[Accepted] Mofo1995's Tajaran Lore Overseer Application

[Mofo1995]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Mofo1995

Position Being Applied For (coder, mapper, spriter): Tajaran Lore Overseer

Past Experiences/Knowledge: Currently I'm unversed in wiki editing, but I'm willing to put time in to learn it. If I recall properly, lore developers are supposed to double as wiki developers. I've spent a lot of time talking about lore with both Hivefleet about Tajaran lore and Loow about Skrell lore, so I think I have a pretty decent idea about the process of contacting community members for lore feedback as well as how to construct a plot arc within a race's lore.

Examples of Past Work:

• The Brothers Tsyrrkunov <- Unfinished and in editing off-forum
• The Jargon (Nralakk) Calendar
  
• Skrellian-Glorsh Collaborators

 

Preferred Mode of Communication (Skype, Steam, etc.): Skype, Steam, Discord, Text Messages, Gang Signs

Additional Comments: Serveris is one of the last people I want to put an application up against because I really like him and think he could do a great job, and I feel especially badly about throwing up an application less than 24 hours after Hivefleet's departure. However, I'm really invested in the current Tajaran lore, and I have a lot of ideas for how I want to make it grow in a way which I think people will find really fascinating and engaging. Ultimately, I'm putting my hat in the ring, because Tajaran lore is really important to me. My goal is to progress the story of the civil war on Adhomai to make it feel like less of a stalemate, but without ending the war or any of the factions. Additionally on my agenda is craft more news articles, both in the form of factional propaganda press and outsider observational pieces. I want to defend the lore from any proposed retcons which are not properly rationalized and defended against heavy criticism, and to uphold the standards of the whitelist. And lastly, I want to continue the trend of fleshing out the internal politics of the various factions. Hive already did a superb job of doing so for the PRA and the ALA, but I have some ideas to bring the NKA to life.

For the prophet Nat'ed,

For the Hadii,

For the King,

For S'rendarr and Messa,

and for Mata'ke,

I hope you will all consider me for the position, and thank you all for your time!

[Shadow]

Great guy, great player, great CCIAA, has proven in the past that he knows and cares about Taj lore and knows how to work in a team.

Has my full support.

[Synnono]

Mofo's a great writer, extremely active, and one of the most thoughtful and respectful members of the community that I know. I have every bit of confidence he'd take great care of a wide subsection of the server lore, while integrating only a few hundred (more) references to Metal Gear into our wiki in the process. Additionally, he's very attentive to the forums and whitelists even though he isn't responsible for any of them, and has a track record of paying attention to detail to our game world in his CCIA role.

I am six thousand percent in favor of him taking this position. It might even compel me to want to make a Tajara myself.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Too soon.

1) How do you feel about the Tajara Backstory Acceptability rule?

2)

My goal is to progress the story of the civil war on Adhomai to make it feel like less of a stalemate, but without ending the war or any of the factions.

 

How? What relationship will the three factions have with each other and the people on-station?

[Mofo1995]

Too soon.

 

I know

 

1) How do you feel about the Tajara Backstory Acceptability rule?

I am fully in support of this and praised Hive up and down for it. Whitelist applications are to demonstrate knowledge of the lore, and circumventing it completely by having someone completely unaffiliated and neutral is not an acceptable way of doing this.

 

2)

How? What relationship will the three factions have with each other and the people on-station?

 

I'm glad you ask. The goal is to give more war reports and accounts of happenings between factional politics. I've found that it's far easier to attack another side and praise your own when there's a news article to point to. "We beat you in XYZ battle and really showed you who's boss!" The goal isn't to end any of the factions or any of the wars, but to make it feel more organic, like it's actually happening.

The three factions will still hate each other, they'll still be warring, but my main priorities at the outset would be to:

• Apply vectors for the current wars, so people can get a better idea of who is doing better or worse, without bringing conclusion or closure
• Keep the NKA an underdog, but add more incentive for them to fight. Not only are the ALA and PRA in the spotlight by martial power, but the narrative and the lore also spotlights them and their war while leaving NKA on the periphery.

 

Now, for relation to people on the station, good whitelistees will give input on the lore and bring it onto the station with them. But it's a two way street, I would have to spin a story which is good enough to make people want to do this. There's no way to hold a gun to everyone's head and force them to talk about news stories, but I'm hoping to make the sectarian violence (which is what drew me into getting a Taj whitelist in the first place) more prevalent through news stories. It's all there already, it just needs to be more visible. Everyone reads the death tolls of the wars on the wiki page, but the stories of grit and war crime are what makes them relevant and role-play able.

