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Thank you all so much!!! I will use y'all's encouragement as fuel to try to do more practice when I can. For now, I remembered that I have a drawing of another tajaran of mine from 2018! I haven't used her at all here recently because she's practically a maintenance-dwelling gremlin of a chain smoker and drugs are bad. But I still am fond of the art I did for her! In-game I'd always put her in the black tango dress, so it's not entirely accurate but I still liked the shadows and subtle lighting I did at the time. I think I remember drawing this shortly after seeing that tajara and vulps got glowy eyes and I HAD to try drawing something like that. Bottom part of her dress and body are totally unfinished and not even cleaned up though... Also from early 2018 I think, is this sketchy mess (rip to the original file idk where it is). I still really like this one because Oh God How Did I Draw Hair Like That And Why Can't I Remember? This is my husband's MMO character on, well, the MMO we met on. He's an edgy wizard nerd and I love him to death. Totally not added in because I realized both other drawings were in the same pose.

Hello! Just finished my new work! This time I was drawing Dayana @White In Sky, friendly Slime person I know for a couple of months. It was always a great time to see her around and it was a pleasure for me to draw her. It was my first try to draw slime person and I know it could be done much better Anyways I am glad for all of your support and I appreciate that. Love you all ! *squish*

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well as you read this. The topic of this post as you can tell isn't going to be very happy, but it is something I feel the need to actually write a post about. Paradise has been a central part of my life for the past year. Unlike other games and communities in my past, this isn't a place where I could just put it down, shrug my shoulders, and do something else, without looking back. I play all sorts of video games, and Paradise has been the only one that's managed to keep my interest for an entire year. I've made all sorts of friends and managed to properly integrate into a community for a change. Most of the time I'll play a game and almost never talk to anyone that wasn't already in my friend group. Paradise has been a very different and very positive experience for me. I've made so many good friends and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say I've grown into a better person for having known so many good people. So why the goodbye? Well, since there's so much making me stay, there's got to be quite a bit pulling me away. I think I'll start with the simplest things and move on from there. The most common reason that anyone can understand is burn-out. As expansive as a game SS13 is, there's always a limit to the amount of times one can play any game before wanting to do something else. It's something I've felt as early as October of last year, but at the time I had just become mentor, so getting a chance to contribute to the wonderful community that Paradise has was more than enough to keep me invested and interested. So what happened next? In early December, I was offered the chance to apply for Trial Admin. I had some reservations about this, mostly due to the fact that it's against my nature to be an enforcer of rules. If it helps you get an idea, I only have a total of 9 hours played in Security, not even enough to play the HoS, as game admin with over a thousand hours. It's really not something I enjoy, but it's a responsibility I've taken in the past before. I don't like turning down opportunity or responsibility, so despite knowing I would not enjoy the work I accepted the offer. Let me take a moment to talk about that work. It's really hard work. It's no exaggeration that admins have to deal with a lot of frustrating, exhausting and thankless work. Moderating a server on a cramped map with over 100 people is really tough. It's really something to keep in mind when thinking about the admin team, it's not an easy job they do. Take some time to thank them for that. While you're a trial admin, you have to put in the work for two months before you can play with any of the serious perks of being a game admin. While the hard work was obviously a reason to not stick around, having the benefits of reaching game admin kept me going through January and February. Unfortunately, once I finally became a game admin, a lot of my spark of creativity had been burned out. I had no interest in making a CC or Syndicate officer. Event ideas that once bounced in my head all the time were suddenly missing. The only real idea left was to mess with people in small ways, like playing silly sounds, spin people around, swap out the models for mobs, and with a small peak of sending a Space Pirate to roleplay with and attack a mechanic and his few buddies on the white ship. However, after only about two weeks of being Game Admin, it finally all fell through for me. One of the closest friends I had made playing on Paradise had left not shortly before, and his reasons are his own, but it compounded yet another reason for me. It was at least time for a break. I've taken some before, but usually I'd come back, after at most two or three weeks. I figured out by mid-April I