Aww. I liked that trope. Um, why does it need a rename?
Is it really too similar to Standard Sci-Fi Setting ? Gonna go look...
Yeah, The Universe that The Culture exists in is definitely a Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink.
While Star Trek is Standard Sci-Fi Setting. There's a clear difference. Mostly to do with the singularity.
edited 21st Nov '10 1:17:03 PM by mmysqueeant
No, I don't want a rename. It needs some general work. Something in the description, the examples, something to stop it coming to the cut list again with somebody asking "Standard Sci-Fi Setting?"
Sorry, I got angry at the widget.
I had a go. Any thoughts on whether this could be added? Or what from it should be added? Or if any of this makes sense?arghflarglits far too long
Can be differentiated from Standard Sci-Fi Setting in several fairly reliable ways. It may fit one or all.
First, a Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink will usually be post-Scarcity, where the Standard Sci-Fi Setting is emphatically pre-Scarcity — this is often what allows a Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink its great freedom to throw tropes in, as resources or efficiency are no longer a serious concern.
Second, a Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink will often tell the story from the point-of-view of more than one civilisation, often with vastly conflicting outlooks or tech levels. A Standard Sci-Fi Setting won't do this, tending much more towards the Black-and-White Morality or Grey-and-Gray Morality tropes, and making sure most of the players are fairly well-balanced.
Third, a Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink will always lean very strongly indeed towards All Theories Are True. A long-running Standard Sci Fi Setting show with frequent monsters of the week might end up falling into this if you squint at the series just right, but a Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink will have this as a prominent feature of the very nature of the Universe, not just a (possibly non-canon) diversion.
The most important aspect of the Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink that differentiates it from Standard Sci-Fi Setting, though, is that in the Standard Sci-Fi Setting the most typical sci fi tropes apply. For Sci-Fi Kitchen Sink to apply, the number of sci fi tropes in action has to be so close to "all" as makes no difference.
edited 21st Nov '10 2:07:56 PM by mmysqueeant
For the first point, I think you mean Post-Scarcity. Singularity means something different.
Fight smart, not fair.
I think I probably do. I was cribbing "Singularity" from the "Standard Sci-Fi Setting" page. Which uses it in that sense, as far as I can tell.
What I thought it meant by this, is 'the Singularity (which enables post-Scarcity economy)'.
All in all the whole thing's too long. In my mind the two tropes are distinct, but it's hard explaining why without going into too much detail.
done
edited 21st Nov '10 2:10:41 PM by mmysqueeant
Is my wall o' text too much to include in one of those nifty * things? (You click, it shows?)
It's clearly too much to go in the article without utterly dominating the actual description, but if it was set to expand from:
Contrast the Standard Sci-Fi Setting *
Could that work?

This one came up on the Cut List and I think I saw why: it's first two examples are examples on Standard Sci-Fi Setting for the same qualities and there's a lot of missing examples. By the descriptions, these lists should be exclusionary.
It's kind of like having two classic High Fantasy works on Fantasy Kitchen Sink.