The easy answer would be to point out how ships like a Galaxy Class have over 1000 people onboard and even over 7 years you can only tell stories about a few of them.

A station like DS9 must have several thousand occupants at any one time. So there would be plenty of options for lots like that within them. But finding a reason and compelling story for why you should focus on one or a few who have had that situation and make a good story around them is another matter.

Trek has tried to touch on Gender issues such as that odd late Next Gen episode where they are on a planet of single gender people and Riker ends up falling for a woman who is genetically female and not like the others. The arguement where he is trying to fight against her being forcefully changed away from what she is/wants to be.

If there is ever another proper Trek show I think you would see a gay character and option for such a story. Alas TOS and TNG were still in far too conservative time for it. ie. Kirk kissing Uhura causing outrage back in the 60/70s.
But we would also want a well implemented character if they did. And to really explore those issues the character would have to be part of the main cast. Alas lower ranks only ever get airtime for low budget episodes and rarely get shown for more then a couple of episodes at best, and as such only get the barest hints of character development.
I know you discounted Trill already but they were the easiest way to include that with Dax and the Lesbian present kiss caused from previous relationship.

Edit: Seems that was The Outcast featuring the J'Naii so I guess you already covered that as well...

Oh, if only I had listened. :(

It took me all weekend to patch. It kept stopping for some reason. Finished patching just in time for the Beta to be over.

Hopefully, I'll join you all next time!

Knights of Stonewall is honestly pretty dead. There are maybe three people who talk in the guild, and no sense of community. I would like to suggest that the people in our group merge with a guild that has an active leadership. I'm not faulting anyone, but I just don't think folks in the lead are interested any more. These forums, if any indication, show no activity.

If we are an origin server, I suggest we know what group is being formed on the destination, because almost everyone will move to the new more crowded server who's active. Would be nice to stick together. If we are a destination server, I think we need to merge with Council and Prismatic Order to have enough people to do anything useful, at minimum chat, though grouping would be nice.

I've already spoken with folks form Stonewall Council about this and they are as friendly as ever. It's not poaching, as one guild pal called it, if you're leaving a silent chat channel.

So any thoughts to what you want to do when server transfers start happening?

First off, we unfortunately won't have any choice in the server we are allowed to move to. Bioware will determine which servers are eligible (the origin server) for transferring to a single destination server. They aren't enabling character transfers to any server of your choice at this time but they aren't saying it won't happen either. When it does become available, I am betting there will be a fee involved-$25 per character is fairly standard. I am still in shock that they are making these mass transfers free but it would have been business suicide to do otherwise.

QiqJoe, I know basically what has to be done but there are currently a couple of hurdles which we will have to work through. You essentially have it correct though, the guildmaster will have to transfer over along with 4 other people and together, they will have to go to the guild coordinator on the fleet to restart the guild. The guild bank can only be dealt with by the guildmaster. They have to personally contact Customer Service to get the bank restored. None of this will happen quickly because they will only be able to do so many transfers/day so there will be quite a waiting list. We are probably going to have to empty the guild banks because essentially this whole process is a disbanding and reforming of the guild so what's left in the bank may not be transferable (except on our toons, of course). :unsure: Re-inviting will happen right away as the restoration of the guild bank is not going to be a quick process. I am just guessing on this based on what I've read so far but I am going to send an inquiry and see if I can get more detailed information. I'll post again when I have any new information. :)

It seems like everyone that has responded so far is in favor of a server switch. Keep the responses coming whether in favor or not.

Good news for LGBT peeps: we all did a good job coordinating on Jekk'jekk Tarr to begin with. From what I understand, we don't get a choice as to what our "destination server" is. So, everyone on Jekk'jekk who decides to switch is going to the same server. This means that all the gays, homos, lesbians, transgenders, queer-friendlies, etc. that were on Jekk'jekk will be moving to the same destination server, or else they'll stay on an even less populated Jekk.

I've actually tried out several servers recently that all seem to have a Standard number of users and up, and they were all SIGNIFICANTLY improved from Jekk'jekk. Jedi Covenant was the best by far. Even though Jedi Covenant is PVE, it's an East Coast server. I doubt they'll be merging a West Coast server into that because of potential latency issues moving from West to East. I checked out Drooga's Pleasure Barge, too. It seems nice. It's been consistently Standard every time I look at it, no matter the time of day or morning. No problems there. It's PVE and West Coast, so there's a decent chance we could merge into that. I haven't seen too many other PVE and West Coast servers with high populations that have anything more than a Light population. Granted, that doesn't mean that 10 servers won't merge into a Light population server to cause it to be Heavy. Time will only tell on that.