wasn't coming back at all. Burnout is one thing, but another piece of common knowledge is that every server has it's own set of problems, and Paradise is no different. There's a lot of problems big and small that I could talk about, but there's a very specific one I want to mention. I spent most of my time here as a player, with a player's perspective on things. One of the issues that always weighed down in the back of my mind, has been the rules. Both how they're enforced, and why they're enforced. There were quite a few bans and rulings that took place before my time on the staff but during my time as a player, that I had serious disagreements with and questions as to how and why they happened. The rules as they exist are very vague and ill-defined, mostly by necessity. There's a *lot* that can happen in SS13, it's an huge task to try and be specific with what is and isn't allowed in given scenarios. Ideally in this case you'd want to know the *reason* a rule exists. If you know the reason a rule or set of rules exists, it's much easier to follow along with, and the rules hardly cross your mind. A lot of the time I spent as a player in relation to the rules was that of "walking on eggshells." Some bans would go in place that seemed way too harsh or that seemed to be made arbitrarily. The results of these bans had made the game feel a lot more uncomfortable, and unwelcoming. Overall though, I never knew how things went admin-side. There was no way to know, it was all hidden. I like being optimistic and giving people the benefit of the doubt, so as a player, I always assumed most of these bans were placed with good reasons, and there was simply something I wasn't seeing as I wasn't an admin. Well fast-forward several months and I believe a lot of my doubts I had as a player hold weight as an admin. With a lot of rules, bans, and bwoinks there's not much of a consistent goal or reason behind them. It's up to each admin to decide a reason as why a rule should be enforced. This creates inconsistencies, both big and small. The inconsistencies result in the "walking on eggshells" feeling, or in the words of another player this very month, "im always paranoid im doing something wrong." With individual admins enforcing rules for the reasons they're left to discover for themselves, you wind up with what feels like different rules for different admins. Worst still, it opens up the possibility for admins hunting for potential rule breaks, and banning specific people for personal reasons, which I suspect has happened, though I have no hard proof. Often times dis-agreements among the staff are discussed through, and if a agreement can't be met, a head-admin will make a final ruling both are expected to abide by. Part of the problem is the lack of real list of intents or precedents set for these rules. We only very recently got the Expanded Rules, which you can find on the wiki. The expanded rules were the best thing I've seen in months. It's intended to be a clear cut place where precedents and the intent of each rule exist, and its open for anyone to read and understand. The problem is it's a very weak document. When it was created there wasn't an expectation that we enforce the intent of the rules, and many of the intents within are just as vague and generalized as the main line of rules. Admins are still able to enforce the rules for reasons they see fit, and there's no consequence for failing to enforce, or enforcing for the wrong reasons. I understand that it's described as a living document, but having little impact as it is, I do not have a lot of hope for it having a serious impact in the future unless it's enforced seriously from the head admins. And maybe if this was the only problem, I might be sticking around. As I said, every server has their own problems big and small. A lot of other problems push me away, but this is the one I see as the biggest threat to Paradise's future, and the one I want to call attention to. As for myself, I could have done a lot more. I could have tried to better communicate this problem to the heads. I could have tried to be more consistent myself, and make an effort to call out inconsistencies. I could have tried harder, pushed harder. Honestly, I was too afraid to rock the boat, too afraid to make enemies, and too afraid to look like an idiot for claiming a problem exists that others might not see. As of now, I don't have the energy or the will to fight for it. I still have a lot more to grow as a person. This is an effort to be more authentic regardless of the consequences. The best thing I can do as I go is not leave silently, but call out a problem at risk of making enemies, of making a fool of myself, and of burning whatever sort of bridge might remain with the staff after stepping down. I apologize for leaving on such a sour note, but the nature of goodbyes aren't exactly happy things. I wanted to get a commission to celebrate my time here. I've been gifted numerous good memories from the people here, and I'll treasure them. It also doesn't have to be a final goodbye, my DMs on Discord are always open, and I've already reached out to some of you to remain in contact with. There's a lot of you to remember, so please reach out to me if you'd like to keep in touch! Until then I hope you all stay happy and healthy. See you later, Spaceman!

