RCT Discussion / Fantasy vs. Realism

Kumba mentioned in the ProTour 3 forum that a "civil war" may break out NE due to FK+Coastermind's and 5Dave's entries (which placed first and second respectively, congrats). One was a fantasy style, and one was very realistic. He was probably joking, but in the instance that he was being serious, who's side would you take?

But first, we should probably talk about what the definition of realism and fantasy. IMO, both are based on location. Obviously, you can't build a real-life park on the top of an active volcano no matter how cool it may be. Nor does there exist a river filled with the blood of 1000 souls. Those are both fantasy. Realistic parks are those that can be built in reasonable areas with some or a bunch of terraforming.

For the record, I am all for realism. (But hopefully we won't go around calling each other fascist pigs, and that the fabric of NE remains untorn.)

All and any opinions are welcome.

If I'm not mistaken, there are around a dozen or so topics regarding this.

well its werid because you can always judge how realistic something is.
but you cant judge how fantasy something is.
you call it fantasy because it isn't realistic. so yea.

This is an easy question. If you don't build like me, you're wrong.

This is an easy question. If you don't build like me, you're wrong.

Exactly.

Now if only I had mod powers *cough* I'd lock this sucker up and dig out one of the old threads were Posix, Evil WME, Cork and Coaster Ed go at it trying to find or eliminate a middle ground. That's far more interesting I think...

Ride6

The whole "fantasy vs realism" debate is bullshit... and has been over the years. People who whine about work not being to their tastes (realsim or fantasy) are morons anyway. Why should somebody build to cater to their tastes? I play for me and hope that most people here do too.

It is true that everyone can have their own preference for what they build but seriously, these topics always turn into heated debates for no good reason. Just build and enjoy it, people.

BTW- I will leave this open. I don't see any reason to dig up old topics just to prove a point.

People that build true realism, will disregard most other parks as fantasy. Most parks at NE, for a fact, don't pay attention to perfectly realistic lift hills, supports, brake runs, and whatnot.

People that build true fantasy, will disregard most other parks as realism. But... there are hardly any true fantasy builders left? Most parks here at NE use flat ground, and lots of realistic bases. Something true fantasy wouldn't worry about much in real life at all, and would use rct more as a palette to create something artistic. In that sense, Blitz is probably the only one coming close to true fantasy, though it would be a bit impossible with the 'realistic' theming always giving you a certain sense of realism.

But it would be kind of fair, if realism were the goal that you could never reach because of the limitations of rct, and fantasy was too? The problem with this is, that realism might be a goal some people want to reach, and fantasy is a goal still easily reached, but just hard to make look good. Then again, attempts at realism that are still clearly a rct park: are still defined as realism. Attempts at fantasy that still contain realistic looking mountains and whatnot (well, let's just take mala's parks here for an example): are still defined as fantasy.

Where the line is exactly, i don't know. What i do know, is that this middle ground mantis was talking about is huge.. if you see it this way atleast. Semi-realism?

The trend that has always been here is towards realism. Disregarding parks that are 'not realistic' as fantasy.. Kind of a shame, especially because i know mala's parks would still be accepted as amazing, even now. Though understandable, because most people that are into the game now haven't gone through the process of 'liking the game' just out of no where.. instead, are coaster fanatics and see rct as a tool to recreate parks.

I think at the moment almost everybody builds semi-realistic..... the things they build COULD be done in real life but wont be done becase of financial reasons .... altough the real life is making a little shift to with coasters like De vliegende hollander and Black Mamba which are very much themed ...

I agree to WME that real fantasy builders aren't really there anymore ... there are peopel who can build it but dont do it because at the moment the time isn't ready for it because there are to many really good realistic parks and people like them to much ....

Personally I like a blend of both, pure one or the other just doesn't appeal to me.

Everyone has an opinion and is able to use it. I just think that what ever you think should be realistic or fantasy is what you think it is. The subject will never have a final verdict. As simple as it may seem, we can not think of an answer that suits everyone. So lets just kick back and enjoy the work that comes our way, whether you think it is fantasy or realism.
-JDP

I think at the moment almost everybody builds semi-realistic..... the things they build COULD be done in real life but wont be done becase of financial reasons ....

What about Disneyland? They have butt loads of money at there disposal. And if you think about it, there are a ton of Disneyland "alterations" here at NE. So (disregarding my first post) couldn't those parks be considered fantasy? I mean, if Disneyland really wanted to make something that was really a "fantasy" park, they would have the money and manpower to do so. So couldn't all Disney parks be classified as fantasy?

Most people who think they build realistic dont. There are only two or three people on this whole site who truly build realistic parks.

As for which is better and all that crap, weve been this bullshit time and time again and it just oes to show that it really isnt that big of a deal, if it is a good park its a good park regardless of whether its shoveled into the shitpile of realism or fantasy.

My Theme Parks is most realistic possible.
Players exist who already had obtained spotlights with parks here fantasy that in the reality very he would be complicated or exactly impossible to be facts, but that they are great works of parkmakers that they had had great devotion in the one in its construction.
But in my opinion the Theme Parks realistic takes advantage of fantasy and always deserves importançia than theme parks fantasy.

It's not a black-and-white debate here, folks.

Fantasy|==========||==========|Realism

Everyone's somewhere in that middle ground.

-ACE

My Theme Parks is most realistic possible.
Players exist who already had obtained spotlights with parks here fantasy that in the reality very he would be complicated or exactly impossible to be facts, but that they are great works of parkmakers that they had had great devotion in the one in its construction.
But in my opinion the Theme Parks realistic takes advantage of fantasy and always deserves importançia than theme parks fantasy.

...What?

ACEfanatic02 got the point here.


My opinion is: don't brother if it is realistic or not, just build the way you feel it should be.

^ I disagree.

If you want to build a park you could envision in real life, you have to do the research to into the rides your gonna put in to build the right supports, transfer tracks etc. I know many people that do that...including myself, though I am not a realistic parkmaker.

In the end, every park is fantasy, coz it's something made up from people's minds...yeah, thats nice.

I am in agreement Metropole! But parks exist that are extremely fancy as the Theme Park Basics Of My Brain by cBass that it was in first in the NE Pro Tour that is a perfect fancy. When I speak of realism I am to mention the Theme Parks as the Ancient Enchantments by Prince_Ashitaka, Disney's Phantasia by Meretrix or Aero's Wormwood by aero21 that it has much more realism.

When i build i never think about fantasy or realism, i just picture what i want to see on the bare ground and build it. As long as i like it then it doesnt matter if its realistic or fantasy, plus i havn't been to enough real-life parks to get an idea of what realism really is.

I just basically build what i like, and if i like it then it stays.

^translator, maybe?

realism sucks, because real life sucks for each of us, so that's why we spend all our time building these parks, so we should all build fantasy