Am I just a grumpy old Trekfan for not liking Star Trek Online? And am I the only one?

[thatcrazycajun]

Been inundated with promos, in print, online and on TV, for the Cryptic Studios/Paramount-launched MMORPG (that's "massively multi-player online role-playing game" for those not in the know) called Star Trek Online. And die-hard Trekker though I may be from waaaay back, I ain't signing on for this one.

Let's leave aside the $40 US entry cost of buying the software (or even more for the "Digital Deluxe" version, whatever the frak that is) and the ongoing $14.95 monthly fee on top of that to play. And the requirement of latest-'n'-greatest hardware and a broadband Internet connection, one or both of which far too many fans still don't have and can't afford even today. And the fact that said software is only available for game consoles such as XBox and for WinBlows computers; sadly, it seems not even in the 25th century is the Federation enlightened enough to allow Mac users a native version.

No, my big problem with the game is this: It is deliberately set a full century after the NextGen/DS9/Voyager era, so that all of the characters we know and love from five TV series and ten movies (I very purposely exclude the travesty that was last year's J.J. Abrams-helmed blockbuster, for reasons you can read here if you haven't already) are quite literally ancient history. Yeah, sure, you can be captain of your own ship, work your way up the ranks and fight battles with Borg, Klingons and so forth. But if I'm gonna shell out this much moolah for a Star Trek game, I goddam well expect to be able to meet the biggies: fight alongside Jim Kirk and Spock, serve under Jean-Luc Picard and with Data and Riker, get locked in a holding cell by Odo, promoted by Adm. Kathryn Janeway, or kidnapped and toyed with by Q...or better still, play as one of these iconic characters. I don't just want to read files on them in the in-game history database, or maybe hear a clip of one of the actors speaking. And with over four decades worth of continuity, there's no excuse for not being able to choose the era of Federation history in which you want to play, from Archer's to Kirk's to Picard's and beyond.

Anyone who knows jack about this franchise knows that its real core strength has always been its characters: how the actors play them, how they are written and developed over time and how they interact with one another. It takes a whole helluva lot more than just cool gadgets and ships and mega-violent space battles to make a game that is real Star Trek. This, combined with last year's aforementioned Abrams obscenity, confirms my belief that the vision of the late Gene and Majel Roddenberry is in the hands of fools and idiots.

Do you agree with my assessment? Or think I'm full of it and/or making too much out of trivialities? Please post here with your opinion.

Comments

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Honestly?

You're full of it and making too much out of trivialities.

I have no idea if the game is good or not, because like you, I haven't played it. I got a beta-key and got as far as downloading the client, but I never found time to really dive into it. However:

#1: $40 is actually on the low end for a brand new PC/console game these days. Quite often, they go for $50-$60. And the monthly fee is how MMORPG's are structured, and have been for the last 15 years or so that the genre has existed. The pricing is perfectly in line with the standard of the industry.

#2: The game setting actually makes a lot of sense from a design point-of-view. Setting it IN the time of TOS or TNG shackles you to scenarios that fit into that established set of storylines. Setting it post-TNG means that the universe is open for you to write your own canvass. Maybe *you* only want to hobnob with the legends, but most MMOs are geared to people who want to be the stars of their own stories and steer their own destinies, not to be sidekicks to some Big Name NPC. (Besides, this is Star Trek. Eventually, you'll have a time-travel mission and bump into them.)

#3: The MMO in MMORPG is "Massively Multiplayer Online". The reason it requires a bandwidth connection is that that's how you connect to online games. These newer games are more resource hungry than old text-adventure MUDs, and require more bandwidth. That is the nature of the beast, and hoenstly, broadband internet *is* the standard now, not the province of the wealthy elite.

#4: Yes, it sucks that there is no native Mac client. Unfortunately, Mac users continue to get screwed by most game companies, so it's not unusual. (You know who *does* have a native Mac client in this marketspace? World of Warcraft. You know how much of the MMO market share Blizzard has? About 60%. Go figure, huh?)

