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Corpie Theme
Now that we have corpies...

Let's discuss corpie theme a bit. What's important to a corpie character?

1. Outward appearance (how someone looks, charisma)

2. what they are wearing (suit versus du-wear)

3. gear (progia-7 versus 11)

I imagine corpies would treat people like shit if they are dressed like shit but also if they have shitty gear like progia-7 instead of 11, and quickterm instead of liteterm.

Any thoughts on this?

I agree, when I think "corpie" I think those who have to have the best of everything, always on the new trend of things and constantly put others down to make themselves look more important.

For those of you who hae seen Elysium, the factory owner is a prime example of what I think of when it comes to corpie. Standing in the same room as a "mixer", said mixer decides to talk to you, "Cover your mouth! Don't you fuckin breath on me." -THAT- is corpie.

Money and the signs that someone has it. This is why they aren't mixers, afterall.
Depends on the job, honestly, and the situation, but yes, I think corpie should have at least a dress shirt and tie and slacks, or the female equiv for work (oops :P) and some form of better gear and such, like not a machete or baseball bat for security work and the like. Something I want to see would be a flak vest made to a higher grade than the du wear one for Corp security. Like a bulletproof vest or something. It would fit wonderfully. Besides that....cant think of much else.
I think at least in cyberpunk terms, a corpie is usually someone who is self-interested in the pursuit of personal gain, especially via status or money - someone who has few qualms screwing other people over. To get to the top in an overfull city where everyone's trying to make a basic living, there isn't a lot of room for empathy. I think that if you're constantly passing up opportunities to screw other people over for your own gain, or using your resources to help others, you never rise to the top ranks of the socioeconomic elite in Withmore. By contrast, I think people who willingly stay in the Mix, living with humble means and learning to rely on each other more than their own personal power, could reasonably be seen as morally superior - where the "punk" part of "cyberpunk" comes more into play. It seems like currently, where Mixers v. Corpies should be "People Power v. The Man", it's more "Dangerous Criminals v. Upright Citizens".

Of course there's room very various shades of gray on both ends, including magnanimous, generous corpies and violent criminal mixers, but it seems like getting a job and a safe, stable life as a corpie is the most attractive option to a lot of players because their moral fiber isn't tested that often - that, and it seems like the only alternative to make money besides a regular paying corpie job is to screw other people over, which contributes to the "mixers = bad guys, corpies = good guys" status quo that seems to be the current state of affairs. Opening up more avenues of income to "good mixers" and offering incentives to be "bad corpies" might contribute to the corpie culture of status symbols, expensive toys, and spitting on the unwashed masses.

We need more cutthroat corpies, like the build from CP 2020. Not afraid to blackmail, cheat, murder and pay there way to the top. That would shatter that whole ideal
We need more cutthroat corpies, like the build from CP 2020. Not afraid to blackmail, cheat, murder and pay there way to the top. That would shatter that whole ideal
Dawnshot and BattleJenkins are on the right track here. Just because the threat of "violent crimes" isn't as prevalent topside doesn't mean you shouldn't be trying to ruin each others career to promote your own. Someone talking openly about a revolutionary idea? Steal it and patent it before they can. Have dirt on someone in a powerful position? Milk them for all you can get. Look like that upstanding citizen on the surface, but be that slimey snake-in-the-grass behind the scenes.
Yes, as said already (in my opinion at least, don't want to offend any corpie player outthere)

>Corpies ought to have fancy clothing, tailored or not but surely corporate looking and well described.

>Progia 11 is much for preferable than Progia 7, which the last one is a model that the average mixer will just buy to communicate. Progia 11 from the other hand better looking and apart from a phone it can be shown off as gadget.

>Same goes for the terms, a Liteterm is more suitable for a corpie.

>Also, SIC keys for encryption. Instead of filling up the sic bills and being too lazy to pay them when obviously the weekly payment is more than enough for this then just get keys and show off your mysterious chatting at sic.

>Then again, if a corpie insists that money ain't enough for all those things then there is something wrong most likely with the player or character, if a mixer can afford even half of those then a corpie OUGHTS to afford them all and not whine about it.

>Lastly as some of you already referred at this post the game is in need of more "bad corpies" instead of fluffy bunnies (no offence but this is what is seems at least). Do all corpies really care that much for each other? Isn't there any competition between them? Can't mixers, those "low life" creatures be used as tools for their evil deeds?

That's my two cents :) whether you like it or not.

Yes, Snook, just yes. :P
I think the problem isn't that we don't have any corpies that won't screw other people over, but that there's really not any incentive to. Their jobs don't ever really put pressure on them to do so (as far as I've seen) and it's not smart to ruin your own reputation and relationship in the pursuit of status symbols. It's not that every corpie currently in the game is a fluffy bunny, but there's no real perceptible motive for them to compete with each other.
I also want to add that it's the actual "fluffy bunnies" that I'm most interested in seeing have their moral fiber tested.
Yes, I agree with you BattleJenkins as well. Most of their public sayings and actions don't seem to refllect on their reputation for some reason. Don't their managers or co-workers care about that?

And that brings me to another question, the corporations themselves hire so many new corpies, so being under the same house isn't there conflict for who will get the promotion?

Ok i'll share my thoughts too

-Corpiers of a dystopian future are supposed to be money hungry, corporate warmongers ready to screw people up to fatten their wallet.

-Their goal is a good life and a good status. This is supposed to show on their clothes, gadgets and attitude over others. Either costumed tailored of just expensive suits bought from Green sector markets.

-It's unacceptable for high paid corporate employees to not pay their sic bills. something even the poorest Mixer can afford to. You are a corporate employ in a good economy. You can afford 1000chyen.

-You are a corpie and someone insulted you on sic? 6 out of 10 of those warmongers i am talking about would hire someone to beat the crap out of him. You know why? Because you matter. Because you are money and he is filth and you can pay to make his life miserable for insulting your wife.

What i am talking about above are stereotypes but roleplaying games are based on stereotypes. Ofcourse there always exceptions to the rules but i think we have only exceptions atm. At least from my characters POV.

