Trek On, Good Buddy
January 25th, 2010 |I was five years old the first time I can remember watching Star Trek. As best I remember it was “Assignment: Earth” I remember being fascinated by the cat in that episode. That day, I was unknowingly infected with a virus that would be in my system for the rest of my life. That day, I became a Trekkie. In the years that followed I became more and more obsessed with the show. I memorized every detail about the universe in which they lived. In time I established myself as a Starfleet Captain, Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Yorktown, NCC-1704. If you were in my circle of friends at the time, chances are you had a rank and duty on the ship. I went to every movie. I watched every episode multiple times. For a time, I think I actually lived in the 23rd Century.
But as time went on and I grew up it became harder and harder to live both in the 23rd and 20th centuries and eventually, with a tremendous amount of effort, I was able to get my addiction under control and be not much more than a fan; albeit a fan with a tremendous amount of trivia knowledge about the shows, but a fan non-the-less.
Everything was fine for several years, but then I started hearing rumors about a new MMO based in the Star Trek Universe. There had been Trek games before, but after years of playing World of Warcraft, EverQuest and City of Heroes, I knew this had the potential to be dangerous. And then the open beta came. Screen shots from within the game appeared online. Trusted friends and colleagues reported back to me that this was the most awesome game to have the Star Trek name on the cover in history. That’s when I felt it again, that tug. It was as if Roddenberry’s voice called to me from beyond the grave, “Come back to us, we’ve missed you”
Now, in order to live what approximates a normal life, I must not fail to the temptation of getting Star Trek Online when it goes live on February 2nd. Thankfully it is still Windows only so I am able to sit on my Mac and use that as an excuse. But today I caught myself printing out instructions on how to load Boot Camp on my Mac and emulate a Windows OS environment and play PC games. PC games like Star Trek Online.
My name is Tovias, and I am a Trekaholic.
So there I was. Not quite sure where he was, but I was there. Just arrived back at my barracks room in Great Lakes, IL, relatively early in the evening, no later than seven or eight PM.
And there’s my roommate standing with his nose about 6 inches from the wall repeating “Computer, exit!” in various tones of exasperation. Apparently the holodeck wouldn’t let him out.
Wow, those are the kind of fans that are way too scary to be around. Oh, wait, that may have been me.
How the heck are you? Contact me via the contact link so we can trade real e-mail addresses.