Index
1. Introduction
2. Responsibilities of an Officer
    A. Attention to Detail
    B. Orders and the Chain of Command     
3 . Responsibilities of a Leader
    A. Flexibility and Adaptability
    B. Creativity
    C. Attention to Detail
    D. Looking at the Bigger Picture
    E. Communicating
4. Running a Plot
    A. Start
    B. Direction
    C. Cohesion
    D. Wayward Logs
5. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Cadets in GFC are required to take the Basic SIM Guide test & Advanced SIM Guide test to show them the basics of role playing within our organization. If they ever progress on to become Department Heads (DHs) they need to take the Senior Officers’ Training Guide test which is why you are reading this right now. XOs or COs, they must take the Command Course, to show them how to lead a simulation. Many simmers are confused when they become Senior Officers (Department Heads) - how do my duties change? What are my new responsibilities? How am I supposed to run my department? This course should answer those questions. In many ways you role is just like the XO or CO: you are the CO of your department, so you must keep your assistants involved in the plot, and make their logs a significant and coherent part of the overall story. If the plot does not actively include your department it is your job to interact with your assistants and help them keep busy. This course will show you how to do all these things, and more, and will prove a vital stepping stone in the direction of perhaps one day, becoming an XO or CO.

2. Responsibilities of an Officer

A. Attention to Detail

Paying attention to details is crucial in making the plot coherent and avoid confusion. What one person does, can have an effect on nearly every crewmember of the SIM. To give a few examples and see how they translate to the duties of the department heads:

(1) In the CO or XO log (Email- posted to the boards) or in the action-line of the CO (chat room) it is stated that the ship was hit by some shockwave.

As the ship will rock unexpectedly, people will be thrown about and things will fall, etc. This would also affect your character. Depending on the severity your character and others on the ship will be tossed around. Besides this general scene, specific departments will have specific areas in which they should react:

- Sickbay can expect minor casualties (cuts and bruises);
- Engineering can expect some minor damage;
- Operations should compile the damage report and co-ordinate repair teams with Engineering;
- Science and Operations will try to find out where the shockwave came from;
- Tactical will keep its eyes open for possible threats - we were caught off guard - and closely works with Science and Operations;
- Security will always roam the ship, they can give first aid, help co-ordinate with Sickbay and report any damage they see to Operations.

(2) A crewmember is involved in a minor explosion and is injured. He contacts Engineering and then has himself transported to sickbay.

- Operations looks after internal sensors and needs to monitor the explosion and report it;
- Engineering will have to include the details of the contact with the department in the crewmembers' report into their own reports; (usually done in a log after the SIM)
- Sickbay has a patient to treat;
- Engineering and Operations need to co-ordinate that someone repairs the conduit.

(3) The turbo lifts have been reported to be malfunctioning and have been taken offline.

Everyone will be climbing through Jeffries Tubes and it is a long climb from Engineering on deck 33 to the Bridge on deck 1 ;) ... Engineering and Operations need to work at finding a cause and solution.

So as an officer it is very important to read all the logs pay attention to all the Action statements carefully and think, 'How does that affect my department?', 'Do I need to do anything in response to this?'. Guide your members, don’t let them fall into the trap of getting hurt all the time so they can feel useful. If you notice a member doing that, you may wish to speak to the CO and see if together you can work on making the member feel more comfortable and useful so this does not continue to be the case.

B. Orders and the Chain of Command

In order to organize things efficiently in the GFC, there is a clear Chain of Command. Assistants report to their Department Heads, Department Heads report to the XO, the XO to the CO, and the CO is responsible to the GFC Council.

As a senior officer, you are expected to follow the orders of the CO and XO. When the Story Line (or Plot) is started, the Mission Briefing put to the screen, you must react. That means, passing orders down to your department to start your departmental subplot, reporting anything new that your department picks up as a result, and so on. If you are unsure how to proceed in a certain story line, fall back on the regular routine of your department and wait for more clarification. If you want to know more about the story line and how it will affect your department, don’t be afraid to ask the CO. Be careful not to stray too far from those orders. If you do, the plot can easily be thrown off-track.
Another important point is: don't jump the chain. If a member of the SIM has a problem OOC they should try to work it out with the CO & XO. If that can not be done satisfactorily then they should speak to Fleet Admiral Dar & Admiral Westbrooke. This is just a matter of courtesy. Always try to avoid ignoring someone in the Chain, unless you have a clear reason to do so. Of course it is allowed to speak to officers several steps above you - they're not saints and probably would enjoy interacting with you both OOC and IC.

