Player Complaint - Baldos

[Susan]

BYOND Key: SueTheCake
Game ID: prior to cr3-dBoG
Player Byond Key/Character name: Baldos
Staff involved: N/A
Reason for complaint: Powergaming, poor antag play.
Did you attempt to adminhelp the issue at the time? If so, what was the known action taken by administration/moderation?: No. I only witnessed the most egregious behavior near round end.
Approximate Date/Time: Around 4:45~ PM Central.

By the time I loaded into the round, crew transfer had been called, but in the leadup to round end, I witnessed progressively poor conduct by Baldos who was acting as that round's changeling. Earlier, he had consumed a security officer who was a Unathi in what the player described in deadchat as them 'waiting until he roleplayed and then dragging him off into maintenance', and then this led up to the changeling inhabiting the body of said Unathi. The Head of Security, Tokash, had died, and the changeling in question was trying to gain access to the forensics lab to get his body.

They had also somehow acquired a laser rifle and combat armor, presumably from the officer they killed who had been injured fighting greimorians. Either way, they then proceeded to whip out their laser rifle and shoot the security players in the legs (the limb meta), blowing them off before running in with the armblade to finish off the organic investigator, as the other officer was a shell. I mention this here, despite the staff's incredulous assertation that the 'limb meta' does not exist (it was a bannable offense just a year or two ago), because it is simply the precipice to the powergaming displayed.

There was disconnect between the time the first shots were fired and the murders. Enough time, several minutes, for help to be called. Nobody else in security was armed. They had to go to the crew armory, and as medical and the singular cadet with a rifle appeared, the changeling (in a Unathi's body) turned on adrenaline sacs, dragged the still alive but wounded investigator behind him, and sprinted at mach speed 10 through the ship because of how adrenaline sacs + Unathi sprint work together, taking them into maintenance on the far other side of the ship in a matter of seconds. This is the second instance of gross, inexcusable powergaming.

Adrenaline sacs have always been a problem child ability, but combined with the Unathi sprint, which in essence makes the ling move at supersonic speeds with absolutely no real consequences or way to counter it, with the classic 'drag someone behind me at full speed into the tunnels', it is my opinion that this is inexcusable powergaming. Baldos is antag often enough to be fully aware of this combination and I have no reservations to the idea he chose to do this on purpose. Antagonist players, or any player, really, have an expectation not to go out of their way to abuse mechanics in this fashion. Had it been short bursts of speed like normal Unathi sprint, fine, but keeping it on for protracted periods of time to move at such a level nobody else could ever hope to achieve is a gross abuse of their status in the round and utterly self-serving and selfish.

When the round was over, as this escalation all happened post-transfer vote, they also said in OOC that they wanted to go horrorform, break a window to space, and then just fly off into the overmap to make sure 'nobody could feel like they won', acknowledging that 'security had been destroyed'. This is also evidence, in my opinion, of a self-serving selfish desire to 'win' rather than create an interesting narrative. They easily slaughtered people who could not even realistically pose a threat to them and then with their frags secured wanted to jump off the ship and abdicate their responsibility to create a narrative so they could feel secure in their victory, while the rest of the crew barely even knew anything was up until the crew armory was opened.

I have had problems with Baldos' antag play in previous rounds, but I cannot recall anything more recent to add onto this complaint. I personally think this changeling round is a prime example of extremely poor antagonist play, and I would like it examined by staff. Just because game mechanics allow you to do something does not necessarily mean you should, and permanent Unathi sprint is egregious and obvious enough that someone who plays antag as often as Baldos should know better.

[Noble Row]

Hello all, I will be taking this complaint. If @Bolbos could post their end of the story while I grab the server logs I'd appreciate it.

[Bolbos]

On 31/01/2024 at 17:25, Susan said:

They had also somehow acquired a laser rifle and combat armor, presumably from the officer they killed who had been injured fighting greimorians. Either way, they then proceeded to whip out their laser rifle and shoot the security players in the legs (the limb meta), blowing them off before running in with the armblade to finish off the organic investigator, as the other officer was a shell. I mention this here, despite the staff's incredulous assertation that the 'limb meta' does not exist (it was a bannable offense just a year or two ago), because it is simply the precipice to the powergaming displayed.

Yes I do agree that was a bit scummy, but there was still not much they could have done to save themselves, even if I didn't aim for the leg they would have been still goners, so aiming at the leg couldn't have changed the outcome anyways.
 

