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The Death of /lain/
| It may have something to do with the split with /cyb/, the original all-around cyberpunk-related board, now inhabited purely by roleplayers. Cyberpunk may have already become a reality in our timeline, but we where we find solace is in fiction, where we can become either observers or creators, rather than another gear or synapse.
| This must be why /cyb/ is the most active board on this site, bar /u/ itself. However, I can't truly bring myself to enjoy their company. I cannot detach myself as others do, so I can never feel immersed.
But because /cyb/ is supposed to host fictional cyberpunk content, it has become an unspoken rule that /lain/ is to be the opposite and spark discussion of cyberpunk in reality.
| But no one truly wants cyberpunk in reality. To define a situation of sorts as cyberpunk is to both make light and to exaggerate it: you are being apathetic by comparing it to fiction, but because that particular genre of fiction accentuates the wrongs of society, you might be making too big of a deal with it. People tend to band together behind politics instead when serious issues arise, because politics exists in reality, so it must be what is needed to make a difference.
| My personal feelings regarding whether politics is a topic worth indulging in in today's climate aside, we know at least that cyberpunk is not considered worth talking about. There are no solutions that will come out of discussing it, because to discuss it, one has to bring up the many things that make cyberpunk what it is, and one can only go deeper as the subject is continuously prodded.
| Attempts to divide the subject into subcategories to continue and spread out said subject has failed repeatedly. Decor, music, fashion, anything and everything that is mainstream. Because the interest of cyberpunk is, at it's core, the observing of the lives of others in a situation where we would not want to take part in, we cannot enjoy the individual aspects that make up said fabricated situation.
| That's why /lain/ is dead.
| That, and this site is dying lole.
| Pretty much agreed. No matter what the present looks like, Cyberpunk is bleak, and the future is cyberpunk. No one wants to talk about that.
| >>521768 It's mainly because traffic has been slower on this website than usual. I'm sure most of the users that posted on /lain/ just having been getting on this site in a while
##Janitor:Stormy##
| There's a lot of users of /cyb/ who also visit /lain/ occasionally, but otherwise, good write up, >>016f1e .
I did remove a sticky awhile ago to clear up space in /all/ (I took down quite a few stickies actually) but if y'all like, I can put one up again just to collate certain things to make them easier to find. What subject would y'all like it to be, if I do?
Vidya, movies, books, fashion, etc.
| >>521862 Well we already mentioned that people feel pressured to talk about cyberpunk in reality cause /cyb/ is all fantasy.
Personally my vote is on cyberpunk story ideas. Like brainstorming about tech, events and other story stuff which would serve to improve and in a way modernise cyberpunk for our current generation. (I'll admit I just need some ideas for my TTRPG game. But others would find it useful as well I imagine.)
If that's too niche a subject then fashion I guess?
| >>521888 Cause you know... Cyberpunk is more a story then an documentary about the real world. Talking about story ideas would be cool and those RP scum in /cyb/ would get some ideas out of this as well.
...I'm unsure. Should probably not spam here and just make my own thread.
| Hard to make cyberpunk-related threads
| Nice write up g/u/rl. You made a lot of interesting points. There are a few things that don't sound quite right to me, however. "Attempts to divide the subject into subcategories to continue and spread out said subject has failed repeatedly. Decor, music, fashion, anything and everything that is mainstream." and "we cannot enjoy the individual aspects that make up said fabricated situation." are a couple.
| Cyberpunk music is actually doing alright. There's a community out there who makes and consumes cyberpunky music (assuming you can measure the cyberpunkyness of music). There are also (albeit kinda weird) communities out there dedicated to implanting chips and stuff in themselves, which is a rather cyberpunky concept if you ask me. That, however, is less of a mainstream thing, and might just be filed under "evidence that we live in a cleaner and brighter cyberpunky kinda society."
| That said, I get where you're going. All of what you said makes sense. And it all raises one major question. What can we do about it? How can we promote the fictional cyberpunk genre in mainstream circles. Design, fashion, literature, art, music, etc. Cyberpunk (or at the very least, elements of it) has been seen in all these circles before.
| Literature, going back to the birth of cyberpunk, with Neuromancer and Snow Crash. There are innumerable works of cyberpunk fiction in the literature community, and many smaller, unpublished authors today still write short stories. Cyberpunk art, though not doing as well as it once was, is still around. People crafting a setting to gaze upon. Glitch art (though the cyberpunkness of that is debatable) is also still around.
| As previously stated, there's a small community who enjoy cyberpunk music, however when it comes to fashion and design, there seems to be less of a cyberpunk presence in those circles. Is it perhaps because with the previous three, you can enjoy them on your own? You're friends don't have to know you enjoy cyberpunk music or appreciate cyberpunk art.
| However, when it comes to design, a more permanent thing, or fashion, something attached to you at all times, it's harder to disguise. Cyberpunk fashion isn't exactly mainstream, and people tend to wear clothes that won't make them stand out in a crowd. Unless, of course, you're at a fashion show. These are great places to introduce cyberpunk fashion, because they are specifically there to test the boundaries of fashion. To make people question what should be mainstream.
