[RP] Character Complaint: Mary Louise Vellen

[Kerbal22]

So before anything, i haven't really read through this entire complaint thread. I'm not really in the mood to shit out a wall of text, so i'm just going to put in my 2c and call it a day.

I play Honor Onarina, the engineer that caught MLV with the singularity engine parts and brought it to everyone's attention. My issue was that Vellen's competency was, infact, in question! Vellen has previously shown massive inabilities to understand how simple station systems - like atmospherics, worked, at one point deciding the airmix needed to be mostly oxygen and not nitrogen.

I'l repeat, someone who had no idea what the standard airmix was, decided to fuck with the airmix. Understandable, on a planet with an atmosphere that is utterly hostile to life, fucking with the only source of breathable air is bad. Fucking with it in such a manner that it will make phoron fires even more damaging is even worse.

Vellen was seen as incompetent and incapable of communicating. From my point of view, right now, Vellen is learning. Vellen however needs to drop the godawful accent they put on, because even myself as a player can hardly decipher what she is saying half the time. Their consistent hatred of authority of any sort, going behind the backs of heads, etc. It needs to stop. That shit shouldn't fly and we should not be encouraging it.

I'm aware Engineering has a stereotype of strong, independent sorts who don't like bending to authority. I'm aware this is probably where the attitude is coming from. I'm tired of it, genuinely, one hundred percent tired of giving into life-or-death fights and arguments with someone who is unwilling to listen to why their idea is bad, or accept authority.

Vellen has the potential to be a good character, if they would address their flaws.

[Neinbox]

Vellen was seen as incompetent and incapable of communicating. From my point of view, right now, Vellen is learning. Vellen however needs to drop the godawful accent they put on, because even myself as a player can hardly decipher what she is saying half the time. Their consistent hatred of authority of any sort, going behind the backs of heads, etc. It needs to stop. That shit shouldn't fly and we should not be encouraging it.

I'm aware Engineering has a stereotype of strong, independent sorts who don't like bending to authority. I'm aware this is probably where the attitude is coming from. I'm tired of it, genuinely, one hundred percent tired of giving into life-or-death fights and arguments with someone who is unwilling to listen to why their idea is bad, or accept authority.

Vellen has the potential to be a good character, if they would address their flaws.

This, I cannot disagree with and was more or less my original complaint (although in a different tone). However on the topic of Vellen's speech, I should have to agree and add to my original complaint. It is very difficult to understand her on an OOC standpoint and ICly can be seen as dangerous if she cannot clearly and concisely communicate what she's saying with her line of work. The player may understand what she's saying, but most others have a very hard time. I have a character who sleepwalks and talks in a very abstract way of thinking. While "stirring the bees" may be clearly known to me and the character as a "blender machine" (it sounds and looks like tornado bunch of pissed-off bees when you try to make a shake), it will definitely leave others scratching their heads if I spoke like that. While to her "sparklemaster" might mean the Tesla, Sid might think it could mean the Tesla or the big, shiny Supermatter crystal. It's a bit problematic.

[Kazkin]

Well, I was hoping not to have to post here again but given what happened in a recent round it is an absolute must.

Now, this addition to the complaint happened during a round that just transpired, while I do not have the round number the time of its progress was roughly 8:20 EST to 11:45 EST on 2/25/19. This addition to the complaint is not about the semantics nor opinions of what transpired in character. The summery of the situation is I, Ahzrukhal Ahkeen, was ordered by the chief engineer to charge Vellen for several crimes. The charges and their validity is an opinion but both IC and OOC it was entirely agreed upon by Mary in character that she was guilty of all charges placed except Suspicious Conduct. Again, I am not here to argue the opinion of whether the charge was valid or not and attempts to redirect or refocus the conversation to a matter of opinion will be ignored. Mary Vellen contested this charge in-character and demanded an IA, of which none were present on station, Ahzrukhal/I relented as it was their right to do so to attempt to avoid their charges. I explained to them that since this was an issue over criminal charges I would have to suspend processing and have central faxed for an IA. Mary verbally agreed and was recorded doing so that she was fine with waiting and suspending processing during this time, she in no way shape or form challenge this decision in character. During which time until one would arrive Mary Vellen would wait within security briefing until they arrived. Their current charges equated to 38 minutes of brig time and due to this being her second time being brigged this shift the choice of paying a fine was revoked. Mary then demanded she write the fax for an IA request and again Ahzrukhal conceded her right to do so.

