Shenaanigans Interview

FlamingoToday at 11:47 AM
Great. Let’s go ahead and get started then.
For the record, can you state your ckey for me?

ShenanigansToday at 11:48 AM
Shenaanigans

FlamingoToday at 11:52 AM
Excellent. This interview is going to be broken into two parts. The first section will consist of several “scenario” questions. These are some common situations you may run into ingame.

The second section will consist of several personal questions relating to you as a player, or as lore staff.

For the purposes of the first section, you can safely assume you’d have access to the following abilities:

- Kicking a player (optional message)
- Noting a player (message only staff can see, for record keeping and minor infractions)
- Warning a player (message they can see, official warning, also has a staff only section)
- Banning a player (self explanatory. You can set the duration)
- Winding a player (paralyze them so they can’t do anything ingame)
- admin ghost (allows you to ghost as normal, but re-enter your body at any time)
- Admin Logs (allows you to see all deadchat, attack, aooc, looc, and (optionally) debug logs.

Do you have any questions before we jump into it?

ShenanigansToday at 11:55 AM
nope. sounds clear enough to me

FlamingoToday at 11:57 AM
Great. I forgot to mention you also obviously have access to the infamous “bwoink” to PM people, as well as view all their notes, warnings, bans, and other various information.

Anyways, let’s jump into the first question.

You’re sitting in the bar doing some chairRP when suddenly you see the arrivals announcement computer say:

Osama Bin Laden, Security Officer, is inbound from NTCC Odin!

How do you proceed?

ShenanigansToday at 12:03 PM
I would ask if any other staff in game are already speaking to the person (presumably through modchat) and, if not, send a bwoink their way. I'd open with something along the lines of "hey there, this is a HRP server and we have some rules about character naming. I'm going to have to ask you to change yours, as it is breaking that rule by being a reference to a real life person"
do moderators have the ability to edit character names? if I couldn't do it myself, I would pass along what they want their new name to be to an admin

FlamingoToday at 12:05 PM
You can actually see when any other staff member opens a ticket to speak to someone (the ticket is printed in your chat as well). Helps with not stepping on eachother’s toes. You also do not personally have the ability to edit names, but an admin will usually be happy to do it for you.

You shoot a bwoink his way but he doesn’t seem to respond.

ShenanigansToday at 12:05 PM
gotcha. that's helpful
okay. I would watch the person long enough via aghost to see if they are moving about and, if so, send them another PM reiterating the same message. if they are still moving about and not responding, I would choose to kick them with an added note made about what happened. so if they come back and do the same thing, something harsher like a ban can be applied

FlamingoToday at 12:09 PM
Alright. You watch them for a bit and they are indeed moving around. You finally kick them and they reconnect after a minute or two, responding to your ahelp with “wtf im trying 2 rp”

ShenanigansToday at 12:09 PM
my response to that would be, again, the same message about their name being a breach of server rules. I would tell them that they have to change it if they want to continue playing

FlamingoToday at 12:10 PM
They say “fine whatever change it to anything you want”

ShenanigansToday at 12:12 PM
at that point I would pass on the request for a name change to an admin, likely just something randomly generated in the character creator. I would definitely be trying to keep an eye on them at various points during the rest of the round following that

FlamingoToday at 12:12 PM
Great! Did you want to attach a note/warning of any kind? Or leave it at that?

ShenanigansToday at 12:14 PM
a note, I'd say. something along the lines of "initially joined game with a reference name and had to be kicked to draw attention to PMs". beyond that, I would give the person a gentle nudge to make sure they read over the server rules before closing the ticket

FlamingoToday at 12:16 PM
Great. Let’s move onto the next question, then.

You’re sitting in the lobby tweaking a character and getting ready to join, when you suddenly see a flood of attack logs. Apparently two people are trying to beat each other to death. Neither are antagonists. The only other staff member online says in msay “sorry i am chasing a vampire”. How do you proceed?

ShenanigansToday at 12:19 PM
I would join the round as an observer, warp on over to where this is going on, and quickfire open up PMs to both people in order to get their attention and ask them to stop for a moment. I would then ask both of them why they are fighting

FlamingoToday at 12:24 PM
They stop after a few more punches. One of them is bleeding pretty bad. He says to you over pm’s that the other guy called him a stretch, and since he’s an offworlder human it made him really mad ic so he punched him, and then they fought. The other guy corroborates the story, saying he insulted him and he punched him, so he fought back.

ShenanigansToday at 12:27 PM
alright. I would say that that's a fair reason to begin a fight, but considering how badly they've roughed each other up they should consider whether it's realistic for them to try and beat each other to death over a single insult. suggest that they come to an IC truce and break it up to go get seen by medical

FlamingoToday at 12:29 PM
They both respond in the affirmative, and that’s probably a good idea.

Would you like to apply any notes, warnings, etc? Or leave it at that?

ShenanigansToday at 12:30 PM
no, if they were both amicable to my suggestion and indeed went ahead to do what I asked I don't think it's necessary. I would thank them for cooperating and close the tickets

FlamingoToday at 12:32 PM
Cool. Let’s move onto the last scenario question for now.

You’re playing in a round when suddenly you get a flood of attack logs and an ahelp comes in.

“Uh...? I got ganked?”

ShenanigansToday at 12:32 PM
I say hello and ask for clarification on exactly what happened

FlamingoToday at 12:33 PM
They say “I am an engineer. I was walking through maintenance for loot and opened a fire closet. There was a guy in there and he cut my head off with his arm blade.”
It appears to be ling. The ling is still over by the body. They’ve dragged it into the closet with them (the closet being the 3x2 room, not a literal closet)
There is also another body in there with them.

