YouJustGotOwened Interview #2

FlamingoToday at 10:40 AM
Excellent, then let's begin. Can you state your ckey for me, for the record?

OwenToday at 10:40 AM
YouJustGotOwened

FlamingoToday at 10:41 AM
Perfect. I'll be skipping over most of the "standard" questions this time around, since you have already answered most of our general moderation questions in your previous interview, found here: https://pastebin.com/X0DbSqVT

However, I will ask, is there any question(s) from that interview that you are/were unhappy with your answers for?

Feel free to take a moment and refresh your memory if you wish. There is no rush (though I will not be referencing your previous interview specifically after this question, so no need to go over it in excruciating detail).

OwenToday at 10:42 AM
I'll just take a quick glance at it
I feel satisfied with the answers that I had from before.

FlamingoToday at 10:45 AM
Excellent, then let's jump in. You were previously a moderator for Aurora. What led to your to your retirement from the moderation team?

OwenToday at 10:48 AM
I believe the retirement happened shortly after beginning high school, If I'm remembering correctly. My on server presence suffered greatly from that, to where I was only on the server for a handful of rounds per week. I ended up discussing this activity issue with a member of the administration (I forget who specifically) and it was decided that it would be for the best that I would leave the moderation team to focus on high school. I had a very difficult schedule for most of high school with school work/sports/extracurriculars, but I've since graduated so that should no longer be an issue. There was no behavior aspect to me retiring, simply a lack of time that was able to be devoted to the server.

FlamingoToday at 10:50 AM
Understandable, as real life comes first. You've also been a member of staff in the past for quite a period of time, ranging from Head DO/CCIA to moderator, and you've been a player for even longer. How do you feel the community has changed over the years, for better or for worse?

OwenToday at 10:57 AM
Hmm... I was actually just thinking about this not too long ago. Naturally, people come and go over time, that is something to be expected. Though, I feel that especially since I first joined the server we have gradually shifted towards much higher standards of RP/emulating a real world. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it is a natural shift that has occurred overtime, and one that I actually find to be quite appealing with the general culture of things. The whole setting of Aurora has greatly developed into one that has allowed players to feel that their characters were part of a living and breathing world, and this has been reflected rather well in our community.

Now I may have a different experience coming back into the game than newcomers to the server, but I have felt that the community feels much more united than it used to be. We really do not have those large month long dramas that light up the forums, or massive groups of players actively hating each other OOCly anymore. Or if they exist, they are much less in the limelight. I feel that as a playerbase, we've matured greatly in that regard, to where people (for the most part) are much more decent with each other. In short, I feel that our playerbase has improved greatly over the years.

FlamingoToday at 11:02 AM
Excellent. Building on your response about Aurora shifting towards emulating a real world, what do you feel is the difference between a believable world, and a realistic world? How do you feel this affects players in-game with our rules specifically referring to creating "believable, and well-rounded" characters?

OwenToday at 11:11 AM
Now I do believe there is an important differentiation to make on the difference between a believable world and a realistic world, and I do want to tread carefully on that subject. It is important that we have a believable world in order to better facilitate roleplay, and just general behavior on the server. Having a game which tries to be exactly realistic to how things would be, let's face it, would not really be a ton of fun. There are handwaves which can and should happen, and some things that can easily be glossed over for the benefit of actual making this place enjoyable. Now, I consider myself to hold high expectations in the aspect of creating believable characters, especially for players that have been in this community for long periods of time.

In attempts to not just say that I have higher expectations towards players who our familiar with our setting, I'll try to explain what I feel to be a believable and well-rounded character. Mainly, this can be displayed in players demonstrating that their characters do have weaknesses, fears, inabilities. We live in an imperfect world, and those imperfections do wonders towards driving roleplay (interactions between different departments each able to use their special abilities. No one person knows everything). This is a very subjective topic, but in general it can be boiled down to keeping characters within departments/jobs and then build from there. I hope that I somewhat answered this question, it felt a bit rambly.

FlamingoToday at 11:16 AM
Don't worry, I understand what you were saying. Expanding on player characters, do you ever feel it is justified for a player to be told to change their character when they are not breaking any existing rules? For example, we have a rule about not being a dick, but it primarily applies OOCly. What about a character who people dread to play with, and who ends up discouraging new players from playing, but is not actually a dick outside of the game?

OwenToday at 11:20 AM
There is a fine line between being a dick ICly and it transferring over to the OOC. I enjoy the idea of having these asshole characters, as they do exist in the real world. Though, there is a point that if it is driving away players from playing the game, there needs to be something done about it. We never want to make new players feel unwelcomed, especially if they are new to the game. That is not a culture that I feel is a sustaining one for the server. It is at that point that I feel we have to lean more on the side of making it enjoyable rather than being directly emulating real life.

Though, I will add that there are ways that players can have characters that are assholes without making others dread to interact with them. You can have a fun asshole. It is difficult, but it has been done.
Ahh, to give a direct answer. Yes. It is justified to tell people to change their character's behavior

FlamingoToday at 11:24 AM
Cool. Tangential question: Player conflict is something we allow, and even encourage at times, even as non-antagonists. As long as it is done "believably" and with escalation, characters are able to argue, sleight each other, and even get in fights. Do you feel murder is ever an acceptable action for a character to perform during a canon interaction?

OwenToday at 11:29 AM
In very VERY rare cases I think that this can be acceptable. This cannot be some spur of the moment murder of a coworker who didn't deliver you materials from mining or something. This is something that if it were to occur would have to happen over a substantial period of time with lots of development within it. It is also a necessity that if a murder were to occur, both parties are fully aware, have discussed it and both approve of it happening. Along with the administration being informed of it beforehand and giving it an approval. This is not something that can or should be taken lightly, as you will be hard pressed to justify this being a commonplace thing that occurs at a workplace. Though I feel that to be the merit at least. The fact this is and should be so rare, is something that can really help with generating further good experiences from that point.

This allows further interaction with the CCIA getting involved, along with an investigation occurring. This would be something ideally over a long period of time and very rigorously planned out.

I cannot think of a situation currently where I think that one should be allowed, nor do I think a character should be created for the purpose of eventually killing a coworker, though I think it would be wrong to rule out that this could be a possibility that should be allowed at some point. We have had canon high level crimes in the past, and I believe that they were good and interesting interactions.

FlamingoToday at 11:31 AM
Cool. Just one more question for now then. Do you feel your previous experience as head DO/CCIA afforded you insight into your role as a moderator in the past? If so, in what ways?

OwenToday at 11:38 AM
I think that one good part of me having this background with the CCIA is that it made me appreciate the value of handling many issues IC, even if they could very easily be handled OOCly. I think that it provided a perspective that moderators should step in mainly during cases that require immediate intervention, blatantly rule breaking, OOC disputes, etc.

I value the existence of an IC "moderation" team of sorts, as it helps move the story forward instead of stopping everything for an OOC mod to come in and solve the situation. I also think that it has genuinely helped with being more objective when dealing with characters/players, as it was a lot of responsibility at the time to not shut down interactions unnecessarily. There is a good balance that exists between having IC and OOC moderation groups, and that is something that I think that my time in both groups has helped me to understand

FlamingoToday at 11:39 AM
Awesome. That will conclude the interview then.
Is it alright if I post this to your application thread?

OwenToday at 11:39 AM
Very good. Thank you for taking the time to interview me then! And of course, no issue with you posting this