This Month’s Writing Tip: The Meaning of Promotion

 

I thought for this month’s writing tip I’d get a tad more esoteric that I usually do and discuss something we don’t normally deal with. Normally when I write these sort of writing tips I think of ways to try and help people improve themselves as writers, but this month I’d like to look at a way we can improve ourselves as SIMmers. To do so, I’ll take a look at something we’re all familiar with at one level or another – Promotion.

 

Promotion is one of those things we all look forward to as players for a number of reasons. Promotion means we’ve been around for awhile, that we are taken seriously by our captain and peers. It also (depending on your ship) means you get 50 extra skill points to allocate. Plus, being able to sign your posts with a new rank gives you goosebumps, at least for a little while. In game, we get to write our characters giving orders to those of lower rank…it’s plain to see that with promotion comes privilege.

 

In the martial arts, when a person attains a new rank, the instructors are usually very careful when they award that person his or her belt, certificate, what have you. They say (at least in my dojo) that the person has satisfied all of the requirements to assume the RESPONSIBILTY of the new rank. Never in the presentation is the word privilege mentioned.

 

Over the years, I’ve come to view promotion in the simm in a similar manner. Promotion in the simm should not only come with new privileges…it should also come with new responsibilities. When a person is promoted from Ensign to Lt, Junior Grade it is a symbol that they have attained, in the captain’s eyes, a new level. With that new level should also come added responsibility. This doesn’t mean that they should be doing things that are a captain’s job, like keeping track of posts and guiding the plot. But it DOES mean that they should become more present. Perhaps they begin including other characters in their posts, setting up other characters for posts, encouraging others to write, being there to answer questions from the rookies. They should try to become a more serious asset to the ship.

 

When a person gets promoted to Commander or Lt. Commander, it should be a big deal, both in game and out of game. I would expect a character of Lt Commander or above to be even more involved. The Captain should be able to entrust people of this rank to oversee the simm while they are gone. This person should be able to resolve minor disputes, identify upcoming plot inconsistencies and resolve them in his or her next post. This person should be able to make recommendations to the Captain about posting awards, assist the Captain in identifying those that deserve a promotion, etc, etc.

 

We all know that what we do is for entertainment. We all know that what we do is in a large part fantasy. But in reality, part of what we do is improving our writing. If we think of what we do in the proper terms, it is an opportunity for us to improve ourselves in a number of ways. While this is a subject best broached in another writing tip, I will say that our players’ level of involvement in their simm is in direct proportion to its success. When you have four people at the top trying to make the simm a better writing environment instead of one, you will have a smoother writing environment for all the players. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, your players will have something important to aspire to.

 

Thanks,

Russ