Give me a second
I need to get my story straight
My units are patrolling
Beating citizens to outer space
My lover she's waiting for me
Just across the underground bar
I'm seats been taken by a vortiguant
Asking about his friends
And
I know I killed them all months ago
I know you're trying to forget
But between the amputations
And the re-educations
I know I'm trying to take it back

So if by the time
The underground bar is raided
And you feel like falling down
I'll carry you to the nexus

Tonight
We are the Combine
So we can take the world in seven hours
We have all the power
In the world

---

Post Auto-Merged: April 06, 2013, 01:18:53 AM

---

Thrift Shop
I'm gunna amputate
Only got twenty tokens in my pocket

Somebody I Used to Know
Now you're just some unit that I used to know

Trouble
I knew you were Zealot when you walked in

Just something I want to bring up or make known or w/e. My opinion with how we treat High Command and how we restrict them, which I was discussing with Jonco. I haven't typed up a formal post because I felt like what I said then summed it up.
Beware, there is walls of text.

Toxic Zombie: I understand the whole brainwash rp and you don't want a bunch of rogue units running around, but when it gets to the point where a character is not allowed its own opinion or emotions, the player starts to get bored. Airborne, and even sexy frog, has told me many times on how high command rp is boring. One of the reasons, I think, is that we leave no room for character development. Sure, high ranking characters don't get as much development as, say, a recruit, but there is still room for new and interesting rp that can add to a character. By taking away any room for change or new things, we make rp for those players very boring and stale. No one wants to play a character that stands around all day, orders units, and isn't allowed to think. If we want emotionless yes men to run the CCA, just get an OTA to do it. Both sexy and airborne have shared there dislike of being high command, saying that its getting boring and there's nothing to do. Then airborne goes out and tries to make a new and interesting rp that could add to both of our characters and he's shot down immediately. After the rp, he expressed his excitement and how he wanted to get on more often to do rp, but, now that its being voided, he says he's going to take a break from hl2rp because, like I mentioned earlier, it's incredibly boring to be high command. The whole point of rping is to have fun and make characters and grow them, but we are stifling that when any act of uniqueness is scrutinized and shot down. Yeah, maybe airborne should have checked with kronic to see if it was okay for his character to do that, but it is really disheartening when you have to get every little thing authed in order to do it. Responsible rpers shouldn't be punished for trying to spice it up. I'm not sure if this will change anything, I guess it's all up to what airborne says his characters reasons are and your decisions, but I can only hope that maybe this brings something to light.
Toxic Zombie: Sorry for wall, but yeah
Jonco: S0 is basically ota
Jonco: let me point that out
Toxic Zombie: If s0 is like OTA, why don't s0 characters act like OTA? Sexy frogs unit is s0 and acts nothing like an OTA, plus she never got auths for it
Jonco: Well, that's a different story
Jonco: Sexy Frogs unit never went through augmentation surgery
Toxic Zombie: But she was brainwashed by 158 and after the city 45 event, she had to get augmented by force. If you want s0 to be OTA, why not force all s0 to get brainwashed so the only emotion they have is fear. Or, go even further and just have OTA running the CCA. In my eyes, the reason combine don't use a robot police force is because they need people with emotions to relate to civilians and such. I'm sure they cold have a bunch of robots running around and doing their chores if they wanted, but they don't. And it's logical to want a higher ranking unit to be more loyal and less likely to defect or do things against the union, but they need to have humanity as the people below them also have theirs. OTA don't need humanity because they aren't dealing with civilians on a personal and daily basis. They aren't trying to teach them the law and keep them in line, they're there to hunt a kill. S0 are suppose to be leaders, not robots. If our canon makes them more OTA then unit, maybe we should look over it and perhaps discuss changing it

tl;dr version: We are restricting High Command's rp way too much to the point where its boring to rp as one. We need to give a bit of slack on their leashes. They are High command for a reason; we should trust their RP skill and let them have a bit of lee-way so everyone can enjoy rp. I guess.
idk

Opinions, comments, w/e
Feel free to post.

So uh.
Yup.
Ask me things.
I guess.

I'm going to atempt to make a Vortigaunt in my ceramics class. I'll update the thread with new pictures and such as I get things done.

First off: I got most of the head done. Probably gunna touch it up, add a few details next chance I get.




Not sure how I'm going to do the teeth because the mouth is so small the teeth will have to be even smaller. It would be pretty hard to attach that small a thing without squishing it down. I might try added extra clay to the inside of the mouth to carve them, I dunno.

