Posted by Brian Richards 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

Posted by Fleet Captain Russell Watt (Public Nuisance for Life / AEDir) in Revision of charter for USS Constellation, Discussion
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
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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

That’s always been an issue though, getting people to stay after they join.

Russell

Probably getting a bit off topic :P. But we actually had much better retention numbers overall from November 2019 to July 2020, and we saw our overall membership numbers increase accordingly. Our recruitment numbers are still quite high, but our retention numbers have suddenly worsened over the past three months, leading the comments I made in my last report about our resulting change in membership numbers.

Daniel

Revision taking into consideration feedback for review. Change to the charter regarding allowance of new characters has been removed.

1) Change registry number of the USS Constellation as it’s current registry and name are in violation of the STF TOS regarding referencing cannon ships. (Currently the ship shares name and registry of the USS Constellation NCC-1017 from the episode The Doomsday Machine in the original series. Name change is also a possibility to something more comedy related such as USS Convolution or similar.)

2) Removal of language limiting the Constellation to Fleet 2 and a vague directive that it be decommissioned should that change.

3) Included language for players to develop not only non cannon characters and jobs, but non cannon departments.

The USS Constellation NCC-70570 is hereby recommissioned as an alternative role playing area within STF and is to be solely a comedy sim ship.

The Constellation is allowed to change her class without being decommissioned as an Alt RPG. She is currently in service and is hereby confirmed to be successful under the classification of a comedy sim ship and by the following criteria:

The Constellation currently has a healthy roleplaying environment with a cast of reliable players who remain on the whole within the outlined AWOL guidelines.

The Constellation has managed to function as a comedy ship successfully.

As a comedy ship, the Constellation is not bound by the established Star Trek canon. Players may select characters, abilities, and technology from non-canon and custom sources, with the approval of the CO. However, these freedoms must be treated responsibly, and are allowed for the sole reason of having fun. God characters (such as a full power Q, The Traveler’s species, or similar) and any character in violation of the STF Terms of Service section STF Content subsection iii are still banned. While a sim may be silly and fun in any respect, it must be realistic enough to be playable.

The Constellation shall have a similar command structure to other Starfleet vessels, including all standard departments, rank structure, and chain of command. RPG ranks on the Constellation will count toward Member Rank the same as on Standard Ships, and CO and XO positions on the Constellation will count fully towards any limits in place, because of its lack of adherence to canon and its completely unserious characteristics it is to be a second character only environment.

Additional swing positions and/or departments may be added under the CO’s discretion, without being limited to demands of canon positions. Players are encouraged to create unique positions and/or departments within the ship so long as they are justifiable and will benefit the ship and RPG environment; some examples include:

Chief Sanitation Officer

Chief of Jello Investigations

Antique Toilet Restoration Department

Anomalous Hedgehog Detection Division

The current CO and crew of the USS Constellation are retained in their current positions aboard the ship. The CO may be removed at some later date in accordance with the rules of the site without penalty to the Constellation herself.

Thank you for your feedback,
Brian, The Giraffe

[Thumbs up emoji]

Only thing to add… should the ship’s class be included in the charter?

Daniel