Star Trek: Discovery
Star Trek: Discovery is an American web television series created for CBS All Access by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman. It is the first series developed for that service, the first Star Trek series since Star Trek: Enterprise concluded in 2005. Set a decade before the events of the original Star Trek series and separate from the timeline of the concurrently produced feature films, Discovery follows the crew of the USS Discovery on various adventures. Sonequa Martin-Green stars as a science specialist on the Discovery. Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman star, they are joined by Jason Isaacs for the first season, Anson Mount and Wilson Cruz for the second. The series was announced in November 2015, with Fuller joining as showrunner and wanting to make an anthology series. CBS wanted a single, serialized show first, with an idea for a prequel to the original series developed. After further disagreements with CBS and struggles with other commitments, Fuller left the series in October 2016, replaced as showrunner by Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts for the first season, with producing support from Akiva Goldsman.
Goldsman did not return after the first season, while Berg and Harberts were fired by CBS during production on the second. Star Trek: Discovery premiered on September 19, 2017, at ArcLight Hollywood, before debuting on CBS and CBS All Access on September 24; the rest of the 15-episode first season was streamed weekly on All Access. The series' release led to record subscriptions for All Access, positive reviews from critics who highlighted Martin-Green's performance. A 14-episode second season was ordered in October 2017, premiered on January 17, 2019. A third season was ordered in February 2019. Set ten years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, the show sees the united Klingon houses in a war with the United Federation of Planets that involves the crew of the USS Discovery. Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham: A Science Specialist on USS Discovery. Burnham was First Officer of the USS Shenzhou, where she was referred to as "Number One" to honor the character of the same name portrayed by Majel Barrett in the original Star Trek pilot "The Cage".
Burnham is a human, raised following Vulcan culture and traditions by Sarek. Unlike the protagonists of previous Star Trek series, she was not made a starship captain, in order "to see a character from a different perspective on the starship—one who has different dynamic relationships with a captain, with subordinates, it gave us richer context". Fuller deliberately gave the character a traditionally male name, which he had done with the female leads on three of his previous series. Doug Jones as Saru: First Officer of the USS Discovery, Saru was Science Officer of the USS Shenzhou. Saru is the first Kelpien to enter Starfleet. Kelpiens, a new species created for Discovery, were hunted as prey on their home planet and thus evolved the ability to sense the coming of death, giving them a reputation for cowardice. Jones based Saru's walk on that of a supermodel, out of necessity thanks to the boots he had to wear to portray the character's hooved feet, forcing Jones to walk on the balls of his feet.
The producers compared Saru to the characters Data from previous series. Shazad Latif as Voq / Ash Tyler: A Klingon who undergoes surgery to pose as the human Tyler, chief of security for the USS Discovery. Tyler’s mind is altered, so he believes he was held as a prisoner of war by the Klingons. Latif was cast in the role of Kol. Voq was credited as being portrayed by Javid Iqbal, an invented actor named for Latif's father, to hide the connection between the characters. Latif described his character as "a complex and painful and deep character", noted that "there's a chemistry, a relationship" with Burnham. Latif's accent for Voq is Arabic-inspired, he tried to maintain "a kind of pharyngealness" to Tyler's American accent. For the second season, Latif felt that he was playing a third character that meshed Voq and Tyler together, comparing their relationship to that of Bruce Banner and Hulk in Marvel Comics. Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets: Chief engineer aboard the USS Discovery and a science officer specializing in astromycology whose research led to development of an experimental organic propulsion system on the Discovery.
The character is inspired by a real-life mycologist of the same name. He is the first gay character in a Star Trek series, the showrunners "wanted to roll out that character's sexuality the way people would roll out their sexuality in life." Rapp noted that Hikaru Sulu was portrayed as gay in the film Star Trek Beyond, calling that "a nice nod. But in this case, we get to see me with my partner in conversation, in our living quarters, you get to see our relationship over time, treated as any other relationship would be treated". Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly: A cadet in her final year at Starfleet Academy, assigned to the Discovery, she works under Stamets aboard the Discovery. The character was included to represent people "at the bottom of this ladder" of the Starfleet hierarchy, she is "the most optimistic... has the biggest heart", showrunner Aaron Harberts described her as "sort of the soul of our show." Jason Isaacs as Gabriel Lorca: Captain of the Discovery, a "brilliant military tactician".
