Event Log: Emergency Bounty

Bob

(Emergency):

(Emergency)

EMERGENCY.

(Emergency): A Wundishu security agent says, "Attention all mercs. 25k Mark reward offered for

location of stolen personal shuttlecraft. Craft is clearly labeled with Wundishu Biotech branding.".

(Emergency): A Breakaway Rescue operator says, "Security agent, this channel is to be used for

rescue emergencies only. It is not a sector broadcast. Further misuse will result in revocation of 

comm access. This is your sole warning.".

(Emergency): A Wundishu security agent says, "Pilot is Bushraki female. Last seen heading out of

Fontain System, Rimward/Antispinward bearing. Warning: approach with extreme caution. Notify Blaze 

Braagsh, Wundishu security, when contact is made.".

(Emergency): A Breakaway Rescue operator says, "Disabling emergency comm access for Wundishu Biotech.".

<scramble for ships>

Leaving a blazing trail in its wake, a meteor of some kind streaks through the Norpisa system, where

it blinks out of sight.

Somewhere, a minor crash can be sensed as a tiny spacecraft makes a hard landing.

In the searing desert. (v4017)                                

Rocky sand lies all around, formed in gentle ripples by the wind, which brings little relief as it

sweeps over the sandscape. Hot and arid, the surroundings are oppressive despite the open expanse.
[Items]: 8 corpses, a sandstone boulder, a smoking shuttlecraft, a takeout container of zhubeast noodles,
a towering sand dune, and an abandoned vehicle

-- an agitated Bushraki  (#45789) ---------------------------------------------

Race:             Bushraki                              Gender: Female

Affiliation:      Unknown                               Status: Healthy

Description:      Sprawled on the sandy ground, this Bushraki is angry and rattled, uttering a

string of unintelligible words in her native language, peppered with some of the fouler obscenities 

in Galactic Standard. One leg is tucked beneath her, bearing her weight, while the other is bent at 

an odd angle, clearly broken, but she does not appear to be in pain. She wears a mesh tank top and a 

close-fitting flight suit that has been peeled down to the waist, revealing a number of blades 

strapped to her arms. Her attention is primarily focused on repairing a damaged blaster in her hands.

Strength:          You estimate that she is extremely powerful.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- A smoking shuttlecraft (#39200) --------------------------------------------

Owner:        Unknown                                   Usable life: Perpetual

Mass:         Very large                                Resetting:   No

Description: Looking more akin to a B.E.A.S.T. apparatus than a spaceworthy vessel, this

shuttlecraft barely has room for a single occupant and some cargo. The Wundishu Biotech logo is 

prominently displayed on all sides, along with a smaller label reading: "Wundishu BioLink v3.1." The 

access hatch is open, revealing a glimpse of the interior, where it appears the pilot takes a semi-

prone position, where they are hooked up to a variety of sensors that interface directly with the 

mindsim. A strange, luminous biofilm covers the internal circuitry, sparking and swirling as though 

making repairs to the damaged components.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaping out and moving with precision, a team of security agents in full combat gear immediately

surrounds the downed shuttlecraft, their weapons pointed directly at the scowling Bushraki.

Last to exit the transport is a tall W'hoorn, who glides gracefully to the ground on armored wings,

tossing his golden mane with casual indifference.

"Ha!" Blaze Braagsh exclaims with gusto.

-- Blaze Braagsh  (#29417) ----------------------------------------------------

Race:             W'hoorn                               Gender: Male

Affiliation:      Agosa Wundishu                        Status: Healthy

Description:      Tall and robust, this W'hoorn is not the type one would choose to tangle with, his impressive
musculature evident even under full clothing. With piercing black eyes and a full, golden mane, he is as handsome
as he is deadly, and his smug expression indicates that he is keenly aware of it. Clad in full combat gear, even his
wings are fully armored, while remaining functional.

Strength:          You estimate that he is about as strong as you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blaze says, "Found you, despite the fact that nobody seems to have bothered to collect on our offer."

Blaze Braagsh smirks.

Blaze says, "Fortunately this sizable gathering registered on every scanner in the sector."

Blaze strides over to the Bushraki pilot, teeth bared in disgust.

Blaze raises a modified blaster, aiming it at the pilot's head, and pulls the trigger without

hesitation.

The Bushraki flops to the ground, jerking and twitching as some kind of electromagnetic damage

renders her wiring and INR useless.

-- The corpse of a Bushraki pilot (#58868) ------------------------------------

Owner:        Unknown                                   Usable life: 5 mo.

Mass:         Medium                                    Resetting:   No

Description: Sprawled on the sandy ground, this Bushraki is nothing more than a corpse. One leg is

bent at an odd angle, clearly broken, but her cause of death was clearly a bullet to the head, which 

has fried the entire upper portion of her body with some kind of electromagnetic force. She wears a 

singed mesh tank top and a close-fitting flight suit that has been peeled down to the waist, 

revealing a number of blades strapped to her arms.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blaze says, "As you can see, my employers have little tolerance for theft."

<literally everyone attacks Blaze>

Blaze says, "Those of you not idiotic enough to attack ME of all people."

Blaze says, "Feel free to come by the facility in the Fontain System. Could be a job there for
someone like you."

<Eagle kills 1/4th of the people>

<Blaze disappears, leaving body of Bushraki and shuttlecraft>


Full Log:
https://ada-young.appspot.com/pastebin/5r5ojeTO

Qitorien

It was so busy! :awesome:

Albion

Bob knew what he was doing when he put up that bounty.

Cubey

Unkillable mob + players spamming aoe and only hitting each other = hilarity

Matlkael

I am offended that Song is coloured Mhaldor-red! STARCHART clearly states that Song is happy purple! (Celestine is blue, Scatterhome is olive).

