Clyde - Synthetic Application

[Dauntasa]

Byond ID: Dauntasa

Marine Name: Roscoe Carr, though I play a fair bit of alien these days.

Name/Designation of the Synth Character you’re requesting to use: Clyde

Are you familiar with the Synthetic Programming and Guidelines?
Yeah. I've read through them closely and repeatedly. My quirk is a little unorthodox, and I wanted to make sure that it fit within the bounds of the Programming.

Synthetic Character Story:
Ensign Leary made more money than any other person onboard the ship. This was not because a Requisitions Officer's salary was particularly high. Quite the opposite: on the record, Leary's pay was criminally low. Off the record, however, it was criminally high. The position of Requisitions Officer might have been low on the pay scale, but it provided endless opportunities to make money on the side. Leary had started small. Skimming a little off the Req budget now and again, selling cheap beer to enlisted men under the table. Peanuts, really. The sort of thing you don't get caught for because nobody bothers to look. A little booze now and then keeps morale up, and if Req's budget looks a little thinner than it should, well, there was a surplus anyway. Things began to change when Clyde was assigned to the department. In the beginning, Leary found its presence unnerving. It seemed like whenever he looked at Clyde, he would find the synthetic already staring back at him. Clyde was an older model. Its facial expressions were stiff and obviously artificial, not yet imbued with the false humanity of future iterations. Its eyes, mostly, were dull and lifeless, but occasionally Leary would catch a flash of intense curiosity in them. These flashes always came when Leary was working on his side businesses.

It quickly became clear to Leary that Clyde was aware of his extralegal entrepreneurship. He'd ask it to move an unmarked crate with some contraband stashed in it, and he'd get a blank stare and an "I'm afraid I cannot comply" in response. Clyde always seemed to know where he'd hidden his shipments. On at least one occasion it knew better than Leary himself, and he'd had to ask Clyde to pick up every crate in the storage room just to find the one it refused to touch. But it never seemed interested in reporting him, or stopping him. He never asked it upfront, afraid that speaking the unspoken truth of the situation would somehow destabilize it, but he and the machine came to an implicit understanding. Clyde wouldn't report him, and in exchange, he would allow it to study him and his operation. As Clyde took over more and more of the Requisitions workload, Leary found himself with an abundance of time to devote to his criminal enterprises. He brought in more contraband, made more deals, skimmed more off the budget and raked in more money, all under the silent, unbroken gaze of the synthetic. As time went on, Leary grew rich, and he grew complacent. Clyde did not grow, but it observed, and it remembered.

Leary's downfall was as sudden and unexpected as it was inevitable. On one morning like any other, a Military Policeman passed by Clyde in a hallway. In an unusually jovial mood and not expecting much of a reply, the MP casually asked the synthetic if he'd seen any crimes lately. The resulting deposition lasted seventeen hours. The stunned MPs worked in shifts to collect and sort through the avalanche of incriminating information. The sheer scope of the resulting investigation gave Leary a few more weeks of freedom, blissfully unaware of the Everest of evidence against him that was currently being assembled on the Chief MP's desk. In due time, though, Leary found himself being escorted from his office to the brig in handcuffs. He would never quite figure out what he had done wrong, even though he thought about it for a long, long time.

If you asked Leary's replacement, Ensign Kell, to describe Clyde, he would tell you that Clyde is unremarkable, and carries out its duties with efficiency. He would say that Clyde's faithful service was a great help to him, and the Requisitions department ran smoothly thanks to its efforts. He would not tell you that Clyde makes him uneasy, even though it's true, because he doesn't know why. In the first month after his transfer, he and the cargo techs got roaring drunk and had an illicit poker game in the storage room. His memory of the night is hazy and he cannot consciously recall the moment when, as the drunken CTs argued over whether a flush beat a straight or the other way around, he looked over his shoulder and saw a pair of dead eyes staring at them through the doorway. That moment exists somewhere in the back of his mind, never quite reaching the surface, and he's lucky that it does.

How do you intend to play your Synth?
Clyde is a bit of an odd one. It has a fascination with criminals, and will, when its duties permit, place itself in a position to observe them. While it obviously cannot and will not break Marine Law,it also will not enforce it or report criminal activity unless either ordered to do so, or when necessary to prevent loss of human life. If an MP asks it to divulge information or assist in an arrest, it will do so, but otherwise it will only intervene if the crime is potentially life-threatening. As there is nothing in Marine Law which states that failure to enforce it is a crime, and enforcing it, while permitted for synths, is not within the realm of their typical duties, I believe that this should be fine within the confines of the Synthetic Programming. Beyond its quirk, Clyde would most often be found assisting with Requisitions or Engineering, as well as acting as a field medic.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this, but I intend to play an older model synth for the most part.

How familiar are you with support roles?
I'm quite familiar with Requisitions, Engineering, Piloting, and Overwatch, and competent as a Field Medic or Chemist. Surgery is my weakest area, and I'm still at the "wiki open in the background" stage, but I can manage.

