Email sims

[Nemesis 0]

How about starting email sims on STSF, it would be a great benefiet for people who live in other timezones. You could use something like the Challenger project as a sort of academy. You know an open message board sim where people can learn the format.

[Apollo 0]

Interesting idea, but I think this falls into the same catagory as the 'adding' acads posts. ;)

[Vex Xiang 0]

Email sims are great for those who just cannot commit to a specific chatroom sim time. But they do lack a certain element of interaction and spur-of-the-moment events that can only happen when you're all playing together at the same time.

 

I personally do not enjoy email sims or message board sims. I wouldn't be opposed to STSF having one, but I wouldn't join it.

[Nemesis 0]

Email sims are great for those who just cannot commit to a specific chatroom sim time. But they do lack a certain element of interaction and spur-of-the-moment events that can only happen when you're all playing together at the same time.

 

I personally do not enjoy email sims or message board sims. I wouldn't be opposed to STSF having one, but I wouldn't join it.

Well, I'm on 2 email sims and they both have spuratic plot changes and so on. For a lot of people who love writting and plot development they are great ideas.

[Travis Kroells 0]

Never really liked Pbem, besides, I'm in enough sims as is. Although, Pbem's do tend to get more plot done faster.

[Nemesis 0]

No one cares? I thought Images would be excited.

[Images 0]

No one cares? I thought Images would be excited.

ja? und vy do you zink zat you crazy monkey man?

[volchdusema 0]

If anything, do a Message Board SIM. It's alot less hectic with less e-mails, etc...

[Pip_The_Great 0]

I enjoy e-mail sims and would be interested in one. Here I think it would be structured well, it's just when like six of your eight crew members stop posting is when things suck.

[FredM 0]

Hey there,

 

Personally, I have been involved in two e-mail sims during my time online. I must say that I found both enjoyable. However, that being said, I hold a firm belief that it takes a certain type of player in order to have a e-mail sim run properly.

 

The fact is that many individuals have a very hard time writing regular logs for a standard game. E-mail sims are perfect for, in my view, players who have been doing live action environments for a long time and can properly articulate character actions/advancement within a stand alone story form. Now I know as I type this there are people who are thinking "Hey! Wait just a minute! I (or someone I know) started simming by a play by e-mail/message board sim!"

 

There are indeed a lot of people who fall into this category. However, as someone who was honored enough to eventually help run one a e-mail sim for a brief period of time, I can tell you that my statement still applies. In addition, something which even transpired during the Challenger pre-launch event, is the issue of constant participation and reading.

 

Some individuals participated in the message board event on a regular basis, then suddenly vanished...never to be heard from again for whatever the reason may be. In the same light, there were several situations which took place where it was clear people had not read what others had posted. In a day and age when I know there is a percentage of advanced sim players who do not read their fellow simmer's duty/personal logs, this is a potentially disastrous situation for a e-mail/board sim.

 

So to the general question: Do I believe a e-mail sim in STSF would work? Yes, though I would feel such an item might need to be reserved for individuals with some previous live sim experience.

 

Luckily, as I know many will disagree, this is only my personal opinion and in no way reflects that of STSF, or the Admiralty at large. :D

Edited September 10, 2004 by FredM

[Dumbass 0]

Some individuals participated in the message board event on a regular basis, then suddenly vanished...never to be heard from again for whatever the reason may be.

I was one of these people - or, more accurately, one of my alter egos was. Play-by-email sims do take up quite a bit of time, and there are a lot more details and nuances to keep track of than even one of Huff's sims. I would be at work thinking about what to do for my next log only to find my idea obsolete by the time I could get home to write it. Then I went out of town for a few days and was completely lost by the time I got back.

 

Play-by-Email sims can be a lot of fun, but you have to be comfortable with siming with a group where any individual by himself can take the plot in a completely new direction with a single log posting. Even the "controlled anarchy" of the Qob couldn't prepare me for that. I like structure.

Edited September 10, 2004 by Dumbass

[mCapt. JacobD 0]

Hey folks,

 

Please no cameras as I post here :P.

