Staff Spotlight Q&A - Ep.1 Mench
It's a Q&A! With Mench!

What's the story behind the name "Mench"?

2.) What archetypes have you mained? Don't name names if you don't need to, but what player systems do you have a lot of experience in? As much as I hear staff talk about players not having the big picture and how we can't see the forest for the trees, I wonder if staff sometimes can't see the trees for the forest and don't have the whole picture because they lack the actual player experience of interacting with and learning these systems. The Generals screaming down at the soldiers on the battlefield that they don't see the whole picture doesn't really mesh well with the soldier on the front line telling them flat out their plan is stupid and their intel is wrong.

So as the 4 Star General of Sindome, what battlefield experience do you actually have?

4.) What does cyberpunk mean to you? Do you believe that the definition of cyberpunk has evolved since its first inception with the writings of Neal Stephenson and the era of Snow Crash?

5.) Is Sindome what the modern person thinks of when they think cyberpunk? Why or why not?

6.) What is your favorite cyberpunk related videogame after Sindome? If it's just Cyberpunk 2077, is there anything past that?

7.) For those wishing to dip their toes into the staff waters, what advice do you have to prepare them for how toxic the community really is? I personally don't like most of the OOC community and having to interact with them on the regular is why I don't step up. Which I understand is the reason you do it so as to weed out the more misanthropic personalities like myself. I wouldn't want to deal with myself either on a regular basis, but for those with a little more hope in the world, how can one prepare for how bad it really does get?

8.) What do you think about the UE Cap? Does it really protect smaller players or does it prevent there from always being a bigger fish?

9.) How do you feel about the current development freeze in place on Sindome? There have been roughly 7-9 new things over the course of 6 months added to Sindome in terms of new system coding. Only roughly 3-4 of these are player facing. Do you think this is a good pace to be at?

10.) In terms of development and direction to take Sindome, what has been your biggest disagreement with Slither?

11.) In regards to Rule 7.F, how do you feel about this in terms of censoring dissenting opinions from within staff? I completely understand the idea behind why this rule exists and fully support it to some degree, but I do feel it would be beneficial for staff to be able to voice a dissenting opinion as long as it still falls within the bounds of other rules, especially when it comes to system design and development decisions. What are your thoughts?

12.) What system, in your opinion, should be triaged next? This isn't a sort of wish fulfillment of something cool to add to cybernetics, but which of the multitude of broken, buggy and unused systems scattering Sindome do you honestly wish Dr. Slither would turn his attention to working on next in terms of "fixing"?

13.) If you could change one mechanic in Sindome, what would it be?

The ones where people don't give good RP back? If I can answer with that… If not, then it'd probably be cyber installs. I always forget which tools to use and end up in a scramble trying to figure shit out. I should edit the code to make it so that if it's me installing stuff, then it just works regardless of what I'm holding xD (I won't do that, that's bad)

Who was your favorite PC Death.

Hmm, I can't really pick out just one. Nothing comes to mind except for the first time I got to try out my sleeping booth for people who want to sunset early without having to sunset. I still get giddy watching people use it. One of my favorite inventions.

What is a Justice and what does it do? More importantly what do you do? What makes you feel you are qualified to continue to perform this role?

A Justice is a senior member of the staff. They've been on the team for a time and have the experience and knowledge to keep things running. They deal with the stuff that normal staff don't need to like checking connections for alts, looking for people bypassing bans, reviewing new sign-ups etc. We also deal with inter-staff issues and mediate those to the best of our ability, as well as dealing with any staff reports. As said above in the original post, I do a bit of everything. I do minor GM stuff, I build, I code, I do Justice stuff in dealing with staff, alts, bans, and onboarding new staff. I'm qualified because I am? I dunno how to answer that. I wouldn't be in this position if Johnny and Slither and the rest of the Justice's didn't feel that I was qualified for it or had the trust to do it.

What archetypes have you mained? Don't name names if you don't need to, but what player systems do you have a lot of experience in? As much as I hear staff talk about players not having the big picture and how we can't see the forest for the trees, I wonder if staff sometimes can't see the trees for the forest and don't have the whole picture because they lack the actual player experience of interacting with and learning these systems. The Generals screaming down at the soldiers on the battlefield that they don't see the whole picture doesn't really mesh well with the soldier on the front line telling them flat out their plan is stupid and their intel is wrong.

I've had combat characters who worked as bartenders and worked with gangs. I've had characters that worked in PR in corps, worked in HR at corps, I've had medical characters that have worked at CGH, I've had characters work in the WJF, in NeoTrans, I've had characters that work in Chex and Skyfox. I've played characters that have worked in WCS as Sanitation and started the Greeter program. I've dealt with other characters from all walks off life. I've had biochemists working in VS, I've had characters that don't speak English, I've had characters across a lot of the game. Some more known than others, some more active than others, but yeah. I'd say I've experienced a lot of the game and understand how stuff works in a lot of aspects.

Is Sindome what the modern person thinks of when they think cyberpunk? Why or why not?

I dunno. I can't read minds, unfortunately.

What is your favorite cyberpunk related videogame after Sindome? If it's just Cyberpunk 2077, is there anything past that?

