[STGU] How do you think your past experience working on some extremely popular Star Wars games will benifit the development of a Star Trek game, and even more so, a massive multiplayer online game?

[Daron Stinnett] My experience at LucasArts taught me much about making great licensed games. The key is to focus the game so that it pays-off on the popular conception of what the license is all about. Too often, licensed titles attempt to pay-off on fringe elements of the franchise and in doing so limit their appeal to niche markets. Star Trek is a great license with a broad, world-wide appeal. An MMO is the perfect, and perhaps the greatest opportunity to fulfill the ideals of Star Trek in a meaningful and engaging way.

Building an MMG is a very exciting prospect for me personally due to the supreme challenge they represent compared to other genres. An MMG is an ecosystem comprised of human participants and open-ended gameplay. That puts MMGs on the bleeding edge of interactive entertainment development and I'm really excited to play a part. I'll bring a few things from my Star Wars experience to STO. One of those things is my deep appreciation for the player community. I've learned that relationship between a developer and the player community can be immensely rewarding when you succeed at making a game that connects with players. For this reason, I've always enjoyed making multi-player and PC games since they are inherently connected to the player community. Also, I believe that central in any successful MMOG is the fantasy fulfillment of living in an appealing world. I remember my first experience with Star Wars fantasy fulfillment when I played Larry Holland's X-Wing. It allowed me to step into the shoes of a Rebel pilot and actually and experience what it might be like to fly an X-Wing. That experience moved me and motivated every game I've made since. I see Star Trek Online as a similar opportunity to realize my fantasy of experiencing Star Trek and to share that experience with others.