Simming 101 - Simming Introduction

What is simming and where can you find more information about it?

For who?

For all personnel participating in missions.

Simming is an online text-based role-playing game that takes place in a chat room, by e-mail or on an Internet forum. Individual games, known as sims, read like a story, albeit one written by several people.

Characters

Each simmer plays, and to a large extent develops, their own character. Acacia Fleet has guidelines specifying types of acceptable characters and how much leeway a simmer has over character development.
Some characters are only used for one sim or a short amount of time, while others are developed and refined by simmers over the course of years. Many simmers take part in more than one sim and, as such, play multiple characters.

In many cases, characters are regarded as belonging to the simmers who created them, and others are not allowed to make drastic changes to them without the creator's consent.
In addition to characters played by simmers, Acacia Fleet also incorporates non-player characters, or NPCs. Some of these NPCs have recurring roles, while others appear only for one plot within the sim.

More information about characters can be found in Simming 102 - Characters.

The sim

As a sim begins, a simmer, usually the game master, introduces a story, and the simmers reply with their aspect of the story and the actions of their character. Based on how the simmers respond, the game master may adjust the direction of the sim and add challenges for the simmers to overcome. For example, a crew of a Starship sim sent to rescue a landing party may suddenly be forced to battle its way out of an alien ambush.
The game master usually is an experienced simmer, and is the individual who leads and organizes it. In most cases, the game master tends to play the highest ranking officer in the sim. Some sims have two game masters.

Sims do not generally follow a script. Often the game master does not know where the sim will end up because the actions taken by other simmers can send the sim into unforeseen directions. Unlike other role-playing games, dice, cards, and other methods for determining the outcome of events are not employed. Rather, it is up to the imagination of the simmer to drive the sim, and the skill of the game master to orchestrate the sim and ensure a harmonious game.

More information about sim mission can be found in Simming 104 - Missions.