[-PLASMA]

in reply to: STO OFFICIAL: Patch Notes 2010 #2674

Release Notes for 2/5/10
By admin @ February 4, 2010 at 10:12pm

Please find the release notes for February 5, 2010 below:

General
•The Admiral promotion mission will now complete if players choose a fleet escort as their reward. This is not retro-active. If you’re an Admiral with a dangling promotion mission because you chose an escort, please submit a ticket to CS.
•Cardassian “Empire Defense” mission maps are now open to Klingon players.
•K7 station has been decloaked and returned to the sector map. Alleged perpetrators are being interrogated.
•The “Abandon Ship” power is now only available while in combat.
•General server optimization to increase performance.

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2509

Also I forgot to mention that I recommend that Obi@kenobi624 be promoted to officer because has done numerous contributions to the fleet projects.

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2508

ok here are my thoughts on the kdf leadership. I no longer have my kdf toon because I stopped playing my kdf toon and have deleted that toon. But in regard to leadership I agree nei should be the choice but I do not know who else is on that fleet so I couldn’t tell you.

leadership inactivity
For TOR I have not been on there and kara has reinstated 3 times. Kara has been the absolute best in taking care of both TOR guilds and I wish there was a way for me to thank her better then texting her thank you. She is to be commended and she deserves something special but I don’t have the resources over there to make something for her. My sub is inactive due to my injury and when I return to work I will reinstate my leadership.

I believe the xo’s of the guilds should have access to the forums

toons in non GA guilds
I have two of my toons in another fleet but I only did this for one reason is because our fleet has been inactive due to RL issues which I can understand I only joined a non GA guild to play with other people since my play times have been erractic I still have my main and three others in our fed fleet and I have gained some useful playing knowledge. With this new knowledge I have found a fleet mark bug and dilithium bug that helps gain dilithium without penalties.

There is a Public Service Channel in STO that allows access to complete tier fleets mines and embassies its all free and you don’t pay anything in return I have done this to a couple of items so I can concentrate on donating more dilithium to our fleet.

I think we are all on the same page with this and one thing we need to remember that we play these games to have fun and escape from RL issues.

Lets not and try to get to political on this and be the casual social guild we started out with.

Also I have been talking with Catstar lately and I told him that we will be having a meeting regarding the GA and I invited him to join us to express his opinions but as he quoted to me, “I think the best thing for me is to stay where I am in the mean time.” Catstar opened up to me when I found out that he had left and stated that he felt empty with all of us doing our RL stuff. I can agree as I feel that we sort have grown apart from when we all came together because of our RL stuff. I understand that RL takes priority over video games but sometimes talking to someone who is thousands of miles away does help me because we all have one thing in common we play online games to getaway for a bit to relax and forget for a while. Before my current line of work I was a bartender for numerous years and I have picked up some listening skills. Maybe we could set up a counseling sessions so everyone can just talk about anything to get some release out of their system. Just a idea probably sounds silly but who knows so I will see everyone at the meeting

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: -I.D.I.C- KDF – 2nd Anniversary Event Announcement #2637

Sounds like a fun event 🙂

I will spread the word and assist 😎

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2507

Hi, thanks for the responses so far, I’ll give it another week before I collate all our points to give Cat and Londi a chance comment. I think it’s important for everyone to comment on the points on hand.

Thanks for all your efforts.

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2506

Hi All,

Please find below my thoughts on the points raised in Plasma’s original post titled GAC Business Reloaded.

1. KDF Fleet Leadership

Two thoughts regarding this situation:

A) In regards to the leadership of our KDF fleet and the fact that Nei doesn’t want to take the leadership, I think it would be good to advertise this position on the forums and in the fleet email and discuss it amongst officers. CatStar was given the position as many people believed he would suit the leadership position. He led the KDF fleet and spent a lot of time and effort working with officers and building up the star base. This might be a long process and one where we need to ensure the new leader understands the GAC rules and what the position entails.

B) Another thought is to re-evaluate the fleet ranks on the KDF side (which would be very different to the fed side) and possibly create it similar to the TOR guilds, as Kara mentioned in her previous post, where one person / founder is at the top rank as a safety net and a council of trusted and willing people to run the fleet. I have heard this structure is successful and could be an option for our KDF fleet. This also places less stress on the leader and hopefully resolve the burn out process which has been happening for a long time. This idea may have been discussed previously and I believe it has been used, however I thought I would put it up here again as it could be a future option.

