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Yes, this is a threat.

Given that I've dealt with this sort of thing across multiple servers beyond just Paradise, I'll give a proper response to this as opposed to a mere half joke like my previous post in this thread. You don't need to enter the kitchen to suggest an idea to the chef. Do it from just outside or via PDA if you really want to do that. When people barge in to do something, it immediately sets a bad taste in most veteran player's mouths; this applies to damn near every job, in fact. For good reason, too--99% of the time someone struts in, it's to do your job/ some element of your job, steal things, or otherwise mess about with you. When this happens for the umpteenth time across many, many rounds, it begins to get tiresome and players lose patience. Sometimes players have their own ideas set in stone, and want to carry them out without interference--people pick these roles and not assistant primarily because of that. Occasionally, yes, someone might come up with something interesting to try out, and an ideal time/ place/ circumstance to try it with others (and to this, I wholeheartedly give my thumbs up; creativity is what makes this game fun to experience overall, and I would much rather see that from assistant players rather than greytiding or bridge hobo-ing). But expecting everyone to immediately want to drop what they're doing to play along... ehhhhhhh, no. The key phrase here being when the chef is absent. I doubt many here would particularly be bothered with the crew stepping in to account for an unfilled/ entirely neglected position. That's considerably different and far more reasonable as opposed to barging in when someone is already manning the role they chose. There's some vague merit to this. Putting a negative label on everyone with the assistant title is indeed not the best take--but also consider that across the wider ss13 community, "Greytide worldwide" is quite a popular meme. It has been for well more than a decade, and behind the meme there's quite a bit of truth in the stereotypes regarding assistants. I cannot blame anyone for being a little reserved when coming across assistant players (especially after months of potentially dealing with people being little shits towards you in whatever role you play). I play robotics. Not to overly toot my horn, but it's the role I feel quite good at and known for wherever I go--and yes, if someone unwanted walks into my lab without a damned good reason prior, they're going right back outside again. I've had people steal things, break things, waste materials by printing random shit (exosuits and implants usually. On servers with ore silos this can be quite bad if mining hasn't been the most active, since robotics exofabs devour mats if used frivolously), do parts of my job for me because fuck me I guess, or otherwise waste my time and cause chaos because it amuses them to do so. These things happen CONSTANTLY, and naturally I've become quite reserved about random players (regardless of role) strutting into robotics regardless of reason. That said, if someone wants to try something genuinely interesting and fun (lord knows robotics needs more content on just about every damned server) I'm much more willing to indulge them when they don't bust into robotics. Many players operate on similar standards throughout many roles if they don't already have some form of project they're invested in. This is an entirely separate can of worms. If we're going for the realism argument here (which I wouldn't recommend, but hey) consider that having someone not manning a specific position lounge around a work area can have considerable negative impact--ranging from as small as being an obnoxious distraction all the way to a dangerous obstacle, depending on the job. Assistants can indeed be helpful, but their help would theoretically be coordinated as needed, and not merely allowed into restricted station areas to lounge about. That said, I'm not a fan of realism arguments. It makes for poor gameplay in most cases... and this is a dumb goofy game set in a shitty hell hole of a space station. So, looking past that, from a gameplay and/ or roleplay sense--once again, there's a time and place. Occasionally allowing a friend inside your department (DEPENDING ON DEPARTMENT [the brig isn't a hangout zone, for example]) to chill when things are calm is fine, provided the others in your department don't have any oppositions. Occasionally allowing a friend inside your department if you're overworked and need some help is also fine in some circumstances (if I'm running around trying to repair 20 IPCs and another robotics capable player currently as assistant comes along and offers a bit of help, I sometimes say yes, for example). Teaching a friend or an otherwise new random player your job is also fine sometimes, provided tact is used. However, constantly allowing your friends inside your department is indeed problematic. It disrupts gameplay flow (hanging around in big groups makes it hard for many antags to do their thing... or far easier in some cases [conversion antags]), it attracts negative attention from griefers, it instills toxic mindsets and clique behavior which plagues most ss13 servers. That is indeed an issue (one which has also existed for years and has its own memes and stereotypes), but not what this thread pertains towards. Mentioning this doesn't offer much of value to this discussion. I'd hope my text wall here helps you to understand that it isn't quite unjustified. Yes... and no. A cooperative game would imply that everyone is largely on the same side. Halo has a split screen cooperative mode, with both players housing the same goals (eradicating those damned covenant alien bastards) and using the same mechanics and character (more or less) to achieve that end (Arbiter is still based tho) Space station 13 is a multiplayer game with some cooperative elements sprinkled in. You have many players in the same server, but they all have different characters. Different jobs, different mechanics, different motivations. Yes, players should ideally work towards making an interesting experience for those around them--but not at the explicit expense of their own fun. There are limits to what's reasonable to expect and reasonable ways to go about trying unique ideas. Many of the game's elements and surrounding atmosphere also cause paranoia and distrust of other characters by design. This I will somewhat agree with, in closing. Again with robotics, I've dealt with obnoxious assistants, clowns, engis, cargo, security, other scientists, other goddamn roboticists, medical, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc. Some players have good ideas and want to genuinely do fun things. These players shouldn't be overlooked... but at the same time, there's often an avalanche of others who have less than fun intentions when interacting with any given department. To address the title of this topic more directly; randomly entering a department without permission is indeed poor form from nearly every angle, and continuing onward to do things within that department when others are playing said department as is... well, it's certainly not unreasonable to react to such by tossing them out, and when it happens over and over again it's also not unreasonable to grow tired of it and react quickly to stop it.

