I agree that there needs to be a system in place to allow people who really do go above and beyond to be recognised.

What does everyone else think?

    There is a lot of talk on the trek forums regarding a desire to stand out among the crowd, problem is these ppl over there dont want to work for it, rather they prefer to have it handed to them. My idea is simple and I said as much over there.....EXCEL. If people want to stand out then do your best in whatever factions philosophy your playing. Eventually your perseverance will earn you that recognition from those around you.
   
   The devs however need to put a system in place that will help others recognize your acheivements, like awards and comendations, much like the award system here at hailing frequency, for best post or some such.  This would be most preferrable to handing out some do-dad for no reason or for finishing a tough instance.  This will encourage others to reach loftier goals than simple self indulgence, just be ready for when the whining starts when ppl cant seem to get those shiny medals.

Hm, there could be a few ways to do this.

One could have a journal or Tome like WAR online has to record accomplishment.

Maybe after sone time and quests or after destroying ships in PvP, NPC give rewards.

And I see what you mean.  And one of the few Gorn on the main boards (along with Xidane who is big vocally for PvP) it's hard to get heard amongst all the Federation fleets and posts.

But I will do my best!

You have to remember that the ratio for lurkers to posters, i.e. those are register on the STO forums and post, vs those who never register, is normally something like 15:1 - which means, that for the 75,000 odd people that have registered on the STO Forums, their could easily be over 1,000,000 that havent.

What am I saying?  I think there will be plenty of Gorn - and other races which means you will all have the ability to stand out..............Especially with that Smokin Character Creation system we have....

As always you're right ... /gags saying that =D

It's a bit disheartening to just see, even with limited posters, how many choose Federation.  Not many even interested in Klingon!

I do hope for some Gorn.  I don't wanna be the only one on the homeworld with tumbleweeds blowing by

Yeah i think i've said before i'd probably have 2 characters, one fed, one klink

I like those ideas Blackfire. I would also add that whatever system they use for us to 'level' (i.e. XP, credits, whatever), they should offer those points for achievements based on who you are and what side you're playing. For instance, it would be unacceptable for a Federation captain to fire unprovoked on an enemy. For the Klingons? Not so much.

This way we would reward those people who played their characters more according to their race/affiliation. Since we all LOVE to play that character that is the exception to the rule, we could go that path, but it should make for a much tougher road. If someone wanted to play a 'Worf' type character (Klingon but loyal to Starfleet) the system should accomodate that, but they should have to undergo some sort of 'betrayal' mission so they could switch sides. EQ2 does something like this, allowing characters to turn to the light/dark side if they wish.

The one thing I REALLY don't want is for Cryptic to shoehorn us into accepting roles. If you wanna play a human that becomes a Klingon spy, you should be able to. I can't stand when a game forces you down a path or makes up some ridiculous reason why you can't do what you really want. If I had a unique character and wanted to play it on STO and couldn't, it would be a major dissappointment.

However, I don't think Cryptic will do that. So far they've shown an adaptability and a leniency towards the 'one size fits all' means of character creation. As far as the whole 'awards and medals' thing goes, if you're playing Fed, you shouldn't care. If you're Klingon, honor matters more than baubles. If you need a cool new award every time you tie your shoes, join the Cub Scouts. ;)


And that's all I gotta say about that.....