Simming and online role playing club Independence Fleet celebrated its 21st anniversary earlier this month. IDF (as it is often called by its members) was originally founded on July 4th, 2001 by James D. West, Charles Star, and Robert Seldon. It has since produced a much storied history, arguably unrivaled by any other in the play-by-post community: The in-fighting of the fleet’s early days eventually gave way for a renaissance period that saw IDF lead the pack to a new paradigm that almost all other role playing groups now participate in.
For its anniversary this year, Independence Fleet formally inducted five new members into the Hall of Fame: Commander McGregor Blaine of the USS Excalibur, Admiral Savai N’gellin of the USS Patriot, Captain K’lar Rasmehlier of the USS Conqueror, Commander Dusty Redroi of the USS Excalibur, and Captain Zingela of the USS Washington. Independence Fleet also conducted a prize drawing from among those who had won awards over the past year. This year’s prizes were a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Runabout, a Star Trek: The Next Generation Phaser, and a custom 3-D printed Horga’hn, direct from Risa!
Continuing a tradition that began last year with a special video message to members from actor Jonathan Frakes, two messages were released this year, one from Deep Space Nine actor Andy Robinson (aka Elim Garak) and another from The Office actor Brian Baumgartner (aka Kevin). Mirroring the 20th Anniversary Almanac published in 2021, an article highlighting the perception of the passage of time was published on July 4, 2022. All-in-all, IDF members had high praise for this year’s festivities.
The origins of simming and online role playing date back to the 1980’s and 1990’s, when ad hoc role playing developed very organically on local bulletin board systems and university computer networks. These activities eventually gave rise to similar happenings on America Online and other Internet service providers of the day. Many of the rules and norms of online role playing date back even further to earlier table top role playing and science fiction and fantasy fan fiction.
Star Trek turned out to be a very natural medium for the fledging role playing community. It provided a fixed universe with near unlimited potentially while also provided a clear structure from which to work with: a Captain, a crew, and a starship. Scores of clubs lived and died during the latter half of the 1990’s and the early 2000’s. Independence Fleet is one of only a few from those early primordial days still operating today. Its most famous ship, the USS Sunfire was actually originally launched in Utopia Fleet in 2000. The Sunfire went on to become the genesis of Independence Fleet a little over a year later.
As for what the future holds, Independence Fleet’s members remain optimistic. Director of Personnel James “Rook” Mirtoh says that the fleet’s best days are still ahead, an opinion echoed many in the club as IDF continues to evolve while staying true to its past.
“It’s just a great place to role play,” added one anonymous crewmember of the USS Albion.
