(Warning! Possible Spoilers For The New Trek Movie!)

Part of the reason Cryptic released this timeline is that the Star Trek Online forums were getting bombarded, on an almost daily basis, with people asking over and over how the game would fit in with the new film.

Not to mention the people constantly trying to start flame wars over whether or not the new movie "erases" old Star Trek or not ... even though the new flick says (twice) very quickly that the new flick takes place in an alternative reality created by Nero and Spock's method of "time" travel.

Not only that, but both the new film's screenwriters, JJ Abrams, and the Paramount-approved, official comic book prequel to the new film (Star Trek Countdown, available on Amazon) all confirm that the new movie takes place in an alternative reality as well.

Basically, Cryptic saw that everyone was tired of answering/arguing the same points on the Star Trek Online forums, and released the chart to (at least) give forum posters a redirect link whenever the same points come up from here on out.

From an MMORPG perspective, I think Cryptic's made the right choice sticking with the original timeline. Whether you love the new movie or hate it, it doesn't contain enough material to build an MMORPG on -- and Cryptic can't just "make stuff up" to fill in the blanks, because future new movies will likely contradict whatever they do.

While STO is licensed from CBS/Paramount, the owners are not required to consult Cryptic on what they plan to do with the franchise.

The original Trek universe has 40+ years of official backstory to mine when building a Star Trek MMORPG. This is the smart way to go.