Exploitable Information - Problems and Solutions

[QuestioningMark]

Hey there guys!

Exploitable information on people's characters is something you can add in the roles section next to the PDA type. The information shows up for traitors, and is meant to be a hidden set of notes obtained by a shadowy information network supporting the traitors, or whatever other antag with uplink.

At the moment, the grand majority of characters exploitable information consists of these 4 archtypes.

1. Has a bounty, kill or capture. (Basically an invitation to PVP.)
2. Is valuable to X because backstory, capture. (Basically an invitation to be a damzel.)
3. Was part of a shadowy or problematic organisation, but is better now. (Practically useless.)
4. In a relationship with X crew. (Practically useless.

What they should be is:

1. Clear exploitable information that can actually be leveraged against the character for favours. Blackmail/IPC package weakness/Family and Kids at home who you can pretend you kidnapped, so on.

The problem with all of these is this is not exploitable information. Exploitable information is information people can exploit against you, to make a story. Stuff like you having a DUI in which you hit and nearly killed someone that you've covered up. Or that you're responsible for a reactor accident, and here are the pictures of your malfeasance that would ruin your life. So on.

At the moment playing the traitor gamemode is hard on this server. It's hard because actually making a story that isn't a hiest or a killing spree, but a more intertwined story where you don't just engage with the security department is painful. If your backstory is "Runaway Domanian noble but NT saved you" I don't have anything to work with that's concrete going to loop you into a conspiracy, being a runaway noble isn't going to change your cannon status in a non-cannon round on the vessel, and no one will do anything about it, because it's a antag round. There are 0 stakes for your character to have that story getting out.

And for the love of god if your exploitables are just "Had contract kill them" it's weak. I'm not going to shoot you for your contract, it's a valid hunting invite.

Instead give hard details, perhaps it's a inescapable drug addiction to X product, maybe it's genuine proof of your culpability to manslaughter, maybe it's proof your identity is fake and it would immediately get you arrested on the ship. Maybe you have commited massive tax fraud in Biesel. This information is for antags to use against your characters to weave you into the round and the story for their wider objectives.

I'm not personally keen on murder sprees without greater engagement. Bringing people into the story that aren't just looking for shooty gun time is hard on tot, and the fact that apparently everyone is missing the mark on what exploitables is meant to be about is harder. It shouldn't be a soap box for a "Edgy but reformed" backstory, it should be damning details that are exploitable.

So I suggest three things.

1. A blurb on the character screen next to exploitables, clearly explaining the purpose is to give information that people can leverage against you. This is so they can involve you, perhaps make you commit a naughty thing that is better than your secret getting out that you can keep secret after.
2. A wipe of peoples exploitables, or a series of announcements asking people to update them to a new and better standard.
3. Make it hard against the rules to set up "Bait" exploitables, which is to say, if you have exploitables and you're using them to target valids because you're magically immune to the thing people can blackmail you with, you should be punished.

 

Edited April 18, 2024 by QuestioningMark

[Carver]

I would be deeply annoyed with a wipe and as it were I quite like the open variety allowed. Even if people do not always put something useful, I appreciate that they put something at all to begin with.

[QuestioningMark]

3 minutes ago, Carver said:

I would be deeply annoyed with a wipe and as it were I quite like the open variety allowed. Even if people do not always put something useful, I appreciate that they put something at all to begin with.

A series of announcements will probably do the trick then. And a update on the page where you fill them in saying what's expected.

[Carver]

11 minutes ago, QuestioningMark said:

A series of announcements will probably do the trick then. And a update on the page where you fill them in saying what's expected.

I would deeply prefer no expectations, the status quo. If people misuse it, then they are the type who will find themselves banned for other reasons as it were. It doesn't need to be restrictive beyond what existing rules we have.

[QuestioningMark]

56 minutes ago, Carver said:

I would deeply prefer no expectations, the status quo. If people misuse it, then they are the type who will find themselves banned for other reasons as it were. It doesn't need to be restrictive beyond what existing rules we have.

The existing issue is that the status quo is awful and they're practically unusable for most people in a round. In a recent round I played 5 people had a exploitable that read to the effect of "Has big bounty please kill", two had "is very valuable please kidnap" and a couple just said "Is in a relationship with someone (who is not in the round.)" It meant I had to make a more generic gimmick where I couldn't really weave them in as a exploited person with a bit of mystery to it. Where they could have their moment too, even if they weren't security.

Antagonists are expected to make a story from the round as story drivers, but people who haven't really understood what 'exploitable information' means at the moment are sort of just writing PVP baits or irrelevant facts that can't be used drive fun narritive for the round. I personally want to be able to play antagonism rounds where I can involve people, where they themselves provide narritive hooks which makes sense, like a shadowy organisation like the Syndicate Uplink obtaining information that can be used to exploit people. Where we can explore their character a bit in these situations with what they provide.

Which is why I think we should encourage making the exploitable information tab about actually exploitable information.

[Carver]

36 minutes ago, QuestioningMark said:

The existing issue is that the status quo is awful and they're practically unusable for most people in a round. In a recent round I played 5 people had a exploitable that read to the effect of "Has big bounty please kill", two had "is very valuable please kidnap" and a couple just said "Is in a relationship with someone (who is not in the round.)" It meant I had to make a more generic gimmick where I couldn't really weave them in as a exploited person with a bit of mystery to it. Where they could have their moment too, even if they weren't security.

Antagonists are expected to make a story from the round as story drivers, but people who haven't really understood what 'exploitable information' means at the moment are sort of just writing PVP baits or irrelevant facts that can't be used drive fun narritive for the round. I personally want to be able to play antagonism rounds where I can involve people, where they themselves provide narritive hooks which makes sense, like a shadowy organisation like the Syndicate Uplink obtaining information that can be used to exploit people. Where we can explore their character a bit in these situations with what they provide.

Which is why I think we should encourage making the exploitable information tab about actually exploitable information.

I'm going to be rather blunt, if it's changed to be insistently written in one manner I will simply leave my exploitables blank, and I say this as someone who does try to write in potential hooks into exploitables. Are those hooks presently usable by all, not really, but not every character can be readily manipulated by just about anyone.

[NothingNew]

A potential record-like template would be nice to use, one that's not too restrictive, but points people in the right direction with what kind of information could be put in there.

[Carver]

5 minutes ago, NothingNew said:

A potential record-like template would be nice to use, one that's not too restrictive, but points people in the right direction with what kind of information could be put in there.

An addition to the current auto-generators wouldn't be bad, especially as they're presently entirely optional. But like the current auto-gens, I'd want any kind of 'easy use template' to be entirely optional.

[NothingNew]

The good news is anyone can make such a template for the kind of exploitable information they're looking for. I agree that it should be optional, more variety is better than less variety overall, and when I play antagonist I've yet to try incorporating exploitable information into a gimmick, I usually just go by some vague idea and then improvise, nor have I yet to fill in any of my character's exploitable information, in part because I play so many and also purely because I've yet to truly figure what to put there that could be potentially usable or interesting enough to warrant an entry.

Edited April 18, 2024 by NothingNew