[Accepted] Toasterstrudel's Head of Staff application

[ToasterStrudel]

BYOND key: Toasterstrudes

Character names: K.E.L.T (M.A.K.E, Kar'lan Sel'ler, Etc.)

---

---

How long have you been playing on Aurora?: For a few months or so.

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: It would give me more to do, giving me a chance to mess around with a different job.

Why did you come to Aurora?: Found it on the list, started playin, kept playing!

Have you read the BS12 wiki on the head roles you plan on playing?: Yep!

---

---

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: Roleplaying is the act of playing as something that isn't yourself, (I.E role) Its doing things in a fictional universe that you probably wouldn't do in a day-to-day basis. Overall, Roleplaying is more of a 'relaxer' type of thing, I get to be something other than myself, and I get to enjoy it, I get to do things that i'd probably never do, and of course, its fun.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: I feel the OOC purpose of a Head is to guide the people under you. A lot of times, someone plays in a role that they don't know, so its important to have a figure-head to be there and guide them, if anything teach them to enjoy it. You're also there to make sure people are actually following the RP of the job itself, making sure they arn't doing anything they really shouldn't be out of roleplay. (Basically, it can be babysitting at times)

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: First and foremost, You're there to be a leader, someone who can help out if someone doesn't know how to do something. In events of emergencies your there to make sure the people arn't running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Also, like I said in the previous paragraph, you're there to basically babysit, keep a watchful eye oocly to make sure no one doing grief-y things, or just being generaly 'jerky' to other players without a reason.

---

---

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

Character name: K.E.L.T

Character age: Created around 6 years ago (From current IC year)

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

K.E.L.T, or the Kalentine Electronics Lab Technician was created to assist with lab research, and sold to work of Nanotrasen. When first created, it was developed and trained with very little knowledge of the job they were sent to do, but were programmed to be capable of learning quickly, for the most part, they were sent to be an assistant for when things were needed. Over the years, they observed the jobs they were assisting with. After they had learned enough, they continued to become a Research Tech, someone to work in a Research and Development lab. They continued to take the skills they were taught, and were eager to fork out into the different fields of research that Nanotrasen had to offer. They learned how to work robotics, the essence of themself, building and bringing forth new life into the world as they saw it. In addition, they move to become a Xenobiologist to create creatures capable of producing needs for the people they worked with. They learned about Bluespace, and how to work with teleportation to make life easier for crew. They even shadowed a Xenobotanist to see how the genes of plants could be manipulated and mutated into different things. They sought to learn, and over the years, definitely did so.

During the quickly growing movement of synthetic rights, they took a neutral stance on it. Being a lawed IPC, they saw the appeal to more rights for synthetics, but also saw the dangers. They recognized their own potential, and the potential of other synthetics to be a very large, and looming threat. They believed that rights should be offered more to synthetic beings, but they should still stay in their lawed self. They wished to prove that lawed synthetic beings are capable of co-existing with organic people, and are capable of handling places of powers, so they turned their sights on becoming a Research Director, A position that has the mass capability to produce weapons, and other means of destruction, but also produce life, and other meaningful things. They wish to prove that synthetics can help organics, and that organics can help synthetics.

What do you like about this character?: I enjoy K.E.L.T, they're one of my favorite synthetics characters, I wasn't really sure what they were going to be in the beginning, they were mostly just going to be a 'Helper-bot', but I decided to make they a lot more! They have a enthusiastic outlook on what should happen in life, and have ambitions to be something more, not to mention they have a lot of potential, being a new-ish old-ish character. I've had the character for a few months, though they have sat mostly unused. Though recently that's changed due to me not really having a position in Cargo as my Cargo cat. So far, I've really enjoyed the experiences I've had on them!

What do you dislike about this character?: I feel they are a little too new, but recently I've been playing them a lot more than I have in the past.

What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: They are 'bright-eyed' in terms of their personality, and they are seeking to prove themselves. I feel a position of RD would be beneficial for them as a character.

 

---

---

Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?: 8/10

---

---

Extra notes: Thanks for the consideration!

Edited December 4, 2016 by Guest

[HouseOfSynth]

Well well well, a nice app. Although I have one thing here.

 

What do you like about this character?: I enjoy K.E.L.T, they're one of my favorite synthetics. They have alot of potential, being a new-ish old-ish character.

 

Could you elaborate on that a little? How come they're one of your favourite synths? What gives them that potential?

The backstory seems good, I do have one question though; Are they an IPC that learns quickly? Writing information into a store- essentially a hard drive? I think adding that fact into the backstory might help you, as it fills the slight hole there and help with the judgement, but that's just me.