Question for anyone who knows: do we know what is required to get Knights of Stonewall/Lords of Stonewall transferred over? From what I understand, the founder(s) have to contact customer service and get them to transfer our guild bank from our old server to the new. I also think that they have to establish the new guild on the new server before doing that. I could be wrong, so could someone clarify for me?

Tentative (incomplete) plan for transitioning servers:
1. Have founder(s) transfer their characters.
2. Establish KoS/LoS on the new server.
3. Contact customer service to transfer our old bank to the new server.
4. Re-invite everyone who is a part of the guild.

This is part of my anal-retentiveness. I see the server merge as a new chance for KoS and LoS. The sooner we get established and the more firm ground on which we have to stand, we can recruit new members and make ourselves that much stronger and more diverse of a guild. And you know our motto, "Strength in diversity."

I'd imagine that people who don't identify with the binary genders (for humans, anyway) are likely free to be who they identify as in the shiny happy Star Trek setting. Their invisibility in canon works is because they are mostly invisible to our modern mainstream culture which is creating these works. (Not to mention trans and queer people are still anathema to the big studios.)

I think that we're given the short stick in terms of discussing things like this in terms of fans, because we're often focused on one crew - and even then, mostly senior officers. By my rough calculation (I'm no Vulcan), there's about 0.25% chance of us having seen any kind of non-cis, non-hetero senior officer or captain in Star Trek's run thus far. Now, if we step back and go "Wait a minute, this isn't just a matter of statistics - people write these stories, why aren't they writing queer characters?" I think that's a separate issue rather than "Where are the queers in Starfleet?" The former is a real-life question, the latter seems more like an in-universe question.

See, that's what I meant by "assimilationist"--maybe it's "all good" from their perspective, but it's disheartening to think our loyalty to binary gender is so strong that we'd in essence make people fit into that dichotomy.

I'm thinking the move is totally necessary; Jekk really has been dead lately. Has anyone tried Drooga's Pleasure Barge? I've been looking at the servers for the past few days and it always listed as Standard while the others are light. Perhaps we should consider moving there.

I should point out that I'm purposefully excluding the Trill, J'naii, and other "transgendered species" as Data referred to them in Star Trek Nemesis. Not that they are handled all that elegantly either, but I'm speaking to the human experience intentionally. Star Trek introduced a world to the idea of all races and cultures working together as equals, and despite being somewhat hamfisted about it, also suggested gender equality was not that far off. Only its portrayal was flawed as might be expected given that Gene Rodenberry was coming from the perspective of the Civil Rights Movement, Second Wave Feminism, and the Cold War. He probably didn't know about Stonewall (or the riots at Cooper's Donuts and Compton's Cafeteria before that) and even if he wanted to integrate LGBT folk into his vision of the future, he had plenty on his plate to start with. But, I digress.

I figure they probably sort out trans people young and it's all good.

Star Trek Insiders and "outcasts"

This is hardly the beginning or end of the discussion, but it makes for a good starting point, methinks.

Here's what concerns me about the matter: We know that there's not an insignificant number of transgender folk in the human species. Some contemporary estimates place the number of trans folk somewhere between 0.2% and 0.5%, and frankly I suspect we may approach 1% of the worldwide population. That's enough that you'd think a sizable starship should have at least one trans person. So, where are they?

I mean, you could ask the same question about gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, and queer folk in general. It's as if we all were so thoroughly assimilated that nobody can tell we're there, and therefore heteronormativity and cisnormativity hold sway. My interpretation is that we got so good at gender reassignment treatments that most binary-identified trans folk--trans women and men--were able to completely blend into a cisnormative world. But that leaves genderqueers, agender folk, neutrois folk, gender-fluid folk, etc. with nowhere to really go, unless they go through periods of strong identity with one side or another of the gender binary and are able to change gender as quickly and conveniently as humans could be made to pass as Klingon. But again, that's very assimilationist and frankly a little depressing to me.

Any thoughts?

Episode 639 - Enterprise - "Unexpected" - 10/17/2001

http://www.allstepisodes.com/megvid.php?n=5105

Trip helps an alien crew fix their engines only to find himself pregnant.

Enjoy!

