Elite roleplay: Q&A and OOC

Meowers
30 Apr 2021, 8:05pm
Stillgar777 Excuse me im kinda new here.

But at least you had started doing smth already!
I'm always missing those RP opportunities because of thinking too long or being busy.

(yeah, still too busy, phah)
Neon_nylon
03 May 2021, 7:48am
I was reading your people's RP (it's excellent, by the way) and I realized that most of your characters are pretty serious spacers. Like battle-hardened by the dangers of space, full of experience and wisdom. I don't really know, but I'd assume at least part of them are based on your play-style.

Now me, in contrast, kinda a greenhorn, and a very goofy player. The kinda dude to accidentally zoom into a station sideways and do other absolutely dumb stuff.

So i just wanted to see what you people would think of that type of character in the RP. An inexperienced, unorthodox and goofy pilot just trying to get by some how.

I dunno, what do you think?

Last edit: 03 May 2021, 7:59am
Isaiah Evanson
03 May 2021, 8:22am
Spacers come from all walks of life and experience levels. Been RPing with my character since 2015, so of course he's seen some shit, but nothing stopping you from playing a newjack. Just have to remember that they're not going to know all the ins and outs of flying a ship, although they should be at least competent enough to do the basics, since it's unlikely the Pilots Federation would cut someone loose without demonstrating that they're capable of operating a starship in basic flight.

That being said, inexperience can be a little tricky to pull off if you're aiming for a sense of realism and believability for your character. Adding foibles and flaws tends to help establish those things. Your character might be good at actually flying the ship but is terrible at sensing the intentions of potential employers, or maybe they can hold their own in a shootout but are absolutely oblivious in a dogfight. Maybe they have anxiety about hyperspace, or are easily startled, or have claustrophobia and can't stand wearing a helmet for long periods of time.

Just be careful not to venture off into the realm of the ridiculous, unless that's what you're aiming for - that's a topic for discussion for another time.
Neon_nylon
03 May 2021, 8:37am
Isaiah EvansonSpacers come from all walks of life and experience levels. Been RPing with my character since 2015, so of course he's seen some shit, but nothing stopping you from playing a newjack. Just have to remember that they're not going to know all the ins and outs of flying a ship, although they should be at least competent enough to do the basics, since it's unlikely the Pilots Federation would cut someone loose without demonstrating that they're capable of operating a starship in basic flight.

That being said, inexperience can be a little tricky to pull off if you're aiming for a sense of realism and believability for your character. Adding foibles and flaws tends to help establish those things. Your character might be good at actually flying the ship but is terrible at sensing the intentions of potential employers, or maybe they can hold their own in a shootout but are absolutely oblivious in a dogfight. Maybe they have anxiety about hyperspace, or are easily startled, or have claustrophobia and can't stand wearing a helmet for long periods of time.

Just be careful not to venture off into the realm of the ridiculous, unless that's what you're aiming for - that's a topic for discussion for another time.

Thanks for your great advice!
My idea was that the interactions of such a character with others could be rather entertaining.
I'm new to this RP stuff (as you might have guessed) , so again thanks for your advice!
Stillgar777
03 May 2021, 11:49am
o7 - Been RPing since I was a Dungeon Master with books, paper and dice back in oh... 1985 ish. ...

I loved this game BACK THEN on my C64.. yo. Vector graphics was revolution in programming at the time..

FRONTIER company should have a PRESENCE somewhere in this universe.. i suppose i have to get a SOL permit and visit Earth to find it?



Last edit: 03 May 2021, 11:54am
Synthya Wylder
04 May 2021, 2:00am
Glad to see synthetics - by that, I mean, artificial humanoids - being used in RP & in a creative, well-written manner.

I think it entirely plausible that Achilles Corp. would make something that has more uses than administrative functions; it seems that the (is it "official"?) Fandom page appears to suggest that.

I also think it plausible the high likelihood that Achiiles Corp. would blend 1 or more of their 4 main divisions - Aerospace, Entertainment, Robotics & Security - yielding products like Panza & Sappho (albeit, with apparently different focuses on their uses, functions & abilities.)

Interesting reading!

I'm sure that Sappho would enjoy reading it, & perhaps Panza too...
Meowers
04 May 2021, 8:37am
Gynoids/Androids are totally plausible in 34th in sci-fi setting. Actually, given the progress, they might have a chance to become so advanced, so one couldn't tell them from humans, except doing X-Ray scans etc. Also there's a chance to see a knowledge of 'connection' of human brain to the mechanical body, or 'transferring' the personality from biological brain into cybernetic device. It took less than 100 years for medicine to advance from penicillin to heart surgery, and we're talking about 1300.
Stillgar777
04 May 2021, 12:59pm
Meowers...It took less than 100 years for medicine to advance from penicillin to heart surgery, and we're talking about 1300.


