RaveRadbury passes you the ballot

[RaveRadbury]

TL;DR Dedicated admin that likes working on new projects wants headmin so they can fiddle with things and make exciting stuff happen in the community.

But don't take my word for it, here's what the community has been saying about me.

Hello once again, friends. I'm RaveRadbury, I play characters such as Heart Emoji the Mime and Mister President the Clown. I took second in the player vote during the last election, and in this election I plan to take first in your heart.

I come before you now to request your vote.

A lot has changed since the last election. In the time since then I was promoted to admin and then later to admintrainer. I'm currently overseeing three trialmins on Manuel. I've been doing some coding.
We've also been going through a global pandemic that has left a lot of us with way more time on their hands.
As one of these people I think that now would be an opportune time for me to devote my attention to improving /tg/station in a headmin position.

But what would you do Rave?
I'm so glad you asked.
As headmin I would have two main goals: improving administrative decision speed and tinkering with configs to freshen things up, introducing a bit of novelty. I think that too many suggestions and toggles go by without a test, and I think that long-time players would appreciate the opportunity to experience a more varied and potentially better config. There are all sorts of things that we could toggle for a day or a weekend. Movespeed might be fun to tinker with, speeding up LRP and slowing down MRP would prove interesting regardless of if it seemed like a viable long-term change.

There's ghost interactions, near-death experiences, various maint access toggles (sec, assistants, everyone). I'd like to see away missions come back but that would require the community coming together to come up with new stuff/fix up our old away missions. There are also a few settings within the roundstart laws config so there's room to try (standard vs quirky)

I'd also like to focus on growing our playerbase. My hope is that providing frequent light novel experiences for the community will spark discussion and also encourage spikes in server pop that will cause more players to meet. Not all of these have to be config-based events, but as headmin I would be in a position where I could make things happen more easily and faster.

More work needs to be done in MRP
I have been directly involved with our MRP servers from the beginning. I have contributed to the development of the Manuel admin team and our MRP community. I look forward to working with the MRP admins as well as the MRP players to improve the ruleset further.

My model of ideal MRP hinges on three core values: sportsmanship, pacing, and style. Seeing as our current rules are still 75% goon and cause confusion for players about expectations, I believe that this virtue framework is a way to go forward that everyone can easily understand. If elected headmin I'd like to see these values reflected in our MRP ruleset.

Sportsmanship
Concerns itself specifically with gameplay experience. One of the big issues in our current MRP meta is the escalation and acceleration between sec and antags. We can point to sportsmanship as a value we are trying to uphold when we make rulings about players not giving antags/sec a chance. We will be able to solve the prisoner's dilemma here through rulings and examples.

Pacing
Manuel rounds are too long, and players feel confused and without confidence on how to move forwards with their antag rounds. Pacing is a value that warns us against things like bombing medbay 10 minutes in as well as being unable to escalate the chaos of the round for fear of getting bwoinked. Developing some idea of what constitutes the beginning, middle, and end of a round can help players to understand when a level of force is appropriate to a circumstance. We have an example of this from our current headmins in the form of the doomsday authorization for AI's in late game. Antags should be able to ruin the station, if its appropriate to pacing.

Style
Style is a way to powergame without the risk of getting in trouble. Doing things with flourish demonstrates a high level of skill, it's also more entertaining. Players should play with style, players should kill with style. Style can be more easily achieved with good pacing and sportsmanship.

I'm a candidate of change. Vote for me if you'd like to see more things happen, if you'd like to see more community events or config experiments. I like to see things happen and I'm not afraid to put the work in.

[PKPenguin321]

you have consistently made the worst bans on manuel that i have seen, most recently viewtopic.php?f=34&t=27086
and here you run on a platform advocating for vague "changes" to manuel... 🤔
don't like the sound of that

[RaveRadbury]

you have consistently made the worst bans on manuel that i have seen, most recently viewtopic.php?f=34&t=27086
and here you run on a platform advocating for vague "changes" to manuel... 🤔
don't like the sound of that

That's a note

[PKPenguin321]

same shit

[wesoda25]

This thread seems a little sparse, which is bizarre because you claim to be a candidate of change. Improving admin response speed is a moot point, because every headmin the history of tg has claimed to seek to improve that. That leaves us with your other main point: changing up config. Could you tell us some other examples of config changes you'd like other than roundstart laws? As for that, how do you justify it? It would be a significant nerf to humans, and thus disrupt our current race balances. Would you accept prs to nerf nonhumans/buff humans to compensate for it?

Also, what sort of improvements would you like to see made to the MRP ruleset?

[RaveRadbury]

This thread seems a little sparse, which is bizarre because you claim to be a candidate of change. Improving admin response speed is a moot point, because every headmin the history of tg has claimed to seek to improve that. That leaves us with your other main point: changing up config. Could you tell us some other examples of config changes you'd like other than roundstart laws? As for that, how do you justify it? It would be a significant nerf to humans, and thus disrupt our current race balances. Would you accept prs to nerf nonhumans/buff humans to compensate for it?

