Headlines Stardate 20203.01
HEADLINES
Federation Space celebrates two years online!
Today marks the 2-year anniversary of Federation Space. The site has seen a lot of changes this year. Here are some of the events we’ve been witness to:
This year, we went from two ships, to four ships. The USS Philadelphia and USS Avenger were added to Federation Space. The creation of the Avenger also heralded the creation of the 2nd Fleet, the Romulan Fleet. Two members reached the milestone rank of Captain: Dax and Gage. Cdr. Thrawn is joining the Captain’s club this month. Capt Longbow will should make Commodore next month and Cdr Wueste will join the Captain’s club as well. By the time you are reading this, we should have completely migrated the site from the free severs of F2S to dedicated servers with our own top-level domain. Also, by the time you are reading this, the site should have seen a slight face-lift with the inclusion of a Flash interface on the main menu page. Site content has been added as well. If you haven’t taken a look at the Federation History area in a little while, you may wish to make a visit. There is some new content, including several stories from Federation Space’s first fiction story contest. The Marine section isn’t open yet, but that should be remedied pretty quickly as I’m going to integrate some hard work from Lt Col Avon. You should also see additions to the Personal Equipment of the Engineering section in the next few months. We saw the conclusion of our first site wide mission when the combined crews of the USS Yoritomo and USS Valley Forge recovered the USS Pulsar. Federation Space’s first site wide plot began in January when forces from the Romulan Star Empire crossed into Federation space sparking a war between the two powers. Federation Space’s very first ship, the USS Yoritomo, was destroyed in combat. Farewell Yoritomo!
Where we are going!
Now that we’ve covered where we’ve been, lets cover where we are going:
Star Fleet Academy is going to change the way it does business, slightly. We used to require new applicants to complete a BIO prior to meeting their instructor and receiving training on the USS Educator. We’re going to try it a new way and have recruits complete their BIO’s with instructor assistance. It is hoped this will improve the quality of the BIO’s and get new players involved in the game with minimal delay. It should also alleviate some headaches we’ve had with new players wanting to play outlandish characters like a Romulan/human/klingon/betazoid/caitian/Q/Borg ½ Ferengi… The GM’s and CO’s are going to be working together to try and speed up our missions. This is being done to maintain player interest and move plots along at a quicker pace. Target mission length is now going to be 3 months. Before our next anniversary, I hope to see all Academy classes open. I’m specifically talking about the “How to play a <insert position>” classes, though I’d like all the classes offered to actually have content. Anyone that’s interested in helping me with those, don’t hesitate email me and let me know. Otherwise, I’ll write them all myself. I’d like to see more of our technology defined. Two technical articles have now been offered. One from me and the other being the “Design the Phaser” winner. The technological aspects of Star Trek are something that I’m very weak on. That’s one of the reasons Federation Space is set in the future of Trek, so that we’d be free to design what we want. I’m not sure that we’re going to do any more Design the <insert item> contests at this point. However, anyone that submits a technical piece to Captain Thrawn, (The site’s contact for all things engineering.) will receive some bonus points. Many of you know I can be generous with the points when I’m appreciative. One note here, though. I’m more interested in the Technical Specifications of an item than I am of an image of the item. If you are an artist, and want to contribute technical content to the site, but lack the knowledge to add that content to your drawing, then why not team up with someone that can write that portion for you? You’ll both receive points. Depending on recruiting, which has been very slow of late, I’m hoping to commission 2 ships before our next anniversary. The Romulan-Federation War plot will continue throughout most of this year and will play a major part in many of our ships missions. The development of a Federation Space Constitution is well under way. The first part will be a player/member bill of rights while the second part will break down positional responsibilities all the way from the CINC down to the individual player. Part 3 will cover various procedures for conducting some site business such as choosing new Commanding Officers and disciplinary guidelines for member misconduct. Many of you might question the need for such a document. I believe, once we start to grow larger, this will become a valuable tool for the site. It is meant to be a dynamic document designed to help members and admin alike. I’ve spoken to a couple Command Staff members about their thoughts on conducting a writer’s workshop. This workshop will be designed to help experienced and inexperienced writers alike improve their writing skills. I believe the best way to learn, is to write. So, this workshop will be conducted over a several month period and cover several topics with numerous writing assignments. This is still in the concept stage and I still need to get some feedback from the rest of the command staff. More to come on this in the future. Current Events!
Okay, we’ve covered where we’ve been and where we’re going. Let’s talk about the in-between.
First, let me say that as time goes on, I am consistently amazed by the quality of the writing I’ve seen on the site. You are a great group of players and I’m glad each of you has become part of our community. It is my hope that Federation Space not only continues to grow in size, but in quality. Many of you reading this, are the future leaders of the site. Some of you will become CO’s. Some of you may become Fleet Commanders. Yet others will lend their creative talents to becoming a GM. Whatever the future brings, I applaud your efforts.
As we move into our 3rd year, I’d like to exhort you all to remember a few things:
Whether you are on MSN chatting with someone, writing a personal email or posting on the site, there is one big thing to remember: There are real, live, people on the other end of this internet thing; people with views, beliefs, perceptions and feelings. Treat them, as you would want to be treated. Be responsible in your dealings with other people.
Assume personal responsibility for your own actions. If you have a problem with someone on the site and you ask yourself, “Why does such and such person not like me?” You are asking the wrong question. You have assumed responsibility for nothing. Instead, you should ask, “What have I done to make such and such person not like me?”
Be honest in your dealing with site members: both to yourself and to others.
Okay, I’ll step off my self-righteous soapbox now. Though, considering everything that’s gone on this year, the above needed to be said.
I’d like to finish this up with a sincere thanks to everyone on the site. Thank you all for making Federation Space what it is today.
Fleet Admiral Jonathan Beckett, CINC
