Jack Hunter HOS application (3rd times the charm)

[smallsandman]

Usual character name: Jack Hunter
BYOND username: Smallsandman
Discord username (if you are on our discord): Smallsandman #7661
Recommended by (if applicable): None
Goon servers you play: 3 (and 4 rarely)

Reason for application: There was a time where I rarely played security at all, then one day I decided that I was gonna try getting good at it. so I started playing it a bunch and now I just keep playing it. it's become a default job for me along side staff assistant. I wanted to both get feedback on how I play so I may get better and grow for this role and see what people think about me taking on this role.

Security experience (300 word minimum): Ive been doing security for some time now, I know all the basics to security such as gear usage, arrest procedures, and secmate/records editing and am willing to teach them to others. I specifically enjoy dealing with bombs (even if I end up blowing up 25% the time) due to my experience with making them in game. I believe I have a good grasp on when the armory and it's equipment is needed and when it's not. there are a few things I believe deserve some spotlight.

• Communication is important: Everyone says this, good thing it can't be overstated! Security is a department that needs communication way more then any of the other departments. Without communication like saying why people are wanted or telling others the status of yourself or someone's arrest the team would get confused and wouldn't be able to get things done efficiently and people would constantly be asking questions about who did what and where things are happening. While rounds can get chaotic and confusing communication can lessen this as if the whole group understands what's going on it will get less confusing.
  

• Handling of Antagonists and their equipment: Antagonists are the driving force of your rounds, security would not be needed without them. Killing all of them whenever they are discovered would leave you with a bunch of time with nothing to do! As such its important they get some leeway in areas. They should be treated like how you would treat the crew of the station until its proven they are not crew. whether it be giving them a chance to come in peacefully to letting them make deals. its important not to over punish for small crimes, like how you dont really need to search someone for attacking someone with a toolbox that's more a job for short brig time. now if they continually reoffend searching them would not be unreasonable. similar with one case of having contraband, if you can just convince them to hand it in there is no real need to search them. Larger crimes like murder or theft of an important item will push me to search them and take illegal equipment in addition to brig time. Now once you find contraband gear and confiscate it, it is to go in contraband and not be kept for personal use and should only be used in absolute emergencies if at all.  this part is even in space law!
  

• Crew interactions and gimmicks: The crew are 80% of the players of the game they are what you are here to protect, they are important and shouldn't be ignored outright. If someone comes in reporting a vampire it may sound weird an illogical (in an RP sense) but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be looked into. now onto gimmicks. Gimmicks are a big part of the game they can make rounds more interesting if everyone JUST did their role and nothing else it would be fairly boring and uniform. Gimmicks can also be REALLY funny and I love a good laugh so its best not to shut down gimmicks when they are just getting started unless its killed a large significate amount of the crew.
  

Answer two or more of the following:

• What advice would you give to other sec players?
  1: Don't keep people too long, especially without roleplay. if you have someone in there for like 20 minutes while they are figuring out what they did or why they are there. at that point just take contraband and drop them outside security, unless they were gonna be executed (unlikely to be unknown by the whole team) they have already served their sentence out and then some.
  2: Winning is not the point of security, Securities role is to be the opposition to the antagonists and to make their round less of a boring steam roll with no opposition for them and an actual challenge. "It's not about winning. its about fun!" - Talking cheese. (for all parties involved preferably)
  3: Security is reactive and not pro-active over preparing for everything that could happens gives the antags less options and over all makes it less fun for people as a problem is dealt with before it happens.
  
