CW: Slovakiani Gamemaster Application

[Felnspar]

BYOND Key
->Slovakiani

Discord ID
->Slovakiani

How old are you?
->31

When you are most active? (including timezone)
->2PM EST to 6AM EST (14:00 to 06:00)

Roughly how much time do you dedicate to the server each week?
Three or four days a week.

Names of notable characters you play in Vorestation
->Lumen, Faith Steel, Anastasiya Romanova

How long have you been playing Space Station 13?
->Off and on since 2007. Roughly ten years, cumulatively? Not including my hiatuses and the occasional burnout. Can't stop coming back, it seems~

How long have you been playing Vorestation?
-> Uh. I want to say five years? But my perception of time is known to be a little skewed, I could be a little bit off on that. Long enough that I hope I've made an impression!

Explain what most interests you about being staff
->Being able to build narratives using the GM tools. Sometimes focusing on individual stories and backgrounds, occasionally on a larger number of people. I like the idea of delving into a character's backstory and bringing events from it to the server proper; perhaps someone's been on the run from bounty hunters for a long time, maybe someone has lost family to reconnect with, perhaps someone needs a sudden, random penpal over NIF comms? I like all the little lore things that make the universe feel more immersive, and help cement a person's backstory into the setting.

I want to help the universe breathe, and come alive via Newscasts and coordination with the Loremasters. Small-scale events are my vibe.

I don't have a lot of interest in running massive vore events, but I'm happy to *help* run someone ***elses*** massive event anytime! Building a story is more fun when it's a collaborative effort; that's what attracted me to things like Roleplay and D&D in the first place.

Explain what you think you will least enjoy about being staff
->Probably the admin-side of the duties, but that's why I want to be a GM and not an administrator. I can do it, but I don't like to do it. I've done it too much in the past, and I've got too much of a live-and-let-live attitude now.

Describe what role-playing means to you
->Roleplaying is, as I stated before, collaborative storytelling. It's writing for the enjoyment of both parties in whatever way gives them gratification for doing so. It's escapism.

Define what a "Problem Player" is in your own words
->A problem player is a person that doesn't have the decency to respect their fellow roleplayers, or to consider their feelings.

Define a "Toxic Player" in your own words
->A toxic player is that above, but they go a step further to weaponize respect and the server rules to the detriment of other player's enjoyment.

Define "Admin Abuse" in your own words
->Someone using their buttons to bully or harass other players, or to give themself an advantage they otherwise should not have. IE, spawning items for themself, using buildmode to circumvent the inround log alerts, aghosting to locate people and hunt them down as security.

In your opinion, what the biggest problem with the server right now?
->As it stands, my two big issues are:
+There are not enough 'minor' events that touch a large number of characters.
+Some Gamemasters have reported to me being uneasy about touching lored or whitelisted species.

How would you have it resolved?
->From my perspective, I just want to see more *little* events. Newscasters reporting on lore changes in an everchanging galaxy. Things feel a little static in the galaxy at large right now, you don't hear much about anything that doesn't have to do with Virgo itself. Which is, understandable, but it's such a missed opportunity for character drama and development in my eyes.

I've also noticed that a lot of GMs don't want to do species-related events because they're afraid of stepping on the toes of Loremasters. We -live- in the Zorren homesystem system, but we never hear about what they're doing, how they're progressing. Wars on their planet, the state of terraforming, or even about the Zorren precursors. I've only ever seen one Zorren event, and that was the last time we were on Rascals. And it was *super cool*. I loved it, even if I couldn't participate, it was a reminder that this isn't *just* Nanotrasen's system.

Shadekin congregate here like mad, but there's rarely events regarding new 'kin phasing into space here, black-eyed and wounded and waiting for ITG to come pick them up. There's more Phasekin events at least, which is *nice* though, I will say that!

What's going on in at Sol? NT is a transtellar corporation, technically *almost* a pseudo-government in and of itself, but largely it's still a *human* run company. Anything happening in Sol space should probably have rippling effects all throughout the frontier. What about the long and uneasy peace between the Hegemony and the Commonwealth? What're the diplomatic overtures at play?

These are all things that could affect and interest players in the universe. People who play these species are affected by these things. **THAT** is what I want to help with. I just don't see much of it right now.

What about the Ares Confederation formenting revolt against the Commonwealth Government? There's so much newscaster and event fodder tied up in that.

AI and Drone rights, the diplomatic relationship between Zorren and their distant Vulpkanin genetic cousins, rampant genemoding in the Commonwealth, the Consensus flexing their technological superiority over the Hegemony and the Commonwealth. These are all cool points to write about and bring up in newscasts and in events on the server.

