Cyberpunk vs Steampunk

Cyberpunk for me.

Cyberpunk all the way.

Cyberpunk is awesome. Steampunk is just kind of tame in comparison.

Massively cyberpunk

I prefer Steampunk, but there aren't that many good examples of the medium especially in gaming. I like the idea of modern-like technology in a Victorian setting; clockwork robots, lightning guns, floating ocean liners, etc...

I like Cyberpunk, too but Steampunk wins by a little bit because it feels more fantastic. Cyberpunk could be, Steampunk will never be because the era is over.

The question I have is are goggles the defining icon of Steampunk? I was looking at some photos and nearly all guys have a top hat and goggles and all girls wear a corset and goggles. It's odd.

Is there a defining fashion item for Cyberpunk?

Some old steampunk stuff was interesting (I really like Steamboy and maybe Arcanum counts, I don't know) but most steampunk now is really dumb, especially all the "steampunk" technology stuff people make like laptops with brass and wood cases. I could see something like this labeled as simply a design style, but the idea that you could build a laptop the size of a real laptop that is run on steam and gears is idiotic. NOTHING in cyberpunk is ever that dumb.

Cyberpunk. Whalepunk is pretty cool too.

Cyberpunk, all day every day.

Cyberpunk because it isn't as overexposed as Steampunk, but it is rapidly catching up.

Not a lot of love for steampunk.

I like steampunk a lot, I just hate a lot of the people who like it.

Love polished brass and stained wood. I think the meticulous and completely overboard superfluous detail in steampunk things is really neat.

Now, if we're talking what makes a better starting point for a story -be it novel, game, television show- cyberpunk tends to be more interesting. I generally only enjoy steampunk as a design aesthetic.

I saw the Cyberpunk trailer to be indicative of the cyberpunk styles so I'm going with that.

Deus Ex opened my mind to the world of cyber punk...and honestly the closest i will ever get to steam punk is bioshock. Dunno why, but steam punk never did it for me.

I say cyberpunk mainly because I hate the term "steampunk." I think putting the word punk in something associated with olde timey looking stuff is the worst.

I'll just leave this here for your perusal.

Steampunk all looks the same to me. I voted Cyber.

Cyberpunk. Steampunk has it's place, but 9 times out of 10, I'll usually play/watch/read something in the Cyberpunk genre than the Steampunk side of things.

Cyberpunk. I really don't understand how this is even a question. I feel there is a reason Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell are still relevant in 2013 and all of the steampunk stuff I can think of is from shitty deviantart pages or fat people that think they look good in old time-y clothes that come into the comic store I work at.

If it's punk, it sucks.

I suppose I should make this sound less personal attack-y than I meant it to. Cyberpunk tends to touch on themes that stay relevant or even become more relevant as technology and society progresses: the growing divide between the rich and the working class, the presence and power of corporations and brand names becoming more and more pronounced, humanity and technology becoming intertwined to the point where one seems out of place without the other, or in most cases, technology replacing humanity. Posthumanism is a fantastic philosophical brain teaser; can we really consider ourselves human when we have replaced all of the things that make us human? What happens when our machines become more human than we are ourselves? It's all fascinating.

Steampunk seems pretty stuck in LETS PUT GOGGLES AND VALVES AND GAUGES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS COOL RIGHT

Cyberpulp

Steampunk. Imagine the Core i5. ~700 million steam powered mechanical switches operating in concert. The gigantic scale, the incredible noise, the overpowering smell of oil. An unbelievable expense poured out so the director can plan each day's lunch meeting. Steampunk to me is seeing today built with the limitations of 19th century technology. Some of that may even be technically possible but the resources required to actually make it function are very much fantasy.

Cyberpunk, easily. Cyberpunk by nature allows for infinitely more creative universes than steampunk, which conjures almost exclusively an image of a steam-powered Victorian setting.

Fuck steampunk. I started to write down all the reasons I really really dislike it, but it ended up sounding like a 14 year old talking about music, so I guess I'll leave it at that.

On the other hand, I've loved a lot of the cyberpunk fiction I've stumbled across, so that's definitely where my vote lands.

I like both of them, but I've always had a lot of love for cyberpunk. So much cool shit in the genre.

I like both, but Cyberpunk as an aesthetic is really rad.

Cyberpunk cuz is the future ... and the future is always cooler.

Despite prefering Sci-Fi to fantasy I picked Steam. I have never seen anything deemed cyber punk that I enjoyed whether it be a movie or game, but I have enjoyed the look and design of several Steam punk costumes.

Cyberpunk because:

Cyberpunk. I cannot wait for that new Cyberpunk game.

Cyberpunk. I have consumed so much Cyberpunk media over my 24 years of life. From simple cyberpunk themes in movies like Running Man, Total Recall and Robocop. To harder cyberpunk in anime. Ghost in the shell, Cyber city oedo 808, megazone 23, Battle Angel Alita, Ad Police, Bubblegum crisis.

Star wars universe while it is not Cyberpunk perse. Alot of the traits of tha universe is the same. Undercities, slicers/hackers. Ships and cities lived in and falling apart, not utopia's. Instead cities owned an run by corperations.

I fell down a streak of reading Neil Ashers Agen Cormac books. Set in the polity universe. Were AI's rule over man...with purley the intentions of preserving and expanding mankind. Meaning they are just the same as a well meaning leader.

AI's took over by makeing themselves a corporation. Then came the corporation wars untill the AI's took majority share....not a single shot was fired! Won by playing the buisness game.

All these themes idea and storys!

Vs Steampunk...... they have....Steamboy.....ummmm....Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory?......The last 5 minues of back to the future part 3? Oh Oh! The Time machine...with Murlok.....oh wait thats not steam powered.

I got it! They have Will Smiths Wild Wild West!

Fuck, you're right!

I VOTED FOR THE WRONG OPTION. I LOVE THAT MOVIE.

Cyberpunk, but, for comic book people, I love the Steampunk stuff in Batman: Gates of Gotham.

@akyho said:

You might want to check out Psycho-Pass.

Steampunk. I fucking love steampunk. Victorian culture is fascinating enough to me on its own, but with dirigibles and future tech? Hell yes. I'd probably have been one of those people wearing goggles, waistcoats and whatnot if I had money. I do wear a top hat, as my one concession to my urge to wear dumb shit. That's more to do with my general love of hats, though. Hats are the best thing.

I do love cyberpunkish dystopian cities, on the other hand. Like, obsessively so.

@akyho: Studio Ghibli is quite steampunk at times. Castle in the Sky and Howl's Moving Castle for example. Ni No Kuni is also steampunk.

Cyberpunk is more flexible because it can show us things that don't exist yet - Steampunk is recreating things that already exist with that old timey twist, and steam.

Cyberpunk by far.

Steampunk people (to me anyways) is like one step below the furries, and two steps below the crazy anime people.

Cyberpunk by miles. Steampunk can be cool, but can also be really bad.

Pretty much this. Although there is also some enjoyable Steampunk stuff out there...

Like tears...in rain.

Blade Runner beats Wild Wild West.... so yeah cyber punk

Mirrorshades > Goggles

Steampunk for me, I just wish it was taken more seriously in games. I've never really found Cyberpunk that interesting as it just seems like Sci-Fi to me and we've got plenty of Sci-Fi in the medium.

cyberpunk

eBay and etsy ruined Steampunk.

@damian: That ends up being more magic than Steam punk.

I'll go with cyberpunk. I like the setting a bit more. Although when steampunk is done well it's pretty damn awesome.