Ive said this a billion times, ill say it a billions times more. Exploration is the key component to Star Trek. And its been ignored since the launch.
There is no respect coming from either Cryptic or PWE to what ST stands for, what the community for the most part stands for. For people looking for the true embodiment of ST the only sollution is to keep searching. And only come back from time to time, hoping in vain that things have progressed in the right direction.
Remember when STO was in beta and we kept hearing how the "Genesis System" would allow us to explore and discover new areas, meet new species? Since the game is instanced per "zone" there is virtually no limit (aside from server storage space) to the size of the game map. There's vast areas of each quadrant we could explore. I wasn't much of a Voyager fan but there's all kinds of stuff in the Delta Quadrant, for example, we could go explore. Tie it into the personal progression system Dan was talking about in the State of the Game and it's like peanut butter & jelly, goes together well.
I still have my personal reservations about PWE and the Trek IP. They obviously are successful at running mmo's (otherwise they'd be out of business by now) but I don't think still to this day they grasp the vast inner-social concepts that Trek brings.
I love that a thread made to bring attention to RSA's "dumping" of STO (whether or not that's the actual case) is mostly about the old STOked video podcast and the Foundry, with not a whole lot of people commenting on or about RSA.
Again as I've said before, and other co-hosts have said, we are not "dumping" STO, we will still dedicate a good portion of each episodes beginning to STO news and talk, then also cover other mmo / game news. That way we still show our love of STO and regular involvement, and also have a chance to wander into other games.
As for RSA 'rebranding'... don't care. STO's got too many podcasts as it is. We can spare one. And considering the last podcast of RSA's I heard (involuntarily, on SSR, the one where the community that's dieing seemed to be their own, as they were left with just two hosts) I can't imagine I'd miss them. That was really awful. And I'm only saying that so Cryptic can see I'm not just mean to them.
One thing, look at it this from point of view; no other online game, be it an mmorpg, or not, has as many podcasts dedicated to it in volume, than STO. Not even World of ******** which is arguably the most played mmorpg world wide. Think about that for a moment, the Trek franchise has brought enough of us together that we have a very good podcast diversity. There's over four podcasts dedicated to the Foundry, some dedicated to general STO news, etc. I see that as a blessing, not a curse. No other game can say they have as many podcasts dedicated to it nor the diversity of such. I mean Gates of Stovokor is an entire roleplaying slash KDF podcast. That's awesome. You can't get more niche than that.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
As this subject seems to get brought up a lot, the same replies exist: Star Trek is littered with examples of characters buying things with currency. In the first episode of TNG, where Roddenberry was still producing, Dr. Crusher 'buys" cloth from a merchant at Farpoint by having it billed to her account. In the first episode of Voyager Kim is almost suckered into buying worthless stones at Quarks. In the TNG episode 'The Price' the Federation is attempting to negotiate exclusive access to a stable wormhole from the Barzan, which included a hefty payment. Kirk buys many things in TOS, including Dilithium from miners.
The idea that there is no currency in Star Trek is just a pipedream which some people seem to have.
It is said a few times that they don't need money but I think what they have is socialism with capitalism built on top.
Effectively: nobody is homeless or hungry and is free to pursue whatever creative or academic hobbies they have, for free.
Now... You can have money. And if you want more than the next guy, you can go out and earn it. It's just not necessary or required for survival.
So... Look out the window. Look at the standard of living people with $100k a year incomes have. You get that for free in Star Trek.
You want more, you can barter or trade currency or do work for people. But nobody ever loses that basic upper middle class lifestyle on any Federation world, provided by the state.
One thing, look at it this from point of view; no other online game, be it an mmorpg, or not, has as many podcasts dedicated to it in volume, than STO. Not even World of ******** which is arguably the most played mmorpg world wide.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
How many of those are active, weekly, podcasts that are still going?
I guarantee that list of WoW podcasts most of them are either not on a weekly basis, and/or a good chunk of them are no longer being produced. Pretty much every STO podcast is a weekly basis, and on going (aside from the original STOked which sadly shut down).
I got the information from PodcastUGC, they talked about it a few months back how STO has the most active, regular basis podcasts. Which I agree is true.
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redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
While yes, numbers outline development pretty good, but there is more to a community than just X-number of players.
A community is a group of people working to enhance their experience of <whatever>, and I tend to agree with whoever says it's dying...
^This... They said the Community is dying. A game can have thousands of players and NO community... LOL... I played a lot of those games so I know. I also played one game with very few players and a very STRONG community.
