Gerald Lopez's Head of Security application.
#1
Usual character name: Gerald Lopez
BYOND username: Longestarmlonglaw  (Formerly "Iplayfosss13")
Discord username (if you are on our discord):  pickleplants11

Recommended by (if applicable): none
Goon servers you play: Classic heinsbee 1. Rarely roleplay 3 and 4.

Reason for application:
I want to be a head of security because of the exploration of theoretical vastness that is security itself. The learning of security as a whole is a whole new prospect. Rather than simply memorizing on what to do in specific situations like medical, science, or bartending/cooking.  

Security requires the knowledge, intuition and  the decision-making depending on what happened in the round is something i find very enjoyable learning. I feel confident enough i truly want to put my security experience to the test by applying to be a HOS. Coordinating security, teaching others my knowledge sounds like an endeavor that seems enriching to me.


Security experience (300 word minimum):
I do not ever remember playing security on my old "Iplayforss13" account.  
Back to around today: After logging onto goon in late 2023/early 2024 and playing for a bit.  Learning jobs, controls and whatnot.
Numerous shifts of being a security main (And hopping onto other jobs to mess around as because "I think i've had enough of sec for now") 

Now onto my knowledge as security of which i can compile from my memory:

Playing as security is a mixture of balance, teamwork, and overall just having fun.

What you do as security is maintain a balance of the amount of antags, knowing when, and how to punish, when to escalate, and when to play along.  You want to engage with the antags, give them a pursuer or opponent for them to fight, a counterbalance of order to their chaos. Don't the moment you find out they're an antag, instantly cremate them, let'em cook.
On the topic of how you can punish them, try and be a bit creative, like making them fight in the boxing ring for freedom, winner goes free! Loser serves double the sentence! (Or not if you think the length is too long/harsh)
Creative punishments don't have to be only applied to antags, it can work for regular crewmates you brigged, just be sure to give them the option of just serving their time and going since some may not be interested in whatever you cooked up. (And maybe give that option too to antagonists as well)

Remember that you're a security TEAM for a reason! You ever seen a seccie solo rush a traitor in maint and die? And then the antag breaks into mechanics, scans the guns and batons, now not only do you have more sec gear being distributed to the other antagonists. It gets even worse if they have a mindhack cloning module, since they can kill, clone and arm their mindhacks with tons of guns until eventually you lose the teammates and numbers advantage and they outnumber you.
Even if stolen sec gear does not make it's way to mechanics. Having your stuff stolen is REALLY awful as the gear you have is very powerful, especially in the right hands (yours) but if it makes it's way into the wrong hands.... im sure you can figure out what happens.

Now lastly, and something it took quite a while for me to get into the mindset of is... Have fun! Don't care about winning or loosing, My only "win condition" is if i enjoyed playing that round. This applies to everyone in general, not just security.
Having this state of mind is also critical to avoid powergaming which some people refer to as going against the spirit of sec... As in, trying to gear up to feel a need to win. Sometimes losing IS fun.  
Sometimes, things don't go your way, improvise, adapt overcome. Im sure you are more than capable of performing those 3 actions... after all, it's why you've gotten this far




Answer two or more of the following:
  • What advice would you give to other sec players?
    I've noticed that changing up your loadouts at a sec weapons vendor makes me a lot less tired  of playing security than if i kept to the same loadout over and over again. Switch things up a bit! Try and make use of the sec NVG. Check out the paint-marker 40mm round or even to spice things up, test your knowledge of your robustness through the "just a baton" loadout.In times of peace, talk the crew, gain their trust, be a bit like a general assistant for them, try and make friends with the crew. This has a myriad of benefits such as then being more cooperative and less likely to kill you and instead spare if they turn out to be an antagonist when they rampage.
  • What was one of your favorite security moments? (Either playing as a sec officer or interacting with one)
    I managed to capture an arcfiend 20 minutes into the round as a solo seccie, i decided to make them fight in THE THUNDERDOME (the boxing ring) for their freedom instead of giving them a 2 minute sentence, they defeated a slamgun wielding staffie, the captain with their egun, a scientist high on meth, and a roboticist with laser eyes and treads.
    All their opponents were willing participants who were bored. I made sure to get them clonescanned, and secured their belongings to prevent theft.

  • What game improvements or changes do you think would benefit security players?
    Allow regular requisition tokens to be purchased from cargo, i have a few reasons why but i don't really want to post them here as i don't want the application to be derailed.

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.
    While i don't have a poem, there are some lyrics like "We are number one" and "Go go powerangers" that i managed to twist their lyrics to fit ss13. But my ADHD brain makes me forget them.

  • What's a security gimmick that you've ran or wanted to run?
    One odd gimmick is "the clump" security. All of security stays together in 1 big clump like a roman testudo formation. I know it will never be possible due to the level of coordination and motivation required, but i find it funny thinking about it.

  • Draw a picture!
    I cant draw frown

Previous bans (while this will not affect your application lying about it will): I believe i got in trouble on my old "Iplayforss13" Ckey, something saying a word that violated rule 4. Im not sure if it was a ban, but i was definitely told off.

