Staff Report - Backsea

[Anuv]

Staff Report

Your BYOND Key

Anuv

Date of Incident

April 6, 2022

Your Character Name?

Janice 'Foxy' Lean

Their BYOND Key

Backsea

Approximate time and date of the incident

12:00 AM Central

Which Staff Protocols (//showthrea...-and-Protocols) were broken

Preserve the RP and enjoyment of the server
- If a player breaks a rule, but increases the enjoyment of the server in general, (through roleplay or other such things) it can be overlooked. If no one admin helps (ahelp) a complaint, or seems to be complaining or taking issue with it, it may be best to let it go.
- We're a server focused on the enjoyment of the players. As long as the players are having a blast and not every single rule is being broken, it's okay to let some things slide here and there.
- Do not try to heavily influence the game unless it is for very good reasoning such as for an event, a player purposefully holding up the game, dishing out punishment for rule breaking (Examples: a commander killed a marine unjustly, a squad of marines are killing other marines for no reason, a queen is slashing every host known to man, aliens have stacked too many huggers) or other such things.

Description of the incident

To preface: this isn't so much a staff report as it is a note appeal. But I guess they're now the same thing.



Tonight I rolled CL and, while walking by medbay, had an idea - a blood drive! I made dozens of flyers, gathered empty blood bags and surplus IVs, and asked the chef to make refreshments (spoiler: he didn't). It was generating quite the buzz with the marines and a surprisingly high number of them stopped by. Early on in the drive a medic voluntarily hooked himself up to four of my blood-draining IVs at once. I very explicitly told him that this was dangerous, and I mentioned for him to be careful, and the medic shrugged and continued to health-scan himself to check his own blood. He said he didn't care and drained himself until he passed out. I took him to medbay and was then talked to and warned by Deadsea right after, despite the medic doing so voluntarily and it being rather funny to witness.

Eventually, after deployment, interest waned. So I tried to increase the attention-getting nature of the event. More announcements. More paperwork. I printed poorly worded permission forms and scattered them around per the XO's request.

It didn't seem to help.

So - I closed my shutters and washed a small (monkey) cube. I then hit the small over the head with my briefcase to generate blood and spread it around my office. No one saw it. No one asked about me hitting the small. No one saw the dead small. I did not do this with the intention of acting "insane" or anything of the sort. I did it with the intent of spreading blood around my blood drive to make it look more interesting and pique some curiosity. And a proper CL like me would, naturally, run a shitty, grimy, low-quality blood drive, so of course it'd be a huge bloody mess. And though I can't say with 100% certainty, I am 99% sure that no one ahelped or complained about this, as I did it behind my shutters mid-op with no one around. When I was done, no one asked.

At some point during the spreading, and while using my briefcase, the small's head flew off. Very unexpected but I didn't think anything of it. I put the dead small and the head in my back containment and closed the containment doors. It wasn't a part of anything except making the blood for my blood drive for the remainder of the round. I opened my office shutters and resumed the blood drive.

Suddenly way more marines stopped by along with MPs, doctors, the XO, other staff, all interested at the big bloody blood drive. Some unsure, a few shocked, others wanting to donate anyways. It was exciting and engaging. People were donating blood and asking questions, all wanting to save the lives of poor colonist children (except one guy who said "fuck them kids"). I, along with a lot of players, really enjoyed it and I sent a fax at some point informing WY about the drive.



It was shortly after this all that I was questioned by Backsea, specifically about the decap. I mentioned what I was doing with the small and how I had zero plans of decapping the head - it was an accident and I didn't know a blunt briefcase could do so. That didn't matter. The fact that I wasn't hitting it for fun, or in public, or to be crazy, and was only trying to enhance my blood drive - that didn't matter either. I was told I was being "insane" and abusing animals and I had broken the server rules, not the IC ones, and would be noted.

I know animal abuse has a VERY strong IC component with Marine Law by having the longest non-capital crime punishment possible at 30 minutes. That's a very heavy-handed punishment in place already - especially for something that doesn't impact anyone else's round in any way, shape, or form. And again, I'm 100% certain not a single other player saw the animal abuse. They all assumed the blood was from my crappy blood drive. So I assumed that it was fine. He informed me that I would be getting a note for "LRP" and "acting insane" to which I countered that a scheming CL might readily commit animal abuse ICly for personal gain and thus deal with the IC consequences, especially since it wouldn't impact any other player or their RP in any way.

