[Accepted] Superiorform's Head Whitelist Application

[Superiorform]

BYOND key: Superiorform

Character names: Jake Lawrenson, Cathryn Latham, Daniel Tilton. The AI, Auntie Marian, and the borgs, Pacificatron and Needles. I used to play Jack Humblin.

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How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Around 8-9 months.

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?:

Two reasons:

• Driving the round: I believe I have had some quite successful rounds as antagonist, and received compliments on it. I believe this is because I try to constantly keeping the enjoyment of all other players in mind. I try to involve everyone, and give people a fair chance to RP before beginning the robusting. I think that more heads and captains should make an effort to stop security from immediately shutting down the antagonists, and be quite lenient, because in the end, this often leads to more fun, for all involved. Also, in revolution and event rounds, command has a massive responsibility to drive the action, and I sometimes believe it falls short on that. As a head, I could do all these things that, in my opinion, a lot of other heads aren’t doing, and I could make the game more fun for everyone.

• I have some fun ideas for my characters, and I could better develop them as heads of staff, and I also think it would be quite fun to be in a leadership position, and good for my RP. I wish to promote Lukas Hollydale to RD, make an unathi HoS, and make a captain, who you will soon read about.

Why did you come to Aurora?:

When I first heard of this “Space Station 13” by cruising the random subreddit button, the way it was described on a few websites, I assumed that all servers would have the level of RP that Aurora has. I quickly learned otherwise, and when I did find Aurora, I was relieved. I will admit, I haven’t spent much time on other servers.

Have you read the Aurora wiki on the head roles and qualifications you plan on playing?: Yes, of course.

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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: Roleplay. Google tells me that role playing is “the acting out of a particular person or character”, and on a technical level, this is perfectly correct, and pretty much how I would define it. But, to me, it goes a bit deeper. To me, roleplay should be about fun. I am perfectly willing, and would accept, to a reasonable extent, not entirely realistic roleplaying if it makes it fun. After all, it is a game. In the same way, I am all for trying to play super realistically, and I have played my characters in both ways. So, to sum up, fun, and keeping it realistic. I am re-writing this answer to word it better.

Roleplaying is "the acting out of a particular person or character." When I roleplay, I try to step into the shoes of the character I am playing, and act exactly as he or she would act. When I am playing as a character that I invented, I seem to learn about them as they are thrown into different situations, it is so natural. That is not to say I am not willing to occasionally not play hyper-realistically, if it would result in more fun for me and others, and I am willing to accept other people sometimes not playing perfectly realistically for more fun, as long as it is not immersion breaking.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: I think I pretty much answered this question above, but, a head of staff needs to drive the round to make it fun, manage the department, to keep it fun, and also, to act as someone newer players can trust in helping and teaching them.

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 those who have been deemed as trustworthy enough by the community and by administration to, there it is again, keep the game fun. They need drive the round, and set an example for all other players.

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

Character name: Alexander [i'll be honest, I haven't thought of a fitting second name yet, or how to properly connect it to his families history. By the time this application gets accepted, if it gets accepted, I will have thought of a second name, which are, in my opinion, quite important.]

Character age: 56

Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs): Born on a harsh frontier colony, Alexander didn’t have the greatest childhood. His great grandparents had moved to the frontier worlds looking for riches, and for generations, his family had not found them. His parents did not want Alexander to be just another generation in the cycle, and worked incredibly hard to get Alexander the money and opportunities to go out and make a better life for himself.

Alexander did so, and seeing the hard work his parents put in, studied extremely hard throughout secondary, and college. His parents had saved up a little nest egg, and with great sadness and little ceremony, Alex left his home, all that he had ever known, for a new, better life.

Alexander went to a respectable university in Tau Ceti, and studied such subjects as economics, and management. When he graduated, he managed to get hired by NT in a small role in internal affairs.

