Posted by Vice Admiral Daniel Lerner (Procedures Guru / Personnel Director / Chief EGO) in Revision of charter for USS Constellation, Discussion

Posted by Sharon Miller in Revision of charter for USS Constellation, Discussion

Posted by Vice Admiral Daniel Lerner (Procedures Guru / Personnel Director / Chief EGO) in Revision of charter for USS Constellation, Discussion
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2) Modification of the charter element limiting the Constellation to a second player only ship. This limitation prevents potential growth of the ship given it’s desirability with shows such as The Orville and Lower Decks driving the comedy side of science fiction.

Bringing a brand new STF player onto the Connie seems like a poor idea. First someone should get the hang of STF, then it would be appropriate for them to try STF with a major twist. It’s a poor environment to learn what STF is.

Also I don’t think that there’s any significance to the potential growth that is being missed out on. Alt RPG’s are not going to receive a lot of new placements even if they accept them.

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Adam W.

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Thank you for your feedback,
Brian, The Giraffe

I agree with Adam that the Connie should not be open to new members.

I say this for a few reasons. First, I don’t see anyone joining STF because they are looking for a non-canon comedy ship to role-play Star Trek on. As Adam indicates, it is not a growth we are missing.

In addition, there is a detrimental effect. If a current member creates a second character on the Constellation and then realizes it wasn’t what they were looking for, they can just stop playing that second character and still continue to be a member. However, a new member upon being told the Connie is a ship they can join right might join it as their first character, realize that it wasn’t for them, and then leave. But that could potentially mean that member is leaving the club. Given how far from mainstream the Connie is, that is a real risk compared to some of our other alt-RPGs.

Therefore, given the very little benefit from allowing new members, and the increased risk posed to our retention numbers by allowing new members, I would be against having new members joining the Constellation.

Daniel

I completely understand the concerns raised by Adam and Daniel regarding the Connie (or alts in general) and new players. But I’d also like to suggest that, just occasionally, the change of scenery offered by an alt ship might be the very thing that draws people to our club in particular, over any of the other Trek RPG’s out there. I know the Viking wasn’t actually an alt when I was the CO, but at that time I did manage to attract several new members to the club, specifically to play on the ‘horror’ ship. So it’s not totally unreasonable, IMO, to imagine that the occasional player might be tempted here by a comedy ship.

So, apologies if this falls outside the remit of this specific charter discussion, but might we possibly consider being able to say something like “Second character only unless the ship is specifically requested by a new member” or something to that effect?

• Sharon

That is how it works if an alt-RPG allows new members. Basically, for alt-RPGs there are two options: (1) second-character only (which tends to be what most alt-RPGs are) and (2) allows new members who specifically request it.

How Option 2 works in practice these days is that the application form allows a new member to check a box saying they are interested in learning more about alt-RPGs (there’s already a brief explanation next to that option in the form). If that box is checked, the PDept will reach out to the new member with a more detailed explanation, list the current alt-RPG ships available for new member (Chernov and Ogawa), briefly indicate what alt-RPGs are available once they are a bit more settled in the club, explain that if they still need to learn the STF basics they should consider a standard ship, and ask them what their preference is.

The truth is, no one has ever applied to STF looking for a non-canon comedy ship. No one looking for an Star Trek role-playing club is initially looking for that, and most people probably don’t expect it even exists to go looking for it. In all my years in the Personnel Department (and that’s a lot in total) it has never come up once that a new member is looking for that. TOS? Yes. DS9-style? Yes. Delta-quadrant? Yes. Ability to play a Q? Yes. Request to be the captain of their own ship? Yes. (Not all of those options we allow :P ). But a non-canon comedy ship? Never once.

But there’s certainly a higher risk of a new member choosing it without really realizing what it is (remember, they came looking to STF because they were just looking for Star Trek role-playing), realize the Constellation is not for them, and quits. Keep in mind that on the rare time a new member has requested an alt-RPG, in almost all cases they quit anyway - the Connie’s theme just increases that risk.

We’re literally not losing any potential new members by not having the Constellation as an option. But we are risking losing new members by having it as an option. I stand by my original opinion: the risk here is too high compared to any potential pay off to allow new members on the Constellation.

Daniel

And I also just wish to draw a connection to my last Personnel Department report. Our drop in membership over the last few months is mostly attributed to retention/attrition issues, not recruitment issues. We already have a lot of people joining STF - our issue is in getting them to stay. The advantage of possibly getting an extra new member or two applying isn’t what STF needs to be focusing on over the short-term - its in how we get them to stay, and I don’t think the Connie accepting new members helps with that.

Daniel