We're currently witnessing the peak of steampunk's cultural relevance. From here, it will be a long, downhill slide. On the surface, things seem to be booming for the young subculture, with artisans like Jake von Slatt, Datamancer, and Kinetic Steam Works; web comics like Girl Genius and Freak Angels; online zine Steampunk Magazine; podcast Steampunk Spectacular; and a number of blogs and Etsy shops.
The trouble is, steampunk used to be a genre, and it's becoming a subculture. Genre denotes a similar form, style, or purpose. Subculture denotes a group of people with shared beliefs, interests, or values. In the nineties, the word steampunk described books like The Diamond Age and The Difference Engine. Now, it describes a type of person, and that's bad news for fans of creative media.
Genre works are similar works produced with individual vision. Subculture works are created to enforce a group identity.
If you don't think this is an important distinction, consider the plight of the cyberpunks. As a genre, cyberpunk included classics like Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and Blade Runner. As a subculture, cyberpunks were loveable goofballs with functionless plastic gewgaws strapped to their faces.
The more the word steampunk refers to a steampunk lifestyle or a steampunk scene, the more rigidly it will be defined and the less room there will be for anything innovative or interesting. It will become a derivative and dull rehashing of the same tired ideas. The creators will not be garage tinkerers, anarchist punks, and period costumers. They'll be steampunks generating steampunkery for other steampunks. It will be boring.
If you want to see the hideous endgame of a stale subculture, take a look at what's happened to the gothic subculture.
Actually, one of the worst signs for steampunk is that the goths are taking an interest in it, as the Steampunk Librarian noted last week. Let's face it; Abney Park is basically just the Cruxshadows with an airship. Vernian Process is Clan of Xymox in spats. I don't think we need Abraham Van Helsing to warn us about these undead intruders.
Steampunk has to keep things fresh, or it will die. I'm already tired of airships and ray guns. Steampunk's energy does not come from props or any individual aspect of the steampunk genre or style. The best steampunk comes from the bolting together of mismatched parts to see what twisted machines can be invented. The key ingredient is an individual creative vision, not a pair of brass goggles.
If you love steampunk and want to contribute to the genre, don't emulate other steampunk work. Find the things you love best about the real and imagined past, take them to the house of pain, and vivisect them onto your reality in the most violent manner possible.
Be bolder. Work harder. Do your homework. Emulate the process, not the products.