How come I have no friends?

[Travis Kroells 0]

Hey ya'all it's Travis Kroells, here to help you make a couple friends on your starship, why!?  Doesnt it always seem like that hour passes so fast, and your still sitting on the bridge calibrating sensors, fixing the replicators or geting yelled at by some one with a higher rank then you?  Well Im here to solve your woes!  With two simple words:  Joint logs.

 

Now, when people hear these words they cringe, who wants to spend ANY time out side of the sim working on things that take place inside of the sim?  Well you don't want your character to be a stiff necked, one sided security officer do you?  No!

 

Joint logs are almost as important as regular logs due to the story they can provide.  Heres an example that almost makes it nessicary to do a joint log...

 

Person A and person B just ended their sim time with the two meeting in the holodeck for some rec. time.  Now, these two fellas could just sit on their rear's and wait untill next weeks sim and just have their, hike or picinic during the sim...but that just wastes time!  Have you ever noticed that when you have a serious, character developing type of talk with some one, it takes way to long, and you have nothing else to do in the sim?

 

Thats what joint logs are for!  People stiffle and complain about, how they can't track that person down after the sim to perpose one to the other...well e-mail them!  If that person honestly dosent check their mail box every once in a while for sim related bussiness or other things, that person probally doesnt have time to effectivly sim in the first place.

 

So you say you've sent an e-mail, now what!?  Well choose how your going to write that log silly!  I've done joint logs using AIM chat, and wether you use 3rd, 1st or 7th person format it works!  It's a simple process where you type your dialoge, actions and thoughts back and forth in an IM!  It's simple, and if done with a little preperation can be easy to adjust and modify for log form.  However if there is one down side, its the fact that it takes just about as long to type in AIM as it would during the sim itself...

 

Now!  Theres always the popular e-mail option.  I know of several different types and I'll go over each of them in detail.  The first, and offten most popular type is what I'd like to call, The three word story...not because of the size, but because of the way its written.

 

The three word story is a popular thread on tons of message boards, where some one starts the story with three words ( I.E. Kirk went to...) and the next person replys with a post of three more words (..the grocery store...) and on and on.  You can easly adapt this to a joint log.  A person, which you and the other person decide starts the log, typing as much as you desire.  You can easily send it to the other person, he or she adds on and sends it back...and it goes on and on untill its finished.  It's a popular one because of it's flexiblity.  if some one writes something that your character says or does, the writer can easily change that paragraph, not the whole storry because of its format...Say that the two of you have already written 6 paragraphs, but the other person writes the seventh, and you dont like it...well change it!  You can easily change the seventh with out changing the first six...and now for the down side.  This is also a long time to make log type...depending on how offten the two people check their mail, and also write.

 

Now, an other type of joint log, but not one of my favorites, leting one person controal every thing...(caution this type of log writing should only be used, with trusted and good writers)  Now this one is fairly simple.  One person writes the whole log, including your character, and hopefully with your permission posts it.  This type of log can be very fast, mainly because its only dependant on one person to finish it.  Of course, modifying it because the person included doesnt like it, can be very hard to do, offten forcing you to start from scratch again, and also the person writing can do some serrious damage, if they post the log with out the others permission, hence forth my warning.

 

Alright!  This posts long enough and I cant think of any more types right now!  Just remember, all of the Star Trek shows usually didnt show what happened after a persons duty shift was down, and neither should our sims...thats what logs are for...and more importanly joint logs, their a great way to write deep, serious conversations that would other wise take up half of the sim!  So good luck, and good log writing!

[Travis Kroells 0]

Bump/ Fine, dont comment!  I dont need you!  ::Sniff::

[STSF StarDust 0]

Hey.. I like the post!!

Very good idea.

 

Dac and I have one we just posted today in the Arcadia boards. See Ziggy flirt shamelessly with Dac. See Dac cut Ziggys clothes off... watch Ziggy bleed...

 

And we did that as a *you start, I'll add, and we'll keep going*

[Images 0]

hmmm how about you send an e-mail with a basic plan, the other person comments on th e plan, the first person then writes the log and sends it to person 2. person 2 then makes changes and sends it back. DONE :D

[ens_keraz 0]

yup essentialy joint logs are pbem simming.

