Why? Despite the bugs, the lack of rewards, and all of the negative aspects... what keeps you coming back to play user generated content? What makes these missions special or fun for you?

Why do you enjoy playing the missions that players created?

Pretty much the only reason for playing foundry missions is purely entertainment, because as you mentioned you dont get rewarded enough for the time it takes.

Cause it's new.

Because every so often, somebody actually manages to tell a damn good story.

i'm not playing much Foundry, but i played some missions (30 total maybe?)...

- for my occasional Fan Fiction Fix
(my need for it is here, but it does not replace the need for official Story at all. one does not work without the other.)

- because it is interesting to see what technical things some Foundry Authors can do with these limited tools that even let the original Cryptic missions look old at times.
I have seen things in the Foundry that i thought were not possible in STO.


- what i don't like are puzzles... math puzzles or UI puzzles like Cryptic likes to do.

i like RPG / Adventure puzzles, you know like... Mass Effect or Fallout or Gothic tend to do, moral choices, go left or right... etc. collect information about an issue, act upon it but also see the consequences to your actions.
(this does not have to be multiple choice, but it is good if it feels like it. yes you can fake it! i won't play your mission twice anyway!)

Because I take a few screenshots a mission for my screensaver album. Only my main toon Capt Conquest lives in the STO timeline of missions. Which means I dont take pictures of my other captains when they are ranking up on the official content because I want to look back and feel they all had different careers. So the Foundry is the career for my three other Fed toons and many a good Foundry map has been featured in my photo album.

Sadly, I have to rely on the Foundry Guardians like Kirkfat and Havraha to tell me when the all clear sign is REALLY given to play Foundry missions after Cryptic has rescrewed them up again and again. That way I dont play Foundry during borked times and get a bad opinion of the mission. I know when something is Cryptic's fault or the authors fault and I grade accordingly.

I've accepted that I'll never get to work in front of or behind the camera on a Star Trek TV show or movie (probably, I can still dream). The Foundry is almost the next best thing. It allows me to make an episode of Star Trek and give it to the public to experience in an interactive way that actually transcends the shows a bit.

I don't feel like I'm doing Cryptic's job for them. They have given me this opportunity to create something which costs me nothing, costs them nothing and is simply there for the entertainment of all concerned.

@zerbang - if you're looking for something with branching morality choices, give my mission "Over There" a try.

I like episodic story missions... sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad... but I like the variety of stories.

I should probably point out that I don't care about leveling or stuff very much. So the attached rewards don't matter to me much at all.

Lack of rewards?????? I don't know what you have been playing for Foundry missions, but the rewards are there. I play one in particular that rewards A LOT... I sell the loot from this one to a bartender and end up with, on average, over 550,000 ec. and that is just one. There are two or three others I play on a daily basis that reward almost the same amount. But hey, why try something new when you can just complain, I'll sit back and quietly reap the benefits of 15 minutes of play time.

I did play foundry.
I did foundry missions.

But the missives bugs kill my interest.