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Would STO allow an adult themed Foundry Mission featuring Holo-Addiction?
doubleohnine
Member Posts: 818 Arc User
Obviously you cant display any nudity in game if you wanted to. But the topic of the mission and dialogue would lean heavily towards adult language that double and triple winked at sex topics.
But its not exactly what you think. By the way, I'll never get around to making this mission, so if someone wants to make it, have at it. Message me if you do.
Setup:
Present day STO. Gamma Quadrant exploration. You come across a three world solar system. All three planets have been visited by alien life, no First contact or Prime Directive concerns to think of. Or is there? 2 of the planets have embraced space exploration, and are at TOS level technology levels, after getting help and tech from visiting species the last 60 years. The two planets have aligned themselves for the defense of their system. Starfleet hasnt visited their system in 20 years. When you make a checkup visit, the two worlds ask you to go talk to the third planet, who has ceased their space program at Archer level tech. The two leading worlds know they are stronger with three planets aligned to defend against all the threats they know are out there from quadrant news they hear. They arent at war with the third planet. They all get along peacefully. But in the 2370s the third world was sold a lot of holosuite tech from the Ferengi. And now the third planet has incorporated holo brothels into their way of life. They're actually very responsible with it they think. In fact, violent crime and sexual assault crime has drastically reduced on the planet the past 20 years. They are totally at peace and content with their heavy sex life that can be catered to them in any way they want. There is hardly any poor on the planet, most of the planet is middle class and higher. They just dont want to bother with space exploration any longer. Theyre content with unlimited sex at home. The 2 world ask your captain to "talk to them" and try to get them off their "addiction" and embrace the realities of the quadrant around them.
Im not exactly sure how to solve this. What would your captain do? How should this mission be resolved in Star Trek style?
But its not exactly what you think. By the way, I'll never get around to making this mission, so if someone wants to make it, have at it. Message me if you do.
Setup:
Present day STO. Gamma Quadrant exploration. You come across a three world solar system. All three planets have been visited by alien life, no First contact or Prime Directive concerns to think of. Or is there? 2 of the planets have embraced space exploration, and are at TOS level technology levels, after getting help and tech from visiting species the last 60 years. The two planets have aligned themselves for the defense of their system. Starfleet hasnt visited their system in 20 years. When you make a checkup visit, the two worlds ask you to go talk to the third planet, who has ceased their space program at Archer level tech. The two leading worlds know they are stronger with three planets aligned to defend against all the threats they know are out there from quadrant news they hear. They arent at war with the third planet. They all get along peacefully. But in the 2370s the third world was sold a lot of holosuite tech from the Ferengi. And now the third planet has incorporated holo brothels into their way of life. They're actually very responsible with it they think. In fact, violent crime and sexual assault crime has drastically reduced on the planet the past 20 years. They are totally at peace and content with their heavy sex life that can be catered to them in any way they want. There is hardly any poor on the planet, most of the planet is middle class and higher. They just dont want to bother with space exploration any longer. Theyre content with unlimited sex at home. The 2 world ask your captain to "talk to them" and try to get them off their "addiction" and embrace the realities of the quadrant around them.
Im not exactly sure how to solve this. What would your captain do? How should this mission be resolved in Star Trek style?
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Comments
From a technical standpoint, The Foundry blocks most English profanity (as in it will prevent you from posting the mission if you use a word on the banned list) and you may find writing dialogue in this kind of scenario somewhat difficult. You also need to keep in mind that the game is rated T for Teen / PEGI 12.
From a writing standpoint:
— It depends which version of the Prime Directive you're using. There's the Kirk version (if they're warp-capable or previously contacted the PD doesn't apply), the Janeway/Picard version (no interference with anybody even at cost to self), the DSC version (limited covert interference to protect life esp. from out-of-context problems is acceptable)... Personally I tend to interpret it from an anti-imperialist mindset, with the PD being a cautionary measure about respecting a people's right to self-determination and preventing the Federation from repeating the misdeeds of Europeans and Americans, and retarding concepts like manifest destiny and white man's burden from taking hold in the Federation.
— You should probably try to tie the use of holobrothels to more specific problems than a general "you should join the bigger galaxy because... that's what you do". For example, what if, because they can always go have sex with a hologram instead of with a real person, their birthrate is starting to crash? You could also think about issues like devaluation of skills other than holodeck-related ones, which would make for commentary on the decline of many blue-collar occupations in the United States.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1009558/the-foundry-end-user-license-agreement/p1
So the prospect of making a more "adult" foundry mission (that's ultimately about sex in this way) is out. We cannot push those boundaries (between the EULA, language filter, and community expectations. Remember that even if can get around EULA concerns you still have to contend with audience reaction [whose baseline is set by a T-rated game].)