Also, STOked shut down more because the Podcast itself was not generating enough money to keep itself alive. Yes, the game sucking it up helped make that happen but their shut down was not so much about the game dying or the community dying as it was about the feasibility of continuing the Podcast. They have kept STOked alive as STOked Radio.
How many of those are active, weekly, podcasts that are still going?
I'm not going to search through them all, but I did go through the first page of links on the SWTOR site and 14 of them all had podcasts this month - though I didn't search their individual websites to see if those are weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly podcasts. I just saw that they are current and active. There's 5 pages in that thread. Feel free to look through all of them if you wish.
As for the WoW statement, my quote above was taken from the podcast website. It stated there are "70 active" podcasts in numerous languages. I'm not going to waste my time checking, though. I don't care enough. I don't even listen to the various STO podcasts unless there's a Dev interview - and I doubt I even listen to half of those.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
Again as I've said before, and other co-hosts have said, we are not "dumping" STO, we will still dedicate a good portion of each episodes beginning to STO news and talk, then also cover other mmo / game news. That way we still show our love of STO and regular involvement, and also have a chance to wander into other games.
Good, becuase i still listen. Frankly I listen to all the STO related podcasts. Good, bad or otherwise.
I feel RSA and STOked are victims of their own making. So what if Cryptic has 1 person playing or 100,000 people playing. That is not a guarantee your show will attract viewers or listeners.
If a show loses customers it is not Cryptic Studios fault.
The purpose of a podcast show is to provide consumers with information that cannot readily get elsewhere. I do not need to tune into a podcast show to hear a player tell me what they do not like about the game. I am capable of rendering my own critiques.
Also, producing a quality show is a commitment. I do not see a commitment to quality at RSA.
When Jeremy was at STOKed, the show at least tried to present a quality product. When he left, that commitment was not there.
One of the reasons I stopped watching STOKed was because they became biased. Once you cross the line of bias in a news show, you loss credibility.
The same thing happen to STOradio, do not remember the name. They fired the guy who was the creative vision. The only thing left after he left was a bunch of Bozos and their pose that followed them around everywhere. Why our fleet made its own radio and TV station.
We do not need to tune into another site because we get information at the source and do not have to listen to a bunch of bozos.
At the SF41 Fleet Broadcast, sure we only have 5 listeners, but we still put on a quality product even if there is only 1 cat listening to the broadcast. And, that is a real cat. Many days while I have the station running, that cat is sleeping to the music.
Do you see us blaming Cryptic Studios, no. However, we made our station for our fleet. As long as the members like it, then we will be still broadcasting. For the record we have been broadcasting since May of 2010.
How many of those are active, weekly, podcasts that are still going?
I guarantee that list of WoW podcasts most of them are either not on a weekly basis, and/or a good chunk of them are no longer being produced. Pretty much every STO podcast is a weekly basis, and on going (aside from the original STOked which sadly shut down).
I got the information from PodcastUGC, they talked about it a few months back how STO has the most active, regular basis podcasts. Which I agree is true.
I had said that on PUGC that STO has a higher Podcasts to Userbase ratio than other MMO's did. Which I strongly believe was true when I made that comment. However, given the increase in the player base that may not hold true anymore today.
The people who like the game are going to tell you it is doing fine. The people who dislike the game are going to tell you it is dying. Considering that I have never even heard of the RSA podcast until you posted about it above it is more likely the podcast is dying and they are just looking for ways to broaden their listening base.
^^This. Never heard of these guys either.
I'll only believe a game is dying when the devs themselves post an announcement saying they're shutting the game off. Then and only then.
I feel RSA and STOked are victims of their own making. So what if Cryptic has 1 person playing or 100,000 people playing. That is not a guarantee your show will attract viewers or listeners.
If a show loses customers it is not Cryptic Studios fault.
The purpose of a podcast show is to provide consumers with information that cannot readily get elsewhere. I do not need to tune into a podcast show to hear a player tell me what they do not like about the game. I am capable of rendering my own critiques.
Also, producing a quality show is a commitment. I do not see a commitment to quality at RSA.
When Jeremy was at STOKed, the show at least tried to present a quality product. When he left, that commitment was not there.
One of the reasons I stopped watching STOKed was because they became biased. Once you cross the line of bias in a news show, you loss credibility.