Unfortunately our child like minds can't imagine the future that far off. We are limited by the scope of our primitive knowledge and intelligence. If we ourselves are not living in the "imagination" of some super-intelligent "simulation" of our own...

The odds that we are actually living in base reality are so low that it is VERY unlikely... to paraphrase Elon Musk.

Who also predicts A.I. will be the END of humanity as we know it... We WILL be BORG. Resistance is not just Futile.. its kind of a joke.. we are already there.. are you separate from your cellphone? your Computer or your "console"?

Who just sits and reads a book (made of paper) anymore?
Sappho
04 May 2021, 2:55pm
Synthya WylderGlad to see synthetics - by that, I mean, artificial humanoids - being used in RP & in a creative, well-written manner.

I think it entirely plausible that Achilles Corp. would make something that has more uses than administrative functions; it seems that the (is it "official"?) Fandom page appears to suggest that.

I also think it plausible the high likelihood that Achiiles Corp. would blend 1 or more of their 4 main divisions - Aerospace, Entertainment, Robotics & Security - yielding products like Panza & Sappho (albeit, with apparently different focuses on their uses, functions & abilities.)

Interesting reading!

I'm sure that Sappho would enjoy reading it, & perhaps Panza too...


I did indeed!
Nimesh "Cookie" Arakoni
04 May 2021, 3:11pm
Synthya Wylder

I'm sure that Sappho would enjoy reading it, & perhaps Panza too...


"Enjoy"?... must be some sort of Voight-Kampff trap going on here.

*Goes back to not being able to select pictures of cars*
M. Lehman
04 May 2021, 4:14pm
I for one don't care for the use of synthetics in Elite roleplay. They strike me as a lore-stretching (if not breaking) self-indulgence.
Sappho
04 May 2021, 4:53pm
Yet, the Achilles model appears in the lore, & even in the in-game advertisements.

It seems only a logical extension to make responsible use of that; thus, the creation of characters such as Panza & Sappho.

But, to each, their own.
OOSqueeky
05 May 2021, 11:46pm
M. LehmanI for one don't care for the use of synthetics in Elite roleplay. They strike me as a lore-stretching (if not breaking) self-indulgence.


Robotics and automation are commonplace throughout the lore and there's at least one megacorp that as far as we can tell specializes in androids, but go off.
M. Lehman
06 May 2021, 12:05am
OOSqueeky
M. LehmanI for one don't care for the use of synthetics in Elite roleplay. They strike me as a lore-stretching (if not breaking) self-indulgence.



Robotics and automation are commonplace throughout the lore and there's at least one megacorp that as far as we can tell specializes in androids, but go off.

Robotics and automation are vastly different than sentient bipedal machines that mingle among humans. The closest that the lore allows for such is cybernetics, which is largely a fringe thing to do to oneself that carries with it a hefty amount of stigma. The only "accepted" cyborg in the Elite lore is Jaques, the owner of Jaques Station in Colonia.

As stifling as it may seem creatively, Elite is simply not a sci-fi universe where androids enjoy any kind of parity with humans, because they're regarded as tools and automated labor.

Last edit: 06 May 2021, 1:54am
Sappho
06 May 2021, 2:13am
I think the question is not about sentient machines, but artificially intelligent machines, & the plausibility of whether they could, if not did, exist in the time of the E:D universe.

Considering the amount of scientific & technological advancement in just the last 130 years, & the upwards curve of likely future development in the ~1300 years into the future, I think it not only plausible but unavoidable that if artificial sentience did not exist (yet), certainly, fully interactive artificial intelligence would.

But, as to the difference & distinction between natural/biological sentience, & artificial sentience, one must first ask, what exactly is sentience? Can it be described as mere intelligence, or is there something more, & if so, what is that?

"Do androids dream of electric sheep?"

2 thought-provoking videos:

Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness

Is Your Consciousness Just A Bunch Of Vibrations?

Coming back down to the question over whether it's appropriate for members to write RP with characters as artificially intelligent machines, or even more basically, is RP in Inara to be strictly limited to only that which is described in E:D lore & nothing more beyond it, or is there room enough on an intellectual level, not only to write but to entertain the concept of developing beyond those restrictions?

To paraphrase William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, "To write, or not to write, that is the question."

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