Community Conference: Who is a Captain to you?

[Azande]

What is this?

The Captain has always been a very interesting role, as their power and authority and how crew react to them using it is very fluid depending on their crew, the character that is the Captain and their relationships with other characters, and the player playing them.

I was interested in three things when I came up with the idea for this conference:

 

• What does the general, non-whitelisted community think the Captain's role/authority is, and how should they use their powers?[
  
• What does the Command Whitelisted community think the Captain's role/authority is, and how should they use their powers?
  
• How do these two sets of opinions differ?

 

Essentially, this is the Conference area for the non-whitelisted community to discuss in, and a sister-post will be made in the Head of Staff Forum for Heads to use! Some guiding questions will be listed, but feel free to discuss whatever you wish about the IC and possibly OOC role of the Captain from your point of view, and some issues you may have with how Captains (DO NOT USE SPECIFIC NAMES/REFERENCES WITHOUT ASKING THE PLAYER FIRST, UNLESS ALL NAMES ARE REMOVED) are/have been played, also feel free to come up with your own questions for people to answer!

If you are a Head of Staff Whitelistee, PLEASE DO NOT UTILIZE THIS POST FOR YOUR OPINIONS. It will conflict with the goal of comparison at the end of this. Head (yes that's a pun) here for our discussion area: https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?f=84&t=7636

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Guiding Questions

• If you were NanoTrasen, what would you make the job description of a Station Captain? What would necessary education/skills be?
  
• What areas of the station do you think the Captain has direct jurisdiction over? (I.e, possibly the bridge, his office, maybe the hallways)
  
• Do you think it should be easier for Heads to override the Captain in terms of their department? Or is his ultimate authority on everything good?
  
• Do you think it's okay for the Captain to hire 'Executive/Bridge Assistants' to help him in his work?
  
• What control over station finances should the Captain have?
  
• Should the Captain have to wear the provided uniform, or is formal wear (Like Jester's suit) okay?

[Azande]

Bump..

[Chada1]

I think the only times Heads of Staff should be able to override the Captain are by mutiny, CC orders, instability (Diagnosed by a Psychiatrist, CMO, or through cloning) or outright insubordination, the Captain should have full access to the Station, full access to finance, but he shouldn't mess with these areas or the relevant departments unless he has qualifications to do so, only directing them in the lack of a proper head. He should be able to hire an Assistant, but they should remain an Assistant and have no formal power over the Station, only a messenger, at best carrying his word. I would say his direct jurisdiction is over the Heads of Staff themselves, and not the departments. He should be there to make sure they're doing their job, and direct them in doing their job, as opposed to directing the departments, and only guide departments in the absence of a head. But I would say he would have full jurisdiction over the bridge and his office. As for what he can wear, well. So long as the Captain is wearing something respectable, and wearing identification, I don't see why he'd be locked into any specific clothing. The Captain should also act as a higher power that people can appeal to, in absence of an IAA, when their Head of Staff is inhibiting their work.

I'm not the one who's going to go into qualifications, though. Those would have to be extreme and detailed.

[Ornias]

Despite being CCIA, I'm not actually head-of-staff whitelisted, so I'll post my opinions here. Also, Disclaimer™, these are my opinions, not an official CCIA Statement.

• If you were NanoTrasen, what would you make the job description of a Station Captain? What would necessary education/skills be?
  
  (Assuming I get to set the precedents) "Must have spent at least 10 years working aboard a NanoTrasen vessel, three of which in some form of an appropriate Command Role (I'm going to assume that other stations would have other options for command roles, eg. the NSS Cephus could be from a purely managerial role). Must display capability in stressful situations and effective judgement abilities. A mandatory six week course followed by a test with a 50% (?) pass-rate. (TL;DR: Not an easy job to get)." Outside of the purely paperwork side of their abilities, they must also be proven trustful and completely honest with the company, and be able to prioritize the purpose of the station (research).
• What areas of the station do you think the Captain has direct jurisdiction over? (I.e, possibly the bridge, his office, maybe the hallways)
  
  Everywhere, dammit. They're the captain, no? They are given a job with ultimate authority because they are trusted with it, and as such, they have say over everything in the station. Captains that abuse this will not keep their job long.
  
• Do you think it should be easier for Heads to override the Captain in terms of their department? Or is his ultimate authority on everything good?
  
  From an IC perspective, not at all. From an OOC perspective, I feel uncomfortable giving an answer for certain. If both sides are doing their jobs well, this should never become an issue. The captain trusts the heads of staff with their abilities to direct their departments, and the heads trust the captain with his ability to make the best decisions for the station. But if the captains being a shitter, the heads of staff will have to put their departments in jeopardy. If the head of staff is being a shitter, the captain may not be able to solve the problems the station is solving and do his job.
  
• Do you think it's okay for the Captain to hire 'Executive/Bridge Assistants' to help him in his work?
  
  As long as they're not a 19 year old girl with blue hair, why should I care? Don't tell them about the nuke disk, don't tell them any company secrets, just have them filing paperwork and grabbing things, and they'll be a great IC help to your work, and an OOC RP opportunity.
  
• What control over station finances should the Captain have?
  
  See above: ALL. He's captain. He's in charge. He's the man.
  
• Should the Captain have to wear the provided uniform, or is formal wear (Like Jester's suit) okay?
  
  Captain wearing uniform: Optimal.
  
  Captain wearing formal-wear: Fine, as long as you still wear something to show you're captain (eg. a badge, the hat, something something).
  
  Captain wearing a grey jumpsuit: No.