Hmm. I think a discussion should be had about what aspects of the cyberpunk genre should be revisited and updated to better reflect what the world actually would be like, as opposed to what the originators of the genre envisioned in their narrow bubble back when the foundations of the genre were conceived.
Like, we've allowed the fantasy genre to grow, evolve, and modernize, and become more inclusive and cognizant of the audiences consuming the material, so what makes the cyberpunk genre immune to those changes? You look at modern fantasy, and you'll find worlds populated by characters of all ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and everything in between, on top of the orcs, dragons, elves, dwarves, and other staples of the genre.
I love the cyberpunk genre. It's one of my favorite genres, along with fantasy and horror and sci-fi, etc.
I'm sorry, but using the defense of *adjusts glasses* "well, the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG was even worse, so CD Projekt Red could have included that stuff, but they didn't!" isn't really the gotcha, end all argument it seems to be. Like, so what if the source material made back in the 80's and 90's was questionable too. This is a new project, from a current era development studio, and nothing, absolutely nothing, was stopping them from revisiting that source material and revising it to be more socially aware. It's not like various marginalized groups haven't been making their voices and concerns heard over the past few decades.
Obviously, the game isn't out, but CD Projekt Red doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to how they handle ethnicity and women in terms of representation, so I don't have confidence that anything has changed with Cyberpunk 2077. It's one of the things that I'm concerned about.
This is a piece of entertainment media at the end of the day. Cyberpunk isn't real. It's not history. It's not the future. The point here is that it's a piece of entertainment media releasing in the year 2020, and the gaming landscape is made up of millions of individuals from all walks of life, and as such, I feel like it's a responsibility of game developers to be very, very cognizant of the material they are releasing in our very real world, and messages and depictions of women and other marginalized groups. Women are sick and tired of the shitty representation they receive in gaming. The LGBTQ community are sick and tired of the shitty representation they receive in gaming. People of color are sick and tired of the shitty representation they receive in gaming. Yet we're continuously being asked to just "suck it up," and spend our money on experiences that repeatedly underserve our respective communities with embarrassing, offensive, intolerant, and ignorant portrayals and representation. We're being asked to constantly compromise our love of gaming, and our desire to healthily voice our concerns about how we're represented in those games. "Just don't buy it," doesn't really fly as a rebuttal when the vast majority of games feature just shit representation of our communities. You're essentially asking us to walk away from gaming, because so few experiences give us the same care and consideration that it does, say, straight white males.
Voicing our concerns, and not having them shut down and dismissed because a large group of people are completely okay with shitty representation of people that don't look like them, isn't progress. It's causing stagnation in an industry that is global, and universal. Gaming isn't just for you, and it's not just for me. It's for everyone.
I can only speak for myself, but there's hardly a game out there that I don't have to take the additional step of wrestling with how excited I am for the game, and how disappointed I am with shitty representation. Like Final Fantasy VII Remake. I played the original FFVII when it released on PS1 back when I was 17 years old. Even back then, I was embarrassed by the portrayal of Barret, the first black protagonist in a Final Fantasy game (out of the ones I had played). But I was hyped for FFVII, and just had to kind of suck it up to play this really cool game.
Then the Final Fantasy VII Remake was announced, and a part of me foolishly hoped that maybe the English version of the game would revisit Barret, and perhaps represent him in a way that was more in line with the Japanese version of Barret, which was a much better portrayal of the character. But no, we got the same, angry black man trope from 1997. It was still my choice to purchase the FFVII Remake, and I did, because despite it all, I really liked FFVII. As a black man, I've just gotten used to having to suck through my teeth my distaste for the portrayal of black people in gaming, or else I wouldn't really be playing much of any games.
Then there's something like Hogwarts Legacy. I refuse to purchase that game, because I refuse to empower JK Rowling any further in terms of her spreading her anti-transgender rhetoric. I'm a big HP fan (well, I used to be, before Rowling's disgusting shittiness soured the entire series for me), but I just can't give her my money. I refuse to. I don't want to give her voice any more power with my $70. I'd rather donate it to a cause that is supporting the rights of transgender people.
I think it's wonderful to call out this type of shit as often, and as loudly as we can. CD Projekt had an opportunity to re-envision the world of Cyberpunk, and take some mature, and intelligent steps to not only retain the core themes of Cyberpunk, but to do it in a truly modern and progressive way. I don't blame a single person turned off by what they're seeing thus far with the game. Of course the game isn't out, and we don't have full context of everything in the game, but is that our fault? That's on CD Projekt and how they chose to represent their game in their various promotional materials, and we're completely valid in reading into that what they give us.
But I have to ask this: Do we really want women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, and other marginalized groups to just walk away from gaming? Because this shitty representation is definitely having an effect on many of us in the gaming community. Many of us that are just so tired of having to shake our heads in disappointment, or pass up on a promising looking title because the creators have piss poor representation, and seem apathetic at best, when those concerns are brought to light. Do we really want gaming to continue to be gate-kept by people because, as a whole, we so easily dismiss the concerns of the marginalized, in particular when the game being criticized is one we're all excited or hyped about? Is that what we want gaming to represent? Driving men and women away from an industry and pastime that they're passionate and excited about participating in because the cool looking big games that everyone is talking about consistently reminds them that they're something to be mocked, stereotyped, objectified, or disrespected? Because that's some bullshit.
Honestly, when it comes to things like this, that's ultimately my takeaway. "Just deal with it or stop gaming altogether, because this is 'just the way it is.'" Being repeatedly asked to compromise my passion for games, and my desire to not put up with seeing my people (and women, and other marginalized groups) being portrayed poorly is both frustrating and exhausting.
Cyberpunk isn't a genre that is incapable of growing and evolving beyond its dated roots. If other genres have done it, nothing is stopping it from doing the same. And what better opportunity to push the genre forward than a massive, high profile game that will be played by millions of gamers across PC, Xbox ONE, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5? The jury is still out on how CD Projekt tackles the genre, but I don't blame people's skepticism given their track record. Especially considering what we've been shown so far.
