The Chain of Command, Roleplay, and YOU!!!

[razerwing]

INTRO-FUCKIN-DUCTIONS! WAKE UP FUCKNUGGETS! Oh, you thought this was going to be a pleasant guide? WELL GUESS THE FUCK AGAIN!
Vice Commander Kali ain't too happy with what she's been seein' on the Sulaco as of late! Seems people think they can just bugger off whenever the fuck they feel like it.
Believe it or not, you are MILITARY FUCKING PERSONNEL! You were supposed to have gone through BASIC training, AT THE LEAST!
You know what they teach you at Basic?

HOW TO BE A FUCKING MAN AND HOW TO SHOOT SHIT IN THE FACE!

WRITER'S NOTE!

So, as you can guess, this is a guide born of frustration. Much like my other ones. And like the others, I will try to point out some things which I see as big issues. For your viewing pleasure, I will do my best to keep everything in the order of the title. So without further ado, let's begin.

Chain of Command

Right! Cutting straight to the point here. The Commander is the highest authority on the ship. However, he ultimately falls underneath Central Command's (CentComm) jurisdiction. Thus, what Central Command says, goes.

Now, theoretically and assuming that people are robots with no thought process of their own, the highest authority give orders to the one beneath him, and so on and so forth. These orders, as a general rule, are expected to be followed. THIS MEANS THAT: If the Commander gives orders to his Squad Leaders, those orders should generally be followed, so that the mission parameters laid out can be finished. The completion of the mission objectives is what we're there for, remember that.

In practice, you have to factor in things such as emotion and the human element. Orders are not always followed, and when they are, it's a rare occurrence they're followed to a T. All in all you can expect a trained military force to be able to distinguish between what's a good order, what's a bad order, and the best ways to carry out said orders.

But Razer! Many of the players who play on the server aren't actually trained military forces!
I'm well aware of this. I'm not a military person myself. However, I'm under the impression that the people who serve in the military, be it in a combat role or a support role, or what have you, they are very LOGICAL beings, with emotions and human thoughts strewn about in there. As long as you use that large bit of grey matter kept in your skull, and you use it WELL, then you'll be fine. This brings me to my next point.

ROLEPLAYING!

Roleplaying: v, the acting out or performance of a particular role. Being a character pretty much. Roleplaying is assuming a persona in a situation that you wouldn't normally find yourself in and acting out that sequence of events. It is WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING HERE! However, the only issue with roleplaying on a video-game is the sense of detachment from the character.

I've noticed that the 'Competency Squad' of marines here on the server has members that have either served in the real military, or are people who have a decent-to-firm grasp on the roleplaying concepts. This hesitation not only allows for fun to be had on all sides, but it also allows the player (YOU) to more carefully consider their options. Is it smart to rush into that infested hellhole? Would we stand a chance if we all rushed them? What's the quickest way to get out if things go sour?

I understand that not everyone enjoys RP. Hell, there are people who come onto the server for the sole reason of shooting things and rabmo'ing. However, I think if people asked themselves three simple questions before turning Leeroy Jenkins, it might make the marines a more manageable, deadlier force, and it might provide for some interesting twists later on in a round.

Here are the three questions:
1) Am I a human being? The answer here SHOULD be yes, though even if you're an alien you follow similar guidelines. There are very distinct characteristics that humans have that set them apart from the rest of the animals such as Self Preservation, and the ability to care recklessly for others.
2) Would I do this? Be honest with yourself. I know very few people who would run headlong into a huge, incredibly dangerous threat with guns blazing if it truly threatened their health and well-being. At least, they wouldn't if there was a better option around.
3 Would anyone else do this? Ask this at the most basic level, and give yourself a yes or no answer, and three reasons why a trained, mentally strengthened human would either do or not do the action you're trying to perform.

This will take a bit of mental training to get used to. Three questions is a lot to sort through when you're being chased down a dark hallway with your teammates screaming bloody murder in your ear. Though hopefully, if people started thinking before doing, it won't come down to that so often.
HOW THIS AFFECTS YOU/REASONS FOR WRITING Started this off because of a previous round where I somehow went from being medic, to being the acting commander of the Sulaco. With three LO's on board. The sides were 26 to 3-5 aliens I think. However, there were only about nine or so marines keeping the aliens inside the shuttle. So, since there were a lot more marines than there were aliens, I ordered a full-out charge. They couldn't have taken and infested all 26 marines, and had people listened, the round would have ended right then and there.

For whatever reason though, after ordering the charge, I found the radios oddly silent, save for the calls for help.
From the nine marines.
That charged the shuttle...
Without a lick of support.

There was no communication. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Where I thought I'd had 26 marines, I'd really only had nine, because all the others were off in West Bumblefuck doing God knows what.

I'm ashamed to admit that I kind of let the frustration get the better of me. After it became apparent that I wouldn't even make it off the shuttle as anything but an alien, I ghosted and left the game shortly after. I can't tell you how that round ended. I can only tell you that the issue with marines isn't just that the command staff is bad most of the time, or even the flip of that. The blame can be placed almost squarely on the fact that while it's a Medium-Roleplay server, I've seen more in-depth roleplay on Archangel. People go into this game expecting to be the hardass Master Chief. That's impossible, both because of the game physics and because to be a Master Chief, you need to know what the hell you're doing, why the hell you're doing it, and who the hell you're doing it with (no pun intended).

I hope to see an increase in the RP ability sooner or later.

[Allan1234]

Approved by Heinrick Archsider.

[Redfield5]

Oh lordy.

[Mr.Smooooth]

This. This very much.

