04-15-2026, 11:04 AM
== Hello Cadet Qab’ataar and welcome to Federation Space RPG, also known as Fed Space. I’m glad to have you here – Fed Space is a great game and fantastic community. I’ll be your Academy Instructor, helping you get ready for your time on ship. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me here or email me.
Before we move onto the first lesson, I want to make sure you know about the great resource our wiki provides. It has a lot of information, including what your department duties will be. We also have an Academy and New Cadet FAQ among other things. Take some time to review as we’ll be using the wiki later in our lessons.
With that out of the way, let’s get started: Lesson one: Writing Format
Third Person, Past Tense:
Fed Space has players all over the world so we use a standardized set of formatting rules. By using one style, it makes it easier for everyone to follow and understand each other’s posts.
The first thing to know is that we post in third person, past tense. An example of this style of writing would be: Samantha was so excited to be finally taking her final examination, she fell off her seat. NOT: I fell off my seat because I was so excited to take my final examination.
We also use double spacing between paragraphs and character’s spoken lines. This means when you write a spoken line with quotation marks “ ”, leave a space after. This makes it easier for players to follow. A good rule to follow is ‘When in doubt, double space.’
Your Character’s Internal Thoughts
To show your character’s own thoughts, we use italics. When writing your character’s thoughts, it’s acceptable to write in first person. An example of showing my character’s thoughts would look like: I can’t wait for another cup of chai. Maybe I should make it a dirty chai next time.
Showing Emphasis
To make something really stand out in your post, such as if your character was shouting, we use bold text. An example of showing emphasis for my character would look like: Maddie loved a good cup of chai, especially with a bit of vanilla and cinnamon.
Telepathic Communication
In general, it is rare a character has the ability to communicate telepathically and because of this, it is closely monitored by our Senior and Commanding Officers to make sure it isn’t abused. With that said, there are a few telepathic races on Fed Space and on occasion telepaths will speak to each other through this unique skill. Telepathic communication is shown like this:
~ Hello, I am speaking directly into your mind. ~
If your character is not telepathic then, in general, you won’t need to worry about this technique, but I want you to be aware it exists in case you see crewmembers on your ship or others using it.
Using Communication Badges or Comm Badges
Characters can often receive verbal communications through a communication device, such as a comm badge, from another crew member or the computer. When receiving a message, you should drop the quotations “ ” and instead use brackets [ ].
For example, if I received a message from another officer, it would look something like this:
[Commander Jasal to Captain Allen. We are out of chai.]
If you are the one speaking to somebody through a comm device, you would still use the quotations “ ”.
Out Of Character posting or OOC:
OOC posting is what I’m doing now. OOC text is surrounded by == ==. Use OOC when you want to talk to another player and not write it as part of the storyline. You won’t need to do this in general discussion areas such as your ship’s OOC sections like Crew Announcements as well as in Hailing Frequencies.
Proofing Posts:
When writing a post, it’s important to take time to run your posts through the spell check many writing software offers. Spell check won’t find all grammar and spelling errors, but will find many and help correct errors found. Rereading your post can help catch errors. We don’t need anyone to be a speller or grammar whiz, but taking the time to do this extra step will make it easier for everyone to understand what’s written.
A good way to get the feel of these formatting rules and to get a feel of the site in general is to browse the different ship forums. Take some time to look at the different ships. Take time to notice how our players use the elements listed above.
With all that said, let’s get to some posting! Your first assignment is to respond to my post using the above formatting elements. If you have any questions, ask. Good luck and have fun! ==
Maddie arrived to the next cadet’s holodeck well ahead of time, chai in one hand and PADD in the other. She had reviewed the cadet’s academy history and then began preparing for their last major assignment, their final examination. She loved her academy job and especially enjoyed observing a cadet’s exam. While she was always focused on encouraging cadets, supporting them through their years, she was also known to throw a wrench in as well, just to see what they might do.
