Join us for another in a series of interviews with winners of awards from our recent 2022 Awards Ceremony. Our goal is to give you insight into how our fleet’s best simmers write, and imagine their characters as well as their out of character contributions and achievements..
This month we’re interviewing the writer behind Commander playing a male Betazoid First Officer assigned to the USS Artemis-A. He won the Boothby Award: “Awarded to a trainer who has gone above and beyond their Academy Training Requirements.”
DeVeau: It’s been a while since we’ve interviewed you! Would you mind telling us about yourself again, and maybe a bit about your work in theatre?
Adea: Hello there! I am a Brit from the south-east of England which seems to be moving on from a bitter winter to a bitter spring. I work behind the scenes in a local theatre, as well as being artistic director of my own company specialising in outdoor Shakespeare, although we do other things too.
One of the most unique features of our game is the training team. Why did you decide to join this team?
Oh boy, why did I join the training team? I guess it’s because having competent, welcoming faces to greet our newbies is really important. I don’t know if anyone would call me competent or welcoming, but I have the Boothby award so I can’t be all that bad.
Why do you think having this Academy training is important to the life of our community?
We have to put our best feet forward when recruiting, but we also want to make sure that people can beam into our ships with relative ease. Training means that people can get a taste of what we offer, see if they like it, and then get good at it, without having to disrupt the ebb and flow of a live ship. Well, that’s the theory of course.
What are some of the fondest memories you have from the academy classes you’ve been a part of?
My fondest memories is seeing people that I trained either joining the training team, or making it years in the fleet. It’s so nice to see that the training worked and helped settle them into the ships. Now obviously Captains and ships’ staff have much more to do with a person’s continued existence within the fleet (as well as their own skills) but it’s nice to know that I was a small part of them being here.
What is the hardest part about being on the training team? What is the most fun?
Oooh, the hardest part is definitely giving feedback. Our style is so distinctive and (some would say) counter-intuitive, so some cadets can definitely get off on the wrong foot. However, it’s our job to get them on the right path; I’ve started keeping a bunch of templates of the most frequent bits of feedback, which helps.
The most fun part is when a cadet offers a truly unique or fun twist on the scenario at play. We only have a dozen or so scenarios, and I’ve done… a lot… of them repeatedly. So when somebody actually does bring in something I’ve not seen before, that’s a really nice feeling.
What is some advice you can give to those who wish to help guide the future members of our group?
Patience and kindness, always. Always assume good intent, and be patient with them – they are here to have fun, and you are too.
Thanks for your time, Commander Adea!
You can read more about Commander Genkos Adea on the wiki.