Player Section

Steam Name: Toxic_Zombie
Age: 17
How long have you been Roleplaying? (can be any game): 5+ Years
How long have you been playing Serious GMod RP?: Less than a year

Character Section

Authorization(s):
Mechanical Engineering Technology Bachelor's Degree

• Extensive knowledge of mechanics, electronics, and generally anything that has to do with machines.
• Moderate knowledge of computer programming and computers in general.
• Knowledgable in math and science.
• Ability to understand how machines work and function.
• Ability to draw up designs and blueprints for machines.

Name: Elizabeth Williams
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Affiliation: None

Write a detailed in-canon back-story how your character obtained these authorizations.

Humble Origins - Child
Young Elizabeth scooted closer to the tiny television in front of her, bouncing as she sat. She held her favorite toy, a wind-up robot that walked forward when cranked, in her left hand. It didn't have anything to do with the show that was about to start, but she liked to hold it anyway. As she wiggled with excitement, a tall man with dark brown hair, her father, leaned down and reached in front of her, pressing the channel button on the tv until it reached the image of a dark city. Of course Elizabeth was watching Batman, who didn't love that Dark Knight? Her favorite part of the show was all the neat gadgets and vehicles he had. Someday, she would make all those things and show them off to all her friends, and they would envy her. Her father made his way to the recliner, slumping down in it as he watched his daughter become engrossed in the film noir that was Batman.

Build a Robot - Child
The door slowly creaked open as small Elizabeth peeked into her father's study. Her father turned his head towards the girl, tearing his attention away from his computer so he could speak with her.
"What'cha got there, squirt," he asked in a smooth, playful voice. Elizabeth waddled up to the desk he sat at, setting down a piece of paper on it.
"Ah made another one," she squeaked, looking into her father's eyes with anticipation. The paper held a drawing of an odd looking robot with its inner mechanics showing. They were simplistic, a crude drawing of a battery, a gear, some wires. She was too young to fully grasp how machines truly worked, but she was getting there. Her father pulled his chair closer to the desk, looking over the picture and smiling. They would go on to discuss the design as they did with any of her drawings. He would compliment and critique, and she would explain and learn. Her father wasn't a master of all things robots himself, but he helped to push Elizabeth along in the right direction to the best of his knowledge.

Rage Against the Machine - Teenager
Poof. Elizabeth coughed, waving the smoke away from her sooty face. She heard a woman's yell come from outside the garage. In front of her was a worn and rusty looking motorcycle with many of its parts sprawled on the dirty floor. Her mother didn't approve of her daughter owning a motorcycle, they were dangerous and rebellious and loud, but she grudgingly approved of letting her have a broken one. Her father, of course, knew better. Sooner or later, that beaten and greasy bike would be tearing through the street with Elizabeth riding it. As long as Elizabeth didn't make a mess, her mother whined. But, of course, she made the biggest messes and the most noise and injured herself too many times to count, but she would never give up until she could mount her prize and ride off into the sunset. That, or until they all exploded. Elizabeth snickered, hearing her mother scream at her father from inside the house on how this was his fault.

How to Pass a Class - Young Adult
Elizabeth balanced a pencil on her nose, nudging the student next to her. The blonde rolled his eyes, nudging her back and whispering.
"If you keep screwing around, the professor is going to throw papers at you again." Elizabeth leaned forward, the pencil falling onto her notebook. She rolled her eyes at the boy, gripping the pencil and going back to doodling robots on the paper.
"Rory, if he throws papers at me, I'll just take them and use them as my class notes," Elizabeth said between a smile. "Besides, Dynamics is easy."
Rory smacked her lightly, going back to writing his own notes.
"If it's so easy, why don't you have an A?"
They continued to banter quietly among themselves throughout the lesson, as they normally did. Despite her carefree attitude, Elizabeth did like her college classes and paid attention during them whenever she wasn't talking with her best friend. Her favorite time during college were the labs, where she got hands on experience with the concepts she was being taught. She wasn't the best student, as she dreaded siting in a class full of people not unlike herself and listening to some old coot talk about Calculus, but she absorbed the knowledge.  It was important in her grand scheme of robots and world domination, she'd tease Rory. How is she suppose to build a killer mech if she didn't know how certain fluids affected motion and such. It was all part of the plan, long lessons and all.

Grease and Metal - Young Adult
Rory rubbed the stubble that consumed his chin as he watched Elizabeth emerge from the other side of his motorcycle. She was covered in grease and was holding what used to be a piece of his precious bike. The blonde let out a groan, the noise mixing in with the buzzing and grunting that filled the repair shop. Elizabeth handed the dirty part to Rory, smiling.
"You need a new one of these, it's kinda broken and costs money," she remarked. Rory frowned, looking down at his bike in sadness, then back to his friend.
"How does a girl with a big degree like yours end up in some crappy auto repair shop," he inquired, tossing the part back to Elizabeth before wiping his hands on his ratty jeans. The girl shrugged, going back to examining the machine in front of her. Her voice rang out from the front of the bike.
"How does a girl like myself get a diploma when her best friend can't even last two years in college?" Her opposite sneered playfully.
"When will my baby be fixed?"
"Give me a week or so, you know the drill."
Rory left the establishment, letting Elizabeth work her magic.