2. G.A. Committee Characters (Toons) in Non-GA Guilds

“A comittee member may not have an alternate (alt) character (toon) in ‘ANY’ Non-Guild Alliance Guild in the rank of Officer i.e. a Command Position. This is consistant with the sub-rules for most of our G.A. affiliated Guilds. Any comittee member who is found to have done this will be asked to rectify the situation and if they refuse will face a no confidence vote for removal from the G.A ” (Plasma, August 2013).

I understand the reason behind this and 60% disagree and 40% agree. Firstly, I think we need to be very careful and aware that we are not controlling people’s gaming life or telling the GAC committee or anyone that they have to place all toon’s in our associated fleets or guilds. I understand that having toon’s in multiple fleets is not advertising our fleets or guilds and it can be a bad example to new members.

I disagree with this aspect of the original post: “A committee member may not have an alternate (alt) character (toon) in ‘ANY’ Non-Guild Alliance Guild in the rank of Officer i.e. a Command Position” (Plasma, August 2013). The reason behind this is if we play a new game and there are only two or three of us in the fleet at a time (even less) and we only play on a casual basis, having this rule means that we are restricted and it can affect ‘game play’. We might be able to find other team players and ask for help by communicating this in ‘general’ chat, however most people don’t respond and they are busy with their own fleets/guilds or leveling toons. It is important to acknowledge that the demands of each game is different and that in order to complete missions we may need to join other fleets in order to do so. especially when our associated guild is inactive or developing, this also helps one to acquire the necessary skills of how to play the game in which we can take this and use it in our own guilds later on.

Another thought is if this is the case and the G.A.C. members do want to join other fleets/guilds, it is important that this is discussed with the G.A committee prior to this happening, this is to ensure that everyone is informed and it also displays loyalty, honesty and respect to our associated fleets/guilds. I do believe that the majority of the toon’s (main toons) should be in our own fleets/guilds and for special circumstances that it should be a consideration for those who would like to be in another fleet/ guild if needed.

3. Leader Inactivity and Succession Rules

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I believe our forums are the best way to inform people of what is happening. However, not as many use this as we hoped and thus we may need to extend communication in that people can inform us all if they are absent via email or through twitter/ facebook etc . . . In which Plasma is very clear about informing people and leaves his contact details after each email or notification that is given… I don’t think it is really necessary to inform the fleets if one is away for a maximum of two weeks, real life happens and sometimes it is out of our control and thus we all need to be understanding and have grace in this situation. If the person is away for more than a month or more, than notification should be given. In regards to leader inactivity, I do believe in loyalty and that people should not be kicked out of a fleet without pre-warning.

However in agreement with Plas, it is not fair for others to have to pick up some one else’s duties if they have not been previously notified. If previous communication has not been given and the leader has been absent and been inconsistent and on an ‘off and on’ status during a certain amount of time (say 3 months) then they should be sent an automated email informing them that they have been demoted due to the above reason.

When the leader returns the G.A.C could discuss the situation with them and take this into account and therefore re-evaluate their leadership position and vote. I believe this should only be evaluated in very special circumstances as it is not fair for a leader to come and go every 3 months and have the ‘leadership title’ and be demoted and then promoted… This does not promote stability in our fleet or fairness.

4) Proposition that all XO i.e. Second ranked members have access to the GA forums

Yes, I agree that all second ranked members should have access to the GA forums and be kept informed at all times.

5. Future GAC Membership Policy (i.e. where do they come from, how can they join etc.)

I believe the GAC membership policy should be open to new comers on the basis that they:

– Understand, commit and sign a declaration on the GAC rules and regulations
– Respect the committee and advertise the associated fleets and guilds that belong to the G.A.
– Ensure that the main toon’s/ characters are in the fleet/ guild in which one represents

Anyways, I think that is all from me at the moment, I hope this makes sense to you all. If not I would be very happy to discuss what I have written on the forums. Please submit your questions on here so we can all read and understand what one another is saying.

