[Accepted] Something Vile's Head of Staff Application

[Something Vile]

BYOND key: Something_Vile

Character names: Jane Pyre, Craig Tollard

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How long have you been playing on Aurora?: 8 months, or so.

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: I believe that it would further the narrative I've been building for my primary character, Jane, and provide an exciting change to the gameplay that I'm used to by adding various new responsibilities.

Why did you come to Aurora?: I floated around from TG and CM and, dissatisfied with their playerbases and constant shenanigans, decide to give Aurora, a heavy roleplay server, a try. The niche I found it fits is just what I wanted, and, while I still visit other servers occasionally, Aurora has sort of become my home thanks to a receptive playerbase and moderate administration staff.

Have you read the BS12 wiki on the head roles you plan on playing?: Yes, and I feel I'm equipped for the responsibilities that are entailed with it.

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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:

I believe that roleplaying is all about immersing oneself into the mind and life of another person. Becoming someone that isn't you, so to speak, and appropriately enjoying the experience of watching a different world through another's eyes. I feel that roleplaying should be all about enjoying oneself, and that, in the instances of group roleplays, such as SS13, helping others to have a good experience. This is especially true in situations wherein the cooperation of many leads to positive situations for all, such as on Aurora every day, where people interact with each other both positively and negatively to fuel a commutative creative output. Additionally, on the note of output, I feel that roleplaying is a fantastic way to express one's creativity through an ever shifting, living medium, all while socialising and having fun doing it.

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

I feel as though the purpose of a head of staff, out-of-character, is to guide new players considering their respective occupational branches or departments, and that heads of staff are crucial in teaching fledgling players crucial game mechanics, rules, and responsibilities in various situations. All of this, of course, also applies in character, where heads of staff are essential for leading departments toward the right direction. Too often, it has been seen that an incompetent head of staff, or lack of a head in general, has sewn chaos throughout their wing of the station, promoting discord and failing to provide a narrative foundation for the round. Appropriately, I think it's essential for heads to be the backbone of their departments, and for each to promote synergy within, and stamp out and lethargy, lack of interest in players, or insubordination in crew.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?:

I feel as though, as listed above, whitelisted players are crucial in keeping the order of the player base by instructing new players in various server functions, rules, and internal systems. Overall, I can say that I would do my best to effectively uphold any expectations placed upon me by becoming a whitelisted player, and providing the floor plan of an enjoyable experience for other players, which, effectively, is most important in a group dynamic. I will further assert that I am prepared to teach newcomers and greet them with open arms, especially into my department of choice, and that there is no question in my mind that I am a capable person to look to from people without experience on SS13 or our server.

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

Character name: Jane Pyre

Character age: 35

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

Jane Elizabeth Pyre was born to two parents of average wealth in a small but affluent monarchy on Mars, in the Sol system. She grew up a fairly average child, but internal strife within her kingdom reached a boiling point when her father, a man of the law, uncovered ambiguous but clearly unethical information about the monarch of the state. As is appropriate for tyrants, the monarch attempted to snuff out any traces of her family with a coordinated attack on her flat, resulting in Jane becoming severely crippled and both of her parents dying. Now an orphan (cliched, I'm aware) at the tender but ripe age of 13, Jane resorted to child prostitution as she paid various fares at motels around her megacity of origin, struggling to complete secondary school incognito. This came to fruition, however, as her prowess during her education led to her attaining a scholarship to a private institution within the Tau Ceti system.

Following in the footsteps of her deceased father, Jane decided to the law of the Republic of Biesel, her new home, and quickly became affiliated with various student organisations supporting the integration of synthetics and the equal treatment of non-human sentients. Now no longer having to support herself on meager wages, Jane eventually saved up her small allowances to be able to purchase bionic replacements for the limbs she lost. Following the appropriation of her Bachelor's, Jane began studying to become a Master of Laws, when she caught the attention of Nanotrasen, who struck a deal with her, assuring her wages and board should she graduate with honours. Several years later, she joined the corporation, and has been climbing her way through security staffings aboard NT stations all throughout the system. In recent times, as her tenure as an officer has reached the ten year mark, she has been attending leadership seminars and working on her physical prowess in anticipation of promotions to head of security aboard stations such as the Exodus.

What do you like about this character?:

I like that Jane feels very human. Her mannerisms, such as smoking, laughing inappropriately, and being incredibly empathetic toward prisoners and colleagues alike make her seem almost like a real person, or a glimpse of one. I feel that her familiarity with the law and relatively cliched but compelling backstory are grounds for her personal narrative to continue far into the future, and for her as a person to be fleshed out in rounds to come.

