Training Tutorial 7

			Cadet Orientation

Chat on Discord • Website Tour • Introduce Yourself • Prepare Your Character • Training Tutorials • FAQ • Intro to Star Trek Training Tutorials Training Tutorial 1 Where do I go from here? Training Tutorial 2 Writing cooperatively Training Tutorial 3 Your character Training Tutorial 4 Advancing the story through our character’s eyes Training Tutorial 5 Writers vs. characters Training Tutorial 6 Military time, stardates, and how to address officers Training Tutorial 7 How often to sim Edit this Nav Tutorial 7: How often to sim For our ships and starbases to be successful roleplaying teams, every crew member must be committed to playing at a certain pace that will keep the story active and fun to participate in. Over the course of decades, we’ve determined that we need everyone to sim at least three times a week, for an average of 12 times a month, spreading their sims out every few days to avoid dumping a bunch of sims all at once. When players consistently post at this pace, everyone has more fun – and there are lots of benefits for you, and everyone else on the crew: » You have fewer tags to gather. With fewer tags, you can write your sims faster and create shorter sims instead of having to backfill tons of content that you missed. This also saves your time and energy to invest in the fun parts of simming. » You feel more involved. You’ll find that when you participate more, your character will have as strong of a presence as others and will feel like an important part of the story. This will motivate you to develop your character more. » Your enjoyment increases. When you’re constantly having to catch up with the plot and reams of tags, your enjoyment can wane – you might even have feelings of burnout. Keeping your participation at the minimum levels ensures that simming doesn’t feel like a chore. » You meet the basic requirement for promotion to any rank. Simming regularly, at a pace of three times a week, is the baseline for promotion. If you’re not simming this often, you may be placed in “part-time simmer” status, which will keep you from being promoted, a frustrating hindrance to achieving your goals! Our ship staff work hard to ensure that our game is engaging, fast-paced, and that every member of the crew is enjoying themself. When some members of the crew don’t do their part to answer tags and contribute to the story as expected, it not only makes it harder for everyone else on the crew, but it makes more work for the ship’s staff to keep the plot of the story going and ensure that people know what to do next. We’ve also learned, from our long experience in simming, that as fewer people engage actively in the plot on a daily and weekly basis everything will begin to slow down, creating a vicious cycle – as the plot slows down, fewer people sim, meaning the plot slows down more. We hate that, and so do the crew members who have invested time and effort into building the story of that ship or base. WHAT YOU CAN DO WHEN YOU CAN’T KEEP UP Now you understand why simming regularly is so important, but what about if something comes up and you can’t? No worries – we have a number of systems in place to help! » If you fall behind: Ask for help! Chat with or email your mentor or Commanding Officer and let them know you’ve fallen behind and need to get back into the game. They’ll give you guidance on how to jump right in. » If you need a few days or a few weeks off: Just let us know! Send a quick message to your mentor or Commanding Officer to let them know you have to step back for a few days. The ship’s staff will deftly maneuver everyone around your character and allow you the rest you need to take care of anything that’s standing in the way of simming. **Letting us know is the most important thing so we can avoid waiting for your part of the story to continue.** When you’re ready to return, just email your CO and they’ll get you right back in the game. » If you need a month or more off: File for a Leave of Absence on our website. This quick and easy form will notify our staff that you’re going to take some time off, and saves your promotion progress and character status for up to a year. When you’re ready to return, just follow the instructions we send you in the email confirmation you receive after filing. If you’re gone just a few months, most likely you can return to your previous ship and your previous duty post. If it’s more than six months, we’ll be happy to find you a spot in our fleet that works for you. https://www.starbase118.net/members/forms/leave-of-absence/ WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE FALLING BEHIND A LOT If you find that you’re falling behind a lot, there could be a number of things that are standing in the way of simming. Perhaps you’re not enjoying the character as much as you thought, or the ship/base you were placed on just doesn’t feel right. Consider the following to help juice your creativity: » Check out our suggestions for improving your simming frequency: We have a whole list of ideas that can help alleviate writer’s block you may be encountering, alongside instructions on how to implement them in our game. https://www.starbase118.net/members/tutorials/improve-frequency/ » Consider transferring to a new installation: If you don’t feel like the stories are what you expected, or maybe the pace of sims is faster than you like, you can transfer your character to a new installation in the fleet without issue. Transfers are allowed after two weeks on your current ship, and thereafter once every six months. We can only transfer you into a position that’s available, of course. Simply file this form on our website to get the process started: https://www.starbase118.net/members/forms/transfer/ SEE ALSO Extra credit! Time to get started on the Ensigns Orientation to learn more about all the ways you can set yourself up for success on your ship: https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php?title=Ensigns_Orientation You can always find this tutorial on our website: https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php/Training_Tutorial_7

	Starfleet Academy