So what is it about the characters of Star Trek that makes them immediately recognizable?
It seems to me that part of the answer is that these characters were designed primarily as archetypes. That is, each character is written to express a particular way of looking at and dealing with the world. These characters resonate with us in part because we recognize something universally human in each of them (including the non-human characters).
So I thought it might be fun to think about these archetypes. Seeing the kinds of people who make Star Trek what it is might tell us something about what features would be valuable in Star Trek Online.
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The typology of the Big Three in TOS was pretty simple: Kirk was the Leader, Spock was the Thinker, McCoy was the Healer.
(Note: Classifying a character as being primarily of one archetype or another doesn't mean that character can't express other types of behavior. For example, Kirk was a Leader, but obviously he could think as well, as could McCoy.)
However, the development of the various Star Trek shows as ensemble dramas meant that more depth of characters was necessary. Thus it might make sense to consider one additional archetype -- the Doer (that is, someone who prefers to Do things; usually a Tactical/Security or Engineering officer) -- as well as imagining characters as having a primary type and a secondary type.
Accordingly, here's my off-the-cuff classification of the characters in the various Star Trek shows (other than ENT, which I'm still thinking about):
| TOS | TNG | DS9 | VOY | ||||
| Kirk: | Leader/Doer | Picard: | Leader/Thinker | Sisko: | Leader/Doer | Janeway: | Leader/Thinker |
| Spock: | Thinker/Leader | Riker: | Leader/Doer | Jadzia Dax: | Doer/Thinker | Chakotay: | Leader/Doer |
| McCoy: | Healer/Thinker | Crusher: | Healer/Leader | O'Brien: | Thinker/Doer | Tuvok: | Thinker/Doer |
| Scotty: | Thinker/Doer | Data: | Thinker/Doer | Bashir: | Healer/Doer | Paris: | Doer/Healer |
| Uhura: | Thinker/Healer | LaForge: | Doer/Thinker | Kira: | Doer/Leader | Torres: | Doer/Thinker |
| Sulu: | Doer/Leader | Troi: | Healer/Thinker | Odo: | Doer/Thinker | Kim: | Thinker/Leader |
| Chekov: | Doer/Thinker | Worf: | Doer/Leader | Worf: | Doer/Leader | Doctor: | Healer/Thinker |
| Guinan: | Healer/Doer | Ezri Dax: | Healer/Thinker | Neelix: | Doer/Healer | ||
| Kes: | Healer/Doer | ||||||
| Seven: | Thinker/Doer | ||||||
Assuming these classifications are more or less acceptable (and I'm open to different interpretations), we can see some interesting things.
1. A lot of characters have the Doer archetype as either a primary or secondary style -- their main interest is in action. This is perhaps natural for characters in an action/adventure TV show. But it also makes sense that Starfleet might attract people with that kind of physically active personality. Is this also a natural fit for the gameplay of a MMORPG?
2. TNG and VOY were fairly balanced in the archetypes of their main characters, although Voyager's crew was perhaps tipped a little toward the Thinker archetype. But look at DS9 -- for six years, everybody was a Doer! That could be a source of both understanding ("these people see the world like I do") and conflict ("I'm going to do this my way whether you like it or not"). I think the kinds of episodes we typically saw in DS9 and VOY were a pretty good reflection of these character archetypes.
3. Compare the leadership styles of Picard, Sisko and Janeway. Where Kirk and Sisko were inclined to act immediately on their decisions (and led others through the force of their convictions), Picard and Janeway had a more thoughtful approach to getting things done. Their inclination was to assess the factors of a situation, consult with others for the best course of action, and then exert leadership to accomplish what needed to be done. So: are either of these styles “better” than the other? What might a Leader/Healer character have looked like? Do these different leadership styles suggest any gameplay for Command skills in a Star Trek MMORPG?
At any rate, there are some ideas. What do you think? Is there anything in this that might help clarify for us what we believe Star Trek Online should offer?
See article on Psychology Today:
ReplyDeletehttps://my.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201304/star-trek-characters-cognitive-archetypes
Very interesting -- your Red Earth style seems like a very close fit with the Leader archetype I suggested here (or perhaps the Leader/Doer combined style).
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting!
I began watching Star Trek when it first appeared in the early 1960s. The image of the Starship Enterprise somehow remained in my mind and appeared occasionally in my dreams. After some years, I realized something--and this is what I want to share here. Star Trek can be an "archetype" in the sense the psychoanalyst Dr. Carl Jung meant the term. An archetype is an image produced by what he called the Collective Unconscious. Certain images are found in dreams, art, architecture, religious images "in all times and places," Jung said. In other words, archetypes are emanating from a shared or collective unconscious source. Think of this source as the great "google." More than this, these images express, actually generate, a lifelong process of inner development. The same images may appear in millions of people's minds and influence humanity's unconscious evolution. Archetypes are not just "road signs," they are actually moving us down the road or path to integration. Integrating the parts of our unconscious Jung called "the Shadow" and other parts of ourselves we fear looking at. OK, back to Star Trek. For me, Star Trek, and especially the USS Enterprise, has been my archetype. At some point I realized that I was very much like both Kirk and Spock. I was passionate, emotional, a leader, like Kirk. I was also cool, rational, even aloof, like Spock. But these were two sides of me, two almost separate personalities, much as Kirk and Spock were independent of each other. But, as Spock said, "In diversity there is strength." I began to realize both Kirk and Spock were aboard the Starship Enterprise; they worked together; this gave them strength. As time advanced, I began to think of myself as the Starship herself, containing the diverse crew or diverse parts of myself in a single "container" called "me." Then the most exciting realization: I realized I was moving, going somewhere in this integrated "me" or Starship. Going...where I had never gone before! And then something shifted. I realized I was actually moving, on a journey. I had come from just enjoying Star Trek as a series on TV,...to identifying with Kirk and Spock,...to kind of merging their qualities of emotion and logic within myself and finding a greater strength in integration,...to realizing what got me there was this mysterious inner Starship that held all of what was now me,...to the realization that this was a movement, an evolution, and that I AM this movement! I am this Journey! And then all limits disappeared: I realized that I AM SPACE ITSELF! That space creates the matter in it, including the one called David, the world you and I live in, all that appears solid and real. Space "bubbles" us out of the void, creates everything we see,hear, taste, touch, even the thoughts we think. SPACE IS CONSCIOUS, CREATIVE, AND WE ARE ON THE JOURNEY TO EXPERIENCE WHERE WE CAME FROM. We are going...home. Inner space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship I-AM. Our ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds within, to seek out new life and new realizations. To boldly go where all of us have gone before....
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