12-27-2024, 11:55 PM
== Hey there Cadet, I’m Lieutenant Beka Olsen and I’m going to be your instructor for your time here at the Academy. Let me start off with welcoming you to Federation Space. As you'll discover, Federation Space is a great game and community, and we hope that you have fun here with us. If you ever have any questions and need to contact me, please feel free to PM me on the forum. Additionally, feel free to stretch your writing legs over at the Academy Lounge
As you may have already discovered, good place to read for a refresher before we get started is How to Play a Security Officer. It will help give you a good idea of what your department does.
Now, on with our lessons! Today we’re going to cover formatting basics. Because Federation Space is made up of players from all over the world, we have come up with a standardized set of formatting rules. By using this one style, it makes it easier for everyone to follow and understand each other’s posts.
The first thing to keep in mind is that we post in third person, past tense.
An example of this would be: Beka was excited to go skiing; she was so excited, she fell off her seat!
NOT this: I am excited to go skiing; I’m so excited, that I fall off my seat!
The next thing to know is that we use double spacing between paragraphs and between our character’s spoken lines. This just means when you write a spoken line with quotation marks “ ”, you would leave a space to indicate a break in the paragraph. When in doubt, double space!
For thoughts and extra emphasis, we also use a certain style. All the character’s thoughts need to be written in italics. Character thoughts are also one of the few times that writing in the First Person is acceptable. To write in italics, just press the I button and begin typing. Your text should show up in italics. You can also use the keyboard short cut ctrl I (for PC) or Command I (Mac) to get italics. When you are finished with your thought simply hit the I button (or keyboard shortcut) again to end the italics. Please note that if you post on a phone or tablet you might be required to use the bb code tag. The BB Code for italics is [ I ] Text [ / I ] (without the spaces).
Your character’s thought will then become: I can’t wait until I get to go skiing again.
For extra emphasis in writing -- to make something really stand out -- we use bold text. The procedure is the same as italics, just press the B button instead of the I. The keyboard short cut is also the same, only substitute b for I. Additionally the BB Code for phone users is the same as it was for italics only with a “b” rather than an I.
You will then get: Beka absolutely loved alpine skiing.
It is rare that a player's character has the ability to communicate telepathically. In general telepathy is closely monitored by Commanding Officers to make sure it is not being abused and that players are not "super-simming" their character. With that said, there are some telepathic races on Fedspace and on occasion multiple telepaths will speak to each other through this unique skill. Telepathic communication looks like this:
~Hello, I am now speaking directly into your mind!~
If your character is not telepathic then in general you do not need to worry about this technique but should be aware it exists in case you see crewmembers on your ship using it.
When we receive verbal communications through a comm device, such as your comm badge, from another crew member or the computer, we need to drop the quotations “ ” from it and instead use brackets [ ].
So if I were sending you a comm message, it would look something like this: [Beka here. Please report to the Holodeck for your final examination.]
If you are the one speaking to somebody through a comm device, you would still use the quotations “ ”.
Finally we’ll talk about our Out Of Character posting, or OOC, like I’m doing now. This is text surrounded by == ==. You use OOC when you want to talk to another player and not write it as part of the storyline. The places you won’t need to do this are in general discussion areas such as your ship’s OOC section and Hailing Frequencies.
We also ask that you run your posts through a word processor, like Word, to spell check it before you post. You don’t need to be a perfect speller or grammar whiz, but doing this step makes it easier for everyone to understand posts.
A good way to get the feel of how all these formatting rules work and to get a feel of the site in general is to browse around the forums. Take a look at the active ship areas and see how the players are using the elements listed above.
Now, let’s get to some posting. Please include as many of the above elements into your posting. Have fun!==
Beka had forgotten how busy the Academy was during this time of year with instructors attempting to get the junior cadets on track with their studies while also trying to ensure that the more senior cadets were prepared for their upcoming final exams. And that didn't even account for the chaos the start of a new academic year always seemed to bring to personal lives, though Beka was mostly immune from such drama. That was also why she had volunteered to take on more final exams than necessarily required of her, to allow her coworkers to have a slightly lighter load.
The blonde half Ktarian was sitting at her deak, carefully writing her evaluation for the final exam she had proctored earlier that morning. A steaming cup of cider sat just at her elbow, ready to provide a distraction when she reached a point of contention. Unfortunately, the exam had not gone as desired for the cadet, unless they wanted to have to retake it.
[Ten minute warning. Exam scheduled for Cadet Alden in Holodeck 3 at 1200.]
The green eyed lieutenant paused, debating whether she could finish the evaluation within the remaining time and not be late for the next exam. Given the amount of issues in the previous exam, she didn't think that was likely so with a sigh, she shelved her evaluation and gathered her PADD for the next examination.
Maybe it won't be as bad after giving it some time to breathe... no, it was a pretty terrible exam.
