What gameworld would you want to be in?

[The Cardinal]

I consider the world of Transhuman Space to be a hellish dystopia

WTF? Why? How? Just being a EU(Germany) citizen automatically ensures a really nice lifestyle (with incredible medical insurance) for me - even without my university education! Near-immortality, tons of nifty toys, a customized body - what more do you want??????

 

[Defender_X]

WTF? Why? How? Just being a EU(Germany) citizen automatically ensures a really nice lifestyle (with incredible medical insurance) for me - even without my university education! Near-immortality, tons of nifty toys, a customized body - what more do you want??????

What's the immigration policy? Seriously, I'm thinking either Algol or the Bendar Empire from Mekton. For just about the same reasons that Jovian Chronicles was chosen. Mecha and hot anime women.

 

[atomn]

and practically guaranteed to fail in the end. Or sooner, when some of the people you just helped turn you in for food

I'd say it's actually definitely guaranteed to fail in the end. Which is why I love the heroism in it. You know you're going to lose but you work against it regardless!

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

WTF? Why? How? Just being a EU(Germany) citizen automatically ensures a really nice lifestyle (with incredible medical insurance) for me - even without my university education! Near-immortality, tons of nifty toys, a customized body - what more do you want??????

That's one of the great things about Transhuman Space - it can mean all sorts of things to different people. What some people consider great advances, others see as a part of the destruction of the human spirit.

Of course, some things in the setting will be seen as "bad" by most people, such as bioroid slavery. But other aspects - most notably human genetic engineering - will be considered as great advances by some people and really, really disturbing by others. And then there is destructive uploading, a process during which a brain is peeled into slices and a software personality emulation is created which is outwardly indistinguishable from the personality of the human being - but which is now effectively immortal (as long as it keeps backup copies in case of accidents) and can travel between different planets at the speed of light. In fact, this technology has spawned its own hotly debated philosophical question - is the software emulation "the same person" as the biological entity that came before it? A number of jurisdictions in the setting treat them as such, but not everyone - both in and outside of the setting disagrees.


In any case, whether you see Transhuman Space as an utopia or a dystopia, it sure is thought-provoking...

 

[WayneLigon]

I consider the world of Transhuman Space to be a hellish dystopia

I'd like to hear details on that. I have the books and don't really see anything that's all that bad.

 

[Korgoth]

re: Transhuman Space

To me it appears that mankind has practically choked the life out of itself, morally speaking. Disintegrated values means disintegrated people. I can't see how a civilization that embraces immorality on the scale implied in the TS books can be anything but on the verge of total implosion. Although "on the verge" can still mean a century or two, when we're talking about history.

I think it's a very thought-provoking game, to be sure. Although the books I've read seem to ignore certain basic questions about humanity, which is odd in a game called "Transhuman"... but perhaps it is simply intended to be left up to the Referee.

 

[prosfilaes]

Transhuman Space doesn't. Instead, good games often thrive on questions of ethics and philosophy...

Transhuman Space has its share of sucky places to live. One of my big frustrations with TS is that it seems that the good and bad places to live on Earth are the exact same ones a hundred years from now as now. And there's a fair share of oxygen-leaking deathtraps in space and people living on planets not meant for human life (and TS's realistic spaceflight means that there's no "rescue ship in 30 minutes or your rescue is free!" deal.)

 

[Dragonfriend]

Planescape without doubt. It'all so incredible and inspiring.

I'd like to live in some upper plane, like elysium

 

[Korgoth]

Planescape without doubt. It'all so incredible and inspiring.

I'd like to live in some upper plane, like elysium

Well, if part of the deal is that I get to pick exactly where in the setting I live, then Planescape is a pretty great deal: I'll start and finish my career in Heaven, sitting around doing nice relaxing heavenly stuff for eternity. Sounds nice.

 

[The Grackle]

Anything set during the zombie apocalypse. F'rReals.