Characters with stupidly diverse skill sets.

[Jakers457]

I hate to be a stickler for some rule that might not even be written down somewhere. But I've seen characters that are... say, fully qualified in Engineering, Security and Research, enough for them to be the upper tier jobs if you will. Which, maybe, I guess would be valid, depending on how old the character is and what work they had prior to being with Nanotrasen.

Perhaps it's because I have different characters serving to different roles, but I personally dislike seeing someone who can set up the Singularity, create slimes then perform surgery while memorizing the regulations handbook, because y'know, no biggy bro.

Should we enforce realistic qualifications a little more, or should we allow characters that seem to be able to work all the jobs presented to them? Obviously this is a tricky topic, but I have faith that we'll pull through.

[keinto]

We should enforce it, because if not, then you get Scientists doing stuff that Engineering is supposed to be doing like construction and repairs, as if they didn't isolate enough from other departments already. I've heard people talking about cross-training, but this is a game. Just like antags, try to involve as many people as you can in your projects, no matter how stupid or little they might be. This also goes for inner-department variations of roles, like Maintenance Technician and Engine Technician, Surgeon and Medical Doctor, Scientist and Plasma Researcher. You get the idea. Even though terms such as Station Engineer and Medical Doctor are a bit too general for me, it's what we have, and my opinion is that a Station Engineer should know more about construction than an Electrician. If you bothered to change the name of your occupation to something more specific, then roleplay that. UNLESS:

- Everyone who would know more about the task you are trying to perform is SSD/not present in the station.

- The task is so small and inconsequential a little OOC knowledge does not hurt.

- It's dead hour and there are no engineers on and you need power to chair-rp properly.

TDL;DR It's a game. RP with other people.

[Jamini]

What Jackers is bringing up is a non-issue on aurora, and characters that department-hop are handled already by staff.

What Keinto brought up I do not feel should be enforced heavily. As taken to an extreme it can severely cripple players due to needless and ultimately worthless distinctions. If you want to make yourself limited in a field, do so. Don't force everyone into one mold.

My rules of thumb:

1. If I am playing a specialist, I try and focus on my own specialty first.

2. If another specialty related to my primary field needs help, and my character can reasonably be expected to be trained in that field, I will lend aid.

3. If something is entirely out of my character's field, or something they overtly have no skill in (perhaps intentionally), then I will look for a workaround.

Allow me to bring up my (slightly controversial) medic? Hokay? Omnir Al-Nasser

1. His primary role, and the bulk of his training, is first response. If a call for help comes out, he will try and be the first on the scene. He will move patients to acute safely and rapidly, and knows best how to stablize people.

2. He is cross-trained in surgery (medical specialty he is going to school for) and chemistry (An eletive and hobby, as well as the fact that /all/ doctors are trained in biology.) As such, should medical lack a surgeon or a chemist he will volunteer to fill those roles in a basic function.

3. He has no psychology training, and doesn't touch that. He has no genetics training, but does know that synthetics can cycle a clone pod. Outside of medbay he has a handful of average skills, with the exception some combat skills (which are represented in his skill list)

[Frances]

One thing I will bring up is that players rarely roleplay weaknesses in their characters' skills. Either a character knows how to do something perfectly/as well as their player, or they don't know how to do it at all.

I'm saying that from an entirely neutral standpoint, so take it as you will.

[Jakers457]

I've seen two characters department hop with little done about it.

[TishinaStalker]

I've seen two characters department hop with little done about it.

 

Then ahelp it. Staff isn't omniscient.

[Ryfer]

Then ahelp it. Staff isn't omniscient.

 

Yes please. Someone was recently brought to my attention about this, and it was worked out within a minute or two. We just need to be told.

[Jakers457]

Then ahelp it. Staff isn't omniscient.

 

Yes please. Someone was recently brought to my attention about this, and it was worked out within a minute or two. We just need to be told.

 

I've reported a certain character, who made an insta-switch from Quartermaster to Warden. Since then, I've seen him go to Xenoarcheology then to Robotics. I assumed he wasn't spoken to.

[TishinaStalker]

QM to Warden isn't really that big of a switch since they're management positions, with one being a Civilian one (that requires no other requirement than passing an intro management course) and the other one being a Security one (whose requirements can be achieved by a believable character in college); meaning that these two positions still create a believable character. Now, QM>Warden>Xenoarcheology> Robotics is a huge step. Would you please PM me more information about the person? I'll see what we can do about it.

[Dreamix]

I've reported a certain character, who made an insta-switch from Quartermaster to Warden. Since then, I've seen him go to Xenoarcheology then to Robotics. I assumed he wasn't spoken to.

IMO, that's fine, if he was a QM one round, and a warden the next, Xenoarcheologist another, etc...

But when they play all of those, in a single round, we have a problem. I am always intending to stick to one rule. I play the job I choosed to play. It may seem simple, but it isn't. When (for example) I have a ex-captain, with captain-employment records, but that particular round he arrived as an assistant, I will not expect others to treat me like a captain, or make me acting captain every round. And I expect others to play the role they are playing. I don't want to see EMT's/medical interns that should be CMO's (just because they have good skillset, learning chemistry, surgery, whatever), I don't want to see assistants being promoted to HoS's, just because they have good records. Why not we all make assistants, whose have CE/CMO/RD/HOS records and just promote them to positions they need?

But that's just my opinion. Don't take it too seriously, please.

[Eliot Clef]

Why not we all make assistants, whose have CE/CMO/RD/HOS records and just promote them to positions they need?

But that's just my opinion. Don't take it too seriously, please.

 

Promoting people into positions that are necessary, including Head positions, is literally a job position on the station. The Head of Personnel exists for this, and a part of playing the Head of Personnel well is recognizing need in a department and funneling people into that department when they have an appropriate skill set.

We shouldn't have non-whitelisted players using this to get around not being whitelisted, but it's OK if whitelist/frequent Heads join in other roles and then get promoted.

As for the overall topic: I think it depends a lot on what skills we're talking about. I think Science in particular is well-justified in having broad skill sets, and should be able to do stuff like machine building and the like.

And I honestly think that, with the possible exception of Miner, just about every job in QM is a job that anybody is reasonably qualified for in a pinch. So... this really depends on context.

[Guest]

To be frank. If a Head of Staff player is playing a regular Head of Staff as a normal job, they probably do not want to be promoted. Interim/Acting Heads of Staff are generally not whitelisted, they are used to educate people on how to command properly.

[Jamini]

One thing I will bring up is that players rarely roleplay weaknesses in their characters' skills. Either a character knows how to do something perfectly/as well as their player, or they don't know how to do it at all.

I'm saying that from an entirely neutral standpoint, so take it as you will.

 

I uh... disagree with this. I've seen plenty of people who can OOCly do something and ICly will not. Granted, many of them are long term players.

 

[3:11:32 PM][Redacted]The HoS wasn't dying. He should've been last damnit

[3:11:56 PM] Jamini: I'm sorry I wasn't there.

[3:12:26 PM] [Redacted]: I wasn't one of the ones who died

[3:12:30 PM] [Redacted]: But im mad that I had to watch it

[3:12:54 PM] [Redacted]: I hate not being able to help because meta and what not. Hnnng

[3:15:25 PM] Jamini: Doesn't [His character] have first aid?

[3:16:36 PM] [Redacted]: Basic. And he did the best he could.

 

A conversation just today I had, actually. Someone else to me

[Frances]

That goes a bit against my expectations. I'm surprised, and glad to hear this.

[Tainavaa]

Dreamix, I've promoted a qualified Head of Security that happened to be an assistant that round to Head of Security before. The amount of booty bumbling literally could not be quantified by standard human measurement techniques.

I don't think that would work at all due to people being, well, entitled.

After seeing how they responded to that though, I wouldn't have promoted any damn one of them. It's like a highschool, I swear.

[SmileyDemon]

This is the demon of the game itself, when rp begins to negatively effect gameplay. I agree that important jobs should be limited, but sometimes, someone just wants to do something else/is an antag. So department hopping is something that you cannot feasibly control beyond head positions without detracting from the game itself and those within it.

[Jakers457]

People want to play another role? Make another character for that role, unless it's something relatively basic like janitorial or cargo. Or even have your character do an internship to learn a new role, make it organic and develop your character in an interesting way. Don't be the guy who shows up as a Surgeon one day after working as an engineer for most of the shifts prior. Don't be that guy. Besides, this is a heavy roleplay server, the roleplay potential should have some priority over mechanics, otherwise you'd be playing somewhere else.

[Guest]

I've not really made any departmental jumps since the era of arrivals bombing and lawgivers.

Despite that, however, I've logged in on stupid occasions and somehow had my qualified HoS work as criminal investigators instead of being the beat cop peacekeeper I've always made them out to be. Same department, yet still been dabbling in different fields. This is still a no-no, and an admin already had that discussion with me over Skype.

I've already made limitations on what I can do as that character. Likewise for other characters.

[Guest]

Established characters, with realistic backgrounds, shouldn't job hop outside their skill line. I'll give my character up to judgement. I've been told she's a bit overqualified, but still a balanced character.

Elena has two degrees; Major's in Economics and Doctorat in Corporate Law. The former gives her access to HoP, the latter to IAA and HoS to an extent. She also has 10 years of military service and 10 years in NT FDF, which got her the title of the captain. All of her skills reflect these facts. However, her knowledge in science, engineering and medical doesn't go past high school basics. She's also past her prime and is currently declining in martial skill, so I'm pulling her out of the HoS spot slowly.

As for unrealistic job hopping, I think some freedom should be given to new players and yet unestablished characters, for obvious reasons. If people actually start to notice that the spacific character is job hopping, maybe just ask them over looc to change it and take a spacific role.

I still think people shouldn't take some jobs so lightly, such as cooking and mining. Everyone may use a pick, but it takes actual skill to detect ores and process it properly, as well as extensive EVA training to be able to be in one 30 minutes at a time.

[Jakers457]

I suppose new players/character can try to establish themselves