Okay, to start off, I don't want to seem like I'll be banging on about it, but this is probably going to be my pet issue for a while. Let me just say that I'm super-ready to talk with anybody about it in depth, but I'll try to keep things brief if I can, and not act like a pain about it.
It's my opinion that crew transfer votes are the worst thing on the server. Maybe they correct some problem that used to exist, and I just don't realize that, but from what I can see they seem like a big flaw.
A lot of the time, that sort of anticlimax frustrates people who spend a long while doing their jobs and getting things finished, only to have it all wiped in a crew transfer and end up back at square one next shift. I get that the voting system is supposed to mitigate this, but I've only ever seen it pass as Yes, usually with a huge margin. This is weird to me, because it seems like if someone wants to stop playing, that's already an option for them without ending the game for everyone. Maybe they want to start a new round, in order to have a different job or have a chance at antag. For the former, there's the HoP, and for the latter it's just pretty unlikely that you'd really get antag on merely a second try. But if they're just bored, it's understandable, but I think there are better ways to fix it than just starting again and taking everyone else along too.
The game is the most fun when everything reaches a climax, goes down in flames, and we have an exciting scramble to fix it or escape. Crew transfer is just an orderly filing out the exits, as far as orderliness ever can get in SS13. To this end, and respecting what it seems like crew transfers are meant to accomplish, I've got some suggestions about what could improve the system.
#1: Easier Voting.
Even if I never personally want to transfer, I can recognise that it is unfair to ask it removed just for me. The voting system is clearly a better alternative. But, I have observed that oftentimes far fewer people vote than are on the server. I can't tell if that's because of SSD cases, but I think that making it a bit easier and more noticeable would improve things a bit. For example, opening the vote window, maybe off to one side if that's possible, would make people more likely to submit their opinion. Failing that, maybe there could be a voting tab with large text and buttons which selects itself in the sidebar. A self-opening tab is less likely to be annoying than a self-opening window, and giving people a single-click solution means more votes and more democracy.
#2: Alternate Solutions.
If transfers are meant to cure boredom, there are other ways to do it. If I had my druthers, I'd put a very severe event at whatever time mark transfers are initiated at. Something that might force an evacuation anyway, or spice up life for everyone. Maybe a nasty meteor strike or atmospheric error. It could even be an additional antagonist either waking up or spawning in from ghosts. This might be a way to utilize unused game modes like Revolution and Gang. Have people who toggled some permission on 'realize' that they should rebel or form a posse. Or, some ghosts could have the option to spawn in as a civilian who is that kind of antag. Even just opening another existing antag slot and letting a newcomer or ghost fill it is more interesting then wrapping the round up for no particular reason. It's canonical that all these threats face the station, so having something increasingly serious happen over time seems more likely than the high percentage of shifts that end mundanely.
#3: A Balance.
Perhaps there could be three vote options: End The Round, Continue, and Spice It Up. That way, people could still decide to quit if that's the consensus, but bored people who just want a change can vote to have something big happen instead of making a new attempt at it next round. End and Continue work like normal, but if Spice wins, then Nar'Sie subverts a department head, or a revolutionary arrives, or Atmos explodes, or a Shadowling spawns in the darkest corner. There's a big, serious issue that is going to shake things up and keep people from being so bored that they terminate the whole round. It also gives admins a great chance to cut loose with something rarer. Some of the exotic diseases get spread and turn a bunch of people into monkeys, or the chaplain's god gets really serious about it's need for golden shrines.
In summary, I think any of these approaches would really improve Paradise Station. It's better to end with a bang than with a whimper, and that's what seems to happen far too often. I know it's also bad when people get killed or their work is destroyed in whatever catastrophe, but it's functionally the same as just ending the round and wiping it all. That's the whole point of round-based gameplay; that nothing really matters afterward. At least with an event or a climax, you have a better story afterwards and it's more fun for everyone.
