Make admin interference obvious

[SpaceTimeNow]

 

A topic that kinda bugs me for a long time.

 

I am not sure but i think i saw some admin text floating above a person a few days ago. Not sure if that was a less used feature, a bug or whatever.

 

Anyways we should have something like that and use it consistently, it should be made obvious if and when a admin is "interfering" with the game, like stunning someone or rejuvenating someone. For example a target that is stunned should automaticly get a admin text above it and a rejuvenating spell should have a very obvious and unique visual effect. If a admin destroys a body it should not just gib and leave a giant crime scene...

 

If a admin is enforcing a rule or repairing damage then this is strictly a OOC action and should be made blatantly obvious as one. Not saying admin shouldn't have the ability to do something unoticed, but the default should be a visual thing.

 

[David Rossi]

 

Couple of replies.

 

The Admin text above someone is when they're frozen, normally accompanied by them being stunned on the floor with some sparks going around it. This is a rarely used feature as it stumps RP around it. But it's still used to halt situations so an admin can get info on what happened etc.

 

In the second part, I can agree with the gibbing. It can cause some unwanted time wasting on secs part. But with the rejuv? You could just explain it as a phenomenon from the gods. What I do anyway. A miracale of sorts.

 

For the last part. I don't think I've seen much of a 'repairing' going on. When Paradise was hit by that large griefer, I recall Kluys varediting the tiles of explosion to grass. Completely voiding the grief. Guess it's not ideal sure. But it stopped the round from just coming to a halt and the antags and interesting roleplay kicking up to go down cause of one griefer. Tbh. If you see a large amount of grass tiles appear after grief then I think that's VERY OBVIOUS.

 

Other than that, admin interference is rare. Alot of the damage that occurs in grief could involve rejuvs. But stuff like damage to the station? Normally engies are on that or ERT gets called, or in extreme cases as mentioned we could get grass!

 

[Dumbdumn5]

 

The problem with blatantly showing you "this is an administrator's doing, please hold." Is that it heavily breaks immersion. Administrative tools are fairly obvious to point out, but when it comes to events, there really doesn't need to be that giant neon sign that says "Hey, an admin did this, this is why this is here."

 

As it stands, I think it should be fine with our current layout. We have our obvious tools for punishment, and then we have our tools for events. Gibbing, as you've stated, is actually an event tool. Leaving a large "Admin did this" sign, would take away from the look and feel of an event. As for something such as teleportation, rejuvenation, etc. A visual effect really shouldn't be included. We use rejuving and teleporting for events more than we actually use it to patch up grief, and so having a big admin effect would be incredibly detrimental to the context it was used in depending on immersion.

 

On another note, an admin is likely to tell you exactly what's happened if you ahelp or try to mess with the newly rejuved player. I can count numerous occasions where a player has ahelped Player:"Nerd 1 just got up, did you rejuv him?" Admin Response:"Nerd 1 was a victim of grief, carry on."

 

I'm not sure having obvious admin tools other than the freeze tool should really be included, because the other tools are usually multipurpose and meant for behind the scenes action. If an administrator is abusing their powers, every other admin online can see the majority of what they do. It logs people entering build mode, rejuving, teleporting, freezing, adding notes, warnings, bans, unbans, job bans, assuming control, force saying, subtle messaging, direct narrating, mob spawning, variable changing, fax responses, fax sending, Central Command announcements, ooc announcements, gun summons, magic summons, floor is lava, and more.

 

Most of the time, an admin is more likely to be interfering with the game than working on punishment, as, in our downtime, we often do events. As for the rule and punishment management, the effects of the administration are obvious in that 1: Nerd 1 rises from the dead suddenly 2: Walls and floors begin appearing in space where a bomb went off. 3: Somebody who was actively hitting another person or actively doing something falls over suddenly with admin text showing up above them. and the rest is mostly behind the scenes and dealing with PMs. Even then, we rarely use freeze, build mode, or rejuv outside of events (and we don't even use freeze during events, just rule 4 cases when the player completely ignores the PMs).

 

To be obvious when enforcing the rules actually ruins immersion due to making it incredibly obvious. We try to stick to PMs as much as possible and expect the player to react calmly and maturely. If they end up not doing either of those things, we have to decide whether to break immersion through a freeze or rejuv the victim. Of course, neither is too good with it, seeing as how a dead person just standing up or that guy who was going on a rampage just fell over with a streak of lightning and a giant pink "admin" label over him. Most of the time, it's just not good to make it obvious.

 

[SpaceTimeNow]

 

The Admin text above someone is when they're frozen, normally accompanied by them being stunned on the floor with some sparks going around it. This is a rarely used feature as it stumps RP around it. But it's still used to halt situations so an admin can get info on what happened etc.

It already stumps RP if the person is just falling on the floor and the moment you try to restrain him you are getting told to back off via admin pm. There are quite a few reason why someone could just fall over, sleep toxin, pain, stuff like that. If everyone just sees a visual indication, that the person is being held by an admin, you actually have a better chance to keep in character than if you are not sure what you are allowed to do.