Title: Shadows of the Past
Author: backyardserenade
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 31+
Author Notes: Solo-play. Dialog-heavy. Light combat. Part 1 of 3.
Current Version: 1.07

Description:
An Orb of the Prophets was stolen during a recent True Way raid on the Bajoran capital. Starfleet Command wants you to investigate the whereabouts of a Bajoran ship that apparently engaged the True Way raiders responsible for the theft.

Head to the Toron System in the Beta Ursae Sector Block to search for the S.S. Ratosha.

Further comments:
My first foundry mission. I would love some feedback on map design, story progression, characters and dialogs.

I'm not a native speaker of English. So everyone who points me in the direction of spelling errors gets a free cookie. :)

STO Forum thread: here
STO Wiki site: here

Thanks for your feedback! :kiss:

A server merger can only help our guild(s) in the long term. Currently the looking for group tool is server only. As Jekk stands currently that will offer little to no benefit to a server that usually rates on the lowest of the bottom tier of population on a given day. Server mergers are going into effect before lfg even goes live. They are doing that to ensure people will have people to group with once the new tools come into effect. If we do not transfer we will be using a tool with few to no people to find.

Ideally, Jekk would be a destination server. But as much as I love the game, I have come to accept that Bioware does not always do things the way I want them to be. 150 servers, healer nerfs, pvp gearscore imabalances, companion tanking or lack thereof to name a few issues that frustrate me. Problems aside, I have two level 50 imperial toons, and a Bounty Hunter healer who is valor rank 50 with 4/5 Battlemaster armor. This on a server when one is currently lucky to get 3 warzone matches a day at 50, and one can often be the only player on a planetary instance. I like the game enough to keep trying. One of the perks of being a chronic optimist!

It is a pity Bioware will not announce destination servers early so people can plan better, but that is how theyre going to do it. If we do not migrate we will quickly find ourselves on an dead server that will be closed alltogether by Bioware in short order. Better to migrate now and help make the new server LGBT friendly from the ground up, than migrate later and come to find an atmosphere that requires twice the work to fix.

As for guild banks, from what I have read, that is just a matter of the guild master sending a message to customer support asking for the bank to be created on the new server. It might be helpful to take screen shots of the bank to send to customer service if needed.

Stonewall is more than a guild, it is a virtual family. Even so, I want to experience this mmorpg the way it was intended to be -- with ques if needed, to experience heroics, operations and warzones that are frequent, fun and lively. I hope that our Stonewall guilds make the transfer as soon as possible, and show our straight allies and fellow LGBT players that we know how to excel and have fun in the expanded universe.

Peace now.

Yes, definitely. I can confirm Intervlets numbers, i Played many hours this weekend and was frequently the only guildy on the server. Not to mention the 2-3 of us on the server were at most of a group of 20 on the server. Even worse i was frequently the only one ever on my chapter 2 planets. At the end of chapter 2 the story had me go to the fleet and kaas, about 10am, one place had about a dozen and the other about 16.Its been a long time since i even considered doing group/heroic missions because of not wanting to sit around waiting for others to want to do them as well.

Episode 638 - Enterprise - "Strange New World" - 10/10/2001

http://www.allstepisodes.com/megvid.php?n=5104

A storm traps an away team on an alien world, while spores cause them to experience psychosis.

Enjoy!

Here Here Aranjuez! Most of my toons are healers and I have struggled continually since 1.2 went live. Unfortunately, the devs seem to be stuck with their math which doesn't always play out in reality... :dry:

Based on the reply from Itervlet, I think we should. Ideally all the gay guilds will move to the same server as I did enjoy seeing all the other players running around even if they were not in our guild.

Also, let's hope the listen to the community. I know a lot of healers were very upset with 1.2. The did not listen to us and just went with their numbers. How they could go so wrong, I just can understand.

My personal vote would be a resounding YES as well. I know we did a lot of work coordinating which server all the lgbt guilds would be forming on but at this point, I am not sure I really care what the other groups are thinking because I think they are all planning on moving to the destination server when it is made available because our current server is near death if not dead.

I WANT TO TAKE CARE OF THE NEEDS OF OUR GUILD and guildmates. We need more people to be able to form groups with for many things. That and I don't believe we will be doing ANY growing without more people to draw from. No one is going to be moving to our current server with it's next to nonexistent population. I was online for over 12 hours yesterday and I was literally the only toon on Alderaan the entire time and one of only 7 toons on the entire server. :( That fact alone should speak volumes... :blink: