AirLockAlpha.com

It's been forever since I've opened up the Airlock Alpha mailbag, and there's definitely a lot of fun and interesting things on readers' minds.

So the wait is finally over. Let's answer our first batch of e-mail for 2010!

I had a quick question. Does anyone have any idea what the ratings for 'Battlestar Galactica: The Plan' were?

I am someone who follows sci-fi television shows, but I have a keen interest in the business, and know things like ratings and DVD sales, and key target demos make these shows possible. We both know that in all likelihood, the poor live ratings killed 'Battlestar Galactica,' 'Dollhouse' and 'Jericho,' and while BSG was able to be all tied up, it ended before its time.
-- Aaron

Well, just to be clear first off. Ratings did not kill "Battlestar Galactica." While the lower ratings prevented the then SciFi Channel from giving executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick the two-year commitment they had hoped for, it was really more of a creative decision by Moore and Eick to not take a chance with whether there would be a fifth season renewal or not, and instead end the series on their terms.

Unfortunately, I never saw the numbers for "The Plan," but would they really be telling? The telemovie had already been released to DVD, and was out there for the fans who wanted to see it to see it. And showing it on Syfy was more about just adding to the money pot than anything else.

To be honest, "The Plan" was hurt by some tremendously poor critical reaction. Which is too bad, because it was nice having the missing pieces of the series clicked in. I just wish there was a little more overall story to tie it all together.

The launch of Star Trek Online really isn't any worse than other very large MMO launches. World of Warcraft had stability problems across all their servers for weeks after launch, and had to stop selling the game while they implemented queues. And several popular servers had problems for months after launch.

Lord of the Rings Online is currently having problems with people complaining about queues during certain times of the day. EVE has people trapped behind queues almost every day shortly after their maintenance window, which they had to make daily to resolve stability issues.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this is a small game. They sold over a million preorders. This game's got more people playing it already than the peak subscriptions of EverQuest and EverQuest II combined, and at least twice as many people as WoW launched with. Cryptic's wildest estimates of the needed capacity were not just exceeded, but "shattered," according to Craig Zincovich, and they're working hard to get hardware in, and software optimizations also, to get things stable.
-- Shawn

Yeah, I know I've been complaining quite a bit about the server issues plaguing Star Trek Online, and I know the game is bigger than the launches of other high-profile massively multiplayer online roleplaying games like World of Warcraft and my favorite EverQuest games. But then again, none of those games are Star Trek.

I noticed you didn't compare Star Trek Online in a more apples to apples approach. You know, like with Star Wars Galaxies.

We know the number of people that ordered that game and were playing it from launch. Why would anyone in their right minds think that Star Trek, especially coming off a blockbuster movie just several months before (that prompted Atari to push for an earlier-than-ready release), think a game based on Gene Roddenberry's universe would be any different?

Oh, and I played Lord of the Rings Online both at launch, and then for the last several months leading into the launch of Star Trek Online. I don't know about other people, but I never, ever, ever had to sit in a queue to get into that game. Never.

Sorry to hear you were getting personal crap about what is definitely a legitimate problem with Star Trek Online. Server issues will kill an MMO quicker than anything, and if no one sounds the horn, the whole thing will fail.

Not to mention, personal attacks against you, classless.

I'm sure you know that not all Trek fans are jerks. In fact, I've found the opposite to be true. Most are very great (if occasionally a little off) people. But there's no place for jerks in any forum.
-- Mark

Yeah, I don't know why people would want to go on message boards in different places to be honest, because the level of attacks (and the lack of moderation) is just a bad combination.

I shared thoughts about Star Trek Online not on the official message boards, but instead here on a site I happened to own. And yet, someone shared my thoughts on the message board, and seconds later, the attacks began.

No worries, Mark. I don't judge an entire community -- Star Trek fans and gamers alike -- by a select vocal few. I know for a fact that I was not the only one complaining about the server issues and how the game remains completely unplayable for me. And if they have nothing better to do than to put me down, then they never really had a viable argument in the first place.

OK, just one more e-mail about Star Trek Online.

I had some problems Saturday, but Sunday went very well. Saturday we had a huge snowstorm where I live, which drove everyone inside. I figured I'd play video games all day, since there wasn't much else to do. I logged into STO in the morning without issue, but the game started having a lot of the kinds of behavior other people complained about around noon or so. Eventually, I found myself knocked offline by one of STO's very long waits.

I tried to log back in, but found myself in one of those queues, 572 of 572 people waiting to get into the game. I opted to play Champions Online instead. A couple hours later, I tried again, and found myself at over 1,000 people waiting to get into the game. I gave up on STO that evening.

However, they provided an update Sunday morning. I started playing in th morning. I played until about noonish or so, before I got knocked offline again. I tried logging in again, but had to wait in a queue (as before). This time, I opted to wait in the queue. Then in the evening, I had no trouble logging in whatsoever.

I dunno if people had to go to work on Monday, but I didn't have a problem at all logging in. And the gameplay was much better throughout the day. I'd say, even at the peak of the day, the game seemed pretty stable. Some of their optimizations seemed to have helped.
-- Trey

I wish I had a similar experience. I was not even able to get online after the weekend upgrade, because there was a patch Star Trek Online needed to download that took hours to do. I mean literally, hours.

Still, the game has been rubberbanding a lot. And I think I will wait until I hear about stable servers before I venture back at the helm of the USS Conquest.

Sorry, Star Trek Online. But this Trekkie is going to wait.

It's funny that 'Heroes' did well on Monday nights until 'Dancing With the Stars' was put up against it, not to mention having that writers strike and not bringing any of th shows back until the following season. It has struggled since then. I just wonder why NBC hasn't tried to move them to another night.

They are actually competing against their own audience with 'House' and "Dancing' et al.

I just don't buy the accuracy of the ratings anymore, especially when so many CBS shows do well even though I rarely ever hear people talk about them the way I hear people talk about 'Lost,' 'Heroes,' 'Chuck' or 'Fringe.'
-- Bruce Evans

I believe like anyone else that scheduling can be a killer for a show (see: "Fringe"), but while competition may have played a role in some of the early audience erosion experienced by "Heroes," the show pretty much shot itself in the foot.

When your audience yawns more than three times, just like in the Victorian era, you should be dead in the water.

And one thing I want to caution people about when it comes to ratings: Unless you're friends with most of the nation, it's not good to judge a ratings system based on what your friends are talking about.

I can tell you that if we went by that, "Battlestar Galactica" should be the highest-rated show of all time. And we know that's not the case, but most of my friends talk about it a lot, and don't even know what channel CBS is on. But that doesn't mean that CBS isn't commanding the audience they are, because really, they are.

If you would like to drop me a line and ask a question or share some thoughts, it's easy! Just send an e-mail to mhinman@airlockalpha.com. Please include a name, and where you're writing from, so we can give a shout out to the area you reside. And while we can't use all letters, the ones we do use are subject to editing.