What hapoened to stereotypes?

[Socket]

Long time player first time posting....

Gotta say I do quite enjoy some RP and Aurora does okay but the one thing that makes me kinda annoyed is that there's no adherence to stereotypes.

I can understand descrimination not being officially supported by a lot of people. Absolutely.

But I said this on the server just before, and I reckon it's worth sorting out here for the sake of a) record and b) being a lot more clear.

A year ago almost every Tajara conformed to being submissive and never ever a head of staff, even playing engineer was discouraged. They were expected to be less than minimum wage slaves more or less. Most Unathi were testostrone pumped and were rarely seen out of security. Every Skrell was sociopathic and curious.

While just playing a walking stereotype isn't that fun, true diversity can be accomplished through subtities right? Not playing one that breaks the lore? Because surely that's what happened, for the Tajara lore is completely retconned. While stereotypes can be ugly, they do add interesting RP with how someone treats them, and I feel like the lack of stereotypes essentially removes a lot of culture and history from lore. Judgement still happens a lot on the station but when I want to be judgemental I don't know how to be superficial about it.

Am I wrong though, are there stereotypes at all?

[Socket]

Long time player first time posting....

Gotta say I do quite enjoy some RP and Aurora does okay but the one thing that makes me kinda annoyed is that there's no adherence to stereotypes.

I can understand descrimination not being officially supported by a lot of people. Absolutely.

But I said this on the server just before, and I reckon it's worth sorting out here for the sake of a) record and b) being a lot more clear.

A year ago almost every Tajara conformed to being submissive and never ever a head of staff, even playing engineer was discouraged. They were expected to be less than minimum wage slaves more or less. Most Unathi were testostrone pumped and were rarely seen out of security. Every Skrell was sociopathic and curious.

While just playing a walking stereotype isn't that fun, true diversity can be accomplished through subtities right? Not playing one that breaks the lore? Because surely that's what happened, for the Tajara lore is completely retconned. While stereotypes can be ugly, they do add interesting RP with how someone treats them, and I feel like the lack of stereotypes essentially removes a lot of culture and history from lore. Judgement still happens a lot on the station but when I want to be judgemental I don't know how to be superficial about it.

Am I wrong though, are there stereotypes at all?

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

All of my characters have stereotypes and prejudices. My "main" character, a Tajaran, thinks Tajaran culture is trash and dropped the first person moniker all because he was growing increasingly embarrassed at how cringey most tajarans on the station are.

My unathi CE Sirasairot used to be one of the testosterone-filled bad-asses and is now super chill.

My Unathi shaman is a pretty stereotypical of what I wanted the shamans to be. Except his little running joke of calling most of the ghosts haunting the place a bunch of assholes. And I mean, if a shaman can read dsay, he'd totally think that.

I have a lot of fun in subverting stereotypes, while trying to stay true to the spirit of the race. I try to have my characters struggle against their stereotype and see how it evolves. Houssam has to be in control of every situation and strives to break above his race-mandated limitations, and gained an obsession with Order. My Unathi Sirasairot has a stereotypical snowflake unathi backstory of being a former warrior bad-ass turned chill dude that just wants to do his job.

What I think you're trying to get at is that we don't have our alien characters all acting alike, or acting contrary to lore. And I mean, we do have stereotypes. Some of them just developed organically and contrary to the lore. Tajaran are rebellious little sassy jack-asses, and Unathi are muh-honor obsessed spear wielders.

Should we force everyone to act a particular way when playing a race? We kind of do. But the races aren't hive minds, and I appreciate individualism in characters.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

All of my characters have stereotypes and prejudices. My "main" character, a Tajaran, thinks Tajaran culture is trash and dropped the first person moniker all because he was growing increasingly embarrassed at how cringey most tajarans on the station are.

My unathi CE Sirasairot used to be one of the testosterone-filled bad-asses and is now super chill.

My Unathi shaman is a pretty stereotypical of what I wanted the shamans to be. Except his little running joke of calling most of the ghosts haunting the place a bunch of assholes. And I mean, if a shaman can read dsay, he'd totally think that.

I have a lot of fun in subverting stereotypes, while trying to stay true to the spirit of the race. I try to have my characters struggle against their stereotype and see how it evolves. Houssam has to be in control of every situation and strives to break above his race-mandated limitations, and gained an obsession with Order. My Unathi Sirasairot has a stereotypical snowflake unathi backstory of being a former warrior bad-ass turned chill dude that just wants to do his job.