Taking a page from his parents’ book, Alex, too, worked extremely hard to rise through the ranks of the NanoTrasen conglomerate. He showed a strong aptitude for leadership, a friendly disposition, a polite professionalism, and a strong initiative, keeping calm under pressure.

All this, of course has had him noted by higher ups, and they continued to test his abilities, and eventually, had him managing a station externally. After this, they had him on station, speaking with people, and then, after 30 years of being with NanoTrasen, they offered him a captain position. After gaining experience in that role, they transferred him to the NSS Aurora.

Alexander got the life his parents wanted him to, but by this time, they have, of course, died of old age.

What do you like about this character?: I have a nice personality in mind for him, he will be savouring and making the most of the wealth he has, that his parents didn’t have, and I like the fact that he can say that he worked for his position, and he succeeded. My other characters can be proud of how far they’ve come (except for Tilton), but this guy dragged himself out of a poor situation, into the upper echelons of NT command. He's also quite humble, and willing to just shoot the shit with the janitor or miner, for the same reasons.

What do you dislike about this character?: Well, he is inherently flawed, as we all are. Being rather nouveaux-riche, he is worried about how others view him, and tries maybe too hard to please other people. Whilst he is proud of how far he has come, he is still insecure about being that poor boy from the frontier.

What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: As outlined in the backstory, he works hard, has a friendly professionalism to him, and can keep calm under pressure. He is extremely devoted to his work and NT.

 

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Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?: Until recently, I would have placed myself smack bang average, 5/10. I played uninteresting characters who had their moments. Recently, with the help of a few better RPers, I think I have really nuanced my characters, and turned them into people in average circumstances, with average, but interesting personalities. So, now, I would say 7/10.

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Extra notes: This is my first character who doesn’t have just average circumstances, and an average personality, so he should be very different, but fun to RP. I hope he isn’t too snowflakey.

Also, I’ve thought long and hard about this character, and I have a lot of things that I can’t wait to explain and reveal through RP.

Finally, any and all criticism and positive comments are welcomed. I wish to improve this character to make it the best it can be.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Guest

[sonicgotnuked]

Ayyyy, the person who played Jack mumbmeme. I recognize a couple of his characters and I think he will do pretty good with a whitelist. Join command for me buddy and make me proud. +1

[Scheveningen]

You have a habit of butting heads with others and stretching arguments out beyond what's considered appropriate, speaking from a non-antagonist point of view. Sometimes interactions with Humblin get a tad bit too silly, especially when witnessing it.

Another common thing I tend to see in the roundstart log-out report is that you often cryo at the start, and generally when you're not an antagonist.

Some other folks I've talked to have made the comment that you don't normally stick around in the round unless you're already an antagonist.

While not necessarily a by-and-large problem by itself, it does bring up a possibility of you readying as a head of staff and then suddenly being off to cryo which makes the slot you joined as unavailable for a little more than 15 minutes.

Unlike if you're a scientist where nobody will really mind if you depart and log out without warning, there's a different expectation when playing as a head of staff.

Communication is important. And I can't understate another thing that's also important, how you communicate. 100 methods to do something a certain way, most of them are wrong, that kind of deal. Using your headset and existing is one thing, but being able to avoid wasting unnecessary amounts of time when the situation demands critical thinking and good displays of effective problem solving, is a mark of a head of staff that can ensure their team gets work done.

It's one thing to be a boss, but only roleplaying sitting at a desk, yelling at your co-workers for internet ego points, ruthlessly demanding vague expectations of subordinates and pretending your not-real job is boring, is just a mediocre way to play as command. But it is another to be a leader that inspires their colleagues--not just subordinates-- to work together and compete with one another instead of against one another. To be compassionate. To work on addressing and making up for team failings rather than belittling and humiliating the team for those failures. To be able to recognize that the department is in fact, a team, and to make the point that everyone must endeavor to pull their weight for everyone as best as they can, and not divide and conquer the entire staff structure to "cull the weak". You get the gist.

Reply to any or all, I don't mind selective discussions, nor do I judge if minor stuff isn't given attention to.

