[Denied] Head of Staff Whitelist Application: KFive

[kfive]

BYOND key: KFive

Character names: Mya Ward

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How long have you been playing on Aurora?: About a week and a bit at most.

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: More than enough head experience on other servers; I want it to be open to me once I decide bureaucracy is my next step here - I'm likely going to have a Head of Personnel character at that point.

Why did you come to Aurora?: Was looking for a second server to play on. Interacting with the same people on repeat does get boring after a while. The rules here aim to prevent this.

Have you read the BS12 wiki on the head roles you plan on playing?: I don't actually plan on playing the head roles as of yet - not quite been here long enough for that - but yes, I have. While most of my time has been spent on a /tg/ based server, those first two weeks when I was on a ultra-lowpop bay server had me going through the wiki almost religiously.

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Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each.

Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about:

Simple question, simple answer. Roleplaying is about forgetting the existence of actual reality. Of immersing one's self in another world. That said, such a perfect roleplay is almost impossible to achieve, so we settle for keeping reality out of the game at the very least - for everyone's enjoyment. The first purpose is, after all, to have fun.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?:

To be a guide to their subordinates. The idea is that their Head of Staff is the person a new player should turn to for help. By extension, they should also be respectable, as it doesn't exactly reflect well on the server when the captain (or CE) is in atmospherics, hooking up plasma and oxygen to an otherwise empty supply.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Question above answers the first part: be exemplary. The responsibility is to be the person people ask if they're new, and the person people shout at if something goes wrong. How would I strive to uphold them? By being there to answer questions, demonstrate where it is necessary, and do my best to keep the department afloat even if I'm the only member of it.

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Please pick one of your characters for this section, and provide well articulated responses to the following questions.

Character name: Mya Ward

Character age: IC: 30. OOC: About a week and a bit, same as my time spent here.

Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs):

Mya was born on Sol to neither a rich family nor a poor family. Her schooling was standard, but when it came time to specialize she chose to go down the engineering path. At the age of twenty-two, she graduated from her local school of engineering with a major in fluid dynamics (specialized in gases, rather than liquids), and a minor in void-based construction (her related electives involved plasteel manipulation). Soon after, she found herself working on various unimportant space (and the occasional surface) stations around the Sol system. As her experience grew, so did the importance of her workplaces. Her last job, before leaving for Tau Ceti, was at the Lunar University of Medical Science, where she picked up a minimal amount of medical experience.

Her journey to Tau Ceti, at the age of twenty-seven, was largely eventless, and she passed through a few space stations before being acquired by Nanotrasen at the age of twenty-nine. As of the present, she has been transferred to Aurora and continues her work.

What do you like about this character?:

Even though she can occasionally seen in medbay as an intern, helping out and learning, if there are problems with air she won't hesitate to bug the Head of Personnel for atmospherics access on top of what she already has - in other words, she plays to her strengths. Additionally, she also intends to learn enough that she may one day work both in the Medbay as well as Atmospherics, as is necessary.

What do you dislike about this character?:

A lack of ambition. She has no intent to leave her piping and pumping for the more prestiged position of Chief Engineer. Additionally, she also has a pride of sorts, and would rather have the last word on something than admit that one of her suggestions wasn't as good as the alternative being presented to her by a co-worker - or even a superior.

What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: Nothing, actually. She's a highly specialized atmospherics technician who picked up just the slightest bit of medical training - and aside from maybe becoming competent in the medical bay and serving there too, she will stay that way. It falls to some more responsible character to oversee the station from one of the seats available in Command.

 

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Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?: Impeccable, albeit somewhat predictable. It takes a conscious effort to become someone else entirely, so most of my characters tend to be at least one quarter composed of my own personality. That said, I do my best to respond naturally to changing circumstances - and of course, given two otherwise equal options, take the one which produces the most fun for everyone involved.

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Extra notes: I spend most of my SS13 time not spent here either as Captain, or barring that, some other head, on the other of the two servers I play on. I know the responsibility, even if the other server's rules are slightly more lax - For example, I don't think I'd bring myself to arm whatever Aurora's equivalent to the clown is and send it after antags on this server.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Guest

[kfive]

Bleh. I should have titled it "Head Application: KFive". Either way it's a bit more brutalist a heading than what you usually see on this forum.

[Fire and Glory]

I I don't think you completely have to put up a head of staff char as the backstory you're giving(? Take this with a grain of salt, ask Tish.) but you should probably do it yeah?

If she is actually to be a head of staff then which is it? Fluid Dynamics and 'a minimal amount of medical experience.' doesn't really sound like the sort of thing for a Chief Engineer or Chief of Med.

I am 99.5% sure you can edit the post title as well just by using the edit function and editing the top-most text.

[kfive]

I did my best to emphasize that Ward would under no circumstances be a head.

Edit: Also, you don't go to school for "Atmospherics". You go to school for a field related to it and then get trained into the job.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_dynamics

Won't be CE material, but is definitely the right thing for an atmos tech.

