Other Sci-Fi Is Not Popular?

[ArenaSnow]

A small interjection from my end; I have always had a preference towards fantasy, and that is partially due to how i've ended up interacting with sci-fi contexts and players that are very tech and realism heavy. It's absurd to me, but modern science to extremes is far more frequently applied to sci-fi than it ever is applied in fantasy. I do not roleplay to determine exactly how x ship is built, to do mathmatics on distances and warp drives, and such, or toy with end-all technology which surely would have developed far beyond modern world nukes and the idea of superintelligence. Simply put, sci-fi I have found has a crowd that is more trying to stretch for exactly why x is x, whereas fantasy allows me to avoid coming up with scientific babble to explain everything.

I have my own fantasy canon that has its rules and mechanics, but they ultimately boil down to "why does this work?... it's magic. It's just in the air, it simply is".

 

[Lappi]

So, as the title says, I've been wondering if sci-fi RPs aren't that popular at the moment. Whenever I visit the sci-fi subforum, I don't see that many popular RPs with many joiners and such. Maybe this is just because sci-fi is a bit niche for the average RPer? Would love to get more joiners to my sci-fi RP, as activity has cooled down from a year ago.

I love sci fi. It's just that whenever I've tried to join I get something that pops up. It's really annoying.

 

[Whisker]

A small interjection from my end; I have always had a preference towards fantasy, and that is partially due to how i've ended up interacting with sci-fi contexts and players that are very tech and realism heavy. It's absurd to me, but modern science to extremes is far more frequently applied to sci-fi than it ever is applied in fantasy. I do not roleplay to determine exactly how x ship is built, to do mathmatics on distances and warp drives, and such, or toy with end-all technology which surely would have developed far beyond modern world nukes and the idea of superintelligence. Simply put, sci-fi I have found has a crowd that is more trying to stretch for exactly why x is x, whereas fantasy allows me to avoid coming up with scientific babble to explain everything.

I have my own fantasy canon that has its rules and mechanics, but they ultimately boil down to "why does this work?... it's magic. It's just in the air, it simply is".

Somewhat the opposite of this post on my end.

Could be just up to player tastes. I've never been much of a sci-fi player myself. Something about that and mech-oriented roleplays just turn me the hell off. I can say the same thing about roleplays that focus on magic as well.

Anything that doesn't have rules and is forced to fall back on "it just does because I say so" is really immersion breaking to me. I just prefer roleplaying around topics that I can research and understand.

 

[ArenaSnow]

Somewhat the opposite of this post on my end.

Could be just up to player tastes. I've never been much of a sci-fi player myself. Something about that and mech-oriented roleplays just turn me the hell off. I can say the same thing about roleplays that focus on magic as well.

Anything that doesn't have rules and is forced to fall back on "it just does because I say so" is really immersion breaking to me. I just prefer roleplaying around topics that I can research and understand.

Makes sense, but I roleplay in large part for the characters and plot developments themselves, not to exactly define things in modern science's terms. I could care less how a lightsaber is created beyond there being a crystal in there, for example - as it is merely a tool utilized by a character.

But that goes into experiences and preference for roleplay style, which naturally has massive variations between one roleplayer and another :p

I should note that it is a degree of balance for me. Mecha turns me off extremely. Battletech has a solid lore and creates a good level of immersion/explanation, without really going into "...wait a minute, aren't they not practical". Battletech provides logic, even if there's still the impracticality in the background. Traditional mecha/anime (hand in hand) I have zero interest in, as mentioned.