During the summer of 2000, Clare Bradley and Jaap Marsman decided to set up a new StarTrek roleplaying game. At the very beginning of this initial setup period they got joined by Guido Dorssers. As all three thought having a good informative website is also a very important thing for a roleplaying game by email the focus was to first set up a good website and then start up the game. And thus, after setting up a website, the first ST Frontier Fleet Signup was received on 29 July 2000. During the first year of existence ST Frontier Fleet's website got hosting arranged by the fantasy PBeM Unosar, which was also created by Jaap Marsman while the mailinglists where hosted by one of our initial members, Walter Flaat. Now, after a year ST Frontier Fleet has it's own domain and is still expanding slowly.
Although we have a command structure in our game, the motto has always been and always will be the same, 'for players, by players'.
2. Squadron Positions
At the moment the whole game is consisting of one single fleet/squadron. In charge of this Fleet is the Council, a team of four persons who act as joint Gamemasters. The Council has a SPC character for this with the rank of a Fleet Admiral.
3. Grievance Procedures
If a player is having a problem of some sort, their first point of contact should be their First Officer. If a solution can't be reached, then the CO would be notified. The next point of contact would be the Squadron CO and eventually the Council (Gamemasters: council at frontierfleet dot org). Very few problems would ever need to go past the FO and every attempt should be made to resolve issues aboard the ship. If a complaint is needed against a person from another duty station, then this will be handled by the Council. Where a complaint is considered serious a member may be banned from the game for a period of time. This may range from any amount of time to a lifetime ban. Other penalties include but are not limited to demotion, either one or multiple ranks, force to leave commanding position, etc.
Valid complaints include, but are not limited to: Behaviour on the mailinglists, behaviour on the forums, behaviour on Instant Messagers, like ICQ, AIM, MSN, etc., behaviour over direct email and behaviour on IRC.
4. Forums
StarTrek Frontier Fleet has a forum where players can contribute to a variety of discussions. The forums have off-topic chat, game based chat and webteam announcements. The Forums can be found at http://forums.frontierfleet.com/.
5. IRC Chat
Each weekend, a number of chat sessions for members are held.
The details are:
Time: 1800 GMT - 0400 GMT
Network: PBEMNET (http://pbemnet.wafel.net)
- irc.frontierfleet.com
- pbemnet.wafel.net
Channel: #FF
And can also be found at: http://www.frontierfleet.com/comm/irc/
6. Website
The website of StarTrek Frontier Fleet, is the crowning glory of our game. At this site you can find just about anything you want to know about the game. There are databases with information on species, technical specs, departmental guides and more. Technical specifications for all duty stations can be found there as well as information about players and their duty stations. You've all been to the website at least once to fill out a joining form, but we hope you will take the opportunity to go back and have a good look around. The site is also able to be accessed to change bios, and for CO's and FO's to change rosters, ranks and their ships webpages.
7. PCs, SPCs and NPCs
Player/Primary Characters (PC)
The PC is your principal character in the game and you are allowed to only have one PC within ST Frontier Fleet. You must also do at least one post per week unless you have given your CO a good reason why you are unable to do posts that week. PC characters are able to gain promotions within the game as and when your CO decides that you deserve them, each promotion is decided on the quality and quantity of your posts. YOU CAN NEVER KILL OR INJURE ANOTHER PERSON'S PC without the approval of the player or, if the player has left, your CO.
You can use, but not move, other people's characters in your posts, as long as you portray them in a way consistent with the way their player uses them. The owner has the right to revise ANY use they find inconsistent.
This should be done as soon as possible and at least within a week after the post has been send. (Recommended is within 24 hours). If the revision renders a lot of posts incorrect, then the CO has the right to recall the revision. It's also up to the CO to determine what is considered being 'a lot'.
Special Player Characters (SPC)
SPC's are played by one person usually the person who created them. They are often played by players who have their PC (Player Character) on another ship, but can be played by people who have their PC on the same ship. SPC's are used to supplement the PC crew of a ship, either with character types not normally played by PCs (i.e. a transporter chief, a player's spouse, etc.) or when a ship may for various reasons be understaffed. · AT NO TIME will an SPC hold a department head or Command position when a qualified Player Character is available to play that position. · AT NO TIME will an SPC in such a position keep that position when a qualified Player becomes available. There is no set limit to the number of SPC's that a player can play, as long as the CO of the ship the PC plays on has given permission and posting for SPC's does not interfere with a players PC duties. In order to create and play an SPC on another duty station, you will need permission from your current CO and the CO of the ship or Starbase on which you wish to play.
