04 - Player Etiquette

Table of Contents:

• 4.1 Standards of Conduct
• 4.2 Punctuality
• 4.3 Communication
• 4.4 Tagging Styles

4.1 Standards of Conduct

USS Galileo's players are a diverse group of writers who represent many different nationalities, ethnicities and cultures from around the world. We speak several different languages and are members of different faiths. We are all here to explore our passion for Star Trek, role-play and creative writing. No matter where we come from and what our backgrounds are, our community is guided by a basic set of conduct standards which allow all of us to fully enjoy this unique experience.

All players within our community are expected to espouse maturity, decorum and professionalism at all times. Our hobby is recreational by nature yet one we are very passionate about. We take great pride in our writing and storytelling, and have collectively spent thousands of hours creating content for our game over the past 12 years. New, current and prospective players should understand that we have reasonable yet high standards of conduct; we are not as accepting or forgiving of major transgressions as the contemporary game masters within our hobby.

We welcome any and all players who wish to join our adventures. All we ask is for each individual to conduct themselves accordingly within the confines of our Game Rules and put their strongest foot forward to be the best writer and role-player they can be. This can be a challenging hobby requiring a significant time investment, but it is also a most rewarding one. We hope these following etiquette sections will provide clarity for our expectations.

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4.2 Punctuality

In our creative written role-play hobby, punctuality is essential to the proper function of the game. That is to say that in a turn-based writing environment -- where writers depend on others to add their work before they can include their own contributions -- it is critical that all players demonstrate the same level of punctuality. The game simply cannot function properly if certain individuals are not participating at the same pace as the rest of the group. Players who are not punctual are quickly noticed by their co-authors which can (rightfully) lead to irritation within the greater community and fewer gameplay opportunities for the non-punctual individual. Punctuality demonstrates respect for others' time and an intent to put forth the very best effort.

Here on Galileo, punctuality specifically means:

• Responding to all writing prompts within 48 hours
• Responding to all interpersonal communication within 48 hours
• Publishing monthly personal logs before the monthly deadline

Players who struggle with their punctuality will be assessed a warning and be asked to improve. If no improvement ensues, the player will be removed from the game. Because of the serious risk to the game's operation posed by non-punctual players, Galileo enforces these guidelines with a firm hand. We are a recreational role-play game in which we all enjoy participating during our free time, so missing an occasional deadline is not the end of the world nor will it result in penalty. However, repeated behavior demonstrating a lack of punctuality cannot persist for the sake of the greater community's enjoyment of the game.

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4.3 Communication

The overwhelming majority of our communication on Galileo is written due to our game's text-based role-play medium. We rarely use video or voice chats and all official game communications are distributed through email or private message. This can present a major challenge because the bulk (75%) of interpersonal communication is non-verbal. This non-verbal element includes voice inflection and tonality, facial expressions, and body language and gestures. The actual spoken words of a message compose only 25% of its intended meaning. When three-quarters of a message's meaning is stripped away and reduced to solely text, misinterpretations skyrocket. It is no wonder, then, why text-based communications are the most difficult to successfully manage.

We want all current and prospective players to remember that communication is difficult and misunderstandings inevitably occur. Here are some guidelines to assist in the process:

• Always give your fellow players the benefit of the doubt
• Begin every message with a greeting ('Hello', 'Hi', 'Hey', etc.)
• Always attempt to clarify the meaning behind a message if ever uncertain
• Use language that is clear, concise and direct to avoid ambiguity
• Use the correct verbs and adjectives to convey thoughts
• Utilize punctuation marks to express emotions

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4.4 Tagging Styles

Galileo's gameplay revolves around a turn-based writing mechanic. Players collaborate to write scenes together with each person contributing one after another to add to the written work their co-writers have previously added. In practice, this often resembles building a Lego creation where all players take turns placing one piece after the other in the correct order to complete the model. The back-and-forth process of placing a piece -- or in this case writing a contribution to the scene -- is colloquially called 'tagging'. A single piece of writing from one player in a scene is referred to as a 'tag'. There are several different tagging styles, each with their unique strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation.

SEQUENTIAL TAGGING

Sequential tagging is a technique where all players involved in writing a scene take subsequent turns adding their contributions. This doesn't necessarily mean that the player sequence must follow a specific order (ie. Player 1 > Player 2 > Player 3), but rather that each writer must wait for the player before them to complete their tag before adding their own contributions. Using this method of tagging, all players build up the scene one after another by taking into account the dialogue and actions of the previous writers' characters before adding their own.

This technique affords all players' characters the most agency by allowing improvisation and natural reactions to the previous events (actions/dialogue) within the scene. Players are free to write their characters without concern for what may happen later in the scene. It is the equivalent of following the instructions within a Lego build and placing each piece according to the numerical order. This is the default method of tagging on Galileo and should be utilized in most writing scenarios.

PREDICTIVE TAGGING

Unlike sequential tagging which promotes an agency-based writing style, predictive tagging removes a large portion of character agency and forces other players to respond in a manner which conforms to their co-authors' writing and ideas. Players still contribute content in a turn-based environment, but in this style, one player writes two or more tags at a time and sandwiches the other player's upcoming tags in between them. The next player in the sequence then fills in the gaps between the first player's tags, ensuring their character's actions/dialogue do not impede what the last author wrote. While this manner of writing can complete scenes faster than sequential tagging (because multiple tags are being written at once), characters are forced to act and respond not only to what comes before their actions/dialogue, but also what comes after. They are not free to improvise or promote natural reactions, for the next subsequent tag has already been written.

In practice, this results in scenes which are often predetermined by one or more authors and lack diversity of writing styles, character dialogue, thoughts and actions. This tagging technique should never be used on Galileo except under two circumstances: 1) by players who all mutually agree beforehand to utilize it for a scene, or 2) by the game masters to steer a scene in the proper direction to hit the episode's necessary main storyline beats.

BUBBLE TAGGING

The bubble tagging technique is an extension of the sequential tagging technique but allows multiple players to participate in the same scene at the same time, usually within different in-scene locations. For example, this method allows a scene beginning on the ship's bridge to be constructed concurrently with a section below decks, in main engineering. Bubble tagging denotes separate designated sections within the same scene in which different authors can write their various characters for the purpose of larger player engagement at a faster pace. Multiple writers can be engaged in the same scene working in their own sections without fear of losing character agency or improvisation. Using our Lego analogy, this resembles a group of players each building their own assigned sections of the Lego model and completing them, then combining them together at the end to produce the final work of art.

Bubble tagging is a frequently-used writing method on Galileo and is most often used in scenes with many writers. While sequential tagging is the preferred default method, players don't often prefer to wait days at a time for the opportunity to contribute. Where such an opportunity exists for multiple players to stay engaged simultaneously, bubble tagging delivers this.