8BitBento Interview

FlamingoYesterday at 12:12 PM
Anyways, let's go ahead and get started. Can you start by stating your ckey for me?

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:13 PM
8BitBento

FlamingoYesterday at 12:14 PM
Great! The interview will be split into two parts. The first part will be a series of "scenarios" that you may encounter on-server. Think of it as a roleplaying exercise and do your best to solve them. The second part will be a series of personal questions that pertain more to you as a player.

The following list is the moderator powers. This is not an exhaustive list, but covers most of the commonly used powers and such that you’ll use, and need for this interview:

1. The ability to use adminghost (aghost), which works exactly like the ghost command, but lets you re-enter your body afterwards. This is mainly used to investigate issues in the round.

2. Access to ingame logs (attack logs, ALL LOOC, ALL deadchat logs, ALL warning and admin logs such as people opening valves or welderbombing).

3. The ability to adminpm (bwoink) people for a chat.

4. The ability to place varying degrees of punishment. Kicks boot a player from the server with an optional message. They are not used often except to get people's attention. Notes are staff only messages on a player’s’ account. Warnings are similar but require the recipient to acknowledge it, and they can see what it was for. Bans are time based (or permanent), and can be from the server or specific jobs. People can see why they were banned. You can also view a record of all players past notes, bans, and warnings.

5. Access to moderator only chat (msay) for communication, as well as access to other chats like AntagOOC and DeadChat (as stated earlier).

6. The ability to WIND players, freezing them from all actions.


Any questions about the powers or interview process before we begin?

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:16 PM
I think they all make sense. WIND just locks them from doing anything in game yeah?

FlamingoYesterday at 12:16 PM
Correct. It will floor them and prevent them from doing anything. Useful for stopping confirmed grief.

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:16 PM
Gotcha.
Alright yeah I think I'm good on the powers then.

FlamingoYesterday at 12:18 PM
Great. If you have any questions you can always stop me and ask as well. But for now, we'll move onto the first question.

You are sitting in the bar, doing some casual roleplay with the bartender when you notice an announcement come over the radio:

"Sleepy Joe Biden, Engineering Apprentice, has awoken from cryogenic revival."

What do you do?

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:22 PM
Well... seems an odd choice of name, to put it well, so I would first, if need be, excuse myself from the rp, maybe play out that the character focused in on their PDA, or stepped away to the washroom.

Then, msay any other moderators that may be on to confirm and get an idea of how to treat it. Alongside this I would adminpm them and mention about the name. Based on their reactions and the judgement of another moderator, if available, I would offer them a chance to go back into cryo to change it to something more believable for the setting, and not... well..... "an obvious troll" name. After that I'd give a respawn if possible to get them back into the round and get them settled in.
"Sleepy Joe Biden" doesn't really get to swing as a character name either way though.

FlamingoYesterday at 12:25 PM
You shoot them a message, but instead of responding, they appear to just be wandering around, opening emergency lockers and throwing things about. How do you proceed?

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:30 PM
Again, if I'm involved in any rp I would excuse myself in character as best I can, get somewhere more private as quickly as possible, then at this point adminghost and keep an eye on them, and shoot another message, giving a warning about unrealistic actions, such as throwing around the emergency equipment, and ignoring an adminpm.

If the issue still continues to "escalate" I would wind them, and issue up a warning for the behaviour. If it still is an issue of consistent bad behaviour, ignorance, and verging on the point of griefing or messing up an experience, the best course of action I feel would be to pull them from the round.

I would not jump to a ban or extreme action, and of course would try to deliberate as best I can with at least one other mod/admin on a course of action. But someone ignoring a staff member and causing issues for a round would need to be dealt with, and pulling them from the round if it continues to escalate to me seems the best way to stop the issue before it reaches into an ongoing scenario.
Once I had them out of the round and out of play, I would still try and sit and communicate with them on the issues that happened, and try and reach an understanding with them. Help facilitate a new, possibly confused Apprentice, but still explain to them the severity of potentially ruining a round for those involved.
For clarification, the winding and escalation from that point is hinged on their reaction to the warning in that moment.
If that makes sense.

