Steampunk. Why do people like it so much?
- Thread starter Poomanchu745
- Start date
By that argument because one video game did it wrong then the entire genre is damned, wow what genres are good then?Onyx Oblivion said:
But yeah, steam punk isn't about practicality, in a way it's just technological magic. Practicality is a cold brutal machine that weeds out all the imagination from the world. Yes a piece of fiction could be done with contemporary technology, but that would be no where near as fun.
Okay, now I just want to go play Arcanum and watch Brisco County.
The twitching remnants of my productivity thanks you for putting it out of its misery.
The twitching remnants of my productivity thanks you for putting it out of its misery.
Steam punk refers to a setting in which steam power is extensively used for most everything. Including mundane things that shouldn't need to be powered anyway.Mozared said:
Think steam powered pancake flippers and airships. It's usually alternate history in which gasoline isn't used.
Steampunk is awesome IMO. It makes simple things more complicated like that watch in the example Shynobee provided. Not only that but practicality? You are trying to argue about practicality with a thing of fantasy. If you were talking about the theory of steam punk than maybe. But still. All steam is is evaporated water. Water being a simple resource that, sometime in the hopefully near future, we can duplicate. Sure we could just duplicate oil or gasoline, but what if we get that technology too late? Steampunk just makes things cooler and overly complecated.
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs15/i/2006/358/0/c/Steampunk_by_flyingdebris.jpg
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs15/i/2006/358/0/c/Steampunk_by_flyingdebris.jpg
I think there's too much cyberpunk and steampunk going around. What we need is clockpunk, clockwork renaissance style stuff.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18407_9-inventions-that-prove-leonardo-da-vinci-was-supervillain.html
Edit: Wow I didn't know that was an actual sub-genre (the clockwork not the renaissance) I thought I was being original, [Shake Fist in air]damn you internet foiled again[/Shake Fist in air]
http://www.cracked.com/article_18407_9-inventions-that-prove-leonardo-da-vinci-was-supervillain.html
Edit: Wow I didn't know that was an actual sub-genre (the clockwork not the renaissance) I thought I was being original, [Shake Fist in air]damn you internet foiled again[/Shake Fist in air]
Steampunk is a creative way of looking at technology. The idea of good steampunk (IMO)is to mimick modern technology using classic methods - for example, using steam power instead of electricity.
It's worth noting that the whole 'steam power' thing isn't a requirement. Steampunk can just refer to a classic style of design applied to modern technology, like this http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/02/steampunkkey.jpg
Like an school of design, steampunk isn't for everyone. Not everyone likes surrealism or expressionism, but they have their fans. Steampunk is no different.
Also, regarding the 'obnoxious' steampunk fans, there are a lot of pretentious wankers out there that think their favourite thing should be yours too. Don't let them put you off something, decide you don't like it based on the merits (or lack there-of) of the concept
It's worth noting that the whole 'steam power' thing isn't a requirement. Steampunk can just refer to a classic style of design applied to modern technology, like this http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/02/steampunkkey.jpg
Like an school of design, steampunk isn't for everyone. Not everyone likes surrealism or expressionism, but they have their fans. Steampunk is no different.
Also, regarding the 'obnoxious' steampunk fans, there are a lot of pretentious wankers out there that think their favourite thing should be yours too. Don't let them put you off something, decide you don't like it based on the merits (or lack there-of) of the concept
As others have said, steampunk is more about aestheticism than practicality. Probably the four biggest draws regarding steampunk are alternate history, Victorian society and culture, a return to the attitudes of Verne and Wells, and the visuals. It's a way to reexamine a predicted future that never came to be while having a discussion between the ideals and ills of the past and present.
Conceivably, you could do similar things with about any other time period and mode of energy in human history (I, for example, prefer Dieselpunk. Think "Steampunk" set in the 1920s-40s. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and "Bioshock" are pretty close examples). The Age of Steam just seemed to catch on.
Conceivably, you could do similar things with about any other time period and mode of energy in human history (I, for example, prefer Dieselpunk. Think "Steampunk" set in the 1920s-40s. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and "Bioshock" are pretty close examples). The Age of Steam just seemed to catch on.
Largely because the whole Steampunk movement started as an outgrowth of Cyberpunk. This term has become increasingly obsolete considering most Steampunk works don't have a punk aesthetic to them, but I doubt we're going to get a new name for the movement anytime soon.funksobeefy said:
I Don't get it either. I mean cyberpunk has societal themes under it that says something about how we live (usually) but steampunk seems to be mired in WAY PAST COOL BRO stuff. As a general rule, when writing a story having normal people doing rather extraordinary (but still realistic and/or meaningful) things is much more memorable than AWESOME COOL PEOPLZ doing AWESOME SPECTACULAR THINGZ!11! That's why the old man and the sea is a literary classic while your average manga swiftly disappears under its million identical other things.
EDIT: woops sorry for the necro
EDIT: woops sorry for the necro
