OOC Personal Log Seminar
Episode Name: OOC: Personal Logs with VuQ'cheH Written By: VuQ'cheH Produced By: Starfleet Aired On: Sun Oct 13 14:52:29 2002 Stardate: 52702.6
Time: Sun Oct 13 14:09:00 2002
VuQ'cheH says, "Thank you very much for attending. There is a certain art to Personal Logs that I'd like to share with you all. I'm going to ramble for a bit, and then I will take questions, in order. If you have a question, page me with a ? and I will address each question in order. First, my thoughts."
VuQ'cheH says, "There's an aspect of AnomalyMUX that makes it great - everyone here is sophisticated enough in their roleplay and in their personal maturity to understand that there's no need for an OOC Masquerade like on other games. Here, we're all interested in contributing towards the same goal: story."
VuQ'cheH says, "In the Star Trek universe, we often hear the main characters narrating in their personal logs throughout the show as to what's going on in their lives, or talking about the current crisis at hand."
VuQ'cheH says, "Often, the characters have consulted the logs on other ships, or of fellow crew members, to catch glimpses of what's happened in their past. As a general rule, it's considered a healthy practice for Starfleet officers to keep regular logs. In fact, I'd consider it almost a requirement."
VuQ'cheH says, "Starfleet officers often talk about their personal and professional goings-on. Current projects, assignments, and discussions of other crew members make up the professional side, whereas personal interactions on or off duty, relationships, and family and friend matters often make it into the personal side."
VuQ'cheH says, "I'm sure there are psychological benefits to recording personal logs, or keeping a diary as it were, but I'm not going to get into that. What I'm going to get into, mostly, is the reason why we make personal logs on AnomalyMUX."
VuQ'cheH says, "By the way, if you have questions in mind, formulate them, and go ahead and page me with a ? so I can start building a queue."
VuQ'cheH says, "Why do we make logs on AnomalyMUX? Well, it's not just because we're XP-hungry, although that may be the case. :)"
Zian hehs
VuQ'cheH says, "We do it for two reasons. One, it's great to know what your fellow players are up to, from a purely OOC point of view. Most people don't know about VuQ'cheH's dishonor, his secret "society", or his interactions with the rest of the characters in the game. But when I make a Personal Log, I do it from his perspective, not worrying about whether or not I'm spilling IC information in an OOC manner, because, from VuQ's point of view, nobody else is going to read it."
VuQ'cheH says, "This gives people a sense of plot and movement on the grid. It also gives Staff a sense of what you've been doing lately, and it may give them ideas for future NPCs, mini-episodes, and long-term plot."
VuQ'cheH says, "Now, what about civilians? There shouldn't be a requirement for civilians to make logs, as they really don't answer to any authority for the most part (although VuQ might argue that). In essense, though, a Diary, or a Journal, is kept by many different people. Myself included, in RL."
VuQ'cheH says, "I've noticed that several individuals, including myself, have posted one-sided communique's with other NPCs from their backgrounds. This is very good. When in doubt, and your character isn't very much into the diary pillowbook thing, go ahead and send off a subspace message to someone. It's just as good, if not better, because it lets you be creative."
VuQ'cheH says, "Also, there's the occasional self-written scenes I've seen people post up. While I like them thoroughly (I'll cite Lux as example, good job :) I'm not sure if this is okay from Staff's perspective, so I'll let one of them comment on it later."
P'Trell blushes "Gorsh."
VuQ'cheH says, "Now, what goes into a log? Personal experiences, emotions, self realization, and plans for the future. I'll go over each one. Once I'm done with this, I'll open the floor to questions and comments."
Isole mmmms. Drama.
VuQ'cheH says, "Personal experiences. From your character's point of view, what is going on around her? What sort of duties has she done off-camera, and on? Who has she interacted with? Who has made her life pleasant, or hellish? What's going on in the character's life, both on-camera and off?"
VuQ'cheH says, "Emotions. What does the character -feel-? From a personal point of view, I play four alts here on Anomaly, two of which have rampaging emotional states that can change with the drop of a hat. Their logs tend to be very angsty, or angry, or gushing or hateful. That's VuQ and Ashilav for those who aren't paying attention. Then there's Kallan. Kallan came into the game with a bit of an emotional hiding problem, and post IC events that screwed up his noggin, his emotional state has changed. I try to reflect changes in all of my characters' emotional states when I write."
VuQ'cheH says, "Self realization. What is the character coming to realize as truth, whether or not that's the absolute case? Take, for example, Ashilav's now ended feud with Idrani. She was convinced that Idrani sent Ghorev into a dizzying emotional tailspin, when it was indeed just Ghorev being Ghorev. But Ashilav was convinced that there was some machination on Idrani's part... and sought to either have her admit it, or take her into a duel because of it. The truth to the /character/ is very important to express, whether or not, in the grand scheme of things, is really true. It's about perspective. Make your character show their unique perspective."
