A noob's long opinion regarding the direction of Paradise

[Tornado1555]

 

Hello. It's been 9 months since I last played on Paradise. I played quite often for a time, and eventually left for a variety of different reasons. Over the last week or so, I've greatly wanted to jump back onto the same server, which has an atmosphere that others lack; each time resorting to passively spectating in the background, and sadly not regretting doing so, based on what happens.

 

Back on topic though, regarding the few people saying (mostly in ghostchat, of course) that the server, or even the game, had run out of freshness or its zest, and was on an inevitable decline, I still even today would disagree with them. The very unique enjoyment that one can get from playing this game still existed while I first played, and probably is still there for the open minded players that are just joining. I felt it multiple times myself the last active times I played, one of which was when one of the characters of Counterfeitguise (who was even at the time deserving of Mentor status) promoted my character early-game to Quartermaster, which funnily enough was for me something completely new.

 

Why that might be the case, I think, is that during my time in 2015 playing this game, I had a habit of going out of my way to avoid "learning too much", like how to 'ez' break onto the bridge as a Journalist, or how to perform advanced medical experiments using only a blowtorch, a shard of glass, one of Walter Auman's administrative reports, and Ian's snout.

I didn't like the idea of being a Mary Sue, and so the effect of ignoring hints or even free advice kept the game much fresher for me that it likely would have been otherwise (and despite quite a bit of time played, I never held a permanent in-game rank higher than that of Cargo Tech!), though it kept my presence as a player in-game and on the forums very small.

 

It's because of all this, and my myth that I have a decent idea of how my own game's limitations and balances (this being a very minor WWII realism modification) can be set out, that I think I might have a unique perspective as "perpetual noob 2015" of SS13's Paradise. I think that because I possess very little in the way of metaknowledge, that I might represent alot of potential non-toolboxing new players that come and go as time goes on, for one reason or another.

So, barring the fact that I consider myself still financially bankrupt, and cannot reward the diligence and skill of the server's Administrative staff and the Developers and Coders that make this server as interesting as it is, I instead hope to properly represent a point of view from the new-spessmen's perspective of how the server is going.

 

-First off, I think it's wise for me to point out the interest of the community. Just eying the forums here and there, I can tell that the landed interest of the regular players in seeing Paradise continue in the right direction, is probably almost never seen in most other gaming (even Triple-A) franchises. To have a game developed with incredibly little money and be worth far more to its audience in the long run than games being sold for 100 USD is a testament to the skill of the Admin-Dev team, both in the SS13 community in general, and particularly here. In a period today of relative indifference, the passion given by everyone working here in their spare time is not any small thing.

 

That said, being as Paradise represents a very large portion of the SS13 community overall, even I can see that we really have to take care which direction the server is set for, and many here (myself included) wish for Paradise to draw in more players and increase the game's popularity. With that in mind, many popular games and products streamline themselves to get there, and not everyone can play SS13 the way we might want it. I'd actually think it's a niche genre that will only be truly popular 15-30 years from now, under the right conditions. I think that a good motion to take would be aiming for the "right" new players, rather than new players in general. Giving everyone a chance is great, but I got brutally and instantly murdered a couple of times early, and felt perfectly fine for it, as I made poor decisions and got sucked out into space. To me, it happens, and should!

 

-That does bring me to my second point though, and a popular point overall. SS13 was obviously designed around space! When I arrived, glitchiness of ZAS in mind, it did feel like we were actually in space, with decompressions and the flooding of poisoned air into a room giving an appropriate atmosphere of panic and confusion in a crisis. We all know LINDA has slowed the rate of atmospheric change to an almost inconsequential point. Yet it should be pointed out the internal mechanics advances made by the new system, and also the overall difficulties in making changes to the atmospherics systems. There are times in my own mod where I want to bring something to new heights, but the game's limitations hurt these chances. I put off some of the changes that I wish to make, until a new opportunity opens up. So, I could say that LINDA perhaps temporarily reduced the space atmosphere which I was fond of (I first died in the Library due to a catastrophic decomp), but LINDA's implementation also fixed alot of problems and opened up new opportunities, and I think is at the very least a good interim system. Any true problems with the server I think, lie elsewhere.

 

-I remember when I "audaciously" set the Janitor job to low from none on the occupation preferences. Anxious to advance in a place with alternating rounds of utter destruction and relative calm with my character in one piece, and trying not to fail miserably at the job while doing so, I proceeded to forget I had both solid and holographic wet floor signs, later sending 2 security members and probably half the command staff into the opposite wall as they turned a corner on the way to medbay. This funny and properly embarrassing incident was early on when I was playing, and it is significant to me because later last year I started noticing masses of cleanbots. Leaving no mess as they went perfectly about their business, I realized that the Janitor's only remaining jobs were to scrub out the cook's oven and replace the occasional light fixture. I think this server's main problem, besides the community issue, ironically is the over-automation. We've seen it with engineering and medical particularly. In a server with full populations nearing and exceeding 100 people, we're cutting the amount of interesting mechanics and tasks to enhance the experience and the roleplaying opportunities available! It breeds troublemakers, especially when, as someone pointed out (I think it was the Admin tso or the Regular SpaceTimeNow, both among those making some very good points), progressing to unlock new roles is too easy. This causes a feedback and makes departments that still have a point worse; usually just as the jobless and toolbox-armed greytide rolls in. I can't imagine what damage that even I would do (and get away with) if I decided to be the Cap'n one game.

