Star Trek Online not yet making players suffer enough, executive producer says

In response to complaints about the new Star Trek Online MMORPG's lack of a significant penalty for death, Craig Zinkievich of Cryptic has said that the developers are looking into ways to “give players a deeper sense of loss when something bad happens,” but that he doesn't like the the type of penalties usually used by the genre, saying:

“I get that people want to feel a sense of risk when they’re fighting in battles, but if the only emotion you feel when you’re playing a game is fear that you’re going to lose some time due to an arbitrary gameplay mechanic, we’re probably not doing something right, ” he said.

Originally, I was going to suggest that Cryptic buy the rights to Star Trek: Insurrection and force players to sit through a brief clip of it while their characters respawn. Then I remembered that he said he wanted to create a “sense of loss,” not a “sense of dismay, nausea, and revulsion, coupled with indignation that Paramount tried to pass off a really bad rejected script from the TV show as a feature film.” So, back to the drawing board.

You know, the first time I glanced at the source article, I immediately thought, “Wait, the Federation doesn't have the death penalty anymore. It's one of those things they've somehow 'evolved beyond,' like greed and racism and dignified military uniforms that don't look like something from the Men's Sleepwear section at Sears.” I hate it when I get my wires crossed like that.

(Yes, I'm aware of General Order 7. Don't imagine you can outgeek me on this, poindexter.)