Isaacs described the character as "probably more fucked up than any of" the seen Star Trek captains. He plays the character with a slight southern U. S. accent, had wanted to ad-lib a catchphrase for the character feeling that all Star Trek captains should have one, coming up with "git'r done" w
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is a 1989 American science fiction film directed by William Shatner and based on the television series of the same name created by Gene Roddenberry. It is the fifth installment in the Star Trek film series. Taking place shortly after the events of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, its plot follows the crew of the USS Enterprise-A as they confront a renegade Vulcan, searching for God at the center of the galaxy; the film was directed by cast member William Shatner, following two films being directed by his co-star Leonard Nimoy. Shatner developed the initial storyline, in which Sybok searches for God, but instead finds an alien being. Series creator Gene Roddenberry disliked the original script, while Nimoy and DeForest Kelley objected to the premise that their characters and Leonard McCoy, would betray Shatner's James T. Kirk; the script went through multiple revisions to please the cast and Paramount Pictures, including cuts in the effects-laden climax of the film.
Despite a Writers Guild strike cutting into the film's pre-production, Paramount commenced filming in October 1988. Many Star Trek veterans assisted in the film's production. Production problems plagued the film on set and during location shooting in Yosemite National Park and the Mojave Desert; as effects house Industrial Light & Magic's best crews were busy and would be too expensive, the production used Bran Ferren's company for the film's effects, which had to be revised several times in order to lower production costs. The film's ending was reworked because of poor test-audience reaction, the failure of planned special effects. Jerry Goldsmith, composer for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, returned to score The Final Frontier; the Final Frontier was released in North America on June 1989, by Paramount Pictures. It had the highest opening gross of any Star Trek film in at that point and was number one in its first week at the box office, but its grosses dropped in subsequent weeks; the film received mixed to poor reviews by critics on release, according to its producer, nearly killed the franchise.
The next entry in the series, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, received a more positive reception. The crew of the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise are enjoying shore leave after the starship's shakedown cruise goes poorly. At Yosemite National Park, James T. Kirk demoted back to Captain after the events of the previous two films, is camping with First Officer Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy, their leave is interrupted when Enterprise is ordered by Starfleet Command to rescue human and Romulan hostages on the planet Nimbus III, a planet set aside to advance dialogue between the Federation and Klingon and Romulan Empires. Learning of Enterprise's mission, the Klingon Captain Klaa decides to pursue Kirk for personal glory. On Nimbus III, the crew of Enterprise discovers that renegade Vulcan Sybok, Spock's half-brother, is behind the hostage crisis. Sybok reveals the hostage situation was a ruse to lure a starship to Nimbus III. Sybok wants to use a ship to reach the mythical planet the place where creation began.
Sybok uses his unique ability to reveal and heal the innermost pain of a person through the mind meld to subvert the hostages' and crew members' wills. Only Spock and Kirk prove resistant to Sybok. Sybok reluctantly declares a truce with Kirk, realizing he needs his leadership experience to navigate Enterprise to Sha Ka Ree; the ship breaches the barrier, pursued by Klaa's vessel, discovers a lone blue planet. Sybok, Spock, McCoy beam down to the surface, where Sybok calls out to his perceived vision of God. An entity appears bearing a large human face, when told of how Sybok breached the barrier, demands that the starship be brought closer to the planet; when a skeptical Kirk asks, "What does God need with a starship?", the entity attacks him in retribution. The others doubt a god. Realizing his foolishness, Sybok sacrifices himself in an effort to combat the creature and allow the others to escape. Intent on stopping the being, Kirk orders Enterprise to fire a photon torpedo at their location, to little effect.
