Head of Security Application: RubberRats (Tony Favero)

[RubberRats]

Usual character name: Tony Favero (officer), Sergeio Favero (detective)
BYOND username: RubberRats
Discord username (if you are on our discord): rubberrats
Recommended by (if applicable):
Goon servers you play: 3 and 4

Reason for application: Over the 3ish years I have been here, both the game and the culture surrounding its servers has changed a lot. On the roleplay servers, I’ve seen security adapt well to these changes, and its present state is miles ahead of the security I remember when I first began playing RP. I want to see security continue to change for the better, and believe that as HoS I would be a good influence, both on the department and on the game as a whole.

Security experience (300 word minimum): I started playing security around early 2021, a few months after I first started playing. This was on classic, and it’s where I was taught the basics of forensics and combat. I continued playing security on and off, though it was never something especially memorable to me during this period. Over time I migrated to RP, made a new security character, and continued to play the department for a few rounds occasionally.
                 I first became serious about playing security around the start of 2023, after several rounds of officers being either unwilling to put their foot down or entirely nonexistent. This was as detective and sometimes as officer. As a response to what I saw as spineless security play, I became more active, pushing for harsher punishments on open/violent antagonists and being more willing to escalate to combat when they proved hostile or evasive. Over time (and after a few bad calls) I have tempered this behavior to what I believe to be a good balance, one that gives antagonists some leeway to run gimmicks without letting them use the station as a punching bag.
                 Much of my behavior as security can be described as a response to certain trends which bothered me. When I first started playing on RP, security was dominated by cliques which would mainly keep to their own department and ignore anyone outside their friend group. In response I created Tony, a by-the-books officer who was there to do his job and do it well. When security began letting remorseless killers go with a slap on the wrist, I began playing Sergeio as a detective that was always willing to bring the hammer down if need be. And when I noticed security becoming complacent to or ignoring people committing the same small crimes repeatedly, I began enforcing them, especially for repeat offenses. Doing this usually meant going against the grain, but it led to many good moments.


Answer two or more of the following:

• What advice would you give to other sec players?
  

Don’t try to fix all the station’s problems by yourself. You’ll be more stressed and will probably burn out on security, if not the game entirely. Instead, delegate tasks if you can, whether within your own department or outside it. Nobody benefits from you rushing in to fix a breach when there’s a perfectly capable engineer bored out of their mind. Similarly, in a full team of competent security officers, you don’t need to be at every alert and arrest every bad guy. If your coworkers know what they’re doing (they usually do), trust them to do their part. You’ll be a lot happier.

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

One detective round, I had a test subject asking to be made a “junior detective”. The head of security that round was skeptical, but after I expressed interest and promised to keep an eye on them, he let me give them a chance. I had them follow me around and taught them how to do forensics, use SecMate, and how to use a flash. They behaved wonderfully and I am very glad I decided to give them a chance.

• Describe any differences in your playstyle when part of a full security team and when being the only security officer.
  

Having played mostly on lowpop, I am more used to not having a team to back me up. In cases like that I tend to play more actively, hanging around populated areas like medbay and doing occasional inspections of commonly robbed areas like the captain’s office, as on lowpop normally high-profile thefts are unlikely to be noticed/reported. Similarly, sometimes I have printed a paper copy of the manifest so I could keep track of the crew, particularly for suspicious absences. I am also more likely to pick up counters to antagonist abilities (eg. smelling salts for lings) if I suspect I will be confronting a specific one, as I cannot rely on the possibility of backup. I am also more likely to “deputize” another member of the crew if I, as an example, need somebody with tools to deconstruct something for me.
                 With a full team, I am more likely to hang back and step in as needed. Other security officers are usually able to handle a lot of cases on their own. I tend to serve as a coordinator on these rounds, communicating between the crew and security or keeping tabs on cases to ensure they are not dropped. For cases or emergencies that don’t demand the attention of the entire team, I tend to step back from situations which already have multiple security members on the scene. A staff assistant breaking into the mechanics lab doesn’t demand three officers to arrest them and there’s usually multiple cases that need to be handled. I usually end up doing as much work over the radio as I do hands on.

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?
  

Gimmicks as security are tricky, as you generally have more responsibility than other departments. I’ve done the previously mentioned ‘junior detective’ gimmick multiple times, as I think it is a good bit if the other person puts actual effort in and you can keep tabs on them. Even if it does go wrong a competent detective can usually keep things from going too out of hand.
                 As for department-wide gimmicks, one I have wanted to do is assign each officer to guard a department. I think it would be a fun way of encouraging security players to roleplay with the rest of the crew in addition to making security as a whole seem more approachable. Being relatively lightweight means that if things go bad it’s possible to put the gimmick on hold and reassign officers if things start getting bad.

Previous bans (while this will not affect your application lying about it will): None, other than one I caught from another player who was on my university’s wifi network.

[jan.antilles]

I've held off on replying to this one for a good while. Rats has been a friend of mine for years, and I wanted to be sure to observe and base my opinion based on his gameplay in rounds, and not just how well I know him outside them. To this end, I've spent a while both watching and also going back and reading round logs afterwards. I know this is a long response, but I wanted to be sure I was giving my feedback due diligence.