 

-This all though leads to the final penultimate problem. Machofish pointed out one side of it earlier. Increasing action can lead to more powergaming, and yet just increasing RP can lead to less action and more "staged edginess" that one might see on other servers. I do not think that this is a problem with the goal of the server: In promising and delivering action and RP together, Paradise has actually set out to do alot, and often is right there at the top and yet still keeps the quality interest from the regulars that it still has today... and I think that the overall server has done very well. Still, I couldn't agree more with Earthdivine regarding the main problem ironically being the general community. I think that the solution does not start with any one balanced item or any change in how the air flows, or even adding or removing sweeping changes at once just to experiment. Instead, I think that the solution almost entirely is reliant on future policy regarding how the general community standards are to be drawn up and enforced.

 

It is completely out of my league to express anything regarding this solution, because as an utter noob and a long time gone one at that, I couldn't know a hoot of the difficulties and risks associated with changing rules or guidelines for Paradise. I can say though, based on experience and observing the rounds, that a certain growing number of people will tend to know alot about the game mechanics, but very little about decent optional roleplaying- or even decency itself. They might even have skimmed the rules in most cases, but still they often care little whether someone else enjoys the round or not. This robotic tendency bleeds off to other players as the general quality naturally declines, particularly as the server population grows. I think the Admin fluff12 pointed out that general mood spreading around, and it even getting to him. I agree with him that it is the difficulty of the game that one of the problems, but I also think that the quality of the community's standards overall and their enforcement is what makes the key difference.

 

-So, in the end, I really think that the key to the whole debacle lies with the very same Admin-Dev team that made this server so important to begin with, and while that probably seems like a cop-out of responsibility on my part, and just looking at it from a numerical perspective, there is little that the regulars on this forum can do individually, unless they made campaigning for community standards their entire life.

 

As for the general population of players, the saying that the majority is not always right is correct especially here, and the majority of players playing SS13 and seeing Paradise would rather this server be steered in a PvP low-RP direction. THEREFORE, in my opinion, the encouragement, the incentive, and the backbone for the redevelopment of Paradise's community and the great crop that are its main regulars and willing newer players must to be helped along by strengthening the framework that started everything off to begin with.

 

The admins, posting often about how they wish things were different, seem deprived of power in their own community! I think that just like Twinmold used JFK's quote in regards to the player's standards here,"...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...", I think that the difficult but the most responsible thing to do is not just advocate more standards between us general players, but to allow the staff running the show to feel that they have proper and even overriding control over the game in the interests of its own development.

Even if it hurts popularity, I would rather Paradise be an innovative and excellent M-RP server of 30-50 players, than the 100 players with the only typical outgoing product being a salty ghostchat. I think that it's better in the long run, too, if we're really going to show the genre off the right way.

 

To shell out my own family a moment, my old man is a bit of a rolemodel for me. He, even if unpopular at the time, would say the hard things and berate corruption even in popular public figures, if he researched it. Though it did very well, his work in the regional and local levels didn't manage to break through at the time, but yet he was proven quite correct over the last few years, and is making progress now after being steadfast. He always referenced to me the adapted saying that, 'Strong and decisive decisions, even if they end up being the wrong ones, are better than weak decisions hesitantly made.' I think that this funnily enough could be applied here for Paradise's situation now. You all did it well before; the people here did so well as a matter of fact that it made a certain young and picky WWII realism armchair corporal brat, ended up enjoying a multiplayer online RPG set in a dystopian future with a robotic sphere named Beepsky, in spess. And I still do!

 

I'd say that takes some skill.

 

 

 

 

[i probably rashly posted a new topic in Suggestions. I'm perfectly happy merging or deleting this topic if it's a waste of space in the end.]

 

[Shadeykins]

 

I agree with pretty much every point you've brought up.

 

Medical has become childsplay, and injuries should require far more care.

 

[Dumbdumn5]

 

You know, you can call yourself a noob, sure, but you put some time into this. I have a feeling this post wasn't made just overnight or in a single sitting with a bit of a sense of direction, and I have to hand it to you. You were right in assuming that a change in policies is a bit more difficult than it sounds, and often times, a lot of the reasons for a lack of changes from one admin or another is because of the massive split in opinion between one group and another. I'll use adminning and punishment as an example, for a while now, I've been a relatively light admin, I give more warnings than bans and I'm usually softer than I should be on some things, which can be worse than just following standard procedure, sometimes it works, and other times it doesn't, then, in the same team, there's somebody who admins much harsher, but still does an equally good job due to many situations requiring such treatment. Neither style is bad, and I can even agree on many of the harsher practices, but trying to get a sense of what we should go for and how we should change things isn't really a simple task. It's the same way with code in that some coders are very against a number of features and fixes or "fixes" that another side of the coders are incredibly supporters of. There's compromise in some places and none in others, and it's a bit hard to find out what can and can't be done due to conflicting opinions. Not only do we have to worry about the community agreeing with our judgement and our decisions on how to proceed, but we also have to worry about the team's thoughts and feelings due to the wide variety of perspectives that we have.