Non-Player Characters (NPC)
NPC's come in two varieties:
A character specifically created for one mission who will die or leave after that mission is over. Examples might be the leader of a newly encountered race, an Admiral on board for a surprise inspection, etc.
A minor character, whether permanent or temporary, used to fill in a story. Examples might be the transporter chief, an engineer who comes to fix the replicator in your quarters, another fellow crewman, etc.
The second type might be a bartender, a member of the security contingent, an engineering crewman, etc. If the NPC is only going to be used to add to the plot line, for example a security player may wish to create an NPC to show that there are other crew working in security or to help them solve a particular problem, these can be created as and when it's required. Any NPC created outside of the Player's own department should only be created with the permission of any applicable department head and the CO. There is a fine line between NPC's and SPC's. The major distinction is who onboard may write for that character. Only the creating player may write for an SPC whereas any player may write for any NPC, unless a CO directs otherwise. No NPC or SPC may be killed off in a story without the express permission of that character's creator and/or the ship's CO. With respect to both SPC's and NPC's, no one below the rank of Commander may create an NPC or SPC of a higher or equal rank than your own PC without the consent of your CO. When creating SPC/NPC's, remember they are supplemental characters meant to enhance the game, not dominate it.
Note: To create a biography for your SPC / NPC character, contact your CO to request permission. He/she then has to inform the gamemaster (or another Administrator of the ST Frontier Fleet website) to set up an additional (empty) biography for you.
8. Promotions
Promotions will be handled by a dutystation's CO and FO. A player must remain in good standing for 3 months to be given a promotion in rank. Advance Promotion may be granted at the CO's discretion if the player is extremely active in posting, plot and character development, or if they assist on the web site or other out of game projects. Promotions to Commander and higher need approval of the Gamemaster and the HQ personnel.
9. Language
The language used by players in the game must be free of overt swearing. The basic tendency here is that "If they don't say it on the show, don't use it in StarTrek Frontier Fleet". The philosophy of Star Trek is to respect each other's differences and not everyone wants to read swear words so the wishes of these people must be respected, regardless of your personal feelings on the matter.
10. Spam
Members are forbidden from sending spam e-mail and ICQ/AIM/MSN/IRC/etc messages to other members, any member found doing this will be expelled from ST Frontier Fleet. Members' E-Mail Addresses, ICQ Numbers and AIM Nicks will NOT be published or used by other members on publicly accessable places unless the member has given permission to do so.
Under spam we consider:
- Continuing to contact other members while they have said they didn't want to be contacted. This includes but is not limited to contact over Instant Messengers, Email and IRC.
- Real spamming, which was defined by MAPS (http://www.mailabuse.org) as:
STANDARD:
An electronic message is "spam" IF: (1) the recipient's personal identity and context are irrelevant because the message is equally applicable to many other potential recipients; AND (2) the recipient has not verifiably granted deliberate, explicit, and still-revocable permission for it to be sent; AND (3) the transmission and reception of the message appears to the recipient to give a disproportionate benefit to the sender.
DISCUSSION:
(i) Trivial or mechanised personalization such as "Dear Mr. Jones, we see that you are the holder of the JONES.COM domain" does not make the personal identity of the recipient relevant in any way.
(ii) Failing to click the "do not send me marketing literature by e-mail" button in a web sign-up form does not convey explicit permission. Only when the default result is "no followup e-mail" AND the inbox impact is clearly stated before any action which changes this result, can permission of this kind be conveyed.
(iii) The appearance of disproportionate benefit to the sender, and the relevancy of the recipient's specific personal identity, are authoritatively determined by the recipient, and is not subject to argument or reinterpretation by the sender.
(iv) Non-personal e-mail always places a disproportionate cost burden on the recipient, and is considered to disproportionately benefit the sender unless it was verifiably solicited or by the recipient's willing exception.
(v) A message need not be offensive or commercial in order to fit the definition of "spam." Content is irrelevent except to the extent necessary to determine personal applicability, consent, and benefit.
11. Posting Frequency
All officers must be active posters. The minimum requirement is one post per week. An average of two posts per week is required for promotion. Exceptions to this rule will be made at the CO's discretion. If a player has Real Life commitments that will prevent his posting for more than one week, he should contact his CO and let him/her know the situation, so that the absence does not interfere with the progress of the game. Players will receive a warning after two weeks of not posting. If the CO does not hear from the player within a week of the warning the player will be removed from the game. Repeated warnings may result in a loss of rank or position.
