I was reading one of my favourite author's blogs today and he reposted an article from several years ago that's very relevant to Cryptic and Star Trek Online in general:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/03/five-year-retrospective.html
Another likely way forward is user-created content. Looking at the user contributed content for Neverwinter Nights, it's hard to separate the game's success from it's players' enthusiasm for DMing. One thing that's certain is that any games company that wants to make a profit is going to invest heavily in DM and content creation tools. The first game company to figure out how to recruit and reward users for contributing content and admin skills to their realm is going to win big.
Charles Stross
The Foundry is one of very few user generated content systems that actually allows for storytelling as opposed to randomised mission generation. Will it prove to be a big step forward?
Comments
That's the reason for Cryptic creating the Foundry. A bit unnecessary to ask the question, imo.
Log on Tribble and try it out yourself
my terminology and/or facts behind this may be a bit off
There were a lot of 'adventure packs' created for the Neverwinter Nights series of games and even some persistent worlds (albeit a bit wonky at times).
Content is not just graphics/more guns/more ships/more mosnters it's also plot and story.
if you can read this then you are too bored!
So log on Tribble and test some of the missions people have made. See for yourself whether it lives up to the hype.
Hah, no not really. Many other games did it years before Valve; though Valve certainly should get credit for supporting it so strongly.
the ability to create your own star trek story is just incredible. its something i never expected to see in such a well established IP.
I know UGC can be a bit hit and miss but im really impressed with the tools and ive been impressed with the level of quality ive already seen from the community already. once this things goes live and everybody jumps in all the way i expect to see some stunning stories.
That is a rather silly way of looking at UGC. Perhaps you could link to where Cryptic has said that once the Foundry is released, they will cease making content for the game? I guess some need instant gratification more than others do...
Personally, I have played through some wonderful missions on the Tribble server in the Foundry. I am looking forward to it going live. My personal feeling is that Star Trek is a great place for UGC as there are some great "Trek" stories to be told out there.
(though I agree with the point your making) Perhaps YOU could link to where LotD said that Cryptic would cease making content when the Foundry is released?
But at the same time we will have a dedicated crew dishing out new missions that once in a while will get the fanbases attention. A rare few may become so popular it becomes an actual STO mission.
If the community team supports the Foundry via Spotlight missions or monthly contests, I don't believe interest will wane - especially as new features (like PvP) are added.
Cryptic has already been willing to integrate the Foundry into the game's world (rather than just as something you access via a holosuite), so I wouldn't be surprised if the Foundry factors into create-and-sharing alien species for exploration revamps or ship/station interiors.
I would not say that is pessimistic and may indeed be the case. This is also one of the nice things about UGC. Players make enjoy the "new shiny" for a month and go back to the "normal" stuff, but when they get bored again the Foundry - and all its new content - will still be there.
I certainly hope we do too!
It's not a silly way to look at it at all. It's actually completely accurate. It's just that some people enjoy doing it enough such that they do not feel monetary compensation is necessary. The fact remains that the people using UGC are making content for the game without pay. In fact, they're actually paying Cryptic to be allowed to make the content that people at Cryptic get paid to make.
Whether or not the resulting content is great or not or Cryptic continues to make content is irrelevant to that.
I agree interest won't wane, I'm sure people would play UGC missions frequently. But due to the involved nature of creating missions, most will rather just play than publish.
