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The most important thing I learned playing STO...

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited May 2012 in Ten Forward
...is that there doesn't seem to be a general consensus on what constitutes "Trek". I see this all the time; "There's no REAL exploration in this game, not very Trek".

How does one define what is "Trek" and what isn't?
Post edited by Unknown User on

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  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    There is no consensus of what 'Trek' is, because everyone's idea of it is different.

    Some believe it's what Roddenberry declared what was canon
    Some believe it's the pseudo communist utopia
    Some believe it's an exploration piece
    Some believe it's a pacifistic and diplomatic piece
    Some believe it can be a war piece as well.


    Personally I think it's an adventure genre, where people go out and have wild adventures in war, peace, and exploration.

    There is no one defined aspect of Star Trek, I personally believe it is what you make of it, just like anything else.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    If you like TNG, this game is lacking in the diplomacy.
    If you like TOS, this game is lacking in the atmosphere.
    If you like VOY, this game is lacking in the exploration.
    If you like DS9, this game is lacking in combat and story.
    If you like ENT, this game is what you play when they allow you out of your padded cell. :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    o4q wrote: »
    ...is that there doesn't seem to be a general consensus on what constitutes "Trek". I see this all the time; "There's no REAL exploration in this game, not very Trek".

    How does one define what is "Trek" and what isn't?

    Flow chart:

    1) Does the core mechanic involve exploring strange planets and making cool discoveries to advance the player's progression? (If Yes, go to 6. If No, go to 2.)

    2) Does it involve blowing the ever-loving stuffing out of every alien you encounter? (If Yes, go to 5, if no, go to 3.)

    3) Do you solve most of your negotiations with words? (If Yes, go to 6. If No, go to 4.)

    4) Do you use a lightsabre? (If yes, go to 5. If no, go to 1.)

    5) It's Star Wars.

    6) It's Star Trek.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    I think it's great that Trek has so many elements, and that different fans love it for different reasons. Part of the message of the Federation's values is that we should respect each others' opinions, and it's fitting that following this allows different fans to love their elements together.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    DenizenVI wrote:
    I think it's great that Trek has so many elements, and that different fans love it for different reasons. Part of the message of the Federation's values is that we should respect each others' opinions, and it's fitting that following this allows different fans to love their elements together.

    It fills my need. I don't know about you, but when I was growing up and walking back and forth on a downed tree pretending I was the captain of the Universe-Class USS Andromeda, I wasn't doing environmental surveys. :p

    I log on and see an Excelsior-class ship I have control of and I kill Klingons. I'm playing Star Trek.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    This is missing ......."Where No One Has Gone Before"

    Let me out of this fish bowl, and can everyone stop blowing everything up!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    I love your post. I'm going to use it as my signature
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    STO will evolve—as it has. Star Trek is many things. But some things are central. The signature piece of Star Trek is the Prime Directive. The idea that Star Fleet stays out of developing cultures. But all bets are off for cultural “peers”. Often Captains tried to avoid conflict, but every one of them managed to fire their phasers at one point. Trek covers a lot of ground. Much more than STO covers today. But in another 10 years… It could be pretty comprehensive.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    I personally believe that Q put it best as "exploring the unknown possibilities of existence."

    That is how I define Trek.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    Perhaps we can all agree that what Trek is not:

    giving characters half-brained reasons to go here, kill 5/5 bad guys, and rinse and repeat. Every Trek series had something resembling a "soul." STO does not, apart from a few notable missions and FEs.

    We can disagree on what counts as 'Trek." Still, I would define it the way that everyone usually does: SF as allegory, often touching upon relevant social issues. Even Ent tried to do that every once in awhile.

    The Cryptic content has almost none of this. It's an arcade shoot em up for the most part.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    Star Trek is not about gambling and lockboxes.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    silo935 wrote:
    Star Trek is not about gambling and lockboxes.

    That's why I pass and don't participate in them. You will play what you feel Star Trek is. With some people, this means going so far as to RP. For me, I always preferred the galactic political relationships. The lock boxes aren't an issue with me because I ignore them. When I have used up all I plan on spending on them, I move on to other things.

    I'm a small business owner with only an hour a day to play at most. I'm not going to get bent all out of shape over a temporary addition to the game that I don't like. I'm not a fan of PvP, so I avoid it. I'm not a fan of getting aux batteries as drops, so I delete them. What's one more "discard"?
    Kirkfat wrote: »
    Perhaps we can all agree that what Trek is not:

    giving characters half-brained reasons to go here, kill 5/5 bad guys, and rinse and repeat.