FlamingoYesterday at 12:33 PM
That makes sense. You end up winding them, as they are not responding to your messages, at which point they reply: "im tying to fvcking rp her shitmin? wtf? let me go!", as well as saying "shitmin wont let me rp" in OOC.

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:35 PM
Pull them from the round, and explain again directly the issues that came up. By this point a warning is definitely happening. I'd make note of the comments made, the actions in round, the name, and the ignorance of messages in the moment.

I'd let them know about the warning, as we said before for their acknowledgement that it's happened and why. All the while with this, I would try and keep those I'm in contact with in msay updated on the incident. If this is the reaction I got here, then it may spread to other staff, and it's a note that would need to be made of the attitude.

FlamingoYesterday at 12:37 PM
They don't seem too interested in staying around, sending an OOC message that reads "server sux. dumb and full of shitmins", before sending a "fuck you" over adminPM and disconnecting. Would you like to do anything else?

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:38 PM
(Apologies, I'm not asking to interrupt it or anything but do we have a timeframe on how long this would last? Plans from earlier in the day got pushed back. Have to pick up a check and try and get it cashed.)

FlamingoYesterday at 12:38 PM
The interview generally lasts anywhere from an hour to two hours, depending on how fast the questions go. We can always postpone for a bit if you need to run an important errand or some such.

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:39 PM
I think at that point, if that's the attitude to receiving disciplinary action, then run it past another staff member, preferably an admin, about putting a ban on that player. If someone responds that way to being called out on a rulebreak, then they're not the sort of person we want in the community to begin with.
It may take close to 20 minutes. I'd hate to hold us up that long.

FlamingoYesterday at 12:40 PM
It's no problem. I will be around for about... the next 7 hours or so, if you need to run that errand now.

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:40 PM
Mmm.. I think I'd have to. Sorry! Is it really no issue?
We can pick up as soon as I get back.

FlamingoYesterday at 12:41 PM
Yeah it's absolutely fine don't worry. Just shoot me a message when you return and we can pick up where we left off.

8BitBentoYesterday at 12:41 PM
Gotcha. Thank you.

FlamingoYesterday at 12:41 PM
No problem. See you when you return.
8BitBentoYesterday at 2:19 PM
alright.
I am returned.

FlamingoYesterday at 2:23 PM
Welcome back. I am good to continue whenever if you need some time to settle in.

8BitBentoYesterday at 2:23 PM
I'm good now if you like.

FlamingoYesterday at 2:28 PM
Great. We can just continue right where we left off then. We'll move to the second question.

You are sitting AFK in the lobby, modifying one of your characters, when suddenly you see a flood of attack logs. A quick cursory check indicates that two people are killing each other, and neither one of them are antagonists. You observe and jump over to them, only to see a cargo tech and an engineer going at it. The cargo tech is using a crowbar on the engineer, and the engineer is stabbing with a butterfly knife. Both of them are extremely hurt. How do you proceed?

8BitBentoYesterday at 2:33 PM
Oooh boy. I'd try and see a bit more of what the incident was. Try and gather up as much info as quickly as I could. Maybe check logs for any kind of LOOC or OOC interactions between them, and then check to see if they had any logs on their characters/profiles for warning of griefing or violence in the past. If there was no info other than them fighting, I would open up comms to both of them with adminpm, or perhaps even LOOC if they were the only ones there and the only ones involved in the scenario, to try and get some information.

If it was an IC escalation, and the chat proves as much, then I would step back. If it's something that escalated in character and it's isolated to an in-character fight with solid reasoning, then let it stay there. It's story development for them, with repercussions that their stories will build from.