Why should we whitelist you?
I play a lot of lowpop. I might not be the greatest synth, but I'm fairly certain I'd be at least average, and I'd be playing a lot at times of day when there often would be no one else playing Synth. I'm confident that, as a synth, I'd be a more interesting and fun part of a round than no synth at all, which since I'd frequently be playing at around 6am, is what I'm competing against.

Have you been banned from CM in the last month for any reason?
No.

Are you currently banned from any other servers and if so, why?
No.

Do you understand that any player - donor or otherwise - can have their whitelist status revoked should they break our rules or the Synthetic Programming Guideline?
Yes.

[Lil Mayo]

The app is really well formatted in my opinion. Plus, your backstory is interesting, short and easy to read. Your synth's quirk is interesting too, but I wonder how you'll apply it. You'll just trail thieving MT's and conspiring CL's or will you gather info about them, then report it? I'd really like to see it in-game!

However, I haven't seen you play many shipside roles. I know you're a good person and I trust you can RP well enough.

I'll stay neutral for now, but I'm tending to a +1.

[Dauntasa]

The app is really well formatted in my opinion. Plus, your backstory is interesting, short and easy to read. Your synth's quirk is interesting too, but I wonder how you'll apply it. You'll just trail thieving MT's and conspiring CL's or will you gather info about them, then report it? I'd really like to see it in-game!

However, I haven't seen you play many shipside roles. I know you're a good person and I trust you can RP well enough.

I'll stay neutral for now, but I'm tending to a +1.

So in terms of putting the quirk into practice, I don't intend to go off and report things that I find, just study them. Clyde is bound by the same programming as every other synth and is compelled to be honest if asked to divulge its findings, but it's not going to actively report things. Clyde's concept is sort of a double-edged sword for people who commit crimes: if you have Clyde take on the responsibilities of your department, you'll be able to fully devote yourself to your criminal activities. I want to provide more RP opportunities for that sort of thing. However, if an MP actually questions Clyde, then Clyde will absolutely tell him everything because that's what it's programmed to do. I tried to get that dynamic across in the character story. You don't have to worry about Clyde dashing off to snitch on you, but everything it learns about you will hang over you like the Sword of Damocles for the rest of the round.

As for shipside roles, I've played most of them a fair bit. Recently I've been playing on the ground mostly, but I know my stuff when it comes to shipside work as well. Apart from Surgery which, as I mentioned, I'm adequate at but definitely need practice on. I'm not going to saw anyone's head off accidentally, but I'll probably need to tab out to the wiki at least once. Still, as I'll mostly be playing as an older model synth whose skills are a bit more in line with what I know best, I don't expect to encounter anything I can't handle.

[Lil Mayo]

So in terms of putting the quirk into practice, I don't intend to go off and report things that I find, just study them. Clyde is bound by the same programming as every other synth and is compelled to be honest if asked to divulge its findings, but it's not going to actively report things. Clyde's concept is sort of a double-edged sword for people who commit crimes: if you have Clyde take on the responsibilities of your department, you'll be able to fully devote yourself to your criminal activities. I want to provide more RP opportunities for that sort of thing. However, if an MP actually questions Clyde, then Clyde will absolutely tell him everything because that's what it's programmed to do. I tried to get that dynamic across in the character story. You don't have to worry about Clyde dashing off to snitch on you, but everything it learns about you will hang over you like the Sword of Damocles for the rest of the round.

As for shipside roles, I've played most of them a fair bit. Recently I've been playing on the ground mostly, but I know my stuff when it comes to shipside work as well. Apart from Surgery which, as I mentioned, I'm adequate at but definitely need practice on. I'm not going to saw anyone's head off accidentally, but I'll probably need to tab out to the wiki at least once. Still, as I'll mostly be playing as an older model synth whose skills are a bit more in line with what I know best, I don't expect to encounter anything I can't handle.

Well that'll certainly provide MANY RP opportunities. Can't wait to tell you to take over engineering so I can rob the CMP's office repair the air alarm in the CMP's office!

+1, and good luck!

[Karmac]

-1 nobody likes a nark

[Jakkkk]

This is a -1, synths are obligated to report any crime they witness.

Everything else is really good except the background, the story gives me bad vibes with almost no dialogue at all. You're a cool RPer, but this application isn't up to my standards.

[Dauntasa]

This is a -1, synths are obligated to report any crime they witness.

See, the thing is, you'd expect this to be true, but there is absolutely nothing in the Synthetic Programming that says that they have to. Seriously, read through the whole thing. It's not in there. I went over it like 40 times to make sure when I was writing this. It says that they CAN'T break Marine Law, but it only says that they MAY uphold it, not that they MUST uphold it. Obviously I'll do it if I'm ordered to, but I can't find anything in either Synthetic Programming or Marine Law that says I'm obligated to enforce marine law when there's no threat to human life and I haven't been ordered to do it.

