Most active scifi games right now?
-
The hobby is so discombobulated and it's hard to know if there's a great game just sliding out under the various MU* tracking websites - does anyone know what the top three or so active, good (understanding that's subjective) scifi games are right now?
-
Define Scifi. Sindome is like #3 on the overall text based games list right now (aggressive voting) which makes it #1 for Scifi at the moment. I don't know about 2 and 3.
-
Space ships - cyberpunk, cyberware, future tech, that sort of thing. Something that isn't fantasy or modern/WoD/superhero. I tried Sindome but I think it was just right angle to my experiences for me to really enjoy it.
-
There's always the new BattleStar Galactica game. That's pretty much Sci-Fi as it comes right now.
-
@Lithium BSG:U is less 'sci fi' as it is WWI in space with robots.
He/Him
-
@Tinuviel said in Most active scifi games right now?:
@Lithium BSG:U is less 'sci fi' as it is WWI in space with robots.
Yes, although I'd say more WWII than WWI.
-
@faraday I'd disagree owing to the nature of things being 'warfare is X, enemy is doing Y, therefore we must adapt X to equal Y'.
Though it's pretty much Korea the MUSH. With robots and space ships.He/Him
-
@Tinuviel We can agree to disagree. Many of the scenarios are lifted straight out of WWII movies, hence my perspective. At any rate, I agree that it's more of a war MU than a sci-fi MU, even though yes, technically, it does have robots and space ships.
-
@faraday At least in this instance we know who started the war.
Bloody Corsicans. (hashtag not-my-Napoleon).
-
Years ago I read a definition, on a writer's website, of science fiction being termed as 'man vs. science' as the primary conflict, if you trust highschool equivalency literary theory in regards to the lever point of a story. Not necessarily something like Terminator (although it counts), with humans battling machines, but more in the vein of sapience's interaction with technology, even sapient technology, as defined over at Megaman MUSH (which opens up the meta-issue, what is the nature of sapience?)
-
One of my favorite definitions of science fiction is that it is real and largely recognizable, but has a world-level difference that is shocking, a change (usually technological, but not always) that causes a mental, social, or emotional discomfort, and how the world adapted to this.
This is why I’m having troubles with my project of re-creating Shadowrun; the cyberpunk future is not that shocking anymore. We are practically living it now, save the medical advances.
While I think “vs.” is good, I think “shock” is better.
Ymmv.
-
I've always considered that science fiction is fiction about science, in the simplest of terms. It needs to be a fictional story predominantly about something born of science that isn't real yet though often it can be based on something that's currently real. The plot needs to be driven by or unable to exist without whatever fictional science is introduced but doesn't have to remain solely about that science once it's introduced. Alien can't happen without space exploration but as a movie it quickly becomes about the Xenomorph, not about the science of the stars, even if there's a message warning against the dangers of space exploration in there.
So to me it's not about "vs. science" or even "shock" but rather "something happens because of fictional science" whether or not that "something" remains the core of the story.
-
My usual definition is "what could we plausibly become, given plausible or implausible changes to our technology or understanding of reality?"
-
@Thenomain And here I though that the issue was how we are 3/4 of the way into the dystopia, but don't have magic to cushion the blow.
-
@Jennkryst said in Most active scifi games right now?:
@Thenomain And here I though that the issue was how we are 3/4 of the way into the dystopia, but don't have magic to cushion the blow.
In my Shadowrun, magic is half the cause of the dystopia. Because screw this hippy fantasy crap!
The other half is domestic terrorism inflicted in the name of nationalism. Which I know isn't shocking, but here I mean "in America" rather than "in the Middle East" or "in Africa".
-
Personally, my favorite sci-fi is the kind that has asked the question "What does it mean to be human?" -- but I also realize that those deeply philosophical approaches to the genre are sometimes not particularly playable, especially in large group environments. So space opera laser pew-pew it is for me.
https://whatiswrongwith.me/Mia
There were never any good old days. They are today. They are tomorrow. It's a stupid thing we say, cursing tomorrow with sorrow. -- Gogol Bordello -
@Aria said in Most active scifi games right now?:
[S]pace opera laser pew-pew it is for me.
The same space opera that has aliens and uplifting and sentient ships, where the question "what is it to be human" is always right on the next horizon?
One of the things I like about (the original) Star Wars is that it looks like that question was answered and life went on.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos -
@Thenomain -- Hey, man, I'm not knocking Star Wars. I love Star Wars. And Firefly. I even love Titan A.E., which is about as cheesy as it gets. (They named a planet Bob. Seriously.) Space opera laser pew-pew is a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me. It's just that I always have, and likely always will, find shows like Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica more stimulating because the story is about answering the question itself, not the "and life went on" parts.
https://whatiswrongwith.me/Mia
There were never any good old days. They are today. They are tomorrow. It's a stupid thing we say, cursing tomorrow with sorrow. -- Gogol Bordello -
What I apparently forgot to do is add a linking word like "although". Star Wars is compelling even if it's not "what is humanity". I don't think science fiction needs to ask that question. I think it's best defined as asking "what is humanity now that this happened".
Star Wars answers that question as: One of just another race. (Or later in the expanded universe: Can be a bunch of species-iest dicks.) And that's a notable science fiction aspect of Star Wars.
We can agree on this, but even "pew pew!" has something that would normally be considered a little jarring until you get into it.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos -
@Thenomain -- I agree. Frankly, the genre very much originated with the basic idea of "What if humanity was/did/became X?", with many of its early authors -- particularly its early female authors -- being trained sociologists and/or anthropologists.
(And also with Mary Shelley deciding it'd be more entertaining to write a scary story than bone Lord Byron again, but that's a whole different topic of discussion.)
I wasn't defining the genre, so much as what I think the pinnacle of the genre is. I mean, Wing Commander is totally sci-fi. I also think it's completely awful. Hence the differentiation between "sci-fi is X" and "personally, my favorite sci-fi is...."
I'm a little bit lost by your last sentence, though, and don't quite follow what you mean.