Spock and McCoy are beamed back to the ship, but Klaa's vessel attacks Enterprise before Kirk can be transported aboard. The vengeful entity reappears and tries to kill Kirk when Klaa's vessel destroys it in a hail of fire. Kirk is beamed aboard the Klingon ship, where Spock and the Klingon General Korrd force Klaa to stand down. After the crews of Enterprise and the Klingon ship celebrate a new détente, Spock, McCoy resume their vacation at Yosemite. William Shatner as James T. Kirk. Shatner practiced strength training daily to prepare for the role; the physical activity and directing duties meant he woke at 4 a.m. every day during filming, no matter what time he fell asleep. Leonard Nimoy as Spock, the Enterprise's half-Vulcan, half-human science officer. Nimoy noted The Final Frontier was the most physical film in the series, which reflected Shatner's energetic sensibility and what he enjoyed doing most on the show—"running and jumping". Nimoy recalled Shatner's attempts to instruct him in riding a horse, although Nimoy had ridden many horses bareback when playing American I
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Star Trek: The Animated Series aired as Star Trek and as The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, is an American animated science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It aired from September 8, 1973 to October 12, 1974 on NBC, spanning 22 episodes over two seasons; the second series in the Star Trek franchise, it is the first sequel to Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the 23rd century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Enterprise as it explores the Milky Way galaxy. After the cancellation of The Original Series in 1969, the live action show proved popular in syndication and generated significant fan enthusiasm; this resulted in Roddenberry's decision to continue the series in animated form. Much of the original cast returned to provide voice-overs for their characters. Show writers David Gerrold and D. C. Fontana characterized The Animated Series as being a fourth season of The Original Series.
The adventures of the characters were continued in cinematic form, the first being the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The Animated Series was the original cast's last episodic portrayal of the characters until the "cartoon-like" graphics of the Star Trek: 25th Anniversary computer game in 1992 as well as its sequel Star Trek: Judgment Rites in 1993. Both appeared after the cast's final film together, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, released in December 1991; the Animated Series was critically acclaimed and was the first Star Trek series to win an Emmy Award when its second season won the 1975 Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment – Children's Series. The Animated Series featured most of the original cast voicing their characters; the major exception was the character of Pavel Chekov, who did not appear in the series because the series' budget could not afford the complete cast. He was replaced by two animated characters who made semi-regular appearances: Lieutenant Arex, whose Edosian species had three arms and three legs.
Besides performing their characters Montgomery Scott and Christine Chapel, James Doohan and Majel Barrett performed the voices of Arex and M'Ress, respectively. Filmation was only going to use the voices of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and Barrett. Doohan and Barrett would perform the voices of Sulu and Uhura. Nimoy refused to voice Spock in the series unless Nichelle Nichols and George Takei were added to the cast—claiming that Sulu and Uhura were of importance as they were proof of the ethnic diversity of the 23rd century and should not be recast. Nimoy took this stand as a matter of principle, as he knew of the financial troubles many of his Star Trek co-stars were facing after cancellation of the series. Koenig was not forgotten, wrote an episode for the series, becoming the first Star Trek actor to write a Star Trek story. Koenig wrote "The Infinite Vulcan", which had plot elements from the original Star Trek episode "Space Seed" blended into it; as is usual with animation projects, the voice actors did not perform together but recorded their parts separately to avoid clashing with other commitments.
For example, William Shatner, touring in a play at the time, recorded his lines in whatever city where he happened to be performing and had the tapes shipped to the studio. Doohan and Barrett, besides providing the voices of their Original Series characters and newcomers Arex and M'Ress, performed all of the "guest star" characters in the series, except for a few notable exceptions such as Sarek, Cyrano Jones and Harry Mudd, who were performed by the original actors from The Original Series. Other occasional guest voice actors were used, including Ed Bishop who voiced the Megan Prosecutor in "The Magicks of Megas-tu", Ted Knight who voiced Carter Winston in "The Survivor". Nichelle Nichols performed other character voices in addition to Uhura in several episodes, including "The Time Trap" and "The Lorelei Signal". Similar to most animated series of the era, the 22 episodes of TAS were spread out over two brief seasons, with copious reruns of each episode; the director of the first season was Hal Sutherland and Bill Reed directed the six episodes of season two.
All of this series' episodes were novelized by Alan Dean Foster and released in ten volumes under the Star Trek Logs banner. Foster adapted three episodes per book, but editions saw the half-hour scripts expanded into full, novel-length stories. Star Trek: The Animated Series was the only Star Trek series not to be produced with a cold open, instead starting directly with the title credits sequence. However, some overseas versions of the original live action series, such as those aired by the BBC in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s, were edited to run the teaser after the credits; the series' writing benefited from a Writers Guild of America, East strike in 1973, which did not apply to animation. A few episodes are notable due to contributions from well-known science fiction authors: "More Tribbles, More Troubles" was written by David Gerrold as a sequel to his episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" from the original series. Here Cyrano Jones is rescued from the Klingons, bringing with him a genetically altered breed of tribbles which do not reproduce but do grow large.