Thank you for reading.

Something that should happen is there be a ponzi scheme sorta corpie, either to his underlings, or to his clients. Great ideas. And there should be...poisons or something. Seems like a corpies cup o tea. Not wanting to get there hand dirty, but to get that position opened up convienently

Just another 2 pence

In my opinion, while we need more arrogant, cutthroat corpies, there's nothing that says that you're not playing in theme if you're not one of them.

Corporate life is a double-edged sword. You will earn money and prestige (possibly at the expense of others) but it comes at a cost. You can choose to be a docile corpie who isn't necessarily a bad person at all, but the cost is essentially bowing to the will of your higher-ups and basically being owned.

As a corpie, the choice is basically to live freely at the expense of others, or live 'safe' and lose control as a result.

I'll also point out that not all corpies are created equal. For researchers, the test of moral fiber might be how ethically your company does its business and research and what they or other companies might do to protect their interests or benefit from others.

you can't play 'safe'. Corporate employees in a dystopian future are ruthless like their companies. They are multimillion dollar companies that do everything to remain like that. If there is a corpie who wants to play 'safe' and just chill at a bar without even as much as paying his sic bill, he is most likely to get fired soon. But that multimillion dollar company WILL ask of him to be ruthless too or he will lose his job and his status.

You have to live at the expense of others because it's a city of 65million and there are people out there that want to get that job that you have. Even if there are not any PC's let's say for example that do computer/medical/whatever work, except that one corpie named Bob, he still has to base his roleplay as if there are. It's 65million people out there.

Taking under consideration the above. You are either a money hungry ruthless monster or...you are fired.

There will always be corpies who are mindless sheep foodtubes avoiding conflict.

Look around. Not every corpie is Gordon Gekko or Donald Trump or whatever the American Psycho character's name was.

On the other hand, I have to agree: Corpyland is too safe in SD and there's not enough topsider on topsider conflict for the amount of such players. People aren't playing it enough, and there don't seem to be built in sources of such conflict. I imagine there are plots I'm not seeing, but to be themely I agree it should "spill out into the open" more.

I would much rather see the ruthless side of corporate life play out through things like corporate espionage and sabotage than from being forced into playing a character archetype.

While I agree that more would be nice, not every mixer is a violent scumbag and it is a little bit ridiculous to say that every corpie should be sleazy and aggressive. I mean, for one thing, it's incredibly boring, and for another, it's not very realistic.

Having come from Arma were one belongs to Houses that are the equivalent of corps, I can say there are other ways to be 'ruthless' without being cutthroat. Without revealing much my character simply twisted the truth to get others to do his dirty work. Such as getting someone else killed without getting my hand involved at all. Similarly my 'corp' worked exactly like me: honey first and last resort poison.
Maybe part of the problem is that there is no competition between corps - each has fields it works in, and they do not overlap.

So espionage and personell extractions are kinda meaningless

I"m not saying anyone should be forced into playing anything. I'm saying conflict should be oozing and people should have to deal with it in whatever way they want. And it should be themely conflict, not just "make out with everyone till someone gets mad".
Saedor-Krupp, ViriiSoma and I imagine possibly GeneTek have some slight overlap in their fields. So really, I think it would be really interesting to see some more competition and shady actions between each other.
I advocate murder, betrayal and corruption. But that's because I saw that every day. At any rate I'm not sure why people here are commenting on the lack of this since I've been involved in this game and seen corpies doing their own dirty schemes.
I always loved the way "coprorate extraction" has been portrayed by Gibson in works like "New Rose Hotel" and "Count Zero". The corpies and the mercenaries and the things they have to do and the sacrifices they have to make and the height of the stakes are just so... Very, man.
Competition doesn't have to be limited to espionage and subterfuge. Competition can also take place within one's own mega-corporation as a result of meritocratic systems. Make yourself stand out from your peers. Discredit your superiors or ensure that they quietly disappear to the bottom rungs of the corporate ladder. There really are many ways to go around this type of cut-throat Roleplay that can be tailored to suit the individuality of your character. And I totally encourage people to explore this type of Roleplay - from previous systems that I've played in it has been some of the most enjoyable Roleplay I've had.

But I absolutely agree that not everybody has to play this way and there are numerous ways to progress in a Corporation that span a wide spectrum of morality. So if you're not a dastardly miser, that's also great.

I think one thing we'll agree on as an objective reality is that all Corporate characters should strive to be on the bleeding edge of style and privy to the newest technology. The film adaption of American Psycho has an amazing scene which I'm sure most of you will know that I'm referring to (the business card scene) which is superlative in demonstrating this kind of mentality.

But as mentioned the Corps in this game have no reason to do it. but that doesn't stop corpies from using paydata for their own nefarious plots.
I'm not saying things aren't happening. It's themely for the gravest of such plots to basically be invisible. But the smell of power and the tickling fear of it isn't flowing, the way Red district dangers are apparent. A person can play it safe in either world and avoid conflict. If they want. It's just a lot easier to do that topside, and to me that's a bit unthemely, considering a lot of our inspirations.
IsaacF.. before a corpie starts doing his plots he first have to deal with securing his position within the company. That means actually defending his position not only from PCs but from NPCs too. as i said..65M people in Withmore.

You can't ignore the ambient population of the game just because they are not PCs. Your character does think "oh well, Jacob ain't gonna get me fired and take my place. He is an NPC". Instead he thinks "That motherfucking Jacob will fuck me up the first chance he gets so he can get that promotion before i do"

sorry for the double post. i wanted to say "Your character *doesn't* think"
I haven't read any of your responses yet, but I'm going to now. Before that though I wanted to share an insight I just had on the admin chat. I think it fits with our corpie talk.