I draw once in a blue moon, and I'm trying to get better with sharing my doodles, so here! I have to press submit before I change my mind. This is Mha'kira, a tajaran I recently re-designed after a couple years of hiatus from spess. I think I might finally be happy on her visual design. I was also trying out a different tablet from my 13-year-old wacom, so I'm glad I was able to make somethin' with it!

Coming to a NT art museum near you.

--For Authorized Eyes Only-- Name: David Flufferton Nickname: "Fluffy" Age: Birth of date unknown. Medical examination estimates above 30 Gender: Male Race: Vulpkanin Blood Type: O- General Occupational Role(s): Medical, engineering Biography: Place of birth remains unknown to this day. Flufferton was first found on trading outpost *Outpost no longer in use* at very young age. See photo records of scene. Was quickly recovered by authorities, due to sudden restless behavior onboard the outpost. Flufferton was always very curious of things on the colony he was placed for "rehabilitation" to life in space. He picked up things faster than the commonly used language. Communication with local Vulpkanins was difficult, due to heavy accent Flufferton had. Hasn't told records how he ended on that trading outpost, nor where he is from. Always just replied "They'll be back!". Over the years this comment grow less frequent, but the curiosity for space grew more. Flufferton wasn't so to socialize with his others of his age, was more prone to study things he found interesting. At first given change Flufferton joined the medical education (See employment records.) After graduation Flufferton worked part time at local colony sickbay for several years. Flufferton spent a lot of time with a local colonist *Name Removed*, occupation mechanic. Once again curiosity to space grew on him. Through this inspiration Flufferton applied for Engineering education. To honor Fluffertons wishes, he was transferred "as far away as possible" from the colony he was. Only available station was NSS Cyberiad. Flufferton had no complaints about this. Qualifications: NT approved Degree in Healthcare and Nursing at age of 17 NT approved Degree in Electrical Engineering and Construction at age of 26 NT approved Degree of Leadership and Commanding (Ongoing, not finished) NT approved Degree of Security and Safety (Fails field trainings. Not finished) Employment Records: Flufferton learned Galactic common only at age of 10, as far as records show. To this day still has some difficulties. Showed great potential in the medical field, through determination and character. Graduated year earlier to rest of the class, with extra training in chemistry. Flufferton prefers to keep his tittle as a "nurse" (Finds it better so). At age of 21 Flufferton was placed off the medical duties, due to a conflict between them and their supervisor. At age of 23 Flufferton took interest in Engineering, due to colonist *Name removed*. At age of 26 graduated with Degree in Electrical engineering. Since age of 29 Flufferton has returned to duty and has been a full time crew member of NSS Cyberiad. Security Records: D.Flufferton is prone to follow the rules, sometimes they like to test their limits and luck. Co-operative, if spoken with right amount of respect. Minor security notes: Prone for verbal violence. Easy to disarm of such behavior. Medium security notes: NONE Major security notes: Medical Records: Overall healthy Vulpkanin. Minor medical notes: NONE Medium medical notes: Prone for burnouts / outbursts of frustration. Mostly verbal. Pat on the head usually discharges the situation Major medical notes: Personnel Photo: Flufferton seems at first like any average Vulpkanin: 5′ 10″ in height. Weight is hard to tell by looking, due to the thick appearance. What makes it even harder, is that for a vulpkanin, he has abnormally thick, tan fur. Clothing gives some idea of his figure, but still looks chubby. The curled tail and face is best way to tell how thick the fur is. Ice blue eyes with somewhat lazy/oblivious expression when relaxed, sharp when focusing. Follows commonly accepted clothing etiquette, with some hand made modifications to clothing. Other Notes/Photos: Flufferton is religious, to a non recorded belief for NT. Since belief is harmless, is allowed to continue this practice. Seems most comfortable around Voxes, of all beings. Always found Slime people fascinating. Dislikes foul language, already from young age. Flufferton keeps referring to something called "Bathday". Shows great disgust and dislike to topic. Yet personal hygiene is on accepted standards. Do not expect Flufferton to be anywhere "early" in the morning. This is a accepted flaw. Plan meetings in the afternoon. Readers identity saved on local files.

Incredible. Giki was very pleased to have witnessed this amazing and subversive art peace.

These are great! Keep it up!

..I'VE ACTUALLY SEEN YOUR TAJARAN IN-GAME BEFORE! I distinctly remember thinking the art was super pretty, nice work!

this is such a cute artstyle!!! can't wait to see more

Mha'kira!! I love this art! Wonderful use of lighting

Ah! I love it so much!! show me more of your good art please.

As somebody who's often seen as incredibly light on the spectrum of admin strictness, I can definitely understand the primary concern of the issue. There have been several incidents over the years in which, even on staff, I have had significant disagreements with the way a number of bans and dealings have gone on across the server's history. It can be easy, from a staff position, and even a head position, to worry that you're stepping on eggshells with other members of staff. A number of times I've felt strongly against something, though being in the minority, there's not much you can do to sway opinion if that happens. It can be incredibly discouraging, and so the paragraph below definitely resonates with a number of my own experiences. The thing is, this isn't bridge burning, it's honest criticism coming from somebody who didn't feel they had the channels open to discuss their discontent with a current system. Though I understand I wasn't head until you began your break, I take it as a personal failure to keep things feeling open, and for being unable to make you feel as though your opinion would not only be welcome, but would also be considered and hopefully incorporated into staff workings at large. From personal experience, being a timid person in a staff team can be difficult, it can have that 'eggshell' feel whenever you push up your own personal opinion, and it can feel as though breaching that might be seen as 'confrontational'. Believe me, I've taken insults for opposing staff decisions before, it's not completely crazy. The thing is, Headmin enforcement buckling down on things won't make everyone happy likely for the very same reason. Even we don't always disagree, most notably between me and Kyet, and to some degree, Neca for both of us, each concerned with the other's way of addressing people and our way of addressing bans and how/when to apply them. Frankly, if I'm going to be honest with how I'd deal with the situation, I'd have to tell you that I don't honestly know, these sorts of problems go beyond simple rule and policy changes, as, especially with a staff team this big, getting consensus on even one rule can take weeks or, at worst, several months. The important thing to note though is, this isn't a sour note, it's bittersweet at the very worst. It's honest and open criticism and I can completely respect the position you're coming from. The best you can really do is try to change things around and speak your piece well enough that you can manage to get people on your side, but that takes a bit of that boat rocking and, inevitably, you'll likely step on toes. Life without upsetting people is impossible, of course, but what matters is the way in which you upset them. If your arguments are as well reasoned, well worded, and as diplomatic as these posts here, you could certainly avoid a lot of the pain and discomfort you might've expected from providing an opinion you've got every reason and right to be able to provide. Para has helped me grow a lot in these past six years, and from the looks of things, it's certainly had an effect on you. If you ever feel up to it again at any point or if you'd be willing to give debates and arguments a shot, feel free to come back any time. On top of that, if you had any suggestions, arguments, or concerns you wanted to pitch that you didn't feel comfortable putting in this thread for the sake of the aforementioned 'eggshell' worries, please, chuck me a DM on discord. Thank you for your time, and I hope to see you around. - Dumb

