[Accepted] sdtwbaj Head of Staff app

[sdtwbaj]

BYOND key: sdtwbaj

Character names: Marcus Halloway, Harriet Ablian, Lexa Everheart, Lolly Vause, Dreidos

How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Around a year.

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: Because the Head of Staff roles sound like good roleplaying gigs, and I like me some roleplaying.

Why did you come to Aurora?: LRP was too chaotic, MRP was too furry, and HRP was sort of my cup of tea coming off of HL2RP and the like.

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

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 has a few different aspects to it that form the whole "roleplay package", the most important ones being character, action, and relation. Roleplay is about creating a convincing character, giving them a personality of their own and sort of throwing oneself into their role, giving them a whole persona to play with against the world and against other characters. When one has a convincing character, one needs to have the action to filter their personality through. Are they violent? Are they terrified of spiders? Maybe they get off to confrontation. These are the things one has to look at. When that's happening, the meat of the roleplay, and the thing that roleplay is truly about in a context of any game, is relation. Bouncing one's character off of others', creating social dynamics of their own, forging relationships. Digging into the role of one's character in the grand scheme of things, that's what roleplay is, and that's what roleplay is about. If one is having fun, helping others have fun, and getting a character they enjoy, then they have what roleplay is about.

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

Heads of Staff are almost antag-like in their role on the server. They're there to spear roleplay, and to act as a guiding hand for their department during the round. A head of staff needs to be there as a constant of sorts, and as a way to both mediate conflict and generate interesting encounters among the crew, and the station, while also getting the well oiled machine to start and stay running throughout the game. They're also a guide, expected to be reasonably versed in roleplay, and in the procedures and ins-and-outs of their departments. When a new player walks into medical and sees that shiny blue lab coat, and ID saying 'Chief Medical Officer', the first thing they probably think is 'hey, this person knows what's up.', so they observe and learn from that person. The Head of Staff has to be the good example, because of that exact situations. When a player is looking for the "norm", the trusted, experienced, and leading people are almost the default for them to look to.

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

Like I said above, I think it's the responsibilty of anything whitelisted to be setting a strong example for non-whitelisted folk, because by default they're the ones that people are going to look to for guidance.. Whatever you do is being looked at by others as what to be, or what to have as the norm. A greytiding whitelisted person means that clearly greytiding is what's normal, right? You're the person that one looks to for reassurance that they're on a good track, and a whitelisted person should really strive to be that good role model. Myself, personally, I will create the type of role model that I've looked at while I've played Aurora, and has created that bar for me. I would set a strong bar for roleplay, less so about 'no shenanigans' and more so about 'let's do this and do it well' type of thing. Keeping a well oiled machine, and all that.. As I also said above, you need to be able to keep the roleplay cycle going, and generate some level of activity on the station. Like an antag in that regard, but in a rather different way. I will be doing just that, by creating enticing little situations to get the crew to interact and to keep the flow rolling. Tiny mini-events, special gatherings, assignments, so forth.

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

Character name:: Sam Caputo

Character age: 39

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

Sam was born and raised in a fairly safe area of Mendel City in 2419. While he was attending school, he always got to tell his friends that his father was a superhero that fought crime. In the same vein, his home life was filled with the police stories of his father and his father's friends, heavily influencing him even into high school class choices, focusing more on both physical education and criminal justice courses. This inspiration followed him after his graduation in 2437. He ended up applying to the New Seoul Combat Training Centre, and was accepted after his alumni father endorsed him. His two year stint at the centre was difficult, grueling, and very much came close to pushing him out of the program. However, he stuck it through with his father's and fellow students' support, making several friends along the way. He finished with an Assoc. in Asset Protection in 2439. Despite this, the market was ripe with security officers at the time, and he ended up drifting between Tau Ceti and Sol doing small-time, rather low paying jobs to find his next place to live, and next meal to eat. This was his hardship-ridden life for four years. And then, in 2443, NanoTrasen picked him up.