The Klingons, because of their hatred of tribbles, are eager to get Jones back because he stole a creature they created: a predator called a "glommer"
Star Trek Into Darkness
Star Trek Into Darkness is a 2013 American science fiction adventure film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, it is the twelfth installment in the Star Trek film franchise and the sequel to the 2009 film Star Trek, as the second in a rebooted film series. The film features Chris Pine reprising his role as Captain James T. Kirk, with Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Leonard Nimoy reprising their roles from the previous film. Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller are credited in the film's principal cast, it was the last time Nimoy would portray the character of Spock before his death in 2015. Set in the 23rd century and the crew of USS Enterprise are sent to the Klingon homeworld seeking former Starfleet member-turned terrorist John Harrison. After the release of Star Trek, Burk, Lindelof and Orci agreed to produce its sequel. Filming began in January 2012. Into Darkness's visual effects were created by Industrial Light & Magic.
The film was converted to 3D during its post-production stage. Star Trek Into Darkness premiered at Event Cinemas in Sydney, Australia, on April 23, 2013, was released on May 9 in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Peru, with other countries following; the film was released on May 17 in the United States and Canada, opening at IMAX cinemas a day earlier. Into Darkness received positive reviews from critics, its gross earnings of over $467 million worldwide have made it the highest-grossing entry in the Star Trek franchise. At the 86th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, it was followed by Star Trek Beyond in 2016. In 2259, Captain James T. Kirk is removed from command of the starship USS Enterprise for violating the Prime Directive after exposing the ship to the primitive inhabitants of the planet Nibiru in order to save them, Spock, from a cataclysmic volcanic eruption. Admiral Christopher Pike is reinstated as commanding officer with Kirk demoted to the rank of Commander and first officer.
Commander Spock is transferred to another ship. Shortly after, the Section 31 installation in London is bombed by renegade Starfleet operative John Harrison. Harrison attacks Starfleet Headquarters in a jumpship during an emergency meeting about the situation, killing Pike and other senior officers. Kirk disables the jumpship. Admiral Alexander Marcus reinstates Kirk and Spock to Enterprise with orders to kill Harrison using a new long range stealth photon torpedo. Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott objects to allowing untested torpedoes on board the ship without knowing their specifications. Kirk assigns Pavel Chekov to replace Scotty. En route to Kronos, Enterprise's warp capabilities become disabled. Kirk leads a team with Spock and Uhura onto the planet in a small landing craft, where they are ambushed by Klingon patrols who order them to land. Uhura leaves the landing craft to talk to the Klingons, they decide to kill Uhura, but Harrison appears and kills all the Klingons. After the battle, Harrison demands that Kirk tell him the number of torpedoes on board the Enterprise, surrendering when Spock tells him.
Dr. Leonard McCoy and Marcus's daughter, Dr. Carol Marcus, open a torpedo at Harrison's behest, revealing a man in cryogenic stasis. Upon further investigation, all the other experimental torpedoes are revealed to contain cryogenically frozen humans. Harrison is taken to the ship's brig, where he reveals his true identity as Khan, a genetically engineered superhuman awoken by Admiral Marcus from centuries of suspended animation to develop advanced weapons. Khan reveals that Marcus sabotaged Enterprise's warp drive, intending for the Klingons to destroy the ship after it fired on Kronos, creating an act of war by the Klingon Empire. Khan gives Kirk a set of coordinates. Kirk contacts asks him to investigate. Scotty discovers the coordinates lead to a covert Starfleet facility near Jupiter. Enterprise is intercepted by a much larger Starfleet warship, USS Vengeance, commanded by Admiral Marcus. Marcus demands that Kirk deliver Khan. After Vengeance disables Enterprise near the Moon, Carol reveals her presence aboard the ship.
Marcus forcibly transports Carol to Vengeance before ordering Enterprise's destruction. Kirk offers Khan and himself for the lives of his crew, but Marcus rejects Kirk's offer, revealing he never intended to spare them and orders Vengeance to attack. Vengeance loses power after being sabotaged by Scotty, who infiltrated the ship. With transporters down and Khan, with the latter's knowledge of the warship's design, space-jump to Vengeance. Spock contacts his older self, who warns that Khan is ruthless and untrustworthy and that Khan's older self was only defeated at a terrible cost. After capturing the bridge, Khan overpowers Kirk and Carol, kills Marcus, takes control of Vengeance. Khan demands. Spock complies but surreptitiously removes Khan's frozen crew from the torpedoes and arms the warheads. Khan beams Kirk and Carol aboard Enterprise, but betrays their agreement by attacking Enterprise. With both starships caught in Earth's gravity, they plummet toward the surface. Kirk enters the radioactive reactor chamber to realign the warp core, sacrificing himself to save the ship.