[+][Bit-Chat] Slither says, "gold should literally be littering on RED for -fun-"

[+][Bit-Chat] Slither says, "like go buy 50 cheeseburgers"

[+][Bit-Chat] Slither says, "and start a riot by throwing them off the skywalk"

Yup. I like it. Make Gold *want* to mess with Red. If a corpie steps foot on Red it makes very good sense that he gets robbed and ridiculed by gangers, street urchins and the like. In the same way it makes sense someone from Gold to see Mixers as filth and just buy a crate of medicine and just liter the streets for his/her amusement while mixers kill each other for the goods.
I think corporate life should be multi-faceted. Not every corpie should be a cold blooded snake, just as they shouldn't all be tame, upstanding citizens. If you're not worried about competition within your corp, you should have to worry at least a little bit about another corp trying to learn what you know so they can use it themselves- whether via money, or via armed kidnappers.

Variety is a good thing!

I think incentive to act like a corporate douche bag would help considerably. Most of the chyen making opportunities I've seen corpies perform have been largely unscripted and complete blind-sided GM's. We should work on this more.

Throwing money at problems. Yeah, you've got shitloads of chyen but that's not going to help you much unless there are way to spend it which you find rewarding. Making vices which appeal to the rich and exploit the poor would be useful.

Corporation against corporation. We have security forces - why not have a wetwork team attack a corporate HQ for a high-level executive extract.

Thoughts?

Teams of highly intoxicated Mixers being thrown at corporations as deniable, cheap, expendable assets. Yes. Yesss.
ReeferMadness i couldn't agree more. The incentive is very important. It's a game after all and not real life. Ofcourse most aspects within the game should be treated like it's real life as it actually is our characters real life though we need all to agree that it's a game we play to experience some conflict with other people not be a fluffy bunny and thus although not all corpies are corporate wolves (though most of them should be) ready to hunt for money, in a conflict based game the incentive to do so is very important since conflict is what makes the game interesting.
You're assuming that all corpies are managerial or businessmen. Most corpies right now are scientists, doctors and technicians. The opportunity to be cutthroat is certainly there, but the incentive is in what you know and how that's valuable to your company.

Again, multi-faceted. I'm more interested in seeing the research types have to worry about security than I am in them being sleazy assholes because otherwise it's 'not fitting the theme.'

Steal each others research and sell it as your own, reaping the benefits of that scientific/medical breakthrough.

Drop a vial of that new disease you have been developing of the skywalk to see the effects it has on the filthy mixers, offer a select few of them the antidote, to make sure it works.

You know, that kinda stuff :P

I haven't been this excited for a BGBB conversation in a long ass time. I actually got out notepad and started making a list of what I needed to address, because you guys are rocking it with your responses.

#1: Du-Wear flak question.

*poke* Look harder ICly cause you didn't look hard at all.

#2: Mixers v. The Man / Dangerous Criminals v. Upright Citizens

I don't think we know where this is going to land yet -- it's in a state of flux. Topside is alive like it never has been before and that means that dynamics for the rest of the game are going to shift. That's happening now. Some of you can probably see it from your respective thrones.

#3: Cut-throat Corpies

Yes. But see my above answer. I don't think we need more cut throat corpies, I think we need to wait for the larva we have right now to hatch. Or... has that already begun? You never know.

We do have plenty of dislike among corpies and it's only a matter of time before you thieving corpie fucks start stabbing each other in the back. Of that, I have no doubt.

#4: Pressure to fuck over others

You have to wade into this betrayal thing. Corporation on Corporation betrayal is where you start. You want to get your corp a leg up. Fuck over some other corp! Or people that work at other corps. To me, I think of the gangs on Red: Sinners, Snakes, Arteries. I wonder how NLM, VS and WEC are any different when it comes down to it. At the very least the corps have rivalries with each other like a good sports team would, for those of you pointing out that there is no market competition for most corps (IE: another TV mega corp or cloning company). You might not fight with your fists, but you fight with your minds and your words. You got turf. Hold it down, bakas!

#5: What Kiwi Said

Agree with everything Kiwi said about corporate life. Also, nothing wrong with being a docile corpie versus an in charge corpie. Both are fun.

#6: Have a hard to reach goal

If your character is never satisfied and constantly on the move because they haven't reached their ultimate goal yet, then you are having fun RPing. Make your goal to be the CEO of NLM or to start a new corp and grow it to the biggest in the city. Don't make your goal to get a job at NLM. And when you face setbacks on the road to your goal, enjoy them and appreciate them (setbacks are just as hard to setup and GM for as steps forward ya know).

#7: Nothings happening?

If you feel as though nothing is happening around you in the game, stop what you are doing and do something totally different because the game world is so freaking alive right now and so much is happening on every, single, level of the game. If you aren't involved it's time you stop making excuses and get involved because it's no fault but your own now.

#8: Player Notes

It's important for everyone to be leaving player notes (@notes) regarding their characters RP. If you are involved in some RP, perhaps on your own, slowly eroding your superiors authority or making him look bad... we want to know! Help us, help you.

(That being said, don't abuse the note system or leave pointless notes. It's not 'memory'.)

Swash you are on a rampage. +100
For the aggressive corporate social climber the corporate social graces are more than clothing.

There is a level of small talk and intrigue that needs to be achieved as well. Corpies need to be congenial and formal even while they are being casual, especially with superiors in the workplace. Street slang should be avoided, that is social death which leads to stagnation on the promotion ladder. You also need to be able to say something without saying something - there is a subtle way of turning a phrase so that the other person suspects one thing when you say another. You'd see the same on Red, but the language of intrigue would be vastly different.

Public SIC should be minimized, and debate should never be engaged. Arguments should NEVER be in the public space. Private SIC on the other hand should be highly used between corpies for both arguments and for political manoeuvring.

The gridmail system should be used extensively for basic person-to-person catchup. The grid forums are the peanut gallery, and should only be used as a tool for manipulating the circumstances for personal gain. Multiple aliases are important.

Complicated corporate political games should be done by combining communication methods, aliases, and using double-language as needed. During the heat of an active situation multiple coms channels should be engaged simultaneously.