The same thing happen to STOradio, do not remember the name. They fired the guy who was the creative vision. The only thing left after he left was a bunch of Bozos and their pose that followed them around everywhere. Why our fleet made its own radio and TV station.
We do not need to tune into another site because we get information at the source and do not have to listen to a bunch of bozos.
At the SF41 Fleet Broadcast, sure we only have 5 listeners, but we still put on a quality product even if there is only 1 cat listening to the broadcast. And, that is a real cat. Many days while I have the station running, that cat is sleeping to the music.
Do you see us blaming Cryptic Studios, no. However, we made our station for our fleet. As long as the members like it, then we will be still broadcasting. For the record we have been broadcasting since May of 2010.
We do not blame Cryptic for any issues with our show. As far as a listener base is concerned, we're technically growing, not just with STO but with our other shows as well. The sheer amount of genorosity from donations in the last two months alone from listeners has been amazing. Our traffic is on par as usual as is our bandwidth usage (which is like 95% mp3 file downloads).
The purpose of a podcast isn't to "inform consumers" because a podcast can be about any subject, any topic. It's basically an open medium whether you do it talk show style, ala Tribbles In Ecxtasy or a straight forward two man team who cover news and interviews ala Priority One. There are podcasts out there where people just sit around and have fun talking to each other, there are podcasts designed to soley report news, there are podcasts dedicated to who knows how many specific things. Now, we do strive to inform folks to changes in STO, new content coming out, etc but that is not our sole purpose.
As for commitment to quality, that was a poor choice of wording on your part. Sure, we don't have a fancy studio setup like STOked with green screens, professional cameras and all that but we work hard on our show. Before we began 3 threes ago with just Athos and myself, I had no idea how to edit an mp3, tricks to clean up audio issues, how to operate a website beyond html code. We put the time, work and effort into learning. The entire cast of hosts have sacrificed time with family, with friends, even some holidays to devote to recording the show. We spend our own personal money on who knows how many C-Store points over the years giving them away. We've literally put blood sweat and tears into the show for almost 3 years. Are we the best STO podcast? No not by a long shot. We're a niche show with a niche audience (we love all you regular listeners, you know who you are), but we try. We try as best we can. We put the time in, the effort, not for some kind of personal gain but because we love doing it. We love STO, and Star Trek. I'm sorry that flash equipment and a studio in a garage is the sign of commitment for you, because that's not really something we'll ever achieve for a variety of reasons.
And no one is saying people have to tune into a podcast for information. There are a ton of other sources such as the forums here, or any of the Cryptic staff twitter accounts or the STO facebook page. But ya know what? I guarantee you if you ask PodcastUGC, STOked, Priority One and others if there is at least one listener who listens to them to keep up with STO, they'd say yes. We've had several people over the years tell us we are their source for STO news, updates, etc. Sure it's not a ton of people, just a small handful over 3 years but I think that speaks volumes when a podcast has fans who say "You are MY source of information for something I love".
If you can't understand the concept of working hard and at least putting in the effort as being equal to even a higher quality product that is fine. We shall just have to agree to disagree.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
exactly, i could care less what they think or do. If they do not want to play they game, then they know where to open the door and step out then, but as for me, i plan on purchasing a lifetime account when i get the chance.
The zones are full, more new players join every week.
As a fleet recruiter I monitor activity inside the game everyday.
The game has more active players than ever and more new people than ever.
This is just a troll thread period.
My fleet has grown to a healthy 480 with 30 or more active players around the clock.
Matter of fact we kicked 100 non active players in the last two weeks when we hit 498.
We had no problems filling the roster back up with active members.
So if you tell me that its dieing I cannot find the facts to prove it in game.
The people who like the game are going to tell you it is doing fine. The people who dislike the game are going to tell you it is dying. Considering that I have never even heard of the RSA podcast until you posted about it above it is more likely the podcast is dying and they are just looking for ways to broaden their listening base.
I'll only believe a game is dying when the devs themselves post an announcement saying they're shutting the game off. Then and only then.
They have had several Dev interviews that have been posted on the forum announcements and featured on the main site. If you've never heard of them that is only because you havent been paying attention.
And people seem to have forgotten that RSA dropping STO was preceded by STOKed doing the same. STOked was hands down STO's biggest podcast since launch.
I honestly can't see why people find it a surprise that the community is "Dying". Of course it's dying. That's not a PROBLEM, that's physics. Entropy always increases. Things inevitably die. The question is not whether it is dying, but how fast is it dying? Because everything is always dying.