If a member has a problem IC they should speak directly to the Department Head - being a good Department Head will be a disaster when people under you do not tell you what is going on or what their problems are. So never ignore your direct senior officer. In most cases when you do, you will be told to follow the chain appropriately. This is because many problems can be solved at the lower end of the chain. Only the big issues should need passing upwards. Likewise, you wouldn't find Captains issuing orders to assistants in your department. (Unless you are absent for some reason.)

Sims are based heavily on interaction but also require you and your fellow crew persons to develop 3 dimensional characters. This is because of the problem of speaking for other characters. Actioning another person’s character is something that you should never do without their permission. You can make a recommendation, but leave it to them to follow it or not, so that they can assist in steering the plot .

Also, you should not action other departments. For example, if you or one of your people are hurt you should report to sickbay and let them handle it. Do not write a log where you make up your own NPC medical person to handle the illness or problem. If you have ideas of what direction the plot should go into, but you're not in charge, you can just write IC how your character gives a recommendation to the CO and then wait until the CO or XO replies.

3 . Responsibilities of a Leader

Now lets turn to your task as being the head of your department - the core of this course. According to the Command Course there are four things that are required to be a good senior officer: (1) flexibility and adaptability, (2) creativity (the 'Everything fits, otherwise we'll make it fit' approach), (3) attention to detail and (4) looking at the bigger picture. These four aspects will be explained in this chapter and we will add one more: communicating. Most of the points mentioned in this and the next chapter are directly taken from guides for and experiences of COs and XOs in how they run their SIM, as running a department is in essence just the same thing as running a miniature SIM. It requires the same capacities and you can see it as the perfect training ground if you ever wish to get higher up in the Chain of Command.

A. Flexibility and Adaptability

The fun of SIMming is the interaction with other simmers. You can log or play some parts of the story, and others will add their parts. The surprising effect this can have is one of the most fun things in SIMming. However, it also means that others might steer the story in a somewhat different direction, one that you did not intend as a CO or as a department head. A bad CO can easily solve this - using his authoritative position to decide that what that player did never happened and getting the story back in exactly the direction he or she wanted. Such a CO could do better writing a novel himself - this is not what SIMming is about. Good CO'ing - either at SIM or at department level - means that you accept the fact that the plot has its own life, independent of you. The story flows in a direction, and you simply have to adapt. This is not to say that the CO never needs to erase a contribution from a player, but it is very rare indeed that a good CO will need to do this.
Of course there are still some general aspects of the plot that you have to watch. For example, you do not want the problem that should be keeping the crew busy for the coming few weeks to be solved in a day. Or maybe you have very interesting plans in the plot that the story should gradually evolve into. Here the trick is to write your mission briefing and your own log and actions in such a way as that you can steer the plot back into the right direction. Try to find a way to incorporate the plot twists your crew or your assistants wrote into the plotline you had in mind. This is not easy and it is exactly what requires the next characteristic of a good leader:

B. Creativity

Creativity is needed to adapt the story to all the twists and turns the crew will inevitably produce, whilst keeping the plot coherent. Even the most wild twists can often be incorporated if we remember that everything fits or we'll make it fit. By contrast, if you retract logs or contradict people in SIMs, you will crush their confidence and morale, no one will dare to contribute to the plot, and the crew that will be left after most of them leave will be mindless slaves. Not much fun. So, if something has been SIMmed, it has happened! Deal with it! This means you must be paying attention to what is going on in SIM and keep in communication with your assistants. You can contribute to the plot both by your logs and your actions in the SIM.

Creativity is also important in a more direct way. As a department head, you should have creative input to the SIM. In other words, if you're a Chief of Science, give your assistants a really interesting research project to work on, with plenty of opportunity for creativity, rather than telling them to go clean the test tubes. If you're a Chief Engineer, get your assistants to work on improving the ship's systems to give the ships interesting new quirks, rather than getting them to go clean the plasma manifolds. When assigning assistants orders, think: is this going to be fun for them? Is it going to allow them to contribute to the plot in an interesting and creative way? Never forget, however, that you have a whole crew of creative minds - give some interesting orders and put creativity in the game, but leave lots of space for your assistants to add their own creative plot twists. It's the surprising result of many creative minds writing together that creates the fun of SIMming, not the good writing of one member.

C. Attention to Detail

Attention to detail is very crucial. If simmers do things and you don't notice them and write completely different, it will be very confusing for the crew and assistants will also feel worthless. You need to make sure no details contradict other details, and you need to make your crew feel involved in the SIM by interacting with them or indeed confirming details in the SIM. For example, if your assistant reports to you in your office, don't ignore them! Listen to what they have to say, and respond to it. If they need something new to do, assign them a new task. Make them feel part of the team. If the CO has just commed you, ask the assistant to wait a moment and take the call from the CO. After you finish answering the CO give your attention to the assistant.