Why would this be good for the game? As it stands, the detonate function is an "instant win button." All cyborgs in the round can be very quickly destroyed regardless of their location from the comfort of a single console. This is highly frustrating for the cyborgs involved, and it's a very cheap, thoughtless experience for the person doing the detonating. Detonation can happen to both subverted and non-subverted cyborgs alike, and is capable of permanently removing them from the round by destroying the cyborg's brain. In most cases, the ability to lock cyborgs makes the detonation function completely redundant. Locking a cyborg allows them to be taken to robotics and de-subverted so they can continue a round. Removing the detonation feature increases the quantity of fun that can be had in a round. Scenarios: For a normal, unsubverted cyborg, an antagonist may choose to remove any cyborgs they may see as a problem once they have gained proper access. Brains will be left on the floor, sometimes in out-of-the-way places. If they never received MMI radio upgrades, they may be trapped in this state for a very long period of time. This is not fun. For an emagged cyborg, whoever gets to the console to take care of the cyborg problem simply needs to lock them to remove the threat they pose. However, they may also chose to detonate the cyborg without any repercussions. The latter option permanently removes that cyborg from the round and is unnecessary. Also it leaves a giant hole in the station hull and may harm bystanders. In the case of a malfunctioning AI (the scenario where the detonation feature seems to make the most sense), the AI is both empowered to and extremely incentivised to completely destroy RnD to prevent use of a robotics console, and is essentially a requirement for a successful Malf AI. Unless the AI does not know what they are doing, they will nullify the console's use anyway. A Hypothetical Rhetorical Comparison: Suppose that all members of the crew also had bombs implanted inside them, and a special console allowed these bombs to be detonated at any time without physically seeing the person you are destroying even once. How engaging would it be if all the antagonists in the crew could simply be deleted at the push of a button? How frustrating would it be for an antagonist to do the same to the rest of the crew? How difficult would this be to implement? Conceptually, it is trivial. Code-wise, it would involve stripping out the associated functions of detonation (and ensuring that this didn't break any dependencies), and also altering the UI to reflect the change.