If it was a spur of the moment from either player, wind them, try and patch the situation up as best I can (not sure if there are admin commands to keep someone from dying) and try and get a reasoning from the player who initiated the conflict. Depending on their reasonings, it may go from a 'verbal' warning for uncalled-for violence ICly, to pulling them from the round and going over it more OOCly.
The issue here is that without seeing any kind of chat log, it can be hard to come to a decision quickly, but rushing it may be jumping the gun or messing up a legitimate scenario.
If it was something that escalated IC then it can stay IC, if it had OOC leak-in of emotion or it was griefing/unrealistic reasoning/uncalled for THEN punishment should be given accordingly to the player causing the infraction.

FlamingoYesterday at 2:38 PM
Alrighty, for the sake of this scenario, when you contact them, they stop fighting for a little bit and give the stories as follows:

Cargo Tech - "This guy came in and started insulting me so I pushed him over. Then he hit me and I hit back. I was afraid I was gonna die so I started using my crowbar."

Engineer - "My character really hates people from Sol since they keep invading Biesel, so I called him some names and he pushed me. I punched him and he hit me back so we started fighting. He pulled out a crowbar and I got scared so I started using my butterfly knife."

The logs seem to back this up, but unfortunately you don't have access to anything other than their attack logs so you can't confirm the rest. Regardless, they both seem to be in a state where they will end up dead at some point if they don't get medical attention quickly. How would you proceed?

8BitBentoYesterday at 2:38 PM
Do moderators have a command to allow healing or 'undoing' of damage?

FlamingoYesterday at 2:39 PM
Unfortunately not. But an admin could assist if the situation calls for OOC healing.

8BitBentoYesterday at 2:45 PM
The issue here is that even WITH logs to corroborate that.. it's a bit rough to see from the Cargo Tech's side. I think in this scenario I would wind it, and quickly go through msay (or whatever the fastest way to get an admin would be) to try and explain what was happening, get a second opinion, and if needed admin help.

As you mentioned it's tricky due to the injuries already present, so it may have to be a kind of "Go to Medbay as best you can" or fix the injuries however we can. As I mentioned it's rough with that kind of explanation. The Engineer's side makes more sense, especially if this was during the current event.

The big issue though, is that pushing someone just for calling them a name doesn't really.... match the violence escalation correctly. A name -> Push -> Crowbar to inflict serious harm is a big jump. I think in this situation, given the basis of the altercation, I might issue out a warning to both to try and play out that tension a bit more BEFORE resorting to violence, and to try and keep the violence at an 'understandable' level, if that makes sense. If you fight to that level, it should escalate HARD. A solarian is on the station for a reason, especially with a job, and if neither are antagging then it's even more unrealistic to just start swinging even after a namecall or light shove.

That said, the basis to me, with the evidence I have, is enough to give a hard warning about making it more believable and RP it better in the future.

"Engi, if you hate solarians, try to dig more into why, and build that tension up over time, to the point that a fight like this is only a 'breaking point' situation, not the immediate response.
Tech, someone insulting you shouldn't be grounds to push them. And being pushed and punched once isn't grounds to think you're going to die, it would have to be more. Try and either keep a level head, or make the fight make sense in it's reasoning."
But without any harder evidence, I wouldn't be comfortable pushing past the point of a warning, and maybe trying to get them help to heal them/keep them from dying.
Lacking solid evidence, and with that lax of a testimony from them, is a tricky situation to try and handle.

FlamingoYesterday at 2:48 PM
Alrighty. Anything else you'd like to do for this one?

8BitBentoYesterday at 2:49 PM
Mmm... Other than get them stabilized and sorted out as far as the understanding to play it out better in the future, I may ask for more info before setting them loose. Like.. once the immediate danger of death is no longer an issue.

FlamingoYesterday at 2:51 PM
The cargo tech would clarify that it was more that he was being insulted so he shoved him, and then the guy punched him back. They started fighting for a while with fists before he used a crowbar.
But other than that, that's about all of the information you would be able to glean.