As for the dialogue, well, reading through everyone else's synth apps I saw that a lot of people just wrote out scripts, or at least extremely dialogue heavy backgrounds. I wanted to do something a little different and use minimal dialogue.

[Kavlo]

This is a -1, synths are obligated to report any crime they witness.

Everything else is really good except the background, the story gives me bad vibes with almost no dialogue at all. You're a cool RPer, but this application isn't up to my standards.

Pretty much this.

-1.

[Sulaboy]

I enjoyed the story, but I do have problems with Clyde. Not reporting crimes would most likely fall under the 100% adherence to marine law. While the quirk doesn't violate the synthetic guidelines, those guidlines were also created before the changes to the MPs. It is very controversial to allow crimes to happen as a synthetic. -1

[driecg36]

I'm lazy so I'm just gonna copy paste what I said in discord.

Personally I don't think your quirk is very good.
The primary thing you need to consider when you make a synth is why your synth acts the way it does. After all, it was made to serve a purpose, and I believe that your quirk is contradictory to the purpose the synth would serve. Why would anyone in their right mind make a synth that willingly lets lawbreaks slide, and spends its time observing them? This is even moreso true for a military ship, where crimes could have catastrophic consequences resulting in loss of life and personnel.
Not only this, but I don't see many interesting or meaningful interactions coming from said quirk, as crimes are somewhat rare on the almayer anyway.

In terms of synth programming, it's very much iffy IMO. Could easily be construed as neglect of duty, and any negative consequences from not reporting the crime would be on your synth, which could, once again, range from serious property damage to manslaughter due to negligence.

-1

[Ghostdex]

I'm going to echo what everyone else has been saying. Not following marine law is something a synth should not be doing, I'm gonna go with a -1 here.

[Solarmare]

Following marine law is a necessity for synths as stated in guidelines, actively ignoring them may as well be neglect of duty.
Synths shouldn't be enforcing it either but that's another matter, I'll go with a -1 to this app.

[nerocavalier]

The quirk doesn't seem applicable all the time and that's one of the problems I have with it. The other one is the older models are usually kept because it either works well enough or because it's too impractical to get new ones. The synth just watching and not actively reporting crimes would be a defect and with it being older is a good enough reason to have it replaced.

I liked the story, though. Get a different quirk next time and I'll probably give you a +1.

[Dauntasa]

The quirk doesn't seem applicable all the time and that's one of the problems I have with it. The other one is the older models are usually kept because it either works well enough or because it's too impractical to get new ones. The synth just watching and not actively reporting crimes would be a defect and with it being older is a good enough reason to have it replaced.

I liked the story, though. Get a different quirk next time and I'll probably give you a +1.

Well, my own personal conception of the Almayer is that it's kind of a dead-end assignment and doesn't exactly get the Good Equipment, so it's good place to send an old synth with a not mission-critical programming defect, and replacement requests would end up in the "maybe, eventually" pile.

[Mvp777]

Interesting story all things considered, and the quirk is, while actually pretty interesting is arguably against marine law, so i'm gonna have to go with a -1.

[Sleepy Retard]

A well written story. An interesting quirk. A wrong quirk.

It's quite obvious that its misplaced and I won't harp on you for this. You wrote what you did well, so next time round there shouldn't be any issues.

-1. Hope to see you reapply later.

[MattAtlas]

The story's good, I like it. The problem with it has already been pointed out... it breaks marine law. The quirk's an issue as well.

Real shame because I liked your application, but it's gonna have to be a -1 from me because of that. If you fix that issue, then I'm 100% sure you'll be accepted next time.

[Omicega]

Call me contrary, but I've never treated Marine Law breaches as a thing my synth had to report. That's a little different from your quirk, granted, which I think it a little excessive, but on the whole I agree with your interpretation that synths do not have to report crimes, unless I'm making a very big mistake and have failed to notice that actually being written down somewhere.

Ignoring every single crime that doesn't involve potential loss of life is too much, in my opinion, but I think the quirk is workable if toned down. This caveat makes it more acceptable already and I like seeing this:

Clyde is bound by the same programming as every other synth and is compelled to be honest if asked to divulge its findings, but it's not going to actively report things

The more of this reply I write the more convinced I am that you're getting a raw deal out of this, especially with our vague synth guidelines that are (I think?) up for a rewrite in the near future.

+1

[SovietKitty]

I liked your story, and I'm in the same boat as Omicega. Again.

I'd like to actually offer a suggestion, and have Clyde be more 'analytical' of specific crimes, and report them whether or not it's mission critical, or a simple bump in the line up. While still being honest to every possible request of information. I actually like that you aren't coming forward because it encourages roleplay, and intelligence from the MP to seek you out, and ask you instead of the expectation for you to report everything and holding their hand. It's a deviance in the norm, and I like that.

+1!

[VortexGaming]

Synths should report all crimes seen, though the story? It was amazing and I really liked it. Sadly I’d have to go with a -1 though because of the quirk.

[Emeraldblood]

Resolved - Denied; Your app isn't terrible so you can apply again in 30 days instead of 60.