| Thus we return to the original question I had posed. What can we do? I've had this project on the back burner for some time, rolling ideas around in the back of my head. What if we made a cyberpunk magazine, zine, newsletter, or something of the sort. I understand this has been done with projects like LainZine, but that updates about once every century. We need something with a (or at the very least, more of a) schedule.
| The purpose of magazine/newsletter/etc? The main goal is to just have fun, while promoting and popularizing the cyberpunk genre in a more mainstream setting. To make it enjoyable for those who are already rooted deep within the cyberpunk community, casuals who may not have been here for very long, and those who have never heard of cyberpunk before. To bring new people into the cyberpunk community while entertaining those who are already here.
| The general idea is to have a few regulars who publish monthly articles, art pieces, etc, and then have a community section where anyone in the cyberpunk community could submit a piece and have it featured in the magazine. That way, even if submissions are down one month, we'd still have something to publish and put out there. If /lain/ and Danger/u/ as a whole wanted to help take on this project, I'd be ecstatic.
| It's something I've been meaning to do for awhile. I've got a few accounts set up for it already (provided we go with the name I had originally dreamt up), and there's plenty of ideas rolling around in my head. If any of you g/u/rls are interested in helping me take on this project, let me know.
| Maybe we'll make another thread? Or you could just reply to this one and tell me it's a bad idea. Or reply to this one and tell me it's a decent idea. Or reply to this thread with monthly column ideas or whatnot. Anyways. Sorry for the long post. There was a lot of info to convey, but perhaps that was excessive.
| OP here. Many thanks for all the praise. I'm pretty proud of what I came up with, but it really was off the top of my head.
It's quite interesting that the threads that call out a board is dying usually gets the most posts, lol.
~faxes reel wizes
| I can see that you gurls are also confused as to how to spark a conversation. Maybe saying they failed is too harsh, but attempts to incorporate things with cyberpunk never managed to pull a large or hardcore enough audience to keep it going for long. As mentioned before, this is because it is a mere individual aspect of a much more wide-ranging subject. But more than that, it tends to be detached from the soul of cyberpunk, oftentimes feeling like a mere imitation.
| Literature and art is very easy to bring out the charm of cyberpunk, because in each page or frame, one can fill in so many things that will tickle the imagination. And yes, everyone can enjoy them because they aren't particularly niche. If there were many characteristics mixing together to form a theme of cyberpunk, each attribute may be given more interest.
| However, when involving cyberpunk into things, people usually try to imagine what things would be like if cyberpunk was in reality, rather than just attempt to make things cyberpunkish, so to speak. Cyberpunk music specifically isn't trying to imagine what cyberpunk music is like, it's about making it cyberpunkish. It can't be categorized by things like synthwave and future funk, though those are very good candidates for what cyberpunk music is like.
| Interest and dialogue about cyberpunk has to come naturally, rather than force attempts to keep the flow going in one direction.
But how else are we to instigate discourse?
Remember, interest is in topic as a whole, not the parts that make it up. When bringing the subject up, try to find other things relating to whatever it is you are mentioning, and keep on doing that.
| Of course, there is a bit of a pattern that must follow. It should feel grimy, rebellious, dark, foreboding, etc. But really, otherwise it could branch out in so many ways.
Fashion for example, rather than thinking creatively about the color, function, design, or material, simply look to streetwear and conside the variables of how it came to be, how it will evolve into, and what it all defines.
~betas coot farted
| Cyberpunk may be a fictional genre, but it has and will always have an element of social commentary to it, meaning a bit of reality can always be found in it.
The trick is to talk about cyberpunk without it sounding like you're trying to mention it. Because honestly it gets quite annoying to be in this 'cyberpunk box'.
| >>521888 This is good, but it's boring to be involved with something that:
A. people won't get to join in.
B. sounds like work.
I love to give ideas, but nobody ever gives feedback to me on those ideas back, simply acknowledging them and moving on with their day. If it's something people can give their input every couple of whenever, they'd be far more interested.
| >>522008 Nobody reads the Augmented Eye anymore though. But I'm willing to help nevertheless.
I feel like I've become even more rambly this time around.
Also, you guys need to fix the captcha occasionally going off screen. That really sucks.
##Janitor:Stormy##
| >>522007
This actually already a thing, although I'm sure people in our niche would appreciate more publications, if you can keep with it:
neondystopia.com
n-o-d-e.net
>>522145
People do, we're just pressed for time and I haven't had time to make new posts. I'll let Lain know about the captcha going off screen.
| I read all the words with the translator.Took some time.
But the real reason may be that the place is too small.
It takes a little skill to enter a
captcha correctly...(´இ皿இ｀)
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| No new threads, so I'm just gonna ramble.
Why did we stop using this board? Has the topic of cyberpunk been fully fleshed out? Is it a trend that died out? Or do we no longer find mystique in it because we are already living it? Cyberpunk is still very interesting for me, so why have I lost interest in talking about it?