[Superiorform]

You have a habit of butting heads with others and stretching arguments out beyond what's considered appropriate, speaking from a non-antagonist point of view. Sometimes interactions with Humblin get a tad bit too silly, especially when witnessing it.

 

Is this in an IC sense? I certainly see what you mean with interactions with Humblin getting absurd, and I fully agree. I have stopped playing him, realizing myself that he became a shitter. I am honestly not proud of him at all. I think that his bland, uninteresting personality is what made me play shit with him. I ask that you take a look at Jake, Daniel, and Lukas for what I believe to be good examples of my RP, I do believe I have fixed this.

 

Another common thing I tend to see in the roundstart log-out report is that you often cryo at the start, and generally when you're not an antagonist.

Some other folks I've talked to have made the comment that you don't normally stick around in the round unless you're already an antagonist.

While not necessarily a by-and-large problem by itself, it does bring up a possibility of you readying as a head of staff and then suddenly being off to cryo which makes the slot you joined as unavailable for a little more than 15 minutes.

Unlike if you're a scientist where nobody will really mind if you depart and log out without warning, there's a different expectation when playing as a head of staff.

 

Again, always with Humblin. After joining with my bland, shitty, uninteresting character I did RnD, realising that I had nothing more to do because I couldn't have fun RP with Humblin, I hit cryo. The same has not been happening with Lukas, because once I have done a lot of science jobs I can always have fun RPing with the other scientists in his patriarchal, joking way. So, yes, I agree with this statement to an extent, and I believe I have rectified this.

 

Communication is important. And I can't understate another thing that's also important, how you communicate. 100 methods to do something a certain way, most of them are wrong, that kind of deal. Using your headset and existing is one thing, but being able to avoid wasting unnecessary amounts of time when the situation demands critical thinking and good displays of effective problem solving, is a mark of a head of staff that can ensure their team gets work done.

It's one thing to be a boss, but only roleplaying sitting at a desk, yelling at your co-workers for internet ego points, ruthlessly demanding vague expectations of subordinates and pretending your not-real job is boring, is just a mediocre way to play as command. But it is another to be a leader that inspires their colleagues--not just subordinates-- to work together and compete with one another instead of against one another. To be compassionate. To work on addressing and making up for team failings rather than belittling and humiliating the team for those failures. To be able to recognize that the department is in fact, a team, and to make the point that everyone must endeavor to pull their weight for everyone as best as they can, and not divide and conquer the entire staff structure to "cull the weak". You get the gist.

 

Both of the characters I have in mind are of the personality to do as you have described, and I believe I have the personality and skills in real life that I can transfer over to those characters. Regardless, this can be proven by playing a head, and if I am shown to be incompetent, then so be it, the whitelist is justly stripped, and I remain in a position where no harm can be done.

I'll be honest, when I first saw your comment, my stomach dropped. But now, I am glad you brought these points up, because they are issues that most certainly need adressing, and I wanted them adressed. So I thank you for this long reply, and the effort put in.

[Chada1]

I would just like to take a minute to point out, as both the witness and the (once) recipient, how the character Jake Lawrenson, always goes beyond, both ICly and OOCly, to ensure Cadets have someone looking after them. In an extended round, Lawrenson went as far as requesting permission to train one on the holodeck, one that was clearly struggling with regulations and basic Security work. This is a very good thing. You might ask how is this a plus? It shows that they're willing to go further to help newer Players adjust to the server, that is something that is undeniably a good trait in a Head.

 

Character name: Alexander [i'll be honest, I haven't thought of a fitting second name yet, or how to properly connect it to his families history. By the time this application gets accepted, if it gets accepted, I will have thought of a second name, which are, in my opinion, quite important.]

Character age: 56

Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs): Born on a harsh frontier colony, Alexander didn’t have the greatest childhood. His great grandparents had moved to the frontier worlds looking for riches, and for generations, his family had not found them. His parents did not want Alexander to be just another generation in the cycle, and worked incredibly hard to get Alexander the money and opportunities to go out and make a better life for himself.