Also, what sort of improvements would you like to see made to the MRP ruleset?

Seeing as we've got a bit of time before the polls open I figured that I could start simple and expand as time goes on.

I have added more information as to what I'd like to see enforced in MRP.

In regards to configs there are all sorts of things that we could toggle for a day or a weekend. Movespeed is something that I also mentioned might be fun to tinker with, speeding up LRP and slowing down MRP would prove interesting regardless of if it seemed like a viable long-term change.

There's ghost interactions, near-death experiences, various maint access toggles (sec, assistants, everyone). I'd like to see away missions come back but that would require the community coming together to come up with new stuff/fix up our old away missions. There are also a few settings within the roundstart laws config so there's room to try (standard vs quirky)

Headmins have no control over the code and have no power in code decisions. Having that said I think that bullying non-humans with PR's is usually pretty great.

When I say that I am a candidate of change, I speak beyond the changes that I have in mind. I mean to say that I have an open mind and an open ear. I want to listen to the community, hear the changes that they want, and see what I can do to facilitate them.

[Super Aggro Crag]

will you make me unbannable

[Rohesie]

Underappreciated candidate, as the majority of the playerbase is from the LRP servers.
Very nice in every interaction so far.
Best of luck!

[Timonk]

do you plan to change anything on LRP except "ha configs you have fun now"

This post was deleted by Cobby on Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:20 pm.

[NecromancerAnne]

One important point out of the gate. You focus quite a lot on MRP but we do have several different servers that cater to different players and different modes of play and roleplay standards. It'd be good to discuss a bit more in-depth as to how you will handle things on other servers and the role of headminship itself. What rules do you think need work on LRP, and what flaws are currently present in that ruleset? Is that not a consideration for you?

(Also, side note, gateway is enabled, the gateway is just bugged and therefore inaccessible)

As for the config part, do note, some of that is actually balance problems as much as it is just...whether it encourages good roleplay or not. I know that was why Nervere pushed in his term to reduce the movement speed, but we also didn't have multiple servers at the time with different rulesets. If you've never been on a server for long with higher movement speed, it's fucking insane how much of a difference it makes on combat prowess, as the potency of the alpha strike increases considerably with the less time it takes to enter an area and reach a target. It rewards high skill and high reflex players way more than anyone else. It's the kind of change that honestly pushes the perception that a split codebase would be a good idea. That, and encouraging the fairly incorrect perception that Bagil/Terry is meant to be either a lesser experience gameplay wise, or that it is more 'arcadey', so to speak, borrowing a quote from a reddit post I've seen oranges post a lot.

Sportsmanship
Concerns itself specifically with gameplay experience. One of the big issues in our current MRP meta is the escalation and acceleration between sec and antags. We can point to sportsmanship as a value we are trying to uphold when we make rulings about players not giving antags/sec a chance. We will be able to solve the prisoner's dilemma here through rulings and examples.

Seeing players in both sec and antag role just come to the tragic realisation that if they are stuck in a catch 22 situation of how to handle each others presence is a harsh one. I remember a HoS and traitor just...kind of awkwardly work out what to do with the traitor after his capture and discovery of weapons. With no evidence of murder, but definite evidence of grand theft, it was a really weird dance because you could tell both were thinking in terms 'what is fair on the traitor right now' and the traitor was mostly begrudgingly accepting they had lost, but the HoS clearly thinking of how to not ruin the round further for the traitor.

This is a level of meta consideration that I feel both detracts from play a little but is clearly something the players want to have a little more help with. I think some code changes (oh goodness, ones you made even!) will go a long way to help make capture and arrest and incarceration less of an endstate for these antags, but some more guidance via the rules would be great. Simply because I think some of the confusion was mostly so that the HoS not only did right by the traitor, but didn't put himself into hot water.

Pacing
Manuel rounds are too long, and players feel confused and without confidence on how to move forwards with their antag rounds. Pacing is a value that warns us against things like bombing medbay 10 minutes in as well as being unable to escalate the chaos of the round for fear of getting bwoinked. Developing some idea of what constitutes the beginning, middle, and end of a round can help players to understand when a level of force is appropriate to a circumstance. We have an example of this from our current headmins in the form of the doomsday authorization for AI's in late game. Antags should be able to ruin the station, if its appropriate to pacing.

I think pushing for a config option to set round length before autocall will solve some of it. I actually don't mind rounds going past an hour on manuel, since that gives breathing room to actually PLAY the round as the various antag roles, but also the crew some breathing room before things escalate out of control. But if it's pushing to 2 hours, then yeah, I'd be flagging too.

Style
Style is a way to powergame without the risk of getting in trouble. Doing things with flourish demonstrates a high level of skill, it's also more entertaining. Players should play with style, players should kill with style. Style can be more easily achieved with good pacing and sportsmanship.

