A common problem with new simmers is the development of characters suffering from what is commonly known as "God Complex". Remember the character you create is going to be one that you will hopefully be playing with for many years. If you have a character that is perfect at everything, it becomes very difficult to play that character convincingly. It can also become very boring - every living individual makes mistakes, even the Q - your character is a lot more believable and easier to get along with if they are believable.
Let us address some of the parameters you will need to supply to create your character for the SSO simming experience.
These parameters are simple enough. Nothing extremely complicated. However there are a few things you need to remember. When deciding your characters age, remember that he/she will be 16 prior to entering Starfleet Academy and will have completed 4 years of training prior to their first assignment.
This can be any species known to Starfleet. However in the SSO timeline the following races are not accepted in Starfleet :- Romulan, Bajoran, Ferengi, Cardassian, Klingon (remember Worf is the only Klingon in Starfleet and his acceptance was at the insistence of a Starfleet Command Officer).
Place of Birth obviously depends upon what race you have selected. Please try to avoid the old age, overused, idea of one race raised by parents of another race due to some horrific attack of that persons home planet.
If the species chosen is non-human than it is expected that this individual would know their native language as well as Galactic Standard. English would probably also be known. If you decide that your character has additional language knowledge, it is best to have a plausible reason for such knowledge. Please remember that a language takes time and practice to learn unless the individual is raised from infancy exposed to conversations in said language.
An individual entering Starfleet Academy will normally already have training in their field of specialty. i.e. medical personnel will have already completed civilian medical training - the same applies to officers in the engineering or science fields. Please remember this when completing this section.
Remember the simm is set in the year 2375. If you are entering as a Cadet then this section will simply consist of your Academy training. If you enter as an experienced officer then you MUST account for where you have been stationed prior to assignment to one of the SSO ships.
Please remember the "God Syndrome". Not everyone in Starfleet has an outstanding record with hundreds of decorations. Remember Barclay in TNG.
In this section you make your character come to life. Tell us all about your childhood, where you were raised, who were your parents, what did they do? Once again beware of the "God Syndrome". Remember that not everyone had a traumatic childhood filled with war and death. Captain Picard was raised by simple folk who grew wine grapes.
Here you tell us what your character is like. How would he/she react to situations? Is he/she easy to anger, quick to fight??
Anything special that fleshes out your character. Please, please do not decide in this area that your character is a martial arts expert or some incredible fighting machine. If you are an Engineer or Science Officer it is unlikely that you will even know how to fight besides the normal training given in Starfleet. A Doctor is hardly likely to be an expert marksman.