How to become a dESPairado

v1.0 / 03.jan.01


The concept of our airline
When you were a child, did you paint or color circles and squares on a card board box to simulate a space ship cockpit? When you were a teenager, did you imagine you invite your girlfriend to a flight high above the clouds? Now, you're grown up - and what do you imagine? Our answer is dESPair. dESPair is a virtual airline. At least sort of. We are a group of (armchair and real) pilots who share the passion of flight simulation, and we combine the software simulation with an all encompassing role-playing game atmosphere.

dESPair is a group of flying nomades, following the wind, and always magically appearing where we are needed in this world. We do not care about collected miles and accumulated hours, but we do care about friendship, about partnership and about the wellfare of our fellow dESPairados.

We have built our world around the flight simulator software X-Plane by Laminar research. We build our own scenery, tools, aircraft and stuff - all for the glory of our overall mission: flying where no one else has flown before - and doing it with style and spirit.

Each one of our pilots is a personality, not only a roster number. Each of our aircraft has a story, a face, a soul. We treat them like we treat our friends: with utmost respect and kind spirit.

We don't claim our files to be the most excellent visual products available for this sim. If you are looking for the best downloadable items, you might wish to keep on searching. We dESPairados have an impressive imagination, this is the key to our continued success. Our work is designed to enhance the playground experience, not win accolades for perfection. A quick read of the aircraft stories and visit to the mission diaries should give an insight into what we seek to achieve.


Am I dESPairado material? A SIMPLE TEST

dESPair is a role-playing game. It's a playground for grown up children. If we can use an analogy, then let us say that dESPair is like a sandbox. Now, to most this may not be the slightest bit interesting but to the potential dESPairado, the concept of such a sandbox becomes a window of creative opportunity. Imagination lets him build castles, even worlds. And if a friend sits in the same sandbox, also building castles and worlds (some prefer to model nymphs and flight attendants), the fun is exponentialy greater.



What would you do with this?:

- We give you an aircraft for your own personal use. Could you come up with a story about how you "acquired” this aircraft? The only limit for this story is your imagination. Check out the existing aircraft stories in the public hangar... you'll get the idea

- We give you the tools and things neccessary to create a mission. What mission would you love to create, and later fly with all the dESPairados in a coordinated campaign... jot down an outline describing it..

- You will play a role in our virtual sandbox. What character could you play? Create a personna that best suits your secret or real identity(s). Again, the character you chose to represent you in our virtual world is limited only by your imagination. What is your alter ego's background? What nickname or handle conveys the personality of the character you've chosen?

- Read the available mission diaries. Imagine you were there, with us. What part would you have played? What twist would you have given the story? Browsing through the event scheduler and the diaries should give you a good sense our flying activities.



Are you excited yet? Did all that sound like fun to you? Did you already begin to answer the above questions and make up the stories in your mind? If you did, then you are already a "closet" dESPairado, and have just stumbled onto the best group for your affliction. :-)

If not, don't worry, there's still a chance you might yet become infected.
Read on. Take the next test: Suppose we told you that in order to become a dESPairado you must first fly a mission or two with us in a "skinless", grey aircraft that we assign you. Imagine also, that you must fly your mission and plane over the default X-Plane scenery (or your own scenery) and without the benefit of dESPair custom objects. Do you think you could do this and find it fun? If yes, then you have the potential to become a happy dESPairado, although we will have to reshape your psycho-social profile. <grin>.

If you still can't buy into the concept, then dESPair is most likely not
your cup of tea. This is not a bad thing, we just believe it is best if each
one finds their ideal place to have fun and, we wish you every success in
your search for that ideal place. Should you change your mind sometime in the future, you're welcome to give us another try.




So I have potential... Now What?

Firstly, be happy, very happy. You have just found your ideal playground. A place to become an asocial, weird and deviant sim freak. However, we must warn you and your wife/mate/dog that once you become a dESPairado, you will never want to leave our world.

Okay, for those of you who do not fear... go back up, and actually complete the "test tasks”.

- Decide on an aircraft, give it a name, origin, history and come up with a story for us nomads of the sky. We love to read such stuff.

- Devise a simple mission for our group. Once on the mailing list, you can shout for some assistance, there's always a couple of willing hands in our crew ready to help out. There's really very little effort required. Simply develop a plot that'll give us dESPairados a good reason to fly. Do not fear. We have enough imagination to be happy with a story alone. No need to create special object and new scenery files just now...

- Come up with a nickname, and write a brief essay about your identity, name and history. Remember, there are no bounds... let your imagination run free... reading the diaries is inspirational (and fun too!).

- The fourth task you'll need to do is send your stories and data along with your real identity data (name, email, snail mail) and a picture to HQ, so we can prepare to open you logbook and hangar account later on.


Once you have decided on your personality and stuff, it's time to introduce yourself to the mailing list.



How do I meet the Crew?

It’s a good behaviour to say hello and state who you are and from where you come once you have subscribed to the list. It is nice to know who joined the list...

Once your role has been defined (by yourself) and you have subscribed to the list, simply chime in, like a pilot who just has been hired by dESPair to fly for us. Say hello, state who you are and from whence you come. Then tell us about your virtual self... where you came from, what you did in the past and how you think you can help us in our fight for the richous cause.

The HQ is monitoring the list subscriptions and if we see someone is
only lurking for a long period (weeks), we will ask him to either
become active, explain his passive state or leave the list.

It is perfectly ok to have times when you simply can’t play with us. No problem. But it becomes a problem if you don’t let us know when you have to be passive for a week or more. We are all friends, and as friends we depend on each other? If we don't hear... we worry



So, you want to become an official dESPairado? Here's how:

If there is a mission or campaign going on, you simply ask the mission
HQ how you can serve our purpose. You will be integrated in our activities and earn your membership right away.

During periods of no mission activity you can either suggest your own created mission, and we fly with you - or you can ask for one of the prepared mission packages (ask the HQ).

Depending on the amount of activity, it could take just a few weeks or up to a couple months, before you become an official dESPairado. However, you can have fun with us right from the very first moment...

Read the dESPair Manual (our bible), this document outlines all the rules governing our dESPair community. These rules have been defined by our existing crew in a democratic vote. If you are to join us, you must agree to the dESPair rules and abide by them.

The final formality is for the crew to elect you as an an official member of the dESPair crew. There is little to worry about here, for if you have done your best to comply with the preceding you will certainly have proved your elegibility


How to get your account opened

Once you have been accepted as a full crew member, HQ will open up a logbook account for you and your aircraft, and present you with one of the hangar keys for up and download.

All that remains is for you to be sure you understand the rules of our game/world, and then roll your aircraft into our hangar...

Welcome aboard.

Remember, cream always rises to the top and that's what makes dESPair as good as it is.

For questions about the account, contact the HQ.