[Accepted] MatterL's Head whitelist application

[MatterL]

BYOND key: MatterL

Character names: Matthew Reynold, Hudson Nash, Zane Martins

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How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Two weeks

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: So that I might work as a Research Director and ICly move through the rankings of the station to provide not only myself but others with new roleplay, and a continuation of story that is slowly building.[/b]

Why did you come to Aurora?: A friend recommended me to the server and once I joined I couldn't stop.

Have you read the BS12 wiki on the head roles you plan on playing?: Yes, as well as the ones I don't intend to use.

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: Roleplay is and should be about the story. The story that you and others weave together in a nearly incomprehensible tale that brings them all good memories to look back on and enjoy. It's for developing characters and concepts that you and others can enjoy, and creating an experience. Making friends, getting ideas, creating, developing, and exploration of yourself are all what roleplay is truly about.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: The OOC purpose of a Head of Staff should always be there to make sure their part of the station is promoting rp correctly. A sort of ic instigator to make sure that Xenobiology isn't just sitting in their lab the entire time, and that the guys out mining aren't just running a process and not dealing with anyone else. They are the ones who can look at a situation and try to figure out a way to keep things involved. Dragging people into encounters with a higher up, or reaching out to the rest of the station when their underlings are remaining too couped up in their own dealings.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Whitelisted players are expected to serve as people to look up to for an example of roleplay and how the players should act both icly and oocly. Their race and or role means they've been certified in some manner by admins and/or players and thus creating a bad example will lead to the propagation of degrading roleplay in general. Meanwhile if they act correctly and lead by example they can teach those around them how to better write and behave to make the atmosphere of the station as a whole a much better place.

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

Character name: Matthew Reynold

Character age: 31

Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs): Matthew Reynold, also known as Matt most commonly by his peers and friends started his career as early as possible. Backed by his family he attended a college the moment he was out of public schooling and dual-majored in both Xenobiology and Advanced Robotics. His mother's side of the family being mainly into medicine, and providing most of the funding, decided that he had to at least have one major in something to do with biology as to carry on the family tradition. In four years he had completed both courses and had earned bachelors in both. From there he began work with NanoTrasen, an assistant to a Xenobiologist for four years as he worked on bringing his bachelors in Advanced Robotics to a PhD, though the slow grind and constant transits between work and college wore him down mentally. However with no openings in the current field he, begrudgingly, continued working as a Xenobiologist.

2455, and he manages to get a position on the recently constructed NSS Exodus researching a new form of life commonly referred to as slimes. However after a traumatic incident that resulted in his prolonged suffering and near death he quickly asked for a transfer to the Robotics division and was granted it swiftly. From 2456 to present day he worked both in Robotics and with Research while furthering his knowledge of the Research Division as a whole. Multiple times working as an apprentice or assistant to the Research Director in attempts to get a grasp on the ropes and even taking several classes in management. Having left his family with the Sol Alliance to stay with NanoTrasen and it's station in Tau Ceti, specifically on the planet of Biesel where he owns a small condominium, he was no longer able to afford furthering his college degrees and thus spends his days hoping to further himself on the NSS Exodus through show of self initiative and learned knowledge of the station's inner-research workings.

What do you like about this character?: Matthew is both my first and favorite character so far. His personality that developed from interaction with several key characters and events, as well as his mind-set really make an easy character to play and enjoy. Not only do I enjoy him though but I feel as if others enjoy working with him as well.

What do you dislike about this character?: He can be a bit laid back unfortunately, not so much in not getting work done but more as if numb to the danger presented by the station. This causes some tensions when others begin to feel the stress and he attempts to either shrug it off or joke about it.

What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: Matt is a great talker, as well as a good worker. He's hard set on trying to work his way to Director and has made every effort to further his career towards that. He's had talks with the Captain about being a temporary Director, and has worked directly with several Directors (in game) to further his understanding of how to perform correctly as a leader.

Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?: I would rate my own roleplay at either a seven or eight out of ten. I have been roleplaying for many years now, however in a setting like ss13 I tend to shorten things a little too much to keep up with the mechanical side of the game as well.

Extra notes: I know this is possibly a bit early to be asking for whitelisting but I really do believe in my ability to play these roles in game. If I need more experience though I'll gladly stave off for some time.

Edits#1 Synnono made a ton of great recommendations and had good questions. My backstory is mostly comprised of me trying to wrap my head around the wiki's lore section (which I think I'm understanding more and more now) and thus had some errors in it as well as the backstory missing some info. Thanks for the review!

Edited January 10, 2017 by Guest

[Synnono]

I've played with MatterL recently on my hydroponicist, Ivy Liu.

Before going through the application, my impression of this player in the handful of rounds I've played with or observed them has been positive. They are an articulate and responsive writer, and get engaged with the people around them. They also seem respectful, in the sense that they don't appear to a be font of toxic memes or excessive OOC salt. This is always a perk!

 

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

The OOC purpose of a Head of Staff should always be there to make sure their part of the station is promoting rp correctly. A sort of ic instigator to make sure that Xenobiology isn't just sitting in their lab the entire time, and that the guys out mining aren't just running a process and not dealing with anyone else. They are the ones who can look at a situation and try to figure out a way to keep things involved. Dragging people into encounters with a higher up, or reaching out to the rest of the station when their underlings are remaining too couped up in their own dealings.