What I think you're trying to get at is that we don't have our alien characters all acting alike, or acting contrary to lore. And I mean, we do have stereotypes. Some of them just developed organically and contrary to the lore. Tajaran are rebellious little sassy jack-asses, and Unathi are muh-honor obsessed spear wielders.

Should we force everyone to act a particular way when playing a race? We kind of do. But the races aren't hive minds, and I appreciate individualism in characters.

[Frances]

Tajarans are in an interesting spot. They have very rich lore - they have a intricate, 1920s dieselpunk-themed society complete with ultraconservative values, as well as the complex issues of their very own Russian peasant revolution (backed by NanoTrasen, coming coming with your very own opposing front of rebel nationalists).

I'm assuming Tajaran players are aware of it, at the very least. (Plus the Tajaran caretaker, Sue, releases some really neat graphical updates to support Tajaran lore development every once in a while.) Yet, it's not something you see having any major impacts in-game.

Why is that? I frankly don't know. Is it "easier" to RP submissive kitty waifus? Probably. But while the old lore was very character and roleplay-based, the current one seems to be more oriented on their background and culture. They're definitely more human, and have "lost" a few of their unique traits (whether these traits were good or not is another debate, however.)

Personally, I'm neutral - I like aliens that have a unique and extensive background, but I also think it'd be great if some really big social and character differences came with it.

[Frances]

Tajarans are in an interesting spot. They have very rich lore - they have a intricate, 1920s dieselpunk-themed society complete with ultraconservative values, as well as the complex issues of their very own Russian peasant revolution (backed by NanoTrasen, coming coming with your very own opposing front of rebel nationalists).

I'm assuming Tajaran players are aware of it, at the very least. (Plus the Tajaran caretaker, Sue, releases some really neat graphical updates to support Tajaran lore development every once in a while.) Yet, it's not something you see having any major impacts in-game.

Why is that? I frankly don't know. Is it "easier" to RP submissive kitty waifus? Probably. But while the old lore was very character and roleplay-based, the current one seems to be more oriented on their background and culture. They're definitely more human, and have "lost" a few of their unique traits (whether these traits were good or not is another debate, however.)

Personally, I'm neutral - I like aliens that have a unique and extensive background, but I also think it'd be great if some really big social and character differences came with it.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

some dumb stuff

 

The religions of the Unathi have been a blast, imo. My Unathi shaman had some security officers stop hunting antags to come to the shaman asking him to bless their stun batons with the strength of their ancestors. I think that's pretty bizarre to most people IC, which makes it even more great.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

some dumb stuff

 

The religions of the Unathi have been a blast, imo. My Unathi shaman had some security officers stop hunting antags to come to the shaman asking him to bless their stun batons with the strength of their ancestors. I think that's pretty bizarre to most people IC, which makes it even more great.

[Socket]

Hmmm okay. I didn't think of it in that light.

[Socket]

Hmmm okay. I didn't think of it in that light.

[Frances]

Well, I for one definitely wish SS13's aliens were more... alien.

I'd like to hear what every Tajaran and Unathi player thinks defines their races. I think the answers would be interesting.

[Frances]

Well, I for one definitely wish SS13's aliens were more... alien.

I'd like to hear what every Tajaran and Unathi player thinks defines their races. I think the answers would be interesting.

[LordFowl]

At their core, humanoid races are human. To be more alien requires completely alien concepts, not just focused elements of human culture.

[LordFowl]

At their core, humanoid races are human. To be more alien requires completely alien concepts, not just focused elements of human culture.

[NebulaFlare]

I feel like aliens define their stereotypes based on their own subtle terms. My roboticist Karima is still terribly timid, but she's very driven in the eyes of a Tajara. While my sec-cat Aji'Rah may seem very much like a cool-cat and extremely confident, she silently edges away from conflict where she needs to make a stand. She's submissive in her own way.

[NebulaFlare]

I feel like aliens define their stereotypes based on their own subtle terms. My roboticist Karima is still terribly timid, but she's very driven in the eyes of a Tajara. While my sec-cat Aji'Rah may seem very much like a cool-cat and extremely confident, she silently edges away from conflict where she needs to make a stand. She's submissive in her own way.