Obviously there's so much more I'm not touching on here, (Tensions about the EC and various freeports, smuggling rings, the Tajaran, the Salthan Fyrds and their ongoing status as an aggressor state between the Hegemony and the Commonwealth, The relations between the Consensus and the Counter Culture fleets, Vox and Ur-katish raiders, etc etc) but I don't want to rattle on and on about ideas.

I want to work with Loremasters and other Gamemasters to make cool things happen with their writing. Collaboration is fun!

Consider the following questions, and answer in your own words:

What kinds of events are you most interested in running in general?
->Small potatoes events that won't disrupt the entire serverbase. Custom Newscaster lore events, species-related events for any Loremasters that will work with me. I want to help make the galaxy breathe and seem like an organic, living entity.

The goal of these events is to give the players talking points, and let -them- do the roleplaying, not to give them a script.

Describe a larger event you would like to run.
->Ideally, I won't run very many of these. I'm always happy to *help* other GMs with their events though, I have a pretty decent grasp of buttons, and two eyes on an event are always better than one. .. Plus, collaboration is *fun*.

But, to come up with one of my own? I'd use the frontier station as neutral grounds for hosting publicized diplomatic debates that may or may not include foreign or domestic attempts to sabotage them and paint a party, and NT in a bad light.

For example, I keep bringing them up, but they seem like such a great point of *contention* in the lore; the Hegemony and the Commonwealth, angry about recent Salthan aggressions, is demanding that the Commonwealth do something to reign in their upstart colony before 'drastic measures are taken'. There would be an attempt on the Unathi ambassador's life by a Salthan patriot, and depending on how Security and Command handle the situation, different outcomes can be achieved that might affect the ongoing story of the galaxy.

It could end in friendlier relations with the Commonwealth and NT in general, economic sanctions from the Hegemony to the Commonwealth, or even a retaliatory attack on a Salthan colony, furthering tensions between the two star nations.

How might you go about selecting volunteers for your event?
->Loremasters can certainly help pick, but generally I want to pick people that have an idea of what they're getting into. Picking names out of a hat won't work for what I like doing, if they're not invested in the lore and the character they'll portray, they probably won't sell it well. That's not a hard rule by any means, but I'm likely to be a little bit picky.

For more general purpose events, I'm happy to advertise for volunteers, though!

Consider your event, what kinds of problems do you think you might run into, both in running the event, and from the players during the event?
->In an event that's mostly roleplay related, I would think the largest problem would probably just be someone lacking the knowledge on a certain talkpoint.

How would you handle those problems?
-> With knowledge, of course. I want to give characters a background of the situation they're speaking of, and talk-points, but not tell them how to go *about* those points. That part, I want to be as fluid and as organic as possible, because.. that's part of what makes RP fun. It could diverge into something wildly unexpected, or it could FAIL. Talks could dissolve entirely, the ambassadors could storm away in a huff.

NT would ultimately give the heads a nudge to try and get them talking again, but even if that doesn't work? I can still make failure interesting.

Most of all, the biggest solution to handling problems with roleplay-based events is to remain adaptable and flexible. Roll with the punches, and make *whatever* choice the players make an **interesting** choice, and something they can feel for. Maybe they won't always feel good about it, but it's important that they *feel*.

Moving on from talking about your event specifically…

You noticed that the exploration team has made their way to virgo four, how might you spice up their time there?
->Oh, I love Menhir, so many fun *activities*. Maybe they find a lost bloodbounder, wounded and stranded in the cave and can get him/her back to the station. Bringing them back to health gives NT good will with An-Tahk-Et, and perhaps leads into a second event where the team of folks that rescued the wayward noble end up being formally thanked by the royal family, with a plentitude of gifts and a celebration hosted in their honor at Anur.

It increases relations, it gives Zorren more showtime on the station and drums up interest for the species, and it makes players feel good, because they did a good thing and it *mattered* to the lore and their own personal stories.

You noticed that a miner or an explorer has run into some trouble out and away from the station, do you help them? How, if so?
->It strongly depends on the situation. If their own stupidity got them there, that's on them. If it's just super unfortunate circumstances, like.. they have a broken leg, they're in pain crit and they can't call for help because they're on V-2, or Menhir's comms are dead? Yeah, I'm happy to give them a little nudge. Maybe there's a wayward lost drone wandering around, I can get a volunteer from the Ghost Brigades to man it.

Maybe -they're- the ones found by a Zorren explorer, and they can patch the dude up enough to walk again.

Maybe all I need to do is set off an emergency beacon for them, so the station can help their own.

Adaptability, options, and roleplay are availible in every choice.

You noticed that four people who look like they might be trouble have appeared on the station. Their flavortext and ooc notes perhaps leave something to be desired and they are obviously working together. But they don’t seem to be hostile, they seem to have some kind of silly gimmick going. A concerned ahelp has come in about it. What do you do?
->I'm happy to help develop the playerbase's understanding of the lore and their character's place in it, as well as introduce them to the server and its mechanics.