This is one of the better answers to this question I've read. Other people may disagree or have another take on what "purpose" means, but in terms of roleplay, Heads ideally have more knowledge of a situation and better access to new information than other players. Doling that out to the right people is what can turn someone's boring round into a great one.

There's more to say here in terms of specifics, since playing a Head character also means you should have knowledge of the server's IC and OOC policies surrounding the escalation of a round or conflict, etc.. Much of that is covered in the rules/regulations though, and new player in a Head position will have learning to do.

 

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Whitelisted players, whether their a race or a head, have a responsibility not only to their selves but to others to keep the story going. They are the extra-norm, providing opportunities for encounters that couldn't happen one human to another or one peer to another. It brings about new scenarios that they may not have been exposed to and forces them to actually think in character how they'll handle an order from a superior or talking to an alien race they may not have much ic or ooc experience with. With that new experience comes growth and with growth comes the furthering of every individuals story, and thus the overall story as a whole.

I'm not sure I entirely understand this paragraph as it pertains to the question. While it's good to enable character story and development, anyone in any position on the station can do that. You also effectively answer with this in the previous question. Maybe ask yourself what sorts of OOC qualities you expect in a player with a whitelisted role, and write about those?

Backstories on these things aren't as important to me as the OOC questions, but still deserve a look! There's no need to reveal anything you'd rather not about your character in this thread, but a better understanding of why he is who he is may help justify his in-game promotion attempts.

 

Backed by his family he attended a college the moment he was out of public schooling and dual-majored in both Xenobiology (Due to his mother's requirement that he do something at least related to medical) and Advanced Robotics. In just four years he had completed both courses and had earned bachelors in both. From there he began work with NanoTrasen, an assistant to a Xenobiologist for four years as he worked on bringing his bachelors in Advanced Robotics to a PhD. However with no openings in the current field he continued working as a Xenobiologist.

Why did Matt's mother require him to study something medical? It doesn't seem like there's much crossover between Xenobio and Robotics. Was Matt a particularly adept student, or was this dual major and subsequent PhD grind rough on him? How did he advance in a robotics program while working with another, unrelated lab?

 

2455, and he manages to get a position on the recently constructed NSS Aurora...

This is tricky for new players and supremely nitpicky, but thanks to a bunch of OOC update shenanigans, we work and play on the NSS Exodus. The NSS Aurora, as we played on in 2015, has been decommissioned/retconned/destroyed by mercenaries/repainted in taupe until we get the revised map for it. Which will be never. I think.

We talk about neither thing.

 

Having left his family with the Sol Alliance to stay with NanoTrasen and it's station in Tau Ceti he was no longer able to afford furthering his college degrees and thus spends his days hoping to further himself on the NSS Aurora...

Characters who live outside Tau Ceti do sometimes seem to commute to work via bluespace shuttles and gate networks, though some players find that silly. If it would be a financial hardship on Matt, why did he decide to stay in the Republic of Biesel? Where's he living now within the system, out of curiosity?

 

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

Matt is a great talker, as well as a good worker. He's hard set on trying to work his way to Director and has made every effort to further his career towards that. He's had talks with the Captain about being a temporary Director, and has worked directly with several Directors (in game) to further his understanding of how to perform correctly as a leader.

I can appreciate the several mentions of Matt wanting to pick up management and leadership skills in this application. Not every character always makes a good manager, and some applying players don't seem to think such character skills are necessary. However, keep in mind that the wiki wants 10 years of experience and preferably several doctorates in a Director candidate. Matt may be technically qualified in terms of raw requirements, but he's probably competing with older, more learned scientists for the chance to lead the research program. What sets him apart from his peers to such a degree that the company wants to trust him with a leadership role?

Thanks for taking the time to read over this and answer the questions. Remember you can push your application via link in the OOC channel once per round, and also in our server's Discord chat. You probably should do this to get more feedback, since you're a new face and people need to be dragged here kicking and screaming before they write something!

[Jennalele]

Honestly, I've loved every character of Matter's I've interacted with. His characters are dynamic, different, and it's always very, very fun to play with him. Earlier today, as a traitor AI, we had frequent conversations with him as Matthew. Moral debates, intellectual back and forths. It was great seeing him get so into his role and becoming so concerned for SCORPIO as she slipped down a dangerous path.

I'm 1000000% for him getting head whitelist.

[DatBerry]

small note, iirc command age was bumped to 35, don't think aging your character 4 years would be too bad.

[Jennalele]

I don't remember this?

[Fiskap]

35 is just for captain, 31 is fine for the RD position

[MatterL]

Thanks for all the comments! Glad you enjoyed it Jennalele, it's really interesting to see what happens when my roboticist is stuck encountering synthetics as he's very pro-rights. It was neat to talk to an malf-AI who wasn't just "Bzzzt, murder everything on the station". Really made him think like "Do I help stop it since I kind of know how or does that make me just a murderer..."

[TishinaStalker]

I will never think it's not hilarious nor incredibly disheartening how everybody ALWAYS wants to play The-Young-Just-Recently-Became-Head-of-Staff-After-Hitting-Required-Age head of staff.

Application accepted.