Khan crashes the Vengeance into downtown San Francisco in an attempt to destroy Starfleet headquarters. Khan escapes the wreckage so Spock transports down in
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Jonathan Frakes and based on the franchise of the same name created by Gene Roddenberry. It is the ninth film in the Star Trek film series, as well as the third to star the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, with F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy and Anthony Zerbe appearing in main roles. In the film, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E rebels against Starfleet, after they discover a conspiracy with a species known as the Son'a to steal the peaceful Ba'ku's planet for its rejuvenating properties. Paramount Pictures sought a change in pace after the previous film in the series, Star Trek: First Contact. Michael Piller was asked to write its script, created from story ideas by Piller and producer Rick Berman; the story's first drafts featured the Romulans, the Son'a and Ba'ku were introduced in its third draft. After Ira Steven Behr reviewed the script, Piller revised it and added a subplot involving a romantic interest for Jean-Luc Picard.
The film's ending was further revised after test screenings. The special effects depicting outer space were computer generated, a first for a Star Trek film; the Ba'ku village was built on location at Lake Sherwood, but suffered weather damage. Sets from the television series Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were reused and redressed. Michael Westmore created the make-up for the new alien races, Robert Blackman revised the Starfleet dress uniform designs. Sanja Milkovic Hayes created costumes for the Ba'ku from cellulose fibers, which were baked and glued together. Jerry Goldsmith produced his fourth for the franchise. Insurrection was the highest-grossing film on its opening weekend, making $22.1 million in the United States and Canada. The film went on to gross $70.2 million in the United States and Canada, an additional $42.4 million in other territories, for a theatrical run of about $117.8 million worldwide. Critical responses to the film were mixed. Insurrection was nominated for both a Saturn Award and a Hugo Award, but the only award it received was a Youth in Film Award for Michael Welch.
Lieutenant Commander Data is temporarily transferred to an undercover mission observing the peaceful Ba'ku people. While on their planet, he malfunctions and reveals the presence of the joint Federation–Son'a task force observing the Ba'ku. Admiral Matthew Dougherty contacts the USS Enterprise-E to obtain Data's schematics but adamantly states the presence of the Enterprise is not needed. Captain Picard takes the Enterprise to capture Data. After stopping Data, Captain Jean-Luc Picard becomes suspicious of Dougherty's insistence that the Enterprise is no longer needed, his crew investigates the cause of Data's malfunction. They discover that the Ba'ku have advanced technology, but have rejected its use to live simpler lives. Due to unique radiation or "metaphasic particles" emanating from their planet's rings, they are immortal. Dougherty's allies, the Son ` a, are a decrepit race; the Enterprise crew begin to experience the rejuvenation effects of the planet: Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge finds his eyes have regenerated and he no longer requires ocular implants.
Data and Picard discover a submerged and cloaked Federation ship containing a gigantic holodeck set up to recreate the Ba'ku village. Data's malfunction stems from a Son ` a attack, received. Picard confronts Dougherty and learns that top Federation officers and the Son'a secretly planned to deceptively move the Ba'ku to the ship and forcibly relocate them to another planet, allowing the Son'a to collect the rejuvenating radiation. Dougherty orders the Enterprise to leave. Picard states the rejuvenation benefit of the radiation does not justify Dougherty's plans for the Ba'ku and violates the Prime Directive, he plans to alert the Federation of the forced relocation. Picard is joined by some of his crew to help the Ba'ku escape from being abducted while Riker takes the Enterprise to a transmission range and communicate the violation to Starfleet; the Son ` a send robotic probes to capture the fleeing Ba ` ku. The Son'a leader, Ahdar Ru'afo, convinces Dougherty to allow two Son'a ships to attack the Enterprise.