ShenanigansToday at 12:38 PM
okay, since this person seems to be a second victim, I would shoot a quick PM to the other person who appears to have been killed by the ling asking if they felt that their death had any lead up RP. to the person who sent the ahelp, I would thank them for the information and tell them that I will talk to the ling before closing the ticket

FlamingoToday at 12:41 PM
The other victim says no they don’t feel they were ganked or anything. Definitely got some rp before they died.

ShenanigansToday at 12:44 PM
I'll give them a quick thanks for the information, then, and close that ticket before opening up a PM to the ling. oh question. does the ling player have any notes or warnings about poor antag play?

FlamingoToday at 12:44 PM
They have a few notes and a warning from a couple months ago, but nothing in the last several weeks.

ShenanigansToday at 12:46 PM
in that case I'll just be telling the ling player that their most recent kill on the janitor was very abrupt and could be considered a gank, but since it seems to be an isolated incident I'll just be warning them against not repeating that. with an actual warning to that effect placed on their account

FlamingoToday at 12:47 PM
They reply “what? They walked in on me actively committing a murder. I didn’t have a choice really. They were gonna yell over the radio and I am trying to pose the body somewhere.”
“I’m doing like a murder mystery gimmick”

ShenanigansToday at 12:49 PM
I would respond that they could have at least attempted some fast talk or tried to scare the engineer into not talking. attacking and killing someone before they can even get a word out or try to resist is not acceptable

FlamingoToday at 12:50 PM
He replies “I guess, but what’s to stop him from turning and sprinting away while yelling over the radio? Happens all the time.”

ShenanigansToday at 12:52 PM
"that's a risk you take when attempting to take someone down. worst case scenario, you could turn around and run and use the fear of an escaped victim to prop up your gimmick"

FlamingoToday at 12:53 PM
They reply “alright whatever. I completely disagree. I’m gonna submit a staff complaint after the round.”

ShenanigansToday at 12:53 PM
I would say okay, they have that right. but for now the warning stays

FlamingoToday at 12:54 PM
Cool. Anything else you’d like to do for this scenario?

ShenanigansToday at 12:54 PM
nope I'd say that that's when the ticket would be closed and the warning submitted

FlamingoToday at 12:56 PM
Great! Let’s move on to the personal questions then.

First up. Do you feel there is a difference between a realistic character and a believable character? If so, what is it? And how does it pertain to our setting?

ShenanigansToday at 1:02 PM
I would say that they're generally synonyms. a character is believable because it's realistic. there are certain character traits that are required for "realism" in most any RP setting-- aversion to pain, certain emotional responses, physical ability, skillsets --though for ours specifically, realism comes from making a character with a feasible place in our lore. choosing a given background/birthplace will carry with it certain traits that are expected out of a character, and if you go directly against that it compromises the character's believability

FlamingoToday at 1:04 PM
Cool. Next question. Do you feel murder is ever acceptable for a non-antagonist to commit? Under what circumstances, if any, would they be permitted to do such? Why or why not?

ShenanigansToday at 1:08 PM
yes, I do. antagonist status isn't the end all be all for why a person might cast aside their morals, and that's assuming that the character even had qualms against murder to begin with. obviously it's something that should be taken very seriously, because murder is hardly a petty crime and the vast majority of people can't just do it thoughtlessly, but we get into some very intense situations on station and circumstances might arise to make a character do it. maybe they're protecting themselves, saving a friend, tracking down an enemy out of revenge-- there are definitely reasons that could come up.

FlamingoToday at 1:11 PM
What about in a situation where antagonists are not involved at all? On an extended round for example?

ShenanigansToday at 1:13 PM
that's definitely trickier. in the case of an extended round there needs to be some very, very believable circumstance to make it justifiable, but I could still see it happen. ...particularly because I myself have done it

FlamingoToday at 1:21 PM
Cool. Let’s move onto something a little different.

You’ve actually been part of lore staff for some time. How do you feel that has changed your perspective of the server, if at all? Do you feel it will offer you a unique viewpoint as a potential moderator?

ShenanigansToday at 1:31 PM
I don't think that my central opinions about what's important have changed much since then, but being on the lore side has definitely given me a bit more insight into how things are run and the difficulties that need to be overcome to push out substantial development. I've become better acquainted with many staff members through our lore related discussions and that helps with being able to see alternate points of view when I'm considering an issue. coordination and patience are extremely important when you work within a larger team, so I think the fact that I've gotten some practice in via the lore thunderdome will be useful if I'm added to the moderator team

FlamingoToday at 1:35 PM
Great. Just a few final questions then.

If you could change one thing about the server what would it be?

ShenanigansToday at 1:44 PM
I'm still a bit on the fence about it being a serious suggestion, but the server does seem to have been getting a new influx of players recently which, while fantastic for keeping the community alive, does run into its bumps with greytiders. a server like the aurora, with its goal of maintaining a HRP environment, could benefit from some very basic form of screening if we really start seeing more of that. some very simple form with an agreement that someone has read the rules in order to get their IP whitelisted

FlamingoToday at 1:46 PM
Cool. Just one final question then. Is it alright if I post this interview to your application thread?

ShenanigansToday at 1:46 PM
yep I don't mind!

FlamingoToday at 1:46 PM
Excellent. That concludes this interview then.