What is the Starfleet process for dealing with crew members who develop holo-addiction? Is there a sympathetic approach with counselling and gradual reduction and monitored time spent on the holodeck or more punishment orientated by restricting them to quarters or the brig with the cold turkey method? Would holo-addiction alone be a court martial offence or would it depend on the consequences of it such as reduced capacity to carry out their function on the ship, persistent lateness reporting for duty and insubordination?
Starfleet and Holo-addiction
- Thread starter Malicia
- Start date
Just like any similar obsession, it's only a problem at work if you let it become a problem, and the problem will be what you do (or neglect to do) as a result of that obsession, not the obsession itself.
Think for example Candy Crush-addiction. If you don't do your job because you're on the phone playing Candy Crush, you would get in trouble... for not doing your work.
Think for example Candy Crush-addiction. If you don't do your job because you're on the phone playing Candy Crush, you would get in trouble... for not doing your work.
They did an Orville episode about this...
The Orville ep was very much about porn addiction, but I could see the holodeck being totally addictive beyond that, like someone getting addicted to 'living in Middle Earth', or some other complete fantasy life that they literally didn't want to come back from.
Were such a thing possible, I can think of several fandoms I would have vanished into.
If you were on the holodeck every day, interacting with the same characters, would you run the risk of them becoming sentient? Trek has made this a genuine concern. Would excessive holodeck use be purely about job performance or would it also take into account that given enough time adventuring with you in Middle Earth, the personhood of Pippin (or whomever) and his needs would now need to be taken into consideration?
Depends on if you kept the program running continuously. And also, how much data was devoted to the program... most are probably pretty limited, but the EMH had to be big to hold all that medical information.
I think it will depend on just how severely it affects the person with their job.
As Darty Thanos mentioned, it's only a problem at work when you let it become a problem with your work.
As much as I love Barclay, if I'm being honest, he was really lucky. If something like his situation were to happen at, say, an office job on Earth, at worst he would lose his job. (Which is not a small thing, either. Though for a world that doesn't use money, one wonders how bad being fired actually is.) However, being an officer on a starship... especially the Federation flagship... is quite a different thing. At any time, a red alert might happen and you need to be focused on your job because of an anomaly, an attack, a disaster, or any number of things. If you aren't on point with your job because of a holo-addiction (or worse, you fall asleep in the arms of your favorite holodeck character so you don't hear the red alert go off and don't even go to your post), then lives can easily be lost. Not just the lives of fellow officers, but the civilians also on board, and any potential people outside that the ship may be trying to defend.
In other words... he should have been, at best, transferred off ship to an assignment that doesn't have dangerous situations happen every week. At worst, taken out of Starfleet.
As Darty Thanos mentioned, it's only a problem at work when you let it become a problem with your work.
As much as I love Barclay, if I'm being honest, he was really lucky. If something like his situation were to happen at, say, an office job on Earth, at worst he would lose his job. (Which is not a small thing, either. Though for a world that doesn't use money, one wonders how bad being fired actually is.) However, being an officer on a starship... especially the Federation flagship... is quite a different thing. At any time, a red alert might happen and you need to be focused on your job because of an anomaly, an attack, a disaster, or any number of things. If you aren't on point with your job because of a holo-addiction (or worse, you fall asleep in the arms of your favorite holodeck character so you don't hear the red alert go off and don't even go to your post), then lives can easily be lost. Not just the lives of fellow officers, but the civilians also on board, and any potential people outside that the ship may be trying to defend.
In other words... he should have been, at best, transferred off ship to an assignment that doesn't have dangerous situations happen every week. At worst, taken out of Starfleet.
It would be fun if Lower Decks finds a Middle-Earth holodeck addict
Mariner: Are you nuts?? What the **** is wrong with you, man? Just look around you! We live in an era with giant spaceships roaming the universe, we get along with alien species each day, we have holodecks, replicators, androids, laser weapons, almost everything the human race could have ever dream of... and you prefer to fool yourself in that you are living in the ****ing middle ages? That's messed up, man!
Rutherford: I mean, no consoles, no plasma circuits, no isomagnetic conduits, no sensors, no anti-matter storage... how could this people get anything done?
Boimler: And why are there so many Vulcans in this simulation? First Contact was in 2063...
Gollum: I want the precious...
Tendi: Aww, look! What a cute creature! Let me hug it! Who wants his precious? You do! You do!
Mariner: Are you nuts?? What the **** is wrong with you, man? Just look around you! We live in an era with giant spaceships roaming the universe, we get along with alien species each day, we have holodecks, replicators, androids, laser weapons, almost everything the human race could have ever dream of... and you prefer to fool yourself in that you are living in the ****ing middle ages? That's messed up, man!
Rutherford: I mean, no consoles, no plasma circuits, no isomagnetic conduits, no sensors, no anti-matter storage... how could this people get anything done?
Boimler: And why are there so many Vulcans in this simulation? First Contact was in 2063...
Gollum: I want the precious...
Tendi: Aww, look! What a cute creature! Let me hug it! Who wants his precious? You do! You do!
I see Barclay as someone wrestling with addiction, but not quite badly enough to get him fired. When push comes to shove, he is where he needs to be to get the job done, even if he's absent at some less critical times and has some minor infractions on his name, like breaking into the office to use the equipment after he was put off the project.
After all, it's not as if that would be nearly as bad as having relations with an alien girl, which surely will earn you a formal reprimand.
