OCS Guide: Competition Creation
This guide from the Office of the Chief of Staff has been created as a tool to assist those new to creating a Bravo Fleet competition.
Guidelines
- Before completing the online form, ensure that you have read the OCS Policy regarding Competitions.
- After being logged into BFMS, proceed to the Chief of Staff section and click on ‘Competitions’.
- Click on ‘Add Competitions’.
- Fill out the form, ensuring that all sections with the red asterisk are completed.
- Name: Ensure this is not the same as any other active existing competition.
- Competition Type: Pick from the four categories available:
- Writing - A competition where participants must write a piece of fiction, this could be a flash fiction, character biography or an entry for the BF wiki.
- Puzzle - A competition where you must provide a link to an external source where the participants must complete a puzzle type game. This could be a jigsaw, a card game or a quiz.
- Graphics - A competition where the participants must create an original piece of artwork. They must upload this to the BFMS.
- Gaming - A competition where the participants must complete a challenge/mission on Star Trek Online or undertake another game (e.g.: something from Steam) which they must complete.
- Start date / End date: Ensure the dates give BF members enough time to enter.
- Description: This must have a detailed explanation of what the competition is, how it maybe related to a particular theme being used in the fleet or your task force and generally encourage people to enter!
- Criteria: Click on ‘Add Criterion’ to create a clear explanation on how entries will be judged and how winners will be selected. More than one criterion can be used.
- Click ‘Publish’ and your competition will be sent to the OCS to be reviewed.
Examples of Descriptions & Criteria
Below are good examples of previous competitions that have been approved by the OCS.
Writing Competition
Title: Homestead: Lounges of Bravo Fleet
Description:
Ten Forward served as the backdrop for many important conversations and moments on Star Trek: The Next Generation. So named for its position on the forward end of Deck Ten, this lounge was preferred both by the senior officers and the rest of the crew for its views of space, and the drinks and advice provided by Guinan.
What is the lounge like on your ship? Or does it just have a mess hall, like Voyager did? Does it have a special name? Which direction does it face? Who runs it?
Answering those questions is the purpose of this competition! Did you know that every ship in the fleet has an article on the Bravo Fleet wiki, and that you can edit your ship's page? For this competition, you'll be editing your ship's page to include a short description of the most important lounge on your ship or station.
(This is also a great opportunity to do any other edits you want on that page, such as summarizing its participation in any recent fleet events or other stories you've already written!)
Your description should provide a reader with enough information to visualize your ship's lounge (or mess hall or other such space) without including any pictures. Feel free to add an image in later, after the competition is over, but the task here is to be descriptive and specific in words.
Questions to consider in your description:
- What's your lounge called? Why's it called that?
- Where's your lounge located?
- Is it for everyone or just senior officers?
- Who runs the lounge? (This will also help you in another competition.)
- What's the decor like?
- Are there any special events held there?
- Is it the only lounge on the ship/station? If it's a mess hall, how does the crew make do/make it festive?
There are no word limits or minimums for this competition, and it will be judged solely on the basis of how descriptive and unique your lounge is. To enter, submit a link to your ship's page in the competition entry, linking directly to the sub-section of the article talking about your lounge, like so:
https://wiki.bravofleet.com/index.php/USS_Arcturus#The_Plowman.27s_Tap
(To get this link, click on the table of contents link to the section.)
Criteria:
- Your lounge, mess hall, or other equivalent space must be aboard your own command, whether that be a ship or station. Members who do not yet have a command are encouraged to acquire one!
- The description should be put directly on the wiki on your own ship or station's article, in a sub-section, and then linked in the competition entry.
- Entries will be graded on descriptiveness, creativity, and encyclopedic tone.
- Entries should be written in the present tense.
Puzzle Competition
Title: TF17: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Puzzle
Description:
Following the recent Echoes of Tkon Fleet Action, a number of Starfleet commanding officers have found themselves in the unenviable position of having to rebuild relationships following their slightly unorthodox actions...
To aid this, Fourth Fleet Command has provided you with an example of a diplomatic dinner from Starfleet's historical archives - but the transmission has been scrambled by a local ion storm. Deliver a diplomatic masterclass by unscrambling the image as quickly as possible!
View Puzzle:
My Puzzles - Voyager - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (jigsawplanet.com)
Criteria:
- Submit a screenshot of your finished puzzle, showing clearly the time taken and the number of pieces used.
- Do not change the puzzle from its original setting of 200 pieces or its shape.
- Entries will be scored first by time taken and then by time submitted.
Graphics Competition
Title: [Phase 3]: Twitter: 2399
Description:
Twitter is a social media platform used by many people in all walks of life. Supposing Twitter has survived to 2399, create a tweet using the website provided from someone involved in the Fleet Action. It does not necessarily need to be from an avatar/character of your own, but do not create a Tweet using a character owned by someone else. Characters from any Star Trek series are fair game, but it should make sense for 2399 (i.e. do not create a Tweet from Michael Burnham or James Kirk).
Link - https://www.tweetgen.com/
Criteria:
- Entries should feature the image that the Tweetgen platform creates.
- Entries should only use the "Tweet" option, not the blocked or suspended option.
- Entries will be graded on, 1: Creativity, 2: Uniqueness of character chosen for profile, 3: Humor or Drama Level, 4: Use of Star Trek canon.
Gaming Competition
Title: [Phase 3]: STO Scavenger Hunt
Description:
Log on to Star Trek Online and find these Omega related items in the Solonae Dyson Sphere (Allied Space, Contested Space, Undine Battlezone, Voth Ground Zone, Joint Command, Fleet Spire):
- Charge! The ion stream has a very bright one.
- One of the NPCs in the Joint Command area is labeled as if he is a vendor, but he does not have an icon above his head. Find him.
- Toggling this console on the Fleet Spire lowers a screen into place, and then raises it. The organizer of this event is embarrassed to say he has lowered and raised it multiple times every time he goes there since discovering this function.
- Spires are massive structures, engineering marvels like the Dyson sphere itself. There is only one species that has destroyed one of these structures: Species 8472.
- The engineering that went into the Dyson sphere is exposed at one part of the Contested Zone. See if you can angle yourself to get a clearer picture all the way down.
- The Voth Ground Battlezone is but one small part of the central spire in the Contested Zone. Perhaps taking in the scope of the scale of the area would be good?
- Hanging around the Contested Zone, really high up, is a lone ship with a message for you from a friendly contact in the Voth. Find this ship.
- Generally we don’t encourage trophy hunting, but getting a picture with a downed V-Rex is one of those few exceptions.
- There’s a floating city on a large platform in the Undine Battlezone, and it does not like to be buzzed by starships.
Tiebreaker question:
The Voth are arrogant to a fault because they believe they are the superior race and created all the best technology, including the Dyson sphere itself. Find out more about their doctrine in the battlezone by raiding their caches. The more screenshots you can submit of each of these, the better!
Criteria:
- Submit screenshots of the items above, captioned appropriately with what you took screenshots of, for a single point.
- The most screenshots of accurate items wins!
- For the tiebreaker question, collect as many pieces of the Voth doctrine cache pieces in the Ground Battlezone. This will be used only in the event of a tiebreaker, but as many screenshots of this as you can get is best. In the case of a tie for the tiebreaker, the earliest submission will be declared the winner.