• What was one of your favorite security moments? (Either playing as a sec officer or interacting with one)
  One of my favorite moments was the round where I learned how to do bomb RP, I had spawned in as a vampire but not wanting to do normal vampire things i decided I wanted to try something with TTV's, now this was one of my first RP antag rounds if I'm remembering right, so i asked the admins how to escalate TTV's as I didnt fully understand escalation at the time. I decided on wearing the TTV on my back and threatening to blow up medbay should my demands not be met. someone tried to take it off me while I was talking so I ran into a chute and ended up in the kitchen freezer. security blocks my one way out so I make demands "I want a ride out of here and ill leave the bomb with you" or something along those lines. so they get me a pod but they pod lock it so I'm standing there trying to figure out the code as I think they'll betray me. As soon as i figure out the code they tell me what it is, i start to get in and drop the bomb but they think i'm trying to leave with it so i get tazed, one officer notices i dropped the bomb so they tell the others to let me go, as I'm about to be taken in bio magnets of all things save the day bringing everyone right up on the same tile and giving me the chance to grab the bomb and set it off. all but one of security died I think. now I was dead, my round was over. then the fact i clone scanned came back into play, now I was alive and nearly all of security was dead. it wasn't to difficult avoiding the last remaining security person with the fact vamps can cancel stuns so I even made it to Central Command.
  

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

• What's a security gimmick that you've ran or wanted to run?
  I want to try holding some small events involving the crew, maybe a self-defense seminar or something of the sort would be fun.
  

• Draw a picture! "I got this!" 
  

Note: I have taken into consideration the worries i received the last two times and have altered my gameplay and myself to do better. 

Previous Bans: None.

[jan.antilles]

Given that this application appears to be a literal copy paste of your last two, it would be helpful to actually get some kind of examples of how you've "altered your gameplay and yourself" other than just that statement. How do you think you've changed in a way that would make you a better candidate for HoS?

[smallsandman]

Given that this application appears to be a literal copy paste of your last two, it would be helpful to actually get some kind of examples of how you've "altered your gameplay and yourself" other than just that statement. How do you think you've changed in a way that would make you a better candidate for HoS?

Ahh sorry about the copy paste and late reply didn't check till now, I figured my statements still fit with my ideas. as for the better candidate thing. I was planning on adding a section on how i changed but i feared people might not want it but now i know they do want it so here goes.

I have been working really hard on distancing myself from Jack the character to take failures with less "oooh im so baddd" and more "oh well, cant win them all" type attitude, cause that is a horrible attitude to have, Losing in a game shouldn't define who I am so I'm trying my hardest to not let it any more. now that's not to say I'm perfect nobody can be I'm sure at some point something will anger me, but now i know rather then to go complain in chat I can just leave the game for a while too cool off, eventually any negative emotions will subside and people wont have to deal with me thinking poor of myself. 

As for gameplay, I think I've really improved on my coordination and decision making skills as of late, especially since the first one, where as before I'd stand around waiting for someone's word on whether or not my decision was good or asking the HOS what they want to do. i have far more confidence in my decision making. in fact since there were so many people giving good wishes and hope for me as well as people actively trusting my decisions on things my self confidence has improved a lot from my first application, I don't think I've made even one self depreciative joke since the second application was posted, partially in part by the expectation that HOS don't think that way not only have i been trying to "act more like how an HOS would" in security but in other things as well, I haven't ended up a passive antagonist in a while since I got over that fear of failure and just played the game.

in any case I don't believe I'm a bad player anymore or that the outcome of this application defines who I am. I really just wanna be a better player for the entire community.

---

Oh yeah, leadership was a big concern on the last one, so i think I've gotten pretty comfortable leading folks around, as much as one can get while being the same rank as the others and doing it all in requests, for the most part people do what I ask them and things go along pretty fine. my biggest issue before was just feeling like I would have been too demanding or disrespecting the beret and the later has been said to me. but I think I've found a good way to "lead" without "leading". at least as an officer or assistant.

---

I suppose this whole thing has been about me overcoming my fears, not just as security but as a player. a while ago i was consumed by it, worried that any failure would lead to me feeling bad about myself and stagnating as a result. and I can only hope to overcome them all and be a better person at the end of things.

---

I feared people might not want it but now i know they do want it so here goes.

Specifically, I was worried I wouldn't have been able to fit it into a "application" style format and that people wouldn't like it due to that.

[smallsandman]

now that's not to say I'm perfect nobody can be 

(Sorry if this seems rushed to anyone reading, I was trying to write this on my phone but my browser kept crashing after paragraphs worth of progress.)