There is also space to play the dilettante or debutant, particularly if you have a media based job or come from significant family money (even if you are playing the rebellious kid or were kicked out of the household). This is an entirely different behaviour pattern where you want to be as outlandish as possible. You WANT to throw money around, you WANT to go to Red, you WANT to walk up to a homeless person and pay them 5 cheeseburgers to bite a ganger. The key to the debutant type personality is to use corpie street slang, NOT mixer street slang. That means, in a lot of cases, you'll have to make up some slang.

For example, Mixers call MRC 'Marcy', a corpie dilettante should NEVER use that term. They should use another slang term, like 'Mister Cee' or 'Wallflower' or 'Marvins Racial Comedy'. That layer of culture in the game seems pretty thin right now, so it's important to flesh it out while you play.

Anyhow, that's my 10¢

To ride what Mr. Mephi said...

Corporations need CULTURE.

That's where everyone comes in. Let's branch out and decide what each company is like. NLM is obviously the attention whore. Saedor Krupp the meticulous german? You get it...this should start to visible in the NPC's at each location and how business is conducted.

Another thing I think could be emphasized is that the corpies on Gold and Green enjoy their safe, cozy life on the backs of the countless poor on Red. Corpies can be kind and gentle and even generous, but it should be made clear to them that they enjoy their comforts at the expense of others. I can see this leading to otherwise empathetic corpies becoming slowly desensitized to the plight of the poor entirely or being guilt-driven into fancying themselves philanthropists and starting projects to improve the Red life that will inevitably end in disaster.
Slither's original question, "what's important to a corpy character", seemed to focus on shallow IC matters like the person's appearance and belongings. I for one am loving the direction this is taking, which is trending more toward the OOC matters of the character's potential for RP angles.

Especially hearing people talking about what would/will/does incent the corpy characters to take risks and develop ambitions and pursue goals. Agreed - it doesn't have to be about violence. There are plenty of tools and skills to put to use to further this other style of (plot, position, paranoid) advancement.

I also do want to say that I've had plenty of fun with my hyper-passive corpie character! Even playing as a conflict-averse character I can still get plenty involved in good RP and some nice adventures, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the fires stoked for even more interesting RP plots up topside.
One other thing, hiring and getting hired.

Corpies have a Curriculum Vitae NOT a resume. A resume is something a sales clerk has. Professionals have a CV.

Just a thought from an uneducated newbie.. i dont know enough if its already part of the game or not but salary corpie jobs should be difficult to keep hold of...

sure there should be obstacles to getting them in the first place, but once they have them they should be difficult to keep. In the money driven cut throat world of cyberpunk corpies.. the bosses should be riding their employees constantly to force them to get results.. not just for promotion but just to keep pace with their peers..

A character should feel under pressure to perform and deliever once they have scored that sweet job up in gold.. not be able to sit back and while away the hours collecting free chyen..

Depending on how high they are and how much they want to rise in the corp the challenges and tasks should be greater and more risky..

just my uneducated 2 cent worth

Wintermute +1000. Nothing more to add.
Why is my admin encouraging players to make 50 of anything?
For one, work is not always easy to RP, and for another, people's schedules differ. Is there something to be said for part of the ire corpies get for earning a lot of money basically just because they're clean, pretty and well-educated? What's enviable about being a corpie if really, your job is basically just a living hell and your skills are moot unless you're an asshole to everyone around you?
because you can do the hamburgers stunt and laugh at the dirty Mixers!

IRL, before they stopped putting numbers up, my father used to say if he had five billion dollars what he'd do with it would be to buy enough McDonald's burgers to make them change the numbers. Wouldn't work today because they just say "billions and billions served" anymore.

There should be more coporate espionage, in many forms, subtle and just plain obvious. Look at Syndicate. Corps would cyber up guys just to break into companies and shoot there way through to get to some secret project. It would be perfect, especially for the corpie ideal.
Unfortunately, this is a game. Forcing a player to be constantly active to keep a job is punishing the player for having a real life, and would ultimately push a player away because of negative consequences that is beyond their means of control, and not in an IC way.

I am completely for firing a corpie if they never roleplay working, but firing them because they can't be around for 20 hours a day like one of their rivals can? That's silly...

Jobs < RP... if you are generating good RP, your coded job, or what you receive your salary for takes a back burner. BUT... you should at least make regular visits to your place of work and RP doing something, at the very least. Also, if your job grants you benefits in certain knowledge or access to tangible things, use them for personal gain. Use them to advance/create RP. Think outside the corporate cubicle.
Just to clarrify my ramblings before. I would not suggest enforcing salary jobs to complete x hours at a desk or locked away. that would be entirely against the point and not generate RP at all, nor would it be fair to enforce people to play certain hours etc.. And i'm not sure how this could be implemented without GM involvement as i'm just not smart enough to figure out how this could be automated.

However in an ideal world.. what would be ace would be if there was an element of danger/risk involved with the salary jobs as well ( please excuse my uninformed ramblings if this already the case).. take a non salary job of delivering crates as an example, it at least gets players out and about meeting people and in the case of the red in real peril of getting mugged or worse and requires quite a bit of time involvement..to get your chyen.. more so than simply log in every week.. hit terminal and bingo...

So in my head and i have no idea how this would work .. there should be ideally targets or objectives as such that are passed down from a boss (NPC or another player thats above them in the corp structure, which could be part of their task?).. sort of RP based story hooks that reinforce the concept of risk/reward and provide job based RP for those cushy salary jobs

They would have to have like really loose long term scales on them.. ie every x months this has to be completed. ( or at least be shown to be progressing towards it). .. i was thinking along the lines of a high powered job in a ruthless corpie has to icly get some data or item stolen from a rival corp or even within the same company.. ... now how this is accomplished is entirely up to the player.. and should even involve the option of with real creativity and a plan than generates massive RP for a significant number of players of gaining promotion through it.. (thinking rather than accomplish the task.. the player decides to get paydirt on his boss that handed the assignment to black mail them? or pin a failure on someone else.. or they went above and beyond and took the extra info/data/object to the bosses boss)..

just my thoughts and i have no idea how to implement.. just think it would be cool.. would open up some of the more obscure professions and skills and get the corpie world churning and backstabbing..