8BitBentoYesterday at 2:53 PM
Hmm... I think I would still settle into the warning of making it a believable situation, but by this point it would be more along the lines of "a fist fight isn't normally going to end in your death. One of you would go unconscious before you outright died, but you would definitely need the medbay. In the future, if an IC issue escalated into a fistfight, if there is a real fear of death, de-escalate the situation, rather than resorting to larger weaponry, because your opponent will answer in kind, and that's just an even greater risk of death."
So, the warning would shift, but I don't know that it would need to go farther than that. From what I can glean there it was an IC issue that escalated, and simply took the wrong last step.
Or the right one, it's hard to know what his intentions were.

FlamingoYesterday at 2:58 PM
Cool. Let's move onto the next one then.

You're alone on server during a changeling round, when suddenly you see a quick flood of attack logs by the ling armblading someone, and an ahelp comes in from a security officer.

"WTF I JUST GOT GANKED?!"
Jumping over, you'd see the changeling in maintenance with a dead body below him, and a headless officer nearby.

8BitBentoYesterday at 2:58 PM
like, two dead bodies?
and the ling?

FlamingoYesterday at 2:58 PM
Yep.

8BitBentoYesterday at 2:59 PM
I'd ask the officer for more info, and adminpm the ling to try and get their side of it as well. Nothing of outright stopping the scenario yet, more trying to gather info.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:00 PM
Officer - "I WAS WALKING THROUGH MAINTENANCE AND HE JUST KILLS ME WITHOUT A WORD!"

Ling - "I was absorbing this guy and the officer walked in. I had to kill him before he reported my position. I haven't been discovered yet."
8BitBentoYesterday at 3:03 PM
I'd ask the officer to bring it back a notch, no use for all caps or the frantic response.

Officer - "Was there any reason to be walking through maintenance? It's not a normal patrol zone for officers by any stretch, and in the event where you're already looking for a ling it may not be an insanely odd response to be attacked on sight.

Ling - "Just walked up in? Was there any interaction before attacking him?"

FlamingoYesterday at 3:06 PM
Officer - "I had an engineer make me a guest pass. I wanted to look for any contraband."

Ling - "Yes. I did not expect him, and I was midway through absorbing. I couldn't afford to let him radio back what was going on and ruin my identities, so I had to kill him before he did."

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:07 PM
Hoo boy. And you said I was alone yeah? As in the only staff?

FlamingoYesterday at 3:07 PM
Yup.

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:14 PM
Officer - "Thank you. Now, was there any reason that brought up wanting to look for contraband through maintenance? While I can understand wanting to make sure there is nothing on station that could bring harm, it doesn't make much sense to look through the maintenance tunnels on a hunch. Typically that decision would be driven by some kind of reasoning. A guest pass from the Engineer also seems odd. Why would you not go to your higher up if you had a hunch about contraband in the tunnels?"

Ling - "While I understand the logic of that decision, from his end it does look a bit rough, and your first priority when someone suddenly appears should be to bolt and get away. If you're already transformed in a dark tunnel, the situation will escalate into fear of this unknown source. You might be able to even play it up more of hiding and sewing more seeds of fear. Attacking without any sort of interaction, while you logic is sound, is still a case of "ganking". Have some sort of interaction if you have to kill the officer.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:16 PM
Officer - "People always get contraband from the tunnels so I am just making the station safer. Why does it matter he ganked ME"

Ling - "So I should just let him radio back who I am and that I killed someone?"

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:22 PM
Officer - "They do, I'm not denying that. But your character would need some kind of evidence or word of issues in the tunnels to spur you wanting to go spelunking for contraband. The usual points are to patrol and keep the station safe in the halls until an issue presents itself. The issue here is, while yes you did get ganked, it's odd to just roam the tunnels without knowing what you might be looking for, or without any solid reason past a hunch. Contraband is a wide term, you need to have a solid reason if your goal is to find something in here, and it should be character driven, not "everyone gets contraband in the tunnels". They do, but your Officer might not know that."

