Having games logged speaks to having Axis and Allies treated as a professional association in the same league as the International Chess Federation. They have detailed resources and information, including huge databases of ranked games. If we are a serious Axis and Allies enthusiasts' Association, then players can take 10 or 15 minutes at the conclusion of a game to generate a log (if they want credit for the win). They take at least as long in the preparation of a single turn. In general logs are required to serve two basic Association functions:
The Policing Function
The Institutional / Administrative Function
Logs are required in all new games for the policing function because we do not know when a violation by a member may initiate a review of his/her behavior. It may be several months after the completion of a specific game. Without logs of prior games, no effective means would exist for keeping the games free from cheating. You may be surprised at the innovative ways available to fake dice rolls, create fictitious players, coordinate GM results "fixing" among a group and other activities the Association must prevent to maintain a fair gaming environment. It may be a little extra work to keep the log, but if we can discourage improper behavior by having a credible policing function, it will make play more enjoyable for all.
Log Requirement Reminder: Please remember that logs are now required for all games numbered above 5000 in order for full credit to be given.
WHAT DO I INCLUDE IN THE LOG?
Initial game start e-mail from the site, or other starting notice, if appropriate. Bid info. Players and bid results. Copies of each turn. [Please review the turns for "offensive" expletives.] Surrender notice, or equivalent. Game finish notice. Send it in!
For live games please be sure to include the bid info. Some players repeat it in the live game format after they begin logging.
HOW DO I MAKE A LOG?
Open your e-mail program and work processor at the same time. In the e-mail
program open the first message on the game, usually the initial game start message
from the site. Copy the message including the headers. Minimize the e-mail program.
Open or maximize the word processor. Position the cursor on the page where you
want the info you copied from the e-mail program. Do a paste command. Continue
to copy and paste all items from your e-mail to the word processor. This will
create a working log file. As the game continues, copy and paste each game turn
as it occurs to the working log file. When the game is complete, copy and paste
the surrender notice, and the game finish notice. Once the game is finished
and the log file is complete, you are ready to send it in. Go to your word processor.
Open the log file. Do a "save as" command. In the save as dialog box will be
a section which allows you to choose the type of file to save as. [It will no
be labeled as such, it will simply show "Word 6.0 Document" or something similar
inside a box with a down arrow (I hope) to the side of the box. Click on the
down arrow and find the text file designation. It will probably be something
like "ASCII DOS TEXT", "MS-DOS text" or "plain text".] Change the name of the
saved file to XXXXLOG.txt (some word processors put the ".txt" on without
your help). Log on to the internet. Go to the IAAPA web site. Click on the member
services button. Click on the underlined words "Submit a log for a game which
has been confirmed as finished." Follow the instructions. If you have trouble
with the site log submission procedure, send an e-mail, with the game log as
an attachment, to the Minister of Logs listed in the government section of the
site (logs@axisandallies.net will always be this address).
The log must Must MUST be a text file. It does not matter whether the log is an attachment to your email or in the email message. [Some e-mail providers do not allow attachments. Oh well, cut and paste time.]
If you cannot attach the text file to the e-mail message, then send the log within an e-mail message using cut and paste. Also, you may have to send the log in two or three parts if your e-mail provider does not handle large files. Be ABSOLUTELY sure that the word processor file you copy from is a text file. You must copy from a text file and then paste to e-mail. E-mail cannot handle anything from a source other than a text file. If you saved the original document as a Word document (for example), it will not go well [understatement!] when copied into an e-mail message. All the hidden Word characters will show up in the e-mail and be misinterpreted by the mail/text processor. [These messed up characters do not show up in the pasting, only in the sending. Look at the sent message in your sent file, if you have one. If it looks like Chinese, it will be received just like that. NO GOOD!]