Maybe it's a Human/Romulan ... plenty of reputation there.

If you guys need boobs, mini skirt and blue eyed elf, sorry, Vulcan, to attract customers, that say a lot about the state of the game.

Perhaps it could be just me, or perhaps I'm about to articulate what's bugging many of us with this artwork...

My main beef with this picture is the combination of "fourth wall violation" with that alluring look on her face. That one tidbit, alone, suddenly changes the entire connotation of the shot - now instead of being a neutral action scene (like "handsome phaser dude" was), I get this impression of "dear, we're almost done with this grueling mission that caused our separation. While I'm jumping/diving for your arms and our long-delayed reunion, let me "60's western one-shot" that problem immediately to the right of you"...

Straighten the lady up and have a slightly more stoic look on her face as she actually looks at her target and suddenly she shifts from a "sex (lust) object" to a fair, objective, female that's representing "Starfleet's finest"... Even in that low-cut open top straight out of the 60s...

That is most likely the target demographic, and a marketing fail by PWE.
Lets assume two thirteen year old boys are hanging out on a friday night, and bored, so they surf the web.
1. They see HAWGT trek toon.Giggle, and download game.
2. Make 1st toon.First hour spent laughing like Bevis and Buthead as they play with the bust slide.
3.Two hours spent laughing as they do it with their Boffs.
4.Joke gets stale,resume surfing the web.
5. Find a game where avatars, and NPCs, can run around in their underwear, or (gasp) a pixelated streak.Resume laughing like Bevis and Buthead.
6. Uninstall STO, and upload latest chucklefest.
7.Cost to boys-0
Profit for PWE-0
Sorry, most players are true Trek fans, and alot more cerebral than PWE gives us credit for.

Ever watch Andromeda?Remember the Commonwealth lances?(uber phallic)
Created by none other than...(drum roll please)...Gene Roddenberry!

I would like to point out the very first episode of TOS has a female first officer and all the female crew members wears the same thing as the male. However, CBS rejected it saying they need some sex appeal and a woman as a first officer is not realistic.

What bugs me is that her uniform is not in game. There is something similar but not exactly.
Her rank pins as well, is not in game.

That is just a bit of false advertising.

Also, have anyone mentioned this picture of Klingon lady vs Vulcan lady?
I like this more than the current art.

The current art is weirdly staring into the audience, not to mention the stance is odd.
Aim where you are shooting lady!
The cleavage thing is alright, it can be a bit less cleavage-y.
The skirt bothers me slightly just because of the battle situation. While in the captain's chair, sure dress however you like, but when you are in a battle...

What you wear isn't what defines you, but when it comes to a single piece of art work with no actual character attached to it, then it can bring a wrong message. Look at the Orion females, you'd think they are mostly slave girls or eye candy given no context at all, but when you dive into the story, they are in charge of the men in the Orion society. They only pretends to be slaves to control enemies after they mesmerize them. This is from an ENT episode.
Context means everything!!! So in the case of the phaser lady, there is no context to introduce her so anyone can give her any image they want. So far as I can tell, people have been giving her the context of being a sexist marketing ploy.

They've toned down the blue on the main page, which is good. But T'Bosum is still there.

A while ago I dabbled in Second Life. Some of you may know about it as it had a sizable trek community. Anyway, SL is bascially a free for all, anything and everything goes. I always thought it was like the Sims meets the Rocky Horror Picture show.

Anyway, one thing I noticed is that it isn't always horny teenagers creating scantily clad women. Many times the bimbo avatars were created by women, many who were middle age or older, seeking to become their 'vision' of youthful, supermodel versions of themselves. Likewise men mostly did the same with young Tarzan/Rambo visions of themselves.


ps. Like the picture suggested by Archofwinter above. I think a Klingon woman with her klingon scowl with Batleth in hand would capture the essense this combat oriented trek game, from the female side of things. Sort of the essense of Trek women roles...tough, don't take s%$t from anyone.

Oh My!

Because it's the bloody millitry, not a beach.

Zipping up a little was allowed when I was in the military...

actually...

The field manual stated that when wearing the combat uniform, running with an open fly was a approved way of releasing heat. (It didn't mantion anything about anything hanging out of the fly tho, but I guess use of the standard issue undies would prevent that anyway.)

When in combat, your comfort is always more important than observing the forms of decency or the dress code. Zipping down a bit is not an issue.