Starbound: What Do You Want To Do In The Future?

[gothwalk]

So I'm working on this science fiction setting, Starbound. There's a post coming up on duekstreet.org wherein I'll tell you some of what I want to do in it. Meantime, though, I want to do some market research. What do you want to see and do in a scifi setting? Some bits are preset - it's going to be epic-scale, stretching across many solar systems, and high tech. It'll be used for short stories, maybe even novels, possibly comics, and certainly RPGs. Give me a wishlist.

(I'd really like to see a lot of responses to this, by the way - even if they're just "Die Shatner Die", or "I want lots of dakka", it's all grist to the mill.)

Comments

[kehoea.livejournal.com]

Language difficulties. Real, deep, misunderstanding between cultures (c.f. the Chinese belief that the Western concept of "dialect" was a good description of Cantonese vs. Mandarin vs. Shanghaianese.). Big differences in efficency and effectiveness between cultures. Localised corruption, and differences in success based on how adept central characters are at working with that corruption.

Widespread, shared, different misunderstandings of how the universe works--even in the efficient and effective cultures--c.f. the belief in modern linguistics that all languages are equally effective at all things. (They aren't--nuclear physics as Gaeilge is not practical today--but they can be made to be with time.)

Poverty. Undereducated, unattractive people or aliens with very little going for them that primary characters nonetheless care about. Short, ill-starred lives for some characters. Advanced technology and nineteenth-century-level slums in the same cities. Cholera. Tuberculosis. The rich not seeing and not caring about the poor. Neuroses about drugs.