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A VISION! (of a cooperative multi-fleet faction-themed RP-oriented guild)

gawainviiigawainviii Member Posts: 328 Arc User
Once upon a time, there was an old-school pen-and-paper fantasy gamer who just happened to be a massive nerd and Star Trek fan. One day, this nerd came across a PC video game in a department store. At first, our delightfully awkward hero nearly passed over this game, as it was situated in the middle of the MMO display rack. MMO--that horrible excuse of a game genre. The nerd had absolutely no interest, whatsoever, in pwning noobs and getting phat l3wtz. "I'll stick to good entertainment and quality role-play," he thought.

But just as he was about to leave, something familiar caught his eye... the Starfleet delta. "Now, then. This might just have potential," he thought, picking up the case to read the advertisement blurbs on the back--admiring the artistry of the cover.

"Oh? This is a real thing? It's not just WOW-in-Space? I can really make-believe I'm a Starfleet officer?" the nerd's thoughts echoed as he began to think aloud, not realizing the people nearby who were starting to stare. "It just might be worth it... just might."
---
Almost... STO had (and still has) the potential to be a Star Trek simulator. Since F2P, that potential was rapidly over-powered by the "typical" MMO crowd I've fervently avoided with the hated passion of Khan's last breath.... but potential is potential, nonetheless; and being such a stubborn die-hard (and no readily available alternatives) I've stuck it out. I created my own fleet for the sole purpose of collecting players of a similar mindset, with the intent of maximizing the Trek-simming potential.

But life got in the way, and I was out of game for a couple months. Someone else had assumed command of my fleet. He's done a great job keeping it going, administering all the new expansions, Fleet holdings, and the like. Everything I could have asked for... except the "flavor" was lost somewhere along the way. Fleet mark and Dilithium donations needs quickly turned my canon-centric, RP-oriented community into another of hundreds of MMO grinding machines.

So, I do what any good dreamer would so... hold on with both hands and try to shift everything back in line by a sheer force of will. I created a KDF fleet to be the arch nemesis of my Fed fleet. We could RP as each other's enemies. We could PvP, and have a hell of a good time....

And then Legacy of Romulus... and WOW! This is GREAT!!!! Amazing writing, awesome story, and a whole new faction! And then the Armistice. The war ends, and neither of my fleets have a nemesis anymore. It didn't take long for the grind machine to kick back into high gear.
---
But I still have hope. I know there are people out there who, like me, play this game because it's a multi-player Trek and not because it's an MMO. I know, there HAS to be people out there who are aching for the 4th wall... that veil of disbelief to fall over us and blind us to reality for a few hours a day.

That's when I came across a post with a new word. A word that intrigued me. One that I immediately, and perfectly understood as clearly as Kirk understood his own pain. Headcanon.

What if... the Klingon war didn't end? What if the Romulans didn't play both sides? What if my headcanon was Democray vs. Empire? The Federation & Republic allies against the Klingons and Star Empires....
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That is my altered vision:
A "guild", a larger community consisting of 4 fleets. Each fleet is autonomous and independent of each other, each having it's own theme and their own leaders (the leaders of one fleet can have their alt characters in the others, but cannot be on staff in more than 1)... but all of them sharing the same out-of-game resources (voice chat, website, forum, etc.) and policies. This way, a player in the Fed fleet wants to join the KDF fleet with another toon, they're all following the same rules and expectations when it comes to promotions, provisions, and the like... But each fleet is filling a different role within this larger community: Federation Starfleet, Romulan Republic Fleet (Fed ally), Klingon Defense Force, and Romulan Imperial Navy (KDF ally).

With this set-up, we can all find our niche. We can have allies to collaborate with and enemies to fight against. We can tell our own, shared, headcanon.

Lots of Foundry use... strong emphasis on, but not exclusively tied to, Trek canon (Feds use phasers and wear a standardized uniform, Klinks use disruptors, etc.; but nobody is restricted by "that's a Cryptic ship, it wasn't on the show, you can't use it")... Cooperative, scheduled events on a regular basis... Storytelling... playing in-character (I'm not expecting enforced roleplay at all times, but in-character interactions on a regular would be such a breath of fresh air.) Reasonably believable in-universe names (Jaymes Krik of the USS Enterpriize and BluntToker69420 on the IKS ImSoHigh really... REALLY ruin my immersion).
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Anyone out there that this idea might appeal to?
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Comments

  • gradiigradii Member Posts: 2,824 Arc User
    I'll ask my fellow ACI members what they think of this, hopefully I can get some of them to respond here (I'm interested already)

    "He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
    Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
    he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
    In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
    He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
    He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
    He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
    He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
  • zanethesagezanethesage Member Posts: 68 Arc User
    edited November 2015
    @gawainviii,

    Gawain, I'm already doing something like this. It's called S.T.A.R., and I'd love to chat with you about what you're thinking and how I'm doing something similar. Hit me up in game @zanethesage!
  • gradiigradii Member Posts: 2,824 Arc User
    @gawainviii,

    Gawain, I'm already doing something like this. It's called S.T.A.R., and I'd love to chat with you about what you're thinking and how I'm doing something similar. Hit me up in game @zanethesage!

    This is what I meant, its the Alliance ACI is in. Talk to Zane about it lol

    "He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
    Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
    he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
    In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
    He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
    He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
    He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
    He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
  • ussjohnbrownussjohnbrown Member Posts: 159 Arc User
    Id be interested but i like nuance so all bad klinks is no go otherwise im in
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