Instead of a full world, we have instances. The world is little more than an elaborate lobby. The more MMOs move away from their origins, the worse they get.
Worlds have instances for a very simple reason: The complexity of interactions between objects in a zone is O(n^2), minimum: Every one of the n objects interacts or attempts to interact with each of the other n-1 objects. That means that if there 10x more things in a zone, they consume 100x the resources. If there are 100x the objects, the consume 10000x the resources. This kind of consumption curve is not tenable, so the world must be split up into zones and instances.
I feel RSA and STOked are victims of their own making. So what if Cryptic has 1 person playing or 100,000 people playing. That is not a guarantee your show will attract viewers or listeners.
If a show loses customers it is not Cryptic Studios fault.
The purpose of a podcast show is to provide consumers with information that cannot readily get elsewhere. I do not need to tune into a podcast show to hear a player tell me what they do not like about the game. I am capable of rendering my own critiques.
Also, producing a quality show is a commitment. I do not see a commitment to quality at RSA.
When Jeremy was at STOKed, the show at least tried to present a quality product. When he left, that commitment was not there.
One of the reasons I stopped watching STOKed was because they became biased. Once you cross the line of bias in a news show, you loss credibility.
The same thing happen to STOradio, do not remember the name. They fired the guy who was the creative vision. The only thing left after he left was a bunch of Bozos and their pose that followed them around everywhere. Why our fleet made its own radio and TV station.
We do not need to tune into another site because we get information at the source and do not have to listen to a bunch of bozos.
At the SF41 Fleet Broadcast, sure we only have 5 listeners, but we still put on a quality product even if there is only 1 cat listening to the broadcast. And, that is a real cat. Many days while I have the station running, that cat is sleeping to the music.
Do you see us blaming Cryptic Studios, no. However, we made our station for our fleet. As long as the members like it, then we will be still broadcasting. For the record we have been broadcasting since May of 2010.
I think you hit the nail on the head, Klyte. For far too long, RSA made it a point to ruthlessly mock, complain about, and bash every dev and every decision associated with this game. For a time, their hosts even went so far as to brag about all the other games they were playing instead of STO. They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl' and would drone on endlessly about how horrible they thought everything about the game was. Eventually, they wound up not being able to get any devs to come on their show, or even acknowledge their existence, and their listener base began to be turned off by what the show represented.
And yet RSA seems to be blind to that, instead blaming what they perceive as Cryptic's incompetence and a dwindling community for their failure. The claim that there isn't enough happening in STO to do a full show about every week is nonsense; Priority One manages to do so very effectively.
I think you hit the nail on the head, Klyte. For far too long, RSA made it a point to ruthlessly mock, complain about, and bash every dev and every decision associated with this game. For a time, their hosts even went so far as to brag about all the other games they were playing instead of STO. They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl' and would drone on endlessly about how horrible they thought everything about the game was. Eventually, they wound up not being able to get any devs to come on their show, or even acknowledge their existence, and their listener base began to be turned off by what the show represented.
And yet RSA seems to be blind to that, instead blaming what they perceive as Cryptic's incompetence and a dwindling community for their failure. The claim that there isn't enough happening in STO to do a full show about every week is nonsense; Priority One manages to do so very effectively.
I can't speak for earlier episodes, but that latest Priority One interview was just a regurgitation of Dan's State of the Game. It was glowing, complimentary, and avoided tough questions.
Come to think of it, that's probably why they got the interview...
I think you hit the nail on the head, Klyte. For far too long, RSA made it a point to ruthlessly mock, complain about, and bash every dev and every decision associated with this game. For a time, their hosts even went so far as to brag about all the other games they were playing instead of STO. They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl' and would drone on endlessly about how horrible they thought everything about the game was. Eventually, they wound up not being able to get any devs to come on their show, or even acknowledge their existence, and their listener base began to be turned off by what the show represented.
For a time, their hosts even went so far as to brag about all the other games they were playing instead of STO. They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl'.
Folks who complain about poking fun at Mirror Dan, are the same folks that don't get poking fun at celebrities and politicians on Saturday Night Live, heh. Used to be that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" But now days with people getting their fellings hurt so easily...... As far as RSA bragging about other games they were playing, not so sure about bragging, but during the Great Content Drought between Pat to Play and Free to Play, there was not much to talk about and I believe some of the other podcast also spoke about playing other games while waiting for Cryptic to get its act together. Sounds to me like you have another agenda, perhaps ?
