Which sci-fi setting would you live in?

If you could live in any futuristic science fiction setting, from any type of media, which one would you want to live in and why?

Hard Mode: Not Star Trek.

Think I'd give the Halo universe a miss. Mass Effect universe sounds ok... long as Shepard wins, and doesn't rack up too high a body count doing it.

Not Robotech. The odds just aren't good.

Bujold's future seems acceptable though.

Warhammr 40k.

^Have a Nice Death.

No seriously, thats about all you can hope for in 40K.

Probably star wars, the movie universe anyway.

The Culture (easy mode) or seconding the Vorkosigan Saga verse (slightly less easy).

The Dragaera verse (which has sci-fi undertones) would probably suck if you weren't Dragaeran, but the food sounds good and it wouldn't be half bad so long as you were a citizen at least.

I like the Doctor Who 'verse, but you'd have to be careful what time period. The 51st century seems OK, but I wouldn't want to live in the early 42nd.

Not true. You could have a relatively nice life in the Tau Empire I think. Or a forgotten rich country world.

Wasn't a real answer anyway. Mass effect verse is great I think as long as you stay inside the Core System.

The Commonwealth or the Confederation. I'd immediately join the Edenists in the case of the latter. The Culture would be pretty brilliant too.

Let's see...the Mass Effect universe would be brilliant if, you know, the Reapers don't get their extermination on.

edited 11th May '11 4:32:27 PM by pagad

I believe in Bioware.

And this is how it dawns on me that most of the science-fiction I read depicts places and times worse than present day Earth. I'd go with John Varley's Eight Worlds which is pretty much the most upbeat 'serious' universe I know.

edited 11th May '11 4:38:37 PM by Quoth

I have the same problem. It's like, every scifi setting I'm familiar with other than Star Trek is kind of crappy, mainly because it's the crappiness that makes it interesting to begin with.

Maybe I could go for Babylon Five post-Crusade, or the Foundation post-Trevize's-decision.

edited 11th May '11 4:41:51 PM by Jeysie

Most fiction in general does that

Mass Effect most likely. The races are really interesting, and it's actually one of the less depressing space operas out there.

edited 11th May '11 4:42:20 PM by Pykrete

The Mass Effect universe has plenty of bad sides. At times I think it might even be a stealth dystopia. Which makes it interesting as a setting just... not one where I'd want to live in, heh.

The Vorkosigan 'verse is a bit... technologically backwards. And I wouldn't want to live in the Barrayarian Empire, though I guess Colony Beta or Escobar would be quite okay... but as said, backwards. Same is true for Babylon 5.

The Night's Dawn Trilogy has put a bit more thought invested on advanced technology, but my god, the socioeconomical divides there... chances are I'd end up on Earth or a level 1 world. Not quite utopian, either.

So, yeah, probably something nicely post-singularity... the Culture or one of the nice spots of Orion's Arm...

/E: Heh, ninja'ed so to say by Pykrete. Nice contrast of opinions there...

edited 11th May '11 4:44:42 PM by Octo

Backwards compared to what?

Sure, there's out of the way places that are on the back-end of things, but there's plenty of good technology in the health care fields, and relatively few nasty bits. Even Earth is a fine place to go. Oh sure, Jackson's Whole isn't fun, but why pick there to even visit? (Unless you like that sort of thing I guess.)

I'd pick it over some of the hyper-advanced choices.

Science Marches On . It just massively shows in what decade the books were written. I give Buyold both thumbs up for pushing the issue of artificial uteri, that's a too underdeveloped idea in fiction, but apart from that it's 80s/90s IN SPAAACE. Meh.

Planet of the Apes, if I could be an ape.

Eh, I think it's just her style, rather less focused on the tech side of things. Not what I'd call backwards, just not as far along as others.

Which is why I'd pick it, because it's not too much of a stretch.

i've heard the Cultureverse can be good... post-scarcity and all

edited 11th May '11 5:05:41 PM by mailedbypostman

So much technological stagnation, over centuries, is what makes it very much more of a stretch than other 'verses. And yes, the Vorkosigan saga is as soft sci-fi as you can get, but the times technology is mentioned or featured... well... at times we already nowadays have better stuff! So, yes, for a sci-fi setting I'd call it backwards.

How about Dresden Codak?

Probably Mass Effect or Doctor Who on easy (after all, those are pretty familiar, fun places to be).

Hard? Hm...Hyperion. As long as you're lucky, it'd be fun. If not...well, at least the scenery was nice.

Orion's Arm

Ach, Jordan beat me to it.

FIRST ONE TO CHANGE THEIR SEX WHILE SKYDIVING INSIDE A SPACESHIP WINS!