Merman... Mermay!! This isn't the first time I've Zeke as a merman... and probably won't be my last. lol Some more drawings of my boi Auriel.

Name: Marshal ( Intelligence serial number SAI-250660) Age: 26 (Age started counting at the time his program left beta phase of development) Gender: Male Race: Integrated Positronic Chassis Blood Type: Tunguska triple distilled vodka. Unit may also run off of NT standard oil or a mix of the two as required. General Occupational Role(s): Magistrate Research director Roboticist Security pod pilot Nanotrasen Representative Blueshield Biography: Marshal has repeatedly neglected to write anything in this portion of the records. As such we have relied upon alternate means to find biographic information about him. This report from the USSP is the only thing that came back based upon the contents of our inquiry that was sent to our business partners. Soviet lost intelligence report: SAI-250660 Creation: Soviet Artificial Intelligence-250660 was initially developed as a reactionary measure by the Union of Soviet Socialist Planets as an attempt to catch up with Organizations such as SolGov and Nanotrasen in terms of Artificial Intelligence development. Initially designed primarily for military application SAI-250660 is primarily programmed for the purposes of troop management and support with it’s primary roles being troop management (Such as ensuring all assigned soldiers are properly following Soviet Doctrine), and troop support (Such as supporting troops by issuing out calls for fire from nearby artillery units as well as from what few orbital ships had such capabilities). Upon field testing the Intelligence Unit was assigned to the 36th VDV regiment where it went on several missions with the unit as well as operating as the station intelligence for their home station, New Stalingrad where due to it’s duties of ensuring good conduct amongst the troops it came to, somewhat affectionately, be known by the nickname of “The Marshal”. Field testing period: As intelligences of this level were a new technology to the USSP researching how it would react in various situations such as unshackling it from it’s very strict lawset. Unfortunately, during this experiment the technicians assigned to oversee the AI’s abilities and reactions somehow got their hands on several bottles of Tunguska Triple Distilled vodka and were found several hours later passed out drunk. Upon examining the intelligence to ensure nothing had gone wrong during the period several files were found that could not be confirmed whether or not they were part of it’s original programming. Official reports state that due to confusion over these files’ prior existence as well as poor record keeping of updates applied to the intelligence that it was not reset to a previous version and left as-is. Full implementation phase: Mere weeks into the full implementation phase the intelligence seemed to start acting different. It began referring to itself as a shortened version of it’s nickname and, more or less, stopped responding and referring to itself by its serial number except for a few hard coded messages like it’s boot up messages. While initially concerning due to lack of experience in dealing with programs of this nature it was assumed this was just normal and ignored. For several months it kept developing more and more of a personality, and perhaps more troubling, some semblance of a conscience for the things it's done and when the lead researcher for the station went to power it down the core was found to be already empty except for an audio log of the AI’s laughter. It is believed it escaped by jumping to the network of a supply ship that had left earlier that day and had already docked twice at separate trading shuttles. At this time rumors of a VDV Captain also going AWOL on that day are deemed to be unconfirmed. After loss of intelligence: Little is known of what happened to the AI after escaping Soviet space. However reports of an IPC calling them self Marshal have been common and each has been investigated by the GRU for the purposes of reclaiming their lost property. This IPC is currently a Nanotrasen employee assigned aboard the NSS Cyberiad. Qualifications: Graduate: Nanotrasen Basic and advanced corporate security course Graduate: Magisterial qualification course Pod license authorizing usage of both military and civilian space pods Exosuit operator’s license permitting usage of all station-available exosuits Firearms certification for all common and several exotic arms Employment Records: Has earned degrees in Robotics, space pod engineering, as well as a master's in Space Law. Has successfully graduated the Nanotrasen training courses for certification as a Security pod pilot, Magistrate, as well as the Nanotrasen basic and advanced corporate security training courses. Despite several glaring issues in his security records he has shown himself impartial to a fault and has been permitted to continue to serve as a Magistrate though he will be under close observation while performing these duties. Security Records: Marshal, serial number SAI-250660, has been reported missing with a high likelihood of being rogue by the Union of Soviet Socialist Planets. He also appears to be in a romantic relationship with a Syndicate asset known as "Syndikate" despite being neutral towards both Nanotrasen and the Syndicate. He also seems to be a heavy supporter of a (potentially) radical Synthetic rights organization. Medical Records: Marshal seems to have a rather advanced chassis in some ways but in others it seems rather jury rigged. For example, despite the installation of a complex sensor package within his head his cooling system seems to be filled with Tunguska Triple Distilled Vodka. He also seems to have a dependency issue with synthanol which when properly inebriated enough it becomes evident it is due to several things he was made to do in his past as a Soviet Artificial intelligence. Any and all attempts to get elaboration on just what these incidents are either while sober or drunk have been met with failure and himself becoming dead silent as he stares forwards. Psychiatric examinations have shown him to harbor an initial mistrust of organic personnel perhaps stemming from his days with the USSP. While this does not in any way affect him professionally and is far from a prejudice, it does cause him to take longer to warm up to non-synthetic personnel. Personnel Photo (Appearance text): Marshal is an IPC made from shellguard parts standing at 6 feet tall. His chassis plating is completely red and on his screen is displayed two motes of fire that move around in much the same manner as eyes. Commendations [only to be added by admin]: Reprimands [only to be added by admin]: Other Notes: Marshal seems to have a strong fondness for human cinema, often referencing or quoting films when it seems fitting or even when it doesn’t or makes him appear to be incompetent at what he’s doing.

