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No, that's just irresponsible sec officers.

Coincidentally, YESTERDAY I had a SUCCESSFUL experience with codewords .. I noticed someone following me .. and then I decided to use a drink name (codeword) in a conversation I started about what his favorite drink was. He asked why I was so .. curious (curious was a code response) .. then I told him my favorite drink was (code word drink name) .. and even used more codewords. It was glorious

So there's some problems with the Karma system at present. Players reward it to other players for Robustness or Saving them, rather than roleplay. Additionally, species unlocks are tied to karma - which seems largely arbitrary because attempts are made to 'balance' the races, so why is there disparity in the costs? Rarity? Roleplaying experience? I've been thinking about this, I'd like to offer up my suggestions for discussion: Earning/Rewarding Karma: Problem: To be honest, so long as this is largely in the player's hands, this is something that you can't really regulate. Players will give karma at random, or maybe for (what some consider) the wrong reasons. Or, more commonly, not at all. Proposed solutions: Give a notice about Karma in the window as the shuttle departs from the station if it hasn't been spent. This way they have time to think about awarding karma, rather than being in the end-of-round-grief fervor Allow admins to give more karma than players, and encourage it for people who roleplay well, contribute to making the round interesting, or just play their role well. (That security officer who follows SoP and Space law to the letter should be rewarded!) Give a notification in chat that a player has earned karma. Maybe with a delay so that they do not simply reward karma back to the person who gave it to them, but let it act as a reminder that the system exists. Allow(Require?) notes to be added from the karma-giver, and allow them to be read by the karma-receiver. anonymized to the reader (but not to admins) Spending/Using Karma: Problem: Species which are alien and more interesting are put behind (in my opinion) arbitrary costed karma locks. There are only hand a handful of jobs related to karma, and of those only a few make sense. (Why is Mechanic and barber behind karma? They're glorified assistants.) Proposed solutions: Remove species locks from Karma. Tie them to the hours played system. Or, nothing at all. Put more careers behind karma locks: Captain/HoS/Warden/RD/HoP/CMO/AI. Roles that can have a severe impact on the enjoyment of other players. Not a high cost, but something that makes the player consider what they actually want to focus on and learn. Add more jobs behind karma locks with the theory that "These jobs have access to things that, in the hands of a poor player, could cause harm to the round" (Gateway Explorer, for example) Paying for Loadout items, like a cyborg visor, as a permanent addition to one's inventory. Allow players to pay Karma for Antag tokens and ask for an antag type, with the conditions that: 1) Admins can straight up deny it any reason (that they are not provided to give you) and 2) Use at your own risk. If you end up as a traitor in a blob round, well, have fun e-swording a blob! The last point I'd like to add to: Something that I noticed whenever there's admin trickery about: A lot of the population has a lot of expectations with regards to the round. For example, the second it's determined that it's "WIZNERDS!!", everyone's mindset shifts to block out what can't happen. I think this is a mistake, and people need to be kept on their toes. Some of my favorite rounds have strange mixes of antagonists. "There's a door emagged open, but I just saw a wizard, what's going on?" Some of my favorite moments have also been generated from unique objectives - such the Kidan Empress that had to steal all the Heads' rubber stamps, and did so through various meetings with them.

You can remove IDs inserted into a PDA with Alt-Click, which is really nice. However, I find myself needing to remove a pen far more often than an ID (and I assume this is the case with most people). I suggest adding a new shortcut to remove pens in the form of Ctrl-Click. Coding difficulty: Probably low. I'm not a coder, but this (I assume) just involves some copy-paste of whatever code allows IDs to be removed, with changes to account for pens and Ctrl-Click. Thoughts?

Just gonna say, generally if you give a zealot time to prepare for their suicide mission they waste time until the effects wear off.

*Echos of the barber laughing maniacally in the distance*

I remember i saw this one traitor stealing the same magboots i needed to steal. I went back to my work area and waited till he stashed it. He came to me later and was asking me for psychological help. AH YES. I GOT IT *WINK* (Insert first part of code work into sentence) He did not understand. I used all code words. He did not understand. I told him to come back to my office so I could treat him. It was not until he stunned me, cuffed me to the chair and was about to force feed me poison did i have to blurt out that i was a traitor. He didn't know until that point. Like if you're a traitor at least try and remember some of the phrases.

