Hmmm. I wonder what it would do to roleplay, if you actually did randomize backstory--and had randomized interpersonal relationships. Possibly with mini-goals. You wouldn't want "kill this person" type goals, or the game turns into Assassins (WHICH MIGHT NOT BE A BAD THING BUT NOT RIGHT NOW OKAY) but maybe stuff like "Bob is your buddy, make sure he escapes alive".
Would be cool if everyone got a point score at the end of the round, something like 5 for surviving, 10 for escaping, +5 for non-traitors if they stop the traitor, +10 for traitors if they win, and +2 for each personal goal you accomplish? Track points in the same place you track job preferences, if those are indeed stored server-side.
Would it help or hinder RP to give people pre-generated grudges, I wonder? They'd be two-way, and randomized, so person A gets "Person B has always been a jerk to you and has hindered promotion opportunities for you in the past" and person B gets "Person A seemed to have stolen your loved one back in high school". You don't always know how serious the other guy's end of the grudge is either. Everyone present at the start of the round gets relationships with a couple other people in their notes, along with a reminder "This is not an excuse to kill them!". People joining mid-game would get someone, maybe another assistant, and have a new thing tacked onto both their notes as well as a message "You remember something about the guy who just came onto the station".
We suggested a game mode like this to Ex a while back before the source got released. I'm still all for it. Little mini-objectives for people would be neat.
My (not very well elaborated) question stands though--What kinds of objectives would you want? "Make sure this person escapes too" would be a good objective. "Take / escape with a space drug" might be interesting. But the most fun objectives would require you to -do- something to another person, and that can muck up the game FAST. If there's any form of recognition for your actions--even "Player X achieved his objective" at the end--suddenly RP is going to go out the window. If your objective is "You have a grudge, kill this person and don't die", you just KNOW that pubbies are going to follow that guy around and toolbox him as soon as nobody else is around, and then merrily go about their day. Or make a bomb and blow up six guys just to get their target.
Job related goals could be neat, but maybe dangerous. EVERYone should get some bonus (if points are tracked) for the station, you know, not sucking--+1 to everyone for the main engine coming online, maybe additional +1 for the engineers I guess--but if you start telling the geneticists "Your goal is to make a hulk!", well, suddenly EVERY round is going to be full of people hulking out and then going HULK SMASH.
It might be nice to tell the toxins guys "Your goal is to detonate a bomb inside the test chamber", perhaps.
What objectives would be fun and wouldn't ruin the server D:
Also, is it just me, or is the game really lacking a "good ending"! Seriously! Maybe we should just start saying "Shift ends 1 hour after game starts, if nothing is horribly wrong then, feel free to call the shuttle". It sucks for dead people if their death is the only thing that's gone wrong. Maybe the rate of disasters needs to be stepped up...well, that, or more admin-run scenarios if things aren't hectic enough. The ones I've run were a lot of fun.
As of this weekend, I'm now good enough at the game that r-walls and airlocks aren't even remotely a hindrance at all. As a traitor, I vented the engine out the back into a hallway. It certainly changes the nature of the game a little. And at risk of being a damn pubbie, I have to say that my goals in life are now "add a new rule involving vampires to the AI within a minute of the game starting" and "find something awesome to do with airlocks and signalers"... Someday I AM going to assassinate someone by putting one signaler on an outer airlock, and one on the way back to the rest of the station, so that pressing a button will disable the way back for a full minute while venting the room.Marine, I don't have details so I don't know why people consider you a more severe and persistent problem but they do--and I suspect they have their reasons. Complaining won't help anything. Boy I sure would like it if ban-related whining moved to PMs.
There was no reason. Even Beorn said he thinks I shouldn't be banned
Well, I disagree, solely based on "you keep badgering the thread about it". Seriously, take it to PMs. One message is enough. I won't ever unban anyone who keeps arguing about their bans in the thread. "Your auto-ban is acting up" is one thing, "I wasn't acting that bad and he was acting way worse than me" is not okay ever.