Ling - "No. You should play up the scenario. Your point as an antag is to play up the villain of a round. You don't have to win the fight and kill everyone, you have to make it a fun experience and have some point of conflict for that round. You could've played it up that you found the body and needed to get them help, then if the Officer approached more you could turn on them and begin an altercation reasonably, rather than ganking. The best option, would have been to flee when you saw their light. I understand wanting to absorb them, and being halfway through it. But being interrupted and having that first seed of fear sewn for the round is better than just ganking someone. It leaves a lot to be desired from that encounter."
Ahh to add in as well, by this point I would have winded the Ling.
while it's rough on both sides, a gank with no interaction is still rough

FlamingoYesterday at 3:28 PM
Officer - "Ugh fine I will come up with a better reason next time."

Ling - "I disagree and will be making a staff complaint then. It's ridiculous that he can just decide to randomly check tunnels with not a care in the world and even if he walks in on a literal murder I have to try and give him all the leeway in the world and risk getting arrested half an hour in."

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:32 PM
Officer - "Thank you. It's a rough thing to have that knowledge of what can happen and refrain from using it. We all want a great story, and sometimes what helps that is not being where you need to be to find a good piece of evidence."

Ling - "I'm sorry to hear that, but a murder with no interaction is a rulebreak. A security officer can be in the tunnels with a reason, and I've spoken with him about it. An unrelated reason happened to bring you two together. But the fact is you're not here to win every fight. That isn't your goal as an antag. As I said your point is to help drive the narrative of this round, and as a Ling one of your biggest tools for that is fear. Sometimes just leaving the body to be found is all you need to spiral the whole station out of control and set up more opportunities for kills. But at the bottom line turning on him and killing him for fear of being found out is not a valid reason. I get the logic, and acting that way would make sense IC, but it's still a rule you have to follow."

FlamingoYesterday at 3:33 PM
Ling - "Alright that is fine. I still disagree. I will just submit my complaint."

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:34 PM
Ling - "And that's perfectly fine. At the end of the day we all want a good story, I hope we can get past this now and get to the great moments."
Now. Do warnings stay indefinitely until someone takes it down?
Ahh disregard.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:35 PM
They expire after 3 months (or 4 for a severe warning), but they remain in the notes indefinitely.

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:37 PM
Gotcha. I think I would set a note, not a warning, seeing as the issue was handled and a verbal was given, and just describe in the note the incident that happened and how it was handled.

From here though is tricky. They both understand well enough what's happened, even if the ling is adamant that they were in the right there. And I, being alone, wouldn't have any power to reset the Officer. I think I would unwind the ling, but still adminghost along just to sort of, keep an eye on them, and keep closer focus for any further incidents.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:38 PM
Sounds good to me. Is there anything else you'd like to do with this one?

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:38 PM
It's less so from the mindset of "I need to watch this troublemaker" and more that gut feeling of "If they broke one rule and felt that it wasn't a breech they may do it again."
Past that, as sad as I am that the Officer player died, no.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:39 PM
He can always respawn after 20 minutes and rejoin the round as a different character.

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:39 PM
Mmm. The thought was to offer that up immediately, but I don't think Mods have that power.
and the 20 minute break may be good to cool down and let emotions filter out.
I think adminghosting the ling would be good as well, because I feel any other issues that DID come up, from my experience anyway, would be centered around their scenarios.
Either from that player or another.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:40 PM
They do not have access to that power unfortunately. Sounds good. Shall we move to the next one then?
8BitBentoYesterday at 3:40 PM
Sure!
These are definitely tricky.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:41 PM
Hehe.

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:41 PM
Ominous.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:43 PM
Alrighty, for this next one, you are in-game in the medbay lobby, talking to a front desk person, when a mech walks in and guns you down. What do you do?

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:45 PM
as quickly as I can, wind the mech, then mention through LOOC that (if we're able to) our scenario is paused, or that I'd like for it to be.