[Youbar]

Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about:

Simple question, simple answer. Roleplaying is about forgetting the existence of actual reality. Of immersing one's self in another world. That said, such a perfect roleplay is almost impossible to achieve, so we settle for keeping reality out of the game at the very least - for everyone's enjoyment. The first purpose is, after all, to have fun.

 

This is a reasonable response to what your definition of roleplay is. Generally, it varies from individual to individual, but always has the key theme(s) of immersion, escapism, or acting. I'd suggest you expand on your ideas and make them more concise, but that'd be nitpicking.

 

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?:

To be a guide to their subordinates. The idea is that their Head of Staff is the person a new player should turn to for help. By extension, they should also be respectable, as it doesn't exactly reflect well on the server when the captain (or CE) is in atmospherics, hooking up plasma and oxygen to an otherwise empty supply.

 

That is correct, in my opinion. You are the leader of your department, and are looked up to for guidance, meaning that you do have to be somewhat respected, and you do have to be knowledgeable.

 

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Question above answers the first part: be exemplary. The responsibility is to be the person people ask if they're new, and the person people shout at if something goes wrong. How would I strive to uphold them? By being there to answer questions, demonstrate where it is necessary, and do my best to keep the department afloat even if I'm the only member of it.

 

This question is a bit strange in that it seems like a repeat of the prior (for me), so I won't blame you for repeating the same idea as before. Overall, yes, it is the purpose of the head of staff to create a better environment for other people and help keep the cogs running in your department.

 

Character name: Mya Ward

Character age: IC: 30. OOC: About a week and a bit, same as my time spent here.

Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs):

Mya was born on Sol to neither a rich family nor a poor family. Her schooling was standard, but when it came time to specialize she chose to go down the engineering path. At the age of twenty-two, she graduated from her local school of engineering with a major in fluid dynamics (specialized in gases, rather than liquids), and a minor in void-based construction (her related electives involved plasteel manipulation). Soon after, she found herself working on various unimportant space (and the occasional surface) stations around the Sol system. As her experience grew, so did the importance of her workplaces. Her last job, before leaving for Tau Ceti, was at the Lunar University of Medical Science, where she picked up a minimal amount of medical experience.

Her journey to Tau Ceti, at the age of twenty-seven, was largely eventless, and she passed through a few space stations before being acquired by Nanotrasen at the age of twenty-nine. As of the present, she has been transferred to Aurora and continues her work.

What do you like about this character?:

Even though she can occasionally seen in medbay as an intern, helping out and learning, if there are problems with air she won't hesitate to bug the Head of Personnel for atmospherics access on top of what she already has - in other words, she plays to her strengths. Additionally, she also intends to learn enough that she may one day work both in the Medbay as well as Atmospherics, as is necessary.

What do you dislike about this character?:

A lack of ambition. She has no intent to leave her piping and pumping for the more prestiged position of Chief Engineer. Additionally, she also has a pride of sorts, and would rather have the last word on something than admit that one of her suggestions wasn't as good as the alternative being presented to her by a co-worker - or even a superior.

 

The character age is somewhat concerning, if only because 30 is dead on the requirement for head of staff. To be fair, it does vary from department to department, but for a field as complicated as medical, it seems like a slight miracle that they'd obtain a Head of Staff position without extensive prior experience only three years after signing up with Nanotrasen, and whose work with Nanotrasen was only assisting inside the medical bay. If Mya is most comfortable with atmospherics, why doesn't she apply her knowledge as an engineering apprentice instead of working inside the medical bay? Was it worth learning about fluid dynamics at all?

Overall, the backstory I think is a bit lacking overall, especially in terms of the details you might want regarding Mya's later life. It's 171 words. Get it to the 350-400 range. Here's a few ideas:

• Mya decides to help out in the medical bay. Why does she suddenly develop an interest there, rather than continuing to learn about fluid dynamics?
• Why would a person wtih a lack of ambition desire to become a head of staff, when they appear to actively doubt their abilities?
• Are there any more details about her later life? I feel like you could develop it from crawling the galaxy looking for short-term jobs to a much larger, long-term employment that would bring Mya employment.
• Mya's abilities appear to be all over the place. Mining, atmospherics, medical. Why not condense it into construction, elecritical wiring, and atmospherics, or some other derpartment-related combo?
• Why would Nanotrasen choose her to be head of staff over somebody far more experienced? Why would they employ her at all?

 

 

What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: Nothing, actually. She's a highly specialized atmospherics technician who picked up just the slightest bit of medical training - and aside from maybe becoming competent in the medical bay and serving there too, she will stay that way. It falls to some more responsible character to oversee the station from one of the seats available in Command.

 

Herein lies the issue. You've admitted yourself that Mya isn't capable of being a Head of Staff, aside from atmospherics experience that could be utilised in engineering.

