Detailed Logs
Like mentioned previously, one of the requirements when creating your trade post and when you begin to update it with your progress is a detailed log that records every card and currency you earn or lose, no matter what! TCGs generally run on an honor system and admins/staff aren't able to keep track of everything that goes on so we trust that players will be honest and accurately report what they do, not only to promote fair play but also to act as a record in case they lose or forget something.
With that being said, Sakura does have on-site logs that save any activity you make while logged in and if you use something through the site - but for example, some things done on the forum aren't recorded in these logs! Since we don't require players to comment on updates with what freebies they take unless the coding asks them to either, it won't always have these records saved as well which is why we ask players to make sure their personal logs are up-to-date and detailed, in case the site logs fail or something is missed.
In addition, the on-site logs only save trading logs that you manually add yourself but since doing so is a requirement in order to claim trading rewards (see more about this here), that means you need to already have the trade logged on your end so you can just copy and paste the details from there to the site logs!
LOG TYPES
Now, you may be wondering "what do you mean by log types?" How are you supposed to keep a detailed log? We compiled the components required for good detailed logs below and provided examples, but as long as yours contain all the necessary info then you can format them however you'd like!
ACTIVITY LOGSThese record all activity you make that isn't trading with others! This includes playing games, using services and the shop, receiving rewards from activities and events, etc. You can earn cards, currency, and coupons which is what you'll need to keep track of!For each activity, make sure you have the following per log:
Some games may also allow multiple plays in a single round, or have bonus rewards that are given out at the end, all of which will be noted within the reward log as a "subtitle" that follows the name of the specific activity log (which are usually noted in brackets)! The same goes for certain shop purchases, service and activity uses, and more so making sure you have those subtitles to differentiate rewards from the same activity also contributes to having good, detailed logs. Generally though, you will almost always be copying and pasting logs given to you by the site or admin/staff which should already have all the details you need for a detailed log! But for things like update freebies or flash freebies on Discord/Twitter, we leave it up to the players to log themselves which is why we still outline what is required for a detailed log. | TRADING LOGSThese record all trades you make with others, as well as any gifts you give to players IF it's a card! This is because along with regular trades, gifting cards (and only cards) counts towards the trade points you can accumulate, to later redeem from trading rewards.For each trade or gift, make sure you have the following per log:
As for the total number of cards traded, while it is listed as optional, we strongly recommend you use some sort of numbering system to count how many cards you trade or gift away PER log, to make counting how many trade points you have and still need to complete a trade meter easier. When adding your trade logs on-site, the form does count this for you to automatically add to your total trade points however the reason we suggest players still count trades on their end is in the case of there ever being an error with your trade point total on-site, or numbers aren't matching up, then you have a back up to reference (and for us to check so we can update your count on-site if needed)! In terms of Sakura-specific content, the only cards that DON'T need to be counted are Hanami cards, as they are worth 0 and do not give any trade points; only regular cards and Member IDs—despite also being worth 0—do! However, different TCGs may have different rules on what is or isn't counted so make sure you check first. |
GOOD EXAMPLE LOGS
Below are some examples of good logs of both types! These are copied directly from Cassidy's own logs so while you don't need to be as detailed as she is or formatted the same way, it will give you an idea of what we expect from your own logs. Although activity & trading logs are separated, players are free to combine them into one single log or keep them separated but on the same page!
( SEPTEMBER 01, 2019. ) As you can see, there are a variety of different kinds of activity logs here and many of them have subtitles like mentioned earlier! The cards or coupons within the brackets and following a dash (-) are what was lost or used in some way, whereas the numbers following the "Event Cards" log are the month & day of the update that the event card was originally claimable in. The "Wishing Tree" log has both a date (of the update it was included in) and the name of the player who made that wish, as sometimes updates grant multiple wishes at once, in addition to what choice cards were taken as per the wish's guidelines - which in this case, are choice cards ending with "07" and "13"! You can also see how logs look like when currency and/or a coupon is earned, or a coupon with multiple uses is being activated like the "weekly game rewards" coupon. | ------------ TRADE METER 290 BELOW + 5 LEFTOVER TRADES ------------ As for the trading logs, you can see how both a regular trade and gifts were included! Because only 1 card was gifted each time, every log only counts as 1 card and thus, 1 trade point each. With the trade, a total of 25 cards were exchanged which counts as 25 trade points; however, since trade meters only need 20 trade points to be completed, the remaining 5 are noted separately (as "+ 001-005") and when listing that number trade meter was completed, those 5 trades are noted as "leftover" and will be counted towards the next trade meter instead! |
BAD EXAMPLE LOGS
Now for the bad example! This is obviously made up and perhaps over-exaggerated but to make a point, we'd consider bad logs to be too general and either don't include enough details, or could still include the specific cards, currency, or coupons earned but wouldn't say where they were from.
OCTOBER 20, 2014 -----------------------------
- played some games and got cardname01, cardname02, cardname03
- made a trade with yasu and got cardname04, cardname05
- participated in an event
There's nothing wrong with how the date is included or formatted (or that the log includes both activity and a trade, which is allowed) but the content of the logs themselves is where we'd have problems! The first log doesn't list what game(s) the cards obtained were from, the trade doesn't include what cards were traded away (counting trade points is again, optional, so we wouldn't say not including them is considered a bad log), and the event participation doesn't say what event it was or what the player earned and received from it.
That being said, we genuinely believe it's pretty hard to have bad logs unless you're intentionally going out of your way to do so, since pre-written logs are almost always given for you to copy & paste into your own logs! Even when you have to write your own logs, they can be pretty straightforward and simple as long as you reference how others log their own activity and trades, and eventually you'll get used to doing them yourself and finding a format that works for you.
