Nobody cares much for the captain's table (from what I gather on the forums). Everyone has their hopes up for the foundry. So... I had an idea... but first let me apologize if this sounds elitist or like a ferengi in any way

The foundry is coming out soon and one of the obvious problems is how the devs could monitor UGC content. One solution proposed is a player made ranking system. That's all fine and well, but UGC content will still add another good bit of the game they have to constantly check on and fix. Logically, this would take manpower and time away from other areas we would like to see grow.
Now, if you agree with what I said above, then you might be able to understand why I suggest the following idea-
Why not give Top Secret Acesss to the foundry via the Captain's Table? (This means lifetimers and 400 day vet reward participants will have access) Only these people would be able to create and write missions through the foundry. This would also mean going to the Captain's Table to create these missions.
The rest of the subscriber base would still be able to access and play missions through the UGC tab the devs have mentioned making available to everyone. This would give the Devs a smaller number missions/stories to regulate. Whether or not one mission gets a high ranking, there is still a possibility that the mission could involve breaking the TOA. It might also give extra incentive to players to keep playing the game so they earn their Top Secret Foundry access.
Does this sound like a reasonable idea?
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Anyway I don't mind the idea (as a LTS duh!
But people who don't have an LTS and don't want to wait a year to access this content would get reary reary angry.
:mad:
People who do not have an LTS or have not made the 400 day mark could still access the content, they just couldn't access the creation tools. Thanks for the reply
No.
It would seem that Cryptic has already pretty much lined out to us how players will be accessing and creating missions using the Foundry.
If you are looking for lifetime subscribers/veterans to have some perks, maybe certain items, maps or content exclusive to those members could be available for them to use in the Foundry (or something).
But really I think the use of the Foundry should be equal across the board for everyone.
Regarding the Captains Table, it would be nice for there to be more reasons for life-timers to go there.
Peace out.
-Klintobean
Very well put.
Nice presentation.
But when a customer segment is shut out of the action so to speak, you estrange them, and there is a chance that you might generate bad feelings. And bad feelings is bad for business.
And since some of us might be part of this business for a long time, we must think of what is best for all, and not create divisions. And so we need to be inclusive and generous with features like these.
But this suggestion had given that Table a real function, with a true purpose.
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I agree, everyone should be able to use the tools.
The quote above seems to be the sentiment of most of the posters here. I certainly did not mean to say LTS or 400 day vets are more or less qualified to create missions. I was however, trying to find the most logical solution to alleviating the potential burden the devs will have while monitoring UGC created missions and mantaining the Foundry itself by doing a form of crowd control to make maintenance easier.
Like I warned everyone in my post, the idea did smack of elitism (heck even a Ferengi would be proud). But at the same time, it seemed like a reasonable solution since the Foundry WILL pull resources away from episodic missions, further content, etc. I hope we would all agree that the devs have the best chance and opportunity to make the best missions (e.g., What Lies Beneath). I love the Foundry and the idea, but worry about the implications when it comes to "time budget".
It also seemed like a nice way to make the Captain's Table a place you would actually want to visit
I can't imagine why...
Here, let me make a counter proposal that makes as much damn sense - Lets only open the foundry to people living south of the Tropic of Capricorn. That'll limit the number of people taking up valuable Dev time.
i appreciate your thinking about the devs and not wanting them getting bogged down having to check missions
although they only have to check missions that get flagged by the community after the review process by the people who sign up to be a review so minimal to no offensive or inappropriate stuff should get through, so technically the devs should never need to look at a single mission. obviously they will end up having to do some checking on grey areas but their time should not be affected that much by everybody having it.
if it becomes and issue they may have to re-look at the system but i see no way they will ever stop everybody from accessing it at any stage.
It's certainly not a self-greasing mechanism, that can avoid resources being diverted. For just like there are bugs in any other part of the game, or balance issues, or behaviour that needs to be addressed, the UGC is affected by all of these considerations, in addition to being an added system by itself, with some unique problems attached.
I find it hard to believe that the effort could not have gone into any other loosely connected auxiliary systems, like robust crafting or more dynamic ship customization, like moving hardpoints around a bit, or even better, interaction improvements that use the bridge, or an approximation of the bridge, in conjunction with missions.
What bites the most is that the UGC is presented as a full fledged content offering, instead of a Holodeck simulation project. It goes beyond the Star Trek sphere, it approaches the toes of a major internal project to support a more general gaming gadget, as to mirror other games.
I do not see the Star Trek in this one. I see Fan Trek yes. I can buy a T-Shirt for that, and argue on the forums. This place is UGC enough for me.
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:rolleyes:
Making it the seat of the interface for Foundry authoring might be a neat idea.
If and only if it were then automatically opened up to anyone who actually signed up to use it. It's not like us Life Sentence holders are using it anyway.