[Garnascus]

I think this is less the case of stereotypes dissapearing and more about our playerbase evolving to find the current format (tajarans as heads of staff, unathi outside security) is much healthier and more fun for our server.

[Garnascus]

I think this is less the case of stereotypes dissapearing and more about our playerbase evolving to find the current format (tajarans as heads of staff, unathi outside security) is much healthier and more fun for our server.

[Frances]

I think this is less the case of stereotypes dissapearing and more about our playerbase evolving to find the current format (tajarans as heads of staff, unathi outside security) is much healthier and more fun for our server.

Tajarans as heads of staff is kinda amusing, but if that's the general trend I might suggest (non-ironically) to turn Aurora into a Tajaran station instead of a human one.

[Frances]

I think this is less the case of stereotypes dissapearing and more about our playerbase evolving to find the current format (tajarans as heads of staff, unathi outside security) is much healthier and more fun for our server.

Tajarans as heads of staff is kinda amusing, but if that's the general trend I might suggest (non-ironically) to turn Aurora into a Tajaran station instead of a human one.

[jackfractal]

I think the Dionaea manage to remain fairly alien. Admittedly, I'm basing this mostly on Roots That Rend The Soil, who is an awesome character.

[jackfractal]

I think the Dionaea manage to remain fairly alien. Admittedly, I'm basing this mostly on Roots That Rend The Soil, who is an awesome character.

[Skull132]

If my old information is still applicable, then stereotypes exist on our server. Just that, they're not the ones you appear to be familiar with? As I've observed, almost every RP server has its own set of stereotypes, and these may not carry over from one server to another.

I can help you with one piece of clarification, though.

A year ago almost every Tajara conformed to being submissive and never ever a head of staff, even playing engineer was discouraged.

 

The submissive Tajaran, and overly aggressive, bloody-zealot Unathi stereotypes were two things that I personally wanted to do away with a long, long, long time ago. And, apparently so did the community, as I didn't really push/care for lore ideas back then, so they got to have almost free reign on how they played species. Why? Well, because, it seemed lazy to me. Flat. Two-dimensional. Think about it: every Tajaran you see has an inferiority complex, must be submissive, afraid of the whip, and not retaliate for fear of being beaten as if he/she was back in their slavery days. Seems kind of rigid, no?

Although, these have been partly replaced by other ones. Like the Tajarans being perceived as angsty teenagers, basically. I'm unsure if this is good or bad. *shrugs*

I also hold that the entire design of Tajarans and Unathi is flawed, in that even from a mechanical point of view, they are not alien enough to be considered alien. If that makes sense. Dionaea and Skrell are better on that count, as are IPCs (to a surprising degree). But that's another matter for another time.

[Skull132]

If my old information is still applicable, then stereotypes exist on our server. Just that, they're not the ones you appear to be familiar with? As I've observed, almost every RP server has its own set of stereotypes, and these may not carry over from one server to another.

I can help you with one piece of clarification, though.

A year ago almost every Tajara conformed to being submissive and never ever a head of staff, even playing engineer was discouraged.

 

The submissive Tajaran, and overly aggressive, bloody-zealot Unathi stereotypes were two things that I personally wanted to do away with a long, long, long time ago. And, apparently so did the community, as I didn't really push/care for lore ideas back then, so they got to have almost free reign on how they played species. Why? Well, because, it seemed lazy to me. Flat. Two-dimensional. Think about it: every Tajaran you see has an inferiority complex, must be submissive, afraid of the whip, and not retaliate for fear of being beaten as if he/she was back in their slavery days. Seems kind of rigid, no?

Although, these have been partly replaced by other ones. Like the Tajarans being perceived as angsty teenagers, basically. I'm unsure if this is good or bad. *shrugs*

I also hold that the entire design of Tajarans and Unathi is flawed, in that even from a mechanical point of view, they are not alien enough to be considered alien. If that makes sense. Dionaea and Skrell are better on that count, as are IPCs (to a surprising degree). But that's another matter for another time.

[Frances]

Replacing a stereotype no one wants for a stereotype people actually enjoy roleplaying seems to be a definite plus.

However, the discrepancy between what people enjoy roleplaying as and what people enjoy roleplaying with becomes a problem here. It's a bit like how it's fun to write about Mary Sues but a lot less fun to read about them.