I don't necessarily think that silly gimmicks are a bad thing, either. We employ clowns, from the clown planet and mimes from god knows where. I've seen our clown mob sprites. I *know*. If, however, it's a *disruptive* gimmick, that's something I'll ask them to tone down on, and perhaps offer them advice on how they can continue to play their character as they have it, but with less of a disruptive focus.

Someone is vocally upset about how things have played out during an event that you were involved with, what do you do?
->Live and let live. I can't please everyone, as much as I make the effort. I'm happy to take criticism at any point, I welcome it whole-heartedly. Maybe they have valid points, and can help me improve my game for the next time!

I will not get into an argument over lore, or how an event played out. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Someone is being verbally abusive and disruptive in general. How would you handle this?
->Ask them, politely, to refrain. If they do not, give them a day-ban and/or send it up the chain to a proper administrator.

What prior admin/moderator/management experience do you possess, if any?
->I was a TG-style gamemaster, then host of Minerva and Hypatia station, both HRP (nonvore) servers years back (2011-15ish), and more recently I've been the Headmin for Eclipse/The Northern Light, a furry-friendly Eris-downstream run by Nestor.

Finally, what unique aspects of yourself can you bring to the staff? What can you bring to the team that is, in your opinion, needed?
->A chill demeanor, fun roleplay and many an opportunity for collaborative story building/boarding.

[Enzo Leon]

Ye

[lira]

Great application, strong RP'er, thoughtful and reasonable person.

Strong support.

[VerySoft]

Good app, I like your interest in cool stuff happening! Support

[Kenzie]

Sure I support this.

[digi5]

I have a bit of a bias here as a decently long time friend of Slovak's, but also, I genuinely think this is an incredibly easy support for me.

You've has been around for a long time in both virgo, and ss13 as a whole, your experience shows, and most of all, your passion. You have a fervent passion not just for any individual piece of virgo, but for roleplaying as a whole unit, you're a master class at worldbuilding and improv writing, you manage to forge impressive characters out of it and inspire others to do similar just through your actions and interactions with other folks. It's what I've always tried to do and you nail that vibe incredibly well. On top of this you're relatively laid back as a person without being so laid back you're uncaring, in fact you've shown a lot of care to me and other folks of the community at different times. This application shines to me as a perfect balance of someone who understands how our server functions and why it's the way it is, while seeing ways to make things, and more importantly, players, shine. You've already consulted with me over weird little things in zorren lore that show me how well you understand the workings of a character and I'd love to see what you bring to the table. My genuine only concern with you is you might actually go too far with your tendency towards wacky gremlin chaos, but I think you're self-aware enough to read the room and know when to do your chaotic shtuffs. On top of all this despite your talks about wanting to do more lore-heavy stuff as opposed to vorny things, I have no doubts you'd be perfectly capable to help that on a smaller level knowing your charisma when it comes to vorny antics, and unlike during the last round of hiring I think we desperately need more lore heavy GMs at the moment. I'd be happy to work with you.

[PontifexMinimus]

I'll add that I have a bias as well, since Slovakiani is my fwiend.

However, I do support it beyond that.

He is a fairly active player in the community and shows clear and passionate involvement in the world - whether this be for the vore (which he does plenty of, I assure you) or for the world the loremasters have constructed. I admit I quizzed this dude before with phrases, concepts and facts about the lore IC before and they show that they both know OOCly and can just speculate ICly as well. I agree with Digi's assessment that they are very proficient in improvisation and worldbuilding so this is pretty much a plus in my books. We have a lot of vorny events (good) by now, so I would appreciate someone who wants to work together with me for the smaller, flavourful things we do to give something more of a bite to our world.

Which I find just neat, so.

Yeah, support!

[satinisle]

I don't know you particularly well, minus a few pleasant interactions. So I'm mostly basing my opinion off of your application, and I give a support.

I would also like to see more frequent smaller events that aren't announced, and having them be more about the extended lore of the server to give people a chance to actually interact with it is very exciting to me! Your application is well written, you clearly understand the lore that you want to base your events around and your methods sound like they'll fit in just great.

[Scree]

ye, I like. I especially like the part about smol events to keep the shifts in between the big events interesting. Support.

[Killian]

Honestly I'm kind of surprised it took you this long to file some kind of staff application!

As for actual events, the last couple zorren events - aside from the rescues? - didn't go over so well, or kinda fizzled out 'cause I know at least one of them was touching a bit too close to home given a variety of current events, so that's why we haven't heard much about them lately I think.

Can't stop coming back, it seems~

This game is a parasite. The only escape is death; yours, or its.