If there is one thing that has always impressed me about Rats, it's his patience. Over the years I've watched him handle very difficult situations, and the constant in all of them is that he is willing to take his time and make sure things are done right, even if he's being treated unfairly. I've watched him patiently explain things over and over to new players, both before and after being made a mentor, and I've watched him teach new Security as both an officer and as HoS on Fridays. He is willing to stop what he's doing and engage people, both in roleplay and in interacting with gimmicks. He has sent more ahelps than anyone else I know, even when they don't get a quick response, and he has continued patiently holding standards even when others around him disagree or get frustrated.

The counterpoint to patience, and where I specifically wanted to watch Rats, is knowing when to stop going along and start pushing back. Not acting out of frustration or exhausted patience, but choosing decisive action to settle an issue or move the round forward. As I've watched him play multiple characters as both Captain and HoS, I can say that I feel confident that Rats knows when to act decisively as a leader. He's not oppressive to antags, but nor is he permissive. He takes their actions seriously and pushes back, and it creates the kind of escalation that drives great scenes and dramatic RP. Everyone on his team and everyone he interacts with is taken seriously.

As far as critical feedback, I've already told him this privately but I'll repeat it here: focus on the positives, especially in public. It's easy to get caught up in what you could or should have done differently, but that doesn't need to be your tone for the discussion. Give yourself private critical feedback and accept it from others where appropriate, then pivot to focusing on the positive things to take away from the round or the experience, and give others (especially your newbees) good feedback. Don't be weighed down by the disappointments of the past, but aim forward and high, because that's where you're headed.

Rats is not a perfect person, but every time I've given him feedback as a friend or he's been given feedback from the admins, he's responded well and thoughtfully. I have watched him grow and develop so much as a player and a leader over the years, and I'm glad to be able to say that I feel confident that he would make a trustworthy and responsible Head of Security.

I genuinely wish you the best with your app, Rats. You have my support.

[Silent Majority]

To offer positive input: Rats is efficent. He is communicative, he generally takes anything said to heart and tries very hard to be serious. I feel that he accurately responds to threats and I have never once seen him intentionally help or aid an antag or break character.

Since I should always offer feedback as well: I sometimes worry you occasionally fall into the same camp as I used to of being very fast to shut down threats. This is not bad, but playing dumb sometimes helps antags get their bits going and assists in them getting a chance to shine. I can say i have not to my recollection, noticed this behavior from you when you play HoS.

I belive you are skilled and communicative. I also noticed that when you are angry or upset(or seem so) you remove yourself from a situation and don't explode. That alone is an admirable quality and one I would consider worthy of commendation.

I don't normally speak so in depth on apps because i try to keep it concise, but the exact wording for this one has escaped me for a while because I couldn't quiiiite figure out how to nail the landing. I've wrote it a half dozen times then not posted.

Keep it cool, which you are, and I'm sure you'll get full time hat access soon if not later. Good luck! I will be rooting for you.

As an aside, your gimmick sounds great! Hope I am playing with you when you do it!

[Torchwick]

I'll start this by saying I haven't seen Tony a huge amount as a character, but my support comes from the way Rats plays security / detective and even command in general. I always feel more at ease both as crew AND as an antag when Rats is playing in a round, especially on security or in a role where their opinion may matter more than the rest.

Rats is fair and justified any time I see him make gameplay / RP decisions within rounds. I can't speak as a member of security myself but I can speak as the crew he interacts with or helps protect. I've seen him crack down when things go too far, which is a skill some folks aren't always as good at in hectic rounds. (Not to go after the 'other folks', this is just to say; security isn't always easy and I think Rats handles many things with a lot of tact). It's refreshing to see threats being taken seriously in a manner that also tries to ensure the antags AND crew are enjoying the round.

Speaking from a crew perspective, I remember one round in particular where he was playing captain on Sergeio. I was playing staffie, and he was trying to help the security team run around to handle some non-human antag. At some point, he stopped in the downtime security had, chatted with me for a bit while I built something random in the hall, and we had a really nice IC interaction that had me coming out of the round feeling like I mattered (playing staffie of all things lmao). It was really nice to be able to chat with someone who was seemingly so busy and acquainted with the more important departments, just because he wanted to say hi and tell me a little IC story in his downtime. I think this is super important for someone playing HoS to be able to do when they can. It's not always about getting the bad guy. It's about being able to ensure everyone's having fun, even if it means they aren't even remotely related to the 'big bad' happening in a round.

In short; I have no personal experience with Tony as a character, but I have nothing but good things to say about Rats as a player in the security, detective, and command rolls. I have no doubt that regardless of who he plays in the HoS role, Rats would be an excellent fit. +1 from me!

[Wander]

I think Rats is ready for the beret. To begin with there were definitely some rougher things that had to be smoothed out with time, feedback, and gaining experience trying new things though throughout these years now that I’ve known him I’ve never seen him give up on improving himself. As it stands now his sec and command work are great and he stands out as one of the players who I think has a good enough sense of self to remain a good example of what a member of security/command is supposed to be even when faced with considerable pressure. I’ve additionally seen him take the time to teach people things as a mentor as well as perform admirably as a HoS on fridays.

The only concern I would have is that he’d be on the harsher side a tad bit though I’m absolutely certain with some more experience playing the role itself he’d find a good balance. Consider this a +1 from me personally, you damn well earned it Rats.

[jan.antilles]

After review of community feedback and internal deliberation, we have accepted your application to become a HoS. Congrats! Please familiarize yourself with our HoS Guidelines and reach out anytime if you have any concerns or questions.