As she waited for the cadet, she continued to finalize the exam, looking for just the right wrench.
That might do…
== Tag Cadet Qab’ataar!
==
Before we move onto the first lesson, I want to make sure you know about the great resource our wiki provides. It has a lot of information, including what your department duties will be. We also have an Academy and New Cadet FAQ among other things. Take some time to review as we’ll be using the wiki later in our lessons.
With that out of the way, let’s get started: Lesson one: Writing Format
Third Person, Past Tense:
Fed Space has players all over the world so we use a standardized set of formatting rules. By using one style, it makes it easier for everyone to follow and understand each other’s posts.
The first thing to know is that we post in third person, past tense. An example of this style of writing would be: Samantha was so excited to be finally taking her final examination, she fell off her seat. NOT: I fell off my seat because I was so excited to take my final examination.
We also use double spacing between paragraphs and character’s spoken lines. This means when you write a spoken line with quotation marks “ ”, leave a space after. This makes it easier for players to follow. A good rule to follow is ‘When in doubt, double space.’
Your Character’s Internal Thoughts
To show your character’s own thoughts, we use italics. When writing your character’s thoughts, it’s acceptable to write in first person. An example of showing my character’s thoughts would look like: I can’t wait for another cup of chai. Maybe I should make it a dirty chai next time.
Showing Emphasis
To make something really stand out in your post, such as if your character was shouting, we use bold text. An example of showing emphasis for my character would look like: Maddie loved a good cup of chai, especially with a bit of vanilla and cinnamon.
Telepathic Communication
In general, it is rare a character has the ability to communicate telepathically and because of this, it is closely monitored by our Senior and Commanding Officers to make sure it isn’t abused. With that said, there are a few telepathic races on Fed Space and on occasion telepaths will speak to each other through this unique skill. Telepathic communication is shown like this:
~ Hello, I am speaking directly into your mind. ~
If your character is not telepathic then, in general, you won’t need to worry about this technique, but I want you to be aware it exists in case you see crewmembers on your ship or others using it.
Using Communication Badges or Comm Badges
Characters can often receive verbal communications through a communication device, such as a comm badge, from another crew member or the computer. When receiving a message, you should drop the quotations “ ” and instead use brackets [ ].
For example, if I received a message from another officer, it would look something like this:
[Commander Jasal to Captain Allen. We are out of chai.]
If you are the one speaking to somebody through a comm device, you would still use the quotations “ ”.
Out Of Character posting or OOC:
OOC posting is what I’m doing now. OOC text is surrounded by == ==. Use OOC when you want to talk to another player and not write it as part of the storyline. You won’t need to do this in general discussion areas such as your ship’s OOC sections like Crew Announcements as well as in Hailing Frequencies.
Proofing Posts:
When writing a post, it’s important to take time to run your posts through the spell check many writing software offers. Spell check won’t find all grammar and spelling errors, but will find many and help correct errors found. Rereading your post can help catch errors. We don’t need anyone to be a speller or grammar whiz, but taking the time to do this extra step will make it easier for everyone to understand what’s written.
A good way to get the feel of these formatting rules and to get a feel of the site in general is to browse the different ship forums. Take some time to look at the different ships. Take time to notice how our players use the elements listed above.
With all that said, let’s get to some posting! Your first assignment is to respond to my post using the above formatting elements. If you have any questions, ask. Good luck and have fun! ==
Maddie arrived to the next cadet’s holodeck well ahead of time, chai in one hand and PADD in the other. She had reviewed the cadet’s academy history and then began preparing for their last major assignment, their final examination. She loved her academy job and especially enjoyed observing a cadet’s exam. While she was always focused on encouraging cadets, supporting them through their years, she was also known to throw a wrench in as well, just to see what they might do.
As she waited for the cadet, she continued to finalize the exam, looking for just the right wrench.
That might do…
== Tag Cadet Qab’ataar!
==