For me, the overall issue is that Mya simply isn't suited to do anything big at the NSS Exodus from what I've read, and you've said that yourself. You need to fix that, by either designing a new character which you could simply change the name of to be her twin, or restructing Mya's life. I don't mean this harshly, and I know you're capable of being a Head of Staff, but the character isn't suited for the role. I'm going to remain neutral here, because I'd like to know whether or not having a suitable character is even relevant to the application as a whole before I make a decision.

If capability of the character is irrelevant to the whitelist, I'd give this a solid +1 after a bit more of the backstory was filled out.

EDIT: Formatting

[kfive]

The character age is somewhat concerning, if only because 30 is dead on the requirement for head of staff. To be fair, it does vary from department to department, but for a field as complicated as medical, it seems like a slight miracle that they'd obtain a Head of Staff position without extensive prior experience only three years after signing up with Nanotrasen, and whose work with Nanotrasen was only assisting inside the medical bay. If Mya is most comfortable with atmospherics, why doesn't she apply her knowledge as an engineering apprentice instead of working inside the medical bay? Was it worth learning about fluid dynamics at all?

Overall, the backstory I think is a bit lacking overall, especially in terms of the details you might want regarding Mya's later life. It's 171 words. Get it to the 350-400 range. Here's a few ideas:

• Mya decides to help out in the medical bay. Why does she suddenly develop an interest there, rather than continuing to learn about fluid dynamics?
• Why would a person wtih a lack of ambition desire to become a head of staff, when they appear to actively doubt their abilities?
• Are there any more details about her later life? I feel like you could develop it from crawling the galaxy looking for short-term jobs to a much larger, long-term employment that would bring Mya employment.
• Mya's abilities appear to be all over the place. Mining, atmospherics, medical. Why not condense it into construction, elecritical wiring, and atmospherics, or some other derpartment-related combo?
• Why would Nanotrasen choose her to be head of staff over somebody far more experienced? Why would they employ her at all?

 

I'm not sure where the mining part of her skills comes from, but here's a screen shot. Exosuits are more a related pursuit.

Now then, to address your other concerns.

• Character age is 30 because it's the default. I was in a bit of a rush when I first created her, but worked on the fly from there and I think I have progressed on her since then.
• Firstly, she was never intended to be a head of staff. This as it stands is an OOC request. I know when my characters have matured enough to progress up the chain.
  
• Her interest in medicine was piqued over at the LAMS. That said, the "amateur" ranking is more so she can progress up through low-level medicine as she's taught.
  
• Crawling the Sol System, jumping through jobs is actually tied into her professional skill level for atmospherics. After having seen so many systems - ranging from simply piping air in from tanks that are exchanged every few days to the basic air cycler that you get in atmosia (though minus the nitrous and phoron) - she can intuitively pick up on things rather than needing somebody to walk her through this particular setup.
  
• Working for Nanotrasen has already been her longest-lasting job. Both for OOC reasons and IC reasons, Aurora will likely be her last station.
  
• Her backstory is intentionally bland. It plays into both her education (see above) and, hopefully, makes the point that much of her progress was on ambition, not parental guidance. Jumping around the various stations also plays a part in her completing her doctorate (something which I saw the opportunity to add only after the WL app was submitted). I'm unsure what her thesis would be, but it would likely be related to something she saw on various stations with different atmospherics devices.
  
• Oh, yes. I also made an effort to clarify that Mya has no intent to progress upward in engineering. However, I don't think I ever made a point that she was unsure of herself.
  
• If you didn't already pick up on why she helps in medbay rather than continuing atmospherics as a pursuit, it's something along the lines of "she already has nearly a decade of experience and wants to try something she has an interest in". If atmos on the station does go boinkers, she'll (forgive me for repeating myself) just get the access needed and fix it.

 

Edit: Oh, and, I lost some work at one point when making this post, but a few seconds later I remembered: Rather than jumping between atmos tech and engi apprentice, I'd rather look at the manifest and get sent in as a nursing intern if engineering is fully manned but medical is short handed. This is more OOC thinking than IC, but the logic isn't an unreasonable way for CC to think either when assigning her: "She's an engineer but also knows a tiny bit of medicine, so let's not send in redundant staff."

[DatBerry]

While im not a big fan of the character, ive seen Kfive on another server, from when they first started as a fun ruining comdom on haloween to a competent comdom that you can depend on.

Characters for whitelist apps are supposed to be somewhat deep, you dont actually have to play them though, they're just a display of your writing ability.

While i suggest on working more on the character or replacing it if you don't want to set their personality in stone, im also giving a 1+

[kfive]

By that account, then, would simply inventing a character never-to-be-seen on-station be enough to correct the one thing I likely messed up on?

By extension, may I ask that the "choose one of your characters" line be corrected in the general Whitelist format so that in the future people choose characters which are fitting for Head Whitelist threads?

Edit: Also, if it is in fact necessary, is it possible to keep the thread alive until I've put forth a better exemplar? I have two characters I'm fleshing out right now, one of which is designed to be promoted upward.

[TishinaStalker]

Application denied. PM Loow AND myself to inquire on why. Making an application without doing so is, overall, a really bad move.