And you got an excellant point regarding alien species. This would go perfectly with exploration content (real exploration missions) of races outside the current boundries of Star Trek. After all only a fraction of the Galaxy has been explored so far.
whilst that is true that people are making content, using myself as an example, the reason i dont get paid and should not get paid is when i make a mission i answer to no one but myself. i am under no obligation to have my mission be any good other than a sense of pride in my work.
my spelling could be terrible, my misison might be impossible to complete, it might not make any sense. maybe it contains some questionable and reportable content. i am in no way required to make content of any level of quality at all. i can do anything i like. at most people can rate it one star or report it. obviously i try to make the best misison i can but the fact is i dont have to.
thats the reason people dont get paid because they are under no obligation to make good content or even content that works. cryptic are. people pay them to make stuff that works and is fun. content that is always there. i can delete my misison any time i like. should i get paid because i can make a mission then delete it right after i get a paycheck?
if they put out terrible content the game closes down. if i do it, then its no big deal.
not to mention that fact i make missions because i love to do it and its fun. yes im making content for the game, but im doing it completely free of a boss or cbs or cryptic. i can make a mission in a year or a day. its on my time table no one else's. if i find im good at my job and i want to get paid i could apply for a job as a story writer and then id get lots of money, and all of the rules, office hours and regulations that go with it.
Or how many people have a story THEY want to tell.
No, all of them won't be good but there will be some incredible missions and some sincere honest efforts. I plan to enjoy the heck out of these.
And perhaps I'll find something that I want to share.
Yes the foundry is free content for Cryptic but it is also the chance for the community to create the type of content they DREAM about playing. Cryptic can't please everyone, or keep up sustained output if they try. The community on the other hand...
its entirely possible some of this stuff will never actually get published but exist because a subset of the community likes to play in the sandbox.
Not exactly the same thing but just look at any labor of fanfic for an example of this.
I just pointed out the UGC's success or failure depends on how many people spend their time doing it, using a bit of snark to highlight the reality of the situation that is not often considered.
I would wait for them to release Neverwinter for that
It has less to do with playable content than it has to do with creating content. And to the OP also, the success or as you put it, will it be big, will be determined by how many player use the tools to create content. That ability of a player to create their own environment and story is what can and I believe will make it big. To that end, Cryptic should do something to encourage players to give content creation a try when it gets to Holodeck.
Now, it certainly will also be important if players like playing other players stories, but that won't be nearly as significant as the affect of players making their own content. As someone suggested earlier, a month or so and most players who are just in it to play others content and many will go back to what they were doing prior. But, those that create content to be able to tell their story in their setting, will also play for fun and ideas.
I suspect it is really just understood to be so. Cryptic just has better tools to play with (and the ability to give unique rewards) for their missions.
I'm not aware of any particular game offering UGC where it was a complete failure because it was met with lack of interest on the communities part. Though certainly there have been issues with it being a partial failure due to it being highly exploitable. This doesnt seem to be the case with the Foundry but I'm sure that someone will find a way. It is the nature of things.
Not really, no.
What is really just understood to be so? That people are doing work that people normally get paid for in order to further their gaming experience?
As for failure, well, I guess that depends on the definition of failure. Sometimes UGC just isn't used, either because it's a lot more work than people want to put in it or the main content is better or the UGC tools are difficult to learn etc. Which, again, was my point. If people don't mind/enjoy spending the time making missions, then it'll work out just fine.
yeah, quote failure for the lose. But monetary gains are only one form of 'compensation'. Sometimes the act of creation itself IS the reward. There is also community recognition and the 'highlite' of the episode by Cryptic.
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And yes I agree that ultimately the success or failure of UGC will hinge on the communities continued involvement of the authoring process. If it turns out to be just a novelty though I suspect there will still be a lot of published missions to do as "in addition to" content.
I think one of the biggest risks here is that if the community does lose interest in content creation then over time those user created gems will stagnate as they aren't maintained to resolve the inevitable issues which will be introduced by Cryptics maintenance over time. It is of course impossible to tell what will happen at this time.
The Star Trek fan community tends to be a creative lot so hopefully new ideas and things will continue to flood us until the day that the universe ends.
Is this going to be yet another example of Cryptic rewarding their fans more than other players ?
If the STO are going to be plugging someone elses missions with better rewards and not mine, whats the point in making them ?
I think this is so open to favouritism, which we already know happens here way to much anyway.
Does anyone else think this makes mission building for the average player pointless... ?