Folks who complain about poking fun at Mirror Dan, are the same folks that don't get poking fun at celebrities and politicians on Saturday Night Live, heh. Used to be that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" But now days with people getting their fellings hurt so easily......
I'm not saying I disagree with your point, but making fun of someone is not the same thing as "imitation", so that saying has nothing to do with the point you are making.
I'm not saying I disagree with your point, but making fun of someone is not the same thing as "imitation", so that saying has nothing to do with the point you are making.
Ive gone back and listened, never heard anyone make fun, only give fake interview, because RL DStahl would never give an interview , if thats making fun, then hmm, I must have a different sense of humor.
Ive gone back and listened, never heard anyone make fun, only give fake interview, because RL DStahl would never give an interview , if thats making fun, then hmm, I must have a different sense of humor.
I never said they were. I was replying to your own words:
Folks who complain about poking fun at Mirror Dan, are the same folks that don't get poking fun at celebrities and politicians on Saturday Night Live, heh. Used to be that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" But now days with people getting their fellings hurt so easily......
Like I said before, I'm not disagreeing with the overall point your making, but "poking fun" is not the same thing as "imitation", therefore that old saying you quoted has nothing to do with your point.
Instances in and of themselves really are not the problem. The problem is that the emphasis for MMOs has shifted away from being about the world and things we may find in it, and towards being about a central storyline that makes every player the savior of the game world. It wouldn't be so bad if they found a way to make it where no two players experienced the same exact story, and what we did actually affected elements of the gameworld which could potentially cause a ripple effect that changes other people's stories.
Old-school MMOs expected players to be self-starters. Games like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies (pre-CU) put you in the world, expected you to explore it, and create your own personal set of goals to achieve when and how you wanted to. Todays MMOs lead the player by the hand from level 1 to max.
... snip...
Sorry for the length of this... Thanks for reading if you did...
So much to reply to i dont even know where to start...
I will say this much i cannot comment on the decision/reasons of Chris from Jupiter Broadcasting to cancel STOked. I was not happy with the decision nor do i endorse some of the comments he made in his closing episodes. I will remark the last 4 episodes of STOked were some of our most popular under the Jupiter Broadcasting Banner. Regardless , he still decided to shut it down.
As for STOked Radio which is solely under my ownership along with the cooperation of my fleetmates and the community that still watches/listens & supports the show, we are still growing in technology and skill. I do not possess the setup that JB has and prolly never will.
However the show and any other STO related podcast is a labor of love from their respected creators, and i respect and understand RSA in their decision and desire to grow and branch out to more lucrative projects as i was and still am facing that decision myself.
My roots in broadcasting/podcasting are in STO and i will always remember my roots and give back to the community that has supported me what i can, when i can.
As such i will go through this thread and reply in kind prolly live this weekend on STOked Radio. Ill keep you all updated.
I think you hit the nail on the head, Klyte. For far too long, RSA made it a point to ruthlessly mock, complain about, and bash every dev and every decision associated with this game. For a time, their hosts even went so far as to brag about all the other games they were playing instead of STO. They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl' and would drone on endlessly about how horrible they thought everything about the game was. Eventually, they wound up not being able to get any devs to come on their show, or even acknowledge their existence, and their listener base began to be turned off by what the show represented.
And yet RSA seems to be blind to that, instead blaming what they perceive as Cryptic's incompetence and a dwindling community for their failure. The claim that there isn't enough happening in STO to do a full show about every week is nonsense; Priority One manages to do so very effectively.
Mirror Dan Stahl is a tongue-in-cheek joke that our listeners find amusing. If people hated it we wouldn't do it. I'm sorry you feel pointing out truths about the game and / or it's business decisions is what you could consider mocking or bashing. I could see how you might consider it "complaining" but when you've invested time, and a lot of money, into a game and see certain business decisions take place that aren't healthy then you tend to speak out against it.
As for Priority One, they put on a good show but it's fairly easy to do when you have some form of developer interview pretty much every other week. And they also talk about non-STO related content such as This Day / Week in Trek which is Star Trek related yes but not really STO related. If you removed all of that and just put in pure discussion about STO news on a weekly basis, there isn't a lot there. Maybe a Tribble patch, or a new screen shot etc But not enough to really base an entire 2 hour time block around. Occasionally it gets easier if there is an Ask Cryptic to dissect or a State of the Game but those are only once a month.