Enlisted characters have no minimum posting requirement. However, they may be removed if they disappear for great lengths of time.
12. Posting Format
Posts must follow the official posting format which is explained in the posting guide. The average post should be at least 100 words long, although post length will only become an issue if a player repeatedly sends in small posts.
13. Compiles
Commanding Officers are responsible for arranging compiles when they can find a compiler for their ship. Optionally they can do it themselves. However, creating compiles of a dutystation's posts is no requirement. If there is no-one volunteering for the compiles, then no compiles will be made.
If compiles are being made, then they will be send to a separate compiles list for that dutystation to which all ST Frontier Fleet members are allowed to subscribe.
The compiler is, together with the CO, responsible for keeping an eye to the timeline, this because creating compiles is a good way to discover timeline problems.
14. Status Reports
Commanding Officers should either create, or arrange the creation of, a monthly status report which should include but is not limited to:
- A summary of all events that happend last post, which also should be uploaded to the dutystation's Story page. And their respective stardates.
- A summary of all Vacant positions aboard the ship.
These Status Reports should be send to all Command Personnel using the 'Starfleet Headquarters'-mailinglist. Optionally a copy can be send to the dutystation itself.
15. Mailing Lists
Mailinglists are being run and organized by the CO's themselves. However, the Gamemaster should at all times be able to access all lists, so when changing passwords the Gamemaster should be informed about the new password.
Each dutystation has access to three mailinglists:
dutystation@frontierfleet.com -- The RPG lists to which all roleplaying posts and important information from Command Personnel is being send to.
dutystation_nrpg@frontierfleet.com -- The NRPG list to which all chatting and non-roleplaying posts can be send to.
dutystation-compiles@frontierfleet.com -- The list to which compiles of the dutystation should be send if they are being made. All ST Frontier Fleet members are allowed to subscribe to these lists, even if they are not roleplaying on this dutystation.
Please not that all email should be send in plain text. For more information go here.
16. Academy Commandant
The Academy Commandant has a SPC with the rank of Rear Admiral for duties like welcoming people to the Academy and letting them graduate.
He/she runs the Academy which consists of, but is not limited too, the following duties:
Responding to new Signups by either welcoming them to the Academy or rejecting them with a valid reason.
These reasons include but are not limited to:
- Having a too bad combination of biography and sample post to start training. (The quality of these is decided by the Academy Commandant himself).
- Having received a ban from the game.
Assigning fresh Cadets to individual instructors to start the first part of the training: Learning how to use ST Frontier Fleet's posting format.
Adding Cadets to the Academy's traininglist after the Cadet has succesfully ended his/her initial training.
Graduating Cadets and informing CO's of the availability of new personnel for their dutystation.
17. Instructors
Instructors report to the Academy Commandant. The Instructors do the actual instructing of new players to learn them the posting format used in ST Frontier Fleet.
Although Instructors biographies are considered to be PC (the only exception on one PC per person) they do not count as such when creating NPC's or SPC's.
18. Personnel Assignments
Personnel assignments are done by the Gamemaster, who gets contacted by the Academy Commandant when one or more Cadets are nearly ready for graduation. The actual graduation and informing CO's is part of the Academy Commandant's duties.
19. Public Relations
PR is responsible for the Advertising of ST Frontier Fleet on the internet. In game, his responsibilities arranging contacts with new worlds. Therefore PR has also access to a SPC with the rank of Rear Admiral.
Public Relations can be reached on pr-at-frontierfleet-dot-com
20. Commanding Officers
CO's need to think of their dutystations as novels. Each mission for your dutystation is a chapter in the novel. The CO's job is to write the first paragraph of each chapter then hand the story writing over to the crew. The CO then plays editor by replying to posts when necessary and keeping the story on track.
Additionally CO's are responsible for duties already described in the above sections.
21. Squadron Commanding Officers
The Squadron Commander will be responsible for coordinating 'in game' the missions of his ships and bases and the actions of his local Commanders. The Squadron Commander can use the 'Starfleet Headquarters'-mailinglist to discuss with his/her command personnel what missions their commands will undertake.
22. New Technologies
New technologies can be used how the CO sees fit if they are used for only one short mission. However, if these new technologies are meant for a continuous usage or usage on more then one single ship, they should be reviewed and approved by the Gamemaster.