 

I like the way you describe some of the older systems, your first experiences, your desire to limit yourself, and I chuckled a bit at myself when I read "The admins, posting often about how they wish things were different" because I know you're right about it. I rely on that more than most because really, I can't say exactly what I want with things, I'm too careful, and in terms of making some of the more major decisions, I'm not really sure where things should go. We could go for higher RP, but then we'd leave behind the low-mid section, and we can't head low because we'd lose the high-med population, it's a tricky footing to get Med-RP, and even then, it's never going to be perfect, but you said all that already. Future policy and community standards are more passive for us, they're defined how by a number of players act, and either we like it, live with it, love it, or hate it. Sometimes even when we do add in new rule changes or policy changes, they take a while to set in, need to have people think about it and act around it, then eventually it becomes common practice and the next guy to walk in gets a funny look or two, but that's over a long period of time.

 

Your point on over-automation stands as far as cleanbots go, but engineering and medical are a bit of a grey area in that part. Medical, yeah, there are easy fix medicines and cryo, but there's also infections and surgeries, that, yes, if you're good at the you'll have it done in no time flat, but it's still better than just letting a chem or machine patch things up before you can type out a quick say ":m I've got Billy Billson over here, popping him in cryo!", and if you do choose to do that, another MD pops over and snags the patient, then gets them fixed up. Sure, they're doing their job, but, like you said, it's very robotic and unnatural, not even a "Hi" or "Hello" or "What's wrong with that guy?". Is talking really that uninteresting? Is it personality, personal bias, bad rumors, what's the deal with that? People talk about cliques all the time, but recently, I've barely even heard a whispered conversation between two people or the clamor of incomprehensible racial languages in the bar. It's either silence or it's deafening, and you can enjoy both, but it's not in the middle.

 

In recent rounds, I've had a feel of the older times, got to talking with some new or returning players, or sometimes old players I'd never gotten the chance to talk to, and each time I met somebody I sat back and thought "This is why, from sunrise to sundown, and even while I sleep, this game is always in the back of my mind." I'm in love with it, and I don't think I'd stop even if that player count reached 1. I'd always be waiting for one more person, even a single one.

 

So restatement, reciting, and habitual speak aside, you've given me something to think about and re-evaluate with, and really, if you're a noob, I have no idea what I am, because you seem to know a hell of a lot more than I do about what's going on. Take it easy, and more importantly, thank you!

 

[Jakers457]

 

As someone who's come from a heavy roleplay server, Paradise has been a burst of fresh air for me. People can bring up discussions without the thread turning into a shitshow of dramatic circle jerking, even when the topic could be considered inflammatory or perhaps a bit too heavy; it's an incredible luxury, especially on the internet, so the majority of you have my utter respect.

 

Paradise is also a burst of fresh air due to the fact that you don't get bwoinked for beating a guy half to death during a barfight or because you shot the antag before allowing him to go into some overly edgy monologue. The whole community, for me anyway, is somewhat chilled out and more bearable, albeit the fits of salt that we all tend to have from time to time.

 

At the same time however, I've found that the server can be too chaotic at times, resulting in the role you picked becoming utterly redundant while you're placed into five rows of nukes ops followed by a wizard with a penchant for slaughter demons. It's during these times, where greentext seems to rule and stories take a back seat. I've found myself having less notable experiences, one's that I look back on fondly to remind myself on how truly unique this game is, and it's potential.

 

 

I recall on another server, I was caught attempting to steal the HoS's jumpsuit and was personally interrogated by the HoS himself. ICly, my character had debts to pay for some reason, stealing the guy's spare jumpsuit would help lessen my character's debt with the syndicate. The HoS decided to let my character go, with the jumpsuit and wished him good luck in paying off his debts. It was truly a sincere moment, even if a small one, and I always look back at it as a way to remind myself that there's more to just achieving green/red text to feel like you've accomplished the round. Which just isn't the case here sometimes, and I say that as Security player too. So many times have I seen people simply gunning for the green, brigging antags for the rest of the round because they either pleaded mercy or were caught with an traitor item.

 

As the Warden (despite what people might think,) I always try to put the redtext second above all else. I've let EoTC's out of perma to fight bigger threats, using vampires as body guards and allowing people to redeem themselves if they seem trustworthy. And perhaps, it doesn't work out and leads me to getting ganked by my own pawns or for traitors to take this as a chance to get the hell out of dodge, but it does give me a story and it can at times, benefit both parties experiences during the round. That's what I want more of, less desire to 'win' and more desire to create experiences.

 

(I tend to ramble and be incoherent with my points, so beg my pardon.)