I totally agree. These are the 3 main groups that we see in Star Trek on the Screen, so at the very minimum this is what we should see in STO.

Then obviously you can have tons of sub groups within these groups - Officers of course will have the departmental breakdowns, command, engineering, tactical, etc, as for enlisted officers and civilians, i am not sure what the sub groups could be but i suppose it would break down into department or profession......

Maybe not everyone goes to the Academy and becomes an Officer, but the enlisted have their training too.  You can't just instantly become part of any force without some kind of training.

As for the game...I think officers and possibly...and I do mean possibly enlisted would work.  I don't think being a civilian is something the designers should work on, past the NPC area. 

It really just depends upon how Cryptic decides to run the game.  PE had us all as officers...which wasn't a bad way to go.

Hmm... I'm not sure Enlisted and Civilian gameplay is a big priority, especially for release.  Civilian could be fun for the social types and role players, having some side profession like teacher, botanist, merchant or bartender or something.  I'm not sure that 'crafting' is a big part of a universe full of replicators. 

Enlisted? Just doing grunt work endlessly? Is gameplay that any of us are interested in personally doing? Is that going to be your main? An enlisted Crewman? If not, then perhaps we should leave it to the NPCs.

I'm going to vote a hearty no.  Expand some civilian gameplay as the game advances in popularity and functionality.  Maybe offer free civilian or enlisted 'trial' accounts for players who want to see what's up with ST:O without purchasing it first.  But don't put being an Enlisted Crewman or Civilian or enlisted crewman on the same 'level' with Officer gameplay.  These should be, essentially, minigames at best.

Well I agree Civs should have their place in STO fueling its economy. If they are present maybe the option to be a criminal could be part of the game. Perhaps you could be a member of an Orion cartel or be a shady Ferengi Daimon.  To Sir Cedric: Would the Federation actually have the ability to build there own androids? because as seen in the Next Generation only Noonien Soong was able to make successful androids. If it is possible for there to be more androids in STO would you be able to play as one let alone make them.

I'm not sure "the economy" is a big thing for Star Trek.  Sounds like a minigame for Civllians and Ferengi in this setting.

Interesting thoguhts on careers.  I personally think holo design should be open to all players at any time. 

The Android Engineer is interesting... not sure how I feel about this, since Data, B4 and Lore are supposed to be the exception.  But interesting thoughts nonetheless.

I think having Civillians as merchants of whatever kind they like is kind of cool, after all, that's what civillians have to worry about, making money.  You may even just want to copy-paste Star Wars Galaxies with the mining and the crafting simple weapons and such.