What do you dislike about this character?:

While I can't say I inherently dislike about anything that I've made her to be, I feel that her biggest character flaw is her sense of right and wrong, and her incredibly liberal mindset. While alien integration is not necessarily bad, I feel her attitude toward the close minded is possible grounds for conflict. Finally, I worry that the character background I've developed makes her seem a bit too much of a snowflake, but I hope that is negated by here incredibly human characteristics.

What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?:

Jane has been in the corporate security sector for, in character, over ten years, and has a harrowing familiarity with corporate regulations and ability to organise. I feel as though her prowess at being the de facto leader of security in the absence of a head has proven time and time again that she is a force to be reckoned with, and that she as a character is well equipped to deal with whatever situations may arise on station.

 

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Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?:

I would rate myself a 7.5 out of 10. I feel as though I'm adept at making my characters' interactions very human, and that, coupled with my typing prowess, the delivery of their lines and mannerisms makes them as lifelike as possible for a poorly pixelated sprite. That being said, I feel it's appropriate to mention that I don't play very well in foreign situations, such as when I'm given a job I don't expect or become an antagonist, and that it might take me a while to shift my playstyle to accommodate a wider variety of roles and situations. Overall, however, I'm willing to say that I view myself as marginally above average in heavy roleplay situations.

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Extra notes:

[HunterRS]

I have seen this guy around, very good guy to talk to, yet to see his RP since I don't play Security that often anymore. but given how much he has helped me with my app, I think he deserves at +1 from me. Good like Vile!

[Synnono]

Hi there! I have next to zero experience with you, Jane or Craig, so my feedback is pretty much limited to what you've written down.

Feedback to follow, mostly in order:

 

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

I believe that roleplaying is all about immersing oneself into the mind and life of another person. Becoming someone that isn't you, so to speak, and appropriately enjoying the experience of watching a different world through another's eyes. I feel that roleplaying should be all about enjoying oneself, and that, in the instances of group roleplays, such as SS13, helping others to have a good experience.

Fair enough! The group's enjoyment is important here, I think. Heads tend to get scrutinized more than other characters as a result of how they interact with other people. With that in mind, it's a good idea not to be immersed to the point where you're taking things like insults or strong criticism personally, since you're going to get a lot of both, IC.

 

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

I feel as though the purpose of a head of staff, out-of-character, is to guide new players considering their respective occupational branches or departments, and that heads of staff are crucial in teaching fledgling players crucial game mechanics, rules, and responsibilities in various situations. [snip] I think it's essential for heads to be the backbone of their departments, and for each to promote synergy within, and stamp out and lethargy, lack of interest in players...

I like the idea of a Head taking a proactive role in keeping players invested in a round - can you elaborate on how you think you'd personally go about that, in charge of Security? They're a busy bunch.

 

Character name: Jane Pyre

Character age: 35

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

Jane Elizabeth Pyre was born to two parents of average wealth in a small but affluent monarchy on Mars, in the Sol system. She grew up a fairly average child, but internal strife within her kingdom reached a boiling point when her father, a man of the law, uncovered ambiguous but clearly unethical information about the monarch of the state. As is appropriate for tyrants, the monarch attempted to snuff out any traces of her family with a coordinated attack on her flat, resulting in Jane becoming severely crippled and both of her parents dying. Now an orphan (cliched, I'm aware) at the tender but ripe age of 13, Jane resorted to child prostitution as she paid various fares at motels around her megacity of origin, struggling to complete secondary school incognito. This came to fruition, however, as her prowess during her education led to her attaining a scholarship to a private institution within the Tau Ceti system.

Backstories are a bit less important to me in Head apps than they are in species apps, but I'm gonna give opinions while I'm here.

Young Jane sounds extremely disadvantaged as a child. How did she manage to achieve a successful education while being exploited AND crippled? Having a backstory that contains some tragedy is A-OK, but it's nice to try and keep what's happened both believable and in service to how the character is roleplayed in the present. Reading the rest of this, I'm having a hard time reconciling the humane and acceptive Jane you write about later with this child, considering what she went through.

 

Following in the footsteps of her deceased father, Jane decided to the law of the Republic of Biesel, her new home, and quickly became affiliated with various student organisations supporting the integration of synthetics and the equal treatment of non-human sentients.

I'm not actually sure what this sentence means. When you say she 'decided to the law' is she going into legal work, police work, or something else?

 

Now no longer having to support herself on meager wages, Jane eventually saved up her small allowances to be able to purchase bionic replacements for the limbs she lost. Following the appropriation of her Bachelor's, Jane began studying to become a Master of Laws, when she caught the attention of Nanotrasen, who struck a deal with her, assuring her wages and board should she graduate with honours.

