User:Didrik Stennes/Sandbox

This is a transcript of the Monthly Fleetwide "Year of the Commodores" chat, which took place on 239811.21. All responses are reproduced as-is, with no corrections of spelling, grammar, etc. Non-relevant messages (e.g., GIFs) have not been transcribed. Special formatting (e.g., italic and bold text) has not been carried over.

Introduction

T+0:00	Serala	Alright, everyone! It's here at last! Our Monthly Fleetwide Chat. This month, we're speaking with our 6 Commodores and asking the questions each of you want to know the answers to.
T+0:00	Serala	We have a thread started. If you want to ask some questions, please drop them in there and we will get as many as we can get to.
T+0:02	Serala	Now, let's introduce our Commodores Commodores, please introduce yourselves and tell us which ship/installation you command.
T+0:03	Nicholotti	Kalianna Nicholotti, aka Marissa, formally in command of the USS Excalibur - A as of a few days ago. 🙂
T+0:03	Taybrim	Hello! My name is Jamie and I play Commodore Sal Taybrim, Commanding officer of that big old Trojan Class II Starbase whose name you might be familiar with: StarBase 118 Ops!
T+0:04	Reynolds	I'm Emma, player of Vice Admiral Quinn Reynolds, and I command the USS Gorkon. :sovereign_class:
T+0:04	Vataix	Roshanara Rahman, aka Rich, and now playing as Ambassador Rivi Vataix for @amity Outpost!
T+0:05	Rajel	I'm Jess playing Jalana Rajel the CO of the USS Constitution (or as we call her: Conny)
T+0:06	Kells	Hey! I'm Tony, currently playing Aron Kells, CO of Thor (though both of those are likely to change soonish) (stay tuned!)

Question: Finding inspiration

T+0:06	Serala	Thank you, Commodores, and thank you for taking time out to be here today. Now, let's get to the questions. First up, we have a question from @FltAdml. Wolf How do you stay inspired with writing after all these years as a CO!
T+0:07	Wolf	So amazing that we have this many people with this much experience! +1 to thanks for being here during the chat today to share your wisdom with everyone.
T+0:08	Shayne	prepares to take copious notes
T+0:08	Raga	prepares to copy from Shayne's notes
T+0:09	Sevo	prepares to steal Shayne's notes
T+0:09	Ohnari	hopes all ships remain as is while the Commodores are away
T+0:09	Nicholotti	Honestly, a lot of it is the community, my ship, my players...for everything I try to put together for them, they provide just as much for me in the way of creative light along this path of collaboration.
T+0:09	Dakora	D'aww...
T+0:10	Taybrim	For me staying inspired comes from two things. One is - I've been a DM/ST/CO/game master for many years. since 1996. This includes over 15 years of online chat STing and over twenty years of simming. So part of it is I love storytelling. It's one of my passions. The second is collaboration. Telling all those stories yourself is hard but bouncing ideas off of others, giving them the agency to write their own ideas and building as a group keeps momentum going long term.
T+0:11	Kells	Yeah, +1 to what Marissa & Jamie wrote about collabing. BUT I'm also going to add in that when you're around for a long time (a long, long, long time), it's also important to be flexible, because the folks around you change a lot. even if you have, say, a really reliable simmer who sticks around for a couple of years -- which is itself a LONG time -- it's important that you're able to craft stories with and around everyone, before, during, and after that person's here and gone
T+0:12	Rajel	I've been a roleplayer since I was 8.. there are always stories in my mind and coming online when I was 18 to start RP with people across the country at first and then across the world just fueled that to the brim and lets it run over 😄 My inspiration comes from the community, the crew, the stories they write, their biographies, the chat even that comes up with the funnest ideas based on one little word at times and I also may be inspired by books and TV and all that but he biggest part is the excitement to write the stories with people who are just awesome and the surprise of seeing where they will go because the collaborative nature always brings surprises 🙂 It just doesn't get boring.
T+0:12	Vataix	For me, it’s three things: 1) my crew is constantly changing: new members, returning members, members with new ideas for missions and story arcs for their characters. So there’s always something new—a new challenge, a new story possibility, character relationship—to explore. 2) I think the key to longevity in the game is to make sure you still have your own stories to tell. I’ve played seven or eight PCs I think at this point, Rahman for the longest, but once I was happy with her central story being told, I was ready to try a new character and new story to tell. I think if you start to lose inspiration or can’t think of more for your character, maybe that’s okay to just let them take a break from the spotlight (or give them a real conclusion) 3) keep reading, watching, and otherwise consuming other great stories around you for inspiration
T+0:12	Taybrim	After you do it long enough you get used to changes 😂
T+0:14	Rajel	I agree about the having your own stories to tell too.. so important! You may be the CO and want to bring other people's stories to the light but your own shouldn't be in the shadows 🙂
T+0:14	Reynolds	I think it's a lot of things? Like Jamie says, your crew and the community are a huge font of inspiration--I think the Gorkonites can attest to the number of times an idle comment in ship chat has become a plot twist or even an entire mission, because it sparks ideas. But I think it's also partly knowing that a lot of time inspiration is something you make. There's a quote I love: "Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over time they discover that routine is a better friend than inspiration."
T+0:14	Kells	Absolutely this! one of the things that I've noticed is that my sense of time has changed, so what seemed like a long time doesn't necessarily any longer. that could just be that I'm older now, though... I was late teens when I first played around with 118 and now I'm mid-30s
T+0:14	Raga	Ohhhh, so that's why you let your ship lose a nacelle and yourself get captured. 😛
T+0:15	Taybrim	I have an inspirational card on my mirror that simply states: "everything starts with an idea" The concept is that when you have an idea you can push it aside or act. a lot of inspiration is saying yes and acting on ideas. acting on your crew's ideas and your own ideas
T+0:15	Ohnari	I figured she lost a bet.
T+0:15	Nicholotti	Or sometimes you sacrifice so that there's a good story for everyone, including you. 😉