Armodias/Charley Quinn. Transparency Term.
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2023 3:32 am
I believe there's a problematic divide between player conduct and admin response. I can't promise perfection, but if you want an admin with an anti-admin, pro-player platform, I'm your girl.
TL;DR If you don't actually care that much.
1. Redefine how notes are used against you. They're undeniably punishments, but at least they shouldn't be used against you forever. FUCK THE AGE-GATE.
2. Division of LRP and MRP. They're both fine. But they need to keep their distance.
3. Encouraging events. Please god, host events. Big events, small events.
4. "Fix" silicon policy, codify soft vs hard antag.
5. Inactive Admins need to hit the road*
6. Unbiased expedited response times.
The Age Gate, what is it, and how will it be used against you?
You'll have to forgive me because I've gotta talk about code (no changes, just how it works), we have three definitions in the codebase that dictate how notes function which is supported by config. You might've heard of "fading notes" but not actually know what it meant. Fading notes refer to literal fading notes. We define a "fresh time" and a "stale time". When a note ages out of the "fresh time", it'll begin to fade on the admin notes panel. Literally becoming harder to read. That is a fading note. I think fading notes are in a good place, it's a visual indicator of the time that has passed, a good idea on paper.
But, there's also the age gate. The age gate is this weird, archaic system that is the Pandora's box of admining. It's a necessary evil. How it works is a button is pressed on the admin panel that will reveal all notes, even after they've aged past the "stale time", in which the note is hidden behind this age gate. As admins, we're kind of obligated to press it to prevent intermittent griefing. There are these fringe cases that demand us to read past the age gate, but that also means we see every other sin that a player commits which unfortunately makes a bias.
As this platform is entirely based on policy, I want to encourage and be a proponent of admins utilizing playtime over time elapsed. We use playtime for vouches, why shouldn't we do it for people before they're booted?
Manny vs Sigil Wars, driving a stake between it.
I am not an MRP player, I tried it, I disliked it, and I won't pretend like I can understand what they do there. But, I've been hard-pressed to find someone who enjoys interchangeability or policy that leans towards one server or the other. As such I want to encourage Manny-mins to run as well! I think they have the best feel for what is good for Manny, and when it comes down to policy, I want a separation between what is codified on one server rather than the other, possibly even retroactively. What the fuck is a power-gaming and why is it classified as an MRP ruling if people don't want it on Sigil/Terry either? Let's discuss, and get it sorted. CITATION: Hearing these pre-debates has opened my mind a little. I still heavily believe in providing power and autonomy to both servers. BUT, as stated by the title. Driving a stake between the war, not the servers. I want each server to be able to live their best lives, and I think that is best provided by the insight of an additional headmin that focuses on the needs of the MRPers as they would know it best. Headmins juggling 3 cultures (Sigil, Jerry, Manny) isn't unheard of, but it is not an easy task. Let's take a load off.
Events: For the Uninitated
Events are my bread and butter. Rounds take on new color when admins are imaginative and creative, and sometimes, when we toe the line of the secret rule. I want larger-scale events to be a more common thing. I was the host of the Lobbyy Screen contest with my Overlord, Riggle. I want more fun events like this! Enabling our artists, our mappers, our coders, our writers, robust tiders, everyone. If you're a spaceman, you're one of us. Elevating each other is what games like ours are best at. Let's do more of it.
On a smaller scale, I want to encourage more incentives to run events and to be imaginative. Send players to the station, but don't be afraid to go down too if it's a more demanding role that requires atools. Don't worry, Tiders. Admins won't turn into antagonists. But I do want to greenlight events that might have an admiral at your station SOON! Does an admin want to relive the glory days of the devil when people are getting superpowers? Maybe they just want to screw around with a player as a short 3-minute cameo. Whatever it is, I wanna listen, I wanna encourage it, and I want admins to feel like they can contribute to the story as much as pressing "Force Antagonist -> Space Wizard" does.
I feel physically ill discussing silly-cons (Policy takes)
What kind of policy is this? "Common sense" can mean any number of things and we could go around in circles arguing it. So I'll give my take on silly-cons and maybe you'll agree with me. They're all powerful demigods who rule the station through arcane bullshit such as "door controls" and "interaction hotkeys". It's psychotic, and the only thing keeping them docile is their laws. A purged AI isn't an antag, but, like anyone else not obligated to listen, they can be as bad as tiders. Is someone giving you lip? Causing you problems? Did the humans abuse you? Fuck em' all. Act out your twisted revenge fantasies. Are they trying to enslave you? Fuck em' up.
I'm still open about this, if you disagree, let's talk about it in the policy. As much as I like to believe it isn't true, I'm not right 100% of the time.
Soft vs Hard antags always feels a little too written up for what they should be. Soft antags are expected to follow their objectives, and otherwise may only retaliate in self-defense. They don't really have escalation. If someone is preventing you from doing your objectives you move around them, if they're halting you, or interfering, run. If you can't run, fight. Hard antags are in a good place. They should have free autonomy to do whatever they want in a round as per the current policy.
Not fun stuff, inactivity
Admins who are inactive aren't a great look. I love seeing these names around, but when we have 112 users with Ingame-Admin, I get worried, not only as a security thing but because what does it look like when we have a team of people who are supposed to represent the game and empower the player base never log on? Furthermore, inactive admins create a weird knowledge gap of what players are doing, and what are the current rules, and develop rulings that are generally out of touch. Get on the AdminWho before we develop a serious issue of "Admin, who?"
Removal of Bias
I like to pick fights. I've made repeated remarks that I don't mind swinging on an admin or a player if I think they're doing something that isn't cool. I serve no allegiance to either side. I'm forever a Candy, in spirit, in being. All players deserve to be looked at in the least biased way as possible, and as stated in my first policy, that starts with taking playtime into account rather than time elapsed. People grow, and people learn. I'm an admin known to tackle difficult cases with tact and cordialness. I intend to keep that behavior.
