RT0704- CINCSF Report

Assembled Delegates,

The past 6 months have perhaps been some of the most trying times in recent
club history.

The single largest problem facing this club- finding enough players to
replace those who leave- has become critical. Over the past 6 months, we
have brought only a handful of players into the game; only two of those
players went through and graduated from ALB. This extreme lack of activity
has resulted in two major changes to the club.

The first change is that we've undergone a modest contraction of a single
unit. However, as modest as that sounds, there are at least a few other
units that, if some sort of re-staffing isn't carried out soon, will likely
follow suit. We simply don't have the players to man the ships.

The second change is that, as a result of this extreme dearth of potential
players entering our training program, we have regrettably had to close
Armstrong Lunar Base. We have graduated a total of four players over the
past year; the vast majority of our players entering the fleet for at least
three years' running have either been through Direct Admission or Returning
Veterans. If there are no players coming through training, what is the
point of a training program?

However, there was another concern with ALB: the administrative workload.
When ALB was closed last month, there were a total of 6 administrators and 8
instructors listed on its roster. However, over the past 18-plus months,
there has really only been one administrator to consistently leaf through
the spam and bio submissions AND do follow-ups, and two instructors who
actually taught classes. We simply have not had the help in ALB that has
been needed on the administrative level to follow up consistently on
applicants who do not resubmit. In short, a lack of help combined with a
lack of incoming trainees resulted in an administrative setup that was
impractical to continue.

Training will now be carried out on the unit levels 'on the job' style. Bio
review and development will, as it had been in years past, be handled by the
fleet commanders. More instructions and documentation will be provided for
the unit command teams to assist them in this 'on the job' training.

Folks, we are facing a critical time in the club's history. This shortage
of new players is likely to continue for some time, as the fact that there
is no successful Trek series or movie (until December of 2008, anyway)
currently airing to boost interest in Trek fan fiction. We've tried
multiple methods in an attempt to fix this problem, and we're not meeting
with much success at this time. As such, I think that it is time that
someone else- someone with a fresh perspective and new ideas- take over the
leadership of this club.

I've enjoyed my time guiding this club.and I think it was important to
re-establish some stability in the aftermath of the Frontiers split last
October. However, despite my best efforts, I have not been able to bring
such stability to the club. I have not been able to deliver on the things I
set out to do this time around. And, quite frankly, though I remain
motivated to help see this club survive and thrive, I no longer have the
time necessary to dedicate to this task, with a new child and a new house on
the way and a new job into which to settle. As such, I will not be standing
for re-election to the office of CINCSF.

Regardless of who is to become the next CINCSF, I implore the future
leadership of this game, if we cannot bring strength through numbers, to at
least strengthen from within. Reinforce what we currently have. The best
way, it seems to me, to do this is to urge the fleet commanders to continue
developing their individual story arcs to be cohesive and encompassing of
all the fleet's units and to encourage more communication between ALL levels
of player, especially positive communication. We all have fun writing our
little pieces of the stories that make ASR...but we need to brighten the
atmosphere in which we play. There is not enough positive talk going
on...and in times like this, accentuating the positive is of critical
importance.

Unit commanders, I urge you to start awarding (with fleet commander
approval) individual character awards to help build intra-unit morale; I
also urge you to stay in better NRPG contact with your crews. I further
urge you to also stay in better contact with your fleet commanders and
report all the wonderful things going on with your unit and not just contact
him/her when you need something. Spread the good news, if you will. Urge
your players to posting by praising legitimate efforts- don't just use the
whip when posting slows, but combine this with recognition when posting
increases or is meaningful in some other way. Again, spread the love.

Fleet commanders, I urge you to hold a separate fleet-level awards to
supplement the RT Awards and give recognition to those who have served well
but are not worthy of fleet-wide recognition. Take a moment to drop a line
to individual unit NRPG lists when one of your units does something right- a
strong series of interactive posts, a high number of posts for the week,
etc. A little note showing that you've noticed their efforts can go a long
way.

In the end, if we want to make sure that ASR can continue to prosper despite
a lack of new players to re-invigorate our numbers, we need to strengthen
the foundation we already have. Making sure this is a place people want to
remain a part of by creating a wholly positive atmosphere is a key factor in
making this happen.

I thank you all for the support you have shown me in my time as CINCSF, and
I ask that you continue to support my successor, whomever that may be, in
the same manner.


Most Respectfully,

- Scott Lusby
=^= ADM Conrad Veld
Commander-in-Chief, Star Fleet
Chair, April 2007 Round Table
Alt.StarFleet.RPG