Mentorhelp

Mentorhelp is a way for new players to ask experienced players questions about game mechanics, round spoiling, or antagonist related questions. Mentors were either approved for Head of Security, back when HoS application required applying for Mentor (i.e., before February 20, 2018), or proved themselves reliable enough not to act on information gained from mentorhelps. The hotkey to mentorhelp is F3.

What can I ask about?

Pretty much anything. Questions that would spoil the round if asked in OOC ("I saw a guy with a blue robe is he a wizard?") can be asked freely through mentorhelp. If you're a traitor or any other antagonist you can ask questions that reveal you as one without having to fear mentors using the information to hunt you down. Information you get through mentorhelp is also certain to be reasonably accurate, because while someone you talk to in game might lie to you because it's funny, mentors aren't allowed to. Feel free to ask any questions that aren't covered in the next section, no matter how basic.

Asking how to do something and getting an explanation doesn't mean that it's OK to do it. Mentors won't know if you are a traitor or not unless you tell them, so a mentor explaining how to kill people isn't saying that it's okay for you to do that. For example, don't release plasma everywhere if you're not a traitor!

What can't I ask about?

• "Please make me a Alien/Monkey/Traitor/Wizard/AI/Borg" Etc.

We are not admins. We do not get any special abilities for doing this. It's basically slavery! Also, asking admins for things like this will probably get you gibbed.

• "Who/where is the traitor/changeling/bad guy?"

We aren't going to tell you! If you're an antagonist, feel free to ask for help with being one, but if you're trying to hunt the antagonist down we aren't going to tell you who or what they are, even if we know. We might give you tips on effective ways to track one down, but any specific info is for you to find out yourself.

• "A traitor/changeling/asshole is killing me, can you guys come to the kitchen and kill him?"

Nope! Now, if you want to know an effective way to fight back, we might help you out, but Mentors aren't going to physically show up and help you brain a guy with a blunt object. Nor are we capable of banning them or anything like that. Mentorhelp is for information only. The only time you're going to have a Mentor physically help you with something is if you ask a question like "How do I set up the Engine?" and a Mentor happens to be an Engineer who is standing right next to you, when they might just show you how to do it right there. Mentors will tell you how to do something, they won't actually do it for you.

• "How do I make bombs/poison?"

Questions about things like bombmaking and chemistry recipes may or may not be answered. Figuring out these things yourself is a lot more fun than asking a person over the internet about it, plus it can get a little complicated to guide people through the process of making a bomb. Feel free to try, though. You may be lucky and get a Mentor with nothing better to do to walk you through the process. If no Mentors feel like explaining something complicated, try asking your fellow scientists instead! They might even help you.

• "Should I apply for mentor?"

To paraphase an addendum to the mentorhelp application, mentorhelp simply isn't the place to ask for recommendations. Again, it's for information only. Instead, if you really need recommendations, ask over OOC, Discord, IRC, etc.

What do these Mentor people see?

If the mentor is in game, it will only show your BYOND key, like this:

MENTORHELP: NitrousPG: What is epinephrine good for?

If the mentor is viewing through Discord, it will show both your name and BYOND key:

MENTORHELP: NitrousPG/(Sham Poo): How do I find the escape arm?

Mentors can also see the resulting conversations from mentorhelps, like this:

MENTOR PM: Conor12->NitrousPG: Go down the main hall, go right at medbay, and then go down when you see the yellow doors of Engineering.

MENTOR PM: NitrousPG->Conor12: Thanks.

What do mentors get in return for helping people?

Horrible Wonderful purple text when they talk in the OOC channel, the ability to play Head of Security on Fridays, and the sadly underused privilege to propose, plan, and run special events, with admin approval.

Guidelines for Mentors

Mentors are a key part of the SS13 player support team, and as such, there are certain standards mentors must maintain.

Mentors are encouraged to do the following:

• Use mentor-locked chat channels (the mentor channel in discord, mentorhelp responses to other mentors) to share knowledge to better assist players.
• Make a point of responding to mentorhelp requests that align with their own areas of expertise, and pay close attention to mentorhelps outside of their own areas of expertise, to expand their knowledge base.
• Use the wiki as a resource, both for your own reference, and directing players to it for their own reference.
• Refer most rules questions to the admin team – simple stuff is fine, but anything that you're not a hundred percent sure about, or gets into complicated territory, should go to the admin team.
• Communicate with the admin team if someone breaks the rules in a mentorhelp, or gives you reason to believe they plan to break a rule in the very near future. "Hi I built this big bomb to blow up the bar because I'm mad I didn't roll traitor this round, but I can't figure out how to attach a signaler to it" would be a very good thing to let us know about!
• Tailor their responses to mentorhelp requests with the goal of maximizing the player's fun. Keep in mind it's easy to take this too far – if a player is asking about how to use the science teleporter, it would be great to mention that there's stuff out there they might want to bring friends for. Giving them a shopping list of what exactly they should bring to handle any threats would be too much, and ruin the 'joy' of 'discovery' that comes from getting eaten by yetis because they didn't think to bring a weapon.

Mentors are discouraged from doing the following:

• Answering too far past the question – let players play and make their own mistakes and discoveries. Avoid 'backseat driving'.
• Communicating in any open Goonstation-branded context in a way that is insulting or abusive to players when your mentor status is apparent. Discord, forums, and OOC chat all clearly indicate your mentor status – and whether or not you intend it, there's the appearance of speaking from authority. Don't use that to hurt people.
• Maintaining negative or antagonistic conversational habits in Goonstation-branded spaces, even when it doesn't rise to the level of abuse – you're representing our community, please don't make us look bad.

Mentors must not, under any circumstances, do any of the following:

• Use information gained from mentorhelp conversations to influence their play during the current round. This includes antagonist status, discussion of current or future events, or anything else that would be considered metagaming if it were among players.
• Lie, mislead, or otherwise communicate in bad faith to players in mentorhelp conversations.
• Use insulting or abusive language in mentorhelp responses. This game has a learning curve that approaches vertical; there's always going to be people asking what seems to be dumb questions.
• Give players secret recipes or other information in mentorhelp responses that would get you yelled at for spoilers if you gave that information over the radio (or any other sort of open chat channel).

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