Socialization Content Proposal

[Darren_Kitlor]

Socialization Content Proposal
merging new social features with new game content

Introduction:

While many players clamor for "more stuff, less fluff", there are few reasons why both sides of the issue can't be reconciled. Some hard content can dramatically add fluff to the game (for example, the flavor text of injuries/damages) - while some fluff can contribute to enhancing content (fleet chat is usually better than a pick-up group but not content per-se).

Purpose:

The goal of any idea in this thread to enhance the game experience through role-playing or to enhance the role-playing through a game experience.

This may seem too abstract (or "Zen") but let's dial it down to some concrete ideas that would improve the gameplay experience- on both roleplaying and gaming levels.

What social ideas do you have to improve Star Trek Online?

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Table of Contents

• I. Hailing Screen Chat Window
• II. Frontline Events (faction-wide)
• III. Galactic Events (server-wide)
• IV. Fleet Stats/Rivalries/Commendations/Rankings
• V. PvP Nemesis
• VI. Bridge Officer Story Arcs (see Leviathan99's proposal)
• VII. Social Games (in addition to Dabo & Poker)
  • a. Tongo (card/dice game from DS9 - seen heavily in Season 6, Episode 16)

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I. Hailing Screen Chat Window

Accessible either from your bridge or in space, this would enable on-the-fly channel creation.

As it stands now, private chats are difficult - either for answering questions or for roleplaying purposes. The following proposed interface would not override the chat box. It would rather supplement and expand chat functionality, specifically for teams.

( --| see Space Hailing Screen - exterior @ ImageShack |-- )
( --| see Bridge Hailing Screen - interior @ ImageShack |-- )

This could be great for pick-up groups planning to enter an STF. This interface would provide "just the facts" information a team needs to complete stages of a raidisode.

As a start, the view screen display would have a "set" faction bridge in the background and utilize the image created for the Captain's Database. The chat window itself is simple a private, cross-faction channel. This would make an aesthetically pleasing (yet more intuitive) means of communicating with other players. It would not replace the chatbox - it would merely expand upon it for specifc purposes (i.e. Hailing Frequencies would work GREAT as a means of briefing your team for an STF).

A more advanced version might have us set the mood via smiley - which, in turn, would animate our facial expressions while we type. For example:

I type: : D You jest, Captain.
Those in hailing frequency chat would see my captain laughing and read:You jest, captain

Alternatively, you could use the new Hailing Screen Window for roleplaying or fleet meetings.

From Faulgor:

The backgrounds in the NPC-dialog-window should be more diverse, and related to the location the NPC is actually in. When I am hailed by another ship, there should be a bridge (Romulan, Klingon, Fed, etc) in the background. When one of my BOs talks to me, his station and maybe my bridge’s viewing screen should be in the background.

II. Frontline Events

Many social hubs, aside from Sol, are underutilized in the game. You see it once and then it's... well... done.

By adding significant events on different fronts, we can bring life to areas of the game that aren't utilized often.

• For example, a plague might break out on the Romulan Front (the Alpha Centauri Sectore Block.) Federation players bordering Romulan Space may receive a quest to develop a cure for the plague - with a simple crafting station (with a few schematics needed for combating the illness). Epidemiology is alive and well in Star Trek.
  
  
• For Klingons, what if a Bat'leth tournament is being held at the Ganalda Space Station? Would it require many resources to create a simple 1v1 KvK dojo - with a stipulation of melee weapons?

Adding a series of events (for every other month) and tying it to a new location would bring some fluff - as well as content to do. The upcoming accolades could provide even further incentive for those that wish to participate in events that affect their entire faction.

The beauty of this is that it brings higher (and lower) tier players together at alternatively social hubs. It could help reduce lag (as players would be split between Sol and whichever social hub is on the docket for a Frontline Event).

Proposed List of Frontline Events (by Faction):

Federation:
Fever Pitch
Starbase 39-Sierra needs Captains to help research and deliver a vaccine to prevent a mutagenic plague from spreading
Rewards: Accolade, Title (Epidemiologist)

Shore Leave
Undine spies are trying to infiltrate Starfleet on Risa. Find their tells, disable their TECHINT, and report your findings to Starfleet Intelligence.
Rewards: Accolade, Title (Counter-Espionage Officer)

Four Lights
Federation personnel are being held captive in Cardassian Space. Gather information from contacts at DS9, infiltrate the building weaponless and plant a fractal virus to disable the holding cells.
Rewards: Accolade, Title (Unforgotten)

Quark's
The last vestiage of Ferenginar lust for profit (after Grand Nagus Zek's reforms). Gamble a fortune; lose a fortune in every event - from perenial favorites like Dabo to the kitsch of Texas Hold'Em.
Rewards: Accolade, Title (Ferengi Ambassador)

First Contact Day
Federation Captains can journey between commemorative memorial locations (on Vulcan and Earth - devs could easily create an outdoor area of the Phoenix launch site with those evergreen trees in Exploration missions). Possibly a racing competition to see who can maneuver a Phoenix replica through Sol nav beacons).
Rewards: Accolade, Title (Trekker)

Klingon:
Bat'leth Tournament
The Klingon Defense Force is sponsoring a Bat'leth tournament on Forcas III to vet candidates.
Rewards: Accolade, Title (Champion Standing) top x%

Kot'baval Festival
The Klingon Empire honors the memory of Kahless' defeat of Molor in single combat in the Great Hall at Qam-Chee. Engage in re-enactments against Molor and sing glorious Klingon drinking songs.
Rewards: Accolade, Title: (Seeker of Kahless)

Analogies from a contemporary MMO would be Darkmoon Faire or Fishing Tournaments in WoW - but drawn from Star Trek's source material (don't expect a Christmas event - ever!).