Alexander did so, and seeing the hard work his parents put in, studied extremely hard throughout secondary, and college. His parents had saved up a little nest egg, and with great sadness and little ceremony, Alex left his home, all that he had ever known, for a new, better life.

Alexander went to a respectable university in Tau Ceti, and studied such subjects as economics, and management. When he graduated, he managed to get hired by NT in a small role in internal affairs.

Taking a page from his parents’ book, Alex, too, worked extremely hard to rise through the ranks of the NanoTrasen conglomerate. He showed a strong aptitude for leadership, a friendly disposition, a polite professionalism, and a strong initiative, keeping calm under pressure.

All this, of course has had him noted by higher ups, and they continued to test his abilities, and eventually, had him managing a station externally. After this, they had him on station, speaking with people, and then, after 30 years of being with NanoTrasen, they offered him a captain position. After gaining experience in that role, they transferred him to the NSS Aurora.

Alexander got the life his parents wanted him to, but by this time, they have, of course, died of old age.

 

To your character, I will say it's not a SUPER huge deal that you don't have a last name, but it sends the opposite message you were trying to convey by not having it and applying, it seems like you viewed it as less important, even though I know you're being genuine about it being important.

I really like the concept of a Captain elevated from poor to rich, and thus being extremely self-conscious about that fact, I still reserve that in this background you should've played more on NT slowly testing his capabilities, since it's still very easy to miss that aspect of it. But I do like it, I hope you know that treating the Janitor respectfully and treating him as an equal are two entirely different things. You shouldn't do the latter by any means, but you could very easily be respectful and have a chat with any of your Staff if they weren't busy.

+1, My only complaint was on one character, Jack Humblin, but SuperiorForm already realised they were an issue, and I love them as a player and their other characters that i've interacted with, and trust them to stay cool in OOC and help new players. The only issue I could see, is if they had issues adapting to Command itself, but that can only be seen with time. So, i'd like to give it a chance.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Guest

[Superiorform]

I still reserve that in this background you should've played more on NT slowly testing his capabilities, since it's still very easy to miss that aspect of it.

 

Yes, you brought this up to me, and I considered changing it. At the time, I considered stretching out the "testing" over more text, but I felt as if that would needlessly extend the length of the backstory, and not be very interesting anyway. I do see how it could be a problem though, so I will rewrite that part to make it more clear.

Aside from that, thanks for taking the time to post this feedback on me. I had no idea that I had trained one of your cadets.

[MoondancerPony]

At first, I was a bit wary about this due to remembering how Humblin used to be, but seeing that you realise why his behaviour was kind of un-fun is actually sort of reassuring? After all, if you realise you make a mistake you probably won't do it again.

Jake Lawrenson, while my characters may not like him ICly, actually seems to be a rather good character. While lots of people tend to dislike him on the station, it can't be denied that he's pretty good at his job and tends to remain at least semi-serious.

Auntie Marian, the AI? I vaguely remember a little bit about this AI. I believe it was the overprotective, overbearing, and slightly too micromanaging AI, which I'm not too sure if it's a good thing.

However, the rest of your app seems fine, so it's a tentative +1 from me.

[Superiorform]

Auntie Marian, the AI? I vaguely remember a little bit about this AI. I believe it was the overprotective, overbearing, and slightly too micromanaging AI, which I'm not too sure if it's a good thing.

 

Auntie Marian was meant to be overbearing and overprotective, that is intentional, if you think it is over the top, I would be willing to take it down a notch. Could you elaborate on the micromanaging part? I'm not saying you're wrong, but could I have an example, because I'm not really sure what to do to fix this. I thought i normally kept out of the way, advising, and in general, the AI finds murders and blood and gore quite grisly, and tries to keep away from talking about it. I OOCly don't know engineering either, and I don't see how you can micromanage the other departments.