Thanks for reading it, I look forward to seeing you all soon 🙂

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2505

Heya,
I’ll try to answer point by point to the listed issues for debate:
1. Star Trek Online: -I.D.I.C- K.D.F. Fleet Leadership: If Nei refused to take over, what other choices do we have? Is there anyone else eligible for KDF leadership? But even in this case, if there would be someone, isn’t this a bit odd, as Nei looks like better suited for the job? And if we relate this to the issue regarding the issue about including XO’s in the GA, how can be someone XO if is not ready to take over at any time, if the leader goes away?
(update10/03) i don’t think a yes/no answer fits this one
2. G.A. Committee Characters (Toons) in Non-GA Guilds: In theory you are correct about this. Yet, I must say, that the mean for me to learn the ropes of SWTOR was, originally, by joining with some alts other guilds, gather the info and then come back with the knowledge. That is one reason why I have so many alts, as i did that several times 🙂 As of now, all my toons on Harbinger server are in our guilds, but another issue was risen lately in SWTOR:
There is a practice lately that we can call it guild exchange, where for allied guilds peoples places one of their alts in the allied guild (mainly for improving the guild XP bonus). That means if player A is in guild G1 and have an alt B and player X is in guild G2 and have an alt Y, is a pretty common practice to switch guilds for alts, so that B goes to G2 and Y goes to G1. That switch usualy takes place at leader/command level, for avoiding accussations of stealing members. This way, both guilds gets a boost in their XP rate bonus. In this context, how this rule could work? And this is only an example 🙂 I guess this issue should be judged by each case, afterall, that is why we are here 🙂
(update 10/03) for a yes/no question, given the fact that i think we should rule out for each case, the answer would be NO, we should not have an imperative rule about this subject, but we can have a recommendation level rule.
3. Leader Inactivity and Succession Rules: It seems that the game itself tend to regulate that for us. In SWTOR teh inactivity period is way shorter: 30 days. The problem we should be carefull about is that you have to be online on the specific toon you have declared as leader for not loosing the leadership. That means that we can loose leadership, even if we are online daily, but on another toon that we, for instance, level up. The second part of this is the availability of a successor …. which seems to be a problem lately, on both games ….. For IJO, the matter is a bit more simpler, as we have as leader an entire concil with all powers over the guild, except for the setup one. I hold the leader rank, but is hidden, and I don’t plan to use it without the council consent. Also, the XO for the IJO is actualy the Admiral position, for which we don’t have a candidate yet (btw, in IJO, in the last month we only had 4 active players, but as i previously said, casual, remember). As for ISE, we have a bit more active players over there, but still very few that would became interested in guild management. Also see teh previous comments i made for Londi’s post. So, as far as SWTOR is concerned, ruling about this is a bit tricky … and as i found out lately, is also tricky for KDF too. As a conclusion for this point, for now I would go with teh status quo for now in those areas, and we can rule differently at any time if circumstances changes.
(update 10/03) for an yes/no answer, i’d go with this: NO for now, as we don’t have a sufficient pool to choose leaders from, YES, if the situation changes, and we can register that as a guideline rule (the YES thing)
4. Proposition that all XO i.e. Second ranked members have access to the GA forums: Of course, I agree with that, with one condition: That the XO in question will accept to take over if the leader steps down. Otherwise is pointless. Also, I would consider to give that XO full membership, with the GA unanimous vote, if we consider that person to be trustworthy enough for this. Maybe this way we could broaden out base and get more peoples involved …. But for now, this issue is more or less without object: IJO and ISE does not have an working XO and the KDF XO is unwilling to take the lead.
(update 10/03) for the yes/no answer: YES and more as stated above
5. Future GAC Membership Policy: I started answering to that at the previous point. I think we should consider to grand GA membership by the following rule:
a. For all acting leaders of the fleets we have in GA, by the GA council present unanimous vote.
b. for anyone that proved leadership skills, by the recomandation of a GAC member and with teh unanimous vote of the GAC members present.
At this point we shall define the “GAC members present” issue: this can be carried out this way: the meeting announcement made with 1 week in advance, then, vote within the meeting and then, the possibility to vote for those members that announced that they cannot attend, within 3 days from the meeting briefing being posted, on forum. GAC members that did not showed up and did not announced that they might not be able to attend will be excluded from that particular vote. Those GA members that announced they cannot come and that failed to vote within those 3 days will also be excluded from vote.
Also, if a GA member announced that cannot attend on a meeting regarding a membership voting issue, should state, in their announcement, their position about the subject discussed.
(update 10/03) for the yes/no answer: YES and more as stated above
What do you think?
All the best,
Kara

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2504

Hi All, thanks for posting back.

I would appreciate it if you take my points and give me your opinion more specifically so we can work out an agenda for a meeting and voting. CatStar seems to have disappeared so I think we will have unfortunately count him out of any future voting.

1) Star Trek Online: -I.D.I.C- K.D.F. Fleet Leadership
2) G.A. Committee Characters (Toons) in Non-GA Guilds
3) Leader Inactivity and Succession Rules
4) Proposition that all XO i.e. Second ranked members have access to the GA forums
5. Future GAC Membership Policy (i.e. where do they come from, how can they join etc.)

