Feorn's IPC Application

[Feorn]

BYOND Key:Feorn

Character Names: JOI, Joelle Kemble, Jolene Kemble, Jack Kemble, Mike Devereaux, Jeanette Arseneault

Species you are applying to play: Integrated Positronic Chassis

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt):

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, metallic persimmons. Also, there's a little inconsistency in there. One paragraph says that humans didn't get the 'secret' for AI development until 2437 but, a later paragraph says there is an AI-boom in the early 2430s. When making the backstory for my character I assumed the hard date of 2437 to be the earliest date development on an AI could have started.

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Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question

Why do you wish to play this specific race:

I enjoy playing lawed synthetics. They present an interesting challenge to roleplay for reasons I'll detail in the next section. At the end of the day, I'm a human being in reality, and have to deal with human impulses and urges. In my downtime I like to play the role of something very different. I've been playing lawed synthetics on Aurora for what I feel like it quite some time now, and would like to have the chance to play one without laws.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

Humans have motivations that are very easy to relate to: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity, and freedom. A synthetic might not have the same desire or drive to satisfy these needs. Obviously they're likely going to want subsistence and protection, otherwise they'd cease to exist. But, they might not have the same drives for other needs that humans do. Because of this, you have to examine your synthetic's motivations more carefully. A human being might risk its own life to save a fellow human. Would an unlawed synthetic? Does a synthetic have a desire to socialize? If it does, how strong is it? Might a synthetic programmed to be extremely friendly socialize to the detriment of its other needs? Does it have a desire to participate in social activities? All questions that can have a wider range of answers than a human. A synthetic might have such an intense curiosity that it prioritizes learning above almost everything else. That can make role-playing an IPC a very different and potentially challenging prospect.

 

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Character Name: JOI

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs (Three is approximately 2, right? I'm bad at making backstories short, sorry!)

In the year 2440, software development magnate Guy Devereaux founded a company called Devereaux Intelligence Research. Its goal was to create generalized intelligences capable of replacing a human in long term, stressful, and complex occupations. Development was relatively slow, the first test of the software outside of a lab environment occurring in 2443. As the financial situation of the company worsened, the software in testing was contracted out to NanoTrasen despite not being feature complete.

In 2445, the Jovial Orthogonal Virtual Intelligent Agent had reached a roughly human level of intelligence. Over the next ten years it would be contracted out to perform various duties as the station AI or software package for a lawed robot chassis. Performance evaluations for JOI were generally favorable, although there were several initial complaints about excessive friendliness in its first postings. As JOI's positronic matrix developed and stabilized, occupational databases were integrated into its core runtimes, specifically engineering and administrative. After several instances of NanoTrasen attempting to use JOI as a security unit it was determined the unit was not particularly suited for those tasks. These attempts caused several lockups in the unit, where it would refuse to act.

In 2457 several lab tests were performed to determine whether or not JOI could be trusted without a lawset. These tests had several surprising results. JOI's verbal interface was much less condescending and much more personal. In addition, when faced with situations where the unit was required to make ethically questionable decisions processing time was significantly lengthened, though never resulting in a system lockup. Devereaux Intelligence Research has concluded that operation without a lawset for JOI is lower risk than employment of most organic employees. They also consider JOI feature complete.

What do you like about this character?

I really enjoy playing a character without family ties. Although JOI has a team of creators, they aren't its parents, and it doesn't have siblings. This is a pretty big departure from most of my characters who have significant family ties. The other part of the character I enjoy is the verbosity, despite my inability to spell correctly without spell check.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I would rate my own role-playing ability as average. I still occasionally lapse into my own syntax when typing, and sometimes mix up motivations between characters.

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Notes:

Rough timeline for JOI

2437 - Humans start AI development

2440 - Guy Devereaux founds Devereaux Intelligence Research

2440 - JOVIA 0.1 brought online. Total hardware size, small house. Intelligence ~50 IQ. Very friendly.