What will these authorizations give your character in regards to perks or defects?
Perks

• Ability to fix (or attempt to fix) objects and machines.
• Isn't totally oblivious to the mechanical world around her.
• Can try and recreate or modify certain objects and machines.
• Can try and create her own objects and machines.

[See authorization for other perks that were already listed.]


Defects

• Most likely injure self working on machines or testing them out.
• Doesn't know anything about Combine technology.
• Needs tools and materials, both of which are very scarce, to actually work on things.
• Machines made or fixed could count as contraband.
• More likely to get in trouble due to messing with equipment and machines around her.

What do you plan to do with these perks/defects?
Elizabeth likes to tinker with things and create her own abominations, so having the auth gives her a bit of credibility. I myself hope to add a bit of uniqueness to the city with Elizabeth. There aren't a lot of machine nerds in the city (not counting Logistics). This also lets me expand my horizons with a character, as Elizabeth isn't stuck being some grease jock with nothing to do. The auth also takes advantage of the new map, which has a more industrial feel. I can also take advantage of TT since she's obviously going to make a mess building and fixing things.

Will anyone else need these auths? (If so, list OOC and IC name(s))
Nope.

Which server does this apply for?
City (Outlands if she ever moves between the two)

Extra Notes (optional):
Anything she makes or fixes will go through auths to be approved. She isn't going to be building pew pew guns, so no need to worry about another gunslinger or whatever.

Also, I hate writing essays, so apologies that the backstory is in a weird sort of format. I prefer to write stories rather than write down information. If you think it's too confusing or prefer something else, I can always write it as a straight biography (although I'd prefer not to).

Boy, that was fun, wasn't it! Action packed and everything. I hope everyone had fun, because I did. I've never been a part of an event this big and so actiony. I was really immersed throughout it, like the danger was real. It was a great event, but I some things I'd like to bring up.

Toxic Zombie: The event
Toxic Zombie: was good
Toxic Zombie: up until
Toxic Zombie: units started dieing
Toxic Zombie: if admins randomly made characters
Toxic Zombie: to kill us
Toxic Zombie: why should we die?
Sexy Frog: well
Sexy Frog: it was partly because matt kept saying "nlr nlr" so natrually nobody was scared of dying
Sexy Frog: tbh
Toxic Zombie: But NLR makes no sense
Sexy Frog: like 60% of the CCA died today
Toxic Zombie: its a giant event
Toxic Zombie: unit died in front of eachopther
Toxic Zombie: hearts were broken
Toxic Zombie: map change
Toxic Zombie: oh hey 777
Toxic Zombie: i didnt just see you die
Toxic Zombie: hows it going
Toxic Zombie: nlr rule needs to be revamped
Toxic Zombie: or they need to make a new rule
Toxic Zombie: for deatsh like that
Toxic Zombie: also
Toxic Zombie: quickly made characters shouldnt be allowed to kill someone
Toxic Zombie: 911 was being shot at
Toxic Zombie: went to hide
Toxic Zombie: random character approaches her
Toxic Zombie: shoots in head
Toxic Zombie: thats how she died
Toxic Zombie: from a nobody
Toxic Zombie: and not only that
Toxic Zombie: a unit just died beside her
Toxic Zombie: and guess what happened
Toxic Zombie: nothing
Toxic Zombie: nobody asked about the biosignal lost
Toxic Zombie: nobody responded to 911's radio call
Toxic Zombie: because everyone shouted nlr
Toxic Zombie: nobody worried
Toxic Zombie: Only a few unit's deaths were noticed
Toxic Zombie: because in the back of everyones mind
Toxic Zombie: they thought
Toxic Zombie: its no big deal
Toxic Zombie: they'll come back
Toxic Zombie: and so they rped it accordingly
Sexy Frog: well
Sexy Frog: that and it was kinda hard to keep track of everything in all the madness. Units were dying leeft and right
Sexy Frog: but again it ties back into nlr
Toxic Zombie: 211 died
Toxic Zombie: people reacted
Toxic Zombie: but
Toxic Zombie: 5 minutes later
Toxic Zombie: when all the civilians took over
Toxic Zombie: nobodies death mattered
Toxic Zombie: im not just mad because cassie died
Toxic Zombie: i made that decision myself
Toxic Zombie: so its my fault
Toxic Zombie: but it was all done so poorly

