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  • Captain's Log: Interview with Star Trek Online lead writer Christine Thompson, part two

    by 
    Terilynn Shull
    Terilynn Shull
    04.30.2012

    This week brings to an end my series of interview with Cryptic Studios representatives. We conclude with the second half of my interview with Christine Thompson, lead writer for Star Trek Online. Thompson confirmed that she essentially writes everything in STO. She admits that she gets some help, sometimes from developers who prefer to write their own work, but she says she writes 90% of everything in the game. The conversation picked back up with a focus on The Foundry, the user-generated content tool available to players in STO. I asked her if she had any direct advice for authors who use the Foundry to create missions and maps and social zones in the game. She said, "Authors "shouldn't be afraid to tell the stories they want to tell. That's one of the joys of The Foundry. And they should also know not every story is going to work for everybody. Some things people will love, and some things people won't. Use Of Bajor for example. I really enjoyed that episode. We took a chance and did something completely different with that episode, and I liked telling a Bajoran story. But for every person who liked that episode, there was somebody saying" -- and here she dropped her voice to a hoarse whisper -- "oh dear god, why can't I just shoot something?!"