But as said we won't be dropping STO and we do not think STO is "dying" just a decline in playerbase which pretty much every mmo goes through, even the mighty WoW. We speak our minds, and speak the truth whether it's praise or harsh critique. We hope people tune in or download the show, if not we understand and respect the decision.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
Some may, some may not. Either way you cant speak for all of them collectively.
Some may respect that not everyone is the same, some may not. Who are you to know whether he speaks for them all or not? How do you know what they or even you are really thinking in the dark subconscious of your mind?
See what I did there?
If we have to add such disclaimers in front of anything we say we'll never get anything of value said.
Comments
Remember when STO was in beta and we kept hearing how the "Genesis System" would allow us to explore and discover new areas, meet new species? Since the game is instanced per "zone" there is virtually no limit (aside from server storage space) to the size of the game map. There's vast areas of each quadrant we could explore. I wasn't much of a Voyager fan but there's all kinds of stuff in the Delta Quadrant, for example, we could go explore. Tie it into the personal progression system Dan was talking about in the State of the Game and it's like peanut butter & jelly, goes together well.
I still have my personal reservations about PWE and the Trek IP. They obviously are successful at running mmo's (otherwise they'd be out of business by now) but I don't think still to this day they grasp the vast inner-social concepts that Trek brings.
Again as I've said before, and other co-hosts have said, we are not "dumping" STO, we will still dedicate a good portion of each episodes beginning to STO news and talk, then also cover other mmo / game news. That way we still show our love of STO and regular involvement, and also have a chance to wander into other games.
One thing, look at it this from point of view; no other online game, be it an mmorpg, or not, has as many podcasts dedicated to it in volume, than STO. Not even World of ******** which is arguably the most played mmorpg world wide. Think about that for a moment, the Trek franchise has brought enough of us together that we have a very good podcast diversity. There's over four podcasts dedicated to the Foundry, some dedicated to general STO news, etc. I see that as a blessing, not a curse. No other game can say they have as many podcasts dedicated to it nor the diversity of such. I mean Gates of Stovokor is an entire roleplaying slash KDF podcast. That's awesome. You can't get more niche than that.
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
It is said a few times that they don't need money but I think what they have is socialism with capitalism built on top.
Effectively: nobody is homeless or hungry and is free to pursue whatever creative or academic hobbies they have, for free.
Now... You can have money. And if you want more than the next guy, you can go out and earn it. It's just not necessary or required for survival.
So... Look out the window. Look at the standard of living people with $100k a year incomes have. You get that for free in Star Trek.
You want more, you can barter or trade currency or do work for people. But nobody ever loses that basic upper middle class lifestyle on any Federation world, provided by the state.
Even SWTOR has around 30 podcasts listed on their website.
How many of those are active, weekly, podcasts that are still going?
I guarantee that list of WoW podcasts most of them are either not on a weekly basis, and/or a good chunk of them are no longer being produced. Pretty much every STO podcast is a weekly basis, and on going (aside from the original STOked which sadly shut down).
I got the information from PodcastUGC, they talked about it a few months back how STO has the most active, regular basis podcasts. Which I agree is true.
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
^This... They said the Community is dying. A game can have thousands of players and NO community... LOL... I played a lot of those games so I know. I also played one game with very few players and a very STRONG community.
Also, STOked shut down more because the Podcast itself was not generating enough money to keep itself alive. Yes, the game sucking it up helped make that happen but their shut down was not so much about the game dying or the community dying as it was about the feasibility of continuing the Podcast. They have kept STOked alive as STOked Radio.
As for the WoW statement, my quote above was taken from the podcast website. It stated there are "70 active" podcasts in numerous languages. I'm not going to waste my time checking, though. I don't care enough. I don't even listen to the various STO podcasts unless there's a Dev interview - and I doubt I even listen to half of those.
Good, becuase i still listen. Frankly I listen to all the STO related podcasts. Good, bad or otherwise.
R.I.P
If a show loses customers it is not Cryptic Studios fault.
The purpose of a podcast show is to provide consumers with information that cannot readily get elsewhere. I do not need to tune into a podcast show to hear a player tell me what they do not like about the game. I am capable of rendering my own critiques.
Also, producing a quality show is a commitment. I do not see a commitment to quality at RSA.
When Jeremy was at STOKed, the show at least tried to present a quality product. When he left, that commitment was not there.
One of the reasons I stopped watching STOKed was because they became biased. Once you cross the line of bias in a news show, you loss credibility.