Cubey

Matlkael said:

I am offended that Song is coloured Mhaldor-red! STARCHART clearly states that Song is happy purple! (Celestine is blue, Scatterhome is olive).

Hate to be the "ackchually" guy but actually, Song is blue, Celestine is red and Scatterhomies are green. Go probe a piercer guard and find out*.

* not recommended atm unless you're Song. You'll die.

Matlkael

Yeah, I think I msg'd Tecton to make STARCHART and COSMPIERCER MAP consistent.

Sagex

I like how everyone went. "hrm, imm controlled mob let's attack it and see what happens!

Atalkez

Typical IRE player base response tbh

Kestrel

I'll be honest, I think you guys all really suck for attacking that mob and ruining any chance the rest of us might have had at actually engaging with them through dialogue to let the story unfold.

And if I was the imm who'd taken the time to set up an event and make all these NPCs and draft up a story proposal and built these character personalities in my head that I was looking forward to introducing to the players? I'd be pretty miffed, too.

Matlkael

At the very least, I think the admin behind the event expected the shoot-first mentality and thus made Blaze unkillable. I'd put +1 on the admin's scorecard. 

Cubey

Kestrel said:

I'll be honest, I think you guys all really suck for attacking that mob and ruining any chance the rest of us might have had at actually engaging with them through dialogue to let the story unfold.

And if I was the imm who'd taken the time to set up an event and make all these NPCs and draft up a story proposal and built these character personalities in my head that I was looking forward to introducing to the players? I'd be pretty miffed, too.

Nah. It's not that the players attacked the NPC for no reason. Mr Shampoo Commercial permakilled someone so Song peeps went "not on my turf, get him!" Makes total sense to me. IC actions = IC consequences.

Getting miffed here is the equivalent of creating an asshole character and then getting pissed off that other players treat you like an asshole.

Viola

Cubey said:

Kestrel said:

I'll be honest, I think you guys all really suck for attacking that mob and ruining any chance the rest of us might have had at actually engaging with them through dialogue to let the story unfold.

And if I was the imm who'd taken the time to set up an event and make all these NPCs and draft up a story proposal and built these character personalities in my head that I was looking forward to introducing to the players? I'd be pretty miffed, too.

Nah. It's not that the players attacked the NPC for no reason. Mr Shampoo Commercial permakilled someone so Song peeps went "not on my turf, get him!" Makes total sense to me. IC actions = IC consequences.

Getting miffed here is the equivalent of creating an asshole character and then getting pissed off that other players treat you like an asshole.

While I see your point, I also think that at times it makes sense to not necessarily do what would make strict IC sense, particularly where admin events are concerned. There can be difficulty in establishing and working with the same set of assumptions, and creating that common ground so that an actual story can get told is very difficult if violence is on the table from the word go. It's absolutely a slight shift in IC behavior to accommodate a broader OOC concern, which I understand that not everybody really agrees with - but in the future, it would be nice to have more space to feel these kinds of events out and get a better sense for what's going on.

Arsentar

I honestly think there should be a happy medium somewhere. I am willing to admit I don't know how feasible that happy medium is, however, specially given the fact that some people will/do attack event mobs just for the hell of it. 

I can admit maybe we jumped the gun a bit too fast, but at the very same time, the denizen had the perfect recipe for a mob and he did literally pull the trigger to start it. 

Mutually learned lessons and all that, maybe?

Matlkael

What I disliked in other IRE games was that when events rolled in, a good majority of the players forget established rivalries in favour of "kum bay ah, let's work together!".

Sagex

Matlkael said:

What I disliked in other IRE games was that when events rolled in, a good majority of the players forget established rivalries in favour of "kum bay ah, let's work together!".


Unless it's specific for your group or benefits your group it makes sense to ignore rivalries so people can enjoy a world wide event 

Qitorien

Personally Qitorien didn't really care much about the killing in cold blood, but that's because of who he is. Neither he nor I were surprised that other people were mad. But I can see the point of some restraint with a world wide event. It definitely felt like those there were supposed to feel a bit shocked and outraged, though.

Wuff

I'd rather have unique factional identities rather than: "Reee, me Good, you Evil. Ooga booga die now."

Especially considering the imbalance in factions atm, in various ways.

Flipilaria

There's a difference between "Let's lol kill the NPC for lulz" and "Let's attack this person for legitimate IC reasons."

As one of the people who attacked the NPC, my character definitely had legitimate IC reasons for doing so and, in my opinion as a player, those reasons could not be addressed via a less violent means. I can't speak to anyone else but myself, but I'd make the same choice as a roleplayer.

Being an admin-controlled plot NPC should not make that character safe from harm, especially if that character is engaging in activities likely to provoke a violent reaction. In my opinion deciding "Well I'm not going to act how my character would just because this is an event" is poor roleplaying. It takes away from the game being a living, breathing universe (with consequences and variety of opinion/motivation) and streamlines it into "This is a video game played with video game rules."

I'm also not happy that the event was railroaded into a specific outcome (Blaze permakills someone, gets the prototype ship back, and is invincible), but since it was Starmourn's first event and presumably was relatively minor (with the intent of releasing a new area), I don't care *that* much.

But yes, given the chance, I would have made the same choice again. And I'm sorry to those that upsets. I have been on the other end of this in which NPCs I'm interacting with have been killed (mostly for the lulz). And I do know it sucks. But I also don't see any other way I/my character could have reacted to the situation without compromising who my character is.

Edit: Sorry for the necro. Didn't realize the date on the above post I'm still loopy from benedryl as I accidentally ate something I shouldn't have today.