It has already been explained in the previous chapter how important this paying attention is - many actions by fellow simmers require you to react, whether you are an assistant or a CO. And for a CO - or department head - that is even more so the case as you are involved in more separate subplots than is an assistant. Attention to the details in the logs from your crew is crucial, and whenever possible you should use them. The contributions from the crew need to be confirmed in those from the CO and XO and the department heads. Not necessarily by quoting them literally, but by using the information given in those contributions to move the plot forward and dealing with the situations in the subplots created by the crew. The crew wants and needs to have the freedom to add to the plot, move it forward with their own ideas as well. They will become disillusioned and eventually drop out if they can't or if they feel they can't, and if they are always only filling in the bits after the event so to speak. They each have a great imagination, let them help you write the plot and unfold the story.

D. Looking at the Bigger Picture

As a good officer you need to be always conscious of your environment, that is, not only of your own department, but also the SIM as a whole. Be careful to pay attention to the details not only in your own log, but also in those of other departments, or, when in a plot with several SIMs together, those of the other SIMs. The same way your XO and CO are responsible to take care of the coherence between the plot on the SIM itself and the one affecting the entire fleet. So, always keep in mind the bigger picture of the whole SIM, and in some cases even beyond that. Be conscious of how your actions influence what others can or have to do.

E. Communicating

Proper communication is crucial to have fun with SIMming. To me it seems a lot of things that go wrong in SIMming - arguments, frustration - have everything to do with miscommunication. It is both crucial to communicate a lot and to do so properly. You need out-of-character communication with you senior officers, your fellow officers and your crew. Communicate when you experience problems, feel bad about something, have ideas, expect others to do something, etc. That way people know what you are thinking and what they can expect when dealing with you. SIMming is to a large part teamwork and teamwork needs communication.

And, as said, it is not only important to communicate a lot, it is also important to do so properly. Show respect to others - treat them as you would like to be treated - and always try to be patient. Listen carefully to what others are telling you. Do not immediately think what they say is probably nonsense, but assume by default that they might have a good point. And if you disagree, make clear first that you like their input and explain why you disagree (in case they are your crew, not when you are talking up the Chain of Command). Always try to be friendly and clear and giving reasons for the things you are saying.

If there are specific things you notice that assistants or crew members keep getting wrong, send them a private email or contact them in private messages and for example guide them to the relevant section of the SIM guide or advanced course guides. Make sure you are positive in your approach. Be careful not to correct them on every little thing. Only if it is major stuff. Tell them they are doing a good job, and that there is a way to do even better and proceed to show them in a constructive way what you mean. What we want to try and do, is build crew members' self-confidence, not break it with constant criticism. Try leading by example also.

When contacting an assistant like this, feel free to ask the CO & XO for advice first. And when mailing, CC or BCC (if more appropriate as not to scare him/her off) it to the CO &. Keep them informed of issues that are being addressed by you so they won't duplicate the effort or have the crew member feel inadequate because of more than one person addressing them over something.

Be prepared to deal with IMs from your assistants. If they are unsure of how to proceed it is your job to help them. Don’t be afraid to open communications with them in IMs and encourage them behind the scenes.

4. Running a Plot

As said, SIMming is about writing a good plot together and have fun. Thus, many important aspects of good CO'ing or being a good department head come down to good plot direction. Also the major problems you can encounter fall under this heading. For that reason, a separate chapter is here devoted to plot direction, cohesion and correction.

A. Start
What has been logged or written has happened, and when it has not been written, is has not happened. That is the simple and main thing you should always keep in mind.

You must also remember the location of where something happened. If it was within the crew quarters of another player then you cannot assume knowledge of such action. Some logs and SIM actions are strictly OOC knowledge and cannot be played off by your character or others. You should watch for assistants that try to do so. It is usually because they do not understand the difference.

The CO and XO are responsible for coming up with plots for their particular SIMs. They must still keep in mind how their plot will affect the entire SIM group. If you’re SIM is in a war with the Romulans, it is going to affect other SIMs. Such broad actions should be discussed with the GM Council before being done. The GFC has tried to have a Fleet Wide SIM once each year and during this time the entire group works toward a common goal.
The XO is a key interface between the CO and the department heads. An XO needs to be a bit of both - keeping a close eye on the orders that were given by the CO and then check up with the department heads to make sure the orders are passed on. If there is a technical OOC problem - like being disconnected from the internet - with the department head, the XO can take over for the DH and make sure the assistants in that department are kept involved. At other times the XO is to lead a subplot with specific orders from the CO, e.g. an away team mission.