Keep in mind that there's a difference between a Law degree and a Law Enforcement degree. The two career paths interact, but most graduates of Law enter work in the court system, rather than police or security work. NanoTrasen also effectively owns Tau Ceti, and as such already has a selection of the best candidates for jobs. What would have made them offer Jane a special deal, instead of just hiring someone else?

 

What do you dislike about this character?:

While I can't say I inherently dislike about anything that I've made her to be, I feel that her biggest character flaw is her sense of right and wrong, and her incredibly liberal mindset. While alien integration is not necessarily bad, I feel her attitude toward the close minded is possible grounds for conflict. Finally, I worry that the character background I've developed makes her seem a bit too much of a snowflake, but I hope that is negated by here incredibly human characteristics.

How do you suppose she gained her liberal and humane qualities in the first place? She appears to have grown up with a very tragic and very oppressive set of circumstances, prior to leaving for Tau Ceti.

Keep in mind that ultimately, if a character is found unsuitable or not a best fit, you can always invent one for the purposes of the application.

Edited November 27, 2016 by Guest

[Something Vile]

As it were, Syn, you may have noticed that crafting fleshed out character backstories isn't my forte. Given that, I'll try to answer your queries.

I'd like to think that, as Head of Security, I can at least manage to keep people occupied with delegated sweeps of various areas of the station, and appropriated tasks given on my known skillsets of the officers at my disposal. While I'm inclined to believe that it might take some fine tuning of the instrument that is my department, I feel as though it would be most advantageous for the department as a whole to keep officers on active patrol and direct the team with an opening briefing and requesting or demanding mandatory status reports from officers at a moment's notice. Additionally, while it may be obnoxious to them, I'd like paperwork to be filed appropriately and for the warden to scan cameras and prevent them from direct field work, as the job suggests. While all of this may be limiting in the experiences of others and may promote the idea that I'm some kind of security facist, I'd also like to attempt to make personal connections with my officers to keep them engaged in the world of SS13.

I like to play Jane as a character who has seen more than her fair share of harm and, while jaded to the world in a very public way, such as joking around with inappropriate subject matters and being terse in conversation, her identity at the core is that of a person whose prior experiences have only molded them into being one who can aspire to prevent further tragedy. It is from this that I draw the human element, or attempt to, and try to craft Pyre as a character as the cliched person who is in possession of a rough exterior and a warm core, which dictates her actions in earnest in a far more substantial way.

"to the law" was a typo. The verb learn should be in there somewhere.

Your next point mentions that Law and Law Enforcement differ. I was under the impression that her primary occupation as a Warden is coincided by a need for extensive knowledge of the law. If you think it's appropriate that I change her degree in my backstory, then so be it, and I will consider doing so should I be obligated to write another backstory in the future. My flimsy explanation for her admission into NT is that whatever university she attended was attached to a feeder program or is rather prestigious in regards to reputation of those that graduate. Again, I apologise for the lack of explanation on Pyre's backstory, but this is the first time in a long while I've had to type something so extensive in regards to a character, outside of perhaps D&D.

Her tragic upbringing is a bit of a stretch, I'm aware, but I had it in my head that she found acceptance with the more liberally minded people of her class during her higher education process. Appropriately, she would adopt the ideas of those around her, and strive to understand that other outcasts of society are sentient too and have emotional situations of their own.

Sorry if I missed anything, and thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

[Haveatya]

Real quick: Played a few rounds with them, they did everything I thought a warden should do. They knew their job, knew their place, and kept well grounded RP. Some of our rounds were pretty crazy and they never disappointed. +1 from me.

[LordRaven001]

+1 I've never seen Vile get salty or act like a rude dude in OOC, He also shows he can handle the whitelist with many of his characters. When he got framed for torture he didn't complain in LOOC or OOC just let it happen, What a good guy.

[Faris]

Jane, Jane, Jane. When I first started playing security, Jane was always a very persistent figure, it very much a coin toss if I wanted to Warden with Vile around. It's always a pleasure to have them playing on the same round and I don't believe I've truly ever had a gripe with their security play either. OOC'ly as well, Vile seems like a great person to know. Furthermore, I've had a bit of a discussion about the application with Vile and I don't find any issues with it, in fact, it seems pretty well written. So would I like to see Miss Pyre's potential as a Head of Security? Yes, absolutely +1 from me.

[SicilysRealFlag]

I play detective quite often, and by far my favorite Warden is Jane Pyre. She does her job, and does it impeccably well. She is vigilant, listens to her fellow officers, and importantly, doesn't hog all the high end gear to herself when the beans go garbanzo. As someone who has played with Jane as Warden with no HoS, she stepped up and performed admirably. She kept security together and on point until an HoS joined later that round. I also appreciate that Jane is a person, and not just a pile of mismatched quirks or a monotone husk of a dead personality. She is capable of expressing dissatisfaction or anger without gross overreactions that put her fellow officers or the station at risk. She is able to perform under pressure, respects her superiors even if she personally disagrees with them, and puts the safety of others before her own time and time again, important qualities in an HoS.

