Got computer?
Feb. 28th, 2001 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgp
Today's sim duty took me to Building 5, to the Space Station Training Facility. Building 5 is a fairly large, featureless building that seems to have been molded by the same architect that designed the Mission Control Center. The SSTF itself is on the second floor and consists of a training room, which holds the simulation team and a lot of computers. These machines show the status of both the vehicle simulators (which are outside, in a large open area), and of the virtual machines that make up the "world" with which the simulators interact. The computers also allow the simulation team to manipulate that world, for example, to fail a particular piece of equipment.I was there to support some Russian folks who are at JSC learning the ropes of the training business, U.S.-style. It was a pretty challenging assignment up until a computer glitch caused a one-hour delay in the sim. After the computers were recovered and the system transitioned to the "run combined" mode (meaning that the simulated world was in synch with the equipment being operated by the flight team and the crew), things went pretty quiet until the end of the day. Still, it was a hard 10-hour day.
Today happened to be the very last day of training for the second station crew before they go into the quarantine phase of the so-called "health stabilization program." From today until launch - which is scheduled for March 8 - the only people allowed to come into contact with the crew will be those who have undergone special HSP physicals from the flight surgeons. The idea, of course, is to eliminate the prospect of a crew member getting sick on orbit. The photo shows, from left to right, flight engineer Jim Voss, commander Yuri Usachev, the Station Training Lead (in the red shirt with his back to the camera), and flight engineer Susan Helms (standing behind the STL). I've had the pleasure of working with both Voss and Usachev, and they are both fine fellows.There is yet another sim tomorrow, in the same facility. Got to be there earlier, though, so it's going to be a go-to-sleep-early night again tonight. That, plus I have a translation to do in my copious "spare" time. Ye gods.
Keep your knees loose, gang.
Cheers...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2001-02-28 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2001-03-01 02:32 pm (UTC)Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2001-03-01 11:09 pm (UTC)I first heard about Simming for play from one of my students about 5 years ago. He was 16 and involved in an online Sim group based on the Star Trek Universe. He played the role of a medic and quickly rose through the ranks by performing special tasks on line in the manner of a typical Start Trek officer. This was done via online group chat.
http://www.ucip.org (http://www.ucip.org/) is an offical Star Trek simming organization with some more info on groups and sim scenarios, etc.
I never got into the Star Trek genre of simming because it seemed too structured and too... I dunno.... science-and-warfare oriented, but exposure to that soon led on online roleplay, which I did pretty heavily for 5 years before burning out this year. Half the people on my friends list are folks I met there on AOL. We are refugees from the politics on the boards over there :-)
Over the years I have simmed the lives of a hound dog, a historically displaced Aztec wool merchant in the year 1642 , a protestant pamphleteer/presswoman in the year 1642, a widowed wine connoisseur in the year 1642, a pre-conquest mexican shaman/warrior woman who ushered in the age of the Sixth Sun, an earthquake (yes I actually simulated the unpersonified character of the Earth itself and staged a massive setting-wide natural disaster that lasted for three days) and too many other minor roles to list here. There are pictures and stories about many of these characters and events on my personal website. Relics of an age gone by.
One of the sims (a.k.a. roleplaying games) I was involved in for many years as a volunteer staff person was the Mermaid's Tale Tavern. (http://www.mermaidstaletavern.com) Put 10 people in a chat room all pretending its the year 1643 and you've got yourself a pretty amazingly detailed simulation of reality. :-)
Imagination's a wonderful thing, eh? Your sims sound fun, too, though. Watching people work for the right answer and keep their cool under pressure.... neat!
no subject
How does one enforce (?) verisimilitude to the era of 1643? I would imagine it would entail a lot of research.
Thanks for the links, BTW.
Cheers...
no subject
Date: 2001-03-03 12:59 pm (UTC)In the 1642 game, the only point of entry into the chat room is through a web page that outlines the rules of the game. There is a big button that says "I Agree" on it. It is a social contract. If the person breaks the contract in the room, the first step is, of course to take it to friendly private chat and help the person to blend in better. i.e. "Here is a weblink to all the peiod beverages available in this setting. Your character might better enjoy some warm ale or a sweet Madiera from Spain, rather than champage which has not yet been invented." Usually people are willing to give it a try, and the players in the setting are generally tolerant of newcomer's mistakes, as they are bound to happen. (for example saying the greeting "hello" or eating solid chocolate is non-period, as it was not adopted yet, but drinking liquid chocolate is rising in popularity among those who could afford it)
If someone deliberately insists on breaking the illusion (driving a motocycle, odering a hamburger) the chat host has full power (due to the I Agree contract) to remove them from the room for Official Room Disruption.
Amazing, huh? If only it were as easy as that in real life.