I remember the first time I got to Vivec city in Morrowind and how astounded I was. It seemed so alien and it was really cool to see a city not built by or for humans. Now 20 years later they had the opportunity to really outdo themselves. Make it weird, make it gross, make it fantastic, even if they didn't entirely stick the landing it would have been cool to experience a sense of wonder at what maybe the future could look like.

They didn't do any of that. They built the futureland section of a second rate amusement park

but any actual social/cultural changes of actual significance are unfathomable or even scary

This is definitely a giant problem in Starfield, but I don’t think it’s why the clubs are so lame. Cause the problem isn’t just that it isn’t a cool club for a magic space future, it isn’t even a cool club for now. If I walked into that club tonight I would be like “this place is lame and dead.”

For one, it’s the most incredibly sex-less club I’ve ever seen in my life. If you’re gonna have dancers on a stage in your space bar can you try to make it at least slightly sexy?

Mass Effect 1 had a better nightclub and it’s not even very good and that game came out like 15 years ago.

but any actual social/cultural changes of actual significance are unfathomable or even scary.

It's why I fucking love The Expanse. The Belters feel absolutely distinct, with a unique culture and language that would develop from being exploited, poor, and forced to work in space without any support. It's one of the few sci-fi series to actually have a thought about what culture would look like in space and how even the (relatively, in scifi terms) short distance between Earth and Ceres would still contribute to massive social changes.