[POLL] GENRE, FORMAT, AND YOUR PREFERENCES

Not going with the poll because it's radio button and not ticky box, but I generally prefer fantasy over scifi. Generally, scifi seems to be into space travel, which I'm not terribly interested in for multiple reasons, and exploring technology for its own sake, which is also super boring to me.

The question of definition is an important one, though: do you mean "scifi" as in "speculative fiction based in science (mostly astrophysics and engineering)," or "techy-flavored fiction (including science fantasy like Star Wars)"? I really, really liked the movie "Annihilation," for instance- is that science fiction, because it's got a theme of evolution and mutation and science, even though it says nothing especially speculative, has more fantastic elements than scientific ones, and is more about grief and trauma than anything else?

Like, ultimately my preferences tend to lie more in "Does this story have interesting characterization and/or fun hijinks" than whether it's dressed up in dragons or diodes, but I feel like this discussion is best served if we define our terms up front.

Also in terms of games, a lot of the really popular franchises have both scifi (or at least sci fantasy) AND fantasy elements, so the argument there is moot :V

ETA Also also it bothers me ten times more when scifi gets its science wrong than when fantasy does. :V

That poll is terrible for it being so many categories with only one option to tick.

I read fantasy over sci-fi. I would watch it too, but TV is .. eh. I prefer manga over anime too if I can help it. Some are great/even better as anime tho.
I would also create fantasy over sci-fi. Ofc, there are good ones. Hi Texhnolyze. It's still not my favorite genre (AND OMG MECHA, GO AWAY FAR FAR FAR FAR AWAY PLEASE STOP!)

In short: I absolutely can't stand and detest sci-fi. Most good ones were dystopian, or just threw any sense overboard. There was one light novel that I liked: and SURPRISE! It mixed fantasy with sci-fi. There you go. Some manga are good too, but they are less standard than most, so that + great quality is what makes em good, not just the fact it's sci-fi. Spaceballs was pretty neat tho, back in the day. I also liked the Traumschiff Surprise one. (probably because they don't take themselves so seriously).

Sci-fi gets science wrong just as much as anything else, but pretends it makes sense and is totally cool. Worse, it doesn't just bend rules (which is fine), but it usually doesn't take it to its final consequences - it's like Harry Potter magic vs. Avatar magic. I find one of them silly. (usually) AKA, rules are invented to justify machines and special effects, rather than implementing rules and seeing what that would mean for a system and its inhabitants.
Storytelling also usually focuses on the same stuff other stories do, except having a tiny group of profound impact makes even less sense when there's billions of people out there fighting with you. (also yeah, I never watched all the Star Wars, I started on the first one, got like half-way and gave up. It's dull to me. I am happy for all those who enjoy it. Go for it.)
Also, I just don't like the aesthetic of cold dead steel all that much if it's all we get. It's a bit drab. Sure, you can make it white n fancy too, or go the weird planet route, but it's often unexplored. Robots is cool and all too, but a Korean comic about a robot having true love and a boy searching for a way to restore its core in a normal sci-fi society has moved me more than any sci-fi thing I watched. I am more of a holistic person anyway.

Reasons why I like fantasy: creativity (or the potential for, my god all those tropes), colorfulness, monsters, monsters that are also friendly. Ultimately, fantasy feels comfortable and natural to me. Just like home.
I like monsters and dragons and creatures, and horns, and scales and whatnot. And guess what? Monsters galore in fantasy! It also doesn't take itself too seriously, but usually does try to have world-impacting rules and changes in place, be that cultural or otherwise, and usually sticks with them. They are conveniently chosen as well, ofc, but usually kept for the entire thing. It's not like I get a kick out of all of the things, but I don't mind them, either. I do like nature tho. Guess what's in fantasy more. I also prefer small-scale stories .. and so forth.

As for why I create fantasy? Same as above. I feel it gives the best sense of freedom as well. Also it's fun. I like fun. Fun is good.
I'd torture myself trying to come up with a sci-fi setting that's high on the science part. I like cyberpunk tho for stuff I play, as do I enjoy fantasy element mixtures.

(also uh, yeah. fantasy games are cool. Not all of em, but fantasy > sci-fi any day in any form for me, for general preference, and if they are roughly the same 'goodness'. Not much into FF tho.)
(and now to eat and prep for work.. WELP!)

Shoulda used strawpoll.me

I think I ultimately enjoy SciFi due to the combination of speculative science fiction and "adventure" science fiction. My recent favorite thing was binge watching Star Trek TNG on netflix every night, almost every night I'd essentially be visiting a different planet with a new atmosphere, new problems, and strange beings (aside from the occasional nightmare within the ship episode). Valerian the comic does a pretty good job at capturing this as well, where there's just a constant jumping to new locales with spacey transportation. Other than that I read a lot of Philip K Dick in my youth so I'm often into wild premises that you'd typically see in Twilight Zone or Outer Limits. I think Black Mirror is a little too closely contemporary for me though.

In regards to fantasy I need something original besides the tolkien-esque stuff. I guess I prefer stuff like Neverending Story, Dark Crystal or the Ivalice setting where there's more made up stuff and the fantasy elements are more surreal. Planescape is a DND tabletop setting that I much appreciate as an extreme even though I never particularly played the setting (just Torment). I also kind of like it when magic isn't something anyone can conjure up at will. Sometimes being this vague thing that greatly affects the world but can only be directly used in very specific circumstances. Dunno why but thems the rules in me-town.

Oh I really dislike political theatre stuff in either setting. I think I'm just not a huge fan of stuff like Game of Thrones or Battlestar Galactica where there's less adventure and just people talking/backstabbing in-front of themed backdrops. It can be good for the occasional dilemma in something like Star Trek, but not the overall theme of the show.

I may have focused on it, but I am well aware of their flaws. Make no mistake, I like one more, I am not saying one is better than the other.
In fact, it's precisely that that makes it stand out to me as my preference and it's that which I base my observation of myself on. I need actually good sci-fi to enjoy it whereas I have and do read various absolutely trashy fantasy stories. They are so bad that I would never recommend them to anyone and would happily bash them into oblivion in all their failings (if I were to talk about them, they are just that embarassingly bad), yet I still enjoy some if not a lot of them. That's what I'm talking about, and if that's not a preference, I don't know what is!

I can put up with the bad stuff in it more than with stuff in sci-fi (that, and I like some of the standard elements more than standard sci-fi elements). It's the same in how I struggle more with reading shoujo because of its tropes rather than reading shounen. Both have their tropes and can be absolutely mind-boggling stupid, I just find one easier to enjoy than the other.
(boy, it'd be nice if people got over Tolkien though, HAH!)

Yeah, I think that's a good point: fantasy hasn't got the reputation of having a message or commentary (and Tolkien, in particular, rejected the idea of his work having a message) whereas that was part of the foundational works of scifi.

Which is not to say fantasy DOESN'T have a message*, but there's less expectation.

*In fact, you can get quite the can of worms if you really think about what a lot of fantasy ends up saying, just by dint of using really old tropes without thinking about them!