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Nobody else in security was armed. They had to go to the crew armory, and as medical and the singular cadet with a rifle appeared, the changeling (in a Unathi's body) turned on adrenaline sacs, dragged the still alive but wounded investigator behind him, and sprinted at mach speed 10 through the ship because of how adrenaline sacs + Unathi sprint work together, taking them into maintenance on the far other side of the ship in a matter of seconds. This is the second instance of gross, inexcusable powergaming.

This was my first time playing as a Unathi In general so I had no Idea how fast it could get with adrenaline, I was using my usual ling tactics on another race that I had no idea how it worked so you could say it was unintentional "powergaming" and I probably did not realize it during the heat of the pursuit.
 

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 Antagonist players, or any player, really, have an expectation not to go out of their way to abuse mechanics in this fashion. Had it been short bursts of speed like normal Unathi sprint, fine, but keeping it on for protracted periods of time to move at such a level nobody else could ever hope to achieve is a gross abuse of their status in the round and utterly self-serving and selfish.

Not sure how using adrenaline sacs the way it was intended to be used (increase in mobility to escape or fight) is abusing mechanics, if you find that it's a bit too "powerful" for your taste, you should complain to a developer but not to a player, afterall it is the developer's job because I won't care about how overpowered an ability is mid-chase.
 

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When the round was over, as this escalation all happened post-transfer vote, they also said in OOC that they wanted to go horrorform, break a window to space, and then just fly off into the overmap to make sure 'nobody could feel like they won', acknowledging that 'security had been destroyed'. This is also evidence, in my opinion, of a self-serving selfish desire to 'win' rather than create an interesting narrative. They easily slaughtered people who could not even realistically pose a threat to them and then with their frags secured wanted to jump off the ship and abdicate their responsibility to create a narrative so they could feel secure in their victory, while the rest of the crew barely even knew anything was up until the crew armory was opened.

I wanted to roleplay as an unknown cosmic horror invader with the sole purpose of survival, I simply just wanted to fly out because I thought that would generate more reactions about how the crew just let an unknown cosmic horror escape and not be "woohoo we won!" and be back to normal again so not sure where you got the "security had been destroyed" thing from, and from my perspective, I roleplayed and escalated most of the round pretty well, and only went loud when the remaining security officers started plotting against me and disobeying my orders.

It saddens me to hear that not everyone enjoyed the round and I am sorry if you did not enjoy the round, but I tried my best at escalating and doing roleplay, so even if I messed up I did not really mean it.

[Noble Row]

Alright, talking it over with staff and looking through the statements here I have come to a conclusion.

Baldos, as an antag you are aware your main goal is to convey a story in some capacity. Due to the lateness of the actions in the round, I understand one can be hard-pressed to make a full story. This can be done many ways, and the required ways are proper escalation and trying not to go overboard. In the heat of the moment I understand it can be hard to temper your actions, and due to your newness to the Unathi's sprint ability, I won't be punishing you for it this time. However, it should be recognized in the future that when you have an ability such as that combination of Adrenaline sacks + The Unathi acceleration, you need to know when to reel yourself back and moderate your actions.

22 hours ago, Bolbos said:

Not sure how using adrenaline sacs the way it was intended to be used (increase in mobility to escape or fight) is abusing mechanics, if you find that it's a bit too "powerful" for your taste, you should complain to a developer but not to a player, afterall it is the developer's job because I won't care about how overpowered an ability is mid-chase.

The adrenaline sack issue has already been forwarded to a head developer, who mentioned they will be looking in to it.

On 31/01/2024 at 20:25, Susan said:

despite the staff's incredulous assertation that the 'limb meta' does not exist (it was a bannable offense just a year or two ago)

This was a needless mention as this topic has already been ruled upon. Staff has discussed the issue and made a ruling that is recent, not years old. I urge you to drop it. Staff changes as time goes on, you can look in to the history of this server and see several things that are very stark differences to the stances staff have today, both things the server tolerates and doesn't. If it becomes a more persistent issue staff may talk about it again, but as it stands it is reasonable to use a basic game mechanic such as the limb targeting system.

 

Otherwise Baldos, remember you are playing a game that regularly involves a large population of people. Antags for the round are kind of like the 'main event'. We just want everyone to have fun here, or at least the most amount of people as possible. Choose your gimmick, play it to the best of your ability, but try to keep in mind there's a lot of people watching and we want to try to make this server as fun as we can for everyone involved.

 

Thank you both for your time, if nothing else is to be said this thread will be locked and archived within 24 hours.