NanoTrasen was well underway into it's internal security expansion, spearheaded further by Miranda's recent ascension to CEO in the same year. Sam was hired as part of a massive labor intake in Tau Ceti. and cross-trained in both wardening duties and standard officer duties, as NT wasn't too stable with single-job ISD employees at the time. Thus, he drifted between the two. His first deployment was the NSS Antlia, which was by far one of the dullest jobs he had ever been given the misfortune to work. The station had carefully vetted staff as well as a constant defensive grid by an NT Navy vessel, due to the xenobiological research aboard. This meant that Sam was a formality if nothing else, and was basically there as a show of force, and to be NanoTrasen's watchful eye. This position only lasted for around two years, Sam being moved to the NSS Exodus in 2445. This was an interesting experience for him, as his station was one of many that was the victim of a terrorist attack. The Exodus was sabotaged by a subverted AI, which, with the aid of it's cyborgs, blew a hole in the research and command sections of the station. The station was left adrift for two days as engineers worked to restore the ship's communications, a very trying two days for Sam, as he tried to support the survivors of the attack and maintain a semblance of order, with most of the crew huddled into the library, chapel, kitchen, and maintenance of the surrounding area. After the evacuation, Sam was given a formal acknowledgement on his record for his work aboard the station during the time of lost contact, and was returned to the NSS Exodus.

He spent another four years at the station, the event nagging in the back of his mind the entire way. By 2450, he requested a transfer to a ship, unable to keep walking through the station after the compounded thoughts and reflections of four years. He was transferred to the Canes Venatici, where most of his work consisted of filing paperwork for drug offenders that the ship picked up, or being part of the force to secure various less than savory vessels that let out distress signals, before medical staff could enter to retrieve the wounded. Due to the limited resources and shoddy command structure of the mobile ship, Sam found himself rather left to his own devices, or hoping other officers would cooperate with him in his efforts. These actions paid off, though, as the ship's captain grew rather fond of Sam, and one day approached him with the question of if he'd like a recommendation for subsidized education and a Head of Security position, the timing lining up with the opening of the brand new NSS Aurora. Sam, being the upward-thinking guy he is, graciously accepted the offer, and was educated in Tau Ceti. He graduated in 2458 with a bachelor degree in asset protection management, and was soon after transferred to the NSS Aurora as a Head of Security.

What do you like about this character?:

He's talkative, and likes to be friendly, but is also ready to be stern and to the point in his interactions.

What do you dislike about this character?:

He can go on, and on, and on, about a topic that died in conversation a few minutes ago.

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

He's been serving as both an Officer and a Warden for awhile now, and has the lay of the land.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?:

I would give it a firm 8/10. There's always areas I can improve upon, but I generally think that with 2 1/2 years of serious roleplay experience under my belt that I've learned a thing or two.

Edited October 10, 2017 by Guest

[AmoryBlaine]

Very fun Antag RP experience with them. I think that them interacting with their hostages enough to then taunt friends of said hostages is quite nice. I don't know if that's means they're Head material, but they do seem to RP well enough.

[Promanguy1223]

I like Marcus a lot, he is very trust worthy and easy to work with. I have played with Marcus many times, very engaging. I believe he could do it. +1

[Guest Complete Garbage]

I haven't had interaction with his other characters, but Holloway is a good sec dude. Wouldn't mind seeing him as HoS. +1

[DrHobo]

I already thought Officer Halloway was a HoS, surprised he's nae already. Great dude. +1

[ReadThisNamePlz]

This guy is one of my favorite people to RP with. I'm gonna have to give him a very strong +1, just because he is actually the best.

[Scheveningen]

Otherwise not impressed so far with Marcus as a subordinate. Round ID bQQ-dHFb as testimony.

1. During a short briefing that lasted like 10 minutes tops, Marcus was seen emoting falling asleep in the quick briefing in which I instruct my own staff to be outstanding to other personnel, be organized, communicative and generally work as a good team. This shows a general lack of interest in hearing what a head of staff has to say from a character. Whether goofy or not, it was extremely telling of the kind of standard Marcus sets as a follower. Leaders need to be able to listen or they won't be able to get anything done right.