I understand the whole thing was very chaotic with all the bullet flying around and all the notices coming up that units were being injured, but when units start dieing, there should be some sort of recognition for that biosignal lost. It's hard to keep track of all the units, you can't really get a head-count on who's where and such, but it was going so well up until the civilians took over the tunnels. It also didn't help that the server went down, which is to be expected when there's bullets and props and the population is almost max. But when we went back to our places, I noticed we were missing two OTA units that were just there with us. Then it just got really hectic. I can't remember the unit who was next to me, but he tried smashing in the CWU doors. When he rped it happen, we couldn't figure out how to OOCly open the door (keys, duh, but we were a bit panicked). So, technically we were inside the CWU, but our bodies weren't. Then the unit who's number I can't remember is shot dead and I'm all alone.

Firefights are hectic, especially since you can't see 'me's from that far away, but bullets constantly flying into your person when you're rping moving out of the way or getting to safety tends to lower the quality of the rp. But it's fine, because NLR right? We can't pay attention to or respond to every radio call that comes out asking for help. They'll just respawn and act like nothing happened.
 
But what if the penalty for dieing during the event had been a PK? Would people had played it differently. Would be have been more alert and careful and respond to everything? Would there be less bullet spam because you're shooting to miss and you don't want to accidentally kill someone instead of critically wounding them? I think it would be played differently. It's no one's fault. You don't intentionally become more lax because the punishment for death is hardly a punishment. It just sits in the back of your mind. But I think it does affect how people rped their characters.



And on the note of NLR, I'd like to make a complaint. I think it's very nice that we are given an option to not die forever. Sometimes the death doesn't make much of a difference anyway. But NLR itself is makes absolutely no sense at all. Over the course of my stay here, NLR has been defined as two different things, both of which make no sense in the canon of RP.

• Your character died in that situation. You can still play your character, but he or anyone else he knew has no memory of him. You're basically playing their twin brother/sister.
• Your character did not die and they do not remember their death. Basically, the death and the rp around it is voided.

Now, these may be wrong and maybe NLR does not work like that, but those are the two different definitions and conditions that I was told when I asked about NLR. They are very similar, and both equally make no sense. Imagine, for instance, that you are playing Jill. Jill is an important character and runs a group of anti-citizens. She's caused much pain for the CCA and is very well known. During an event, she and her group go to fight the CCA. The CCA shoot her down, and she's left bleeding on the ground surrounded by her group. She utters some inspiring last words and dies. Without her, the group has no leader and will disband. Everyone who knew her is heart broken...
BUT WAIT! There she is over there! Totally not dead. "Weren't you just dead?" No. No I wasn't. What are you talking about are you crazy? "But what about all that just happened, with your inspiring speech and fighting the CCA." No idea what your talking about. Now, all of a sudden a CP comes by. "Aren't you that anti citizen that tried to attack us?" No, that never happened. "Many of us were severely injured because of that." Nah, you must be crazy. That never happened.

Alternatively, she did die and now everyone is confused on why a clone of her is walking around. "I remember you? you were are leader." No, I just got here, I'm new. "What's your name?" Jill. "you sure look and act like our dead leader. Look, you ever have that scar..." Nope, I just got here.

Do you see what the problem is? Now imagine a mass of units that you saw die before you suddenly come back with no recollection of dieing. I would be confused. You're sad because your best friend died, but now he's alive and saying he was never there? But I just saw you there! You died!

I honestly think that NLR should be revamped or removed. If PK is too harsh for every death, a new option would be nice. I have some ideas, but I'd rather not go into them right now because I've already typed enough and it's becoming tl;dr (if it hasn't already).


*Also, I know it is an event and all, but how did all those characters get all those nice weapons. Who were half the characters anyway. It seemed like most of them were randomly made just for this event. There was building up to it, sure, but there was nothing that hinted that a bunch of trained gunman that we've never heard of before would come in and murder everyone. Where did they get their guns and training? Was there rp done for these characters to have them all efficiently shoot at everyone. I'm not saying the CCA should have won, we were flanked and everything, but where in the world did they get all that ammo. It also seemed like more CPs were dieing than civilians. Were they really 'shooting to miss?'




Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. I probably missed a few things. I did not post this because I'm 'butthurt' over 911's death or felt it was unfair that she died. I chose not to go along with NLR because I personally believe it makes no sense, and that is my decision. I have only myself to blame. Sorry for any grammar mistakes and what not, and thank you for reading

[Added another thing I forgot to mentions. Put bold star near it for ease of reading.]

It's happen twice that I know of; once with me and once with SMT and both were on Outlands. When you go to your inventory and exit out, an after image of an inventory item gets stuck on your screen. It goes away if you reload your character or switch servers. If it happens again, I'll post a screenshot.