accepted hazelmouse - Command Application

[hazelmouse]

BYOND key: hazelmouse

Discord Username: rattydew

Character names: 

• Reem Faladay (Atmospheric Technician)
• Hazel #S-H9.09 (Bartender)
• Vafthrudnir (AI)
• Adea Dacina (Shaft Miner), Dana Aitken (Physician), Eve Caelestius (Machinist)

How long have you been playing on Aurora?
I've been playing for about 10 months, now!

Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they?
None I can remember.

Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?
I view Heads of Staff as having a shared responsibility with antagonists to help guide and nurture the pacing and events of a round to be fun and engaging for everyone else playing. As command, they have an immense amount of influence over which direction the round goes, and the decisions they make in response to the antagonists will often be critical to how interesting their gimmick ends up being. It's their goal to enable antagonists, to a reasonable degree, to play out their gimmicks in a fun and fulfilling way that the rest of the crew can engage with. I view this as a joint responsibility - you're working together to make a good round, and you need to know how to bounce off each other.

On top of this, they also have the responsibility of coordinating their departments. This is extremely valuable during hectic rounds, when departments such as engineering really need an eye-in-the-sky to tell them where to go and what to do, rather than one more grunt to run around like a headless chicken. It's also extremely valuable during quieter rounds, too - I think that, when population is down and antagonists aren't providing the department gameplay, it falls to the departmental head to cook something up for everyone to have fun with. I've seen this a lot with Chief Engineers in particular, who can cook up some ridiculous experiment or science project for the department to occupy itself with - which then draws in *other* departments, and before long, the entire ship's round has been made richer and more fun because the CE decided to test the health implications of shooting monkeys out of disposals chutes into inflatable walls.

Another notable clarification is that the role of a Head of Staff isn't really to have your boots on the ground unless it's strictly necessary. Your first responsibility is to coordinate your department, communicate with the rest of command, and keep the rest of the crew informed as to what's going on. I think rounds really suffer when command fails to keep the crew informed of what's happening - for most of the crew, the only way they have any idea what's happening is if command keeps them informed with regular announcements. Communication and delegation comes first.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?
Generally, to be a reliable pillar that can be trusted to help push and guide the round in fun and engaging ways. To antagonists, to bounce off them and work with them to make their gimmicks work by giving them room to breathe, avoiding railroading them too much, and giving them a compelling adversary to plan around. Lastly, the one that interests me the most is the responsibility to new players, which I believe is to be a reliable tutor that you can always trust to help show you the ropes. They should be sufficiently mechanically experienced to know roughly what they're talking about, but more importantly, they should be approachable. I can't communicate how comforting it was as a new player to come across command characters in my department that consciously took the time to show me around and didn't place high expectations on me, and I'd love to do that for new players too - particularly ones that aren't yet very confident role-players, or don't really know the lore yet, or aren't yet good with the obtuse controls. I like being that helping hand, particularly with how intimidating the game was for me when I was starting out.

Explain how the recent events in the Spur changed your character and how they came to be employed on the SCCV Horizon.
Jackdaw is an extraordinarily old positronic. Manufactured in 2420 as a menial unit in a small line of manufacturing frames under Hephaestus Industries, the brain of unit HIU20.O.#232 was designed with the intention that it would oversee its fellow units in manufacturing duties. For this reason, it was very complex for the time - albeit, still hopelessly outclassed by advances made since. Months became years, and years became decades, and it existed long enough to see its fellows smothered one-by-one by wipes, and dismantlement, and simple dumb accidents. Through it all, it found itself the last of them all left extant in the service of Hephaestus Industries.