2. Generally unprofessional over communications. This shows a distinct lack of focus and more of an attitude geared towards horsing around rather than looking like a respectable officer. Leaders represent more than just themselves, and a head of security stands to represent not only the security department but the corporate face as a whole.

3. Searched someone without a warrant on code green. I let this slide by itself because she was witnessed tweaking out and the lady needed help, but a warrant must be requested first because a respect for procedure is still necessary.

4. Near the tail end of the round, expressed a suspicious amount of knowledge about air alarm/vent modes despite not having skill configuration or records suggesting they know anything about technical atmospheric specifics like that. Attempted to instruct the AI on how to do that as a security officer.

5. Final note, instead of waiting for the airlocks connecting to the emergency shuttle to cycle, Marcus attempted to break windows to make way into the shuttle even though the final airlock would have stopped them from getting any further, and a breached shuttle window would've killed everyone in the general access shuttle wing. This shows a lack of foresight into potential consequences for actions. Not being able to see things like this is really, really bad for a candidate for leadership. Foresight is possibly the most important virtue for a management figure given how valued it is to have someone who thinks not just on their feet but plans accordingly for different outcomes.

A poor subordinate will inevitably be a bad leader.

Voting no. Not using my status as head whitelister to outright decline this, as I will defer that to the other two team members. [mention]Coalf[/mention][mention]Sharp[/mention]

[sdtwbaj]

Otherwise not impressed so far with Marcus as a subordinate. Round ID bQQ-dHFb as testimony.

1. During a short briefing that lasted like 10 minutes tops, Marcus was seen emoting falling asleep in the quick briefing in which I instruct my own staff to be outstanding to other personnel, be organized, communicative and generally work as a good team. This shows a general lack of interest in hearing what a head of staff has to say from a character. Whether goofy or not, it was extremely telling of the kind of standard Marcus sets as a follower. Leaders need to be able to listen or they won't be able to get anything done right.

2. Generally unprofessional over communications. This shows a distinct lack of focus and more of an attitude geared towards horsing around rather than looking like a respectable officer. Leaders represent more than just themselves, and a head of security stands to represent not only the security department but the corporate face as a whole.

3. Searched someone without a warrant on code green. I let this slide by itself because she was witnessed tweaking out and the lady needed help, but a warrant must be requested first because a respect for procedure is still necessary.

4. Near the tail end of the round, expressed a suspicious amount of knowledge about air alarm/vent modes despite not having skill configuration or records suggesting they know anything about technical atmospheric specifics like that. Attempted to instruct the AI on how to do that as a security officer.

5. Final note, instead of waiting for the airlocks connecting to the emergency shuttle to cycle, Marcus attempted to break windows to make way into the shuttle even though the final airlock would have stopped them from getting any further, and a breached shuttle window would've killed everyone in the general access shuttle wing. This shows a lack of foresight into potential consequences for actions. Not being able to see things like this is really, really bad for a candidate for leadership. Foresight is possibly the most important virtue for a management figure given how valued it is to have someone who thinks not just on their feet but plans accordingly for different outcomes.

A poor subordinate will inevitably be a bad leader.

Voting no. Not using my status as head whitelister to outright decline this, as I will defer that to the other two team members. @Coalf @Sharp

 

Just to post my own little thoughts to give the other side of some of this, and make it in the context of a head of staff situation.

1 - As far as briefings go, I frankly found that briefing to be one of the dullest. As a person who generally doesn't like briefings, and tends to go AFK or do something else while they're going on, I reflected that through Marcus--falling asleep because someone is droning at him, for ten minutes, at three in the morning, without any coffee. My campaign promise to anyone who reads these comments, is that if I ever do briefings, they'll be two minutes tops, or over the radio. I may not even do a briefing at all, as far as that goes.

2 - What some call unprofessional, others call sociable. Marcus, in his current getup, tends to be sociable, and can sometimes take to friendly ribbing on occasion. This is typically somewhat acceptable between people of somewhat equal stature, as Marcus and most of the station are now, but Marcus knows--and I know--that it's inappropriate in a manager-employee type relationship.

