This is the thread announcing the facebook "like" contest.

As I read through that thread it is a great example of the general forum disconnect from reality. Going by that thread alone, you would think that almost no one who plays Star Trek Online uses facebook. But as of this moment, STO's facebook page has 124,528 fans! Between April 8 and April 17, they were averaging over 1,400 new fans per day! And as of two days ago, before the contest was announced, they still got 747 new "likes".

I bring this up because there are a lot of people who think that if the average forum goer has an opinion, that automatically assumes that the entire playerbase shares that same opinion. The truth of the matter is we, as forum goers, are the outliers. Our position doesn't represent the mainstream. Our position represents a small subset of dedicated fans.

That being said, our feedback is important to Cryptic. As a group of dedicated fans we want this game to be awesome and we will continue to provide feedback accordingly. And slowly, but surely we will form this game into the awesome experience we want it to be.

Contrary to what some of you may think, Cryptic wants this game to be awesome too. For the cynical amongst you, the more awesome this game is the more lockboxes they can sell. For everyone else, Cryptic is made up of a bunch of developers who are as passionate about STO as you are and are as frustrated by the lack of progress as you are. Some of that lack of progress is a result of the change of ownership -- you do not invest in companies you are about to sell. Some of that lack of progress is their own fault and in most cases they have admitted as much. But a good deal of their lack of progress can be attributed to us, the forum goer.

What do I mean?

We have been asking Cryptic for starbases since the beginning, we have requested they fix the STFs, fix sector space, add more diplomacy missions, and add more high quality content like the FEs. Then we act amazed when they don't release content over an extended period of time. I know I keep saying this but Cryptic Studios as a whole is smaller than the janitorial staff at EA. Cryptic only has so many employees they can use to focus on STO while the rest have to focus on their other projects. They simply don't have the resources to make everyone happy.

As much as the forum goers don't like it, the lockboxes may have been a godsend. While there may be an insignificant amount of players who take it too far, the vast majority don't. This income is being used to hire more developers and will eventually mean this game can grow. That means more content, better graphics, more bug fixes, and more content.

But some of you will continue to push the idea of boycotting the lockboxes or the Atrox. And that's fine. Just remember that you are in the vast minority. STO's forum is full of people who despise facebook, but they added 68 more fans in the amount of time it took me to type this.

My opinion on this has always been the majority simply couldn't care less. Also, Facebook is an extremely poor metric of pretty much anything. They could have millions of likes, posts, whatever but that doesn't necessarily mean all those people even play the game or if they do care about the future of the game. If the dev team makes it better, great if they screw it up then they'll just stop playing.

What I have found is the random people I bump into here and there in the game, who I don't really see posting on the forums, tend to have the same opinions expressed here. I wouldn't so quickly dismiss the views expressed on the forums because only a subset of the players post here. There are plenty of people in game who don't post on the forums that share the views expressed on here.

Whether you agree with the opinions expressed on the forums or not, the reality is that they are coming from the segment of players who care about the game enough to say something. To me, that should give far more weight to those views than whatever the silent majority thinks who most likely doesn't even care about the game.

facebook is a THREAT to the internet not a boon
most adults simply don't use it

sorry

lol


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on topic yes it does seem like the forums have turned into nothing but bitterness and complaining no matter what is done. Most on here don't seem to look at things as they are and instead bring every complaint they have into each thread on the forum.

Let me ask you this, why have these forums? If as you say we are the vocal minority, why do Cryptic even bother posting? Why ask the "minority" to give face book an thumbs up, if what you are really saying is that we don't really mean much in the scheme of things.

Want to know what I think? The forums do in more ways than you think, echo what is happening in game. You find both the fanboys and haters on here just like you do in game. How do you or I really know what people think about the game? They don't give any offical polls so all we can go on is what Cryptic tell us and they are telling us that Lock boxes are the only real source of income. What's wrong with that picture?

Do you really think they are listening to us?

Lock boxes a godsend? More content, better graphics? Are you really this much of a fan of Cryptic?

Even staunch supporters of Cryptic are now starting to get worried (see Stoked and Massively).

F/E possibly cancelled.
KDF possibly cancelled.
Romulan/Cardi factions,where?
Foundry to be the place to get your story.
Gated content and reruns.

You then spit this out ? -
"We have been asking Cryptic for starbases since the beginning, we have requested they fix the STFs, fix sector space, add more diplomacy missions, and add more high quality content like the FEs. Then we act amazed when they don't release content over an extended period of time"

Have you not been here since day 1 when things like this was asked for over 2 years ago!!

In reality your just as bad as me. Blind fanboyism and Blind Haters don't help the game at all.

For someone who hates the game and Cryptic so much you sure hang around a lot. At least it makes sense for a "fanboy" to want to be on the forums, but if this company makes you THAT miserable, son, you're providing your own anger and stress by choosing to stay here.

Bob:

I agree with a lot of what you posted.

It's difficult to sit and watch a game we all love go through the pains of evolving, especially when none of us are really quite sure what sort of beast it's evolving into.

As for those who somehow blindly toss out the fact that FB numbers are illegitimate - I ask you where you come up with the fact that "most adults don't use FB."

That may be entirely true - but most adults don't play STO either. The fact is that many people who DO play STO ALSO use FB and have liked STO on the site. what you call a threat has only proven to be a monstrously successful business tool for social medial advertising.

Facebook metrics are not useless - they are far, far from it. Just because you *personally* don't like it, doesn't mean it's not an enormously useful tool to the businesses that use it. ...

Which goes directly to the heart of what I think Commadore Bob is saying - it's time many of us here wake up and realize we are the minority here and to overcome the fact that the silent majority is swaying this game into territory we're disdainful of leaves us two options:

1) voice our opinions with professionalism AND CONSTRUCTIVE ideas that can push forward our agenda for a better game for Trek fans

OR

2) Give up and realize we lost....

I hang around because I enjoy the PVP aspect of STO which just so happens to be these forums

You have a choice m8, ignore my post, respond with something to counter mine, or simply put me on ignore...Dad.

I see you typing, but all I read is "I'm really mad at this company, so I'm going to stick around so I can keep being mad and yet still blame the company."