I actually haven't played Cyberpunk'77. I have it, I got it when it was discounted a while back but I just never got the playing it. Favorite Cyberpoonk game though… Hmm... I dunno, there's probably plenty games I've played that fall under cyberpunk but I can't think of names of any. There was one that was like a top down kinda view and you controlled a bunch of agents and had to go around the city doing missions and stuff, that was fun. I can't remember it's name though, I'm not great with names :(

For those wishing to dip their toes into the staff waters, what advice do you have to prepare them for how toxic the community really is? I personally don't like most of the OOC community and having to interact with them on the regular is why I don't step up. Which I understand is the reason you do it so as to weed out the more misanthropic personalities like myself. I wouldn't want to deal with myself either on a regular basis, but for those with a little more hope in the world, how can one prepare for how bad it really does get?

I mean, I'd start by saying the community isn't toxic. But there have been and in the future will be, people who are not acting in good faith and who's values do not align with that of the community. It's the job of the staff to address that when it happens, give feedback to that person, and if changes are not made, vote to remove that person from the community. That part of the job is exhausting and isn't fun. Support GMs are insulated from this for the most part, on purpose. But if you become a full time staffer, it's something you will encounter.

What do you think about the UE Cap? Does it really protect smaller players or does it prevent there from always being a bigger fish?

I think people put too much uh… faith? meaning? power? into the UE Cap. It's always in the back of peoples minds it seems and for some reason becomes this big thing that people fear(?) - Idk, personally I don't care about it cos' none of my characters have reached it and none of them ever probably will. I play to RP and make cool scenes and when I get bored of a character, I move on. I'm not here to worry about gaining UE and maxing my stats. If I'm shit at something, then that's room to grow. If I'm good at something and still fuck up every now and then, that's a great opportunity for RP to happen. I dunno if it really answers your question, at least what you're looking for in an answer, but that's my answer.

How do you feel about the current development freeze in place on Sindome? There have been roughly 7-9 new things over the course of 6 months added to Sindome in terms of new system coding. Only roughly 3-4 of these are player facing. Do you think this is a good pace to be at?

I wouldn't necessarily say there's a development freeze; We're always fixing bugs and making new things where we can. You have a sandbox that is already full of toys and sand. Play with those and stop worrying so much about future toys.

In terms of development and direction to take Sindome, what has been your biggest disagreement with Slither?

I don't really tend to disagree with Slither. We get on well and we're usually in the same mind when it comes to things. That's not to say I, and others, won't give opinions on stuff that differ to his, but it's never a disagreement; We talk and come to an agreement in the middle ground. That's the fun side of being adults and working to better a common project.

In regards to Rule 7.F, how do you feel about this in terms of censoring dissenting opinions from within staff? I completely understand the idea behind why this rule exists and fully support it to some degree, but I do feel it would be beneficial for staff to be able to voice a dissenting opinion as long as it still falls within the bounds of other rules, especially when it comes to system design and development decisions. What are your thoughts?

I feel that the spirit of the rule is being ignored in the context of this question. The rule 7.F is there for making public statements for the game (i.e press statements, speaking for the game, etc.) - Staff are encouraged to share opinions that don't break the rules all players have to follow. Sharing IC or OOC info about other players is against the rules, and double true for staff who have access to so much more information. 7.F is about ensuring that no one on staff goes out and says stuff willy nilly without getting buy in from the rest of staff. No unilateral announcements of policies, or getting on some other platform, representing themselves as a staffer, and making statements about the game that will be interpreted as speaking on behalf of staff. We've had too many headaches from people doing this in the past, and their words not representing the entire staff perspective, but being taken as if it was true for the whole staff.

What system, in your opinion, should be triaged next? This isn't a sort of wish fulfillment of something cool to add to cybernetics, but which of the multitude of broken, buggy and unused systems scattering Sindome do you honestly wish Dr. Slither would turn his attention to working on next in terms of "fixing"?

Grid. Tho it's not buggy, I just wish there was more for it. I love the hacking stuff and wish we had more of it.

If you could change one mechanic in Sindome, what would it be?

Lev's have a 3% chance of coming off the track and exploding, killing anyone inside.

For me personally, no. I don't really get into Roleplay games to become the main character. I enjoy being the sidelines character, the backup, the civilian character just out to make the world feel more alive. So becoming staff never really took away that playstyle, if anything, it helped cement me in it.

On the same train of thought do you think there's archetypes that are more or less compatible with staff duty? Thanks for doing this Q/A, appreciate the transparency!

Hmmm, I don't think so; I'd say any archetype is compatible with being staff, it all just depends on your irl free time and how much you're willing to split your time between things.

Not sure if either of those answers actually answered your questions, but that's why my fingies typed.

And of course; I hope to get more of these up over the following months with different staff so you can get different perspectives and get to know us a bit better.

Hmmm, I'll be honest, when it comes to skills and stats I'm terrible at remembering what' good for what so my builds usually end up a mess of everything, which is good; it fits my playstyle, I enjoy being okay at stuff and fucking up with other stuff, gives my character… well... Character. Why always be good at something? I ain't min/max'd IRL, I try to not make my characters go that way either. I do miss playing medical characters though, I enjoy that RP (My main character on GTA V RP was always a medical character).

What makes a scene good rp for you?

One that makes me laugh. If I can sit here by the end of it with tears running down my face, then it's good scene for me. Outwith that though, just scenes that people put effort into, and I'm not talking like 3 paragraph poses and stuff, but doing things that make sense in the moment. Doing things their character would do in that moment. Y'know?

I dunno if I answered either question there, but heh.. It's been a long year.