Corporate Ownership (from Memory Alpha):
TV - CBS Television Distribution, CBS Paramount Network Television, CBS Corporation (2005 present)
Movies - Paramount Pictures, Viacom (new) (2005 present)
"Star Trek Online is a licensed product from CBS Consumer Products" - from Cryptic website and all press releases from Cryptic/Atari/CBS.
Therefore all content of Star Trek Online appears to be approved by the owners of the IP, i.e. CBS. The people that say "this isnt Star Trek" and "Cryptic are ***** for taking the game away from its traditional values" etc are incorrect. This is clearly the direction that the ST owners of the IP want to go (i.e. combat orientated, less exploration/diplomacy) and to blame Cryptic for taking the franchise away form Gene Roddenberrys vision is unfair.
This isnt a verdict on the game or its faults (for which there are many) so dont shoot the messenger, this is just pointing out that you may not like it, but this is the modern day Star Trek now. Everything changes and evolves in time, sometimes to something that the some people dont like, but people just need to get used to it
Comments
Nuh-uh.
It is a MMORPG based on Star Trek. But to be honest, having a MMORPG where all you do is seduce blue women
I don't feel like a Captain.
I don't feel like I'm playing Kirk, Picard, or Janeway (Sisko is out of the question).
Ifs nothing more than a shallow MMO that masks how shallow it is, with lots of switches and confusing skill options and wrapping it in a Star Trek skin that lets them use a lot of confusing lingo.
Am I having fun? Yes, at the moment. But that has nothing to do with how "trek" it is.
Religion
Politics
Star Trek
They wouldn't, that's the point.
If CBS would approve it, yes it would be star trek.
Wrong thread.
They opened a new one and dont care the hell about what cryptic is doing with the old one. They could even Destroy the whole Universe and say that we are all ruled by pinky Elephants that live in Lollypop world in the center of the galaxy buliding up a castle of Marhsmellows on a hill of dead Tribbles. Nobody would care.
Never underestimate the power of cognitive dissonance.
No, very much the right thread.
why do you think ship customisation is limited? thats why you cant just have an extra nacelle hanging off the ship somewhere, why /powerhue was disabled etc..
i would imagine whatever cryptic want to put in the game has to be run by someone at CBS first.
so if you're not happy with something, remember its CBS who've agreed to that or it wouldnt be in.
(like phase pistols 100 years too early...)
is it perfect? nope, but dont lay all the blame solely at the feet of cryptic.
And you'd be wrong. Paramount Pictures, who owns the licence to Star Trek, revoked FASA's license to publish the official role-playing game in 1989 because Paramount said the last two supplements produced by FASA had been published without the correct clearances from within the studio. They'd do the same thing to Cryptic.
You are fundametally misunderstanding what these people are saying.
Really? Do you speak for Cryptic? Because this guy does and he's saying otherwise.
This. Don't pee on my shoe and tell me it's raining. I guess the Cupid Ewoks and 20,000 Jedi running around in SWG mean it's Star Wars?
No he isn't. All he said is that they are listening to our complaints. In fact he goes even further to say that they have to get permission from upstairs before they make any changes.
Management= Jack and his lackeys, not Paramount and CBS.
Basically, ask yourself, 'if they were ever to make another Trek show, would any of this be good enough to make it into canon?'. I seriously doubt anything from STO would. I've seen better fanfiction. A lot better. It's kinda sad.
This is the problem, people seem to think that STO should be exactly the same as the series going back over 15 years.
Things evolve and do not stay the same, unfortunaltey. At present the federation is at war, so diplomacy and exploration take a back seat -this is how they want it so this is how it is. I would love a ST game where we explore strange new worlds and seek out new life, but at present we are at war - people may not like it but this is how it is.
Yes. If CBS/Paramount wanted all uniforms to be pink with yellow hearts on then that would be Star Trek too, as that is what they want and they own it. It wouldnt be right, it wouldnt be traditional but it would be Star Trek becuase like it or not what they say goes - the point is it wouldnt be Cryptics fault but the fault of the owners of the IP.
I think the fundamental argument is the people that want an exploration/diplomacy game (in the traditions of Star Trek) versus the people that want a combat sim (which arguably is the future of Star Trek). This argument has been dealt with in numerous other posts and doesnt need any more but basically if you want the former then you are going to be disappointed, if you want the combat sim, this might be worth a try (irrespective of its gameplay faults). There may be an equal amount of people for each side, but to criticise the other sides argument is fruitless as war IS the future of the ST IP as that is what CBS/Paramount want. They obviously were paying attention when DS9 got popular once the Dominion War started
The point of my original post was that people that complain about Cryptic ruining the franchise and not keeping true with the Star Trek ethos are wrong to put full blame with Atari/Cryptic as CBS/Paramount (the owners) have authorised it so that makes war and conflict the new ethos...! Some may regret not playing a game based on a show which ended over 5 years ago and didnt really change for 20 years, but some may argue STO is the result of a franchises evolution into something new.;)
Until we get a Holodeck in real life, or the ability to be chriogenically frozen to be woken up in the would be Star Trek reality we all hope will come to pass. (which I would pay for in a heart beat)
This is as close as we can get in 2010. So either make a fan film in your garage with your fan boy buddies, dress up at hollowe'en, build a ready room in your house or STFU cause this is the best we can get right now and its pretty damn good.
We should be lucky they decided to try this at all.
As for the Quote above I couldn't have said it better.
lol...i daresay a good development studio with an attitude outside "fast and cheap" could have done better ... a WHOLE LOT BETTER
First, to address this, the underlined part of the original quote...someone's definately taking a single instance in a single episode WAY out of context. Kirk and Spock both had their own quarters on the Enterprise, established many times over the 3 years of TOS. Second, Kirk was supposed to be a lady's man, that is how he was portrayed and it was commented on over the 3 years of TOS multiple times.
Now, as to the OP..correct, the vision of the ST Universe as we're seeing it in STO is the authorized version from CBS, the owners of the IP. ANYONE who doubts that CBS sees the future of the ST Universe being one of combat and action has only to go watch Star Trek 09 and you'll quickly be disabused of that notion.
And WHY most of you didn't see this coming is totally beyond me. It actually started as soon as Gene died, and if you don't believe it, go watch the shows that were written after Gene died, the difference is obvious. You can see it in TNG, and it's very clear in the 2 shows developed and written after Gene died, Voyager and DS9. DS9 shows some of his influence in the early shows, but it's quickly discarded when the fanbase wasn't all that huge and someone realizes that WAR is a great draw for television. Voyager..well..if Gene's influence is found in that series, I've never seen it, and I actually liked Voyager despite/because of that.