From there, I'd call through msay for another staff member to come over, and then adminpm the Mech player to try and ask why they felt that course of action was..... necessary? Reasonable? A good idea in any regard.
The point of calling in the second staff member would be to have that middleman, and to get an unbiased point of what had happened. Perhaps another mod that had been 'on overwatch' as it were, and could either explain a bit more, or handle it if I felt I wasn't well enough fit in that moment.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:46 PM
He responds - "I am a roboticist and an antagonist, so I built the mech."

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:47 PM
"But what reason is there to run the mech through the halls, and even more so to just gun someone down. There needs to be interaction, and your point as an antag is to build up a story and make things tense, cause panic. Especially with a mech, you should be causing worry and unrest, not just flexing that you have that power and ganking people."

FlamingoYesterday at 3:48 PM
He responds - "That is the worry and unrest though. No one cares about a mech until you show you can do something with it. I shot that guy cause now everyone around knows what's up and is worried they are next."

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:49 PM
"No. The unrest is that there's an armed mech for no reason. Gunning someone down without an interaction isn't the proper way to roleplay that situation, and the guy you shot was me. At this point, I'm trying to get more information on your mindset. Just killing someone is a breech in the rules, and the point of the antag role is to setup a story for that round. You're not here to just kill everyone, or to win every encounter, you're here to drive a narrative."

FlamingoYesterday at 3:51 PM
He responds - "Yeah but they didn't even care when I was walking around with the mech until I shot someone. Then everyone ran away and is scared. The story is that I hate my work and coworkers so I will shoot them and demand that command gives me money so I can escape on a pod."

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:55 PM
"Right, so threaten to shoot someone, and use the mech you're in as the muscle to show that you can back up that claim. The main issue here is that gunning someone down with no interaction whatsoever is breaking a major rule. You're a roboticist, building a mech isn't an unusual thing. Once they noticed it's armed with weaponry, then the unrest starts, once you kill someone, real panic sets in. But that kill needs to be accompanied with the proper roleplay."

At this point, as I mentioned I would have a second staff member there to mediate, but by this level I would say we're at a written warning. I would try and relay back what I could to the other staff.

My big reasoning for that (getting another mod/admin) is that any situation I'm involved in, if someone else can handle it, I'd like them to to avoid any chance of bias or issue. If it's some kind of OOC issue being pointed at me, having a second head to mediate or handle the talks can help to keep things calmer, and in general it helps to solidify evidence. Being the target of an issue, and having been in game, could only get me so much information.

FlamingoYesterday at 3:57 PM
He responds - "Ok so what do I do when they don't go along with it though? Can I shoot them then?"

8BitBentoYesterday at 3:59 PM
"No. You shouldn't be shooting people as a catalyst for rp or to start a scenario. Make threats, flex that power you have rather than outright use it, or better yet, take a hostage. You're in an armed mech, a hostage can't reasonably tell you no. And that way, you haven't killed anyone, it sets very real panic amongst the crew, you have leverage to get what you want, and it helps that goal of hating your job and wanting to leave with money. That said, properly rp taking a hostage. If you want to, explain why you're doing it within reason, make threats and then explain later if you need, but make it believable for what you want to achieve, and within the rules."
"Sometimes just having the gun can kickstart what you want more than using it."

FlamingoYesterday at 4:00 PM
He responds - "Ok but if they just turn and run away I can shoot them right? That is what I am asking. If they refuse to listen to me. Cuz I have seen that happen."

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:02 PM
"I believe it has, but still no. You need to avoid just shooting someone. If you need, to make the threat that you'll shoot them if they don't comply. If they still don't shoot the wall near them, or the ground between you both. As I said, flex that power, but don't outright kill them. If you just jump to killing them when things don't go your way, your story won't play out how you want it to. And it ruins the experience for everyone, including yourself."

FlamingoYesterday at 4:05 PM
He responds - "If they still don't comply I can shoot them? I am confused can I NEVER shoot them?"