    Have you seen Nemisis? The picking up of B4's parts reminded me of an STO mission.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    That's why I pass and don't participate in them. You will play what you feel Star Trek is. With some people, this means going so far as to RP. For me, I always preferred the galactic political relationships. The lock boxes aren't an issue with me because I ignore them. When I have used up all I plan on spending on them, I move on to other things.

    I'm a small business owner with only an hour a day to play at most. I'm not going to get bent all out of shape over a temporary addition to the game that I don't like. I'm not a fan of PvP, so I avoid it. I'm not a fan of getting aux batteries as drops, so I delete them. What's one more "discard"?

    I feel the same way. I ignore them when I can. What I can't ignore is how ugly they are as drops on a map. It's very weird that something so important to Cryptic is so ugly as a prop.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    This is a star trek MMO.

    When you buy a star trek mug you don't get annoyed that its not trek enough. It is a mug. You can argue that it doesn't properly represent the IP if the mug has say an inappropriate image on it, but its still just a mug. If you play a star trek RTS or FPS it will also inherit the properties of the respective genres.

    Now with that out of the way, to me trek is about crazy adventures in space with technobabble where the human condition is examined and our good qualities save the day. I also thing TOS was the best series and enjoyed the JJ-Trek for what it was so my opinion is obviously a twisted one.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    If you like ENT, this game is what you play when they allow you out of your padded cell. :D

    How did you know where I live?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    That's why I pass and don't participate in them. You will play what you feel Star Trek is. With some people, this means going so far as to RP. For me, I always preferred the galactic political relationships. The lock boxes aren't an issue with me because I ignore them. When I have used up all I plan on spending on them, I move on to other things . . . I'm not going to get bent all out of shape over a temporary addition to the game that I don't like..

    The lockboxes are not temporary. They have been confirmed by senior devs as being 'here to stay.' With, I believe, the addition of the words 'take it or leave it.'
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    silo935 wrote:
    The lockboxes are not temporary. They have been confirmed by senior devs as being 'here to stay.' With, I believe, the addition of the words 'take it or leave it.'

    Temporary, as in, only here every know and then. When people quit buying keys, PWE will quit offering them. Obviously, since they are still being offered, your position is in the minority.

    On my list of issues with this game, Lockboxes are nowhere near the top. Don't like them? Discard them and move on with life.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    jkstocbr wrote:
    This is missing ......."Where No One Has Gone Before"

    Let me out of this fish bowl, and can everyone stop blowing everything up!

    I agree with this. Afew things I think would make it more Trek for me:

    Don't make it so easy to go to ESD. Whenever a ship came to ESD it was because it was for some really big reason.

    Make exploration much more vast, make it something I can get lost in. I think it would be kick *** if with each season there were a lot of unexplored, unannounced systems added to one huge empty map (and this map would grow bigger and bigger with each season as well). I want to chart systems and share the ones I found with friends - It would be amazing to find something different, unique, and fresh at random. As far as getting lost with it, I mean exactly that - I want getting home to be somewhat of a struggle.

    Is my ship ever going to break down? Is there ever going to be an alien entity take it over?

    Make me think! A loved the episodes where strange things would happen and nobody really knew what was going on, but they'd figure it out - Sometimes it had a pretty good twist.

    I want to get to know my Boffs better! I think this is the least likely of my requests, but I want to breif with my boffs, form relationships, or watch relationships be formed - I want to see how they progress as characters throughout the game.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    If you think back on it thee wasn't really much 'exploration' in any of the series, but that's because exploration is very dull, what the TV shows were about when they did exploration was 45 minutes of drama with the alien of the week (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MonsterOfTheWeek).

    Which is kind of what we get in the exploration sectors...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    silo935 wrote:
    Star Trek is not about gambling and lockboxes.

    There weren't Dabo tables on DS9 or poker games on the Enterprise?

    STO isn't 'about' lockboxes either.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2012
    If you think back on it thee wasn't really much 'exploration' in any of the series, but that's because exploration is very dull, what the TV shows were about when they did exploration was 45 minutes of drama with the alien of the week (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MonsterOfTheWeek).

    Which is kind of what we get in the exploration sectors...

    As I recall, in "The Corbomite Manuever", it opens with the bridge crew being pretty bored mapping star systems... so this is pretty accurate. It's probably a good thing it doesn't take us hours to go from Vulcan to Earth in sector space.
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