As the title of this thread states, what is your 3 most important gameplay features and your 3 most important gameplay mechanics you want to see in a Star Trek MMO? We all know how hard is to please a Star Trek fan, from the Hardest of Hardcore to the Softest of Casual. Each one has their own fantasy of what feels like Star Trek to them.

However, for the sake of this thread and a Star Trek MMO (with what is and is not technically possible in gaming), I want to find out if the Star Trek fans across the spectrum have a middle ground that they can agree on. What I mean by this; what are the things that you can't live without when thinking about playing a Star Trek MMO?

Depending on the feedback, I will try and put together a poll of the most popular responses. This is an attempt to narrow the field of headaches for the next developer of the Star Trek MMO. Any such assistance will be much appreciated (as in starting similar threads on other sites). If you wish to provide detailed explanations of your choices, please keep them brief.

Lastly, please do not debate in this thread. This is meant to reach the most number of responses in a fairly short amount of time so that the next developer of a Star Trek MMO can have a pretty good idea about what most Star Trek fans want in the game. If all goes well after the results, it should not be too hard for the next developers to use this information in trying to find a good middle ground between Star Trek fans and other Si-Fi fans and/or non-Star Trek fans.

I pretty much already stated my choices with complete explanations of each in the thread I already started on this topic here. Please refer to it for my choices as I'm to lazy to type them again.

Bren

those are some pretty good choices Bren. not too extensive on the details either, which is what i am looking for. your choices would most likely fall into the gameplay features category, but there are a bit more than just 3. if you could narrow the field or just summarize them into 3, then what would they be? i could take a shot at it myself, but i don't want to seem like i'm putting words in peoples' mouths. also, try and list at least 3 gameplay mechanics. if they are anything like your features, then they too should be pretty good.

btw, since you already started a similar thread, perhaps we should merge these two if thats ok with you, provided that a moderator can do such a thing. the main thing that i am looking for is stated in my op. short, sweet and to the point. above all, staying on topic.

Delivery, Character Development, User Interface.

These are for me

1)   Personal Combat is First Person Shooter style , similar to Planetside.    If I have a gun in my hand I want to aim it.    I did not like the turn based auto style combat in Star Wars Galaxies.   That did not feel right.   Planetside combat I thought was very fun.

2)   Freedom of movement on ships, with a purpose.   Adventures and action should take place on the ship, as well as in space and on planet surfaces.

3)   Crew focused:   I'd like it that not everyone have to be a ship captian in order to have fun.   I like the idea of having fun as Security, or Science, or even "Doctor" every once in awhile.

Ok, and 4

4)   Inter "nation" conflict between players.   A romulan faction, a klingon faction, federation, gorn, etc played by players at launch.   And to go along with this, not a HUGE level (if they use levels) difference between players.   Some skill differences yes, to give you goals and rewards, but not completely unbalanced to where one person can destroy 1000 noobs.

Flame on

- Livable space (IE - a house or space station or ship interior I can play in and invite friends into and decorate)

- No instances (Seamless play from planets to space and everywhere else)

- FFA everything (pvp, lewtz, everything, but with a reputation system built in to help control gankers)

- Skill-based play (not gear-based or level-based)

Did you say just 3 things? oh well.

- Phos

I forgot... no grindfest. Grindfests suck. Let me advance by having FUN. Otherwise I'll just pay an asian to powerlevel me up anyways!

PSI

Crafting

Multiple playable factions at startup

Ok, well I've got quite a list of things that I think would make the best Sci-Fi MMO ever. That's right, I said Sci-Fi MMO and not Star Trek MMO. That's because that's what I have always been looking for, a truely great Sci-Fi MMO. But don't get me wrong, I love Star Trek and I think this would be a great liscense for what I'm suggesting.

Twitch / Skill / Aim based first person view at all times. This is for a true sense of immersion. So that you feel like you really are in the game. Even when you're on the bridge captaining the ship. Want to get a view of what's around the outside of the ship? Then I've got two words for you: "On Screen!"

Full / Complete ship interiors. In my ship, I want to be able to know every inch of it. Again, this is for immersion. I don't mind having to show a little common courtesy by knocking first when it comes to someone's personal quarters though. And to go along with this, I'd like to see my crew acting normally. Meaning they can be seen walking around the ship, going about their duties, and seen in the off time just hanging out with others and such.

Seamless. I'd like to see this game be as seemless as possible. Again, I speak of immersion. I don't want to see loading screens and the like. Or at least, when I'm looking at a loading screen I don't want to think of it as a loading screen. Examples: 1. If I'm in the transporter going from one location to another, then there's gonna have to be a loading screen of some type. I'd like this to maybe appear as a glowing, pulsating screen that could possibly be explained as what I'm seeing while being transported or something... 2. If for whatever reason I have to use a shuttle to travel from ship to ship, to a station, or to a planet's surface. I want to go along for the ride. Loading screens could be masked by docking or the entry into a planet's atmosphere. Both allowing the old resources to be purged and the new locations to be loaded. Though of course I could see some people not wanting to sit and wait in a shuttle just for the sake of immersion, so I would suggest a hotkey button or something that could skip that and take players directly to a loading screen and their new location.

By now I'm sure you see I'm really into the whole immersion idea and honestly, that stems from how much I do love Star Trek. I've always wished I could live in such a future thanks to watching the shows and movies. So, since I can't do that I've been waiting for a game that has everything I've been talking about. If STO doesn't do this, well, I'll probably still play it just cause I love Star Trek. But I'll still be looking for a Sci-Fi MMO that can do all that I've talked about.

And a few final thoughts... Skill > Gear... The gear in this game should be standard issue based mainly on a player's prefered play style. Gear based games are just designed to keep players occupied doing the same crap over and over again. It keeps them paying for the game with less worry about how quickly new content is added.

And... Dynamic Game Content > Linear Quests / Missions... When the game world changes constantly through dynamic systems you're never doing the same thing twice. Someday a really great game will be released that does this in such an amazing way that the "WoW" era of games will wither and die. The key is to create dynamic systems that are fun and then successfully layer them in a very complex manner. Definately not an easy task by any means, but someday it will be done.