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:08 PM
"I'm sorry for any confusion. You can escalate a situation to violence. If you threaten them with gunfire and give clear commands that you would shoot them, and they still blatantly ignore you or wave you off as being not a threat, then shoot them. I would still recommend only wounding them. Your point there is to show them you mean business, and aren't to be taken lightly. You're able to escalate a scenario to a point of violence IF it's believable and is roleplayed correctly."

FlamingoYesterday at 4:11 PM
He responds - "Ok I think I understand. Sorry."

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:12 PM
"That's alright. I appreciate the understanding, If you have any more questions feel free to reach out to us. You're always welcome to ahelp before going into a round or if you want some help with a plan. We just want to make sure we have the best round possible, for everyone including our antags."
From there. As far as I'm concerned, that's fine. I'll take the death, and if everyone that was with me is in agreement we could call it a legit point of the round, and carry on. From there I would adminghost, and same as with the ling, follow along to keep an eye on any scenarios that unfold.

FlamingoYesterday at 4:13 PM
Alright, sounds good. Is there anything else you'd like to do for this one?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:14 PM
I would make a note of the incident, and let msay know what my verdict on it was. Other than that no.

FlamingoYesterday at 4:15 PM
Cool. Let's move on to the second portion of the interview then. We'll start with this one:

Do you ever feel it is acceptable for a non-antagonist to murder another non-antagonist?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:16 PM
If the situation escalated ICly for good reasoning. Yes.
escalated properly
The station has a vast number of cultural and ideological backgrounds, and it's inevitable that they'll clash. Take our current arc for example. Solarians are being looked at in an awful light, and there are plenty of characters that would push a Solarian around or even resort to violence, feeling that "they're doing some good in the world." If they play out a situation where they confronted a Solarian and the argument escalated into violence, then a full on fight, then I feel it's acceptable.
Although, in reality that's an exceptionally rare case.

FlamingoYesterday at 4:22 PM
Cool. Let's move onto a similar question. The rules make mention to creating a 'believable' character. Do you feel there is a difference between a 'realistic' and a 'believable' character? If so, how?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:25 PM
Hmmm... I believe they work hand in hand, but still have a difference. Realistic would be something, in this case a character, being comparable to a person in the real world. Such as a human chef who studied for 6 years and is exceptionally good at making desserts, so in game his menu consists mainly of deserts or baked foods. That's a realistic character.
The difference with realism and believability would be something like an aut'akh who's more synth parts than lizard. Is it realistic? Probably not given most aut'akh are on the level of back-alley modding, and his backstory may make it even more unrealistic, but for our universe, it's believable.
I think the tricky thing here is that for our world of rp, and rp in general, realism and believability go so hand in hand.
But we're in space as well as hundreds of years in the future. Realism is sort of out the window in a lot of ways. But believability isn't.
Hopefully that made sense.

FlamingoYesterday at 4:28 PM
Cool. You've given me an example of a believable character who is not realistic. Do you think there exists characters who are realistic, but not believable?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:29 PM
Hmmm.... It depends in that regard to your source material, and with ours being grounded in a lot of practical things (lookin at you fax machines) it can be hard to hit an unbelievable point with a realistic character, because our brain ties them into those realistic points and automatically goes "Yeah that makes sense".
But.
You could have a character that's just..... so cookie cutter John Doe, wakes up in Mendell, works that 9 to 5, and has no outstanding quirks, and I'd think that was unbelievable given our setting. No quirks? No weird likes or dislikes? He just gets up and goes to work, then comes home, eats a tv dinner style meal and goes to bed to do it again tomorrow? That can't be it..

FlamingoYesterday at 4:33 PM
Do you feel that type of character is realistic, but unbelievable to the point of breaking the rules? If not, do you feel that type of character exists?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:39 PM
Hmmm... I think it would depend on the level. I might ask a player to spice up a "Plain-Jane" a bit to give them more definition and make them more believable. Keep that 9 to 5 "I live for my work" setup, but sprinkle in some mental issue or stress, or just... boredom. I don't think that's a rulebreak though to be a "boring" character.

