restoring the dream

My previous message outlined the sad state of modern affairs, in which
very few people even think about colonizing space, let alone take it
seriously. This message is more about what we can do about it.

The best I can think of is to produce, or somehow encourage the
production of, media that presents near-future space colonization in a
realistic light. My own medium is software, so I wonder what I could do
to produce desktop or mobile apps that help ignite the dream in their users.

One idea: a game that involves colonizing the whole solar system. We
could make this as accurate as possible with regards to the distribution
of resources in the system, and what resources are needed to live. The
"big idea" we'd try to get across in this one is how really huge and
resource-rich the solar system is, and how Earth is just one small part
of that. The user should come away thinking how foolish it is to remain
cooped up on any one planet, when there's so much more out there.

Another idea: a SimCity-style game that involves designing, building,
and managing orbital colonies. With modern 3D graphics, you could even
"go into" each colony and explore it on foot, appreciating the vistas
you've created. To my knowledge, nobody has ever done a game like
this... the big idea here would be that you don't need a planet to have
a beautiful and productive place to live.

Another idea I've thought about is a moon colony simulation, focused
specifically on near-term development of lunar infrastructure. This
would be another SimCity style game, but with as much realism and
up-to-date lunar data as we can cram in. This would be more of an
educational game for those already interested in lunar colonization...
I'm not sure this does as much as the other ideas to ignite the big dreams.

What do you all think?

Thanks,
- Joe