Now, this is the crux of the additional complaint as Vellen has done this same tactic multiple times in the past, she then spent somewhere between 25-35 minutes sitting at the table "writing" her form as myself, Jim, Klaus, and Seeking Grid waited for her to finish. As it was her right to write such a fax and I am very patient I was fine with this, I am not complaining at the length or time it would take to write a fax as it can take time to include full detail and proper formatting. Except, after spending this time while myself and Jim waited (Seeking Grid and Klaus left halfway through), she immediately walked to the paper shredder and shredded the forms without even sending them. I have the word and screenshot from an observing player that the fax was never sent and was shredded immediately as Ahzrukhal stepped out of the room for a period of four seconds. It is my belief Vellen purposefully went AFK or tabbed out during this time period simply in an attempt to aggravate the security team forced to deal with her due to yet another attempt to build a super matter on the surface without the current CE's approval.

My addition to this complaint, again, is not about the validity of the charges or the IC actions that transpired but the OOC action of the player themselves who purposefully acted in a terrible way in character and then purposefully wasted the time of security simply because they were upset their actions had consequences. This is not the first time I have witnessed Vellen purposefully stall for no other reason than to upset other players and their characters. However, unlike before this time it was done on an entirely OOC level because neither myself nor Jim could tell due to game mechanics that she was not actually writing anything. Even in the event she wrote the best form in the universe her choice to simply shred it instead of send it is proof enough wasting time was the OOC intent. This goes beyond just being a character "trait" or "flaw" and shows a clear intention to simply be an awful player from an OOC level with the excuse of "It's what my character would do!". Yes, Vellen can be a good character to some small minority of players, yet the vast majority of players who take issue with this are the ones who directly interact with her and are the undisputed majority in regards of wanting Vellen dealt with. My own opinion of the character has not changed IC, Ahzrukhal, despite dealing with all of that for her entire shift was stated multiple times to several people and to Mary herself she still liked Vellen for personal reasons. However, my OOC opinion now that I've seen the lengths the player will go to just to break the "don't be a dick" rule has changed. I would rather see the character be permanently removed for her repeated actions rather than be demoted/banned from engineering. If the player of Vellen is honest and their other characters are liked and don't cause problems then perhaps being OOC dealt with is unneeded, that I do not have an opinion of, but as it stands Mary Vellen is an active blight on the station and her continued employment defies all in character reason and sense.

Attached is the player who said in discord to me directly that Vellen did not send the fax and shredded it immediately.

Vellen never sent the fax.PNG (12.07 KiB) Viewed 3725 times

[Skycave1]

I made an account to give my two cents in on the situation at hand.
While yes, Vallen has a few underlying character problems, they aren't much of a bad character. Talking to them for longer than ten minutes, and under different circumstance may yield a better opinion on the character's language, and attitude.. Yet, their stalling can be a tad annoying when it comes to security and maybe rightfully so with malice.

An incident happened before, Unsure when but I do recall it was over a petty charge like theft/tresspassing that wouldn't cut them their job, nor yield them any trouble as it was as little as 10 minutes.. They decided to, well.. Go to the kitchen for food, and RP themselves eating a good five course meal, as the chef kept sliding food over when they asked. This current incident was not much different from the previous one, where as well, take what Kazkin said. Yes, I'm 'Heartbreak One' on discord, and didn't catch them send, nor hear any indications of the fax being used, nor did I hear shredding, but I knew they didn't send it.

[snow n' chrysanthemums]

Regarding the incident Kazkin had with the SM crystal, it was noted that the previous Overseer Dane did approve the crate (which if you ask me, without the CE present should have been a big NO). Otherwise, I was playing as the CMO when the new CE arrived, informed them on the situation. I am not sure what exactly happened but I was relayed a direct request to find Vellen, to which my character saw in a heated argument with security beforehand. My charachter's interaction with Vellen before included at least once of her building an unauthorized SM. They asked over comms if Vellen had been demoted due to the revocation of permission to build the SM, and that response was in the affirmative.

If the command staff can guess what Vellen gets demoted for, that's probably an issue. I do however, fault whoever approved the SM crystal in the first place given that Vellen has been brigged and demoted several times for this.

[scorpion_117]

Alright I'm resolving this thread, after some discussion in Admin chat we have decided that there isn't a need to act on it. Along with the fact a few have said they've seen improvement in this regard.