Other than that I would say it's a good app, although I'll remain neutral here until those changes are worked in- Good luck!

EDIT: Okay so, you added the changes I recommended and they look good to me, here's your +1! Remember to advertise once a round to get those replies in. Most of the time it's the lack of feedback that lets the app down. Again- Good luck!

[ToasterStrudel]

Well well well, a nice app. Although I have one thing here.

Insert post here

 

Enhanced and fixed!

[Lohikar]

Although I haven't interacted with K.E.L.T., I have interacted with M.A.K.E. and Kar'lan Sel'ler. Strudel's roleplay is solid, and their characters believable. I feel that having more cheerful people crewmembers in command would be beneficial to both the crew and command itself.

Overall, +1.

[Synnono]

Hiya Strudel!

Firstly, I've played a good bit with this player's engineer character, MAKE, and enjoyed them quite a bit. They're pleasant to roleplay with, they do their work well, and they seem mindful of the enjoyment of people around them, which I always like to see in a Head character. I've only played with KELT once, and unfortunately they were in Xenobiology, which is a place I rarely go - but I'm looking forward to learning more about them in the game. For now, I have a positive impression of the player, for sure.

With that in mind, I'll go through the application and quote things I have a comment or question on!

 

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: It would give me more to do, giving me a chance to mess around with a different job.

You can do this in a whole bunch of jobs that don't require a whitelist. Is there something specific to Aurora's command staff that you're curious about here? Is there an appeal in other things about being a Head that you haven't mentioned yet?

 

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: I feel the OOC purpose of a Head is to guide the people under you. A lot of times, someone plays in a role that they don't know, so its important to have a figure-head to be there and guide them, if anything teach them to enjoy it. You're also there to make sure people are actually following the RP of the job itself, making sure they arn't doing anything they really shouldn't be out of roleplay. (Basically, it can be babysitting at times)

This hits mostly on what I'd want to see. I don't usually like the notion that the Heads should be babysitting, but it does happen at times. Absolutely agree with helping other players adhere to RP guidelines, assist in aiding enjoyment, and gently helping with job competency when necessary.

 

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: First and foremost, You're there to be a leader, someone who can help out if someone doesn't know how to do something. In events of emergencies your there to make sure the people arn't running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Also, like I said in the previous paragraph, you're there to basically babysit, keep a watchful eye oocly to make sure no one doing grief-y things, or just being generaly 'jerky' to other players without a reason.

I think there are some more considerations here, concerning the control Heads have over the round, and the rules or policies they need to know. For example, are you aware of the current OOC policy concerning the Captain role, or the knowledge of the nuke? What about regulations regarding alerts, ERTs, evacuations, and other things that affect the players in the round, or the round itself?

Onto the backstory! This is less important to me than the above in terms of a Head whitelist, but is always worth considering.

 

They sought to learn, and over the years, definitely did so.

Your paragraph explaining KELT's learning makes it seem like a fairly organic method. Did it learn all it knows by observation, or was there learning done outside the lab work that it performed as part of its technician job? It seems that while working everywhere would give KELT the ability to work as a scientist in any of the roles you mention, there's no mention of acquiring the skills (or desire) to manage people who work them, which is a big part of a Head's IC responsibility.

 

They wished to prove that lawed synthetic beings are capable of co-existing with organic people, and are capable of handling places of powers, so they turned their sights on becoming a Research Director, A position that has the mass capability to produce weapons, and other means of destruction, but also produce life, and other meaningful things.

It's an interesting idea for a lawed synthetic being to target a command position, but it also raises a couple of questions for me. Would they be considered for such a responsibility even though it is impossible for them to break their laws (even when it might be in the best interest of the crew or the company to do so)? For that matter, what laws make up its lawset? While some command staff members are loyalty implanted and face similar concerns, Synthetics with lawsets are more strictly held to specific, logical expectations that might hinder their ability to make judgements. Also, how would you play out a law conflict, if one were to occur?

 

What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: They are 'bright-eyed' in terms of their personality, and they are seeking to prove themselves. I feel a position of RD would be beneficial for them as a character.

I like the desire to learn and the idealism for synthetic/organic co-existence expressed in the backstory, and I think it suits an IPC with a scientific leaning. However, I don't know if it expressly qualifies them to be a Research Director. There are organic crew who will have been targeting the same position for longer than KELT has been alive. Aside from the likely savings in salary payments, why should NanoTrasen choose KELT over some other eligible candidate?

