Today, Atari and Cryptic announced the special pre-order subscription rates for Star Trek Online which will usually cost $15.00 a month to play. For $240.00 one can get a subscription that lasts the lifetime of the game, plus other bonuses such as two additional character slots and a playable Borg race. A second, special middle of the road discount gets one a year’s subscription for $120.00 and the two extra character slots but no playable Borg.

I’ve already bought Star Trek Online (note to all: Steam’s pre-purchase =/= pre-order from other places) so I’ve spent some time in the Open Beta, and I’ve got to say, even though I have very little interest in MMORPG’s, I can’t think of any other place I can go to play such engaging and true to source starship battles, with other players in tow. If there was no subscription fee, without a doubt, this is the Star Trek game I want to play. With the fee though, it’s still the Star Trek game I want to play but matters are a bit more complicated.

Assuming I don’t care about extra characters or being Borg, if I go with the $15.00 monthly plan, I won’t have to shell out a PSPgo(MSRP:$249.99) up front, day one. Of course with the monthly plan, every month’s subscription deduction from my wallet is going to pressured me to actually play, and possibly play a lot, just to get my money’s worth. Were I to have a lifetime subscription, that wouldn’t be an issue. I would instead only feel pressured to stay with the game for at least 16 months, the length of time it would take to spend $240.00 on the monthly plan. Also, with the lifetime subscription, I would get to see all of the content updates, addition and expansions that would come to Star Trek Online in the future.

But will I really care to?

Although the beta is fun, can I really conclude that the rest of the game will be just as fun? What if I get the lifetime subscription now and three months from now, decide that Star Trek Online isn’t the MMO for me? On the flip side, what if it is the MMO for me and I end up playing for two or three years?

What would you do in my situation?