star trek online

So it's finally happened. The Star Trek MMORPG has actually come into existence. And, as of today, I've actually played it. I've bee watching Ron play for about a week now, a little at a time, but I've been granted a 5 day free trial.Will I play on past that? I'm not sure yet.

First of all, there is a learning curve, and in Wow, I've pretty much mastered that learning curve. I know what I do OK at, and what I don't. In ST, I pretty much suck at everything. So far, at least. I know, I'd get better... But it's kind of like making new friends... do I really want to put the time and energy into seeking them out and cultivating them right now. Not sure about that one.

The game was made by Cryptic, which also made City of Heroes, which I've played, and liked, but seemed to get repetitive. Does WoW? yeah, but in a different way, kind of. There are some issues with the camera following the target instead of "being my eyes," so to speak. Where the camera keeps looking at the target, even if I would like the character to be able to turn and look somewhere else. I didn't like that when it happened in champions online, either. _I_ want to decide where I get to look, and which direction the character faces...

I'm not very good at combat, but that holds true of almost any game I play. I understand that, and live with it, and try not to inflict it on people who don't know it ahead of time. My computer seems laggy. I suck at going to pick up things first. This game has a rotating loot feature which is good, but there are also random kinds of "first one there" kinds of loot, too. Ron has to be very patient with me, and he generally is. (I also let him play on his own, so he doesn't always have me around holding him back.)

I love Star Trek. I have since I was a kid, when I would watch Kirk, Spock, and McCoy adventure in prime time, when it first aired. I remember how upset I was when the timeslot changed to 9PM, because that was bedtime! I would stand in the hall out of sight to watch for as long as I could, until my parents would call out to see if I was in bed... at which point I would run down the hall, dive under the covers and sing out sweetly, "Yes, I am..." I'm sure they never had a clue (ha!). I practiced falling down from a phaser set on stun, posing modestly, like Uhura would. Yep, I'm a geek all right. There is a fondness. I really, really WANT to love this game. I'm just not sure the game that was made is the one I want to play... or even if that would be possible.