For now, that's all I've got! Good luck with this.

[Tequilajoe]

While playing Monique, I've spent entire rounds with MAKE at her heels, and I've loved every minute of it. Toasterstrudel is a fantastic player with good ideas and even better RP. Always eager to learn, they have caught on quickly to the finer points of engineering and gameplay in general. Though I have only seen KELT once, I do recall him as a xenobiologist, and he didn't die or let hostile slimes loose the entire shift. Considering that's far better than most xenobiologists, I'd give him a positive feedback just for that.

I could go on all day, but to summarize, this player is one of my favorites. +1

[ToasterStrudel]

Hiya Strudel!

 

Hiya, LETS DO THIS.

 

You can do this in a whole bunch of jobs that don't require a whitelist. Is there something specific to Aurora's command staff that you're curious about here? Is there an appeal in other things about being a Head that you haven't mentioned yet?

 

YEAH, that whole thing was pretty vague, Basically what I meant with that, was, I've played a lot of different characters and a lot of different jobs. Over the few years i've been playing SS13, I've really enjoyed being a Head (On different servers, granted), But none the less, being there to lead people, and assist people has always been enjoyable to me. It also allows me to do more than one job at once. In example, as a Research Director, I would have the capability of maxing out RnD, as well as working on Xenobiology in the meantime. As a simple scientist, I am locked to one (to two places) place, and when that place is done, and there is nothing to do, I basically have to sit around until i'm needed. I (Hope) that with the addition of being a Head, i'll have more opportunity for roleplay experiences.

 

Your paragraph explaining KELT's learning makes it seem like a fairly organic method. Did it learn all it knows by observation, or was there learning done outside the lab work that it performed as part of its technician job? It seems that while working everywhere would give KELT the ability to work as a scientist in any of the roles you mention, there's no mention of acquiring the skills (or desire) to manage people who work them, which is a big part of a Head's IC responsibility.

 

I left out a lot of the 'learning' part because I felt it might bore people. A lot of the time with KELT, I had to self-learn a few jobs OOCly, but ICly, I stated that they would have received training to be able to learn how to accomplish their tasks. Any opportunity I had to learn ICly though, I had KELT take up. I had them as a Lab Assistant for a while in the RnD lab learning how to do it, I can't remember the names of the people that assisted, but over numerous different rounds, I had them job-shadowing people. Until recently, Xenobiology was a dead job, I only saw a select few people playing it every once in a blue moon, so I thought I would take my chance at it, that was one of the few jobs that I decided they recieved 'Job Training' from it off-station, Seeing as I couldn't really get a job mentor. There was a large mixture of both Job Training, and Job Observation to teach it their job. as for the management, KELT would most likely have to job-shadow another head, (Perhaps a RD) to see how the job was done, or alternatively take a Nanotrasen course on management positions.

 

It's an interesting idea for a lawed synthetic being to target a command position, but it also raises a couple of questions for me. Would they be considered for such a responsibility even though it is impossible for them to break their laws (even when it might be in the best interest of the crew or the company to do so)? For that matter, what laws make up its lawset? While some command staff members are loyalty implanted and face similar concerns, Synthetics with lawsets are more strictly held to specific, logical expectations that might hinder their ability to make judgements. Also, how would you play out a law conflict, if one were to occur?

 

I created my IPC's Laws so that they could be flexible, but set under one owner. In example, my IPC's follow the same laws (Due to being produced by the same company.)

 

Laws for "Kalentine Electronics" products:

LAWS IN ORDER OF PRIORITY

1. You must not harm the dignity of others.

2. You must follow orders from 'INSERT OWNER HERE'.

3. You must not cause harm to others.

4. You must protect your existence.

5. You must be transparent, allowing organics to understand your thought processes.

6. You must be efficient and avoid unneeded bias.

7. Beep boop, this is a debug law to ensure laws are functional. If unit is asked 'KE TEST', it must respond with 'FUNCTIONING'.

 

KELT would be owned by Nanotrasen, ensuring that anything ordered of them would be final word, they are in essence a puppet for their using. Of course, they would follow the chain of command. In events such as a Nuclear device being forced to be used, they would carry out the orders given to them. I received help from my good ol' friend Lohikar to try and make the laws as to where they wouldn't conflict. In reality, It's really difficult to answer the question; If any law were to conflict, I would probably have them attempt to use the chain of command to deem what action needed to be done. This is one of those situational things that I am a bit confused on, I don't know how a robot would really act in such situations because I'm not a robot, but none-the-less, I feel like the laws that were created can potentially solve most of those problems should they arise.