III. Galactic Events:

These events would combine the best of fleet-actions and Frontline Events.

A galactic event could be used to highlight a major season update. Discovering the evolved nature of the V'Ger or a KDF assault on Sol Station would be welcome events, from both a non-combat and combat perspective. These events could spans a few days to weeks - just enough to allow players access.

Examples from MMO history include: Everquest's the Waking of the Sleeper, of WoW's opening of the Gates at Ahn-Qiraj.

IV. Fleet Stats/Rivalries/Commendations/Rankings

Fleets could earn Commendations for outstanding performance in particular aspects of gameplay.

For example:

• Fleet Action Completion
• STF Completion
• Exploration
• Diplomacy Corps
• PvP Match
• Research

This would depend heavily on tech either needing bug-fixes, in-development, or require new development.

Furthermore, fleets could track their most common enemy fleets per faction (allowing for fleet rivalries). Any time a fleet member dies in PvP, the killing ship's fleet racks up a point on the defeated captain's fleets' tracker.

Teaming could also be tracked: each time a team succesfully completes some content, the team members receive a point denoting fellow fleets that aided.

Inter-fleet coopration (and rivalry) in Star Trek was quite common.

V. PVP Nemesis

In PvP, the game would track who killed you on a weekly basis.

During the following the week, you'd have nemeses (based on the top few players who killed you the most). You'd received bonus badges and credits for taking your enemy out during a PvP match.

For example:
Take him/her out once during a PvP: x% bonus to badges/credits at end of round.

[Darren_Kitlor]

VI. Bridge Officer Story Arc Proposal

( --| link to the epic discussion of Leviathan99's ideas |-- )

VII. Social Games (in addition to Dabo & Poker)

a. Tongo (card/dice game from DS9 - seen heavily in Season 6, Episode 16)

Tongo was featured in DS9 as a Ferengi Strategy Card game with complex (but never fully explained) rules. So, here's a mock-up of the game board (minus the dots) and the decks.

( --| Click here to see the Tongo "Board" (with Reference Shot) |-- )
( --| Click here to see the Tongo "Deck" (with Reference Shot) |-- )

The question:

• What are the rules for Tongo?

[Darren_Kitlor]

more space reserved

[Darren_Kitlor]

• added Federation and Klingon Events to the proposed list of Frontline events.

[Tendel]

Expired Comment

[Captain_Revo]

i support this

[Darren_Kitlor]

added the following ideas:

III. Galactic Events (server-wide)
IV. Fleet Stats/Rivalries/Commendations/Rankings

[zombie_chan]

I like the event ideas.
I really like Fleets stats idea
I love the Hailing Screen idea.

[clarkeismine]

I would love some rotating events. Some happening on a schedule, others randomly. You could make the plagues spread around based on commerce and have a progress bar with completing turn-ins for a system across all instances. You could have randomly spawning giant space monsters. You could have NPC incursion fleets based on the server having done a certain number of dailies (Sometimes the Borg just get tired of you picking on them... the Borg have feelings too)

I would also make sure to put in events for every well known Star Trek Holiday, Ceremony, Dated Event, etc... Those are the kinds of things you can put in once and then profit from development wise for many years... especially if you tie them into the accolade system like WoW does (got to make sure to include special rewards for finishing all the yearly events :P)

Any kind of "seasonal" events make the whole game environment feel a bit more alive. You just have to make sure to have enough of them so that something is happening at least once a month.

Idea for an event you should add... Shuttle Racing... have PVP racing in Shuttles through a course... surprise traps or not... it would be quite fun... make the races each month with prizes, titles, and such... You could even set up a racing series that spans multiple systems over the year.

[Darren_Kitlor]

Originally Posted by clarkeismine

I would love some rotating events. Some happening on a schedule, others randomly. You could make the plagues spread around based on commerce and have a progress bar with completing turn-ins for a system across all instances. You could have randomly spawning giant space monsters. You could have NPC incursion fleets based on the server having done a certain number of dailies (Sometimes the Borg just get tired of you picking on them... the Borg have feelings too)

I would also make sure to put in events for every well known Star Trek Holiday, Ceremony, Dated Event, etc... Those are the kinds of things you can put in once and then profit from development wise for many years... especially if you tie them into the accolade system like WoW does (got to make sure to include special rewards for finishing all the yearly events :P)

Any kind of "seasonal" events make the whole game environment feel a bit more alive. You just have to make sure to have enough of them so that something is happening at least once a month.

Idea for an event you should add... Shuttle Racing... have PVP racing in Shuttles through a course... surprise traps or not... it would be quite fun... make the races each month with prizes, titles, and such... You could even set up a racing series that spans multiple systems over the year.

I was careful not to use the word "seasonal."

However, I dig the concept of periodic content (events that happen every once in a while).

Shuttle races would be fun - and one reason I suggest players flying Phoenix replicas (to commemorate First Contact Day).