I have recently learned of two other issues with my gameplay that would come back to bite me if not dealt with now, the first and biggest issue being a bit of a newer thing to me overconfidence, while I have dealt with overconfidence before it was never when trying to make real decisions and rather just me thinking I could do something others didn't think I could do. however it has come to my attention I can attain a state of overconfidence during my sec gameplay after a good few rounds of feeling as though I did really well and was a large benefit to the team. This leads me to stop questioning my decision making process as well as my decisions in general, which will eventually lead me to make one or more mistakes whether it be an incorrect call or treating someone really poorly, where as before I've tried boosting my self confidence I hardly ever made decisions as I didn't trust myself to make the correct ones. which led to very long wait times for those I was dealing with. Ideally I want to find a balance between questioning my decisions and making them as well as always getting a good look at problems before I make anything concrete though in the heat of the game this can sometimes be difficult I have to try. This is likely going to take a while for me to truly catch and stop as overconfidence is something hard to spot because it hides itself in the moment and makes you feel like you can't be wrong, This is not something we want in such a powerful leadership position as the one I'm applying for so I will be as careful as i can be in getting better at this issue.

The other issue is about telling people on my team who I perceive to be doing something incorrectly, and correcting them in a respectful and understanding manner. the reason I am looking at overconfidence first is I believe it feeds into me using gut responses to folk I think aren't handling something right rather then looking at their issue, calmly getting their side of things and suggesting an alternative to whatever they were doing or planned to do. Rather then mocking them for not knowing something I perceive as obvious. in any case it is never my intention to seem mean or rude out f character and if I did I wasn't in the right thinking space, and I want to avoid this happening as it can make someone feel real bad if I didn't know everything and just assumed they were automatically in the wrong or treat them like a moron for not knowing something I likely had to be taught too and just don't remember being taught it. Now it can be difficult to get practice for this as it only shows up rarely and when it does there is often a real head of security there. however if a situation like this pops up ill try to be extra careful with how I address things and make sure to get their whole side. 

As always I'm trying to get better at this constantly and if anyone has a issue with something I do feel free to bring it up to me and I'll listen to what needs to be said and alter my style if needed.

[rdcb]

You've definitely been leading more since the last app. Though, on multiple occasions I've seen you try to coordinate an already well coordinated team, or giving basic advice to seasoned secmains that already know what they're doing. While this isn't an inherent issue it does come across as overzealous. From what I've seen good HoSii tend to adjust communication/mentoring levels according to the abilities of their team. Trust your officers, they know what's up. ...most of the time.


In addition, I rarely see you update newly joined officers on current events- again, not a huge problem, someone else usually does sitreps anyway, but a little more communication on that end would be nice.

not only have i been trying to "act more like how an HOS would" in security but in other things as well

IMO this mindset is holding you back, by just imitating common HoS behavior, you're 1) not playing to your actual strengths, making improvement that much harder, and 2) partially missing the situational awareness on when to apply that behavior, leading to scenarios like the above. I'd ditch the metaphorical Good HoS Checklist and focus on simply improving as a player.


One last, tiny personal gripe: you often make conversations about yourself in-game and in the discord, while it's interesting to hear about Jack being Syndicate #1 Most Wanted it gets a bit old, and I'd like to see some more varied engagement with the other members of your sec team. (Though you've improved somewhat on this one- I've noticed you doing more training gimmicks lately.)


Otherwise, you're a fairly experienced and communicative officer, and I'd be glad to +1 when you improve further as a leader and player.

[SomeOlFellow]

From my experiences with Jack Hunter on the security team, I have found him to be relatively quick to escalate to violence and take gags way too far. There's a difference between roleplaying a rude character and repeatedly "trampling" a coworker (walking over them while they were lying down and kicking them in the face) nearly to death, only stopped by a colleague demanding you do (never apologized or even cared), and then proceeding to get into a shoving match (pretty sure he tried to grab them first) with the next non-sec member to talk to you. I've also noticed a general disregard for the well-being of his coworkers and everyone else on the station, often only acting out of obligation or if it serves his own self-interest and image. While he knows when to step up when asked of him, his general activity when nothing of interest is going on will have my vote against him being HoS, as I fear how his character would behave if put into a position of power. I've never seen him play captain before, so I can't say how good his leadership skills are, as most of my shifts with him involve a HoS; what I can say, however, is my experiences with him as a coworker are generally displeasing, and I often don't enjoy having him on the team due to how incredibly confrontational he tends to be when not being supervised.