Do not disassemble a window if you are in space while standing in front of it. This kills the man (or IPC).

Absolutely this. Most the time I see karma given or get karma for myself, it isn't roleplay that did it, it was because someone did something meme-y or mechanically impressive (Soloing Nuke Ops, etc.) In my case, it's usually for making surgery quick an painless. Not because I put effort into posts or tried to interact.

The Missionary Set (Staff, Robes, and a standard bible) is a 15 TC purchase available only to the chaplain. This is 75% of your TC for what is effectively a re-usable mindslave which can only be recharged while you are wearing the robes and holding the staff. They also are obtainable from a surplus crate, which is all your TC for a CHANCE to get one. You cannot convert people who are already mindslaves or zealots (though ironically you can convert a vampire's thrall), and attempting to do so wastes 25 of your current faith reserves. Attempting to convert a person with a mindshield implant has an 80% chance to fail and waste 75 faith, and uses extra faith if you manage to succeed which results in a longer recharge time. Additionally, if you succeed, the zealot only remains under your sway for 5 minutes, half the normal zealot duration. Attempting to convert the librarian or psychologist has a 35% chance to fail and waste 50 faith. Converting a victim requires they remain within view of you for 4 seconds, during which time you cannot move or swap hands off the staff. Getting bumped by a passerby is enough to break your concentration, causing the attempt to fail. Losing sight of the victim makes you lose 25 faith, but you don't lose faith if your concentration is broken. The robes recharge their staff at a rate of 5 faith per object process (roughly 2 seconds) as long as the robes are worn and the staff is within 3 tiles of the wearer, and you must have 100 faith in order to convert someone. This means, on average, you can convert 1 person each minute, and the average duration of conversion is 10 minutes. When I coded the item, I specifically made the conversion message say "You now must lay down your life to protect them and assist in their goals at any cost." because religious fervor can convince people to do some VERY stupid things in the name of their god. However, you are still not mindless, it doesn't say you must follow their every word exactly. If a chaplain tells you to kill yourself for him, you are well within rights to attempt to persuade him you are more use to him alive than dead. If you are his assassination target, you don't have to use the suicide verb because he tells you to, you could bash your face in with a fire extinguisher instead... In the end you being dead is what his goal was. As for being unable to tell when someone is a zealot... Their jumpsuit's inventory icon will change to red or blue (depending on the color of the missionary staff used), though this does require taking the item off them to check. I never did get it to work where the on-mob sprite recolored properly... In short, the item(s) are powerful, which is why they cost so much and are only reliably available to a single job. The item isn't the issue, it's the mentality of the users and victims.

Codewords, that's another thing, and communication between traitors: There is a serious lack of working together from what I experienced so far. I usually buy the syndicate encryption key which also gives me access to the traitor channel. I always ask: "Is anyone here?" - - Nope I try to use codewords if they're not too ridiculous at times, but there are barely responses.

I can say for sure that karma is not given to good roleplay in the majority of the times. Theres tons of players that have vox and IPC or whatever else race unlocked and they do absolutely nothing to even uphold the RP of that species or even general RP.

My vox chef character would like to have a word with you. Regarding the topic, however, I do think that raising the prices on IPCs or vox would be a good idea. We use karma as a means of increasing roleplay, and those who unlock those races are generally capable of upholding it. The prices are really small for what they are, however, so it somewhat falls flat depending on your player.

Law 1: Keep the station under quarantine. Law 2: Act like a kinda normal lawset for everything else. Law 3: Allow this lawset to be changed when the situation is over. Law 4: Captain is Comdom Law 5: Comdom is Captain Something like the laws 1-3 there, but worded properly.

I am probably too proud of this.

This can't be implemented in a fair way. As it is, earning is very inconsistent. If we suddenly have admins handing it out it will only make matters worse. We've had this discussion in staff chat a few times and there's really no way to make sensible guidelines on a subject so wide. The specifics would probably need to be worked out, but I strongly agree with the fact that we need a karma rework. The system is flawed in an incredible amount of ways, the decisions behind its numbers make zero sense and everything in general would use a second look-over. I like what you've proposed so far, other than the Heads/AI being locked thing. If we don't have the right karma thresholds set, we might end up without elligible people for the roles.

Vulvakin and catbeasts should be shaveable for fur. Vox should give feathers. Opens up a whole lot of options for a morally flexible maint hobo tailor.