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 Squadron Rules and Guidelines ?

 I'm not a "rule and guideline" sorta guy. I don't like to have to tell
people how they're supposed to behave. Face it, if someone over the age of four
doesn't know how to behave then my rules won't accomplish much. Especially since
there are no effective punitive measures I can really take to enforce them anyhow.

 Never-the-less, since Squadron commanders (or whoever fills the equivalent function)
are often held accountable by the community for the actions of their squadron
members, I feel somewhat obligated to post what my opinions are on squadron protocol and game related behavior.

 Rank

 Everyone in the 17th is a Lieutenant with the exception of the squadron mascot which is a full Colonel. Pretty simple. Rank does not have it's privileges ... unless you're the squadron mascot. If you're into climbing the rank ladder then this probably isn't the squad for you. Why even have the rank of Lt? Because it sounds cool and it makes rank-oriented squads less nervous to have combined ops. This doesn't mean there won't be postions of responsibility or authority. It just means that there won't be any climb to be a 5 star general. Think the "Bruces" sketch of Monty Python fame.

 Medals

 I'm still mulling this over. I've got a page which talks about all the historically accurate medals of the war. I find myself hesitant to apply these to a game. I may get creative and come up with some modified medals (i.e. "Victorious Cross", "Community Medal of Valor", "Distinguished Virtual Flying Cross", etc) but there's no set timeline for this project to be done or even a guarantee it will at all. Again, if you're into it more for the salad than the fun and experience of flying with your comrades, then you may want to consider a different squadron.

 Honor

 This term gets bandied about like a shuttlecock in an epileptic badminton tourney.
There are protocols, guidelines, standards, rules and regulations devoted to instructing
the RB3D player on how to exhibit proper honor within the game and community.

 Honor, by definition (look it up) means: honesty, respect, integrity and fairness.
Why would anyone who doesn't know how to act that way without the guidelines suddenly
be able to with them?

 Rules on honor mean little to those who didn't have it to begin with. Salutes become taunts, insults and egotistical masterbation. Fairplay becomes vigilantyism that "teaches players how to behave" by breaking it's own guidelines. And respect becomes disdain for the common courtesy even strangers met for the first time deserve. Honor is more than a word or the letter S typed before we make condemnations or accusations. It's a lifstyle. Don't preach it, live it.

 Server rules. We may not agree with all of them but if a server has rules we'll either adhere to them or not fly on it. After all, the host was nice enough to build a playground for us to play in, the least we can do is follow the playground rules. Players also have a personal code of conduct, quite often. If someone doesn't make a habit of vulching (and it's not against the server rules) don't make a habit of vulching them. Same goes for stealing kills and other fairplay related codes. If you have a code that others don't, don't go about "teaching them a lesson" by breaking yours. The message you deliver with that, postman, is that you're a hypocrit.

 About players who like to call "low petrol" or "winchester" all the time. I find that many of them use this as a convenient excuse to blow off thier situational awareness and land kills anyway. I've also seen players lie about it (call winchester then turn and fire a burst ... or accidently fire off a burst when running for home). This reflects a serious character flaw. If they're honestly running out of ammo or fuel ... on a regular basis ... they need to brush up on their SA and my decision to honor their whine is strictly based on my feeling of generosity at the time. If I ever catch someone making a winchester whine and then firing off a burst, I'll probably never honor their WW again. Still, if you believe in calling out low fuel or ammo and expect your opponent to yield, you better do likewise.

 Here's what I expect from my RB3D friends, collegues and squadron mates:

 * A sense of humor! For gosh sakes. Just because someone called you a "poopoo head" that doesn't mean you have to be one. Half the time players get mad because they take things
the wrong way. Better to assume your "chat buffer opponent" has an offbeat sense of humor and chalk it up to poor delivery than to stick your head under the pile of dung in the buffer so you can wear the proper attire to be righteously offended. If you're unsure how to take something ... ignore it. Better yet, if you can find a way of making light of the situation without offending, do so. Maybe the other player will cool down and see the folly of his comments.

 * Situational Awareness - I'm not talking pilot SA. I'm talking social SA. Most times we can see it coming a mile away and there's a way to avoid it. Sure, there's times we get blindsided but those times will only strengthen our SA for later.

 * Community citizenship. The clueless dweeb we help (nicely) today may turn out to have more on the ball than we realized tommorrow. Everyone's a potential asset. Everyone's also a potential ass. Often we're the ones that cast the die.

 It's as simple as this, guys. Have fun but don't ruin everyone else's. It was this way from the time the first cave kids played the first game of dodge rock.

 This is more than I've talked my entire life. I'm a rat of action, not words. FALL OUT! 

- Col. Grover