VuQ'cheH says, "And lastly, plans for the future. Everyone has goals. Everyone has short term and long term accomplishments they want to see happen. Dosa, for example, had a short term accomplishment of securing the Neutral Zone as belonging to her. I included that in her log entries. Now that it's been accomplished, she's focusing on new short term goals that I'll include in future log entries. Long term goals are more life-shaping than the short "I want I need" type. For example, Dosa staying alive and hoping the Order doesn't grow bored with her staticness and show up to take their little experiment home to Cardassia is a long term goal. Some long term goals should be hinted at in logs to keep up the mystique and what-if's, so it unfolds like a good series of novels. Other, plainer goals can be expounded upon freely. I leave it up to the individual."
VuQ'cheH says, "Phew. That was a lot of spam. I open the floor to questions and comments. If you'd like, page me, and I'll address them in order."
VuQ'cheH notes the distinct lack of questions. Have I bored you all to sleep? :)
Haven isn't bored.. just listening.
Zian isn't bored, is just active in 3 windows and losing her mind. :)
Isole has more comments than questions, but the floor wasn't opened up to them. ;)
VuQ'cheH says, "Well, let me offer this: Is there anything in any of my recent logs that you'd like me to expound upon, and describe what was going through my mind when I wrote them? +bbread 16, look for Ashilav, Dosa, Kallan or VuQ'cheH."
VuQ'cheH says, "I said questions and comments, Isole. :)"
Turtledove says, "I almost have a question regarding frequency and length of personal logs. But... well, it's just sort of a common sense thing, right? :)"
VuQ'cheH says, "I can address that in a second, Turtle."
Turtledove ok :)
VuQ'cheH says, "In the meantime, P'Trell has a question regarding those 'self-written' logs he does often. I'd like Starfleet to comment on them, and whether or not staff has any concerns regarding them?"
Starfleet's never noted any problems with them, or would have said something. Your characters have lives off-camera. I think Lux's logs are good logs.
P'Trell beams.
VuQ'cheH nods. My thoughts exactly. Just make sure, that when you craft logs like that, you don't speak for any PCs or NPCs on the station. Otherwise, feel free to be as creative as you want. Staff will gently pinch you if you go overboard.
FortunaeComment -- "nice presentation. =)"
VuQ'cheH says, "Thanks, Forty. :) Isole has a comment, so I turn the floor to her."
Isole says, "If I can remember what it was. Um. Yeah. I'd say /try/ to be careful about dumping personal attacks into personal logs. Especially if you don't know the other player all that well. It's not uncommon to see attack/riposte personal logs. Or it didn't used to be. And, also, be aware that your personal log isn't necessarily the place to be telling another character's secrets, pretty much for the same reasons. For instance, if I as Havaris dug up a lot of background dirt on Dosa -- I might rant and rave about the dirt and make some nasty comments about the Spoonhead -- but I wouldn't POST that info. That'd be sorta uncool, at least from where I'm sitting."
VuQ'cheH nods, good observation. If you're going to talk about someone's character secrets, make sure you clear it with them first. It might not be something that they're ready to reveal just yet.
VuQ'cheH says, "Anything else, Isole?"
Isole says, "Not that I can remember."
VuQ'cheH says, "Glee. Turtledove's question next. She asked about the length of personal logs. My opinion is that you post as much as you feel is necessary. However, I've noticed a trend to spread logs over multiple posts, and I think that's a bit excessive. Don't worry about scrollage or spam. If it fits within the confines of one +bbpost, then I think it's okay. Too short log entries, perhaps only a paragraph, might be best held until you have another paragraph to go along with it."
VuQ'cheH says, "I'd ask her if that helped, but she's not here anymore. Haven's question is next. She asked about 'personal growth' in logs. Haven, could you expound upon that for us a little?"
Sponnek has left.
Haven nods, "I'll use Haven as an example as that's where the question has come from. With Haven, part of her BG is about the death of a family member and how Haven /never/ dealt with it. Now, a few people on the grid know about it and fewer still know she dealt with it... I posted about it. No on knows Haven made her peace with the death.. it was posted in a communication to her folks. It shows she grew up a bit, she dealt with the death, she said her good byes. Is that type of thing alright or should be funneling more of that into scenes on the grid.
VuQ'cheH considers. "I think, in one form or another, everything that winds up in your personal log /should/ also wind up on the grid. And vice versa: everything that's on the grid /should/ also wind up in your personal log. If it's something that Haven would do in private, but only roleplay with a few others about it, it's very okay to put it in your log and share it with us, but as long as it is somehow topical to your current interactions with others on the grid. Does that make sense?"
VuQ'cheH says, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, if it's affected at least one person on the grid besides your own character, then it's topical. :)"
VuQ'cheH says, "Remember, personal logs are about your own character's perssonal experiences, emotions, self realizations and/or plans for the future. If it fits into any of those four categories, then its definitely topical. Even moreso if it overlaps."
Haven nods slowly. "Thanks.
VuQ'cheH says, "Okay. Any other questions or comments?"
Haven sneaks out for a scene. "Thanks, VuQ'cheH."
Haven has left.
VuQ'cheH says, "No problem, Haven. Thanks for coming. :)"
Starfleet says, "Excellent job, VuQ. :)"
VuQ'cheH says, "Thanks, Fleet. :)"
