EMAIL SIMMING - E-Mail simulations are conducted over electronic mail. Officers participate by writing email which is
sent across to the whole crew onboard the ship. While it may lack the live action of an IRC sim, E-Mail sims allow you to
take part as many times a day, week or month as you want to. The only limit to what your character can do is common
sense, your creativity, and imagination! E-Mail sims are always full of surprise, because unlike IRC sims, there is never a
certain end to a story, and the conclusion, if there is one, will depend solely on what happens as the days and weeks
pass by!

Simming is a recreational activity designed to allow you to be a StarFleet officer for one brief moment each week. Above all,
remember this is for FUN, don't allow other people to ruin it for you, do not ruin it for them, and each week you will have an
hour of fun and excitement that you will hopefully enjoy to the fullest.

It is usual for the Captain or in the Captain's absence, the XO, to start the direction to which the sim will head. If the
Captain has a particular sim plan, she will coordinate the particular event to occur in the first log for the sim. For example,
the Captains log may have a intruder alert, indicating that the sim may head into a security breach scenario. If the captain
decides to leave the sim in the hands of the crew, she will mail a log that allows the crew to chose a particular direction,
through the actions each officer takes in their logs over the week. For example the Captain posts a personal log, and the
engineering officers log, delves into what he has been doing for relaxation in the holodeck. Logs do not always extend to
shooting dominion soldiers, or averting warp core breaches. Sometimes personal, slower paced logs allow for the crew as
a whole to get to know one another, and increase the simming experience. Overall though, once the Captain posts her log,
the sim grows from there. At the beginning of the following week the Captain will again post her log, her orders ensuring that
the crews logs are heading in the right direction to avoid straying from the plot of the sim. This process continues to the end
of the sim and the ship moves to the next adventure.

There are two different log types, they are Duty Logs and Personal Logs. A duty log is where a person posts what he is
doing in his/her job. Duty always come first, but it doesn't mean you cant have time for fun. A Personal log is where a person
posts his feelings, or off duty recollections of what happened to that person personally. There is no required number of these
but when you post these, the CO looks better on you for promotions. The two different types of logs can be incorporated
together into one log if you want to do this. When you are on your ship's mailing list, again, watch what the other people are
doing and follow their examples. You will find with experience, that generally two formats for email logs are evident
throughout the different ships. The first is what is known as a communicative style.

What is Expected?
Your CO will typically expect you to write one log a week. Whiles expectations and standards for what a "quality" log is wil
l differ from ship to ship, it is in general a log in which you either add to the current SIM plot going on about the ship, show
us something about your character, his thoughts of feelings on things, or a glimpse into his past.

The first of these three is:
always the easiest as you incorporate parts from other people's logs into yours. The second and third are typically used for
"character development". A quality log does not worry so much about length as it does about content. Do not take that to
mean you can write a paragraph for your log and get away from it. The better logs will typically have *some* kind of
development in them and be at least two if not three paragraphs long. Many people doubt their abilities in writing simply
because they have never done this type of writing before. If you are uncomfortable with your log, or are not sure that it is
of sufficient quality, send it directly to your CO, or your XO the CO's absence, with a line at the top "How is this? Is there
anything wrong with it?" Your CO will typically get back to you within 24 - 48 hours. In most cases, the log that is initially
sent is fine, and your CO will tell you to go ahead and post it. If not, your CO will write you back and tell you what you
might want to change. Your CO is there to help *you* have a good time, not the other way around.

OOC comments are normally written before the start of your log. They can be used to clarify something that might have
been misunderstood in a previous log or in some one else's log. The main purpose of the OOC comments for EMail logs
is to inform. They can also be used to comment on what's going on, add in suggestions or information for other people to
use or to let your CO know why your log is late or if you're going to be going out of town. Keeping your CO informed of
such things as going out of town or explaining why you haven't/won't be submitting a log is a GOOD THING. You don't
want your CO to have to track you down in order to find out where your logs are, neither you or your CO will be very
happy if this happens.


Ten Rules of Simming:
1. Creativity is key, creative logs give life to your character.
2. Pay attention to detail. Keep up with what others write in their logs... it just might effect your character.
3. Be flexible, when you're SIMming anything can happen.
4. Remember the Golden Rule, treat others in you logs the way you want to be treated in theirs... with respect.
5. For every action there is a reaction. If you put a phaser to your head and fire, chances are you're dead. Don't do dumb
    stuff.
6. Words are powerful, use them carefully, and write so others understand what you're doing.
7. Communicate; talk out of character (OOC) with other crew members in email. It builds cohesion and can add to
    creativity.
8. Stay involved, you can't always be the center of attention... but that doesn't mean your character can't do anything. It is
    a big ship.
9. Develop your character. Make sure you use traits about your character in your logs. Don't just write a BIO and then
    play your character completely different.
10. Be consistent, that way others know what to expect of you. Over time it can be like habit.