Riker defeats the Enterprise escapes. Their plan exposed, Ru'afo insists upon harvesting the radiation source immediately. Picard and several Ba'ku are transported as prisoners onto the Son'a ship. Picard reveals to Dougherty that the Son'a and the Ba'ku are the same race, the Federation is involved in their blood feud; the Son'a are a splinter faction of Ba'ku who gave up their bucolic existence a century earlier to embrace the use of technology. They attempted to seize power but failed, the Ba'ku elders exiled them from the planet, denying them the rejuvenating effects of the rings; the Son'a developed an artificial and imperfect means to extend their lives at the cost of disfigurement. Ru'afo kills Admiral Dougherty when he backs out of Ru'afo proceeds with his plan. While Picard is escorted to be executed, he convinces the Son'a Gallatin to help him stop Ru'afo
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing games are a combination of role-playing video games and massively multiplayer online games in which a large number of players interact with one another within a virtual world. As in all RPGs, the player assumes the role of a character and takes control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player online RPGs by the number of players able to interact together, by the game's persistent world, which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game. MMORPGs are played throughout the world. Worldwide revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a billion dollars in 2005, Western revenues exceeded a billion dollars in 2006. In 2008, the spending on subscription MMORPGs by consumers in North America and Europe grew to $1.4 billion. World of Warcraft, a popular MMORPG, has over 10 million subscribers as of November 2014. World of Warcraft's total revenue was $1.04 billion US dollars in 2014.
Star Wars: The Old Republic, released in 2011, became the world's'Fastest-Growing MMOG Ever' after gaining more than 1 million subscribers within the first three days of its launch. Although modern MMORPGs sometimes differ from their predecessors, many of them share the same basic characteristics; these include several common features: persistent game environment, some form of level progression, social interaction within the game, in-game culture, system architecture, membership in a group, character customization. The majority of popular MMORPGs are based on traditional fantasy themes occurring in an in-game universe comparable to that of Dungeons & Dragons; some employ hybrid themes that either merge or replace fantasy elements with those of science fiction and sorcery, or crime fiction. Still, others draw thematic material from American comic books, the occult, other genres; these elements are developed using similar tasks and scenarios involving quests and loot. In nearly all MMORPGs, the development of the player's character is the primary goal.
Nearly all MMORPGs feature a character progression system, in which players earn experience points for their actions and use those points to reach character "levels", which makes them better at whatever they do. Traditionally, combat with monsters and completing quests for non-player characters, either alone or in groups, are the primary ways to earn experience points; the accumulation of wealth is a way to progress in many MMORPGs. This is traditionally best accomplished via combat; the cycle produced by these conditions, combat leading to new items allowing for more combat with no change in gameplay, is sometimes pejoratively referred to as the level treadmill, or "grinding". The role-playing game Progress Quest was created as a parody of this trend. Eve Online trains skills in real time rather than using experience points as a measure of progression. In some MMORPGs, there is no limit to a player's level, allowing the grinding experience to continue indefinitely. MMORPGs that use this model glorify top ranked players by displaying their avatars on the game's website or posting their stats on a high score screen.
Another common practice is to enforce a maximum reachable level for all players referred to as a level cap. Once reached, the definition of a player's progression changes. Instead of being awarded with experience for completing quests and dungeons, the player's motivation to continue playing will be replaced with collecting money and equipment; the widened range of equipment available at the maximum level will have increased aesthetic value to distinguish high ranking players in game between lower ranked players. Colloquially known as endgame gear, this set of empowered weapons and armor adds a competitive edge to both scripted boss encounters as well as player vs player combat. Player motivation to outperform others is fueled by acquiring such items and is a significant determining factor in their success or failure in combat-related situations. MMORPGs always have tools to facilitate communication between players. Many MMORPGs offer support for in-game guilds or clans, though these will form whether the game supports them or not.
In addition, most MMOGs require some degree of teamwork in parts of the game. These tasks require players to take on roles in the group, such as protecting other players from damage, "healing" damage done to other players or damaging enemies. MMORPGs have Game Moderators or Game Masters, who may be paid employees or unpaid volunteers who attempt to supervise the world; some GMs may have additional access to features and information related to the game that are not available to other players and roles. Relationships formed in MMORPGs can be just as intense as relationships formed between friends or partners met outside the game, involve elements of collaboration and trust between players. Most MMORPGs provide different types of classes. Among those classes, a small portion of players choose to roleplay their characters, there are rules that provide functionality and content to those who do. Community resources such as forums and guides exist in support of this play style. For example, if a player wants to play a priest role in his MMORPG world, he might buy a cope from a shop and learn priestly skills, proceeding to speak and interact with others as their character would.