I like the thought process there Wintermute. Getting that churning though, seems like it would take quite a bit of GM involvement(from an already pretty busy staff). This could be alleviated to a degree by players using @notes. When you get that salaried job, think of your position within said corp, think of what project your higher-ups might possibly request of someone in your position. @note the path you think the higher-ups would ask of you and wait and see if the GMs would like to implement it by having your superior assign something along the lines to you. Or, if your character is the ambitious type(and has the stats to back up the planning, i.e. lower intelligence characters are not likely to be devising grand plans), go out and make it happen on your own hoping to impress your superiors.

No matter what path you choose to take, @notes are crucial. They are a tool to allow GMs to know details about what your character has done/going to do, so they can better influence aspects of it.

Yeah i totally agree swash.. i cant think of any other way than your suggestion and the honor system of players inventing their own challengeing and risky tasks that doesnt involved a shit load of work for the Gm's and god know they got enough to do keeping us unruly kids inline and supplying us with tasty new illlness and dieasese and the such..

which btw IMO would be an awesome corpie blackmail / peer discrediting thing infecting someone with a tailored horrific STD or a virus that causes disgusting bowel movements at the worst time.... *hint hint wink wink nudge nudge.* :)

American professionals have resumes, we print resumes. They will continue to be called resumes. Damn foreigners.
Though the right term is Curriculum Vitae. Damn Americans.
In Europe, the Middle East, Africa, or Asia, employers may expect to receive a curriculum vitae.

In the United States, a curriculum vitae is used primarily when applying for academic, education, scientific or research positions. It is also applicable when applying for fellowships or grants. That latin shit only matters in academia.

For those of you who hae seen Elysium, the factory owner is a prime example of what I think of when it comes to corpie. Standing in the same room as a "mixer", said mixer decides to talk to you, "Cover your mouth! Don't you fuckin breath on me." -THAT- is corpie.

- Swashbuckler

Bumping for reference, as I watched Elysium earlier....

For people who have not seen it (seriously, what!?) here is 44 seconds of Corpie inspiration - that shows how you can be a douche of a Corpie, without having to do so publicly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55JMUKrtN8c

Because not paying for new bed sheets is more important, than caring for a Mixer employee who has become ill from an industrial accident. I mean, he even gets a kerchief out to protect from dust and germs from the damn door opening!

I remember last year when one of my characters who was ultra-corpie got daily flak from mixers for being "anti mixer.' I treated them like the dirty, filthy, lazy people that they are. Not deserving to occupy the same space as me.

They gave me shit while sitting across from me at a bar on Gold or Green as if the whole of high society wouldn't be staring them down with disgusted looks on their faces. They'd put on a corpie costume and be seen on television looking all dolled up, then walk back into the mix like it was nothing.

Granted there was no real corpie population at the time, there might have maybe two or three of us active on a regular basis so we had to take what RP we can get while pushing the theme in a direction that allowed for some kind of player interaction.

I am just so happy to see this thread and very happy to hear people are actually talking shop on how the theme should be executed for corpies.

Really makes me wish my character hadn't been reaped while on character vacation.

There is one view here that I have not seen discussed. Corpies view on Mix was discussed but all off them are negative. What if the Corpie wants to smile at them and -use- them for his/her own schemes to backstab their way through like a Shark? See a corpie can act like he/she is chums with a Mixer with the only intent and purpose of charming them with money and what not to use them as pawns. Whereas Mixers see corpies as big juicy steaks and they want a piece of that. There should be a dynamic of corpise using mixers/mixers using corpies and backstab, murder, betrayal and corruption running rampant behind the scenes. Again I advocate murder, betrayal and corruption. Its CP after all.
I agree that corpies and mixers should find ways to use each other, but it should be done moreso with -leverage- than smiles and blowing smoke. Also, if it really came down to it, in private the corpie could be friendly with the mixer and rude as shit to them in public, tossing them a private SIC after saying, "No hard feelings, I do have a reputation to keep."
I'm pretty sure everyone was on the lines of that Issac.

Corpies are to Mixers, as Spies are to Agents.

In the real world, the actual intelligence officer whom works directly for their agency (CIA, MI6, MOSSAD...ect) are not at all like the spies in fiction. They find someone who they can use, befriend them and get information on them.

Then, they use that information to do a favour or give them a gift, or help them with a problem they have. This is a cold move. Thus, the Spy can turn an asset into an Agent. They can ask a favour in return - usually through blackmail and manipulation.

When the asset has served their purpose, they're cut loose. If the spy has to escape or slow down counter-intelligence? The asset/agent is sacrificed (burned for jargon heads). Being a spy is all about getting people to do what you want, without having to do anything directly - pulling the strings, whilst remaining undetected - and you have to feel no emotions toward your assets once their use is done.

Sindome is no different in that regard. Mixers are tools. If you buy a hammer and it does a good job, you keep it around. If it starts to break, you buy another one. If it's crap to begin with, you find a more reliable hammer.

In turn this gives Mixers work. It encourages them, when they take a contract, to follow it through for more than just currency. Doing a good job means they get the reputation of being reliable. Sure, they might make enemies, but the lure of big bucks is enough to fuel their desire to make an impression.

It is all about reputation isn't it? And if people see you being all chummy with a mixer well you're going to lose points with some people, guaranteed. Calculated risk? Sure. Necessary risk? Probably not.

That being said... I so encourage using mixers as tools, it's the best way to push RP along, bridge the gap between both worlds and really makes the economical gears turn.

Corpies have so much power when it comes to reaching out and impacting the entire player base. Money is power, influence is power. Nothing more CP than using that power to accomplish your goals.

Ah yes see that is what I am talking about. Well put. That is what i would like to see more. Yes some Corpies should show this horrible distaste and dislike for Mixers but some of them should be offering them a smile a 'helping hand' while holding the knife behind their backs. The Mixer should in turn be doing the same. Use or be used. It's all about being a human-shark. Or any of the high food chain predators.
"Is it better to be feared or loved" is the way your character has to think in both sides.

