The actor goes virtual in his second Star Trek game.
When you used to play video games on Nintendo it was a very solitary experience, but the whole concept of an MMO game is the online community. Do you see the social aspect of game as something that’s a positive?
Yeah, and for me it gets into that territory of grayness. I think it can be, but I also feel like technology is something in our society, for me, that diminish the capacity for connection. Because we spend so much time in a culture engrossed in these devices that we put in front of our faces, but the reality is we say that that’s a connection. We’re texting each other or we’re looking at each other on Facebook, or we’re doing this or doing that, but the reality is it’s not. It’s the opposite of that, but I am just much more a fan of walking through the city and seeing what happens and seeing who I encounter and seeing what it is that my experience leads me to. The possibility of that, the unknown of that is something that speaks more to me. But I have absolutely no judgment for people that are intrigued by, interested in, and engrossed in the notion of online relating to one another. I’m just not that person.
It’s interesting that you say that though because when you look at the Star Trek franchise and what Gene Rodenberry’s vision was, video games really aren’t a part of the future in the Star Trek universe.
Yeah. I think Gene Rodenberry, I never got to meet him unfortunately, but I think he was looking at a much more human-based future, or he was hoping for a more human-based future in terms of connection and in terms of unity and in terms of working together -- and together being literally together, not connected through all this technology. So it’s an undeniable aspect of our society. It is way past the point of no return, and so I feel like there’s only one choice, which is to accept it, which I certainly do, and obviously I accept it to the degree that I’m willing to involve myself in it where it makes sense for my career. But I also just feel like my career and my personal life are two different things, so I spend my time when I’m not working in different ways, but I think this game is fun. I think it’s cool. I think it’s really impressive. I think this game is particularly impressive, and I hope people feel the same way.
What do you think having the two actors, yourself and Leonard Nimoy, who portrayed the two Spocks in the last film, added to Star Trek Online?
I think Leonard and the entire surviving cast of the original series are icons in their own right. I think Leonard and the character of Spock are -- and maybe I’m being biased because I’m so close with him, and I played that character -- but for me the enduring legacy of that franchise, the origins of that franchise. And so I’m availing myself to carrying that on with him. It’s a great honor for me that I got to work with him in the film. It’s a great honor for me that we’re both in this game. You know, I basically go where that guy goes, is how I think of it. So I’m happy that he signed on also and he’s a part of it too.
