As originally discussed way back in Obsidian Day, we’ve been looking at how we can “deformalise” the Fleet Structure.
A few weeks ago, we put a proposal to the Fleet Council to enact the following changes.
Proposal: To have all Out of Character ranks removed, including references and terms used in communications. Adoption of a more friendly, and if where required, a formal approach based on real-world civilian correspondence. Rank and the concept of rank is to be considered unimportant for any OOC aspect and a tool for In-Character use only, the Council would have one specified “Admiralty” character which would be used for In-Character story development, plot advancement and the like. The Council will lead by example and stop using rank in communications and encourage, but not enforce at this time, individuals to remove rank from out of character correspondence.
Examples would be;
- “Dear Admiral du Lac”
- “Dear Captain”
- “Regards, Adms. Sharr, du Lac & Sepandiyar”. or “Regards, Commodore X”
Clarifications: Let’s aim to clarify some common scenarios to allow members to better understand the changes.
- The Fleet Council will not be referred to as the “Admiralty” some alternatives are Fleet Council, [the] Council, [Fleet] Administration or related words as defined by the Joint Fleet Command. Individuals will be Directors or Admins.
- Joint Fleet Command would remain as it is, including the common term ‘Triad.’ however, it would no longer use the rank of Admiral unless in an in-character situation.
- All Fleet Operations will retain their ranks In Character only.
- Fleet Department staff will no longer have any form of rank.
- Players would not be expected to use their ‘rank’ in any Out of Character correspondence, be this on their simulation or in the wider community.
- Fleet News Articles written In Character may use ranks, articles in an Out of Character context cannot.
This measure passed with a 100% agreement from the Fleet Council. We’ll be removing ranks from the Fleet Council page over the next few days and updating things across the site to reflect this change.
If you have any questions about the change, feel free to leave a comment below or ask on Discord.