"Space. The final
frontier."



Those words were first broadcast to television sets across
the country in 1966 and have rippled through the fabric of time ever
since. The original Star Trek series may have only lasted 3 seasons,
but in that short time it captured the hearts and minds of science
fiction fans everywhere. Its popularity grew over the years into a
cultural phenomenon and shows no signs of slowing with the future
release of target="_blank">Star
Trek Online.

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Skimming the
rings of a distant planet.

Set 30 years after the events in Star Trek: Nemesis, the last Star Trek
movie (until May, woot!), Star Trek Online will introduce players to a
changed political dynamic. Things have deteriorated between the Klingon
Empire and the Federation during this time, but rather than having a
strictly Klingon versus Federation setup, there will also be an as yet
unnamed ancient evil all players will need to contend with. Somehow I
get the feeling that you'll need to do more than set your phasers on
stun.



The Ten Ton Hammer crew has brought two Star Trek Online videos to the
masses this week from the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/tid/1868"
target="_blank">New York
Comic-Con, “ href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/62988" target="_blank">Craig
Zinkievich on Races, Exploration, and More” and the
“ target="_blank">Character
Races Demo Video”. The highlight for me was a
deeper look at the character creation aspect of the game.



For those that have been following Star Trek Online's development, the
announcement that players will be able to create their own races may
not be news per se, but it's still incredibly exciting. Correct me if
I'm wrong, but I can't think of any MMOG that’s allowed their
player base to do this. Vicious warrior races, highly evolved geniuses,
or sexy chicks that just happen to be green, the possibilities are
staggering. It makes me all tingly in a (most likely) completely
inappropriate way even thinking about it. You can't tell me I'm alone,
and I'm not just talking to the Star Trek href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/62927" target="_blank">geeks
out there.

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Resistance
is futile.

The ability to create your own content (in any form, let alone your
race), target="_blank">has
been requested by players around the globe for longer than I
care to think about. Players have been creating unofficial content to
amuse themselves for well over 20 years. I remember creating a number
of "Choose Your Own Adventure" style games with a number of friends
back when we had to save everything on a cassette tape (I'm not
kidding, you whippersnappers!). From there, players moved on to
creating more mods than you can imagine for more games than you could
ever list. This is all well and good for single player games but
playing by yourself can get kind of lonely on those cold winter nights.




Understandably, the idea of players creating mods for their favorite
MMOG (outside of user interfaces changes) hasn't been met with a lot of
love from the industry, but href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/63099" target="_blank">Cryptic
Studios
is set to take the first step into that expanse. What better way to
seek out new worlds and new civilizations than by allowing (and
actively encouraging) your players to create their own race?



Aside from allowing players to delve into the depths of their
imagination to bring forth a unique race to impress the masses with,
Cryptic has also managed another less talked about (though no less
important) feat - shutting up the whiners like me. I'm sure it will
come as no surprise that the race I truly had my heart set on playing
were the Romulans (I’m betting they’ll be in the
first expansion). I'll go ahead and give you all a moment to compose
yourselves from the shock that statement induced. All set? Seriously
though, I really did have my heart set on it. The Romulan Warbird is
the coolest looking ship currently in existence in the "known" Star
Trek universe and I wanted to be able to have one.

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I'd suggest
hiding in that nebula!

While I won't be zipping around in a Warbird, thanks to Cryptic's
empowering vision, I will be able to create a Romulan (at least in my
own head). With the ability to assign attribute points to any created
race, they've opened a role-playing opportunity rarely realized in
today's gaming world. I may have to choose between the Klingon Defense
Force and the Federation of Planets, but that can be used as a powerful
tool. Perhaps I've been stranded in Federation space and am trying to
make my way back to Romulus. The possibilities are endless.



Some time back, I labeled href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/50656" target="_blank">City
of
Heroes/City of Villains as the reigning champ in terms of
character customization. The game may now reside in the hands of
NCsoft, but it was originally created by Cryptic Studios, the driving
force behind Star Trek Online. In other words, if any company has a
chance of not only taking the crown, but doing it with style, Cryptic
is that company.



If virtually any other company had made this historic announcement,
I'll freely admit right now that I'd meet it with a healthy dose of
skepticism. Fortunately for all of us, this isn't just any company.
Cryptic Studios has a proven track record when it comes to providing
more character customization than any company has been able to touch. I
have no doubt they'll pull the feat off again.