How are holodecks essential to crew well-being and morale? Because they provide R&R?
We don't have holodecks today and we get along just fine.
Hell, TOS didn't have them either (TAS aside). Kirk and crew managed just fine. Play some poker or tri-dimensional chess or watch a movie or LCARS solitaire or Space Monopoly with friends.
If you've been given a PS3, why would you go back to playing with wooden blocks?
How many of us could deal with life now that we've gotten used to labtops, iPhones, Facebook, X-Box360 or a GPS? It's like asking our children or our childrens children to play a board game like "Stratigo" after playing "Call of Duty" for the past 10 years. B'Elanna thought Tom was a little wacked out for wanting a TV set.
If I was stuck on island with very little hope of being rescued, I would want food, shelter, weapons to defend from wild animals and hunt them, I wouldn't want a PS3. I would make do with wooden blocks.
The Holodeck is exactly like a PS3, a luxury, not a necessity. The Voyager crew should have been in a dire survival situation, having them go on silly Holodeck undermines any sort of drama that is supposed to come from this situation.
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I still think the holodeck was kept running as a vital emotional release for the crew. They had no counselor, so they needed that diversion - otherwise, the knowledge that they may never see home again might have driven them all space-crazy.
Food? They can always find food along the way. Food is easily replaced. Holodecks are unique.
If Tom Paris can be a medic with just a few bio chem courses, I think Janeway could have promoted some Ensign with a minor in psychology into a councilor.
Also frankly almost every other system on the ship system is more important then the Holodeck, how is the Holodeck more important then weapons or shields? Staving off space madness would be off little benefit, if lack of shields and weapons allows the Vidiians to come aboard and harvest everyone's organs. Plus they may reach an area of space where there is no life at all, not even vegetation and if they have no power for the replicators in that sector of space, they would starve and concerns over "space madness" would be irrelevant.
The point is its hard to see the drama of Voyager being far away from home, with limited resources, when they can still go on silly adventures in the Holodeck.
Assuming there was still a crewman with minor in psychology onboard that didn't die when being taken Caretaker. I'm doubting anybody in the Maquis had one and the EMH said he only has a passing understanding of it. So being that there wasn't one, I'm guessing that's why B'Elanna always had to turn to Neelix or Tuvok in dealing with her anger issues. Her other form of outlet was the holodeck.
The Equinox had almost nothing, yet where did Capt. Ransom go to escape, plan, think and keep what little sanity he had left?
His own little portable holodeck.
As we also saw, the members of his crew that did were all suffering for post tramatic stress disorder.
So it's not like they didn't show us during the series exactly why they need the holodecks running. Plus if the ships invaded, holodecks can be used as tactical diversions like in "First Contact", "Macrocosm" & "Flesh & Blood".[/QUOTE]
Shields and weapons are still better ways of warding off invaders rather then a Holodeck, if the invaders simply take over the Bridge and cut power to the Holodeck, then its not a good diversion is it. That's why weapons and shields, are more important then the Holodeck.
Frankly if the Voyager crew goes crazy without a Holodeck it shows them as being really week minded. Look at the show Lost, they didn't have any modern conveniences, because they were too busy trying to survive. They could talk to each other or play poker or do anything people did before these modern conveniences. I styill play board games, despite all this technology available. If I was in a survival situation, I would care more about surviving then being bored because I don't have a PS3.