive questions about the cats, learn the hard way how unathi react when you challenge their pride, and discuss philosophy with IPCs regarding whether they experience true emotions or not, and what implications that has.

If someone has the knowledge/time/skills/endurance to make videos, then that would be great. But I sadly doubt it, especially when retcons are a thing.

Thanks for the reply! I have finished reading the whole lore for the past weeks since I wasn't able to play. I created my character yesterday and played one round so far. 

After reading the lore for quite a while and taking the process of character creation, I have to say that my opinions about it changed drastically. You even said yourself, the best advice is to learn while you play, which brings back my point and what I have said before reading the whole lore and after playing my round and observing some rounds.

I do think it's quite well written and insteresting, however there are many blanks that in my modest opinion it just shouldn't have taking into consideration the length. I won't get into specifics here since this is an area to suggest and not criticize. Therefore, all I will say again is that I do know the difficulties of doing what I suggested but I do believe it would be not only necessary but extremely needed , of course, if done objectively.