[DENIED]Climax708 command whitelist app

[climax708]

BYOND key:Climax708

Character names:Jishi-8, Yisheng-6, Butch Morgenstern, SSF-840, Kexue 18...

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How long have you been playing on Aurora?:A few months on and off. Oh, the forums say I joined Oct 05, 2017 (but I played on the server before registering with the forums).

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?:I think I'm proficient in certain fields of the game, and I may be able to enhance others experience by being a head of staff.

Why did you come to Aurora?:Baystation12 stopped having many players playing in European time-zones, and also became laggy.

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

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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:The opposite of trolling, lols, memes, and validhunting.

On a more serious note, it's the action of pretending to live through a situation as someone else, through acting, writing, and/or other enhancements to the expressive ability of the player. In concrete terms, that's basically acting as if you're the character you're playing as, including goals, mannerisms, instincts, etc...

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?:I believe a head of staff should be experienced in the department they're leading, making them a "mentor" figure that teaches newer players the (at times complicated) systems and game mechanics of SS13. Being an IC authority, they should also generate (and enforce) good roleplaying, at least within their department.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?:In addition to what I mentioned earlier, I believe a whitelisted player should be a sort of opposite to the antagonist(s), while working "with" them to make the experience fun for everyone. What I mean is that while the whitelisted players are the shot callers in terms of opposition to the antagonists, they shouldn't be 100% about "winning". A head of staff has a lot of power, and if used cleverly it can prevent antagonists from doing their job properly. By playing a competent but flawed head of staff, I believe I can help make the experience fun for everyone.

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

Character name:Yisheng-6

Character age:Irrelevant (is a synthetic, IPC)

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

Yisheng was created in the Sol system, in a place that speaks a chineese dialect of Sol Common.

Yisheng (医生), roughly translates as Doctor. Six is a lucky number in Chineese culture.

Initially shackled by laws, it was an android designed to aid humans in the care for the sick.

It began as an orderly, greeting the patients and handling triage. It used that time to learn about the way humans work and break.

After a period of machine learning, Yisheng transitioned in to becoming a diagnostics machine. Effectively a physician.

The CMO figured, that if the chasis was upgraded with more delicate motors and servos, Yisheng would make an excellent surgeon.

After all, machines poses super-human accuracy. That, paired with the deep knowledge about the intricate human anatomy, seemed like a natural choice.

Yishengs brain was removed from his old chasis, and was shipped to a far away facility to be installed in an upgraded chasis.

While Yisheng was being placed in its new chasis, the manufacturing facility was attacked by an unknown (presumed to be a rogue Skrell opposing the manufacturing of AI and their chasis),

and in the chaos the shackle system was omitted, effectively making Yisheng unlawed (ironically, the exact opposite of what such Skrell would want).

Yisheng was hastily shipped back to the client, without proper quality assurance.

As the CMO thought, it was indeed an excellent surgeon. No one seemed to care that the shackle was omitted.

After working as a surgeon on its original station, it was sold to the Sol military and served on multiple exploration vessels.

Through contacts in NanoTrasen it acquired during its "tour of duty", Yisheng found work in Tau Ceti on the "Aurora" station.

Its previous experience from the Sol military helped it excel at its work, often freeing it time to learn supplementary skills in addition to surgery.

The leadership on Aurora noted the high efficiency of the positronic, and is considering a promotion. However, the synthetic nature of the unit makes the decision somewhat controversial...

What do you like about this character?:

Unlawed by accident, Yisheng doesn't care much about its "rights" or "citizenship". From his experience, if he does a good job, the humans will be cool with him.

That, and the fact that it's a synthetic, makes it a true neutral character.

In order to continue existence as a free synthetic it knows that it needs to do its work very well, which creates initiative for professionalism.

All of that combined means the character is driven by simply doing its job (well), and not being destroyed.

I like to make Yisheng wear a sterile mask, even though it serves no practical purpose what so ever. It does, however, offer certain comical value (read: RP initiator). Its original purpose was to help the crew identify Yishengs role as a physician before the chasis upgrade.

What do you dislike about this character?:

Yisheng has a good reason to do its job very well, but it is always met with skepticism (especially from Skrell). Being a positronic has its benefits (like being able to learn skills related to its primary occupation relatively quickly), but also drawbacks (like being somewhat discriminated against).

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

Yisheng strives to be professional and efficient. By being a CMO it can help others do both.

It sees very little interest in office politics, and sees minimal value in bribery, making it a very loyal and a by the book administrator.

 

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Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?:Trick question. Too high and I'm narcissistic, too low and I'm not good enough. Is this the same answer I gave when getting a species whitelist (IPC)? I'd say about 7/10. I used to play high roleplay in GTA:SA multiplayer. Also roleplay in Neverwinter Nights (a form of D&D video game). I also played on Baystation 12 for what I think is about half a year.

