MMO Weekly 21/04

Hey, friends and fellow geeks, and welcome to this latest edition of MMO Weekly. If you're a regular reader of MMO Weekly, you'll already be quite familiar with the fact – one often lamented here – that virtually all MMOs follow the Tolkein-Gygax model. That is, modern MMOs postulate that bands of stout dwarves, effeminate elves, brave humans, and cute half-pints, will battle true evil, and that evil will consist of vicious orcs, flesh-eating trolls, large ogres, and evilly effeminate dark elves. Almost every MMO that has ever existed has, in one form or another, mimicked this pattern.

As if fate wished the Tolkein-Gygax model to be carved forever in stone, there are very few exceptions to this rule. Almost all MMOs are fantasy-based. Consider some of the big, heavily promoted MMOs launches throughout history:

Ok, look, before you get all full of snarky-sauce about it and troll the living heck out of me, I fully realize I went a bit off track there. Yes, you can easily argue that some of the games on my list didn't remain big or successful. But look at it from my perspective. When a line like, “it's weird, French, and goes out of business every three or four months” pops into your head, you can't not use it. C'mon, work with me here, I'm a writer.

The point I'm trying to make is that the Tolkein-Gygax model is, without question, the model of choice when it comes to making an MMO. The only exception is EVE Online, which is the only successful sci-fi MMO in existence. Again, consider these sci-fi games, all with big launches:

Many have discussed the dearth of sci-fi MMOs on the market, and I won't contribute to that hellishly in-depth debate. One thing, however, is not in dispute: very, very few sci-fi based MMOs survive. Most die, or go into a prolonged, agonizing near-death, soon after launch.

Thus whenever a new sci-fi based MMO is announced, I instinctively cringe. Like all of you, I know that somehow, this new game will also fail, simply because it doesn't have orcs and tricksy hobbitses and girly-boy elves in it. Plain and simple, sci-fi and MMOs are like oil and water.

I should probably mention, at this point, that I used to be a Trek fan. That was years ago, of course, in the ST: TNG generation. Then Deep Space 9 came along, and sucked. Then Voyager came along, which also sucked. And then there was Enterprise, which only semi-sucked, so it was an improvement. But overall, Star Trek isn't the hottest sci-fi property in the whole world at the moment, and even I, old school Trekker, consider it to be pretty lame. Considering the waning popularity of Star Trek, and the fact that sci-fi MMOs are born to die untimely deaths, I'd always figured that the Star Trek MMO being developed by Cryptic was about the worst idea in gaming history.

That is, until I saw the latest info release from the good people at Cryptic regarding the development of STO. In a nutshell, they converted me from a doubter to a true believer. They may just be able to pull this off and make STO a success.

The game revolves around your character, whom you can customize into nearly any race, (or crazy hybrid) in the Star Trek universe. Then you acquire a crew of bridge officers, who are your personal NPCs. They act like pets, basically. You give them orders, they fight to protect you, etc.

There are two innovative keys in STO. The first is that you, and your bridge officers, all level up together . You acquire new skills, you gain new abilities, you get better and tougher and more interesting as you progress in the game. So do they, right along with you. When it's time to form an away team, you are getting some solid backup – these NPCs were hand picked, and lovingly leveled up, by you.

The second innovation is that your bridge officers' skills also affect how well your ship performs. So you can put tons of points into helmsman Charlie's hand-phaser skill, and he'll be great on planet-side missions. But if you neglect his ability to cycle your shield phases correctly, he'll let the enemy torpedoes climb up your tailpipe.

The game emphasizes both parts of the Star Trek universe equally. There are plenty of dirt-side missions, where you and your away team have to land, negotiate, fight, and make sweet love (c'mon it's Star Trek) to aliens of various kinds. There are also ship-based missions, in which you have to attack, escort, destroy, and protect various things in space.

The story line is very Romulan heavy, and they are considered the principle NPC enemy in the game at this point in development. However, the most recently released video by Craig Zinkievich, producer of the game, seems to emphasize combat against the Borg. All this new information has fans all agog; while some are skeptical, most have been wowed by this latest gush of information.

If you're at all still doubtful, or would like to see for yourself, check out Craig's video It's worth your time, and may make you, too, believe that STO will break the curse, and turn out to be the next big sci-fi MMO. At least we have hope.

With that happy thought, that's all for this week, folks. For now, Ciao!