Greetings Citizens,
The first release of the web-based Organization system is now live. You can access the Organization Hub via the Community menu at the top of the page. From there, you can create your own organization or join an existing group. A special thank you to the hundreds of Citizens who volunteered to test the Organizations system over the past week; your feedback was invaluable in launching this update. The Star Citizen community has expanded beyond our wildest expectations over the last year; we’re excited to see how these new tools help with the process.

Registering an Organization
Click on the CREATE button to start a new Organization. You will be prompted for registration information, including an Org name and a permanent ten-character Spectrum ID (“SID”). The SID will appear in your Organization’s web URL and elsewhere, so choose carefully. With the first release, every user may create or join one Organization. This will be expanded in future updates to the system. Note that you must have a Star Citizen game package on your account to take part in the Organization system.

Once you have created an Organization, you can begin recruiting members and customizing your Organization page with your own text and graphics. The sky is the limit: we saw a number of very creative Org pages set up during the test period. Select the “Admin” area for a wide range of options, from setting your group’s public visibility to deciding the roles and rank titles for group members. The system is extremely customizable and we’re confident that Star Citizen’s creative backers will be able to do amazing things on top of this shared framework.

Organizations with pages listed as public will appear in the Organization Hub’s main page. The page includes a list of the newest organizations, the most active groups and comprehensive search and listing options for those seeking an openly-recruiting group. Group activity is measured by a combination of individual user activity and group size.

Live Chat
The Organization launch also includes the launch of our new XMPP-based live chat system. Designed from the ground up to replace the existing Chatroll, the new Live Chat adds scalability and greatly improved customization. In addition to the shared general chat, users will now connect to rooms for their organizations and other roles (Subscribers, for instance, will have their own chat room.) Best of all, you can now connect to the Live Chat using any XMPP-supporting client. You can access the live chat on the go… and this cross-platform functionality will transition directly into the game itself.

The Live Chat is currently in beta, during which the Chatroll will continue be available. You can switch to the new chat via a link in Chatroll, or connect directly from the chat buttons located in the new Organizations area.

Organization Rules
The existing forum rules apply to the new chat system and any public-facing Organizations page. Additionally, Organization pages cannot include inflammatory, offensive or copyrighted material. If you find an Organization page violating these rules, please use the ‘flag’ button at the bottom of the site to report it. Organizations are expected to moderate their own internal communications; if a member is causing problems, remove him from the group.

Please note that “claim jumping” of organization SIDs and names will not be tolerated. Do not attempt to ‘steal’ an existing Organization’s information. The archived Organizations forum of the RSI website will be used to settle any disputes about who started what group first.

Future
This is only the beginning of the Organization system. Cloud Imperium remains dedicated to creating an environment for Star Citizen’s squadrons, clans and guilds to flourish, and we have extensive long-range plans for enhancing Organizations as we build towards their presence in the persistent universe. Multiple org membership, visual organization charts and fleet views are among the features we are working on adding now.

Our goal with the Organization system, like the Hangar and Dogfighting modules, is to allow the Star Citizen community to get a foot in the door and start experiencing (and expanding) the Star Citizen ‘verse as soon as possible. Remember: organizations isn’t just about letting you group together with friends and gamers, it’s about backers beginning to shape Star Citizen’s lore!

--- Tue Jan 21 2014 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
+++ Tue Jan 21 2014 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
@@ -22 +22 @@
-This is only the beginning of the Organization system. Cloud Imperium remains dedicated to creating an environment for Star Citizen’s squadrons, clans and guilds to flourish, and we have extensive long-range plans for enhancing Organizations as we build towards their presence in the persistent universe. Multiple org membership, visual organization charts and fleet views are among the features we are working on adding now. 
+This is only the beginning of the Organization system. Cloud Imperium remains dedicated to creating an environment for Star Citizen’s squadrons, clans and guilds to flourish, and we have extensive long-range plans for enhancing Organizations as we build towards their presence in the persistent universe. Multiple org membership, visual organization charts and fleet views are among the features we are working on adding now.