3 - Marcus witnessed the person passing pills around in the bar, and made this clear on the radio before the search, thereby a warrant wouldn't be required.

4 - An air alarm isn't a hard device to understand, since it isn't configuring specific pressures, it's tapping a button, with a self explanatory name and a description.

5 - The thought process was to punch out the window, get into the airlock, and open the doors from the controller, in the hope that the shuttle door would automatically open after the fact. Marcus wasn't about to breach the station, and this move was considered on the assumption that the doors were fully malfunctioning.

On a final note, Marcus isn't necessarily the Head of Staff character I'm going to use, it was just suggested to me that I apply with him, since it might be easier to write that part of the application around him, given that my character sections have been rather poor in the past.

Thanks for the feedback.

[MoondancerPony]

Given my interactions with Dreidos recently, as well as with Marcus and Harriet, I think sdtwbaj would be great for a Head of Staff position. They work well with others, can do their job, and roleplay well. Also, I remember roleplaying with some of their older characters from when they first joined, too, and that was a blast. Overall, +1 from me.

[Scheveningen]

1 - As far as briefings go, I frankly found that briefing to be one of the dullest. As a person who generally doesn't like briefings, and tends to go AFK or do something else while they're going on,

 

As far as I'm concerned, this reflects extremely badly on your stated intentions so far. A refusal to listen is, again, one of the worst things to see in subordinates but much worse to see in leaders.

 

2 - What some call unprofessional, others call sociable. Marcus, in his current getup, tends to be sociable, and can sometimes take to friendly ribbing on occasion. This is typically somewhat acceptable between people of somewhat equal stature, as Marcus and most of the station are now, but Marcus knows--and I know--that it's inappropriate in a manager-employee type relationship.

 

Could've fooled me, Marcus did not seem to respect that their own head of staff was expecting a professional attitude from them.

 

3 - Marcus witnessed the person passing pills around in the bar, and made this clear on the radio before the search, thereby a warrant wouldn't be required.

 

Then Marcus should've arrested them on the spot, not doing the search first.

 

4 - An air alarm isn't a hard device to understand, since it isn't configuring specific pressures, it's tapping a button, with a self explanatory name and a description.

 

No, it is a complex device to someone without engineering expertise, which Marcus has none of. He wouldn't even have ID access to that alarm. How would he know what those modes do? Computers and other devices such as the cloner pod need actual IC justification to understand how to use. Just because cloning is pressing two buttons doesn't mean it is that simple ICly.

 

5 - The thought process was to punch out the window, get into the airlock, and open the doors from the controller, in the hope that the shuttle door would automatically open after the fact. Marcus wasn't about to breach the station, and this move was considered on the assumption that the doors were fully malfunctioning.

 

The final airlock would not open just because the airlock controller forced open the first and second airlocks. The airlock controller only controls the first two sets of airlocks, and the southern umbilical docking arm did not complete its air cycling. Marcus broke a window the moment the airlocks finally opened up the shuttle to finalize docking procedures, effectively making a wasted effort and damaging station property. The airlocks being forced open would indefinitely delay the shuttle until the matter was fixed and if the shuttle was forced, the departures wing would be vented. Seeing this kind of escalation and lack of critical thinking to plan ahead is a really bad trait to see in a potential head of staff.

Retaining my opposition. Marcus is definitely not qualified to be a head of staff. You have the chance to edit your application and use another character for the role.

Note that if this is accepted and you say you plan to use a different character but play Marcus as HoS anyway, it is grounds for an immediate whitelist strip and other potential administrative action if it's an issue.

[sdtwbaj]

Changed the character.

[Faris]

Different name, same background story.

[sdtwbaj]

Wrote a new backstory, didn't take nearly as long as I anticipated, thanks for the tip Sharp.

[Scheveningen]

Alright, I'll accept this application.

Halloway is not to be a head of staff though without prior discussion with myself or the other two head whitelisters, this character should be used first.