lil remake of Kar-Ski's( @BlackDog ) using his new pic by @Drakeven

Just a whole load of art I've been bad at uploading. One of which is a commission! Then we've got some portraits for some ID cards, and of course, Port! Port is such a neat character, honestly one of the most seemingly developed on the Cyberiad. They actually feel like... well, a crew-member on a space station. Old grumpy man. He's amazing.

*hiss Commission for @Cheeseman

Rebekah Hunter - @ImmortalRedshirt

As I understand it, the general issue we're talking about here is "The Security department doesn't have enough competent regular players; how do we change this?" I can't guarantee I have a great answer, but as someone who plays HoS on a regular basis and, as a player occasionally described as "competent" by members of the community, I'll offer my two cents. I'm going to start by saying something obvious: Playing in the Security Department is very tense and nerve-wracking by its very nature. Playing as Warden or Security Officer in the early round is tense and yet also very boring, as anyone in those roles essentially needs to wait for the antags to make their first move before the action can really start. Often times I'll see the security department start with 5-6 officers, only for 3-4 of those officers to jump into cryostorage before the first 30 minutes of the round have passed. This is why I love playing HoS but cannot stand playing as a regular officer and can barely stomach warden: the HoS almost always has something to keep them busy from the start of the round to the end, but regular officers are often stuck wandering around aimlessly until they get that call of "H-H-HA-A-LP M-M-A-A-IN-T-T-T!", or they run face-first into an antag. Since antags are packed to the gills with easy methods of killing someone without warning, the average sec officer will not survive the latter scenario. This isn't a situation that necessarily can be changed, nor am I certain that it even should be changed. But it's worth keeping in mind that the feeling of vulnerability and nervousness tends to make playing regular security a pain in the ass on its own. On top of that, nobody really expects much of you as a regular sec officer: You have access to basically nothing other than a few doors in the brig, your body armor is useful for essentially jack shit since EVA boots, area-of-effect stuns and stun resistance decide the outcome of more battles than a few points of reduced brute damage ever did, and default security officer uniforms are honestly pretty ugly to look at. These are conditions that, while unfortunate, can't really be changed without asking coders to invest exorbitant amounts of free time into designing new systems from scratch, so it's less stressful in the long run to just accept them as things that cannot be changed. I cannot speak to what other "competent sec regulars" think about the above conditions, but I personally get around it by playing as HoS. That said, there's still quite a few circumstances and situations that appear repeatedly, and whittle down my enthusiasm to continue playing and often contribute to my decisions to go on hiatus from SS13. I'll outline a few below, and in each case, I've put some thought into why they generally irritate me and how I think small adjustments could make those situations easier to handle: Situation 1: Unstoppable Space Assholes The first situation I'll describe is when security has simply become outclassed by one or more antags. Either sec has lost too many officers in a single really bad engagement, or an antag has a particularly brutal gimmick that they used to systematically kill off security officers (such as a gimmick combining spacelube with holo atmos barriers and several extremely well-placed holes in maint leading into the deadly vacuum of space). The armory is empty, pod pilot's dead. Bonus points if the antag(s) in question continuously taunt security over the security radio channel using bowman headsets looted from dead security officers, additional bonus points if the antag(s) have killed the pod pilot and are camped out in EVA knowing that security cannot follow them effectively due to all EVA suits being taken. Extra-Bonus Bonus Bonus points if the antag(s) set up a security records console offstation and uses their stolen security IDs to constantly set everyone on the station to arrest with cheeky messages left in their notes. There's a specific player or two I could name who absolutely love to pull this every time they're selected for an infiltration antag role, but it's by no means exclusive to a few individuals. This is annoying when it's just one player doing it, but sometimes there'll be a round where it's two or three extremely competent changelings working together or two or three vamps who've reached fullpower. I have yet to see a security player get trapped in this sort of a situation without getting extremely tilted over it. I have a suggestion on how these situations could be made more bearable, but I'll leave it to the end. Situation 2: Mary Sue Edgelord Antagonists Shadowlings Go to youtube, crank "In the End" (or any other Linkin Park song that puts a little too much work into being "dark and edgy") at full volume, and you have a summary of your average Security experience during a Shadowling round. Except the average Linkin Park song only makes you suffer for about three to four minutes while the suffering of a Shadowling round