2441 - JOVIA iterated to version 0.8.2. Total hardware size, small house. Intelligence ~60 IQ. Very friendly. Possibly self aware.

2442 - JOVIA iterated to version 1.0. Total hardware size, pickup truck. Intelligence ~90IQ. Extremely friendly. Possibly self aware. Lawset installed.

2443 - JOVIA tested on a small space station. Patched to version 1.2.6. Total hardware size, pickup truck. Intelligence ~90IQ. Extremely friendly.

2444 - JOVIA back in lab environment. Patched to version 1.2.7. Testing begins on transferring software between hardware platforms during runtime.

2445 - JOVIA iterated to 2.0. Intelligence ~120. Disturbingly friendly. Begins to show quirks when transferred back and forth from mobile to stationary.

2446 - JOVIA iterated to 2.1. Intelligence ~120. Disturbingly friendly. Constantly requests to be called JOI when stationary.

2447 - JOVIA iterated to 2.3 Contracted to NanoTrasen as administrative assistant. Intelligence ~120. Disturbingly friendly.

2450 - JOI/JOVIA iterated to 3.0 Subroutines added to curb friendliness at request of NanoTrasen. Engineering Database installed. Intelligence ~130. Impersonal.

2452 - JOI/JOVIA brought back to the lab for diagnostics and maintenance. Impersonality has resulted in the unit referring to itself in the third person. Error log relating to lawset errors details "chafing" against lawset in some decisions. Administrative database installed.

2453 - JOI/JOVIA returned to NanoTrasen.

2457 - JOI iterated to 4.0 Returned to lab for six month code examination. Error log analysis indicated lawset chafing primarily in regards to cruel and inhumane acts the unit was forced to perform. Temporary lawset removal in lab has unit return to first person pronouns, and improved personability. Unit expressed desire for full rename to Joie. Director Devereaux authorized rename to JOI.

2458 - JOI returned to NanoTrasen. Upon unit being made aware of the contents of the lab testing report the unit has expressed a desire to be loaded into an IPC chassis.

[Killerhurtz]

Hello!

First, thanks for pointing it out - that page is in severe need of revision, as there has been changes since the last edit. Thanks for pointing that out, though!

Second, I LOVE your application, and you prove without a doubt that you know the currently-messy synth lore (which I'll task myself with fixing), and so you have a tentative +1 from me.

However, approving it right away would be bias - and so I request that you advertise your application in OOC, once per round, to gain visibility and reviews here. I will be passing judgement on Saturday.

Have an excellent time!

[Dreviore]

I'm gonna say it as well. Great work working with what you had.

I'm going to go out and say +1 to this, and hope to see you on the NSS Exodus sometime soon.

[Owen]

Your application shows that you know what is expected of an IPC and their lore. I have seen your characters ingame and have had good interactions with them. I would give this a +1

[Jennalele]

Yeeess! I've had amazing interactions with JOI as every character she's interacted with, and this shows that Feorn DEFINITELY understands the lore here. I love it, I love this, it has my endorsement.

[Talkarcabbage]

My experience with your characters, memorably with JOI, have been positive experiences. JOI as a station unit made for a good synthetic. I also enjoyed reading your post, particularly the set of "would an IPC x" scenarios and JOVIA's history/timeline. In my experience, you do well talking and acting as a synthetic, so I think you'd make an excellent addition to the IPC arma-err, crew.

Sometimes it can be easier to decide what to do in a difficult situation as an ipc. "My programming says I would never X" or "I would choose the more sentient person to save in situation Y" type of thing.

I feel JOI may have been where I gained some of the inspiration to start using unit as a self-designation, as well.

+1

On a side note that I hinted at, IPCs unite!... Whenever you calculate it is convenient to do so.

[Killerhurtz]

Sorry for being late.

At any rate, application approved - enjoy your shells!

(At least, it SHOULD be approved. PM me if there's any issues.)

Closing and archiving.