So you got it in your crazy head that you want to apply for a job in Starfleet, whether that’s through Obsidian Fleet, Bravo Fleet, Pegasus Fleet or some crazy independent venture. I would like to say: “Yay!” and I did. Just now. Now don’t think that realizing you want to join is all there is to it, there is much work to be done. Especially if you want to make a good impression on one of the COs (and they’re hard to impress, let me tell you that…). Let’s fill out an application form together!
Most of the Vessels you’ll come across, especially in places like Obsidian, Bravo and Pegasus, are running on Nova. Which automatically includes an application form. Nice guys over at Anodyne really. All we have to do is fill out the form and hit submit so that the CO of the ship will get the application and can review it and then accept us. Or, you know, laugh at it, print it, and use it
NOTE: COs can choose to add or remove certain fields to the application. This guide assumes a stock standard, default, application form. No bells, nor whistles.
User Information
This is about you, and you alone! We want information about you, the player. Who are you? how old are you? Is there any way we can contact you? What’s your favourite pizza topping?
Name – Well this one seems pretty clear to me, we want your real name so that we can Google you, facebook stalk you, and see if you did anything naughty. Only kidding, it’s easier and more friendly to communicate with a person if you actually know his or her name.
E-Mail Address – Again rather clear, we need your e-mail address. How else will they be able to tell you whether or not
Password – In order to get back in to the website after you’ve joined, you’ll need a password. Make it snappy and secure, like mine.
Date of Birth – Since Obsidian Fleet has set the minimum age of the players in the fleet and
Instant Messengers – you know, those annoying beeping things that will make you available for nagging and socializing with the crew and captain of a ship. So just be a nice little fellow and fill in some of the details on your IM devices. If you have MSN installed, perhaps it’s time for an update. If you’re on Discord, come join us on our special L.i.S.P. server! It is not obligatory to list any of your messengers but it does ease the process if there are some minor things that the Game Master might want to discuss with you.
Character
Character’s Name – Everything and everybody needs a name… except of course maybe the red shirt who will be likely to die at the first sign of trouble. The fields are split into First, Middle and Last name. If you need any help coming up with a name, read our naming guide here!
Suffix – Some people have titles, doctors can be M.D.s or PhDs for example. Like me! Professor Doctor Fritz von Stossenbaum-Alkaselzer, PhD.
Position – What do you want to be? What position do you want to take on board the ship? Do you want to patch up wounded? Make the wounded? Try to avoid any injuries from exploding consoles? This is the one position you really want to have. If we were in a mirror universe this would be the position you would kill for… luckily we’re not… otherwise, my position as LISP Professor would be at stake…
Character Info
This is it, the real pickle, this section of the application makes all the others look like tiny little insects and will squash them as such. The info that really matters to us is listed here, who is your character? Where are they from? What did they do? And are they still single?! These questions need answering! And only You can do it!
Information
Gender – We like to label our people, so are you a girl or a boy? We just need to know mister! Off course there is always that off chance that you are both or neither, (or one of those four Andorian genders) but that’s the risk of a Sci-Fi universe. We don’t judge!
Species – The universe is vast, there are literally thousands of species crawling about and you can be one of them (or combination of two at a stretch). Go for the always logical choice of Vulcan, the impulsive Human or the blunt and mostly fatal one of Klingon. Don’t know which one to pick, we can help you with that as well! If you have a good background story a lot of species are acceptable within the simm, although some species need more explaining then the others (Human is not that hard… getting a Klingon or even Romulan in Starfleet… now that’s a challenge).
NOTE: Most organisations, or individual sims, have rules on species that will not be allowed. Obsidian Fleet, for example, has the following list:
– Non-Humanoid Races (Big rock creatures, Tribbles, etc.
– Omnipotent beings (Q, Douwd, etc.)
– Androids
– Iconians
– Shapeshifters
– Jem-Hadar still in the Dominion
– Vorta still in the Dominion
– Suliban
– Species 8472
– Augments, Angosians and similar genetically engineered races can only be characters on non-Starfleet sims (civilian, alien, etc..)
– Races from non-Star Trek continuities
Age – Since we’re a very Earth centric people we’d prefer it if you displayed your age in Earth Years.
Physical Appearance
Height / Weight – While it’s never proper to ask a lady for her measurements it’s a good indication of what we’re facing. Make sure to give the measurements in the measurement system used by the sim, nothing confuses an Imperial more than using the proper way to measure distance and mass.