Some prefer people to be loyal out of being a reliable sort, who pays on time, is generous and looks out for their friends.

Some prefer people to fear them into not betraying them, going over and beyond, and keeping their mouth shut.

IMO, at the end of the day, as long as you keep to the mentality that Mixers and Corpies have a symbiotic relationship - fun RP is guaranteed, regardless of the outcome.

Amen to that.

So yes I would like to see Corpies who totally hate Mixers. Mixers who totally hate Corpies but also Corpies who use Mixers and Mixers who use Corpies.

I wanted to rehash this thread because something has really been bothering me lately. It seems nearly every corpie possesses a firearm permit or is pumping UE into combat stats. Rather then being "knowledge workers" - we are endorsing a corpie class of combat junkies which at this point outnumber and outpower the denizens of Red. I think this is really lame and unthemely.

Thoughts?

To be fair - the question needs to be asked in line with what these corpies do for a living. If you're referring to security personnel then it makes perfect sense. It also somewhat makes sense for corpies to have weapons permits as well IMO, taking into account the many 'NPC Corpies' who don't have weapons permits.

Though I agree, that generally speaking corpies that aren't in the security biz probably shouldn't be raising combat related skills a great deal.

I'd point out that we have a *lot* of CorpSec, and they take up a sizeable portion of the PC corpies. I'm not sure if I know of many people that are getting permits and weapons just for the hell of it.
Corpsec will be corpsec.

I personally wouldn't even be regard them as corpies. Personally i expect them to be regarded as expendable overdosed combat monkeys in suits while in gold or green. These are the people that act rudely all for the sake of 'security'. They deal with all the bloody , greasy , dirty stuff that most corpies don't want to deal with

it however seems themely for corpies to have bulletstoppers (bodyguards) over having to deal with dirty , greasy weapons themselves.

Whenever i deal with corpies comming down to red for bussiness , i tell them i can't guarantee their safety.

The correct response should be :" i'll bring a bodyguard or 2 and we will be fine" over : "don't worry , i'm highly trained in SMG and i'm packing."

I think the current shift can partially be because of the activity in the weaponry businness on gold. Not that this is a bad thing , just a result of active bussiness causing people to invest in those skills.

Reguarding permits, the permits issued are not an issue weither people like it or not, deal with it icly.

Reviving this topic because I think it's relevant. Let's talk about corpie RP and what it involves! What are your favorite things to do for corpie RP?

As a player, I have had much much less RP on the corpie side. Mostly I've played a Judge character. Rarely have I played a corpie that wasn't a Judge.

Let's talk about the backstabbing and corpie politics and what you can do to create fun, engaging, cybeprunk RP topside.

I will start:

- Frame your boss and take his job!

- Spread lies about a coworker to get them fired

- Hire Mixers to do your bidding

-- This requires having bidding to be done, so first, find things to be bid

-- Like, making underworld connections that you only interact with through an intermediary

--Like, hiring someone to purchase goods for you on the down low

--Like, gathering paydata for you

What else!?

- Pay a mixer to deal with that real annoying chummer who pissed you off the other day.
Where my corpies at!?
Oh! Good thread to read through.

I only read the 1st half before when it was being contributed to, but the rest has good RP ideas and tips for aspiring corpies.

I have noticed several corpies on sic with that sneer towards Mixers (and bakas) and I wonder if there are some who steal other's projects and offer them up as their own.

Hiring Mixers as an intermediary between you and some mob or gang is something done. For those corpies with a twisted sense of humor, continue to drop off a crate of vaccines during an outbreak and laugh at that results.

But more realistically, finding a reliable source of paydata (a gatherer), or someone for a bigger job, who will keep their fucking trap shut (so, a pro) is part of the RP possibilities.

Azzameen mentioned a Hammer above and that's very apropos. And it works both ways (Corpie to Mixer and Mixer to Corpie).

I wanted to revive this in the wake of the Town Hall in case people had thoughts to give on the current state of corpie play.

Some of the issues raised at the town hall were:

- Are corpies doing enough to involve Mixers in their plots, rather than just doing everything themselves?

- Are corpies hoarding money that could be used to further plots?

- Are corpies too buddy-buddy/not backstabby enough with each other?

I'm just interested in hearing what people think/advice. I think a lot of corpies want to do more but aren't always sure how to go about it, myself included.

Just gonna post here instead of starting a new thread. There are some corporate jobs that are just, in my opinion, not as fun as others because there's not enough stuff to actually do. A player that plays a media star, producer, biotech, HR person or PR person, is going to have more to do than a chemist, requisition specialist, or even corpsec agent depending on the circumstances.

Let's start with corpsec:

Rank progression is broken without operations, which are difficult for player characters to come up with in a way that would involve an entire team. (Unless there happens to be someone at the head of that sec team, which is also difficult to achieve without sufficient opportunity.)

Corpsec agents stand around all day waiting for things to happen, with most days just ending up being completely uneventful. And I say this only having playing a corpsec character for a few months short of a year and having maybe 3 or 4 actual 'threats' to deal with.

Not sure if this is a recent phenomena, but what's been happening is that a lot of characters just booth, leave for the WJF, give up and return to the mix or end up doing something stupid which forces them back down anyway.

Possible solutions for corpsec:

1. The most obvious solution would be to have more GM led ops, which could maybe be done if they were done if more generic plots were used in place of the grand ones that require more planning.

Ex. Doctor Howard really wants to move to the CNA but can't afford it. He contacts a rival corp in the CNA, steals data from his corp as per his agreement with them and is on his way out of Withmore. Corp finds out, exec makes the situation known to their agents and gives them his location.

Too easy? Okay, he's somewhere in the Red District sewers under Blitz, which adds the difficulty of sec having to find a way past mix characters and removes the need for a custom location and custom enemies. There's one generic NPC with data that needs to be recovered and because it doesn't matter what happens to him there's no need to puppet him for very long, if even at all.

