Sorry for the lack of shows this past week.
I have been out trying to raise awareness of Star Trek Bridge Crew with folks from a Facebook Star Trek Bridge Crew Group by Ubisoft and it's darn near impossible doing that and a radio show. So lots of heavy livestreaming this past week/weekend.
When asking the folks who are still around playing and promoting it the consensus seems to be "THIS IS THE GREATEST STAR TREK GAMING EXPERIENCE EVER!".
It certainly is a great and under-rated achievement that took over ten years for game designers to figure out HOW to do. From 2003-2010 the answer was. "We have no idea!"
I recall the idea being first mentioned when playing STARFLEET COMMAND by Interplay around the year 2001. A game based loosely on STAR FLEET BATTLES by ADB. What would take hours to do in Star Fleet battles would take seconds to do in Starfleet Command and many first time players with no experience with either title would be overwhelmed by the workload and would exclaim; "I wish we could have friend control each station of the ship!"
in 2005 the community at StarTrek.com was asked to start brainstorming what they wanted STAR TREK: ONLINE to be. The above game mechanics came up again. That's when the developers said. "We have no idea HOW to do something like that!" We have to stick to traditional MMO models for now.
It wasn't until about 2015 when some small developers started releasing 'starship bridge simulators' on STEAM and other locations. In 2017 UBISOFT released STAR TREK BRIDGE CREW in VR and shortly after that, the NON-VR for PC version.
With a limited license from IMB it included a WATSON, Voice Driven interface that was fantastic.
Then a STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION DLC was released. Hope was MORE and more content would start being added as folks were being mind-blown and again, declaring it the BEST STAR TREK GAMING EXPERIENCE EVER...but it has not come.
Content from the new CBS Star Trek series has started being added into Star Trek Online but there has been no support or additional content for Star Trek Bridge Crew.
As a vehicle to get people involved in the storylines for new Star Trek TV series it seems a far superior choice to get the casual viewer and gamer into the action. Star Trek Online has become rather bloated and unapproachable to the casual player after ten years.
The studios have STILL not fully come around to understanding the psychological needs of the community and how to feed this need through the MMO and games like Star Trek Bridge Crew. If what some of the smartest people in the world say is true about OUR psychology then this should be the HOLY GRAIL for whomever controls STAR TREK.
Yet only last week rumor has been floating about saying CBS is unhappy it is LOSING money.
We have done so much to try and help the franchise holders find that sweet spot and they just won't listen or are unwilling to take the risk. It makes no sense to this person when so many prestigious THINK TANKS in America have done so much research on the Star Trek fan base.
If you have not picked Star Trek Bridge Crew up you owe it to yourself if you love Star Trek.
If you do. PLEASE. PLEASE. Raise awareness of it and raise hell with CBS and UBISOFT to get with leveraging the psychology of the fanbase for maximum profits.
Based on feedback from players, Star Trek Bridge Crew should be the foundation for another Star Trek MMO that can be tied into all new Star Trek TV shows and movies.
MAKE IT SO!