 

In the second part, I can agree with the gibbing. It can cause some unwanted time wasting on secs part. But with the rejuv? You could just explain it as a phenomenon from the gods. What I do anyway. A miracale of sorts.

If i know there are lings on the station it's quite the tell and confusing to see someone going from crit to perfect condition in a matter of seconds. I have no problem accepting it as a miracale, but why not make some holy light appear, some fitting sound and make it a proper miracale. Rejuv is OOC and for it to have IC implications is wrong in my opinion.

 

For the last part. I don't think I've seen much of a 'repairing' going on. When Paradise was hit by that large griefer, I recall Kluys varediting the tiles of explosion to grass. Completely voiding the grief. Guess it's not ideal sure. But it stopped the round from just coming to a halt and the antags and interesting roleplay kicking up to go down cause of one griefer. Tbh. If you see a large amount of grass tiles appear after grief then I think that's VERY OBVIOUS.

 

Other than that, admin interference is rare. Alot of the damage that occurs in grief could involve rejuvs. But stuff like damage to the station? Normally engies are on that or ERT gets called, or in extreme cases as mentioned we could get grass!

I have to agree that admin repairs are very rare and of course space turning into grass is extremly obvious. This part i mostly added for consitency.

 

[SpaceTimeNow]

 

To make this perfectly clear, i am suggesting visual indication for rule enforcing and damage control (repairs). I don't want to force everything that a admin does to have a visual effect, it should be optional to drop a indication of divine intervention in cases of rule enforements (OOC stuff). I have no intention to create a tool to judge admins, neither do i want it to have effects on how events are created or controled.

 

A Admin rejuv a grief victim is reversing something that should not have happened and it should have the least IC implications as possible. In order to have low IC implications I think there needs to be a obvious tell "This was done by a admin, you can ignore it and move along".

 

A admin answering a prayer and heal someone (a bad example, but just go with it) should have IC implications, people should be asking themself why did that happen.

 

Being forced to ahelp "Did this guy just got rejuved by you?" is the biggest immersion breaker of all, because i can't just ignore it and move on, i have to leave RP and pm a admin and wait for a response until i know how my character should proceed. Neither do i know what do to when the person in question just starts runnning off before i get clarification by a admin. Do i have reason to chase behind him or do i go back to minding my own business?

 

We have our obvious tools for punishment, and then we have our tools for events. Gibbing, as you've stated, is actually an event tool. Leaving a large "Admin did this" sign, would take away from the look and feel of an event.

I do agree, gibbing should never be used as a tool rule enforments. And obviously the "admin is doing this" tells should not stay indefinite for the rest of the round.

 

[Regen]

 

Gibbing is rarely used anymore for removing people from the round, usually we delete them.

 

As for the stunning? They get a red "ADMIN" text floating above them and get an unique effect that covers their entire body, it is pretty damn obvious when someone is frozen by an admin

 

Edit: Pic

The effect is basically electricity running over their body

 

[SpaceTimeNow]

 

As I said, I have only seen this floating admin text once and i honestly assumed it was a thing that was there but not used. If that was a false perception than that is fine with me. I just thought, why not have this for other occasions.

 

Whatever the case, it does not make sense for me to argue for a tool only to be used for administration, if the admins seem to be against this.

 

[Earthdivine]

 

This is a big reason why I myself do not use rejun or gib when dealing with people, I use subtle message or just blantently ask someone to do something for me as it's a whole lot more believe able then gods divine interference.

 

Also because the last time I rejuv'ed someone the crew immediately screamed ling and threw him into the furance.

 

[ErAgent]

 

I rejuv'ed someone the crew immediately screamed ling and threw him into the furance.

 

Amazing... Amazing.. What I lost!

 

[Garoon]

 

Also because the last time I rejuv'ed someone the crew immediately screamed ling and threw him into the furance.

"The gods look favourably up-"

"HE'S A CHANGELING, BURN HIM! BURN HIM AND SMASH HIM!"

Slightly more serious, would a little bit of 'divine sparkling' to go along with a rejuv be fitting, considering it is technically the gods working a miracle? Just a light temporary sparkle overlay, nothing supremely obvious and in your face, like a flash of lightning. Goddamn Zeus

 

[Dumbdumn5]

 

Also because the last time I rejuv'ed someone the crew immediately screamed ling and threw him into the furance.

"The gods look favourably up-"

"HE'S A CHANGELING, BURN HIM! BURN HIM AND SMASH HIM!"

Slightly more serious, would a little bit of 'divine sparkling' to go along with a rejuv be fitting, considering it is technically the gods working a miracle? Just a light temporary sparkle overlay, nothing supremely obvious and in your face, like a flash of lightning. Goddamn Zeus

What if the God is Dave?

 

[Garoon]

Demonic fire, always the demonic fire

[Alex6511]

I have to agree with having some type of notification on admin revives. Also, sometimes I see someone randomly attacking people and they suddenly to see. In these cases I never know if I should bring them to cryo, leave them there, or bring them to the brig. While u can ahelp and ask if they were banned it might be easier to have an ssd notice like "They have suddenly fallen asleep. They probably won't come back" if they are banned so we know to take them to cryo.