[Zundy]

Mofo's a great writer, extremely active, and one of the most thoughtful and respectful members of the community that I know. I have every bit of confidence he'd take great care of a wide subsection of the server lore, while integrating only a few hundred (more) references to Metal Gear into our wiki in the process. Additionally, he's very attentive to the forums and whitelists even though he isn't responsible for any of them, and has a track record of paying attention to detail to our game world in his CCIA role.

I am six thousand percent in favor of him taking this position. It might even compel me to want to make a Tajara myself.

 

I can only concur with this.

[Loow]

Mofo has consistently shown interest in the Tajara lore, sometimes to the point where it was mildly frustrating. His interest has been genuine enough to distract one of the more competent Skrell players (himself) away from aquatic ventures and instead focus on the narrative of war-torn Adhomai.

He's shown the initiative to write several works on his own accord. In the thread for his story of The Brothers Tsyrrkunov, he has even asked for feedback regarding over-arcing plot and storyline. I choose to see this as a sign that Mofo will give serious thought to the stories he hopes to tell with the Tajara and the "big picture" he sees. He has also proven to at times be critical of his work, and I consider that to be an incredibly healthy trait in a lore developer.

I've seen Mofo ask questions, show initiative, make an insightful comment now and then, and continue to do so over quite a long span of time.

Now that I've gone and said nice things, I'd like to change gears for a time.

It might even compel me to want to make a Tajara myself.

It may be in your best interest to show your own drive, Synnono. Form your opinions on the species and don't leave low hanging promises about interest based on who gets promoted. Focusing on the merit of the work rather than the author will make the complement seem that much more genuine if you do like the changes you see and decide to pursue an application. On that same note, if he were to write lore that you have a problem with, it's within your rights to share those worries with him.

 

to uphold the standards of the whitelist.

This would require a bit of tough love on your part, Mofo. Get ready to feel less polite. Feedback is an essential part of anything lore related. You seem to have a decent idea of what you're looking for in applications, but don't forget that same kind of feedback can be invaluable in lore work as well. To sum it up, you've got to be able to dish out some negatives regardless of who you're talking to. You'd expect a loredev to tell you if they were worried about some project you were working on.

 

to make it feel more organic, like it's actually happening.

This has been my hope beyond hopes. The Adhomai Civil war has felt static, and Hive's work has made significant progress toward making the conflict feel like an ongoing event rather than just background noise. I had been bouncing ideas around in my head for some time with the hopes of working more closely with Hive on his vision for the Tajara War narrative. As he is no longer able to drive the story forward, I would greatly appreciate seeing the conflict continue to shift and change in a manner that does his groundwork justice.

Now for a few questions.

Do you think you are capable of:

1. Putting up with Next-Level heckling and bait?

2. Withstanding a torrent of negative feedback on an irregular basis?

3. Writing good lore?

4. Winning over the masses to the extent that they want to read your work for fun?

5. Cooperating with the current loreteam members?

[Synnono]

It may be in your best interest to show your own drive, Synnono.

 

It wasn't my intention for that afterthought to somehow diminish the rest of what I wrote up there. It also wasn't a promise, low-hanging or otherwise. I just haven't felt incredibly pulled toward the species yet, and I imagine that a new overseer is going to bring new ideas to the background that might change that. My endorsement (for as little as it's worth) was more for the player's consistency, tendency for thoughtful reflection, and willingness to work with people (the things I feel I can personally speak to) than it was for any specific point of Tajaran lore. Other people who are more invested in what is already written are going to do a better job of scrutinizing that here.

[Mofo1995]

Thanks for chiming in! I really appreciate the feedback. There's a lot to say in response to your post, but I think I should start with what was directly asked for, so I'll begin with your question.

 

Now for a few questions.

Do you think you are capable of:

1. Putting up with Next-Level heckling and bait?

2. Withstanding a torrent of negative feedback on an irregular basis?

3. Writing good lore?

4. Winning over the masses to the extent that they want to read your work for fun?

5. Cooperating with the current loreteam members?

 

Q1.Putting up with Next-Level heckling and bait?