 

Anyway, I've done an email sim before as well (*has a suspicion that fred and he at one time were on the same email sim*). While they are great, unless you have a talented group of writers who can piece together a very LARGE plotline, they become pointless pretty quickly.

 

I love getting to write, but for me right now, that's not something I would be interested in. There's a new dynamic of simming that falls into place with an email sim and unless you've been exposed to it before, it does require a very large learning curve.

Edited September 30, 2004 by mCapt. JacobD

[Captain Huff 0]

I think it's an intriguing idea. I've always been a big fan of having a variety of sim types and styles within a forum, since people come in a variety of types and styles.

[Keb 0]

I'm an admin of a message-board roleplaying site, and it does indeed have problems with people coming and going, writing too little or too much...but the format is actually simple enough to get some good games/stories going. Like any group project, each thread's quality, length, and durability depend entirely on the people involved. It does allow people in Aus and people in the US to play together no matter what their schedules--but many of the players prefer to RP in our chat room when they have the chance, too.

 

I don't know about email sims...never done anything quite like that before. Message board simming could have it's place here, though part of what excites me about joining the STSF games is the scheduled chat gaming.

 

And that's my two credits.

[Eredan 0]

I am currently part of long-established and large PbEM group, and I can tell you a lot about e-mail sims (everything written below applies to my group and not neccessarily to any other).

 

Play-by-Email sims can be a lot of fun, but you have to be comfortable with siming with a group where any individual by himself can take the plot in a completely new direction with a single log posting. Even the "controlled anarchy" of the Qob couldn't prepare me for that. I like structure.

 

My group has a real Constitution document that applies to each and every player in the group. This document states the rights, obligations and rules of conduct, effectively bringing organized and structured playing.

As for changing plot with a single sim, that can rarely happen, and is never welcomed. Here is how it works. Everyone is free to add new ideas, twists and sub-plots that will enrich the main plot. However, before you can make any drastic changes, you MUST consult with your CO and XO first. Only if they approve this plot deviation, can you post it to the group. If someone sim such deviation without prior consultation with commanding officers, his/her sim will be ignored, and such individual will be reprimanded.

 

Some individuals participated in the message board event on a regular basis, then suddenly vanished...never to be heard from again for whatever the reason may be. In the same light, there were several situations which took place where it was clear people had not read what others had posted. In a day and age when I know there is a percentage of advanced sim players who do not read their fellow simmer's duty/personal logs, this is a potentially disastrous situation for a e-mail/board sim.

 

As for players suddenly vanishing, this can of course always happen. However, there are number of factors that bring the number of such player to a bare minimum. Most important of these is the Academy Training program that all new-comers must attend and finish in order to be posted on the ship. Training usually lasts from 7 to 10 days, during which Cadets go through mission with two training officers. The goal of Academy Training program is, on one hand to educate new simmers, and on another to weed-out time-wasters, players without a real commitment nor desire for simming. In doing so, it is asured that those players that are transfered to ships/stations are dedicated and willing to participate in the game.

From time to time, it happens that someone sims without fully reading sims that were posted earlier. This is, however, considered absolutely rude and a violation of one of the basic rules of e-mail simming. Commanding officers always make sure that such behavior discontinues.

 

While they are great, unless you have a talented group of writers who can piece together a very LARGE plotline, they become pointless pretty quickly.

While they are great, unless you have a talented group of writers who can piece together a very LARGE plotline, they become pointless pretty quickly.

 

Even though it is true that e-mail sims require certain level of writting talent, you don't have to be a novel-writer to make the plot work. What you need is a group of dedicated players willing to do their part in making the stories interesting and fun to play in. Plot in e-mail sims (as well as in on-line sims) is evolving creature, it needs everyone's input to grow and prosper.

 

E-mail simming is excellent way to imerge yourself in the Star Trek world, to experience how it feels to be a part of it on daily basis. It also gives you countless oportunities for character development. However, I would not go that far to say it is better then on-line simming. Never! I view these as two different forms of experiencing Star Trek world. As much as I am excited with opportunity to pursue my imagination and creative potentials in e-mail sims, I am equally trilled with real time interaction and decision making in on-line sims. And with the presence of logs in the Advanced sims in STSF, I imagine that difference between these two is not all that large afteral.