The same thing happen to STOradio, do not remember the name. They fired the guy who was the creative vision. The only thing left after he left was a bunch of Bozos and their pose that followed them around everywhere. Why our fleet made its own radio and TV station.
We do not need to tune into another site because we get information at the source and do not have to listen to a bunch of bozos.
At the SF41 Fleet Broadcast, sure we only have 5 listeners, but we still put on a quality product even if there is only 1 cat listening to the broadcast. And, that is a real cat. Many days while I have the station running, that cat is sleeping to the music.
Do you see us blaming Cryptic Studios, no. However, we made our station for our fleet. As long as the members like it, then we will be still broadcasting. For the record we have been broadcasting since May of 2010.
I had said that on PUGC that STO has a higher Podcasts to Userbase ratio than other MMO's did. Which I strongly believe was true when I made that comment. However, given the increase in the player base that may not hold true anymore today.
^^This. Never heard of these guys either.
I'll only believe a game is dying when the devs themselves post an announcement saying they're shutting the game off. Then and only then.
We do not blame Cryptic for any issues with our show. As far as a listener base is concerned, we're technically growing, not just with STO but with our other shows as well. The sheer amount of genorosity from donations in the last two months alone from listeners has been amazing. Our traffic is on par as usual as is our bandwidth usage (which is like 95% mp3 file downloads).
The purpose of a podcast isn't to "inform consumers" because a podcast can be about any subject, any topic. It's basically an open medium whether you do it talk show style, ala Tribbles In Ecxtasy or a straight forward two man team who cover news and interviews ala Priority One. There are podcasts out there where people just sit around and have fun talking to each other, there are podcasts designed to soley report news, there are podcasts dedicated to who knows how many specific things. Now, we do strive to inform folks to changes in STO, new content coming out, etc but that is not our sole purpose.
As for commitment to quality, that was a poor choice of wording on your part. Sure, we don't have a fancy studio setup like STOked with green screens, professional cameras and all that but we work hard on our show. Before we began 3 threes ago with just Athos and myself, I had no idea how to edit an mp3, tricks to clean up audio issues, how to operate a website beyond html code. We put the time, work and effort into learning. The entire cast of hosts have sacrificed time with family, with friends, even some holidays to devote to recording the show. We spend our own personal money on who knows how many C-Store points over the years giving them away. We've literally put blood sweat and tears into the show for almost 3 years. Are we the best STO podcast? No not by a long shot. We're a niche show with a niche audience (we love all you regular listeners, you know who you are), but we try. We try as best we can. We put the time in, the effort, not for some kind of personal gain but because we love doing it. We love STO, and Star Trek. I'm sorry that flash equipment and a studio in a garage is the sign of commitment for you, because that's not really something we'll ever achieve for a variety of reasons.
And no one is saying people have to tune into a podcast for information. There are a ton of other sources such as the forums here, or any of the Cryptic staff twitter accounts or the STO facebook page. But ya know what? I guarantee you if you ask PodcastUGC, STOked, Priority One and others if there is at least one listener who listens to them to keep up with STO, they'd say yes. We've had several people over the years tell us we are their source for STO news, updates, etc. Sure it's not a ton of people, just a small handful over 3 years but I think that speaks volumes when a podcast has fans who say "You are MY source of information for something I love".
If you can't understand the concept of working hard and at least putting in the effort as being equal to even a higher quality product that is fine. We shall just have to agree to disagree.
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
exactly, i could care less what they think or do. If they do not want to play they game, then they know where to open the door and step out then, but as for me, i plan on purchasing a lifetime account when i get the chance.
As a fleet recruiter I monitor activity inside the game everyday.
The game has more active players than ever and more new people than ever.
This is just a troll thread period.
My fleet has grown to a healthy 480 with 30 or more active players around the clock.
Matter of fact we kicked 100 non active players in the last two weeks when we hit 498.
We had no problems filling the roster back up with active members.
So if you tell me that its dieing I cannot find the facts to prove it in game.
They have had several Dev interviews that have been posted on the forum announcements and featured on the main site. If you've never heard of them that is only because you havent been paying attention.
And people seem to have forgotten that RSA dropping STO was preceded by STOKed doing the same. STOked was hands down STO's biggest podcast since launch.
Worlds have instances for a very simple reason: The complexity of interactions between objects in a zone is O(n^2), minimum: Every one of the n objects interacts or attempts to interact with each of the other n-1 objects. That means that if there 10x more things in a zone, they consume 100x the resources. If there are 100x the objects, the consume 10000x the resources. This kind of consumption curve is not tenable, so the world must be split up into zones and instances.
