Poll: Why do you play sci-fi games?

[JamesCoote]

I'm interested in why people play sci-fi games (or don't).

For me, a sci-fi setting is a bonus, or often the thing that first grabs my interest in a game. I'll naturally gravitate towards screenshots of nebula-infused starfields and laserbeams streaking through the void, but more important as to whether I end up playing it is the quality of the game (the strength & execution of the storytelling and/or the game mechanics).

Update: I ran the poll in a number of other forums as well, with complete results available on my blog at www.crystallinegreen.com

I also made a shiny graph!

 

[Fappy]

I really love Sci-Fi... I just wish sci-fi games didn't have to follow the Alien films as if they were the Science Fiction Bible. This is speaking mostly from a plot perspective. I notice it in almost every sci-fi game I have ever played.

 

[Sixcess]

I prefer sci-fi to fantasy since I prefer guns to swords, and sci-fi seems slightly less generic, when so many fantasy games involve trudging around forests and castles smacking orcs/goblins/undead with your sword (or your axe if you're a dwarf, or your bow if you're an elf or.. well, you get the idea.)

 

[skywolfblue]

I absolutely love Sci-Fi. But I love Fantasy as well.

Why Sci-Fi?

1) It doesn't have to be ultra-realistic. Guns that shoot sawblades, telekinesis, and nifty aliens to fight? Yes please!

(Books: Larry Niven has a book titled "Playgrounds of the Mind" that title to me sums up the whole idea of what Sci-Fi is really well. There are a myriad of really unique ideas that are only explored in Sci-Fi.)

2) Spaceships. I love spaceships a lot. There is something so awesome and menacing about gigantic ships with massive weapons.

 

[DanielBrown]

I don't like sci-fi.
I do enjoy the occasional episode of Star Trek and got a few sci-fi games, but in general it just doesn't appeal to me. Always favored medieval/mythological settings.

 

[Slaanax]

I love sci-fi, because I can't travel to different planets, boldly go where no many has gone before, and to sleep with sexy green women. Sci-fi is a chance to see an do something very different from everyday life.

 

[Esotera]

Because it nearly always depicts a society far more tolerant and intellectually advanced than our own, which is a pretty welcome release from the stupidity of modern day life. Also shooting lasers in space!

 

[Laser Priest]

Sci-Fi always entertains me. It's got all kinds of entertaining things.

Frankly, I've just always been fascinated with the Aliens, space exploration and technology that comes from Sci-fi.

 

[Smeggs]

If it's fun I'll play it.

Why does anybody play any game? Because it's more interesting than sitting there watching paint dry.

 

[boag]

I like the escapism and the idea of one day actually overcoming the mundane burdens and petty jealousies that bind us to the current societal stage, and replace them iwht new mundane burdens and petty jealousies.

That and virtual porn and promiscuous alien sexcapades.

 

[Tanis]

A good story is a good story.

Sci-Fi just adds to it, if done right.

 

[ezaviel]

Because it nearly always depicts a society far more tolerant and intellectually advanced than our own, which is a pretty welcome release from the stupidity of modern day life. Also shooting lasers in space!

Really? Most of the sci-fi that springs to my mind are pretty dystopian. Albeit, with plenty of lasers

 

[Zen Toombs]

I personally love sci-fi, but I definitely do not need it to enjoy a book or game. I also love many other genres and conventions, and what matters most to me is what direction you take and what you do with the book or game.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

I play sci-fi games for the same reason I watch sci-fi movies and read sci-fi books, to get into a fantasy unlike our own and blah blah blah loser nerd stuff

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

I never really liked sci-fi but after playing games like Halo and Mass Effect I started to warm to the genre. They really add a layer to immersion. So I voted the third option I guess because i didn't like the genre until I played a game about it.

 

[RatRace123]

'Cause I like Sci-Fi stuff.

Pretty simple reason.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

I admit I am one of those annoyingly pedantic nerds who will argue whether or not "Star Wars" is Sci-Fi (It's not) so I don't know that there are a lot of games I would consider Sci-Fi titles in and of themselves.

But regardless of that fact, there are a lot of Future Fantasy type games and settings that I absolutely love.

For my money the Future Fantasy genre is much more malleable in what it can and can't get away with because the tropes aren't nearly as rigidly defined as they tend to be in a Fantasy setting.

 

[Dango]

I play Sci-Fi games for the universe and atmosphere, which is generally why I prefer Mass Effect 1 over Mass Effect 2, which felt more military than Sci-FI.

 

[DustyDrB]

I just love Sci-Fi settings. Whether it's Fallout's post-apocalypse or Mass Effect's universe, I love them. I don't hate fantasy, but it's frustrating how so many writers and artists don't attempt to create new creatures, races, and civilization types.