Winks are not prohibited by the EULA, but for best effect I'd say the primary consequences of holo-technology should not be (first and foremost) sex. You may want to focus instead on the broad range of escapism possible with a holo-deck, rather than focusing on escapism through one kind of physical reaction (broadens up the narrative, still allows for some of the themes the OP originally intended beneath the surface, and invites some neat builds.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Indeed while, winks are probably not prohibited you might try refocusing things in such a way that sex or sexuality aren't the main focus but rather just one of many parts of the main issue.
Also when it comes to the Foundry there's things we aren't allowed to do that Cryptic can.
Vulcan/Orion Entertainment Holograms are a thing.
I dunno, I distinctly recall the DS9 series finale starting with Ezri and Julian waking up naked in bed. Never mind oo-mox...
And again, this game isn't rated E for Everyone, it's rated T for Teen. The Klingon and Romulan storylines have explicit torture scenes (a player I know deleted her Klingon character after "Second Star to the Right" because of it) and Klingon doff missions have you trading in slaves and experimenting on captives. And you're complaining about a little sex talk.
If some kid sees it, that's on his parents for not monitoring his gaming. Hell, if I had small children, I wouldn't let them play this game just on the off chance they saw ESD Zone Chat.
(So we're clear: This is my opinion as a player and fanfic writer, not as a forum moderator. Moderating actual Foundry missions is beyond the scope of my responsibilities.)
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
And yet building a mission around sexual addiction to "entertainment holograms" (which I always took as performing arts) is not.
Look, Foundry authors have a wide scope and, in the past, have made references to personal relations happening off screen but let's not forget that the aim here isn't just to see what's technically possible but to actually create a compelling mission that makes the most of its opportunities. Ie. something that's worth playing by other people.
And to that end the OP's scope is too narrow and likely to cross the EULA since a mission about sexual addiction must ( in order to effectively convey that story) invoke it for story points and characters. The author can wink at that content in slight ways, but to only wink at what you're mission's about is not likely to produce something that functions well.
In summary: it's not advised, so revise the project and take making a more "adult" foundry mission off the list of priorities.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
For comparison WoW is PEGI 12 like STO and there's quite raunchy material in WoW, so it's probably not "kids will see it" issue, but rather Cryptic put a hard "no" on sexually explicit language so that they don't have to deal with "how far is too far" issues.
I though I suspect that saying that a person "did some morally questionble actions" or that a place has "some morally questionble actions" happening there would be ok as it's vague enough to not be "explicit sexual language", as it could be exessive drinking, rude or vurgar language or criminal actions that are "morally questionble". That said one must be very careful with that as to not come as trying to bash a religion or social group you don't like.
In the end a properly mature story about addiction is more compelling then the an "adult" story that really just refences to sex/TRIBBLE because the author wanted to have refences to sex/TRIBBLE, but a mature story needs to deal with its subject matter in a mature way (as it how it would be dealt by mature adults) and indeed a story can have mature themes without ever mention sex at all.
That said Cryptic cannot assume your average Foundry author knowns the ins and outs of the rating systems US or anywhere in the world for that matter, so Cryptic prefers a hard "no" on certain things like sexual language to avoid making the Foundry rules way too hard for the average player to understand.
> As far as age ratings go the PC version of STO is rated PEGI 12 (I'm more familiar with European system and also in this case it's somewhat better as "T" rating is rather broad.), while the console version is rated PEGI 16.
>
> For comparison WoW is PEGI 12 like STO and there's quite raunchy material in WoW, so it's probably not "kids will see it" issue, but rather Cryptic put a hard "no" on sexually explicit language so that they don't have to deal with "how far is too far" issues.
Just to point this out: when the game was first released, the scenes I mentioned didn't exist AFAIK (the Klingons didn't have their own storyline and the Romulans plain didn't exist). It's likely STO was re-rated for consoles and those sequences taken into account.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
yes and that's why I keep saying that Cryptic prefers to have hard "no" in the EULA as that's way easier then explaining in detail where the line for the rating for "T" goes.
EDIT:PEGI 16, is actually only 1-2 years away from "M" rating IIRC M="17 or older" so that would put STO closer to being "M" rated then "E".