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Things You Hate/Dislike About Cyberpunk
| >>305656
I agree with you there on point 2. I personally adore the aesthetic but there is just such an abundance of 80s / retro-futuristic takes on cyberpunk.
| -weird asian fetishism
-generic "cyberpunk girl" sidekick that's either a cyborg in a skintight suit or 'rebellious' girl dressed like she time travelled from the 2000s
-it's never daytime, and when it is it's cloudy/raining
-cartoony villain megacorps whose role never goes beyond being big baddies
-morally gray characters that never do anything morally gray
-every character and their grandma is either a rebel or a hacker
| For 1 you mean shitty writers. There's a lot of crappy derivative works out there. Personally I'd like to see more variety. Shows like dennou coil are really refreshing to see
| >>305673 https://www.neondystopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dystopia-cyberpunk_00353178-846x528.jpg
| >every character and their grandma is a hacker
*writes notes for /cyb/*
| Gurls: give me the worst tropes and I'll try to write the corniest cyberpunk out of it.
| Okay but do it in a new thread to give life to /lain/
>>305688
Gritty tired protag thats a former cop.
| >>305689 Already got his name: Ryder. He's got an estranged wife and maybe-kid to show his mysterious and troubled past.
| >>305688 evil megacorporation essentially rules the world. The corporation is motivated purely by making money and seems to *prefer* to do so at the expense of the lower class.
| 1. is so to the point. Every sodding ass is some powerful macho, tough guy with a tendency to be cool and break things only with his sly smile. Or some bitch with a metallic arm who just uses guns as if they were dildoes, angered by her inability to be pleased.
That part of cybrrpunk is so horrible and boring that it takes everything else of the genre down the shithole.
| >>305731 yeah it's crazy. Cyberpunk is so frustrating. At its core it is science fiction about society - specializing in inequality and the impacts of high tech. SO relevant and so much room for philosophy, action, intrigue, really anything you could want.
But instead cyberpunk chooses to limit itself to tired old cliches. We need more cyberpunk that expands the horizons of the genre without necessarily foresaking the style so much as to become just "dystopian" genre.
| I wish that cyberpunk was a much more explored and mature genre :( Although I do love the night / rainy aesthetic about a lot of the takes.
| Probably the same "evil corporation with a different skin" cliche. And somehow it controls "everything" and the government. Corporations NEED a government (corrupt politicians and lobbies) to have any real influence irl, there's no such thing as a corporation entity becoming a State. I guess that's just a trait of cyberpunk dystopia by now tho.
| >>305745 so true. and a lot of the tropes now were just fine in the 80s, as they were actually criticisms of society back then. corrupt cops, incredibly shitty cities, drug epidemic, homelessness, threat of nuclear war, corps gaining power, etc. those were all things that either happened or valid fears people had.
by definition cyberpunk is a criticism of the present using the future as a setting. obviously those tropes haven't aged well, so why are we still seeing them?
| when the author/artist gushes over the "cyber" part too much
| >>305970 corrupt cops, incredibly shitty cities, drug epidemic, homelessness, corps gaining power, etc.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I honestly feel as if mainstream cyberpunk is clichéd because the mainstream consumer doesn't get the point. As one g/u/rl mentioned, it is meant as a criticism of corporatism, capitalism, and the society those philosophies would ultimately lead to. Back then, it seemed as if the future would -c-
| >>305970
>>306065 genuinely be a totalitarian oligarchy, and that scared us.
But then something happened. The totalitarian oligarchy came true, but our overlords found softer ways to control us. Making inconvenient people "disappear" was costly compared to just silencing them via media algorithms. So many people rely on three big companies for their info (Google, Facebook, Twitter), that this happens all the time. -c-
| >>305970
>>306065
>>306067 Furthermore the wealthiest individuals find propaganda machines to safeguard their assets and accustom the average person to the status quo. You shouldn't be angry if you're poor, homeless, or out of a job. Just lick some boots and eventually you'll get your big break.
| >>305970
>>306065
>>306067
>>306069 IMO, cyberpunk is clichéd because the average person was told to live on less. Whereas once we feared moving alone to unfamiliar cities, wasting our daylight hours at some soulless job (as became common in Anglo countries under Reagan and Thatcher), we have now come to accept it as a fact of life.
| Imp low-key using this thread to know what to avoid in le game.
| >>b03df7 that's a good way to look at it. if cyberpunk ever makes a comeback, it's going to have to be much less in-your-face with its symbolism/messages.
i love cyber, but this rehashing of the same old neon cities and trope-filled characters and ham-fisted "ooga booga consumerism bad" type messages is what's killing the genre. all i want to see from the genre is something that can step away from all this.