I think you hit the nail on the head, Klyte. For far too long, RSA made it a point to ruthlessly mock, complain about, and bash every dev and every decision associated with this game. For a time, their hosts even went so far as to brag about all the other games they were playing instead of STO. They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl' and would drone on endlessly about how horrible they thought everything about the game was. Eventually, they wound up not being able to get any devs to come on their show, or even acknowledge their existence, and their listener base began to be turned off by what the show represented.
And yet RSA seems to be blind to that, instead blaming what they perceive as Cryptic's incompetence and a dwindling community for their failure. The claim that there isn't enough happening in STO to do a full show about every week is nonsense; Priority One manages to do so very effectively.
I can't speak for earlier episodes, but that latest Priority One interview was just a regurgitation of Dan's State of the Game. It was glowing, complimentary, and avoided tough questions.
Come to think of it, that's probably why they got the interview...
Is all that why STOked dropped STO too?
Folks who complain about poking fun at Mirror Dan, are the same folks that don't get poking fun at celebrities and politicians on Saturday Night Live, heh. Used to be that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" But now days with people getting their fellings hurt so easily...... As far as RSA bragging about other games they were playing, not so sure about bragging, but during the Great Content Drought between Pat to Play and Free to Play, there was not much to talk about and I believe some of the other podcast also spoke about playing other games while waiting for Cryptic to get its act together. Sounds to me like you have another agenda, perhaps ?
I'm not saying I disagree with your point, but making fun of someone is not the same thing as "imitation", so that saying has nothing to do with the point you are making.
Ive gone back and listened, never heard anyone make fun, only give fake interview, because RL DStahl would never give an interview
I never said they were. I was replying to your own words:
Like I said before, I'm not disagreeing with the overall point your making, but "poking fun" is not the same thing as "imitation", therefore that old saying you quoted has nothing to do with your point.
R.I.P
I think I love you.
I will say this much i cannot comment on the decision/reasons of Chris from Jupiter Broadcasting to cancel STOked. I was not happy with the decision nor do i endorse some of the comments he made in his closing episodes. I will remark the last 4 episodes of STOked were some of our most popular under the Jupiter Broadcasting Banner. Regardless , he still decided to shut it down.
As for STOked Radio which is solely under my ownership along with the cooperation of my fleetmates and the community that still watches/listens & supports the show, we are still growing in technology and skill. I do not possess the setup that JB has and prolly never will.
However the show and any other STO related podcast is a labor of love from their respected creators, and i respect and understand RSA in their decision and desire to grow and branch out to more lucrative projects as i was and still am facing that decision myself.
My roots in broadcasting/podcasting are in STO and i will always remember my roots and give back to the community that has supported me what i can, when i can.
As such i will go through this thread and reply in kind prolly live this weekend on STOked Radio. Ill keep you all updated.
Twitter | @STOkedshow
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Mirror Dan Stahl is a tongue-in-cheek joke that our listeners find amusing. If people hated it we wouldn't do it. I'm sorry you feel pointing out truths about the game and / or it's business decisions is what you could consider mocking or bashing. I could see how you might consider it "complaining" but when you've invested time, and a lot of money, into a game and see certain business decisions take place that aren't healthy then you tend to speak out against it.
As for Priority One, they put on a good show but it's fairly easy to do when you have some form of developer interview pretty much every other week. And they also talk about non-STO related content such as This Day / Week in Trek which is Star Trek related yes but not really STO related. If you removed all of that and just put in pure discussion about STO news on a weekly basis, there isn't a lot there. Maybe a Tribble patch, or a new screen shot etc But not enough to really base an entire 2 hour time block around. Occasionally it gets easier if there is an Ask Cryptic to dissect or a State of the Game but those are only once a month.
But as said we won't be dropping STO and we do not think STO is "dying" just a decline in playerbase which pretty much every mmo goes through, even the mighty WoW. We speak our minds, and speak the truth whether it's praise or harsh critique. We hope people tune in or download the show, if not we understand and respect the decision.
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
Some may, some may not. Either way you cant speak for all of them collectively.
Some may respect that not everyone is the same, some may not. Who are you to know whether he speaks for them all or not? How do you know what they or even you are really thinking in the dark subconscious of your mind?
See what I did there?
If we have to add such disclaimers in front of anything we say we'll never get anything of value said.