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CONTACT!
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Death And Its Consequences*
—Or: Unit Awards Explained—BLANK
by Dean Wayland
* This article is on all in-character pages entitled Unit Awards Explained, as its true title would just read wrong.
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The Problem of DeathDeath is always an issue in any live role playing games, how do you explain the walking talking deceased player in the room, what happens to the dead, where do they go, what do they do with themselves? Well, I guess they could go read a book, watch a movie, play a computer game, go back home, visit a respawn point, create a new character, or whatever. Then more importantly, what of those left behind? In life death is always a problem for the dying and for those that love or care for them. But games are different and present us with several issues, the most difficult of which being how to simulate the impact of loss. For without it death has no meaning. So, like most live role playing and airsoft games CONTACT includes the possibility of the fictional death of its players. Fortunately without the suffering involved in the process of dying, and that of those left behind. Consequentially it is very easy to become somewhat blassé and even jaded over the notion of in-game death. Apart from using real bullets, having a shrinking player base, and a nice cosy cell to park my bum in for the rest of my life, there is no easy answer to this problem, for after all, everyone involved knows that no one has actually died. So here is my solution. BLANKConsequencesAfter most likely being killed in action (KIA), and the body broght back to base or not as the case maybe, the now dead player is moved away from their fellow Marines, and reappears in base as their new, replacement character, who has just been transferred in from another U.N. Marine unit. Hence in records, the term 'transfer' actually means a prior in-game death. This is done so that some of the achievements gained with the earlier character are transfered to the new one, without an incongruous reference to their previous death. So if killed, you are not starting from scratch. Your new character starts as an NCO with a rank penalty of minus one, but this is not permenant and will disappear 4 years after the date of transfer. BTW It is always a good idea to have a back-up character sitting in the wings just in case. This need be nothing more than the basics, name and nationality, with the rest as before. But it does remove the panic of trying to come up with a new name when you are trying to get over the fact that you are apparently dead. However the newly minted character does not rejoin the other Marines, who have in theory just suffered the loss of a comrade. Instead they remain apart from their former unit, through their temporary assignment as NPC's (non-player characters), atached to the Regiment's Military Police Company (MPC). This doesn't mean they don't interact with their friends, they do, but when it comes to going off-world, they, have other duties to perform. The full-time and temporary members of the MPC serve as our base's security forces, providing perimeter patrols, a euphamism for getting out of the base, changing hats, and becoming the games opposing force, aka the bad guys. Well, except when they aren't, but that's a different issue, one for you to solve in the field. Post transfer MPC atachment lasts for 3 combat operations, including the one in which they suffered the mandatory 'transfer', meaning it can be up to a year before they are authorised to return to regular active off-world duty with the Regiments SG Teams. This period of service to the game creates a real sense of loss for those left behind, a difficult thing to achieve otherwise in any kind of live role playing game, where thankfully nobody ever really dies, well mostly... However, this process has in the past had quite a devastating and moving impact upon surviving unit members. Because the in-game CASEVAC or the MEDIVAC (casualty or medical evacuation) procedures, and rear area surgical services are pretty good, the risk of dying is no higher than in real-world combat, it's just that rehabilitation tends to be somewhat miraculous in comparison! Consequentially when a death happends, its always sudden, unexpected, and usually after many years of service with ones buddies, who often feel a sense of shock. On at least one occasion upon return from what turned out to be an absolute blood bath, wherein five long standing characters, were dramatically lost in a woodland night mission, the unit's commanding officer was reduced to tears, filled with remorse, and anger at the consequences. This after repeated attempts to recover their dead and wounded, and even after managing to extract the remains of their SG team in a fighting withdrawl, finally getting them home, battered, bruised, shaken, but alive, in what was what everyone agreed, was a near perfect storm. At 3 minutes after midnight, the survivors gathered at the STARGATE, the last possible time scheduled for a potential return. No one appeared.
That night one of only two posthumously awarded Silver Star medals for gallentry in over 20 years of play, was granted to the unit's senior Field Medic. FYI The other Silver Star was also awarded to a Field Medic. Both remain the highest awards for gallentry or heroism in action ever granted in our campaign. The survivor gilt ridden Marines apologised a great deal to their somewhat dazed former comrades that night, and a large amount of alcahol was consumed by all those involved, both the dead and the living. It was 79 minutes they would never forget. By common consent, the following mission was scrubbed. Coming down hard from such a tension driven adrenaline rush, has its consequences.
For me, this typifies the goals of the game, that is to blur the lines between mere fantasy and reality, and to give the civilian player a fraction of an insight in to the real world business of war and its consequences. BLANKMarking The Moment
The Security Guard Service Ribbon (SGSR) is awarded to all second or subsequent characters, upon their 'transfer' to the Regiment in recognition of their absolutely essential service to the game as part of the Military Police Company. Beyond the award of the SGSR, Marines who die either at higher rank, or while serving as senior field medics have their service to date acknowledged by the granting of a Unit Award. BLANKUnit Awards ExplainedThese Out-Of-Character (OOC) criteria explanations are in this article because they do not belong on an In-Character (IC) or semi IC page, like the Decorations, Medals & Awards page, or the Awards Granted page, see links at the top of this article. Originally titled Unit Citations, these were awards granted by the US Army to entire units, in recognition of a significant act. In CONTACT they are awarded instead to an individual player after their character has died, aka been "transferred", to recognise the effort the player has put in to the game. In a very real sense, the player is the character's unit, as they are the source from which each subsequent Marine is drawn. When first introduced in to CONTACT the criteria used to be very subjective, based as it was upon the quality of their role playing, impact upon other players etc. This proved difficult to manage fairly, so now we have switched to a much more simplified approach. The level of award is determined by the number of Promotional Points (PP) possessed at the time of death, and whether or not they were serving as an officer, an NCO, or as a Field Medic, as set out below. The different levels of criteria for each award reflect the comparative difficulty and risks of playing either a medic of any rank, or an officer. Both tend to function as bullet magnets. Note that Privates do not qualify for these awards, but as per all dead characters, their demise is marked by their new characters assignment to serve with base security, and the award of the Security Guard Service Ribbon (SGSR). BLANKAward CriteriaListed below is the criteria for the five available Unit Awards:
Distinguished Unit Award (DUA):
Defense Meritorious Unit Award (DMUA):
Valourous Unit Award (VUA):
Meritorious Unit Award (MUA):
Superior Unit Award (SUA):
No Unit Award
* EICU Expert Infantry Course Units, the required training points necessary for promotion beyond the rank of Private.
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