State of the Sim January 2021: Recognitions and the Year Ahead

Posted on Saturday January 9th, 2021 @ 11:42am by Captain Franklin Johnson
Edited on Saturday January 9th, 2021 @ 11:43am

Hello Crew,

It has been a while since I sat down at my computer to complete one of these. Times have been hard here in the United States, as has been quite obvious on the news as well as pertaining to COVID-19 and a second wave last year - or is it third? Regardless, times have been tough, and I wanted to take a moment at the beginning of this year to show some positivity to start us out on the right foot.

First and foremost, I am happy to announce that Pegasus Fleet has bestowed a prestigious award upon one of our own. Recently the fleet applied itself to the task of polling for the bestowing of awards upon those most qualified and dedicated to those awards and their intentions. One of those awards was the Executive Officer of the Year Award for 2020, and I am extremely proud to say that Cmdr. Kanaka "Kana" Shakura was awarded that honor for the entire fleet.

A few words to signify this prestigious event.

Kanaka is a close friend of mine and took on the personal task of assisting me with the sim several months back. Our original XO Major Phoebe Graydon was enduring some very hard times and dealing with work, so I had personally requested the presence of Kanaka to assist here due to my knowledge of their background and commitment. They built upon what Puppy created and placed down as the critical foundation for our sim, Kanaka building on that foundation and constructing a very sturdy and robust framework for our new home. With the rise of COVID-19, understandably we all struggled due to our essential service positions, and Kanaka himself due to his position as educator at a university. Despite the overwhelming number of times that work and life have contested, and despite the numerous occasions where it became extremely difficult for all of us to continue, Kanaka inspired the Command Staff and gave us the motivation we needed to continue. Overall, they have been an extremely dedicated XO.

I am very pleased with Kanaka, I am very happy they have chosen to stay with us. I believe firmly that Kanaka deserves this award and I am extremely happy to see their hard work awarded on such an awesome and prestigious fleetwide level. Their efforts do honor not only to this sim, but to the fleet as a whole, and give others an example of what to aspire to.

Congratulations again!

Secondly, I've heard from many crew - and I do take notice of this - about their concerns with the progress of the sim. As I've stated multiple times, I have converted this sim to a slower-paced sim that better accommodates the needs of its essential workers and those of a busier schedule. At one time the USS Poseidon was the best Sim in the fleet, and I state this regardless of whatever Pegasus Fleet may confirm or deny. I further state this knowing our posting record as one of if not the highest ever seen in this fleet. We achieved much during that time, however COVID-19 happened and as usual with much of the world, things changed. We are evolving with that change instead of resisting it, and better situating ourselves to be a friendly sim for individuals who may not have the necessary time for more "prestigious" sims, but want to be part of the simming community.

Our mission to promote and encourage crew into their own futures with their characters remains unchanged. The USS Poseidon remains a sim that aims to create the future CO's, XO's, and notable crew of the Fleet and other fleets. So far that mission has been an outstanding success and I am very pleased to look around and see the results of that. Every sim that is created as a result of that players activity on ours is not only a success story for that player, but a proof of concept and a mark of success for the USS Poseidon. In this light, we are an extremely successful sim.

Furthermore, I argue vehemently that despite whatever records may be shown, the sacrifices of the crew of the USS Poseidon as players during this COVID-19 crisis, and the amount of essential workers we have, proves we are a sim that aims to better situate and adjust to the needs of those players. We do not aim to force activity on players beyond what is in the rules (in which case we will after a period of two to four weeks) and we work with players diligently to resolve any issues with other crew. At the end of the day, I firmly believe we as a crew have not only better situated ourselves but also have provided one the rare safe spaces for those particular of their busy schedules.

At the end of the day, I will not hold any crew accountable if they wish to leave because of this. This change in our posting schedule will not go away. We will quite possibly never return to being the fastest sim in the fleet - and I state clearly, we were the top posting sim for a few months there. I do not aim for those things anymore and I firmly believe my crew should not concern themselves with such goals. Rather, our goal should focus entirely on committing ourselves to the growth of our characters, to providing a safe environment to tell stories, and to give everyone a chance to get away from the horrors of this pandemic and their work efforts.

In conclusion, our plot is moving forward - slowly. This, however, does not mean you should slow down with it. All players on this sim are free to tag and consult other players and engage in stories. All players are free to request the Command Staff - in particular myself - to help create or to create a JP to better accommodate them and others, if necessary. All players are encouraged to interact with each other, to remind everyone of necessary and outstanding tags, and to continue to be the best dang crew a CO can ever ask for - because I am proud of all of you.

If you have any concerns about anything stated today, please consult me on discord and I'll return the inquiry as best and as soon as possible. Thank you all for being part of our wonderful crew. Once again, congratulations Kanaka!

A hearty Happy New Year to all, as well!

Cordially,
Capt. Franklin Johnson
Commanding Officer
USS Poseidon

Category: Sim Announcement

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