How has culture aged?

[Jboy2000000]

So, 400 years ago, people wore dresses as a norm, and whatever-those-neck-things-are, and baroque and classical music. I know people make jokes about playing new music that comes out as "classical" music, but in 400 years in the future, how much has music changed? 400 years ago, there was no such thing as pop music, rap, rock, etc, and just in the 21st century we saw the creation of dubstep music. We even see suits, school girl outfits, and turtlenecks on the station, would those stuff STILL be common clothes after all this time, or are space-agy, skin-tight jumpsuits the new thing, and as for music, how has that aged and changed? Surely not all the new technological advances of Earth before it was screwed, some new musical stuff had to be made, and change the music world, right?

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I'm not going to have the lore go THAT deep. Music and culture can be whatever you want, granted it doesn't jarringly break immersion for too many people. If you want Death Reggae Jazz to be a popular genre, have a few people make it their character's favourite genre, go nuts. Have everyone wear red skirts regardless of gender, do whatever - I'd love to see fads and fashion develop.

[Guest]

Pardon me and tell me if I'm out of line here for detracting a bit, but wouldn't setting the standards for even the most seemingly minor background fluff stuff give people an idea of what the Aurora lore is all about? In my opinion it's too free and too open to interpretation. I mean, absolutely. Go ahead and make several subcultures, I don't mind. But perhaps setting standards for what subcultures are considered acceptable within the universe and which are not, would create a more immersive and interest-provoking environment that's believable?

Yes, people would argue the downside is "well, no freedom to do whatever the hell you want." Well, realistically, you can't do whatever the hell you want. You have to abide by social standards and norms otherwise you're going to be shunned by society.

The question is, however, what is the society for the big picture? What will be people be coming from, and will those people be treated as equals or... otherwise?

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Pardon me and tell me if I'm out of line here for detracting a bit, but wouldn't setting the standards for even the most seemingly minor background fluff stuff give people an idea of what the Aurora lore is all about? In my opinion it's too free and too open to interpretation. I mean, absolutely. Go ahead and make several subcultures, I don't mind. But perhaps setting standards for what subcultures are considered acceptable within the universe and which are not, would create a more immersive and interest-provoking environment that's believable?

Yes, people would argue the downside is "well, no freedom to do whatever the hell you want." Well, realistically, you can't do whatever the hell you want. You have to abide by social standards and norms otherwise you're going to be shunned by society.

The question is, however, what is the society for the big picture? What will be people be coming from, and will those people be treated as equals or... otherwise?

 

I have 0% interest in telling people what music and fashion their characters like and playing fun police for things that don't really matter. The social norms are whatever the players make the norms. I really enjoy seeing what people come up with.

[Guest]

As far as subcultures goes, yes, people can do anything within reason, but generally speaking, it seems that the mainstream culture is 21st century, while the society is very liberal and tolerant. However, knowing the differences between countries today, despite globalisation, it is almost certain that there would be no unifying culture across the planets.

No one should attempt to set a new standard because both the players and the game style seems to go with it. New players would need to take some getting used to the new outlook.

As far as Mars goes, I'm imaging they are a bit cold and have no nonsense outlook on life. This would suit both the climate of Mars and their current history. Martians are used to poverty, enviromental hazard and cramped enviroments. Only the most peaceful, intelligent and generally capable would survive and prosper there. They also most likely receive extensive genetic treatment before birth, due to the weakened gravity of the planet and the nature of their living areas. Outlook on technology would be accepting, resulting in them being pretty advanced and relient on, since their dependence on it is clear before they are born.

Each extrasolar colony, however, despite starting technology, would follow a pattern of repeating history with a twist. First, tribal communist era, when resources are scarce and everyone must contribute. Second, civilization era, colonies form their own culture after a few generations and first rich people pop up, maybe even rivalries between colonies. And third, industrial era, when colonies produce more then they need, massive cities are born and nations are created. Of course, the speed and flow of this process depends on many factors and this is only a very simplified version of it. For example, how isolated and resource rich is the planet compared to Sol, would be the most important factor.

Biasel, due to their climate and planet type, would be stuck in 20th century (think atomic era) culture, because this is the era of largest human prosperity, when life was easy and considered safe (for the west). Of course, they wouldn't abandon technology and drive cars on gasoline, but they would develop their own culture and take inspirations from that era because of being self-sufficient not needing to import much shit from outside. This is pretty much out of ass explination for Biasel, as I haven't given it much research and thought, on account of it being uninteresting.

[Rusty Shackleford]

If you're talking about popular culture in general, I imagine that since there are tens of billions more people alive, aliens all over the place, and planets being colonized, that it's going to be widely varied, with no singular aspect taking hold with a majority. Though I do like to imagine that jumpsuits have made a comeback in the fashion world and that people wear them pretty much everywhere. But that's just me. As far as cultures on the planets go, per planet they're probably as varied as Earth's cultures are today. So while there might be an underlying "human" culture, there is no official mainstream culture. The instantaneous communication and FTL travel also plays a role, since people can traverse between planets and star systems in a matter of hours, and an extranet exists which connects all those people together through a virtual medium.

So yeah, shit's varied.

[Guest]

If you're talking about popular culture in general, I imagine that since there are tens of billions more people alive, aliens all over the place, and planets being colonized, that it's going to be widely varied, with no singular aspect taking hold with a majority. Though I do like to imagine that jumpsuits have made a comeback in the fashion world and that people wear them pretty much everywhere. But that's just me. As far as cultures on the planets go, per planet they're probably as varied as Earth's cultures are today. So while there might be an underlying "human" culture, there is no official mainstream culture. The instantaneous communication and FTL travel also plays a role, since people can traverse between planets and star systems in a matter of hours, and an extranet exists which connects all those people together through a virtual medium.

So yeah, shit's varied.

 

Well, I could be overcomplicating things, but that stuff is usually part of people's mindset. People from different planets would still have vastly different base culture. To conclude how the unified media system is effecting all other planets, you need to look at what US culture is doing to other countries' cultures through media. There is a lot of variation. Japan, China, Germany and France have all been absorbing aspects of american western culture for decades, but still, each has formed their own singular culture based off it. Same would most likely happen planet on planet basis. However, the stuff we know and identify with today, like Hip-Hop, D&D, modern movies, etc. would either be part of cultural tradition or sphere of highly educated parts of society, much like operas, old literature and dressing in 18th century outfits are today. It would most likely not be in everyday use among the masses.

Jumpsuits could be one shared aspect. All of the planets would most likely share a colonist tradition. If a jumpsuit was issued to each colonist upon leaving Earth, their use would survive the centures and every human colony would have their own versions of jumpsuits, but still, they would be jumpsuits.

I'm guessing that jumpsuits designed on Earth would be all the rage in the universe, though, as it would most likely dictate cultural trends, despite it being powerless. This goes toe in toe with the fact that Earth could only survive by exporting luxury goods, due to its lack of resources. So, I suggest we propagate the idea of 'Earth's cultural superiority', that would give a starting point for people to create new trends on.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I'm guessing that jumpsuits designed on Earth would be all the rage in the universe, though, as it would most likely dictate cultural trends, despite it being powerless. This goes toe in toe with the fact that Earth could only survive by exporting luxury goods, due to its lack of resources. So, I suggest we propagate the idea of 'Earth's cultural superiority', that would give a starting point for people to create new trends on.

 

There could be some of that, but Earth is covered in pollution and poverty, as well as the largest portion of the human population. I think it mostly would survive off of asteroid belt mining operations and imports. But the thing of starting trends by the higher echelons on Earth could be a thing, with it being the whole capital of the Sol Alliance and humanity's homeworld and all.