An analysis of the biggest problem with goonstation: apathy

[Noah Buttes]

Apathy is bad.

I was going to write a huge dissertation here, but I was too lazy and couldn't be arsed to do it.

[misto]

hello

[Ed Venture]

You okay Noah?

[ChrisOniell69]

The general idea of this thread is a fair point, especially when it comes to sec and other important roles doing it round after round.

[Noah Buttes]

You okay Noah?

It was a joke.

The subject is apathy, and I couldn't be arsed to write a whole bunch about it. You could say I was apathetic.

[Lady Birb]

I have noticed this several times as an antagonist: your greatest strength is that on any given round, three quarters of the crew couldn't give a space-rat's ass about what you are doing as long as you aren't actively threatening them. The only gamemode where this is not the case is nuclear emergency, as they are a threat to the entire crew. Csaber rampagers, horror form changelings, fully evolved blobs, or eleven thousand point revenants? Nobody will care unless they are in the same room as the aggressor, and even then are more likely to just run away and save their own hides than try and fight.

[Ed Venture]

When I rampage only about two or three people try and stop me. Others just watch and then complain for a few hours that I killed them for no reason. Sometimes I wonder what people do in this game if they can't be bothered to put up a fight or use teamwork to get things done. I mean the main point in this game I feel is player interaction and there's hardly any of that when push comes to shove.

[babayetu83]

When I rampage only about two or three people try and stop me. Others just watch and then complain for a few hours that I killed them for no reason. Sometimes I wonder what people do in this game if they can't be bothered to put up a fight or use teamwork to get things done. I mean the main point in this game I feel is player interaction and there's hardly any of that when push comes to shove.

i think people hardly give a shit because if theyre interrupted in what they set out to do, they can just start over fresh next round

[Ed Venture]

When I rampage only about two or three people try and stop me. Others just watch and then complain for a few hours that I killed them for no reason. Sometimes I wonder what people do in this game if they can't be bothered to put up a fight or use teamwork to get things done. I mean the main point in this game I feel is player interaction and there's hardly any of that when push comes to shove.

i think people hardly give a shit because if theyre interrupted in what they set out to do, they can just start over fresh next round

If that was the case they would not whine about how they die, get interrupted, cluwned or whatever. Cause the moment you stop caring how and when you die is when you can have some insane fun with the game.

[Vitatroll]

Unless it's overt, like a guy running down the halls shooting random people with buckshot, or a situation involving sec, I never know which side to hop in on. I'm terrible at it. I've consistently gotten yelled at for it. So I don't do it; I just radio it in. Exceptions being:

- My "round buddy" (I try to have at least one) is being killed.
- A secoff is being killed. I have "sec" highlighted, so I can generally find out when they're bad.
- When a good clown is being killed.

I give special leeway to antags if:
- They could have killed me but didn't. Especially if I were doing something.
- They're doing something that really leaves an impression on me. Usually gimmickers or some new/lost method of murder.
- They try to chat me up and I don't think they're trying to mindslave me. I'm usually willing the play the unwitting buffoon to social creatures.

Yeah, I'm part of the problem, but I'm apathetic to it.

[Zafhset]

Haven't we already been back and forth on this topic multiple times already though? There seems to be a tidal wave of player sentiment that shifts in and out of favor depending on how often people are either apathetic or being vigilantes (non-sec actively hunting antags).

It's like a scale balance that constantly tips itself into the extremes of either side every few months.

[ferriswheel1]

The cycle tends to go that we'll see a surge in sec numbers briefly after one of these threads are made, then it'll slacken off as people get bored and move back to other roles. Sec needs more wizzy gear and interesting tools to play around with to keep players coming back, as well as more licence to "powergame" to combat antags.

[Superlagg]

It also doesn't help that many of the better antag murder options will leave you helpless on the first strike. Sure, there are ways to resist stuns, and good preparation can give you better chances against an ultramurderer, but the risk of dying and sitting out the rest of the round is just too high. You're more likely to survive if you don't draw attention to yourself and hope the badguy doesn't go looking for you.

[Noah Buttes]

A related issue to apathy is a lack of cooperation and interdependence between departments and players in general.

edit: I think the main areas lacking in cooperation are hydro-medbay, chem-medbay, mining-everybody, chem-hydro (but not vice versa), everybody-qm.

[misto]

dont forget that u might get in trouble if u vigilante too hard and accidentally slaughter some fool innocent bystanders