I would like to say a few things.

I think that one thing you have to realize when I write GA business is that I’m trying to be as clinical and unemotional about it as possible. I am trying not to favor one person over another or one view over another.

I consider you all my friends and I’m not out to put anyone down, but there’s no other way to raise certain issues. I hope that you can all understand that because I started the GA idea, because I’ve been IDIC founder the start of all this, the resources, time and money I’ve put into that fleet and the way the members look at me I feel responsible for alot that goes on.

When I log into TOR, the senior people call me boss – when I log into KDF they call me boss – I’ve tried very hard to make people understand that I’m not that, that I’m the GA chairman, but in reality all these things in one way or another are linked back to me. I don’t mind this because there is that sense that there’s a purpose in it for all and if that’s what I bring then so be it, but it is stress on me, granted brought on by myself.

Just to address the vote in March we had regarding one leader per fleet.
The point to having the 1 leader per guild rule was so that we have time to manage our guilds without worrying about the others and yet to be able to enjoy those others as well. At the time I could see problems with joint leaderships and that is why I called for that vote which you all agreed to even if some were reluctant. I feel that it was justified more-so now that the issue had arisen on ISE regarding the leadership loss via the auto-demotion system there.

I think what I am trying to say is that the GA was created for us to have fun and manage our guilds, but if we are to continue we have to be a bit more professional and serious about it. What do I think this means?

1. Checking the forums – Especially the forums for the Guilds you are leading and the GAC forums. If you are going to make suggestions or complaints about anyone else’s guild them you should also read through the posts for that guild as well as the guild rules and be up to date.

2. Responding to questions on the forums from your guild members and the GAC business when it arises. This should be done in a timely matter or else things will drag on for example this topic has been going since August.

3. Posting your ideas and amendments for the running of the GA. I’m sure you’ve noticed that it has been me that is driving most of the policy for the Guild Alliance. I drafted the charter etc. I’ve posted this latest discussion topic. Do not wait for me to do this if you have an issue to bring forward. 4 heads are better than 1 any day.

4. Informing the Committee when you are going to be absent. This is done in the absence forum.

5. Being familiar with the GAC charter.

This is the situation over the last few months and its no one else’s business but ours to know these things.

-I have been going through a divorce for some time now, its causing me a lot of stress and I have depression etc, so I have times where I find it difficult to cope. I’m also going through a pay dispute with my employer so there’s more issues there.
-Ingrid has been doing a Masters Degree in Education and has been away on a placement in a school located in a remote country area.
-Londi has been unwell with a back injury
-Kara has been busy with business and her University work, for those that are unaware she is an Academic.
-CatStar was busy with a work project and was very busy with that for a month or so.

All in all we all have had our troubles or at least our preoccupations. I think now that we can communicate again we should all take time to think about whether the GA should go on or we should disband it. If it goes on we should strengthen it and create the guidelines that will grow it, but we have to be committed.

As far as the ISE leadership these are my thoughts and position.

Firstly the point of the GA is to preserver the rights of the members. Ingrid was the IJO founder and even though Kara is now IJO Leader, Ingrid keeps her GAC membership as per the GAC charter, in the same way that Londi does as well being the ISE founder.

Why has this been done this way? Some of you may not have read the charter fully. The point of this is to have people that we know that have opinions we value.

The committee does nothave the right to take-away anyone’s founded guild, let that be clear. If a situation arises that is unfixable then we can vote out the guild, but we cannot take it away from the founder. In the situation we have now though it adds a separate element. Besides the multiple loss triggered by inactivity a non-subscriber cannot own a guild. For all intense and purposes the guild ownership currently has been transferred to Kara. This is a situation we did not for-see or plan for, that is where we have some difficulty now. Kara is good-enough to have created a separate rank and it shows real loyalty to the GA and I think she should be commended.

Under the circumstances I feel that we must break the 1 guild per member rule in this instance. I will not call for a vote as I’m confident this would be ratified unanimously. We will however have to make fair and reasonable policy on this which is where my original topic points come in to play.

Thanks for listening.

