: Who would want to live their entire lives on a ship??? Wouldn't there have
: had to exist some sort of biosphere on the marathon to keep it hospitable?
The term "BOB" stands for "born on board" - a somewhat derrogatory term for people who had never known anything other than the Marathon. Physically, the Marathon is a very large object, being several miles across, and with many stacked levels. The actual occupiable surface area is comparable to that of many large cities, so space to move about in is not really that much of an issue. Although many of us couldn't imagine being so confined, there are poeple who go through life living, going to school, working, playing and ultimately dying in one city, never venturing forth. I don't doubt that there will come a time when people will consider the Earth to be too confining - there's so much more out there.
In terms of environmental support, I think it goes without saying that the Marathon is a sealed, self-contained environment. There have actually been significant discussions in the forum about wheter the Marathon had some sort of artificial gravity generator, or perhaps rotated to create artificial gravity - something that would be very difficult to simulate in a game, or perhaps took advantage of constant acceleration and deceleration to provide gravity.
Looks to me like the Marathon was one giant playground. Look how much fun we had!