| >>305908
Lol actually, this is a thing; and it's not unique to cyberpunk, either, but real life. The earliest known example of a real life "megacorporation" that could be considered, or at least acted like, its own country was the Dutch East Indis Company. A modern one today is Saudi Aramco, kept as the dominant corporation of Saudi Arabis by its own country.
| While its true that governments keep corporations in check (for the moment), said corporations have been systematically removing anti-competition protections in the name of de-regulation, and regularly eat or financially destroy smaller businesses even as they continually merge with each other. While they may not necessarily own entire armies and plots of land (yet), you can see examples where this is pseudo-true, such as ISP's making contracts with cities to be the sole provider.
| ISP's and phone companies alike and even power companies often have no-compete agreements with each other, parceling out whole communities where they are the only service, robbing their constituents of even the illusion of "choice." You need not have military arms to be megacorporate in the classic Cyberpunk sense, since they control two of the most powerful systems available to us today: smartphones, and the Internet.
| >>306220
There's nothing "killing" the genre though? Cyberpunk is the same as it always was, with exception that things that were once theorized or worried about have turned from speculative fiction to literal truth. People missing the philosophical, satirical, sardonic, and social-commentary aspects of cyberpunk isn't new either; ask anyone what they think "Neuromancer" is about, and they'll probably talk about the femme fatale, the AI, the decking, the space rastafarians,
| and the psychopaths. But while all of that is certainly a part of the story, and interesting parts, the novel has always been a critique of not just humanity as a whole, but of Case's journey to regaining his self determination, in the face of being shafted and used by an inherently self destructive system.
| If anything is "killing" the genre, its the fact that it just happens to be mainstream right now, when it was always a non-mainstream genre. You can't force people to care about the richer aspects of cyberpunk, to see past the edgy characters and chrome, unless they're willing to do so on their own accord. Look at the latest Blade Runner. To this g/u/rl, BR2040 was the sequel I always wanted, and ate it up. Rotten Tomatoes gave it more than 80%. But it tanked.
| But one need only remember that the previous film tanked too, and was only seen as something special after the fact. After those who were *into* that sort of film took the time to digest it.
Basically what I'm saying is, cyberpunk is and always was an acquired taste.
| Back on topic... if there was anything I dislike about cyberpunk, or at least its interpretation, its when fiction excessively focuses on the technology aspect and ignores the social commentary.
I admit I like my edgelords and badass cyborg girls, but ultimately I want to see how the average joe is doing in such a hell hole.
| Okay
| Damn, the confusion is real here.
You are blaming this genre for all the criterias that define it.
- No middle class anymore, social cleavage (the poors/the richs +military+smugglers)
-transhumanism (the technology can allow you to fullfil every fantasies)
-tech(the tech is so common and cheap that everyone can afford an augmented arm or futuristic smartphone)
-megacorpo(super-duper liberalism)
-military presence and civilian surveillance
| You can add :
Ecological disasters (seriously, have you seen the advertising on instagram about gaz mask personalization if you are experiencing massive pollution issues in your country/city ?!)
Sci-fi is about make hypothesis about future from our actual technology ideology, politics and social state.
So yeah ofc its becoming casual (altered carbon+blade runner and the prequel of blade runner was super gud imo) because we have never been that close of a future like this.
| And sorry for the english, I'm doing my best here .-.
| I dislike like any attempts to show-off a particular type of advanced technology (ie smart phones OF THE FUTURE bullshit). I think in the future people would be disgusted by technology itself
| People have already lost their free will. They consume every single shit that the market can provide.
They won't be disgusted by tech on the contrary, people are becoming more and more addicted and dependent on technology. If we continue like that, there is no way back.
Everyone is excited about the last shitty smartphone, everyone want a drone or a VR device. Did you know that amazon's physical shop will open very soon, and inside there is no humans, just a client.
| The fact that Cyberpunk 2077 won't be finished until after I'm dead.
| Jargon i guess. Tried playing one of the shadowrun games and they kinda assume you know a lot of shit.
Narratively they should ease you into that stuff. Tech being frequent is alright but some writers don't care much for newbs and spam terms all about, which is done to make the world feel lived in but too much is bad.
It's why bartending was a good ease in for VAL, it's a thong that we all have some understanding off just with the customers being cyberpunk.
| When i'm on pinterest searching for some oc art, I struggle to find cyberpunk guys that aren't some kind of badass military or boozed up detective
| >>308473 good thing is they can't release it after 2077 without changing the name. Cheer up g/u/rl!
| No doom megawad with cyberpunk theme.
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| Title. I'll start:
1. Tough guy archetypes/stereotypes. Overdone macho talk etc. Y'all know what I mean? It just seems way out of place in the future. That kind of talk is constantly evolving.
2. Refusal to distance itself from 80s aesthetics. Sure, I like it, but does every cyberpunk piece have to look/feel that way? No.
3. Slang for fictional things. I know, this is necessary for realism. It just...ugh, idk, a personal distaste I guess.