Congratulation Ingrid on completing your placement and I hope you get your degree soon. Londi I hope your back is mended soon. Kara I hope that your doing well. CatStar, come back to the guild & fleet asap and if not, be well 😉

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: Stylish Dance Emote Clip #2636

lol Gangam Style is a song by a South Korean artist called Psy. The video for the song is the most watched video on youtube and the first to get a billion hits. Its not far from 2 billion hits at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
[youtube:1wqksr2q]9bZkp7q19f0[/youtube:1wqksr2q]

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2503

Great to hear from you Londi and Kara 🙂

Here are a few of my thoughts on the above discussion. I am in the process of submitting comments in relation to Plasma’s original post…

I have been back for around 1 week or so and many things have happened… I think it would be great to continue the discussion and work out how we can build the guilds up again. We have a great group of people in IDIC and I don’t want to see that diminish. Real life keeps everyone busy and I think we all need to be aware of that and to be reminded that this comes first. At the same time the forums are an excellent way to be informed of what is going on and as much as we can encourage people to check them frequently, it is obvious many don’t. However, we can continue to encourage people and ensure that they are signed up and know that it exists.

I feel that STO in particular has burnt people out, with all the grinding, repetitive missions and game content and of course other reasons. This is one major reason for why I am not as enthused. Despite all of this, I think of our fleet and the people who have made our fleet become what it is today. I honestly believe we have a unique group of people here and when we get together we are stronger than ever. This is what brings me back to STO and this is why I know that we can overcome it.

A good starting point is to I think about our future goals in all guilds especially STO and ask ourselves what type of fleet we really want and where we see ourselves in a few years. We need to think about how many active people we have in IDIC and think about the game content and how this will affect the fleet.
Kara mentioned for TOR that it is a casual and relaxed fleet, as people are aware of this from the start we have this expectation and we can recruit along those lines. I do believe in fleet structure and fair rules and that a fleet should not be left up to a few people to manage. This can be a real challenge and in IDIC it is obvious that this has happened and the regular people have become burnt out.

We have a lot to discuss and I look forward to being apart of this discussion. We may not always see ‘eye to ‘eye, however it is obvious that we still have a dream for our fleet and that we want the best for it…

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2502

Hello everyone,
Please remember that SWTOR guilds are suppose to be casual and relaxed ….
For now, as even with all my breaks, it seems that i’m the one that plays SWTOR the most, I’ll keep the leadership for the both guilds, until someone else would want to take over any of them and would get the GAC approval for that.
So, Londi, you don’t have to leave anywhere … and I made teh arrangements for you too keep your “Emperor” title, as is actualy pretty cool to have a missing Emperor :))
I kept for me the title of Dark Lady of the Sith (Jen’ari), which, within the guild, for now, i actualy am 😉
All of us were pretty busy in RL lately, but, i guess, that’s the real purpose of the guilds we have in SWTOR: to have something to come back for, where to find some friendly faces 🙂
As for Catstar: you will be missed … I don’t know what happened to you, but I don’t understand why you had to leave the guilds …. nevertheless, you will be welcome to join us back at anytime 🙂

Hmmm …. I leave for 10 days and look what happens …. I’ll have to try to not have to leave for long periods too often …. 🙂
Well … few more days and i’ll be back on normal play times 🙂

Looking forward to see you in game (as always),
Kara

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: Stylish Dance Emote Clip #2635

LOL…. funny video 🙂
And I don’t really know what gangam dance actualy is, but I think I’ve got an idea after that movie 🙂

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: GAC Meeting: Current Business #2501

well here I am and have this post and honestly I do not know what to say as for we all have a lot going on in our lives especially mine since I have major problems going on with my back. Now I am at the point now where I might need surgery now. there has been talk that our fleet has died. I know that we have major stuff going on and for me its just being lonely not being able to play with everyone like we use too and I think that we have lost our passion in sto cause of game content for me with TOR when there is no one on when I am on so I find myself playing sto more. I know I will get crictized for saying this and I don’t blame everyone. If the way I run my guild on TOR becomes a problem then we should eliminate that problem with me. as of right now Kara is the leader of the guild and she has done a tremendous job with it and she is on TOR more then any of us. If it would be best for me to leave then I will. I will not hold any grudges and leave quietly. I know you will disagree me on this but as plasma has said we need to reevaluate everything. we will see from here I guess.

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: -Plasma’s Pets & Rides #2634

oh my :O

[-PLASMA]

in reply to: Our Leader CatStar (B’Vat/BattleCat/Corsair) #2633

Thank you Cat!

CatStar will be missed!

I have teamed and been involved in many fleets with cat and have enjoyed the many adventures explored. Cat, you will be missed and I would like to thank you so much for all the effort, time and energy that you have placed into -I.D.I.C- fleet. My hope is that we can all reflect on what a great fleet we have and honor CatStar for outstanding dedication on the KDF and FED side. This is not the end, it is simply a new season in time. Please know Cat you are welcome any time and there are no hard feelings.

Semper Fi!

[Author]

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