A plot will usually start with a Mission Briefing in from the CO. This introduction should contain enough background information and specific orders to set the scene, such that the rest of the crew has an indication of where the plot will be heading and some sort of idea what they can do to begin the plot. To introduce a subplot in your department you can write an introductory log to describe the setting in which it takes place. Note: All subplots should be brought to the CO before implementing them. You don’t want to start a story line that will interfere with the main plot. Remember to direct your assistants carefully so they are able to feel a part of what is going on. If you don't organize a meeting, talk to them directly or through the communication badge (commbadge), otherwise they will not know what is expected of them and not be able to react to either your plot of the main plot. Make sure that you involve all of your assistants when you are creating a subplot.

When you are a department head and your CO starts a plot, you should receive direct orders from your CO. Or you will for example be called to a senior officers' meeting. What is expected from you is first of all to respond to these orders - acknowledge them. The next step is to get your assistants (active or NPC) involved. Please note that although the use of NPCs is a great tool to bring depth to the picture in your department, the active assistants are the most important and you should use them. At all times you need to check if your active assistants have something to do. You must always be aware of the bigger picture. And note that this bigger picture is rather big - even a small vessel will have several decks and dozens of crew members (although most NPC, of course). In most plots, most departments and hence most of these crewmembers will be someway involved. For example, in a typical science oriented mission, operations and engineering will still be responsible to keep the ship in tip top shape and engineering, science and medical will often work together in their research endeavors, and tactical and security will keep watching over the safety of the ship and advise the others about the safety risks of their research ideas. And, obviously, helm still has to steer and the counselor is still to watch over the mental health of all crew members.
Note: Always be aware that even if there are no other real players in your department on a particular night that the ship is staffed mainly by NPCs and the likelihood of you being alone in halls, much less main areas like engineering and sickbay are nil. Never walk into a sickbay, main engineering, security or bridge and declare that you cannot see anyone present.

When the CO has launched the plot and you have your department's orders, you've got to pass those orders down to your assistants to get them involved in the plot. There are plenty of ways to do it. Make sure you explain things to your assistants either by holding a staff meeting or by commbadge. If an assistant is faultering and doesn’t understand what he/she should be doing then IM them and politely explain where you need them to go and what they need to do.

What happens if you don't get any orders from the CO? This shouldn't happen too often. It's the CO's job to keep every department busy. However, if it does, it is your responsibility to keep your department busy. Look at the bigger picture: is there some way you can support another department in their work? E.g. if Science has been ordered to build a special probe, but Engineering hasn't been told to do anything, you as Chief Engineer could have your department help Science. If there's no way to get involved in the main plot, then create a subplot. You might want to check with the CO or XO first. Some subplots can link back into the main plot at a later stage, some might be interrupted suddenly because the department is called to action (this can happen often).

B. Direction

Although OOC communication is important, IC communication is even more important. Whenever you can, handle things IC, especially when directing the plot. Issuing orders IC, for instance, creates far more plot cohesion than telling people what to do in IMs or over an OOC listserv, and it also allows for more plot freedom. The crew comes up with recommendations and plot twists, and the CO picks and chooses, moving the plot forwards. This can slow things down somewhat, but gives more opportunity for character development, which in turn creates higher quality SIMming, and more fun. The more IC the better, and the more plot freedom, the happier the crew will be.

Of course there are always exceptions. For instance, when the plot is part of a larger Fleet Wide it is more important to stay a bit tighter within certain limits, it might be a good idea to send a basic subplot outline to the CO and the Admirals out-of-character so that all senior officers can keep this basic outline in mind when they are SIMming. However, this should never go so far as to be a mere script that everyone must follow.

When the plot has started it is the responsibility of the CO and department heads to contribute in such a way as to clarify situations, make decisions and in doing so steer the plot in the direction they want it to go. Be aware that fellow SIMmers need some time to react – if you think that someone has missed what you said, send them IM and ask if they saw it. Send what you said so they don’t have to scroll up through the chat and waste more time.

Here again, it is important to pay attention to the details. When you see a shift in the plot, make sure your assistants are up to speed to by communicating with them IC. However, the crew should also be made aware that major changes to the plot should be cleared by the CO and/or XO before being SIMmed.