2. Second suggestion would be to send mobilize corpsec for pretty much everything. Mixer calls Juicy a baka? Acquire WJF authorization, snatch them on Gold and show them to the path of righteousness. They don't come up to Gold? Get a trace ran on them and send the team down to deal with the nuisance on Red. Why not? Corpsec agents have free updates, reimbursements and requisitions. They can afford to die a few times.

If they're going to be allowed to take more risks then there should probably be a minimum entry requirement of three months in Withmore / a combat related job though. Upside to agents going down to the mix more often would be a reduced need for GM created operations and more conflict between mixers and corps. Downside would maybe be the amount of reimbursement requests that would need to be reviewed.

As for chemists, the job really only consists of making drugs for no real reason, then waiting to have your storage emptied out, rinse, repeat. Simple solution would be to have chemists distribute drugs to those in the company within limited amounts. V-202, Ex-D7 and Endo for corpsec depending on their needs, marcy for lab rats, etc. Gives them something to do without much, if any need for GM intervention.

And finally, speaking more generally I think that feuds can actually be a really bad thing if there's not constant action as a result. For instance, feuding with the media company that holds all the events corporate citizens gather at makes it so that corp is far less able to socialize with corporate citizens out of their own corp. This is an issue because half the reason you're corporate is so you can socialize with people. Socializing with people also gives you opportunities to mess with them. No real 'solutions' on this, but it is a problem in my opinion.

As for the other jobs, I have zero experience with them and if anyone else wants to say anything then that'd be great.

I would argue there is constant action as a result of corporate feuds. It's subtle, not overt. Overt things are more for the Mix, though stuff can still happen topside. We're talking about political chess versus an all-out fight.

Today I read some leaked emails from a news source where a security firm was worrying about the repercussions of someone not even attending a meeting with an opposing group, and what that might mean for relations beyond that. Then they considered all the checks and balances to counter a confrontation. That, is exactly what I feel corporate rp is about.

To note: The leaked emails example is not an IC one, it's from a news site I read IRL today. But it's a good example of what reminds me of topside stuff!
As someone who had a corpsec character in 2089; doesn’t sound like much has changed at the CORE. Sure there are a shit ton of improvements made, and alot more options, and RP happening around these jobs, but I think more players who want to play these roles don’t expect to be mall security all the time. What is suggested is actually what I expected out of it way back when. Solid ideas.

Yes i know just because you don’t see it now and all that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, but I’m just chucking in my experience because it -sounds- like it’s about the same at the root.

There's only so much that can happen during a feud though. And I feel like a lot of what of the conflict that could be generated by the players has already passed in the current one. Staff could probably reinvigorate tensions, but I'm not seeing any other way for the chaos to continue in a meaningful way.
Vacation and spend a couple of months playing an unemployed character. You will rapidly learn how to hustle for RP and profit in any role with or without staff support.
I'm just going to respond to some of the points made regarding CorpSec since I don't know much about chemists.

"Rank progression is broken without operations, which are difficult for player characters to come up with in a way that would involve an entire team. (Unless there happens to be someone at the head of that sec team, which is also difficult to achieve without sufficient opportunity.)"

This is not necessarily true - from my experience and many others. You do not need operations to advance within a CorpSec team. Showing initiative, constantly digging for stuff to expose traitors and make other CorpSec teams look bad and so on are all things that you can do and -should- do. Promotions aren't just given with operations.

"Corpsec agents stand around all day waiting for things to happen, with most days just ending up being completely uneventful. And I say this only having playing a corpsec character for a few months short of a year and having maybe 3 or 4 actual 'threats' to deal with."

Also wrong. CorpSec isn't about just shooting stuff or killing things and responding to threats. If you think it like that, you're not going to be very successful. Corporate lifestyle is a game of politics, subterfuge and is different from the Mix in the sense that you deal with your problems and advance not through killing someone, but backstabbing them and plotting against them. If you're just playing CorpSec and waiting for some baka Mixer to show up and cause trouble so you can shoot them, you're playing CorpSec wrong.

"Not sure if this is a recent phenomena, but what's been happening is that a lot of characters just booth, leave for the WJF, give up and return to the mix or end up doing something stupid which forces them back down anyway. "

That is recent phenomena. There have been characters staying in CorpSec and rising up the corporate ladder before, and they've done so through the points I've mentioned above. WJF is a career-path for CorpSec, so obviously some might decide that.

"1. The most obvious solution would be to have more GM led ops, which could maybe be done if they were done if more generic plots were used in place of the grand ones that require more planning. "

There are only a handful of GMs and about 70 players in Sindome. If GMs decided to spend time making ops and spoonfeed CorpSec just because they're unable to show initiative themselves, then it'd lose valuable GM time better spent assisting in the moving of actual PC plots.

"2. Second suggestion would be to send mobilize corpsec for pretty much everything. Mixer calls Juicy a baka? Acquire WJF authorization, snatch them on Gold and show them to the path of righteousness. They don't come up to Gold? Get a trace ran on them and send the team down to deal with the nuisance on Red. Why not? Corpsec agents have free updates, reimbursements and requisitions. They can afford to die a few times."

This is something even high-end characters and even the WJF doesn't do. Why would you send a corporate security team and risk assets and equipment just because someone insulted Juicy? If something major happens, CorpSec already go down or deal with it. However, for every minor thing, it is not even realistically worth it for a CorpSec manager to send a team down to Red just because of a single SIC message. As for operations and such on Gold, you can always push ideas on operations to your security manager and then talk to WJF about it. Nothing stopping you from it.

So I want to talk about corporate security because I think a lot of people who go into it do so with misguided thoughts or not so great advice from characters or players.

It's important as a corporate security person to learn, understand and manage that you or the PC above you need to create situations and content for yourself and not rely on staff to create scenarios for you. If you're in a management position you need to create roleplay opportunities for the employees below and around you, whether in corporate security or even just within the rest of the corporation (and not even counting all the other people who are connected through branching out).

