There should be some significant change that is meaningful to that character, and why/how that character was an inmate in the first place, but there really is not one standard! This has been the case since long before I was even a player. A character like Poison Ivy has a different standard of redemption than a character like Regina George (and yes, both have been inmates!) That's part of why the PTR is on the app, even if people end up deviating from it as unexpected events happen. And yes, this can be really hard for some characters to deal with ICly. I'm answering here with Jedao's journal instead of the mod one because this has actually been a big thing for him, and I want to be clear that I hear where you're coming from.
A few years ago (and long before I was a mod), one of the people he really loved was torn to shreds by another inmate, and she graduated about six weeks later, totally unrepentant. This drove him absolutely up the wall! He still has a grudge about it YEARS later. He doesn't think she deserved to graduate, and he trusts the admiral and the system less because of it, he's less hopeful and driven to graduate because of it.
But that's his problem.
As I understood it, the character in question, in her own canon, made a lot of her worst/most damaging decisions because she was caving under pressure and had very little sense of her own responsibility/agency and very little desire to do things for others unless it was because they were more powerful and she was afraid of them. The reason she murdered Jedao's friend was because he was involved in a nasty revenge cycle with some of HER friends - and murdering him was, apparently, part of her coming into her own sense of agency & wanting to protect others. Expressed in the most prosocial way? Definitely not! An important change for that specific person on her specific journey? According to the player who knew her character better than I did, yes! And she probably had some other changes/connections/developments in those last six weeks springboarding off the murder plot that I wasn't privy to, because it wasn't my CR involved. And although it's the most clear cut, it's not at all the only time that Jedao has felt a graduation was unearned or unfair.
Jedao is still an inmate partly because in HIS canon, not letting go of grudges and being a judgmental bastard are things HE has to let go of/learn to deal with differently, and he hasn't! ....and, also, partly Jedao is lingering as an inmate because I love to play him so much. I could have probably justified him graduating for the past year - but I can justify him not being quite there yet, too. It's flexible! The admiral is holding him to an extremely strict standard. Why? Maybe because he's destroyed actual planets! Maybe just because he has the potential to do so much good. Maybe because he's a bit of a jerk, or because he wants to make extra sure with someone so slippery. I don't know, and Jedao doesn't either. That's juicy IC drama for him to deal with!
More generally, numerous inmates over the years have graduated after long slow gradual improvements...but plenty of others have had One Last Fuckup that really helped break some of the self-delusions they'd been clinging to. Some characters needed to do 'the hard work of atonement' on the barge, but a lot of them couldn't really DO that work unless they were able to go back to their own worlds - so intent and commitment are the standard for them. ICly, the admiral DOESN'T have one clear standard, and I'm afraid we aren't going to impose one; that would take away something really fundamental to how individualized the premise can be. But on an OOC level, it's not meant to be unfair, but to give the same respect & choice to every player: everyone has the same amount of control over their own characters. Whatever kind of redemption story you want to tell, you get to tell.
If this makes it harder to play some of your characters, I'm sorry; I can only say that ICly, I've been there, and I hope you're still excited to tell your own stories with your standards within the premise of an Admiral who is sometimes capricious and a barge that is sometimes unpleasant.
no subject
A few years ago (and long before I was a mod), one of the people he really loved was torn to shreds by another inmate, and she graduated about six weeks later, totally unrepentant. This drove him absolutely up the wall! He still has a grudge about it YEARS later. He doesn't think she deserved to graduate, and he trusts the admiral and the system less because of it, he's less hopeful and driven to graduate because of it.
But that's his problem.
As I understood it, the character in question, in her own canon, made a lot of her worst/most damaging decisions because she was caving under pressure and had very little sense of her own responsibility/agency and very little desire to do things for others unless it was because they were more powerful and she was afraid of them. The reason she murdered Jedao's friend was because he was involved in a nasty revenge cycle with some of HER friends - and murdering him was, apparently, part of her coming into her own sense of agency & wanting to protect others. Expressed in the most prosocial way? Definitely not! An important change for that specific person on her specific journey? According to the player who knew her character better than I did, yes! And she probably had some other changes/connections/developments in those last six weeks springboarding off the murder plot that I wasn't privy to, because it wasn't my CR involved. And although it's the most clear cut, it's not at all the only time that Jedao has felt a graduation was unearned or unfair.
Jedao is still an inmate partly because in HIS canon, not letting go of grudges and being a judgmental bastard are things HE has to let go of/learn to deal with differently, and he hasn't! ....and, also, partly Jedao is lingering as an inmate because I love to play him so much. I could have probably justified him graduating for the past year - but I can justify him not being quite there yet, too. It's flexible! The admiral is holding him to an extremely strict standard. Why? Maybe because he's destroyed actual planets! Maybe just because he has the potential to do so much good. Maybe because he's a bit of a jerk, or because he wants to make extra sure with someone so slippery. I don't know, and Jedao doesn't either. That's juicy IC drama for him to deal with!
More generally, numerous inmates over the years have graduated after long slow gradual improvements...but plenty of others have had One Last Fuckup that really helped break some of the self-delusions they'd been clinging to. Some characters needed to do 'the hard work of atonement' on the barge, but a lot of them couldn't really DO that work unless they were able to go back to their own worlds - so intent and commitment are the standard for them. ICly, the admiral DOESN'T have one clear standard, and I'm afraid we aren't going to impose one; that would take away something really fundamental to how individualized the premise can be. But on an OOC level, it's not meant to be unfair, but to give the same respect & choice to every player: everyone has the same amount of control over their own characters. Whatever kind of redemption story you want to tell, you get to tell.
If this makes it harder to play some of your characters, I'm sorry; I can only say that ICly, I've been there, and I hope you're still excited to tell your own stories with your standards within the premise of an Admiral who is sometimes capricious and a barge that is sometimes unpleasant.