Carton's Head of Security Application!
#1
Usual character name: Andrew Pieter, Maximilian Pieter, Scumbles McCormac, Lios Maddox, Etc.
BYOND username: Carton171
Discord username (if you are on our discord): Carton#4894
Recommended by (if applicable):
Goon servers you play: Goon 3, 4, and (Rarely) 1.

Reason for application: I've been playing security on Goon for slightly less than a year now. It's the most fun I have on station, and teaching new sec players and helping lead teams is my favourite part, making a role dedicated to doing those things a no-brainer. Additionally, I'm always looking for feedback on my security gameplay, and regardless of whether this application gets accepted, I hope I'll get some things to improve on!

Security experience (300 word minimum):

I started playing on goon occasionally in October of 2021, and started playing mainly security in March of 2022, still unsure of exactly how the game worked, and whether I was going to get yelled at for making stupid mistakes. My first security assistant shift was a chaos filled nightmare, where I was the only security personnel fighting against a flood of traitors and other disasters. I almost didn’t continue playing security because of how stressful that shift was, but luckily the next shift had a HOS. This HOS (I don’t remember which one she was, but god bless you, whoever you are) asked me if I was new, took me aside and spent the entire round training me on how to play sec. From that point on, I was hooked, and I mained security for… about five straight months, playing roboticist occasionally on the side. Over the course of that time, I learned a lot about how to approach antagonists, minor conflicts, and more. The thing that really stuck with me though was that first HOS who helped me learn, and I wanted to do that same thing for other players in the same situation, as well as lead and keep the round coordinated like I had seen other heads do. From watching Heads lead (most notably David Cain and Alex Wilo) , I’ve learned both what to do, and what not to do. I’ve learned the importance of extending a certain amount of leniency to antags to keep the round fun, and not to over extend that leniency to the point that the round devolves into rampaging. I’ve learned that while security can often bring overwhelming force against an antag, it's often better for RP, for the round, and for the antags gameplay to attempt a softer, more measured approach. I’ve learned that while Sec should always be helpful and approachable to the crew, there are times when you are going to be directly in conflict with what other members of the crew want, especially in emergencies, and sometimes you have to make the unpopular correct choice over making the wrong one.

Playing security on goon has been an amazing experience for me, and I hope to be able to provide the same amazing experience to other new players, just like that first HOS did for me.


Answer two or more of the following:

• What advice would you give to other sec players?

I think my biggest piece of advice comes with regards to antags that appear to be peaceful/inactive, or otherwise aren’t causing mayhem as they should. I routinely see Antags like vamp or spief have their plans foiled because, in an attempt to push them to action, secoffs and crewmembers hound and follow them after they’re revealed. I understand the drive to get the antag to actually, well… antag, but oftentimes those players actually are working on something, and much more fun and interesting antag actions and RP are ruined by hounding them. My advice is to RP with them and keep your distance. Go speak to them about their powers, Give them a warning, perhaps a threat, something to give them a reason to act against the security department, and then give them the space they need to respond to you. If you’re on their heels from the moment you know or suspect they're an arcfiend, or a spief, or a vamp, they’re not going to be able to become more powerful by using their abilities, and if they DO something it's just going to be killing you, and then likely getting executed. Keep your distance, make note of them, and observe them, but never, EVER hound them.

• What was one of your favourite security moments? (Either playing as a sec officer or interacting with one)

In retrospect, I think my first round as secass, which was terrifying at the time, has ended up being one of my favourite moments of all time. I was the only security, and a clown and mime were spotted chasing each other around with shotguns, the station was flooded with angry rockworms, and someone was playing with pipe bombs. This led to me getting promoted to “Security specialist” by the captain, handed a riot shotgun, and pushed into a hallway with the directive “Go fix this'' Luckily the clown and mime (Traitors) shot each other up enough that they both died, and the scientist who was playing with pipe bombs (I believe they were a self antag that was just learning to make bombs) Didn’t know how to actually detonate them, so my mad dash across the station hurling pipe bombs out airlocks was pointless, if hilarious. All in all, while I hated it then, I think it was such a funny, and formative experience, that it has to be my favourite sec round to date.

• What game improvements or changes do you think would benefit security players?

Rewriting space law. I know it’s hardly original, but space law needs to be changed. It advises players to do things like permanently brig antagonists, or give them much longer round timers than they should (Up to fifteen minutes? Are you kidding me?). I know reading space law when I was new confused the hell out of me, and if I hadn’t been told “Throw your copy of space law directly in the trash” early on, I'd have made a lot more critical mistakes as a new player.


Answer one or more of the following fun questions (because it's important for the HoS to be fun):

• Write a poem to convey your thoughts on security/NanoTrasen/space/bees/anything related to SS13:

  There once was a clown from Cork,
  Who broke into sec with a fork.
  They tracked the clown down,
  Put them on the ground,
  And then they swirlied the dork.

Previous bans (while this will not affect your application lying about it will): None so far!
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#2
In my experience Carton is a good is an adequate, even tempered, and calm, security member.

Carton is sometimes a bit over permissive with antags, but, this is a super fine line and difficult balance.

He tends to respond well but can be a bit quiet.

I would like to observe you heading issues a bit more rather then just supporting.

Minor issues all over. Continue to work on them and I see no reason to deny you access to the number 1 boss mug once it comes time for the votes to be cast in my personal opinion.
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#3
+1 from me.
A nice presence on the discord, haven't really em be toxic to anyone or bring down the mood in any way.
As a security officer, my interaction with Carton has been mostly with me not being security, so i can't say much about how he handles internal security stuff.
With that said, being antag or not, Carton's treatment of my characters and of others that i've seen has been fair and engaging, as well as fun. I have yet to see him misuse their power or tools as security officer.
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#4
Your application is well-written and touches on many of the points I feel are important to wearing the beret. I love your focus on training and connection with the importance of building others up (and also agree that Space Law is overdue for a makeover). That said, I've had limited experience with you ingame (might be a timezone difference as I play in a relatively restricted block of time or perhaps you've been on servers other than 3), however I've had some mixed experiences with you. I believe we've only played one Security shift together (with me as HoS), so I don't feel I can adequately critique your Security play; for that particular shift you were relatively quiet to the point where I checked to make sure you were still upright.

My concerns stem from observed behavior in post-round chat and Gooncord (as well as an instance in LOOC), where you seemed to take offense to the direction events were going and it seemed like it ruined your experience/ability to carry on. We had a moment that I was tangentially involved in (while you were not Security), where your LOOC use during a rather involved RP moment involving half a dozen players was extremely jarring, as you essentially read someone the riot act for something they had done. I have also witnessed some concerning comments/naming/shaming in post-round chat/Gooncord (where an F1 use may have been appropriate).

I think overall you seem to grasp what the job entails and should be, and you typically present as a pleasant person ingame/out, but I have concerns over your ability to remain engaged in a shift, foster good round flow, not cryo out, and not hold grudges. I could be off the mark, but more often than not, I feel like our shared shifts have had situations where you have not demonstrated the necessary demeanor to wear the beret.
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#5
We appreciate the time and effort you put into this application, but have decided to deny it due to a lack of community response. You're welcome to reapply in 60 days, which would be 2023-10-08. In the meantime, I'd encourage you to keep sec officering!
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