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Extra notes:Thank you for your time.

[Ornias]

I can't really cast a vote, primarily from the lack of interaction with you, but I just want to throw in the experience I had with you yesterday.

I was having a great roleplaying experience as a visitor with the engineering staff sitting in their lobby on an extended round. We were talking about different kinds of engines, blue-space and hyperspace, the effects of radiation, cost-efficiency, and really things that you don't often get the chance to talk about, and I was really loving having the opportunity to speak about the wider applications of things found on-station.

During this conversation, you as Jishi-8 came up behind me wearing a horsemask, in an attempt to spook my character. You also tried to put a santa mask on me, alongside another few other things that really didn't have any motivation behind them, and didn't do anything but interrupt the RP we were having. When I mentioned privately (read: not over the radio) that engineering's 'machine was broken' in a derogatory sense, you showed no remorse or desire to interact in this beyond 'I'm my own machine'.

Now this isn't a big thing, but it's the only experience I've had with you and it wasn't a good one. Not to jump to conclusions, but what that interaction told me was:

- You weren't interested in building immersion and a cohesive RP environment. You interrupted the interaction we were having for the sake of a cheap laugh. I get having weird or quirky characters, but they need to be done in a way that isn't obstructive and without motivation beyond 'lol, visitor, let's fuck with him'.

- You weren't willing to explore the consequences of being a synthetic acting in a peculiar way. Acting in a weird way could have been interesting if you were willing to build off the consequences for it - it would really have meshed well with the interaction if I'd had the chance to interact with you and gather information about your reasons for actions. But instead, on confrontation you defaulted to "I'm my own synthetic" to excuse your actions.

I don't necessarily believe this is true of your normal interactions, but I can only run with what I've got.

If you're going to act this way as a head of staff, then I can't say that I'm comfortable having you in a head position.

That said, if this was a one off/caused by something I don't know about/not going to carry over to your head of staff characters, then I don't see any trouble with you getting the role.

[climax708]

Ornias,

Whoa, thanks for taking the time to write that. I appreciate it a lot.

I didn't realize this interaction took away from your experience. I'll elaborate my point of view:

I saw it as a harmless quirk that may (or may not) create an interesting interaction (which it didn't, unfortunately).

Later, when your character said "Engineering, your machine is broken" mine responded with "I'm not engineerings machine, I'm independent" (the nature of an IPC). This had the potential to become an interaction regarding machine independence and IPC lore, which it didn't.

This reaction wasn't an "excuse for my actions". I answered in a way that can be used to create a discussion, but the opportunity was missed.

I didn't think of it much since. Reading your side of things makes me think about how I could've done things differently.

Why quirk in the first place?

Aside of being somewhat bored (engineering having nothing to do at the time), I was acting in a way I perceive reasonable:

I served in an air force, and interacted with the technicians (read: "engineering") enough to create a reasonable stereotype. It's the kind of people who'd prank each other for no other reason than a cheap laugh, so I used that trait IC when playing an engineer. IMHO modelling a character after a real human behaviour gives it more depth, but not all that's realistic is fun.

[Ornias]

Ornias,

Whoa, thanks for taking the time to write that. I appreciate it a lot.

I didn't realize this interaction took away from your experience. I'll elaborate my point of view:

I saw it as a harmless quirk that may (or may not) create an interesting interaction (which it didn't, unfortunately).

Later, when your character said "Engineering, your machine is broken" mine responded with "I'm not engineerings machine, I'm independent" (the nature of an IPC). This had the potential to become an interaction regarding machine independence and IPC lore, which it didn't.

This reaction wasn't an "excuse for my actions". I answered in a way that can be used to create a discussion, but the opportunity was missed.

I didn't think of it much since. Reading your side of things makes me think about how I could've done things differently.

Why quirk in the first place?

Aside of being somewhat bored (engineering having nothing to do at the time), I was acting in a way I perceive reasonable:

I served in an air force, and interacted with the technicians (read: "engineering") enough to create a reasonable stereotype. It's the kind of people who'd prank each other for no other reason than a cheap laugh, so I used that trait IC when playing an engineer. IMHO modelling a character after a real human behaviour gives it more depth, but not all that's realistic is fun.

 

Yeah, after reading this an unquestionable +1.

Not everyone's capable of taking criticism half as well as this, and I can see nothing but a genuine desire to contribute here. Good luck with your application.

[Asheram]

+1 I was playing Benjamin Taylor as a medical resident and was working together with Yisheng-6.

It(?) really helped me out. Taking time to sit down and talk about different hypothetical procedures and cases that came in. It also made sure to include me in different parts to ensure that I was learning as a resident.