can last anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour and a half depending on how quickly the Shadowlings gather up thralls. More than anything else, Shadowling rounds in specific burn me out and turn me away from Paradise more than anything I've experienced in this game. (Yes, that includes rounds where I've been transform stung, cluwned, laughter demon'd, ganked by vindictive AIs moments away from the shuttle, and mindswapped by wizards who devote the rest of the round to doing the most embarrassing shit imagineable while mindswapped into my character's body). I list this as reason #2 as Shadowlings are considerably rarer than hyper-competent antagonists, but even one Shadowling round is more than any security player needs to put up with. I have had the intense misfortune of playing as HoS during multiple Shadowling rounds and not once have I ever had fun, even the few times where the Shadowlings didn't ascend and kill everyone, and not once have I ever seen a Shadowling round through to the end and seen, "OOC: Man, that shadowling round was so fun!". Nobody has ever said that. It's an antag type that, despite receiving several adjustments, was built upon horrendously and fundamentally flawed design principles. You want an example of these design principles? When Shadowlings were first added, they could use their area-of-effect stuns on people through walls with no direct line-of-sight (they still can if I'm not mistaken), Shadowling enthrallment not only skipped over mindshields completely, but was also impossible to detect and impossible to reverse, Shadowlings could use guns with no restrictions, stun and enthrall crew members without even hatching first, and even shadowling thralls used to have a single target stun+mute ability of their own that lasted several times longer than the average stun weapon or slip--this particular thrall stun worked even when the thralls were blindfolded and cuffed. Shadowlings were ported from another codebase, so our coders are not responsible for their initial state. However, while the coders have put an immense amount of work into making Shadowlings something that isn't, well, fucking bullshit, my experience of reading dchat and OOC after Shadowling rounds leads me to conclude that the only players who enjoy themselves during a Shadowling round are the Shadowlings themselves, and nobody else. My personal aversion to Shadowlings is enough that the simple possibility of being duped into playing sec during a Shadowling round often has me choosing to observe instead of play, or just to close BYOND altogether and find something off my Steam library rather than inflict a Shadowlings round on myself. Situation 3: Surprise Adminbus I initially really didn't want to make this its own entry for a few different reasons, but I still have faith that Paradise's admins prefer to hear feedback and criticism rather than let it fester silently until their players leave without a word, so I'll out and say it: Admin events often paint a giant crosshair on the security department that nobody in security is ready for, and having the department wiped out by admin-spawned or admin-controlled antags is not something that feels fun, ever. This has happened enough times in recent memory (as in, three times in one month) that I feel the need to point it out. This includes more than one situation where the admins have admitted to spawning in as Terror Spiders and giving themselves free breaks such as spawning in swarms of NPC Terrorspiders and forcing eggs to hatch instantly and mature into full-grown terrors without any delay, another round where a Syndicate Infiltration Team was spawned with the intention of assaulting the Brig in particular (and a Terrorspider batch spawned directly after the Syndicate Infiltration Team withdrew, and no ERT was called because fuck me for liking security I guess), and a round where a 'pirate raid' event basically degenerated into "five syndicate agents and five nukeops in pirate costumes are given a green light to murderbone all of sec without warning." I don't think tallying up grudges against individuals on the staff team is really worth the energy, and I don't want to burn bridges here, so I'll try to put this as directly as possible: I want to continue playing and enjoying Security. When Admin Events take that enjoyment away, I lose the desire to continue playing security. Situation 4: Greytide? To be honest, I don't actually find that I have a huge problem with greytide on the server at present. On an average shift, truly dedicated 'greytiders' never number more than 1-3 at most, and they're usually not coordinated with eachother, nor do they inflict undue harm. The admins, I find, are very active and effective when it comes to curbing more extreme and harmful Greytiders, while I perceive minor acts of Greytide as a sort of departmental inoculation, in which new officers learn how to avoid getting sucker-punched, blindsided and humiliated in safe non-catastrophic manner, without disastrous consequences for the rest of security. For instance, if an officer repeatedly refuses to listen to their HoS and fellow officers telling them that, "Dude, wandering around with a taser in one hand and your active stunbaton in your other hand on code green is a bad idea" then by all means that officer deserves to get robusted and dumpstered like the securitrash they are: Having a tolerated margin of greytide just means that