As a kid, the first introduction that I had with sci-fi and video games was through the introduction of Starcraft back in the late 90’s. A game made by a company who at the time wasn’t kowtowing to the big brother of the East, as their economy wasn’t relevant enough to do such an action at the time. And even though I wasn’t at the right age to play such a complex strategy game as I was 4 at the time, I still played it as I came to enjoy it very much and still do till this very day. You could say it was the Korean in me as it was Starcraft after all, but the fact of the matter was that ever since I played that game I wasn’t just amazed and intrigued by video games alone, but I was also amazed and intrigued by the whole genre of sci-fi itself. Especially with any sci-fi story that involved huge universal world building stories which had plenty of lore and backgrounds for the audience to consume. And it is through this that gave me many imaginations and creations within my mind as a child, which eventually gave me the drive to wanting to become a writer of such stories within the future. As I loved those stories so much and still do till this day. However, the thing about loving certain things to this level is that you come to notice some of the flaws that come with it. Which to be fair, is expected as human beings are not perfect and henceforth tend to create things that are not perfect either. And depending how big the creation is, the flaws are much more noticeable and much more difficult to ignore. Which in the case of stories like these within sci-fi, I have seen many writers do the same trope flaws over and over within their many different story works of this scale. Which in the case of this writing, is the trope of creating alien species and factions that have just one culture as a whole. And that frankly, kind of throws off any sort of interesting and realistic storytelling within these creations. And the sad thing is, this trope is on everything from books, shows, movies and video games within the genre. And I think it is time for writers who want to create stories like these in the future to start acknowledging this trope’s fault as it creates a barrier on how richer a story could get. And with that said in mind, it should be mandatory from now on to try and start moving from it and make its presence as minuscule as possible if they do such implementation. Because to be frank, is getting a bit outdated and mindbogglingly stupid like the movie tropes of the 80’s.
And the main reason why I am stating this trope is such a flaw and why I have such a beef with it to the point I am describing it like a 80’s movie is for one main reason alone. It’s just not believable. And how is it not believable? Well, we as humans no matter what part of the continent we are from within this planet, we consider ourselves the same species, humans, but even though we are the same species we don’t just have one culture as a whole. As that all depends where we were born and where we grew up in within our planet, giving us as a species a whole variety on what kind of human we are. And when it comes to this writing trope is that it ignores this aspect about life and makes their creative alien races within such stories to have just one sole background for their entire species, making them utterly one dimensional. For example, the Sangheili in the Halo series, they are all these giant alpha warlike reptilian beings that have the same values and culture to pinpoint accuracy within their entire species, which as a whole, doesn’t make much sense. I mean sure, the warlike part is believable as Sangheili have fought each other for centuries before the Covenant arrived, making them believably warlike, but every Sangheili being the same in other regards as well? Just no. As it just makes their species look basic and generic and not genuinely believable, because let’s face it. No species within the universe grows up and evolves without not knowing what conflict is. I mean hell, we as humans are very warlike as well within our history, but are we the same amongst each other culturally? No, absolutely not. The nature of war for intelligent beings such as us and other aliens alike in stories like this would know the concept of war naturally and would be no strangers to it. Sure, some species might be better at it, but by the end of the day, all cultures are warlike in nature as we all know intelligent beings create differences in ideas and in this case, cultures, which creates conflict. As it is part of the natural state of the universe that lies in all intelligent living beings. So seeing Sangheilis be the same in all walks of life within their entire species on their planet apart from their normal “war” traits is laughable at best. I mean how come we don’t get sophisticated warlike posh Sanghelis wearing fancy futuristic clothing of their “western” side of their planet within their species style? Or any other different cultural aspects within them? Because as I stated, if one planet such as ours can create multiple cultures from small to big even till this day with our instant connection through technology such as the internet as just one species, how come these aliens in these many stories within sci-fi aren’t as diverse within their species? Sure, I get mainstream culture such as basic ideas/values and clothing eventually become the norm, as globalization is a real thing like in our time world as I write this, which is why in our world we all wear western style clothing such as jeans and others. But even then, we still have the tiny or huge differences amongst each other in one form or another that is noticeable as we travel to different regions of our planet. I mean, take a look at China, in our world we think of them as very homogenous, and that every citizen within that country behaves and have the same values among themselves, but when you look at it and decide to learn more about China, you realize that China is far from that and it has many other different people living within their country other than Han Chinese. Such as the Manchus, Tibetans, Mongols and so on. And each of their groups have their own sets of values and cultural differences while living in China, yet they still call themselves Chinese and have the basic general mannerism of the Chinese culture as they live there, but still they are different in some cultural regards. Which is something a lot of writers and creators don’t show when writing about their alien species/factions within their big universal stories, as they just make that race just be culturally the same in all regards and aspects without any further consideration.
I mean sure, I get it, building different sets of culture within just one species from scratch for your big universal story would take a lot of time and research that can sometimes be utterly mind breaking and frustrating to the point it will either take too long to write it or just be impossible to do just by yourself unless you get help, as you would have to do the same for every species that you create within that story you are creating. However, by doing so it pays off in the long run as those details make the story and the world you are building genuine. And that is especially the case if your story is a success that garners a huge fandom as it goes on through time, as fans love to dissect every single world aspect that you have built within your story. And the more depth and resources you put onto building your cultures in your aliens, the better it is for your consumers and fans, as it really makes your story seem believable to the point it feels like an actual real universe. And I know what you’re thinking. When it comes to art, life should be the one imitating it rather than the vice versa, but for stories of this ginormous scope and aspect, realism or close to it actually brings more engagement and creative thought with the audience, especially if they are truly loving the world they are trying to immerse themselves into. And if they are trying to immerse themselves in it, might as well try to make it as real as possible for them to enjoy. Besides, the more interesting and realistic details you put for each race, the more people are going to realize how creative and good of a writer you are. And in the world of a creative artist, your name outshining other artists means more than money itself.
However, if creating different multiple cultures in vast numbers in one species is too much, no need to sweat it. As you can set realistic goals for yourself if you want, such as maybe making two or three different cultures in a certain species, while for the species you really like or are your favorites can have as many amounts you can think of for them. That way, you don’t drive yourself insane for going many years without publishing a damn thing as you were too focused on that writing aspect. And even if it is not as in depth, at least you will still manage to make it not so one dimensional for the many alien species you created within your story, as your story would still stand out from the many who have still created their aliens within their stories to just have one basic culture in general like so many works before in human time.
With that said, I feel like we as creators who want to write big universal sci-fi stories one of these days should take this into consideration to heart from now on. As it only brings benefits for your storytelling rather than negatives. Sure, there is a lot of work to take on, however, no great works of art have been easy to make, and if it was, everyone and their mothers would be doing them. Besides, don’t you want your sci-fi worlds to be more appealing than the other million sci-fi worlds that are already out there or are about to be? Afterall, there are millions of creative sci-fi writers, but only a few can be seen as great throughout history. And if you want that spot and want to be remembered for having the best big universal sci-fi stories out there, might as well take all the best feedback you can such as this one. And trust me, you are going to need it if you want to stand out as a sci-fi writer as time goes on, as the market is being flooded by them. And hopefully, I listen to my own advice as well, as I want to be one of those creators as well in the future. Anyhow, thank you for reading. May you have good fortune within this universe.
LEETHALCORE 