The actor goes virtual in his second Star Trek game.
Actor Zachary Quinto first attracted the attention of sci-fi fans with his cold portrayal of Sylar in NBC’s hit show, Heroes. Quinto etched his place in the realm of science fiction super stardom with his portrayal of a young Spock in J.J. Abram’s Star Trek reboot. Now the young actor, who also spent some time in the hit shows 24 and American Horror Story, is back on board the USS Enterprise in a new video game adventure and on the big screen in Star Trek Into Darkness.
This marks the second video game foray for the actor, who re-teamed with the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, in Cryptic Studio’s massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, Star Trek Online. With another box office hit on his hands, Quinto talks about his own gaming background and chimes in – not always in a positive light – on the current state of always-connected online gaming and interaction in this exclusive interview.
Do you have any fond memories of playing videogames growing up?
I was probably one of the last generations of Atari players, you know, like Pitfall. I was kind of obsessed with that when I was a kid. And then as I got older I switched over to Nintendo and Super Mario Bros. and that whole world. And that just sort of petered out for me. It wasn’t something that really held my attention past adolescence.
What are your thoughts about what they’re doing today with video games?
I think it’s remarkable technologically and creatively. I think there’s a real space in which a tremendous convergence takes place between these two mediums, and I think that’s really great. I think it’s a little delicate or dangerous in terms of how much time people are able and willing to spend engrossed in worlds that don’t really exist. I think that’s my own sort of personal ethical, trepidation about it, but that’s not for me to say anything about. It’s just my own opinion. That’s why I can’t do it. I just don’t have the time to channel it into a world that’s really ultimately disconnecting me from my own. But I think that what people are capable of and what is possible in these game worlds is fascinating and this game, Star Trek Online, is a prime example of that. Hundreds of hours you could spend speaking as the character that you’re playing. The level of detail in creating these characters like where you want the scar on their face and how big you want it to be in proportion to their head and what color their skin and what shade is it is just amazing. And then that’s just before you start playing. You know what I mean? So for me, that stuff is really interesting. It’s just not necessarily stuff that I can take time to engage.
