Poll: Steampunk or cyberpunk?

[Sn1P3r M98]

Steampunk. I love the idea of a billion complicated parts joined together to do one task. It looks pretty too.

 

[Keava]

Steampunk, just because it looks so awesome. You can make anything if you put enough gears in it! Plus, I've seen a ton of awesome looking steampunk stuff, cyberpunk seems to be just.. sci-fi. Not high sci-fi, but still.

Just to clear things out, steampunk is science-fiction as well.
And as for the question, i choose both. Cyberpunk2020 or Gibson's Neuromancer are amazing settings, and blowing up corporations is always plenty of fun, especially if you are proud owner of chrome, biomechanical arm.

Steampunk on the other hand has so many stylish gadgets, and you can always come up with some new, wicked designs, not to mention my weakness for Victorian era and early air planes with aviator caps and goggles included.

 

[LBringer]

Well cyberpunk is usually post-apocalyptic and/or under worldwide dictatorship, so perhaps cyberpunk future isn't something to look forward to. =P

And here I thought cyberpunk usually had tech corporations ruling everything instead of governments. Silly me.

From what I've noticed about a lot of 'steampunk' fans, it has a LOT to do with the fashion and aesthetics of the setting (victorian era) more than the actual plausibility of if the stuff even works.

I'm completely down with the cyberpunk route myself, but the very few mainstream steampunk things I've come across (steamboy, and technically last exile) were ok.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Steampunk. What is there to not love?

 

[Wither]

I think cyberpunk settings are usually much more depressing, while steampunk is full of that sense of ambition and scientific advancement that i love

 

[Stu1701]

That's a pretty hard decision. I'm a big fan of both. I guess I like the concept of cyberpunk more than steam, but like the look of steampunk more than cyber.

 

[Captain Ninja]

I said steampunk cause i have never heard of cyberpunk.

 

[Blaze the Dragon]

I'd have to go with steampunk, since I'm still trying to figure out how people make robots using only steam as power, and no computer chips or anything like that. Besides, cyberpunk is practically going to happen in the real world in the not too distant future, whereas steampunk is a much more fantasy-like setting.

 

[Nabirius]

I actually like the idea of cyberpunk being a kind of modern horror story. The fact that it is getting so close to that is what makes it so exciting for me. Steampunk just feels to unrealistic, since steam is such an awful form of fuel.

 

[Calum_M]

Startrek

Star Trek is about as far away from cyberpunk you can get.

 

[rampantcreature]

I like them both.

 

[octafish]

Star Trek isn't Cyberpunk, and Bioshock isn't Steampunk, let's call it Deco Punk. I really like both the Neuromancer trilogy and The Difference Engine, do I have to pick? Steampunk is so often badly done or strangley implemented that I'll have to go with Cyberpunk, gearpunk just gives me the shits.

 

[The Bum]

Startrek

Star Trek is about as far away from cyberpunk you can get.

Well it still got me thinking.

 

[Nemesis729]

Steampunk easily for me, I don't like what Bioshock did with it though

 

[Serenegoose]

I dig both steampunk and cyberpunk equally, really. As much as I love the whole victorian style of steampunk, I also love the style of things like ghost in the shell and neuromancer. I really can't think which I prefer - I just know I'd rather live in a cyberpunk world. Steampunk is cool and all, but only if you're a gentleman/lady adventurer, whereas cyberpunk is just -cool- even for the plebs.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Steampunk. I prefer the past to the future and I love the way it all looks. Cyberpunk just doesn't cut it though, I don't know what it is, but it's no steampunk.

 

[octafish]

Neuromancer, Bladerunner and Deus Ex.

Cyberpunk easily.

It's funny I know the steampunk aesthetic but I can't think of any actual pieces of media that are steampunk.

Same here, the ony ones I could think of were Steamboy, The Wild Wild West, and some aspects of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (not the film, Jesus), I guess Arcanum comes pretty close but you know, magic.

 

[TheSentinel]

Steampunk easily for me, I don't like what Bioshock did with it though

Probably because it wasn't Steampunk. It was Dieselpunk. Steampunk is a lot more optimistic than Dieselpunk.

Just to alleviate some confusion I see, these are examples of Dieselpunk-

*Bioshock
*The Fallout Series (mixed with Nukepunk)
*IL-2 Sturmovik (more realistic than most others, but still qualifies)
*Children of the Sun (whose creator coined the term Dieselpunk)

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I love both - but if forced to choose, I'd say cyberpunk

 

[Nimmermehr]

From an aesthetic point of view I prefer Steampunk, however I really like the dark mood of most Cyberpunk stories...but then there are less games featuring a steampunk scenario so I guess I'll support Steampunk.