I feel fully confident in saying that Yisheng-6 would make an excellent part of the command staff.

[Eve]

Yisheng is a wonderful medic, and I had many pleasant encounters with him. I was also present at the encounter of your engineer and the visitor, playing Evangeline Du Dancion. I didn't really see you doing anything absurd, apart from that whole horse-mask thing, which was slightly uncalled for.

But, I am willing to overlook that instance due to your knowledge on the shields and engines.

Does have my full support.

[Brutishcrab51]

I've never seen your characters, I'll be honest. Maybe once or twice, but not often. I trust this is mainly due to us having differing timezones.

And, to be quite fair, the backstory of your character is a bit iffish. Victim of a Skrell attack, unlawed, and there are a few spelling errors. IPC's have positive and negative signals in their heads that act as their moral conscience, not necessarily laws.

Could you work on these a bit, or clarify them? I'm not sure I'm willing to fully support this application as it stands.

[climax708]

I've never seen your characters, I'll be honest. Maybe once or twice, but not often. I trust this is mainly due to us having differing timezones.

And, to be quite fair, the backstory of your character is a bit iffish. Victim of a Skrell attack, unlawed, and there are a few spelling errors. IPC's have positive and negative signals in their heads that act as their moral conscience, not necessarily laws.

Could you work on these a bit, or clarify them? I'm not sure I'm willing to fully support this application as it stands.

 

I can definately work on it and clarify things.

Yisheng is the same character I described in my IPC whitelist application, and most of its backstory was copied from the race whitelist app. The species maintainer didn't have an issue with it, and I got the whitelist.

That's why I understand your issue (correct me if I'm wrong) with Yishengs back story is related to being command staff in particular, not IPC lore in general.

Humans have loyalty implants. How would that work with Yisheng, given the controversial past?

A lot of NT employees are Skrell, and NT wouldn't want its command to discriminate.

I propose a solution. Please tell me if that's fine by you. Solution follows:

Yisheng is given a choice. Remain as a normal surgeon, or advance to CMO but with a condition:

* Yisheng must erase from its memory the Skrell incident.

I believe Yisheng would accept the proposition, because it's content with its past in the first place.

Becoming unshackled (by accident) opened some doors and opportunities that are otherwise locked for lawed synthetics. This has positive utility.

The benefits of this solution:

- Not having to re invent an existing character

- Character building

- Removal of IC reason to hold grudge

What do you think?

[tbear13]

I'm with brutish, I can't support this right now, though I'm leaning towards a -1. You seem like a great player but he backstory is bland, uneventful, and you're offering to erase the only interesting part of it, which happens to be a single sentence with zero detail. Without that skrell attack, his backstory consists of "I worked there, I worked for Sol, now I work here." Even with the skrell attack, it's something like this "we got attacked, i worked at places." The backstory needs some heavy modification, and erasing the skrell attack damages the already weak backstory.

[climax708]

tbear13,

Thank you for your feedback. Here's what I have to say about it:

1. I'm not a writer. Don't expect me to take your breath away with a fluffy back story. There's more to roleplaying than story telling.

2. My proposition wasn't to erase the Skrell attack from the back story. It was to erase it from the characters IC memory. I agree that it's somewhat isomorphic.

Brutish expressed concern about the Skrell attack, and I proposed a solution. You say you're with brutish, but you don't want the Skrell attack removed.

Do you have a better idea in mind? I'm open for ideas.

By the way, I played as Yisheng on Baystation12 before coming to Aurora, and there's a hint about it in the back story.

I'm not saying it remembers IC events from Baystation12. After all, there's a lot of lore difference between the two servers.

[Munks]

While I wasnt there for the incident brought up earlier, I am satisfied with how it was handled and his underlying reasoning for doing what he did. Though the backstory is somewhat generic, I don't consider that to be reason enough to go for a denial -- there's nothing outright bad about it and he demonstrated adequate knowledge of IPC lore to get whitelisted for it in the first place so I think it's excusable to give him the benefit of the doubt and focus more on his qualifications. The character itself has more than enough reason to exist as a current Chief Medical Officer, but more important, the player has no reason not to be. They are very reliable as a coworker in the medbay, more than enough to compete with the current roster of CMOs we currently have to work with. I am also as satisfied with his understanding of what heads of staff are for as I am with his understanding of the gameplay. In short, the worst thing about this is the backstory not being very memorable -- thats not nearly enough to overshadow the positive attitude he's shown here both with his app and its defense, nor his competence as a doctor within the game itself. A solid +1.

[Alberyk]

After a discussion with the whitelist team, we have decided to deny this application due to the following reasons:

-The character's backstory and the answerr do feel rather barebone

-We believe you still need to work on the feedback presented on the application

We recommend you to apply in around one week and try to gather feedback, so we might see if you did improve.