The note itself:
"LRP - player murdered animals as CL because they were "putting on a blood drive for the marines" by backsea (Moderator) on 2022-04-06 23:53:16"

1. That doesn't even broach why I did it and 2. Animal cruelty already has an IC component. Even if I had no reason for killing an animal at all - which I did - why should someone expect to get noted for something that already has an IC punishment in place? I had reasoning and my actions were not "LRP" because I wasn't even roleplaying the abuse. I wasn't parading the small around in front of other players. No one ever saw it. There isn't an "animal abuse" law in the server rules. There's an "animal abuse" law in the IC/ML rules. It was an inert component in a large, engaging RP. As for sanity - rule 2 is meant to punish players who start shooting others with the excuse that they're "crazy" and "insane" - as far as I know it isn't to stop people from doing IC actions that don't impede other players or the round as a whole.

All that said: as CL I like to play up the scummy, scheming angle and I really enjoy the role. The problem is that I'm not sure if Backsea has an issue with me specifically or if he personally interjects with most people at every possible chance. I had previous encounters just in the past two days with them:
-In a different round as CL: I was joking about drugging CIC staff and taking over the Almayer with the chef to convert it into a flying restaurant and sell WY-branded Italian food using the Alamo and Normandy as delivery ships to colonies. Backsea immediately told us that wasn't a good idea in LOOC, despite it being a lighthearted RP between me and the mess sergeant and clearly not being a serious plan. I was actually fairly taken aback by this - as CL, I have never been approached by staff about hypothetical plans and RP despite making lots of questionable schemes.
-During EOR in yet another round I was chatting with another marine about something related to in-game events. Was again warned in LOOC to keep our conversation IC despite said conversation being about the op and marines in general. I forget the specifics but it came off very odd given it was EOR and people were talking about lots of random stuff and we were singled out in LOOC.


I don't mind staff trying to keep the server to a specific standard - but having fun, interactive, and spontaneous moments? That's what makes rounds memorable. That's what makes people memorable. Having every single one of your actions be scrutinized - especially in a RP-heavy role like CL - isn't fun. I never, EVER do ANY actions that impede other players or their rounds in any way, shape, or form. ALL of my actions are for fun and increased enjoyment of the server as a whole - to elicit a response, to get people engaged, to spurn reciprocation. I hand out huge NDAs, I give marines side missions, I do blood drives, and I don't think my IC actions tonight warranted a note. Thanks.

Evidence

Screenshot of my office. Throughout the entire round the containment wall was closed (I opened it at EOR to take this screenshot after the matter was discussed). When the blood was spread my shutters were closed as well:

https://i.imgur.com/XmwpOWO.png

What resolution are you seeking?

Removal of the note.

[Backsea]

While i can understand why you can view killing the monkey as a IC issue i personally see the CL as a more HRP role similarly to how MPs, COs and other officers are meant to be more serious then other roles, even the CO gets OOC punishments for being arrested in character, additionally i feel that in order for marines and other crew to be considered stable and mentally fit to serve they must not fit one of the major three signs of being a psychopath.

[FortyPercent]

Apologies for the enormous delay on these logs, I completely forgot I'd been assigned to this!

If anything is missing, send me a DM here or on the discord!

---

Anuv expressing interest in the idea in a previous round:

The Blood Drive begins:

Marines being interested:

First conversation with Backsea:

Man on monkey violence:

The second conversation:

[silencer_pl]

The idea of a blood drive is perfectly fine RP and no one minds that point.

The idea that for some reason smearing your office with blood will add to said blood drive is confusing to me in particular and most of management that has taken a look at this report.

This is the key issue here. How does smearing your office with monkey blood make the situation more RP friendly, or realistic, or just general fit the theme of the setting?

The fact that this was breaking ML (and it is in fact animal cruelty under ML) has nothing to do with the fact that it was just bizarre, setting breaking behavior that we are looking to curb.

Not having staff outright tell you that something is a bad idea does not mean that you can just outright do it without consequences, even if you feel like it is not that big of a deal. That is not your call to make ultimately, but the staff member handling your case.

After discussing it a few times, we are fine with how Backsea acted and the call seems to have been a correct one. The note reflects what you did properly.

Report denied.