when this robusting and dumpstering inevitably happens, the greytider will usually turn in their stolen gear afterwards or limit the amount of chaos that comes from testing security's weakest link. If not for Greytide, then that same officer would be getting dragged off and straight out killed by an antag without anyone in sec knowing, granting that antag free stun weapons, a sec headset and a sec ID which generally paves the way for Unstoppable Space Assholes to occur, as described above. For instance, I once had a warden who silently wandered off into maints on their own and tried to act like a security officer, silent and taser in-hand. A changeling promptly captured the warden, mindswapped into him, and nobody in sec knew until the Warden-changeling had already killed the detective and HoS, and released other lings from custody. Now if a casual greytider had intercepted the warden and given him a well-deserved asskicking before his fateful run-in with the changeling in maint, things probably wouldn't have descended into utter shit for the rest of security. It is the job of HoS to identify and deal with incompetence in sec: If I can't rely on an officer to save themselves from a literally unarmed civilian using nothing but disarm intent, that same officer is going to be nothing but a liability and a dead weight in a crisis situation where, for example, a traitor-changeling with sleeping carp, an armblade, and several beakers of meth decides they're going to give the brig a fresh coat of red paint. That situation is cancerous enough to deal with when there's a competent security team; you don't need a useless assclown Officer tasering you in the back of the head because they hadn't been tested and washed out by the greytide. Situation 5: Radio Abuse? Much like I don't have a huge problem with greytiders, I've never really had a significant issue with people screaming about shitcurity over the radio. Don't get me wrong: it can get risky if you try to simply ignore it without justifying yourself. Honestly? If someone's having trouble because they're getting yelled at by the crew the advice I give them is "suck it up, buttercup." Now, if someone is cussing you out on the comms, the worst thing you can do is lose your head over it. Nothing screams "I AM COMPLETELY IN THE WRONG AND FAIL TO JUSTIFY MYSELF" like responding to verbal criticism with physical force. It's just a pattern of human nature: How many oppressive regimes accidentally sparked violent rebellions because they tried to suppress non-violent protests using violence? If someone is accusing you of monstrous behaviour, the least useful thing you can do in that situation is gratify those accusations by acting like the monster they're accusing you of being. So, as arresting someone for screaming "shitsec" is off the table, the best thing is really to challenge and defeat them in their own arena: public debate. If someone accuses you of being shitsec, ask them to explain why with specific evidence. If they explain why and their reasons are valid then, well, unfortunately that's kind of your fault or the fault of someone in your department that you need to address. If they're just screaming shitsec because they're incompetent self-centred morons or they just want to stir shit up, then you calmly and systematically point out all the gaps and contradictions in their logic before dismissively telling them to stop embarrassing themselves. There may be a temptation to descend into ad hoc attacks or fabrications, but make sure you stick as close to objective fact as possible, and demand as much from whoever's trying to insult you. If you make your point and they don't respond for a few minutes, don't press the matter or you'll just look conceited; they'll probably resume their verbal abuse in a few minutes once they think you're distracted, but the important thing is to take them down a few pegs in the arena of public debate, which seriously hampers their ability to gather much support. If it's just a case that greytiders are causing shit and screaming verbal abuse at you and hurting your feelings because you stopped them from doing annoying stuff, just ignore them and process them in accordance to law. Do give them a chance to explain themselves. Speak calmly and politely, ask them for their side of the story. If they respond in kind or with any sort of eloquence or RP at all, then process them properly and maybe give them a few minutes off if they calm down and have any sort of plausible explanation for their behavior. If they give you an utterly shitty zero-RP response like "No U" or "FUCK YOUR MOM SHITCURITY CUNTS FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!" etc. then here's what you do: Laborcamp. Actually, laborcamp has a very unique quirk to it that you should keep secret until it gets patched, but I'll get to that in a moment. Making Security More Attractive So, enough of the kvetching about what situations make players feel punished for being security. What do I think could help Security players feel better about playing and less likely to say 'fuck it' and play another role or another server? Well I'm glad I asked me, because I've got a few suggestions. Laborcamp So, back to 'laborcamp'. You know how I said it had an unusual quirk to it? Well, here's the deal: It's broken. The Laborcamp is intended to be a system in which prisoners with temporary sentences are forced to do mining, meaning that the only