Those ideas you listed can, in some ways, be created and spurred on by the characters themselves with limited or without any staff interaction at all. There's nothing stopping a corporate security character from seeing someone disrespect a person of high interest or position in their corporation and starting their own investigation of them, reaching out to a superior to put into motion necessary steps to apprehend them. You can do that with limited staff interaction, you can take the reins and you can take the initiative.

Nothing seems to be going on with corporate feuds? You can change that - assign people roles and assignments to gather data, start rumours, create slander and libel against a character of high and important position in a rival corporation. Hire people to set them up publicly to humiliate them and their corporation. Have your character inform their boss that they were the one who set it up, why they did it, how it benefits the corporation and how your character's initiative is an asset and a positive to their corporation and why they deserve a promotion because of it.

Like Rangerkrauser wrote, a lot of corporate play, even as security, is about politics. There is actual combat, yes, but a great deal of it also goes into preventing physical altercations and social sabotage. Someone bothering an employee? Find everything you can about them. An employee making the corporation look bad? Investigate them or set them up so you can save the corporation any long-term public humiliation.

If you are a player that has brought your character from the mix where they were involved in a great deal of hostile confrontations face-to-face and a lot of combat, the change to corporate life at times is pretty startling and stark. Changing sectors often requires a change in mindset and, in someways, also play style. You need to learn it's important to be a creator rather than someone who is always reacting to what happens around them, otherwise you might find life boring if that isn't something that suits you.

Hustle and initiative is just as important in the mix as it is in the corporate lifestyle and theme, it's just going about it a different way. Be a content creator for yourself and others and you'll find a career path opens up and you'll always have something to do if you want.

Even tho I agree that Topside can be more boring than the Mix, specially if you don't know or understand how to properly play a corporate character (hint: Use your money and get mixers to do stuff for you & try not to get caught.). What you are describing is not limited to Topside or the jobs you described.

From my perspective, the problem here is you. You are expecting for a job or a GM to tell you what you have to be doing, when in reality in SD you need to be making your own fun and your own stories all the time.

Where is the party? You are the party! Scan?

Take risks, throw money around, get other players involved and forget about asking for permission. Only involve NPCs if you absolutely have to and keep GMs update of your schemes via @notes and xhelp. The game world will react to your plotting in its own time.

This is not the kind of game where you go to NPCs and ask them to give you quests.

Just gonna bookmarked this page, don't mind me.
The bit where I mentioned Juicy was hyperbole and I said suggestion one was the most obvious, not the most reasonable. I don't enjoy bothering the GMs for pretty much anything.

Anyway, do have a lot to think about with everything offered. The betrayal thing is a bit difficult and it's a lot easier to get someone fired than it is to get someone fired and get credit for it.

Did take a lot to heart, of course. Gonna take a step back and reevaluate a few things, so I guess I'll see how this goes. Thanks.

Sindome is about betrayal. It doesn't necessarily mean go around betraying and killing everybody you see, but if your ace chum betrays your corporation that you know of, and you want a promotion, then obviously you go ahead and report them - or you don't, leverage it, and get them to do your bidding.

The point here is that operations aren't the only thing to get promoted through. Have allies, have enemies, fuck over your enemies. Betray people if it benefits you. Just remember that there are also consequences to betraying someone/allying with someone.

Corporate RP is hard, play it smart, play it like poker, have powerful allies, look for stuff on your rival corporations/people you suspect betraying your corporation, use it.

I feel I need to clarify my post becuase I made it quickly while busy with something else. I've noticed that a lot of times that someone has an idea or suggestion they get bombarded with counter-posts about how they are doing it wrong. All I can offer here is my personal experience from about 13 or 14 years ago. There was no KMB, there was no VS or SK towers. There were maybe 6 topside characters, and Corpsec involved wearing a uniform with your corporations logo on it, and carrying a night stick around and patrolling the grounds. There was no opportunities to run internal investigations, look for outside threats, all these things being rambled off on because it simply did not exist without GM intervention. Getting a puppet for these things was also rare because again, most of the playerbase was in the mix, so RP was mix-focused. The best you got, and this was for the other two or three also playing similar jobs, was a random mixer running into your building and tagging it up while you were idle and then SIC trash talking you for being a lazy baka. That was Corpsec. That was mind numbing. Of course that era of corpsec would just kill themselves off or get fired and go do their own thing. I don't really thing "You're doing it wrong" applied there because there wasn't any other option. You can't pull things out of your ass when you are all by yourself and have no GM interaction with your corporation.

Flash forward to now, you at least have requisitions, benefits, OTHER players topside and within your corporation to interact with, Heavy GM support and regulation, and the occasional plot. I always hear through Xooc the complaints, and I don't think some expansion to the role and importance of CorpSec would be such a bad thing. Running black ops in the mix, albeit not for a SIC outburst, but rather things like weapons developments, kidnappings for experiments, high stakes extractions, etc etc. Is what most people have in mind when they join CorpSec and are hit with a different reality, which is fine, you shouldn't be a Green Beret without going to Basic training, but working up to and making those kind of things more commonplace would be really neat to see ((OR NOT SEE ;) ;) ))

Corporate security is not where you go for frequent action. You might be an entry-level bulletstopper for your corporation, but like all corpie roles you're mostly going to be moving your pieces around and orchestrating dark biz while maintaining plausible deniability. Every corpie should have a couple contacts they use for sensitive operations. Find stuff for them to do that advances your interests and see if you can get away with reimbursing all the costs. Set up stings and internal investigations to catch traitors. Throw your chyen around and hoard all the paydata. Or just make shit up for a promotion. A lot of this stuff that doesn't involve direct action requires only minimal GM intervention and the RP can snowball quick once you've got a bunch of characters doing your bidding.

That said, I'd still love to see more CorpSec ops and more wiggle room for CorpSec to start shit. It will always be a slow burn though. If that's not your thing, there's no shame in pushing your character to the Mix.