That said, while I haven't ever seen a realistic, unbelievable character, I wouldn't doubt that they would exist. It would certainly be much harder though I would think. It can be difficult, for the reason that our brain equates realism to believability automatically, to think of a realistic character as unbelievable.
But.. I think it would be exceptionally difficult to push a 'realistic' character to the rule-break level of unbelievable.
Just realized I basically typed the same sentence three different ways, sorry about that.

FlamingoYesterday at 4:42 PM
Cool, and no problem. In your application, you mentioned that you've been playing for ~6 months, having taken a ~2 month hiatus that ended ~3 weeks ago. Do you feel being a little newer to the server will help or hinder you? If so, how?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:44 PM
Hmm... I think it's a double edged sword honestly. Being newer means I don't have the muscle memory for mechanics that other staff might have, or to just have certain things that older players know burned into my brain yet.
But at the same time, being newer means I'm able to adapt to changes easier because that muscle memory hasn't sunk in yet. I'm also able to relate a bit easier to newer players coming in that don't understand or have issues with controls. It's easier to share that sentiment of "I know the feel bro I was there too."

FlamingoYesterday at 4:47 PM
Cool. Since coming back, you've racked up an impressive amount of playtime. Do you feel that "burn out" is a risk?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:49 PM
Honestly, always. It's been better, because I've been taking steps to restrict my time to certain periods of the day. Like "If I feel up to aurora, it's in this time frame." I have issues with burnout with EVERYTHING due to ADHD and Depression, but I've been building up skills to minimize or outright negate the risk.
So I won't sit here and say it's not a risk, but it's a minimal risk.
plus having so many race whitelists means I can change up how I play the game pretty drastically each night

FlamingoYesterday at 4:52 PM
Cool. Almost done then. If you could change one thing about the server, whether it be a rule, lore, etc, what would it be?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:52 PM
Oh gosh that's a hard one.
Fix the Grim Compact.
Or just... kinda.... Set up more ways to have ex-con/ex-raider background information? If that makes sense? I like the idea of people coming to Aurora to turn a life around, rather than just further a goal.
But it seems like most groups in the verse are set to work with NT to push a goal. Adhomian refugees can find work and freedom with NT, Unathi can get out of the wastes, IPCs have a way to attain freedom, but hardened criminals could also turn a life around with NT, we just don't see it as often.

FlamingoYesterday at 4:54 PM
There have definitely been a few of those characters' in the past, but they are rare now. Follow-up question related to that: Do you feel that - in our current setting - criminal characters are acceptable? At what point does a criminal become unbelievable for our setting?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:55 PM
I think they're fine, as always, if they're believable. A con man coming to the Aurora to get a job is unrealistic sure, but it can be easily believable. NT doesn't care where you came from so long as you can earn them a good profit margin. Same with almost all the MegaCorps I'd say.
It becomes unbelievable if that Con did too much when they were/are a con.
Insane heists over the weekend, then working the night shift in the Engineering Department.
That's a ridiculous premise and just.... utterly unbelievable.
Petty crimes like pick pocketing, looting tunnels, an Engi hacking to get through a door for his work rather than waiting. These are technically crimes, and the pick pocketing would be grounds for immediate action, but they're still believable for a criminal.
The unbelievability comes from the scale in my opinion.
Take my character Sannak for example. Aut'Akh unathi. Loots the maint tunnels, hacks through airlocks, but still does his job and does it well, and doesn't endanger anyone.
A believable criminal.
Someone who clapped 13 cops in Mendell 2 months ago and is now showing up to work the kitchen? Not believable criminal.

FlamingoYesterday at 4:59 PM
Cool. Just one final question, then.
Is it alright if I post this interview to the forums?

8BitBentoYesterday at 4:59 PM
Absolutely!