Maybe I'm wrong. But when people aren't doing their job. And are just ignoring you when you need something. I feel like it's justified to break in and get what you need. Or break in and tell someone to do their job. The number of times I've seen multiple scientists in a row ignore the line at R and D. Walk in, print grenades, beakers, tools for themselves and leave. Ignore the radio. Just "I want to do my thing, so the rest of you can get fucked". This includes the RD. Ignoring the line and R and D (or not even knowing how to do it because they spent all their hours at sci making grenades). I feel like a department head should know the basics of their department. But that's another story. If I get ignored by multiple scientists and the RD when I need stock parts. I'm breaking in and disassembling their shit to get the parts I need. Because it's funny. Even as an antag I make sure to service the line if I'm there. I'm not the only player. Others want to do their thing too. And they need stuff to do whatever thing they're planning. I get it. You want to test out that grenade mix. But taking a few minutes to work the desk isn't going to stop you doing that. Shutting the shutters will sometimes make me go away. Other times it will make me deconstruct your walls and shut off your sci chem APC. "Oh so now you want me to fix your APC? Can I get those upgraded tools first please? Thanks." If robotics takes all the materials from the first orm delivery(including diamond and bluespace which they aren't even going to use at this stage). I'm going to ask for those mats. If I'm ignored. I'm going to break in and take ALL of their materials. They have access to sci. They can get what they need after we do R and D and upgrades. Or wait for the next load from mining. You realize we can upgrade your machines robotics. We can upgrade the whole station. But we can't do it unless we have the materials and levels to do so. Every department is worse off now. As for assistants, sometimes we are very busy and have assisting to do. We don't have time to ask for things. We need those insuls for reasons. We have VERY important things to do. That workplace hazard isn't going to build itself! But in all seriousness, if I do break in somewhere as an assistant, feel free to robust me. I won't fight back. I know I'm in the wrong and deserve what's coming. I don't want to ruin your game. Tabling, grabbing and dumping a screaming assistant in the disposals may even make your round more fun. As a side note, check what alert the station is on. If it's red, sec probably don't want to be dealing with your shenanigans. If it's green/blue, sec still probably don't want to be dealing with your shenanigans, but at least they have time to do so. And don't be a dick to them. They're most likely dealing with you because you pulled some dumb shit.

The following PR is now open to implement this suggestion: https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/22408

As always: When You Code It.

The thing I often dislike whenever you are in any department or job, is assistants just walking in, thinking they own the place and can do as they please. And if you so much as tell them to leave, throw them out, report them or anything for the sorts.. they start taking that as an "attack" and believe it justifies them in messing with your round / department the whole shift. People don't play assistant to help others, learn a job or be helpful in any degree.. people play assistant purely because they don't want to do any work / job, but still believe it justifies them to just cause trouble purely because they can. Often with some silly gimmick like "I'm gonna steal everyones shoes" or "I'm gonna see how many times I can break into a department without getting arrested." or "I'm going to act like I'm <x job> when I'm not. I'm gonna make my own science / medbay / cargo." Even when people say this is a cooperative game, assistants often are not cooperative at all. They just do whatever they want and believe they can get away with it, because they should / can. Not communicating, standing at doors purposely so when someone walks in, they follow in. And if anyone interfers, it's free game to fuck with them the whole shift. Yes, it is a cooperative game.. but I cannot be cooperative with the assistant who keeps breaking into cargo / science / medical / engineering / kitchen, ect, stealing shit for themselves (Thus, taking stuff away from people who actually need / use it), hoard stuff, refuse to talk / communicate in any fashion, whine that you're the one ruining their game and then spend the whole round to attack / fuck with you. It's a self-entitled mentality of "I need this stuff, but I refuse to ask for it, I will get it myself. Why are you disarming me? That lets me kill you now." or "What do you mean I can't have a stunbaton / hoard all the kitchen food for myself? You're selfantagging me! I'm gonna selfantag you now!" As if them being an assistant = them being the main character. I see no issue with throwing people out of your department (Unless they were invited in. But that's another pet annoyance of mine when greydy mctideface is allowed in, because their metafriend is working there and they just lay around, then get in the way of everyone else who isn't their friend) who are causing problems. If they continue, yes, security can be told. If they really continue to fuck with you / your department.. that's entering simply being a dick, for the sake of being a dick. If they wanted to do a job, they should of signed up for that job / asked the HoP if they can be hired into it.

Human plushie when