Idea for a new item, the "Voice Scrambler" that makes it easier to hide your identity and RP as "Unknown"

[Stokes52]

Hello, one problem I have been noticing often is that antags are severely punished for RPing with people while doing their nefarious deeds. 

I've come up with an idea for a new item that will make it easier for antags to RP with the crew without putting themselves at a severe disadvantage by revealing their identity. Please let me know what you think and if this would be a good addition to Paradise.

 

Adds:

• Chameleon voice scrambler traitor item 1 tc
• Craftable voice scrambler gas mask
• Both can be found in maints loot

What do they do:
While wearing the voice scrambler, your identity shows as Unknown and when you speak, you speak as Unknown. The craftable version looks like a gas mask with a voice analyzer thing attached. The chameleon version looks like a gas mask with all the associated chameleon abilities.

Recipe:
Craftable: voice analyzer, 5 cables, gas mask, (multi-tool? tape?)

Why it's good for the game?
This idea would implement a weaker version of the voice changer that is easier to acquire but cannot mimic voices, only hide them. Antags need a way to easily talk with and RP with their victims without immediately giving away their identity.

The chameleon kit is too expensive when all you want to do is be able to talk and its not available to vampires or other antags. Many antags won't talk to anyone because their voice will reveal their identity which leads to a boring cycle of no-interaction traitoring. While it's true that antags can whisper to hide their voice, this feature is not widely known and is severely limited by only being able to speak to someone next to you. Obviously, as an antag, there are many reasons you wouldn't want to be next to people when you are typing a message.

Making it an uplink item gives traitors immediate access, while a craftable non-chameleon version makes it available to crew and vampires if they find the right items. The other reason a craftable version is important is so that you cannot metagame by knowing that "Unknown voice = traitor" Because anyone can make one of these, it adds some ambiguity as to whether the person is truly a bad guy or not.

Contraband/Space Law/Griefing:
I would recommend the chameleon version to be class C contraband, but not the craftable one. That way security doesn't have a reason to immediately shoot as soon as they hear someone speaking as "Unknown". However if this seems too easily abused, they could both be class C.

There is some potential this item could be used by non-antags to do griefy things, however I don't think it will be a big problem. If someone wants to hide their identity and greytide, they can already do it. The only thing this adds is the ability for someone who is greytiding to speak, which I would argue is still slightly better than silently greytiding.


Let me know what you think and if this would be an improvement. I am very interested in making it easier for antags to RP with the crew without putting themselves at a big disadvantage.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Stokes52

[MattTheFicus]

I actually love this as an item. Both the crafted and Uplink version have niches that would be nice. I do think that they both need to be Class C, as otherwise theyll just be used to grief. 

[necaladun]

Overall this is a pretty solid idea and has good merits. Allowing people to RP without exposing their identity has def RP benefits. 

Having them craftable is great so that it doesn't guarantee they're an antag. Along with the lack of destructive potential, it seems solidly a C class contraband.

4 hours ago, Stokes52 said:

There is some potential this item could be used by non-antags to do griefy things, however I don't think it will be a big problem. If someone wants to hide their identity and greytide, they can already do it. The only thing this adds is the ability for someone who is greytiding to speak, which I would argue is still slightly better than silently greytiding.

It's not grief that's my worry here per-se - the item isn't going to hide you from admins! - it's being generally low-RP and memey that's my worry. Anonymously shouting about shitcurity over comms, and general low-grade greytide behaviour that is not by itself prohibited, but not something we want to encourage. Usually the social-shaming is enough to help curb a lot of this behaviour. Anonymity seems to very much allow people to act like dickwads. 

It might be worth considering making them harder to craft for general crew. The goal is to allow antags to RP without exposing themselves, not to give the crew anonymity. As long as it is technically craftable by crew, then it means you can't guarantee unknown=antag.

 

[Stokes52]

This has been submitted as a pull request here: https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/16003