Hair / Eye colour – These are two of the things that stand out the most when looking at someone’s face, which is why this is a separate entry in the standard form. Remembers some of the species have limits to the colour and style of the hair and eyes. Vulcans can’t seem to get over the bowl cut, and those creepy Betazoids full black irises, they make me shiver just thinking about it.
Physical Description – What do you look like? We want to know what we’re talking to. Off course you can describe how fit you are and just how many muscles you train a day, which would make it a very interesting read I might add, but I leave that up to you. However, more detail is usually more better. It makes it easier for your future crewmates to interact with you. And we all want to interact with each other. Except for Bill. Bill really doesn’t like interaction.
Family
Spouse – Did your character ensnare someone with their limitless charisma? Were they foolish enough to marry you? You can put their name here! (Suckers)
Children – They say children are the most precious things in life. Well if your character saw it fit to procreate, lose sleep, clean up after a crawling monster as it slowly figured out how to be more mobile and break more things, you can list them here!
Father / Mother – Your character’s parents, the people we can blame for putting your character into this universe. And trust us, we’ll blame them at some point.
Brothers / Sisters – Just in case you weren’t the only mistake your parents made.
Other Family – If you have any family in high places, they might help you get somewhere in life. So perhaps it’s a good idea to list some prominent family members (even if their claim to fame is that they are the Butcher of Rangalor IV).
Personality and Traits
General Overview – How do you react? We need to know if your character is sane enough to perform in Obsidian Fleet (although our admission bar is very VERY low in this regard). Most basic would be to list how your character reacts to people he/she knows, he/she doesn’t know, on duty and off duty. But again if you use more detail and let us really know your character there is more chance that we will be intrigued by your character and that we want you in.
Strengths & Weaknesses – Any character has something they excel at, even if it’s just Romulan Ale Pong. Write the strengths down. Make sure to have some Weaknesses to off-set them, otherwise we’re very likely to create a Mary-Sue character suffering from SHS, and I can’t abide competition.
Ambitions – Is there something your character strives for? Want to open up a baseball cap stand on the 47th moon of Jupiter?
Hobbies & Interests – To some people there’s more to life than duty. They make terrible Jem’Hadar soldiers. So if your ambition is to be Jem’Hadar, leave this field blank. Otherwise see what helps your character unwind. Reading books, playing holo-novels, cooking. Anything goes really, except maybe ‘Writing Star Trek Fan-Fiction’, that’s a bit too meta, even for me.
History
Personal History – “Where did ya come from? Where did ya go? Where did you come from cotton-eye Joe!” man I like that song. And it really summarized this part. Where was the character born, how was his childhood? Did he/she always dream of becoming a Starfleet officer or did he/she become one by
Beware, too much disappointment/losses will even lead the most arrogant and self-confident marine to the edge of that cliff and make them jump. Yes, they can have some disappointments, yes, they can lose somebody close to them, just not all at once.
You can include anything that has had a great influence on their life. Once more, as most of the things in this section, we LOVE details! We love gossip! We want to hear it all! We want to know it all! Give us the dirty details! Most of the acceptance/rejection of the application will be based on this text field, so take good care of it.
Service Record – Everyone leaves a paper trail, especially in such an advanced digital society as the Federation. Depending on the
Sample Post
This is where all the work from the previous steps in the application comes together, and you can showcase what sort of writer you want to be. You are often asked to reply to a premeditated scenario, write this text as if your character were already accepted into the simm and started work in their chosen position. There isn’t a standard one in NOVA, which means every CO puts in their own text.
We have plenty of articles that address how you should write certain aspects of posts, you can go through them all before you write this. Or you could just wing it. I know what I’d do (hint: it starts by writing readable posts). The sample post is a good indication of how good you really are. If you have potential or if you’re just a lost cause. The Sample post, together with the Character’s Background is the most important part of the entire application. So take your time! Two sentence sample posts are not really taking your time, and more often than not, an outright rejection of applications is due to non-existent sample posts. As a rule, I always make sure my sample posts are at least 500 words.
Let us know in the comments where you’ll be applying next!
Until next time,
Prof.
L.I.S.P. Professor
“It’s Not That Hard… Once You Get To The Easy Part…”
