one of the things I have been doing with my spare time lately

I’ve been playing Artemis.  It was inevitable, as I have a bunch of friends who love Star Trek, who can also at the drop of a hat pull out enough laptops for everyone to get their own station.

This is, as the label says, a Spaceship Bridge Simulator, played on a local network.  Someone plays Helm, someone different plays Weapons, someone else plays Science Officer, Engineer, Comm, and the Captain tells them all where to go.  Each station has a computer display, and they all have to work together to get the job done.  I’m not normally much of a computer game player, but this one’s very social and cooperative, which makes it a lot of fun.  We usually have beer and hard cider on hand.  This is what we did for the New Year’s Eve party.  And don’t let anyone tell you Comm isn’t necessary — I got something like 30% of our enemies to surrender when I was on Comm. (If you’re on Facebook and saw my post asking about which ear a Bajoran earring goes on…yes, I did wear a Bajoran earring to the game.  Don’t judge me.)

However, we have decided that in most circumstances this isn’t a Star Trek bridge simulator.  It’s a Galaxy Quest bridge simulator.  Never give up!  Never surrender!

Here’s a video of what playing the game looks like:

I love this, because the crews I’ve been playing on are so much better.  We generally remember to put our shields up before we get shot at.

During yesterday afternoon’s session, I got my first story idea from playing Artemis.  We’ll see if it grows into an actual story.

 

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