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The FreeAC project becomes Stella Polaris
This is an official announcement from the FreeAC Development Team.
Prior to yesterday, this software development project and the game itself have been known as FreeAC, and the official development team as FreeAC Development Team. Several months ago there was a debate on what the actual name of the game should be, and there was a dicussion on FreeAC Forums on different alternatives and opinions in general, but as apparently no consensus was reached, the debate was exhausted. A few weeks ago the name issue was back as an issue to finally be decided on, as the title is quite essential for the future and promoting the project; not to mention what name should be used about the game. The so called "The Cooker" group discussed about this issue and looked at the alternatives already provided in the FACF discussion, but as none of the wasn't perhaps that good, the group brainstormed several ideas, but the final resoltuion was "Stella Polaris." The Cooker decided to organise a public voting on Stella Polaris on FACF, so that the decission would as democratic as possible. The poll failed as Stella Polaris didn't get enough "Yes" votes, and because several FACF posting members posted their own suggestions. After debating that, a decission made that a new final voting was to be held, as the current situation seemed to require that. So the new poll included 9 chosen alternatives and the 10th alternative was a name not listed among the 9 chosen ones. The official poll result can be seen in the diagram below.
As you may see, Stella Polaris won in the voting with 4 votes. There was indeed several suggestions from individuals, but as those few posted, only had the support of the one who had posted them, so they didn't get enough votes. The poll result was discussed by The Cooker as previously announced and the issue of a possible subtitle. The members of The Cooker couldn't agree on a subtitle, as there was no good ideas (new or old ones posted on FACF), so it was decided that no subtitle would be implemented; plain Stella Polaris would be good. The decission also included an agreement that the game development team FACDT would become Stella Polaris Development Team and that no name like Project Stella Polaris or Stella Polaris Project would be used, as Stella Polaris isn't a codename.
So what's this Stella thing then?
Stella Polaris is the Latin name for the Pole Star, that can be seen in the hemisphere. The star marks the direction of north, and it has therefor been used for hundreds of years for navigation by sailors (AFAIK at least the Vikings). The Pole Star is the brightest star in constellation of the Little Bear (Ursa Minor).
But why this star?
First of all we didn't see it as appropriate that the name would be or include the words related to games or game series like "Master of...", Alpha Centauri and Orion. And the name had to be unique, as it's not good to have a name related to something much better known. And of course the name should be inspiring and "cool." The main reasons for why we picked Stella Polaris. It's unique, it represents the goal for the humans trying to escape the Earth which is a doomed place a the time being, the journey to a hopefully better future somewhere else in space. And because the Pole Star has been used for navigation to get to a place safe and avoid dangers (like a guide through darkness); the Stella Polaris also reflects the journey through space searching for a new home, and trying to avoid dangers. Of course there's other stars too, but the name is unique, somewhat known and it has been used in a way that reflects traveling in space, in the void and darkness.
That's a fairly short description, but should be better than nothing at all.
More information available on the WWW...
The Electronic Sky - Information about the star Stella Polaris.
The Dome of the Sky - Also information on Stella Polaris.
Legg Middle School Planetarium - More on the myths and beliefs related to Stella Polaris. Interesting information.
What does this change mean then and when will it actually happen?
The name Stella Polaris and Stella Polaris will be official as the new Stella Polaris web service is launched and the old FreeAC website and FreeAC Forums is shut down. The Stella Polaris Development Team (SPDT) will start it's operations simultaneously with the overall change to the new Stella age. The current operations will continue as normal until the launch of the new name, so FACDT members will continue their tasks as usual, and there's no need to send a new application for SPDT, as the name will only change. Everything else will remain as under FACDT. The new names will be adapted as the new web service is launched, so until that the names FreeAC, FAC, FreeAC Development Team (FACDT) and FreeAC Forums (FACF) will be used as prior to today. The current FreeAC website will not be updated anymore, so it will currently remain as it is.
The actual timetable for the progress will be issued when the development of the new web service has begun. So stay tuned for details on the schedule. All the details and decissions taken are permanent, so they will not be changed or cancelled. Any quarrel will therefor be useless, so please be patient. Any questions about Stella Polaris or the process related to it, should be asked here or sent to Rasbelin per e-mail (rasbey at mail.gr). No abusive messages will be tolerated.
Thank you for your attention!
Rasbelin (Rasbey)
FACDT - Project Manager