Concerning Timelines & Other Details

Posted on Sunday February 16th, 2020 @ 5:05pm by Commander Kanaka Shakura

Fellow Crewmates,

Here on the U.S.S. Poseidon, our dream is to create a new and exciting experience for our players. We bring in a wide range of experience from not just the Trek simming community, but other corners of the text-based roleplaying realms of the internet, and our belief is that by combining these wide-ranging approaches to roleplay, we can create something that helps the Poseidon stand out above the rest. Not just in terms of the storytelling, but also in the structure and logistics of the story and the sim's management. So far, this seems to have served us pretty well, and I can't wait for it to bloom even more as we progress into the Main Story Arc.

That said, the Command Staff doesn't delude itself into believing we have all the answers, and we're always looking for feedback on the sim's progression and the structures we've put in place. After some such feedback, there has been a reconsideration in how the Timeline's feature has been implemented by our sim so far.

What has been attempted - which, to my knowledge, has not been tried anywhere else in Pegasus Fleet - is that we would keep track of events with a clear record of the Day and Time in which things transpired. Our first day, Day 000, was set on the day of our first attempted Departure. Following that, we set out the range of Days for the present Mission (e.g. 000-004 for Shakedown Cruise) along with a brief summary of any significant events that occurred on each day. It was hoped that by doing this it would not only assist the Command Staff in keeping track of events for the purposes of story-building, but would also help players in getting a clear sense of when things were happening and give them the ability to relate the goings on of their characters to other events transpiring across the ship.

However, after some conversation amongst the Command Staff following very helpful feedback from crew-members past and present, it was found that this system also had the opposite effect of making players feel restricted and under a little pressure to keep close track of the exact time and day. While this wasn't the intent, it's clear that this was potentially having an impact on creativity, and since that is at the forefront of what we do, the Command Staff has decided that the current system is unfeasible.

Therefore, once Shakedown Cruise is concluded, we will no longer be carrying forward the current "Day XXX - XXXX Hours" format with our posts. In future missions, crew members are encouraged to:

[>] Still make use of the Timeline feature, but instead of worrying about stating a specific time and day, use it to highlight when your post is happening in relation to "critical events" that have transpired and/or ongoing in the Mission. For example: "Following the Arrival of X"; "One Day Prior to X, Afternoon"

[>] There will be no strict formula for this. All we ask is that it gives players a clear idea of when your JP takes place.

[>] For said "critical events", Command Staff will still be internally observing the Days since Departure, purely for the purposes of our own story-building. Whenever a "critical event" transpires, we shall state a Day, and players can use those to determine roughly how much time has passed between the most current "critical event" and the last, just so that you have a sense of the time that has passed in the story.

[>] Should any players wish to, for whatever reason, provide a Day for their JPs Timeline or Personal Logs timestamp, they can request one from myself (Cmdr. Kanaka Shakura) and I will happily provide.

[>] For anyone curious, Day 000 is being treated as August 18th, 2393 by the Command Staff.

===============================

I hope this is clear for everyone and proves to be an amicable solution going forward. Should there be any confusion in regards to this announcement, do not hesitate to get in touch with me via our Discord for clarification.

Aside from this, I felt I might as well take the time to mention that progress with Shakedown Cruise is going swimmingly. The Command Staff and I are optimistic that we will be able to conclude the mission by the end of this month, thus opening the door for us to move from the Prelude to the start of our Main Story Arc. More on that as we get closer to the time, but it is our hope that as we progress to our next mission - which is planned to be much more expansive and freeform than our other missions up to this point - you as players will feel even more enabled to create a dynamic and three-dimensional environment for not just your characters but also the ship at large.

Lastly, a reminder that should you have any suggestions, questions or concerns, you are encouraged to voice them freely to the Command Staff at any time. Either in the #suggestions-complaints channel of our Discord, or privately via Direct Message. As I said at the beginning, we're attempting to do things differently, but that doesn't mean there won't be a few knots along the way that need to get straightened out. It's because of all of you that any of this is possible, and it's from your suggestions and feedback that we are able to keep growing and improving.

Thank you all for all that you have done and continue to do to make the Poseidon the amazing ship that it is.

Yours,

Cmdr. Kanaka "Kana" Shakura
Executive Officer and Chief Counsellor
U.S.S. Poseidon

Category: Sim Announcement
Tags: Timelines, Feedback, Suggestions, Sim Announcement

RSS Feed