So as we all know Eclipse Phase is near future,where we are seeing these technologies emerging today. However like an speculative fiction its not completely accurate.
Now I am not talking about finding out some particular technology is impossible (sure people would modify or ignore that), I am talking about the order of events. Augmented Reality for example will likely become common place in only a decade or two and prosthetics are already starting to overshadow flesh and blood. In fact we can already wirelessly control electronics with implants, its just a matter of them being made palpable for the consumer.
However AI and space expansion is lagging behind a lot. AI is only the level of an insect and lets be honest no government or corporation wants to foot the bill to build that space elevator. End result of the setting can be the same as these technologies will probably all still be available at some time, but it does alter the history and evolution of the default time-line.
Do people tweak it to mirror the real world, or just say after the year 2000 its an alternate timeline?
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Do you update the timeline?
Wed, 2012-04-18 18:41
#1
Aeroz
Do you update the timeline?
Wed, 2012-04-18 18:54
#2
Extrasolar Angel
Re: Do you update the timeline?
I don't dwell upon it, but would consider it an alternate timeline. Science is a curious thing, and sometimes advances are where you least expect them. Its quite possible that within 10 to 20 years we will know of dozens of Earth-like worlds, while not having even a space elevator, or a base on the Moon. Such discoveries were always thought of by most as possible only after interstellar flight. Notice that EP avoids mentioning astronomy advances, and I think for a good reason as they happen in amazing pace, and could possibly change our perspective of the universe.
In less positive aspect, Internet from the promised liberator of the masses will probably become soon tool of efficient opression and state/corporate control the likes we have never seen.
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[I]Raise your hands to the sky and break the chains. With transhumanism we can smash the matriarchy together.[/i]
Wed, 2012-04-18 19:58
#3
Prophet710
Re: Do you update the timeline?
I tweak and update as well. Depending on my assumption of how things would go depending on major events the players put in play. And of course I like to update considering emerging tech as it stands with us IRL and extrapolate from there. It's part of the fun.
—
"And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes. And slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us."
Wed, 2012-04-18 20:04
#4
Arenamontanus
Re: Do you update the timeline?
Can anybody without looking up in Wikipedia tell whether the telegraph arrived before or after railways? What about microchips and hybrid DNA? And does it matter the least to how we function today?
In practically all EP games the exact ordering of past technologies matters very little; it is more about a general sweep of history. And canon EP is set fairly far into the future if you check the timeline: technological progress is assumed to be far slower than many believe it will be. This is entirely OK, since it frees us from trying to get historical details right. If EP was set in the year 2050 a lot of characters would have to be rooted in our history, would need to have views on the War on Terror or reminisce about the time when c-rep was called Google+. That is not necessarily bad, but it puts an extra load on the storytelling and suspension of disbelief.
Alternate history is fine as long as it matters. One long-running present-day campaign of mine started somewhere around 2004, and over time the campaign universe has diverged from ours (president McCain will certainly be re-elected in 2012 for his great handling of the Venzuelan war, although it is anybody's guess if VP Palin will remain at his side or aim for becoming the first female president in 2016) - here the alternate history adds a bit to the game setting and is partially due to events in the game. And of course, having a strongly alternate history can be a good setting in itself. What doesn't work is trying to tweak things just to keep them "updated".
I think 2320AD did a great job with it: rather than try to retcon the Twilight War (in the original 2300AD a Soviet-US nuclear war in the early 90's) it merely pointed out that it was an event that happened 300 years ago - nobody but historians care who was fighting who or bring it up (how many of us know or care about the War of the Spanish Succession?) The game might be set in an alternate history or our history (leaning towards alternate), but it doesn't matter. The bigger problem for the game was the alternate *geography* - the starmap was based on an old stellar database, and for various reasons certain stars had to be in locations we now know are erroneous. But again, since practically nobody cares exactly where DM +46 1797 is located in the real world it is easy to achieve suspension of disbelief.
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Wed, 2012-04-18 21:03
#5
Lord High Munchkin
Re: Do you update the timeline?
Yes, I have a good, old-fashioned book that has all sorts of key technological chronology.
(it was railways first... muscle-powered though).
Of course, if you live in Oxford The War of Spanish Succession is of local significance (there's that dirty great big pile up the road in Woodstock).
Wed, 2012-04-18 21:06
#6
CodeBreaker
Re: Do you update the timeline?
Has there really been that much of a divergence from 2009 until now? AR has been in the works for a long, long time and there hasn't been much development since then. AI research is still chugging along as well as it ever has been (which is slowly). Space development is still as on course as it was back then, everyone knew that the US wasn't really going to be doing much there for some time.
So nope. I haven't had to alter my EP universe at all because of emergent technologies. Barring something like the singularity hitting in 2020, which is doubtful, I don't see myself needing too either. EP seems extremely time line neutral.
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Thu, 2012-04-19 03:05
#7
Extrasolar Angel
Re: Do you update the timeline?
Railways of course! First ones IIRC were in ancient Greece(using human and animal muscle power). Oh how much useless trivia I know that nobody cares for on the job market (runs to bed crying :P)
—
[I]Raise your hands to the sky and break the chains. With transhumanism we can smash the matriarchy together.[/i]