If the above makes the game unappealing to *you*, then by all means don't buy it, but don't pretend that you're talking from a reasonably moderate viewpoint. You're way over there in left field, I'm afraid, with regards to this particular kind of game.

(Now, it may turn out that this game blows massive pixilated chunks for other reasons. Again, I haven't had a chance to give it a go, and I'm not entirely sure I'll take the time. But that is neither here nor there.)

(I also think you're wrong about the Abrams movie, but that's entirely a matter of opinion, and I'm disinclined to argue with you or anyone else about it. *grin*)

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

>>#3: The MMO in MMORPG is "Massively Multiplayer Online". The reason it requires a bandwidth connection is that that's how you connect to online games. These newer games are more resource hungry than old text-adventure MUDs, and require more bandwidth. That is the nature of the beast, and hoenstly, broadband internet *is* the standard now, not the province of the wealthy elite.<<

Oh, really now? Do the words "digital divide" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide) mean anything to you? Believe it or not, not everyone even in this country, birthplace of the Internet, can access broadband service. According to one estimate, as many as 93 million Americans still can't use the high-speed lanes on the information superhighway. (See this article (http://www.technewsworld.com/story/FCC-Aims-to-Haul-Digital-Have-Nots-Across-the-Divide-69409.html) for more.)

Nobody attempting to design an online game for the masses should assume that everyone playing can afford the most current hardware or access to the fattest pipes. Even a mid-range laptop is still several hundred dollars beyond what some people (including one or two fans I know) can spare from their monthly nut. Add broadband costs and game fees and software on top of that and you have a very real problem. And you should remember that we can't all be sysadmins; maybe you're used to shelling out $$$ for a game box and subscription, but plenty of us aren't and can't.

And no, I don't only want to hobnob with fave characters, but I do want that to at least be an available option.

[mdlbear]

Actually, the US is a broadband backwater compared with real first-world countries like Japan and Finland.

And being an online game, it's not trying to appeal to the masses, just the elite for whom $15/month is a trivial amount.

My Own Enterprise

[sodyera.livejournal.com]

I took a long, hard look at STO {interesting initials; See Caprica} and really thought about the stupendous amount of time I'd have had to spend in order to create and crew a Federation vessel to my cultural standards. I'd have to tell the Sartine history, explain why we weren't by now either teaching or dominating the Federation culture the way we had done in this sector of space eleven thousand years ago, and how the planets Eminiar 7 and Ardala were actually ancient Sartine colonies, all while trying to maintain my copyright on any material submitted to the Paramount host, which would of course be impossible. Instead I thought this time would be better spent trying to get my own damned manuscript(s) published. Two rejection letters for Torussenji's Priestand counting...

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

huh. First I've heard of this. Though, I'm no gamer (although I do run in circles with folks as do).

On the one hand, you are totally correct; the pricing model is borked, the fact that there's no Mac port is a travesty (nevermind Linux - id Software has been doing this for *years*), and the fact that you don't have well-known NPC's is just dumb. Running up against The Picard or James "I. Have had. enough of YOU!" Kirk as a big boss (and being able to exploit their weaknesses - Kirk's temper, Picard's unwillingness to accept collateral damage) would be a necessary feature...

And yet?

I was more than willing to consign the whole fandom to the deep at the end of Nemesis; they'd had their run, and with "To Absent Friends" they were done. I sort of liked the new movie; the plot was *crap* but the characters well done and interesting... but it wasn't a *necessity* like TNG or B5 or these days Who... I can leave it be.

So I think you're right from the standpoint of "gee, they f*cked up *again*, didn't they?" But at the same time? We knew it was dead to begin with. I'm certainly not going to waste any time angsting over it. If somebody bothers to come out with something *decent*, fine, but otherwise? Just vote with your wallet.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to get involved with it either. It's the economy, stupid.