It was a short walk from her office to the holodeck, and a glance at her chronometer showed five minutes before the cadet was expected to arrive. With a satisfied nod, she began selecting the program for today's testing, hoping that this cadet did better than the last.
== Over to you! ==
As you may have already discovered, good place to read for a refresher before we get started is How to Play a Security Officer. It will help give you a good idea of what your department does.
Now, on with our lessons! Today we’re going to cover formatting basics. Because Federation Space is made up of players from all over the world, we have come up with a standardized set of formatting rules. By using this one style, it makes it easier for everyone to follow and understand each other’s posts.
The first thing to keep in mind is that we post in third person, past tense.
An example of this would be: Beka was excited to go skiing; she was so excited, she fell off her seat!
NOT this: I am excited to go skiing; I’m so excited, that I fall off my seat!
The next thing to know is that we use double spacing between paragraphs and between our character’s spoken lines. This just means when you write a spoken line with quotation marks “ ”, you would leave a space to indicate a break in the paragraph. When in doubt, double space!
For thoughts and extra emphasis, we also use a certain style. All the character’s thoughts need to be written in italics. Character thoughts are also one of the few times that writing in the First Person is acceptable. To write in italics, just press the I button and begin typing. Your text should show up in italics. You can also use the keyboard short cut ctrl I (for PC) or Command I (Mac) to get italics. When you are finished with your thought simply hit the I button (or keyboard shortcut) again to end the italics. Please note that if you post on a phone or tablet you might be required to use the bb code tag. The BB Code for italics is [ I ] Text [ / I ] (without the spaces).
Your character’s thought will then become: I can’t wait until I get to go skiing again.
For extra emphasis in writing -- to make something really stand out -- we use bold text. The procedure is the same as italics, just press the B button instead of the I. The keyboard short cut is also the same, only substitute b for I. Additionally the BB Code for phone users is the same as it was for italics only with a “b” rather than an I.
You will then get: Beka absolutely loved alpine skiing.
It is rare that a player's character has the ability to communicate telepathically. In general telepathy is closely monitored by Commanding Officers to make sure it is not being abused and that players are not "super-simming" their character. With that said, there are some telepathic races on Fedspace and on occasion multiple telepaths will speak to each other through this unique skill. Telepathic communication looks like this:
~Hello, I am now speaking directly into your mind!~
If your character is not telepathic then in general you do not need to worry about this technique but should be aware it exists in case you see crewmembers on your ship using it.
When we receive verbal communications through a comm device, such as your comm badge, from another crew member or the computer, we need to drop the quotations “ ” from it and instead use brackets [ ].
So if I were sending you a comm message, it would look something like this: [Beka here. Please report to the Holodeck for your final examination.]
If you are the one speaking to somebody through a comm device, you would still use the quotations “ ”.
Finally we’ll talk about our Out Of Character posting, or OOC, like I’m doing now. This is text surrounded by == ==. You use OOC when you want to talk to another player and not write it as part of the storyline. The places you won’t need to do this are in general discussion areas such as your ship’s OOC section and Hailing Frequencies.
We also ask that you run your posts through a word processor, like Word, to spell check it before you post. You don’t need to be a perfect speller or grammar whiz, but doing this step makes it easier for everyone to understand posts.
A good way to get the feel of how all these formatting rules work and to get a feel of the site in general is to browse around the forums. Take a look at the active ship areas and see how the players are using the elements listed above.
Now, let’s get to some posting. Please include as many of the above elements into your posting. Have fun!==
Beka had forgotten how busy the Academy was during this time of year with instructors attempting to get the junior cadets on track with their studies while also trying to ensure that the more senior cadets were prepared for their upcoming final exams. And that didn't even account for the chaos the start of a new academic year always seemed to bring to personal lives, though Beka was mostly immune from such drama. That was also why she had volunteered to take on more final exams than necessarily required of her, to allow her coworkers to have a slightly lighter load.
The blonde half Ktarian was sitting at her deak, carefully writing her evaluation for the final exam she had proctored earlier that morning. A steaming cup of cider sat just at her elbow, ready to provide a distraction when she reached a point of contention. Unfortunately, the exam had not gone as desired for the cadet, unless they wanted to have to retake it.
[Ten minute warning. Exam scheduled for Cadet Alden in Holodeck 3 at 1200.]
The green eyed lieutenant paused, debating whether she could finish the evaluation within the remaining time and not be late for the next exam. Given the amount of issues in the previous exam, she didn't think that was likely so with a sigh, she shelved her evaluation and gathered her PADD for the next examination.
Maybe it won't be as bad after giving it some time to breathe... no, it was a pretty terrible exam.
It was a short walk from her office to the holodeck, and a glance at her chronometer showed five minutes before the cadet was expected to arrive. With a satisfied nod, she began selecting the program for today's testing, hoping that this cadet did better than the last.
== Over to you! ==