+1 from me, shine on you crazy diamond.

[shadowsparxx]

Thus far, my experiences with Jane Pyre have been minimal, but the character and the person playing her seem to handle the role well, be it as the security officer or warden. While I do not have any specific personal experiences with Pyre, aside from having played Detective once or twice, I have yet to see anything but competence and ability to perform a role from Vile. +1

[Chada1]

I've played with Jane Pyre in multiple rounds, the first round I was playing a Security Android (Cyborg Alt-title) in a Malf round. As soon as my character saw her, she opened fire on me.

I spent the time trying to flash her and run away, I'm sure she had been given the info that the Station-bound units had gone crazy, but it still felt a little rash.

That's not the point i'm making, when I brought up the point later in the round, Something Vile acted genuinely surprised that I had any issue with it at all, and took my criticism on the 'Fire first, ask questions later' approach incredibly well. The next situation where this happened, in the very next round was more of a problem, but also more understandable, she fired at me once again, but this time I was a Combat Cyborg. It served as a throw-back to my original criticism, when Jane accidentally blew an IPC apart trying to shoot at me with an Ion Rifle, albeit she was an Antagonist (Revolutionary) at the time.

This happened again later in the round when she accidentally blew ANOTHER IPC apart. After these two rounds, there was no doubt in my mind that the player had a bit of a trigger-finger. Edit Addon: As I've just learned they were blind when this part happened, which makes it a lot less bad.

That said, I haven't had another problem for about a week, and have seen them ingame, and even observed them, but haven't roleplayed with them directly, constantly. The players roleplay ability is not in question for me, and i've seen them take criticism (My own) very well, and that's a very important quality in Heads of Staff in my opinion, because if they won't accept or acknowledge criticism, they're not likely to accept any mistakes they make. So, I approve even with my bad experiences, because I believe the good experiences outweight the bad.

+1

You still need to work on that trigger finger, though, if you aren't already.

Edited November 30, 2016 by Guest

[Synnono]

The players roleplay ability is not in question for me, and i've seen them take criticism (My own) very well, and that's a very important quality in Heads of Staff in my opinion, because if they won't accept or acknowledge criticism, they're not likely to accept any mistakes they make.

 

This is a good observation that I also agree with. I feel like the player has been very receptive since this thread was put up.

[veradox]

jane pyre is a character that, as cadmus, i've had the opportunity to roleplay with and get her to flesh out backstory in idle conversation. they are consistent with their character design choices and they don't seem all that godawful doing it, but some instances in their player character history seem to hold not as much gravity as they probably might. otherwise, acts like a human should, has the humor, critique and general personality as someone with a desk job probably would while also being a well rounded peoples' person: still knows their rights and wrongs. this extends into ooc, where they just about never complain or speak out of line. the cool kind of disposition like this makes a fitting head of staff.

while their actual robustness holds less merit than a couple of actual officers, pyre is decent at the security role and properly maintains procedure and brig operations; rarely leaves their post and always keeps an eye on cameras and PoI via records. you can easily rely on her, and she's lately began to take up interim head of staff positions in the absence of head of security players to acquire more experience at the job role.

decent candidate for head of staff

[Superballs]

I feel it's finally time to put my opinion on our resident Warden after multiple IC and OOC interactions.

OOCly, Vile's definitely someone who takes the time to reflect and ask questions on actions they performed. Such as asking for feedback/apologies OOCly for their actions in game. A quality that no other player has shown to me. This is important as it exhibits their willingness to identify, acknowledge and (hopefully) correct their mistakes for the sake of improvement. Something for all current and prospective heads of staff should possess.

ICああly and performance wise, I can't help but to be a bit nitpicky on some of their actions. Sometimes records would be left unattended to or arrest statuses unchanged or kept on incarcerated. While an excuse for this such as internet latency maybe valid, this should be confirmed by Vile themself. Aside from the negatives, Jane enforces beauracracy such as equipment releases and warrants whenever the situation reasonably allows for it and keeps record of it.

Character and backstory wise, Jane is one of the first few people I've befriended with the secondary intent of evaluating them for Head of Staff candidacy, and in the short time that has elapsed, proves some merit and work of their backstory, but yet leaves more to be known after some gaps in conversation. (Whether this is intentional or stems from a lack of character development, personally draws me more to their character.)

Apologies if this sounds too verbose or outright doesn't make any sense. It's 1 in the morning.

tl;dr jane is a cool cat for hos

+1 from me.

[TishinaStalker]

Application approved.

 

 

Glory to Aurora.