This may not include pursuing other goals such as wealth or experience. Guilds or similar groups with a focus on roleplaying may develop extended in-depth n
Michael Okuda
Michael Okuda is an American graphic designer best known for his work on Star Trek. In the mid-1980s, he designed the look of animated computer displays for the USS Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; this led to a staff position on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 as a scenic artist, adding detail to set designs and props. To The Next Generation he contributed the GUI of the fictional LCARS computer system used throughout the USS Enterprise-D and other Starfleet starships. In homage to its creator, this visual style has come to be known among fans as "okudagrams". Okuda served as a technical consultant on the various TNG-era Star Trek series along with Rick Sternbach, advising the script-writers on the technology used throughout the Star Trek universe such as the transporters and the warp drive; this work resulted in a technical manual, distributed to prospective script-writers along with the series bible. The manual was published in revised and updated form as the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual by Pocket Books.
Okuda went on to write a number of Star Trek books with his wife, Denise. He continued working at Paramount Studios on the Star Trek series that followed The Next Generation, worked as an art supervisor on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and through to the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005, he worked on the Star Trek movies that were produced while the various television series were in production. He served as one of the producers when CBS digitally remastered and updated special visual effects for the original series. Okuda created the Heisenberg compensator as a way to explain how Star Trek's fictional transporter might work, despite the limitation of the uncertainty principle. Okuda famously answered the question "How does the Heisenberg compensator work?" with "It works well, thank you."As of 2011, Okuda remains involved creatively with the Star Trek franchise. He and Denise Okuda are serving as consultants on the project to upgrade Star Trek: The Next Generation to high definition.
They created the text commentaries in the ten Star Trek Special Edition DVD movies, as well as special text commentaries for the Star Trek Fan Collection sets. In 2005, Okuda contributed as a consultant for Perpetual Entertainment in their development of the MMORPG Star Trek Online, he helped with the cataloging of items for the auction of Star Trek memorabilia by Christie's auction house. The event, the preparation for it, is included in the History Channel documentary film Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier. In a 2016 interview with Geek Speak Magazine, Okuda said that his "favorite" Star Trek series is: "The Original Series. No question." In April 2013, Phil Plait reported that Okuda had included an oblique homage to The West Wing in the episode "Imperfection", by having Seven of Nine look at a list of Voyager crew who had died, there listing Commander J. Bartlett, Lieutenant Commander L. McGarry, Lieutenant Commander T. Ziegler, Lieutenant J. Lyman, Lieutenant S. Seaborn, Ensign Claudia J. Craig and Ensign Charles Young.
Plait reported contacting Okuda who revealed that Okuda and his wife and graphic artist James Van Over, were all huge fans of The West Wing. Plait contacted actress Jeri Ryan, who played Seven of Nine, whom Plait describes as "a huge science nerd", unaware of the sight gag until contacted by Plait. Okuda is reported as saying that one of my rules regarding jokes was that they should never be apparent to the casual viewer. If they were, they would yank the viewer out of the story, that would be a serious disservice to both. For this reason, I tried to keep the text on such gags at the ragged edge of legibility. Okuda designed logos for a number of NASA missions and programs including the STS-125 mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and the Ares I-X development test flight, his work for Project Constellation, subsequently cancelled, included logos for the Ares booster, the Altair lunar lander, the Orion spacecraft, designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and to return humans to the Moon.
The Orion logo was unveiled on August 26, 2006. Okuda designed a team emblem for the planned STS-400 rescue mission, which would have been launched if there had been a major problem during the STS-125 mission. For his work as the designer of many NASA mission patches, Okuda received the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal, he was presented with the award at a ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas on July 9, 2009. As of 2015, Okuda served as a visual consultant for the up-and-coming Firestorm pilot, a crowd-funded project set up by Jamie Anderson, son of Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds. Firestorm is to utilize advances in animatronic marionettes and miniature set design dubbed'Ultramarionation'. Okuda, Michael; the Star Trek Encyclopedia and Expanded Edition: A Reference Guide to the Future. Harper Design. ISBN 978-0062371324. Okuda, Denise. Star Trek The Next Generation: On Board the U. S. S. Enterprise. Barron's Educational Series. ISBN 0-764-16606-9. Okuda, Michael. Star Trek: Ships of the Line.
Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group. ISBN 1-4165-3243-9. Okuda, Michael. Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-70427-3. Okuda, Denise; the Star Trek Encyclopedia. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-53609-5. Okuda, Denise. Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-53610-9. Michael Okuda on IMDb Biograph