There's a great deal of incompetency on all levels, but when someone is trying to get the marines organised and their collective shit together, having 26 Rambos partying in west bumblefuck doesn't help. I really think a lot of marine players get their weapons and armor and think themselves invincible. "Fuck orders, I'm a super cool soldier and really good at this, I can do what I want" ~Marine right before getting facehugged.

YOU are not Master Chief
YOU aren't even Sgt. Johnson
If YOU were sent to the Nostromo with Kirk, Spock and McCoy, YOU are the one wearing that red shirt.

Straighten up, listen to your SL and commander, and try to follow good orders. Think about what you're doing damnit and never go ANYWHERE alone.

[Allan1234]

This. This very much.

There's a great deal of incompetency on all levels, but when someone is trying to get the marines organised and their collective shit together, having 26 Rambos partying in west bumblefuck doesn't help. I really think a lot of marine players get their weapons and armor and think themselves invincible. "Fuck orders, I'm a super cool soldier and really good at this, I can do what I want" ~Marine right before getting facehugged.

YOU are not Master Chief
YOU aren't even Sgt. Johnson
If YOU were sent to the Nostromo with Kirk, Spock and McCoy, YOU are the one wearing that red shirt.

Straighten up, listen to your SL and commander, and try to follow good orders. Think about what you're doing damnit and never go ANYWHERE alone.

correction, i amSgt. Johnson

[LordeKilly]

I'm Pavel Chekov.

[UnknownMurder]

I'm Khan.

[Doctor Clockwork]

And this is SPARTA

[mdom]

The only thing I would add to this guide would be related to role play. Our characters are intended to have thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It is permissible to me if someone were to act out wanton grief or an unshakeable vengeance. In some instances I can see my characters acting with heroism and putting his life into danger for the greater good.

An example that I see REGULARLY among Marines is a desire to save one another. I have cut out other Marines while nested with them and managed to drag them back to the Sulaco. There have been instances of surgeons performing surgery on other Marines while infected.

You must act as a person, not a machine.

[razerwing]

I'm well aware of that mdom. However, as a counter argument I'd say that acting out wanton grief or unshakeable vengeance at the start of a round is downright unacceptable.

I understand the desire to save one another. I've often performed surgery on an infected marine while my ass is passing out from the damned thing. However, you must remember that your character is a soldier. They can't be controlled entirely by emotion. Logic, reasoning, and training are supposed to reign supreme, at least the way I see a military.

[mdom]

Oh I totally agree. Those reactions should only be too extreme scenarios.

[HighwaterOffical]

NO! FUCK YOU, I WANT TO BE FUCKING SUPER HEAD CHEIF MASTER CHEIF OF THE FUCKING SPACE MARINE FUCKING ARMY. FUCK YEAH!

[Lostmixup]

I feel like this situation happened in the recent 5 hour round where we kept sending in marine force after marine force in to kill, what I was told was, only two aliens and somehow ended up having to escape in the end.

[Hailstorm77]

This is made really well!

[speedybst]

Yep, razor had talent for this, shame he had to go.

[Derpislav]

What we need is a quide to properly roleplay a soldier. I've been through the basics, but marines in CM are based on US army, and I don't know any of the english words used to report, talk to your higher-ups and use on the radio.
Also at least where I live, wearing berets while indoors lke LOs do would not pass. Stuff like that.

[Biolock]

Before we even begin to be able to get the player base to roleplay like soldiers, we need to get them to AT LEAST act like human being instead of fucking animals.

[coroneljones]

Before we even begin to be able to get the player base to roleplay like soldiers, we need to get them to AT LEAST act like human being instead of fucking animals.

*Roars and proceeds to throw poop at biolock....what an animal*

[xomega000x]

This Is so fucking true. While I understand the whole Idea of Logic over Feelings, my father served in the Army [Romania], back In 89', It was a Communist one.

He was stationed at a training base in some rural area where the temperature was almost -40C, and their first thing they had to do after introduction was line up In front of the trainer, then undress FULLY. He told me some of his colleagues even started to cry. Psychic training 101.

And most Marines fuck around everywhere, loosing sight of one-another then turning back to see their friend gone, or even chasing Aliens across the whole Station, ALONE... I always give all Marines R.O.Es in briefing since I know that most of them will try to Rambo, or just don't know what they should do or not... Roleplaying and communication Is a thing that MUST be Improved, as well as techniques on how to not friendly fire, cover perimeters and advancing.

[Adjective]

A re-occurring event with me lately, is random ass fucking marines committing suicide, including the LO's and then random ass Maurine's stealing the LO headsets and giving out random ass orders. (This happened during four rounds yesterday with me as commander each time). I then find that the marines decide command is not competent and refuse to listen. (Which I then A-help, yet recieve no response). I think Apoph should check logs and find the morons who purposely ruin the Command in the RP and deal with them.

[Lostmixup]

Can we talk about how marines during briefing and such in the beginning of the round will disrespect the MP's and Commander sometimes, yelling out insults left and right. Now I'm no marine, but I'm pretty damn sure that if a squad of marines was constantly insulting their superior officer for no reason they'd get punished pretty bad. I understand that the people RP-ing aren't marines but come on, a little respect for your commanding officer's at least in the beginning of the game would be awesome. It's especially annoying for the MP's and LO's who are just trying to do their job. If they don't give you a reason to disrespect them, don't.

[MrJJJ]

MP's are most likely insulted for having some incompetent fucks, like some MP once went on a arrest rampage and brigged people for "disarming and hugging" and some people went as MP's to go "I AM THE LAW BITCH" And proceed to murderbone EVERYONE
So yes, MP's are highly disrespected by people who remember such events