While he does make for an engaging, easy-to-hate antagonist, I know that is how he behaves without the constraints non-antags have; you can tell a lot about a person by how they play an antagonist and has the loosened rules that come with it, and to me, it doesn't feel like he's acting and just trying to fit the role but is instead something that comes more naturally.

However, he does a good job communicating with his team and listening to his radio. He will respond to alerts if he can and knows how to get his shit together when things get tough. While indeed a capable officer, his actions when things are relaxed could use improvement, and my past experiences with him have been less than pleasant. However, I have seen him improve a bit over time, and I know he can do better. Just as he is right now, I don't think now is the time for him to be given the beret.

[Glamurio]

Jack has been one of the most consistent officers I've had in my games, and I've spoken about this at length before, but reluctantly I have to say that I also don't think they're quite ready for the beret. Much like most people here, I see glimpses of a competent officer that could handle a large threat and navigate the game with ease, but it's overshadowed by a propensity to point out boredom or engage in activities with varying degrees of helpfulness to the situation. Genuinely, I can see Jack be a good HoS a few months, maybe even a year down the line, but as it stands I just think they're still not ready for it.

As Jan has mentioned too, I would consider maybe rewriting your application the next time you post to properly reflect the person you've become, because it is true that you've changed and grown as a person and officer, and you should make it more apparent.

Genuinely, the biggest advice I can give you is to play a new character. When I was playing a goofy officer such as Amy, I don't think I was portraying myself as a manner befitting a HoS all the time either. It wasn't until I came up with a more responsible, calm and collected character to roleplay as where being sensible came with the territory that I managed to fix some of my own issues I've had when I first played Security (indecisiveness, too easy on antags, etc.)

If you struggle with overconfidence, perhaps consider playing someone more grounded, maybe even hop into a few games as a Security Assistant to teach yourself humility, see what you can do as a team from a position where you don't have the tools to be overconfident or zealous.

[SomeOlFellow]

From my experiences with Jack Hunter on the security team, I have found him to be relatively quick to escalate to violence and take gags way too far. There's a difference between roleplaying a rude character and repeatedly "trampling" a coworker (walking over them while they were lying down and kicking them in the face) nearly to death, only stopped by a colleague demanding you do (never apologized or even cared), and then proceeding to get into a shoving match (pretty sure he tried to grab them first) with the next non-sec member to talk to you. I've also noticed a general disregard for the well-being of his coworkers and everyone else on the station, often only acting out of obligation or if it serves his own self-interest and image. While he knows when to step up when asked of him, his general activity when nothing of interest is going on will have my vote against him being HoS, as I fear how his character would behave if put into a position of power. I've never seen him play captain before, so I can't say how good his leadership skills are, as most of my shifts with him involve a HoS; what I can say, however, is my experiences with him as a coworker are generally displeasing, and I often don't enjoy having him on the team due to how incredibly confrontational he tends to be when not being supervised.

While he does make for an engaging, easy-to-hate antagonist, I know that is how he behaves without the constraints non-antags have; you can tell a lot about a person by how they play an antagonist and has the loosened rules that come with it, and to me, it doesn't feel like he's acting and just trying to fit the role but is instead something that comes more naturally.

However, he does a good job communicating with his team and listening to his radio. He will respond to alerts if he can and knows how to get his shit together when things get tough. While indeed a capable officer, his actions when things are relaxed could use improvement, and my past experiences with him have been less than pleasant. However, I have seen him improve a bit over time, and I know he can do better. Just as he is right now, I don't think now is the time for him to be given the beret.

I have been watching Jack more closely these past couple months and would like to say he has actually improved substantially. That and this post also violated guidelines im pretty sure by being too long. Either way, I rescind my previous statements and want to give Jack a +1

[jan.antilles]

We really appreciate the time and effort you put into this application, but have decided to deny it due to lack of positive community feedback and concerns about your overall fitness for the role. You're welcome to reapply in 60 days, which would be 9/18/24. In the meantime, I'd encourage you to keep sec officering!