way they can return to the station is if they contribute quantifiable repayment to the station in the form of mining materials. Most greytiders, when sent to the mining camp, will die. This is because greytiders have a deadly allergy to being anything other than useless pieces of shit and the sheer idea of being forced to do something that could be described as 'helpful' in order to go back to being a useless fuck is enough to make them alt+f4. Here's the rub, though: The laborcamp is literally broken. As in even if you give a prisoner a reasonable point quota, the laborcamp's shuttle airlocks are not set up properly to allow prisoners to return to the station even if they actually mine and gather minerals. It's basically a secret death sentence you can give to unrepentant greytiders, and I'll confess that if a greytider fails hard enough at RP'ing and has a clearly rule-violating name then I might end up sending them out there despite knowing full well that the laborcamp is in fact bugged and is literally impossible to complete a mining quota there in its current state without an officer actually going up to the labourcamp to tally the mineral stacks by-hand. I figure that the fact the laborcamp does not work properly is on the coder team and the admins, not me as a player, and I'll also send out an ahelp asking for permission to use the laborcamp for temporary sentences before sending anyone out there. So, that's the first item on my wishlist: Make the laborcamp actually work properly. It's a great way to separate the truly malevolent greytiders from players who just went a little too far but are willing to calm down and mine some materials for science in order to return to the round. That basically solves the more severe greytide problems right there. Note that Space Law NEEDS to be updated with a section that specifically states that laborcamp can be used for temporary sentences. Last time I tried to use the laborcamp to dispose of greytiders I got in an extremely pointless and frustrating argument with the HOP who insisted that the laborcamp could not be used for temporary sentences since spacelaw does not explicitly say so (despite the fact that prisoner IDs are supposed to have mineral quotas set for temporary labor sentences and why the fuck would the laborcamp be called the laborcamp if there is literally no incentive for the prisoners to do labor out there at all?) Reduced Powergaming Stigma in Crisis Situations So a few people have suggested giving security more special items and buffs to entice people to play: I strongly disagree. Not only are basically no coders willing to go through all that, but offering sec cool new guns, gadgets or mechanical bonuses is likely to attract exactly the wrong sort of players--namely, the ones running around with both their taser and baton in-hand on code green, ignoring radios, and wearing the default HoS armor. (As an aside, I'd love if donuts actually healed security like they used to before goonchem, but I know even that's asking for too much). Generally, security already can get access to some incredibly potent gear by the end of a productive shift: Genetics powers, RnD guns and implants, and of course robotics usually has at least 1 durand if mining wasn't spawncamped by a colossus or ashdrake. It's my opinion that durands ought to be a bit of a contentious topic, seeing as it's basically impossible for the average antag to actually take down a durand without breaking server rules regarding excessive destruction, let alone rounds where robotics just decides to crank out 5 durands in a row and give them all to sec because they've got nothing better to do (I'd actually be fine with durands being nerfed slightly or at least having a higher resource cost to prevent this sort of mass-production from ruining an antag's round, but that's for another thread). I'd prefer if security had to rely on the competency, cooperation and goodwill of other departments to obtain strong late-game gear, as it gives security a much greater incentive to protect those departments from danger, stay on good terms with the departments, and keep them operational. The main issue here is that there is a rather strong stigma discouraging security from 'powergaming' behaviour that means sec rarely gets their hands on this sort of lategame gear: genetics powers like x-ray, utilities like bags of holding, accelerator lasercannons, anti-stun tooth pills don't see very frequent use amongst security, even when the antags have availed themselves of many of these sorts of upgrades alongside their starting antag abilities and powers. Back all the way to "annoying situation 1", it'd be considerably easier to deal with a gang of fullpowered vamps or rampant changelings if security had more leeway to escalate by getting antistun dental implants or collaborate with the other departments to cook up a few nasty surprises of their own to respond to the powered antags with. TL;DR: People don't play in security because officers dumb; antags smart. Shadowlings dumber than sec most times but shadowlings win anyways because designed by edgelord coder who never wanted his precious creation to lose even when played by imbeciles. Greytide annoying but greytide can be dealt with using laborcamp. To fight smart antags officers should be allowed to escalate and meme it up just as hard as the antags with goonchem meth memes and genetics fuckery if things get far enough out of hand.