Heyo.
I’ve been doing HOS for a fair while now on Vulture, as a character called Cray Malinn- I try not to suck, and trying new ideas is much of the fun of the game.
Call this my 3 cents, and a forum-worthy wall of text.
At the end I’ll address these post’s grievances from my perspective one at a time, without said wall of text.
I agree, to some degree or another, to every grievance presented on this feedback post- Much of how I have operated, and have gradually trained the security officers on vulture to operate, has been to both address these grievances and empower the security players as much as I can to feel confident in how they work in their role, what they should especially be careful of to stay within server rules, and generally…
How to have fun in the role.
I just read over Chief_Engineer’s psyop post, and was very surprised at just how much of these ideals I was already following and trying to impress upon others, and Liltenhead’s draft of LRP space law is in my opinion a very strong template that should serve as a basis for all communities, not just LRP- It balances the flexibility and effectiveness of the team, minimizes the walking on eggshells around rules, while still being as fair as possible to whoever is on the other side of the baton.
Wastes less time combing rules, wastes less ahelps debating contingencies, less time to LEARN the law, and enough flexibility to handle everything thrown at it.
Most importantly, the core reason I play on LRP and support this philosophy, I see it as a very effective ruleset that can shut down most LOOC threats and flaming that often burns out security officers who are not confident in what they can, cannot, or should not do.
Such social pressure is an overwhelming experience, on top of an information overwhelming job that only bears fruit and good times when you have a good team willing to cooperate, and can feel your impact on the round and maybe even the server culture as a whole.
I’ve heard that Vulture security is staffed more often than other servers, and would suspect it is because the players who frequent the community have learned what tools they have available in behavior and equipment they have to address a threat or unpleasant player, which reinforces my theory that the solution to this issue has for me been to nudge people to embody the change they want to see- which, hilariously, dies as soon as the population flushes over 60 during community events or streams that bring in other playerbases who do not usually frequent vulture.
In general, my solution to this issue that has borne fruit has been to enforce a lightweight space law, teach cadets HOW and WHEN to escalate where possible, and to make sure they know what bedrock they have to stand on when confronting rule lawyering players; and most importantly, how to ignore them and turn it into an in character resolution- because alot of the most toxic players are absolutely breaking rules themselves, and will absolutely self destruct when escalating sentences for re-offense can lead them into perma, or at the end of a warden’s shotgun, therefore removing the problem fairly, and efficiently.
Simply… Enforce the LAW. Bring order to the chaos, right?
(…People hate slipping mechanics…)
-Slipping mechanics have been the way they have been from essentially day one. The development team would take on alot of risk by changing it to any extreme now, as the entire playerbase has either learned to cope with the state of being, countered most threats, or accepted the upsides with the down.
Both sides are well armed if they’re aware, however, with the STUNMETA we live in. Everything still has a place.
I try to train cadets to WALK, and not open carry weapons.
I train them to enforce the law when the “shitter” repeatedly antagonizes them- and to get very ugly with it if necessary during red alert, following medium roleplay precedents from space station 13. …If they slip you when you’re armed, and chasing a criminal, some crossfire might occur to stop the new threat.
(…Security is the focal point of griefers…)
-Security is the focal point because, when overwhelmed by self antagging tiders, it is the most stimulating target for them. Other departments are likely to lock down, kill them, or otherwise not respond to it; Funny cadets losing their batons is what these players are after, so they will seek it.
Put them in a cell and watch them melt down when their actions have consequences.
The problem I find is confidence in the security players combined with the inherent existence of the “Passenger” role. Everyone else has a job to do, and sec players don’t want to get banned for shooting someone that really deserves it.
(…Want to roll as security or antag…)
-This is fairly true, robust players who enjoy combat are forced to choose one side or the other; but the current game design kind of seperates them from one side or the other if they only have security preferences enabled.
I have no super strong opinion on this, as I’m not very good at being an antagonist at time of writing.
(…The consequences for sec are harsher than departments, including rtaliatory ahelps)
(…There are too many rules…)
-These, in my opinion, are part of the same issue.
Not having a clear, easy to learn, and easy to find and read, ruleset for addressing antagonists and contraband short of obvious threats is wasteful of everyone’s time.
Security NEEDS some degree of flexibility of interpreting their own laws, and the playerbase can also be made aware of (and be empowered) to passively show resistance or hostility to the department when their hand is too firm. …This generates roleplay.
Teaching sec players (Like Engineer’s post about how to handle said retaliatiory LOOC complaints) to trust in their actions, and review AFTER, is often the solution for people acting toxic with out of character chat.
Just follow your procedure, waste as little time as possible, do not engage with them.
-If contraband requires too much metagaming to locate or confiscate, it is a MECHANICS issue- Theif gloves being one example.
These generate rule exceptions, and muddy the waters if there is not a clear process of “You have suspicion of X”, “You search for X in this way”, and “you confiscate X, arrest, and sentence appropriately”.
Also the reason why terminators were such a miserable antagonist to address.
Security should NEVER feel like it has to metagame a threat on intuition alone; things like forensics are all good tools to use to provide them undeniable, undebatable, probable cause.
Security’s job is to find, and stop threats.
Threats want to not be found, and to not be stopped.
There’s balance on both sides that is generally pretty good when rules, attitudes, and cultures don’t collide to make it more complicated.
(…Its unclear when security players are allowed to use lethal force, or should…)
-Although it is hard to navigate through, the rules do actually address this, and I teach a condensed form to every cadet; In my good fistful of hours, I have not had any issues with justified use of lethal force from me, or reported from anyone who’s learned this:
A: You percieve an obvious life threat to yourself or others.
(Pointy, shooty, or persistent against someone who’s dying already!)
B: You are in pursuit of a dangerous suspect who has previously qualified for A.
(They critted or kill someone, try to arrest, but do not allow escape without injury, as letting them go will hurt more people!)
C: A stunning weapon is used against you, and you do not have other officers as backup.
(A stunned officer is a dead or robbed officer, dont go down quietly, or you empower others to do more harm!)
…If you think about it, this is pretty similar to real life use of force for police forces.
(RP is getting worse in LRP and MRP)
-I’m a vulturite, so I cannot necessarily tell you you’re wrong; but Engineer’s point of trying to be the best roleplayer you can DOES have direct impacts on those around you. It’s like a conversation- Open conversations, be fun to interact with if you can, and others show respect and repeat the behavior.
Simply, be the best roleplayer you can, and others like you can come out of the woodwork.
(Tider captains and HOPS make it worse…)
-Sometimes players have a… Moment, as a head of staff.
I have dealt with this in character by directly confronting abusive heads, and showing that there are IC ways to address this issue that aren’t an armed mutiny.
When these become patterns, this is absolutely an administration issue, as heads of staff directly dictate the culture and actions of their department- More admins that want to see a good culture, less issues with these heads of staff.
I have a ton of opinions I could dredge up if prompted, but I don’t want to make your eyes bleed with more text than I already have.
TLDR:
LRP space law the way of the future.
Be who you want to see, teach others to be this way and reward them with attention.
Teach officers to enforce the law, and realize that having confidence in cracking heads legally fixes tider issues handily, when said tiders prove to be unreasonable or dangerous to the crew.