The Distance Problem is that fantastic places often must be located far away to be believable (either because no one would believe a magical land exists just beyond the next highway exit, or because the places being traveled to are inherently far apart as with planets). However, the distance between these places may not be something a worldbuilder wishes to dwell on. Afterall, it is the fantastic places that are interesting, not necessarily what may be a boring journey to get there (though there are exceptions to this). This is an especially large problem in science fiction because of the enormity of space where characters may literally die of old age before getting anywhere of any note. Worldbuilders solve this distance problem in a variety of ways: magic portals, dimensional rifts, teleportation, faster-than-light engines, hyperspace jump gates, cryo-preservation, and having the fantastic nearby but hidden, are all examples of solutions. Worldbuilders will even shrink their worlds so that vastly different regions and biomes (deserts, mountains, jungles, frozen landscapes) are only about a days walk away from one another. This is particularly true for video game worlds. All these solutions allow people to travel to new and interesting places without the burden of immense travel time, something that is particularly important in worlds with a narrative and impatient audience but also logistically critical when designing galaxy-wide civilizations. There are, of course, worlds where distance becomes an ally, such as adventure worlds where the journey is itself an element or worlds that explore the consequences of such a distance.

Please remove your shoes after coming inside from the teleporter – you may have gotten mud on them from your travels.