The longer I play space games, the more I think about Deep Space Nine instead of Elite.
Like, the whole "procedural generation, infinite universe stuff" is great and all. But what matters most is the perspective and weird stories this creates. And the humanizing -- for lack of a better term -- ways that people learn to live in those settings.
This is why I think SS14, particularly the longform roleplay servers, are very good "space" games. Give me that gossip, it's the lifeblood of this place.
I used to be a huge Star Wars nerd, and the parts that stuck the most with me weren't the movies, or the important books like Shadows of the Empire, X-Wing, or (what I read of both versions of) Thrawn.
It was a humble set of volumes that told us about who the background characters were. Like this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Mos_Eisley_Cantina
I think I got it then, then somehow forgot. The people are what make those worlds, and so many folks forget that.
And I suppose I get the appeal of "yeah, that but hundreds of planets and millions of generic people".
But my dude, if I wanted that, I could play an Elder Scrolls game.
We've seen that, it's a mile wide and an inch deep. I don't need generic dialog to make me feel like an always-needed, nigh-unstoppable superhero.
I want the dish on what the space bartender thinks about the locals. Why the drapes are red. And who got slipped a cup of piss instead of their gargle blaster for being a jerk.
@Goldkin hard scifi as a flavour or setting for another genre works better than just hard scifi.
or rather, it gives a more pleasing outcome
@Goldkin I know I try to spice up all the things I do, even if there's a lot of hard-ish sci-fi going on. ^.==.^
Anyway, this is why we need more romance folks and fewer "hard scifi" writers in space fiction. They know the dish, and they know how to serve it.