Careful with this one. This is a mix bag. I don't think normal crew should be going above and beyond the norm of their roles power levels without the round going so long it hardly matters. This includes situations like security getting mutations as necessary (say, space adaption because of meteors), but also nonsec getting weapons. This moves away from style and more to generic powergame.

At the same time, I think antagonists should be posing enough of a threat they can reasonably combat anyone given sufficient planning and preparation, and I think they should be enabled to make that preparation. Yet at the same time, this isn't just a blanket endorsement to powergame.

Style is less the powers you take for yourself, but more which ones you take, why you do it, and what limitations you set for yourself. Bog standard powergaming is to take the path of least resistance. Nothing is sacred, and you take any and all possible advantages possible to gather power as quickly as possible. But playing with a kind of style is going out of your way to attempt something remarkable or clearly flawed but worth retelling as a story. Even if it fails, the art is in the attempt. Sometimes, this requires a level of powergaming to achieve, but it's for trying to achieve a goal that requires a lot of buildup or clever planning. And sometimes, it is willingly letting some opportunities pass you by simply so that it makes for a more interesting story in the retelling.

This is not a balance that can be easily perceived by both admin or player, and this I know intimately simply because I've had people tell me I play a very weird style that is interesting to watch simply because they enjoy working out my thought process and how I even otherwise weak or forgotten tools as something worth considering as an option. Yet others tell me I'm playing as just an imsxz clone, one of hundreds, and clearly take the path of least resistance. Perception is everything, and you can't really teach a person how to be stylish, or to accept that what you're doing counts as that, since style is in the eye of the beholder. Especially if all that another person might have seen of your action involves making a lot of spacemen horizontal very quickly in quick succession, and not what might have lead up to that.

This is, basically, impossible to enforce. It's a community and personal flare that occurs only so long as the code is permissive and the players creative. The only consequence of this is how it might influence administrative dealings with someone clearly going postal on Manuel, but the admin in question having only seen a small part of the round itself.

[Boris]

Do you think that enabling Away Missions might help with the boredom that Manuel sometimes gets to?

[RaveRadbury]

Do you think that enabling Away Missions might help with the boredom that Manuel sometimes gets to?

I think that away missions could be a really great thing for Manuel, but we need content that's a better fit for MRP. I know that Sylphet has been working on a really nice casino away map. We could very easily organize a weekend "map jam"-like community event where mappers spend a few days putting some away missions together and then we can cycle through them and show them off on the forums. It can double as an opportunity to educate community members en-masse with a new way to contribute to the project.

[RaveRadbury]

do you plan to change anything on LRP except "ha configs you have fun now"

I think that one of the biggest factors in enjoyable LRP is population. My hope is that tinkering with configs provides novelty and incentive to play at certain times (weekends, for example). Modifiers exist in games like these to break up monotony, I'd think something like this could feel refreshing and be worth showing up for.

[Cobby]

Even if I disagree with some of the rulings I particularly like that the user is clear about what he wants to achieve as he’s tried to push these items and making his stance known before he was candidating.

Definitely a safe pick even if you disagree with some of his platform on that metric alone: you know what you’re gonna get versus people who show up out of the woodworks with big plans but nothing to suggest they have the drive to push them.

[cybersaber101]

Very very dedicated to /tg/ MRP and it's community [Thumbs up]

On to an actual question

Several candidates mention the inactive admin or the 'boomermin' as an issue; what is your opinion on this?

[RaveRadbury]

Very very dedicated to /tg/ MRP and it's community [Thumbs up]

On to an actual question

Several candidates mention the inactive admin or the 'boomermin' as an issue; what is your opinion on this?

I think that there's a bit of misconception in that some admins come back after a period of inactivity and then continue to participate in the community. I think that overall it's a tricky subject and one that I don't have an immediate opinion on. I'm not sure what bad it does for our community beyond talk of "bad bans", those are things that can be appealed and turned over by the headmin team. I think it's worth contacting inactive admins and having a conversation with them about if/when they plan on being active again and coming to a decision with them. I am incredibly reluctant to make such big decisions based on things like numbers when every situation is unique and they are all community volunteers who have put a lot of time into keeping our community pleasant. I'd much rather put the time and effort into engaging them case-by-case, they deserve it.

[Flatulent]

You propose little changes to LRP servers in your campaign, yet you call yourself a candidate for change. Can you be trusted to ensure status quo regarding how LRP is currently played or do you have some yet unrevealed planned changes for this?

[YuiY1997]

When do you plan to make playing Two Trucks mandatory on all /tg/ servers?

[NikNakFlak]

Probably my 2nd or 3rd choice. I've adminned with them a bit. They are pretty reasonable. Willing to own up to mistakes and change when needed.
A forefront of Manual adminning with some good ideas. Sometimes, I think they are a little too ingrained in their Manual thinking but it isn't something they are that unreasonable about.

All in all, I'm a fan of them and will be voting them quite high on my ballot.