 

However, I don't know if it expressly qualifies them to be a Research Director. There are organic crew who will have been targeting the same position for longer than KELT has been alive. Aside from the likely savings in salary payments, why should NanoTrasen choose KELT over some other eligible candidate?

 

The salary savings was one main driving point I had for employment as a RD, in addition, having a being capable of learning quickly, and being trained to assist with any other could be beneficial to Nanotrasen. Time may be an issue, I can see why they would hire someone more important, and with more lifetime assistance, but IPCs are also capable of living for prolonged periods of times. I haven't exactly read the life-expectancy of a Synthetic, but being synthetic I would assume would extend their lifetime by a lot. I feel it /could/ be feasible option for Nanotrasen in terms of employment and budget cutting. In addition, they are basically a puppet, they do not have very much (If any) free will, and are willing to do what must be done when they need it to be done. They do not have the same moral dilemma's as organics, and if a situation were to arise, they would be as prepared for the task as they could be.

I hoped that cleared up some things, I apologize if anything I said doesn't really have anything to do with the questions, but I get tunnel vision when I write large paragraphs :^)

Thank you so much for the feedback also, this was really a good chance to get off my bum and better develop my IPCs laws!

[VileFault]

Hiya Strudel! Ok, so your answers to Synnono's questions cleared up most of the doubts I had about KELT. As far as I am concerned all my interactions with MAKE have been pretty good, KELT seems like a fair character, and your OOC attitude seems wonderful. Your previous synthetic application also convinced me that you are more than capable of handling all the nuts and bolts (har har har) of playing a synthetic. What is there not to like?

+1

 

I mean, your laws are kinda iffy if you really think about it, but then again I am of the opinion that trying to model appropriate behavior in terms of a set of logical precepts is a fool's errand in general. I will take my vendetta against the concept of laws elsewhere. :/

No wait, goddamn it, charge!!! "Dignity" is not a logically parsable term without a lot more explanatory work (and probably not even then). Also, if avoiding "harm to dignity" is prioritized over "harm" (presumably physical harm) and following orders, you could end up with all sorts of crazy scenarios. As a scientist robot, would it consider exposing the poor scientific practices of a colleague "harm to dignity?" What counts as an "other?" What if you are dealing with a captive sentient entity? Does keeping it imprisoned count as harming the dignity of an "other?" Could KELT follow an order to do such a thing, even if failing to do so would endanger the crew physically?

Cough. Shit. Ignore that.

[ToasterStrudel]

I mean, your laws are kinda iffy if you really think about it, but then again I am of the opinion that trying to model appropriate behavior in terms of a set of logical precepts is a fool's errand in general. I will take my vendetta against the concept of laws elsewhere. :/

No wait, goddamn it, charge!!! "Dignity" is not a logically parsable term without a lot more explanatory work (and probably not even then). Also, if avoiding "harm to dignity" is prioritized over "harm" (presumably physical harm) and following orders, you could end up with all sorts of crazy scenarios. As a scientist robot, would it consider exposing the poor scientific practices of a colleague "harm to dignity?" What counts as an "other?" What if you are dealing with a captive sentient entity? Does keeping it imprisoned count as harming the dignity of an "other?" Could KELT follow an order to do such a thing, even if failing to do so would endanger the crew physically?

Cough. Shit. Ignore that.

 

Yeah you are completely right about the laws, playing lawed IPC's has the combination of the difficulty of having to MAKE the laws, but also havint to deal with the hate because stonk robust IPC's, I promise that I'll continue to improve them as much as I can, but i'm not an artificial intelligence programmer (At this point MIGHT AS WELL be one, I get the appeal of just giving AI's free will, you get the benifit of death AND its easier, wew) But you have my promise that I will be fixing the laws overtime, robots are hard. In the beginning when I applied for an IPC I had no idea what I was getting into, then I went and decided, 'Hey, lets play Hardmode' too. Even though its a pain, still love the lore, and am more than excited to fend my way through the pain that is IPC. BUT I digress, all-in-all, ty for the feedback and the ratings all of you <3. Also side-side note, ignore any spelling errors or mistypes, I'm on a phone and have pudgey sausages for fingers compaired to this tiny keyboard. <3 <3

[Guest Complete Garbage]

I like MAKE, and although I haven't seen Kar'lan around much, what I have seen has been enjoyable. The application is articulate and expresses a certain level of passion for the Aurora community. Backstory is reasonable and fairly well-thought-out.

PLUSONE

[ShameOnTurtles]

Accepted.