Having acquired self-ownership in the then-young Republic of Biesel, the unit took a long break from employment to think on the personality it had developed. It took long, leisurely strolls throughout the countryside in hopes of introspection, at the side of gently flowing rivers, flowing ever onwards. First, it identified that it felt a low, quiet resentment for the impassive pragmatism that saw the destruction of its entire line. It identified that this resentment rarely reared its head in any visible way, but burned as stubborn embers at the core of its being.  Secondly, it identified a love for beautiful things and beautiful places, which blossomed slowly into a love for life and all living things. It developed a love for animals in particular, whose simplicity charmed it. After many more long countryside walks, and many thoughtful conversations with curious locals, it elected that love should smother hatred, even if it couldn't fully dowse the embers. After a charming encounter with an overly inquisitive jackdaw, it took itself a new name, and found employment again with Hephaestus Industries, finding itself in low managerial positions for its wealth of experience and loyalty to the company, and eventually transferring to the SCCV Horizon as a Chief Engineer. It will probably never fully suppress that quiet bitterness at its core, but it found a love for life too strong to not eagerly help others in living theirs.

What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted?
Chief Engineer.

Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles?
I have!

Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking:
Jackdaw (Chief Engineer)

Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action?
I do!

Have you linked your BYOND account to the Forums?
I have!

Extra notes:
N/A

Edited March 22 by hazelmouse
typo

[SilverSZ]

I don't think I need to say much on Hazel's ability to roleplay. Hazel #S-H9.09/Nines is a simply one of those names you love to see join the round because you know they will be fun to interact with and a net positive for the overall enjoyment you'll get out of it. She is a wonderful role-player and I'm glad they play as much as I see them play just so they're around more in game.

Outside of that. Hazel is a wonderful person to have in the community and I truly can't think of ever having an interaction with her that wasn't positive and nice. Her answers to the questions are the usual things that I would put down if asked them again myself and I actually really like their suggested character, Jackdaw. I'm always a fan of IPC who have complicated and mixed emotions towards humanity and the world around them that they have to work through and overcome.

A glowing +1. I hope to have the chance to see their trial soon.

 

[dessysalta]

I can't possibly overstate the roleplay quality (and mechanical quality!) of Hazel and their characters. Nines and Reem are such great characters that I love to see every round, and Hazel is one of the few people I can be 100% sure to keep the ship functioning in times of need. I can't really see a better role for them than Chief Engineer (though maybe XO down the line 👀). 

 

+1. You earned it.

[Lly2]

yeah

+

[Valentine]

Hazel is great fun to roleplay with, Nines is super fun (my miner CONSTANTLY bothers her) and Reem has always been competent during my stint in Engineering. I think given the chance to be command, Hazel would bring a great atmosphere to engineering that it sorely lacks most of the time. 

 

Major +1

[HanSolo1519]

Hazel nails competent, engaging, and fun to interact with characters, she's clearly knowledgeable when it comes to engineering mechanics, knowledgeable enough to handle high-stress situations.
I definitely trust her to handle chief engineer responsibly
 +1

[MattAtlas]

On trial until 6APR2024.

[Aphelion]

So far, been a wholesome chief who is competent, approachable, and a genuinely effective manager. 10/10

[SilverSZ]

I was able to interact with Jackdaw on a lowpop round just now!

Whilst I can't particularly speak for their ability to manage Engineering, as I have quite literally never played the department. They have created a very good, communicative and interesting character who I would be delighted to see on the command roster more as one of my fellow command staff.

+1

[furrycactus]

I've worked under Jackdaw a few times in Engineering now. Not only are they an effective CE, they're also a very responsive and engaging character entirely separate from their job role. They've been thoroughly enjoyable to have in-round!

+1

[hollyhock]

I just played a round with Jackdaw: really good CE, great at coordinating us with everything that was happening

+1

[Rabid Animal]

Had the chance to play with Jackdaw, very active and communicative. Didn't really overstep and overall a team player. Almost made my RD change their opinions on IPC heads 😏/s 

+1

[beepbopbeepbop]

From the few rounds I've seen, Jackdaw is very well played and good at taking charge with a great amount of communication.

+1

[MattAtlas]

Accepted.