A1. From what I understand, Tajaran overseer lore writing is a difficult position. The race has garnered a lot of hatred because of its long history of furry community infiltration, and the subversion of racial lore for humanized themes. By merely holding the position, I'm aware that I'm painting a target on my back as more bellicose elements of our community who do not enjoy the status quo of Tajara roleplay, and that I can largely be held responsible for not only the lore, but for how people roleplay the race. I'm willing to accept the responsibility, which means shouldering the burden of taking all the heckling of not only legitimate criticisms, but also the baits as well. In my year on the server, the only complaint I've ever filed was an IC incident report once and I dropped it, so I think that's good evidence that I have a relatively thicker skin.

Q2.Withstanding a torrent of negative feedback on an irregular basis?

A2. Not only do I think I'm capable of it, I plan to actively seek it. I want people to rain down their criticisms, I want them to barrage me with everything they think about not only my work, but the totality of current canon racial lore. I'm of the belief that negative feedback is crucial for constructive criticism, and that even nonconstructive negative feedback can be conducive to improving a writer's skills.

Q3. Writing good lore.

A3. This is sort of like asking someone to rate their own roleplay on a whitelist application. Ideally, my examples of past work links (which, mind you, I only put up server related work and not, say, my 30 page D&D work Journal of Count Gwevyl "The Synagogue Smahser" Hohenheim the Dragonscorched, or my Aurora 4x game lore Leaders of the Human Race) would serve to answer this question better than any self-confident floundering down here. The next best thing would be pitching my ideas for where to take the Tajara lore which I did very lightly with Jackboot above without dropping spoiler spaghetti everywhere. Ultimately, the answer is that yes I do think I am capable of writing good lore, otherwise I would've withheld my application completely. I'd even go as far as to say I would've withheld my application if I thought one of the others would be better, no offense intended.

Q4. Winning over the masses to the extent that they want to read your work for fun?

A4. This is my biggest goal. For my first half year on this server, I had a very negative view of Tajara through a thick fog of misconceptions and in-game observations which had led me to believe they were the furry race. But on a whim I cracked open the wiki and started reading their story, and quickly started falling in love. I went from heckler to player at the flip of a hat, and started finding myself really digging in. My initial whitelist application wound up becoming a dense monster of writing, and has ultimately lead up to the story I'm writing as my imagination has begun to run wild. I've spent many nights palling around with Jenn and exchanging maps of troop movements talking about where our characters have been, and what battles they fought in. The point of saying all this is in part to show the depth of my interest, but more importantly I want to say that I want to make lore good enough to change other peoples' views like the lore changed mine. I want it to be engaging, deep, and fascinating enough such that people who pick it up and read it will get sucked in just like I did, and at the expense of being cocky, I think I am capable.

Q5. Cooperating with the current loreteam members?

A5. There isn't a single person on the current lore team roster whom I dislike. I've often considered myseslf a good team player, and cooperation comes with the territory of that consideration. I was actually hoping to do a better job of making foreign policy a larger consideration by reaching out to various other racial lore developers to see what the nature of the relationship between the races should be, on a political rather than personal setting. Naturally, this would require a hefty bit of capability in this field, and I think I can do it.

Now to address another point which I feel is an elephant in the room which requires addressing: Whitelist enforcement and whitelistee feedback.

 

This would require a bit of tough love on your part, Mofo. Get ready to feel less polite. Feedback is an essential part of anything lore related. You seem to have a decent idea of what you're looking for in applications, but don't forget that same kind of feedback can be invaluable in lore work as well. To sum it up, you've got to be able to dish out some negatives regardless of who you're talking to. You'd expect a loredev to tell you if they were worried about some project you were working on.

 

I believe that this will be the hardest part of this specific position. For as long as I've been involved in the whitelisted community and lore, this has been the mountain many have died on. It will be tough, but the standards of the whitelist have to be enforced, written stories and applications need feedback, and it might not always be easy to tell someone I'm pals with that their story might be bad, their lore canonization app an improper fit, or their character out of line with the lore. However, this is part of the job description, and while it might not always be easy, it is necessary and required. Every time I've written something I was passionate about, I've always dug into lore overseers in the hopes of honest feedback, and just as I have been able to trust you to deal with my skrell writing straight, and Hive to deal with my Tajara writing properly, I would have to fulfill this duty for others and fully intend to.

[DatBerry]

Ill have to -1 this because mofo is just too good for you lore nerds, he should apply for mod instead!

But seriously, mofo is one of the people i would point to if im asked about the greatest roleplayers of our generation, his tajara app is the only long character app ive read and actually enjoyed reading, and that's saying a lot when i cant stand reading more than 3 paragraphs stories.

i dont have any doubts he can write some interesting catbeast cuddle pile bedtime stories.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Application accepted.