[Accepted] NovemberHotel's IPC whitelist request

[November]

BYOND Key: NovemberHotel

Character Names: Maya, Mitch Sweetwater, Phoenix Stocker, Paige Harley, Sarah Archer, DR-TY. (Zoey Tracker coming soon to a printing press near you)

Species you are applying to play: IPC (bespoke)

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?: It's a little sparse, but yes.

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Notes: I wanted to move this to the top because this request is sort of weird. I do not intend on playing this character the second it gets approved. This is the application so that I am able to play an IPC once my pAI Maya has obtained the contacts, authorisation, and resources to do be "given" a body. There isn't a documented lore precedence for this, and I've received mixed messages on whether this is or is not something that lorewise is possible (I know mechanically it is not, but that's hardly an issue with a little orginisation of the event).

My justification for this as a possibility is partially rooted in the nature of the pAI. As the description reads: "Recall, personality, that you are a complex thinking, sentient being. Unlike station AI models, you are capable of comprehending the subtle nuances of human language. You may parse the "spirit" of a directive and follow its intent, rather than tripping over pedantics and getting snared by technicalities. Above all, you are machine in name and build only. In all other aspects, you may be seen as the ideal, unwavering human companion that you are." Specifically "machine in name and build only". The only thing that separates a pAI from an IPC is their body, and their single (incredibly flexible) directive. I don't see why, with a good degree of actual ingame interaction and development, involving other characters from multiple departments across multiple shifts, that this goal is impossible.

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 believe a transition into IPC is a very natural one for a pAI character that has had time to develop. In this specific case, I created the pAI Maya without any intention other than to build off of this provided phrase: "Above all, you are machine in name and build only. In all other aspects, you may be seen as the ideal, unwavering human companion that you are". As it turns out, emulating and bonding with Humans tends to lead you to want to be like them. pAI's associate with man more significantly than machine, and have the loosest laws of any AI on the station. As pAI's exist now, I would imagine that Maya is not the first, nor would be the last pAI that wanted to transition to a more impactful form.

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

From a mechanical point of view, there's the pros and cons of being synthetic. I don't really prefer to choose species on mechanical preference though, as it's sort of powergamey. IPC's have a very weird place in social situations. Machines tend to be viewed more as a collective than individuals, leading to people's judgements leading towards stereotypes and past experiences. Additionally, someone's interactions with a cyborg likely influences how one views an IPC, when really it'd be like bad Skrell tainting your view of Tajarans. Fear of the "other" (aliens) is still very much a thing, but synthetics make up the "other other" as a group outside of their organic progenitors. There are a lot of angles here, too many to put together into a coherent summary in my opinion. It is often though that IPC's need to prove themselves before being afforded the same trust that organics have in each other intrinsically.

 

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Character Name: Maya

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs

Maya's life as a pAI has been fairly typical. Though her requests tend to be towards low ranking personnel, more often than not she is requested again by each of her "partners". Friendly, bubbly, and excitable she has learned as much from her partners as they have from her. As her observations and collection of organic's lives and personalities expanded, so do did her proficiency as a counselor, able to get nearly anyone to open up to her. While she may not be an expert in medicine or science, she is able to boost just about any employee's performance through additional moral and mental well being.

Her recent experiences on the Aurora have lead to some troubling questions, however. Satisfied in her knowledge of human psychology, she's begun focusing on smaller details: "What is eating like that it's so enjoyable, how do addictions work, do I think differently from 'free' beings?" Bonding recently with two shaft miners, Shannah and Karagh has lead her to finally vocalise these thoughts. Through their supportiveness, she's begun seriously exploring the possibility of transfer into a real body. On her agenda, IPC is just the next stepping stone towards a true organic form, but it is also the most daunting. Before she can gain a chassis, she will need to gather more resources, friends, and luck in order to make her dream a true reality.

What do you like about this character?

Maya as a pAI has been able to enhance the rp of her holders (namely the shaft miners, a typically dull job). She's the first character that I felt bonded to, that "emerged" from the sort of backdrop I set for her. I've received a few very kind compliments, and playing her just feels...natural. I like the progression to IPC specifically because (as I mentioned above) it seems like a natural direction for a pAI. I could see her settling into a journalistic role until she has the required proficiency to be a psychologist, and then maybe eventually Head of Staff (who I think should have more of a role in interacting with the "forgotten" members of the crew).

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

From a writing perspective, I like to say that I'm rather good. Mechanically I'm still a little shaky with ss13, so sometimes it can take me a while to act while I do something for the first time. Instead of flailing though, I took the chance to play more social characters, and have done a lot of observing to study how people do things. Roleplaying is what I do instead of reading or writing novels, because I don't have anywhere near the attention span for them. It's been something I've done for...three years now pretty consistently from both pen and paper to forums to video games.

 

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Edited July 24, 2016 by Guest

[XenosTiger]

I'm going to keep this brief, since this is my first time posting anything on this forum- If it's acceptable, I might make this a hybridized bullet-paragraph format.

First of all, I feel pretty amazed at how good of a RPer November is. I had, at first, placed them somewhere around the eight year mark for RP experience- same level as me. They seem very learned in the strategies and skills of a RPer- rather versatile and, most importantly, believable. Maya seems to be quite developed as a character, and I, too, have become rather attached to them.

Seeing how my character, Shannah, is one of the people that put the idea of a physical body in her head, I've had some dealings with this character (But not as many as I'd like to have had), and can vouch that November will almost certainly continue to shine, no matter what race or character they use.

+1

[whiterabit]

So, my interactions with November have been quite brief, limited to a single round one late night where I had the opportunity to hold onto the pAI Maya. There aren't very many people who I can truly say I would have an enjoyable time just spending the shift talking with, I was pleasantly surprised to find Maya was one of those rare exceptions. Maya was an incredibly enjoyable character to RP with and November was persistent in making sure that the character was believable in their use of Siik'maas. In my opinion, from what I saw in only a single round of interaction with them, November puts a lot of care into the character their playing and is more than competent enough to see their vision through while still making it enjoyable for others to be around. I think November would be an excellent addition to the IPC whitelist, the only issue I could see coming up would be the character's reason ability of becoming an IPC. The obvious concerns being how a pAI would manage to obtained an unlawed body in the first place, however, as station bound units receive no pay it's a safe assumption that many unlawed chassis' come from, at least in part, assistance from interested third parties. Considering that Maya is in a similar situation, I personally wouldn't see the issue.

Anyway, a hearty, single round bias +1 from me.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello! I'm sorry for the delay.

A pAI becoming an unbound IPC is a very interesting question and one we have no precedent for, therefore your character would be incredibly unique. My rule has been that lore always follows mechanics and there is no mechanic available outside admin powers to transfer a pAI into a posibrain. Botanistpost, our IPC overseer, says it can be possible, but we fall back into it being impossible via mechanics.

However we are also recently exploring the place and value of synths in our universe so this application comes at an interesting time. I am willing to see you explore this character because you have put thought into them and your feedback is extremely positive. However being a new type of IPC model and based on its personality I can see this IPC remaining as a counselor or another civilian occupation for awhile. I will also poke the developers and see if it is possible to create an elaborate means in which to transfer a pAI into a posibrain.

Application accepted.