[Vex Xiang 0]

Arent all logs basically pbem simming?

[FredM 0]

Arent all logs basically pbem simming?

Hey there,

 

No...not really. Having been involved in such a game for several years, the major differences are as follows.

 

• The writing is the sole base of all activity. Logs do not act as "retellings" of what has already transpired.
  
• Logs are normally more complex, longer and detailed.
  
• Time requirements are often more due to the need to write longer logs, read other's material, etc.
  

[2nd Lt JacobD 0]

I kinda think that the logs are also for character building.  In some of my logs, I have explained a little about a mysterious box that I carry with me all the time and why my character's father has disappeared.  Hopefully, with Captain Moose's permission, I can develop a little more character as far as why my character's academy entrance was accelerated and a few other things.

 

Logs are helpful in the fact that you the player have the chance to push the envelope and develop an inner story for yourself, as long as it's within reason.  If the logs were simply a retelling of what everyone did in the previous week's sim, they would be very boring and a lot of new people would lose interest in joining such a diverse group of players.

 

I try to make it a point to read some of the sim logs and the logs from various players, as it helps me learn a few things.  I have especially been interested in the court martial proceedings that are happening aboard SH Aegis.  (Note to Fred: Sorry for taking up a spot last night...I forgot I was still signed on in the kitchen :D).

[Trichon 0]

I agree completly.  Joint logs are a great way to tell a story that you couldnt otherwise could not tell during a normal sim.  And they are excellent for character development.  I have done a couple of them one just being posted over on the arcadia logs.  Not only are they great development but they can be alot of fun.  

 

They also let you see your character through the eyes of your ship-mate's.

[Images 0]

well yes, a bad log just lists what happened, a good log gets what happened and puts it in context.

[Vex Xiang 0]

The writing is the sole base of all activity. Logs do not act as "retellings" of what has already transpired.

 

Logs are normally more complex, longer and detailed.

 

Time requirements are often more due to the need to write longer logs, read other's material, etc.

 

Hmm I disagree. While yes in a pbem the logs are the only activity, regular sim logs are rarely "retellings" of events within the sim. Often they are extensions, going off into an adventure that wasnt carried out in the sim because of time constraints, or to explain what a character is doing between this sim and the next. I do sometimes see logs that are just general recaps of the prior sim, but mostly they are done by newer players.

 

And often any logs I see from my ship (USS Excalibur- best sim on the net) are very long and complex. Though I've never been in a pbem so I have no frame of reference.

[Travis Kroells 0]

Hey there,

Hey there yourself.  You start your posts with that phrase all the time...but Im not going to demote you for that...El Garnoopy can when he finally gets a foot hold and overtakes cuba.

 

I like to see logs as, what happens under the surface.  Say a friend of yours dies in a sim, of course your going to be, sad, angry and a ton of other stuff.  Your not going to go through that sim with something like:  ::Is mooping around due to the fact that he's sad because (Insert name, possibly Vanroy) is dead.::

 

Thats just bad simming.  We dont wear our hearts on our sleves in RL, and we shouldnt in the sims either, let the logs say what your thinking, what your friendship was like...your past, your present, and your hopes for the future.  

 

::puts down the mic, and leaves due to the fact that he's happy that he told his story::

 

(See?)

[Dumbass 0]

I like to see logs as, what happens under the surface.  Say a friend of yours dies in a sim, of course your going to be, sad, angry and a ton of other stuff.  Your not going to go through that sim with something like:  ::Is mooping around due to the fact that he's sad because (Insert name, possibly Vanroy) is dead.::

Oh, great, Kroells killed me off and he didn't even stay around long enough to identify the body!

[Images 0]

naaaaah we left that up to the team at CSI, we're merging STSF with them. do you get any of the memos?

[Travis Kroells 0]

Oh, great, Kroells killed me off and he didn't even stay around long enough to identify the body!

The next time I kill you off, I'll just stick a large sign in you saying, "Vanroys corpse"