As for the comments on Humblin, 100% agree, For Jake, yeah, he isn't ICly liked after the Sol event, but people seem to think he's a cool dud OOCly.

Thank you for your feedback, I hope that I can prove you right in your justifiably tentative +1.

[MoondancerPony]

Ah, sorry, I may be confusing Auntie Marian with another maternal/overbearing AI. Then it's a solid +1 from me.

[The Stryker]

You waste my medical wheelchairs whenever you get slight brute damage.

The app is alright, so no issues there, but I'm worried this app will just be a way for all of your characters to suddenly elevate themselves into command positions. I haven't really seen any major issues with your characters, but I'm worried about you suddenly making a new captain, considering you're thrusting yourself into the highest command role in the land (with a character that isn't complete) without any prior experience.

I'm gonna give a +1, but I think you should start off with one of your characters who's been promoted, or a different role.

[Superiorform]

You waste my medical wheelchairs whenever you get slight brute damage.

The app is alright, so no issues there, but I'm worried this app will just be a way for all of your characters to suddenly elevate themselves into command positions. I haven't really seen any major issues with your characters, but I'm worried about you suddenly making a new captain, considering you're thrusting yourself into the highest command role in the land (with a character that isn't complete) without any prior experience.

I'm gonna give a +1, but I think you should start off with one of your characters who's been promoted, or a different role.

 

That's a good point, and I will definitely take it into account. I will play as an RD for a while before going into a captain position. As for characters being promoted, my scientist will become an RD, and later on, when I apply for unathi, I will make him an HoS (This won't be for a while, though.). I will also create my captain character, soon.

Thanks for the feedback!

EDIT: Due to Hollydale being ousted as a Hephaestus spy, he will no longer be becoming a research director. Poor guy.

Edited April 9, 2017 by Guest

[Scheveningen]

Alright, I'm somewhat convinced. +1, though I'd start with playing whomever as if you have experience and you're seeking an interim head of staff position for the sake of a test run for promotion.

[DatBerry]

i've known some of these characters for quite a while, and i gotta say they're ok.

if it's been the same as a few months ago, i don't think i would've known them enough to give feedback, but lately i've noticed superior trying to improve his characters, especially jake lawrenson, who now feels like an actual new officer (but for how long is he staying 18? is he immortal?)

i believe the ability to change (to the better) is one of the most important traits someone can have and i can +1 without worrying about shitheads of staffs.

[sebkillerDK]

Supiriorform seems like a pretty decent Rp'er to me. I've had some good RP and interactions with their chars, Mainly Jake Lawrenson. Most of the times i've been antag with them they seem to be cool enough to play with, OOC'ly they appear chill and talkative if asked. +1 from me, i think you wwould do nicely in a head role.

[Lualyrr]

I've probably missed the whole Jack Humblin thing. All I ever had were pleasant interactions with Superiorforms characters. Jake Lawrenson for example. Or his new science gal Cathryn . I'd say he plays good characters, with their quirks. They arent Mary Sues either. I am really sure that he'll do nicely in a headrole.

[Dragonspare]

After telling Superior "Yeah, i'm going to drop at your head app soon" around a dozen times in a few months, i'm finally here.

Well, i'll do a little review of it, just because it feels shallow for me to not, so lets get right into this:

 

Superiorform wrote:

they transferred him to the NSS Aurora.

You should be ashamed, this deserves a permaban and human whitelist strip.

Now seriously, Superior is an excellent player and my recent interactions with him (mostly by his new scientist, Cathryn Latham) have shown that he's an excellent RPer too, something that i enjoy more than actually playing the game. I can't say i dislike any of Superior's chacters from an OOC perspective, we always need Tiltons on station (our resident dick bartender), Lawrenson and Latham are really interesting characters without falling into the unique category.

All and all, good boy, would RP with again, 10/10. +1

PS: I didn't do a full-review because nothing of this was of my dislike/wrong in any sense.

[TishinaStalker]

Application accepted.