One thing to beware of is creating cliffhangers, especially at the end of logs. For instance, if you say there's an imminent warp core breach, this will have one of two effects: (a) fifteen people will, panic-stricken, SIM all kinds of things, some ejecting the warp core, some stopping the breach, some abandoning ship or whatever, creating utter confusion; or (b) no-one will know what they are supposed to do and the plot will be stopped dead in the water until someone can resolve the situation. So always be careful how you present a storyline.

Slow SIM
At times, a simulation may run slowly. Sometimes this is due to key officers not having much to do, being incompetent in playing their role, or experiencing networking real life (RL) trouble. When the simulation is going slowly, and you do not suspect networking trouble, try to prompt key assistants into getting more involved. Ask for more input from them, or order them into doing a long-term activity like keeping watch for certain conditions, going to a part of the ship to fix something, etc. In case of a SIM wide slow down, the XO & CO should also be watching for occasions such as this and should handle them personally if possible.

Please note this is not the time to create a new subplot. One should be careful creating subplots in an attempt to speed up the plot in these circumstances. This could only cause (more) confusion with the officers involved and even the rest of the crew. Remember to leave enough time for the existing subplots to develop. Too many subplots make the plot too complicated and confuse the crew. They won't know what to focus on and the result is half finished subplots that haven't had the opportunity to be properly developed. This in turn will harm the overall quality of the plot and the SIM.

Also check whether an officer that seems quiet or hesitant is such because of their incompetence in playing their role. You may need to coach them in what they need to do. Part of the job of the XO for the SIM as a whole and of a department head for his or her department is to make sure that the crew is able to do their duties. Senior officers are an extension of the Academy in the effect that it is their responsibility to ensure the training at the Academy took hold and that individual is ready to do their job; if not... train them. Make sure that your assistants are kept busy IC. A more experienced simmer won't need much in the way of orders and IC guidance to be kept busy, but the new simmers will. Encourage your assistants to take advanced courses, especially the one relating to their department. But also the others, so they get a better understanding how the different departments work and how they interact.

A way to keep your assistants busy is to have them choose a specific area of expertise within the department to look after. For example, in a science department one can think of stellar cartography, biological sciences, geological sciences, etc. You can make them sub department head, and give them an office and some NPCs in their little department to play with.
The idea behind this is, that it is, at times, difficult to keep all your active assistants directly involved in the plot. Or you have to take an unexpected LOA for a few SIMs. This way, they are not stuck for something to log about or to SIM as they have their own little area to write about. They also get the chance to practice their leadership skills on the NPCs, and learn to look at the bigger picture. Also, when the plot asks for expertise in a certain field, we can use that particular assistant and give him or her the chance to get a bit of the lime light and show off that expertise.

The SIM can be slow story line wise, but this also leaves some space for more personal logs. They build the characters; they give an insight into them which will make it easier for other crew members to interact. As such, personal logs, promote interaction among the crew, which in turn will help make them feel part of the team and that improves the overall quality of the SIM. Build IC friendships with your assistants and the other crew members. Talk to them. Make them feel part of the team. And not only IC are these contacts important, but also OOC - send them emails and ask them for input and ideas. Give them praise and encourage them. Do the odd joint log with them. As department head, don't be afraid to knock on the CO's Ready Room door and interact with him/her on and/or off duty. They generally don't bite ...

C. Cohesion

It is the CO's and XO's responsibility to ensure that the contributions of the crew are tied into the main plot line and story. This is to make sure that the logs posted by the crew make sense within the plot, show some cohesion and become a story rather than stay loose and 'bitty'. This can be reflected in paying attention to assistants' inputs, repeating or confirming key points, and reporting them to superiors where necessary. Keep an eye on what your assistants are doing during the SIM, make sure they have enough freedom to be creative but be careful they don't have them go wild and throw the plot off-track.

D. Wayward Logs

If a simmer introduces a subplot or event that is light years away from the plot and throws the SIM completely off-track, the CO has the option of voiding that contribution. Note that ONLY the CO can take these drastic OOC actions. By contrast, senior officers only have IC tools at their disposal... but these are by far the most effective. Rather than voiding the input, it is far better to acknowledge it and try to work it back into the plot, by incorporating some or all of the wayward input in their own input. It's often possible to explain away quite outrageous problems. Be flexible.

5. CONCLUSION

This is the end of the pearls of wisdom that we can share with you. From time to time this may be updated as new things are learned. For the most part, remain active, remain aware of what is going on and give the attention to your department that your people deserve.

So, give your assistants something to do. If you can't get them involved in the main plot ... think of something. There is always general maintenance to do, research to carry out, NPC patients to treat - whatever it is, make sue that they are involved and get to know them, IC and OOC. Above all, remember one thing - we are all here to have fun!