And even i get denied i wont be disheartened, im gonna use it as a learning experience to improve. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
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#2
I find your in discord attitude, approach to wide threats like Nuclear Operatives and your opinion on Security Tokens, Armoury gear etc to be concerning. You've come off as having a 'play-to-win' attitude despite what you say in your application and the fact you don't explain much about the tokens in cargo crates being a good addition is another one of my concerns. In my mind, a Head of Security should be someone who can easily and freely communicate their thoughts on something. This does not give me faith you could do this in-game. My experience with you in-game is highly limited so I cannot comment there. I haven't heard of you teaching or leading Security much, either.
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#3
Dang, a bit disappointed you think my discord attitude to put it lightly... is not very good. But i believe i can focus on the other bit about me not leading sec.

I think it's because since when there's no HOS, the security officers turn to the captain as their superior most shifts there is no HOS but there is almost always a captain, meaning that the captain ends up coordinating sec until a HOS arrives.

Perhaps i should be willing to take more initiative coordinating sec even if there is a captain or play some captain shifts, but i don't wanna devolve into capcurity.
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#4
Hey! Don't take this the wrong way, but I just think you need more time as sec. What I see, as Minty mentioned, is a very play-to-win and almost powergamey attitude to being sec. That is being coupled with an over-reliance on playing the 'popularity game' where you're coming off as trying too hard to get your name out there and be known, perhaps because of some discussions on Discord, in which you were present, where the topic of HoS apps being popularity contests came up.

My advice to you is to build a reputation, take the sec job and go out there and talk to people! Solve problems, get people unstuck, help the chef subdue a monke, all of that should come before the thought of fighting antags.

Lastly, and I think this is the only truly concerning part, is that I've seen on a couple of occasions that you called people out on Discord by name over something which ocurred in round. While I do agree that some people can be very annoying, each round is it's own thing and once it's over, it's over. You move on. If you feel the person did something that crossed a line, ahelp it. Calling people out on Discord or OOC can cause fights and is not fun for anyone involved.

Again, I don't mean to say you're a bad Sec Officer, I just think you need more time in the job. Specifically, you need to work on getting a more relaxed attitude, letting things go, not powergaming, and embracing the other aspects of the job that don't involve arrests/fighting/chasing antags.

I fully believe you will mature into an excellent security officer soon, and you'll be worthy of the beret when that happens! But for now it's a -1. Don't give up though, keep chasing excellence as I fully believe you'll get there someday soon.  queen greater domestic space-bee
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#5
(01-24-2024, 12:05 PM)stuck_in_void_HELP\ Wrote: Lastly, and I think this is the only truly concerning part, is that I've seen on a couple of occasions that you called people out on Discord by name over something which ocurred in round. While I do agree that some people can be very annoying, each round is it's own thing and once it's over, it's over. You move on. If you feel the person did something that crossed a line, ahelp it. Calling people out on Discord or OOC can cause fights and is not fun for anyone involved.

\queen greater domestic space-bee

Ohhhh, i don't remember doing those at all, that sounds really bad. i really need to find out what that was so i can avoid it next time., send it to me in DMs forums or discord, because that sounds a little private. send me the messages you think was "calling people out"
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#6
I like having Gerald part of the sec team!
I personally have not seen evidence of power gaming, in fact I've seen them go with pretty default on gear even when solosec or in chaotic shifts.
I have seen genuine effort from him to improve himself and teach newer officers.
One thing I would like to see more is more presence on comms, he is communicative but we sometimes lose track of him!
I think he is on the track to become a great HOS.
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#7
I'm not in the discord (it's bad for my stress levels) so I have no comment on your behavior there.

In terms of in-game, I've had positive experiences with you. I've been the subject to a few of your character and antag gimmicks working in medbay, but it's mostly been positive. So you have my vote.
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#8
Hi Gerald,

I've been seccing a little more than usual lately, and have had plenty of shifts where I've either been a secoff with you or been the captain with you as solo sec.

I think Curie raises some very valid concerns, and I agree with most of them. I'd like to add that over the course of the last month or so, I've seen your attitude improve, at least when it comes to the powergaming aspect. When I first saw you as a secoff, you mechscanned my (the captain) egun, as a security officer without permission. I haven't seen you do anything to that degree recently, which is good.

However, I think you should definitely gather more security experience first. At the moment, you do not communicate with the team very often, and I commonly see you distracted with other things instead of responding to the rest of your team in need. I don't think it's intentional, but rather comes from a place or lack of experience.

On top of that, I would also recommend focusing less on going out of your way to be known. This is another aspect that takes time.

However! I think you have the qualities to be a great HoS. You do seem invested in helping other players, and I've also seen you talk to newer sec players to teach them. These are both very good things to see.

At the moment, I will have to give you a -1.

I wish you the best for this application and any future ones!
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#9
We really appreciate the time and effort you put into this application, but have decided to deny it due to negative feedback and general concerns about a focus on 'winning'. You're welcome to reapply in 60 days, which would be April 10, 2024. In the meantime, I'd encourage you to keep sec officering!
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