Quote from: ggroy;416088Holodeck porn?  :rolleyes:

ah yes..."if you need me captain, i'll be on holodeck 4"

No surprise there, number one.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;416381Things are very dystopian right now. England is hurtling back to the nineteenth century and America feels like a lost cause. Russia seems to be flexing its muscles from time to time while China is on the ascent. India is a fast growing nuclear power.

I used to enjoy Cyberpunk greatly but it has not aged well at all. I'm sure there are plenty of good modern iterations of the genre, but modern technology renders the ability to predict fun stuff a little less potent. Digital technology was new in the 80's and so 'jacking in' was a cool idea. In the end I started reading Jeff Noon whose work somehow got lumped in with cyberpunk when it's more organic and rooted in mythology not cybernetics.

I feel like you and I have a very different view of the world. I'd say, "America is being forced into a state of sustainability (; Russia is flexing its muscles by flying its outdated 1960's air force around the Atlantic and fiddling with its own despair, India is on a fast track to suffering one of the largest and most horrible famines ever recorded during the next 40 years, and China's top heavy population internal political tension promises a shitty future of decline.

The global crisis forces states and people into a nastier frame of mind and more predatory behaviour all around (witness Greece being thrown under the tracks by its former buddies who enabled/encouraged it to spend like crazy, or the way foreclosures are being subcontracted/auctioned off to people who are basically the mafia), so while we might not get chromed-up cybersluts with retractable claws, we might get homeless cannibal gangs roaming the big cities, a constant barrage of increasingly aggressive commercials and a lot of totally cool corporate and government-related repression. Plus we already have a lot of fucked up post-modern subcultures that are way weirder than most CP could dream up, except maybe less concerned with everyday violence. Take a trip to 4chan and see what I mean (or better yet, don't do it). :worship:

Quote from: Cranewings;416386I feel like you and I have a very different view of the world. I'd say, "America is being forced into a state of sustainability (; Russia is flexing its muscles by flying its outdated 1960's air force around the Atlantic and fiddling with its own despair, India is on a fast track to suffering one of the largest and most horrible famines ever recorded during the next 40 years, and China's top heavy population internal political tension promises a shitty future of decline.

The soliloquoy section in Spreading the Disease by Queensryche from their 1987 long player, Operation Mindcrime, is as relevant then as it is today, and that is quintessentially cyberpunk though perhaps with the exception of the rise of the religious right/fundamentalism. I don't recall Gibson writing about that, but it's been a while since I read him. My favourite was always Burning Chrome.

Cyberpunk is essentially a parody. The notion in Snow Crash of the single heavily armed guy that is in fact a nation state, and the cosa nostra running fast food. This crazy extrapolation into hypereality isn't something that has translated well into gaming.

Here's my view of a potential cyberpunk future based on the fears of today:

* The world becomes dominated by the economies of China and India and the militaries of China and Iran.  Japan, Brazil, and Turkey are major players now as well.  The USA has collapsed under the weight of its own debt because one side refused to cut the military or increase taxes while the other side refused to cut spending on the poor or stem the tide of illegal immigrants.

* The USA is now over 50% Hispanic with even Arabs being a larger minority than Whites.  Spanish and Arabic are now the official languages.  A coalition government of Hispanic Catholic cardinals, Arab Muslim mullahs, and Fundamentalist Protestant bishops now rules the country, which is divided into zones for each (anyone not falling into one of these categories is relegated to a slave caste).  This branch of government handles all laws for social issues - a large part of the coalition holding together is their agreement that a primary goal for the nation is to hunt down and kill all homosexuals and their supporters.

* A small conclave of ancient rich white men rule the megacorps who manage the other branch of government dealing with all other kinds of laws.  None of them actually live in the USA itself (as it is largely a wasteland now) - they handle everything remotely and most are only still alive through massive advanced life-support systems.

* Most areas of the USA are now wastelands, both as the result of nuclear hits (the result of a reaction to the country's relentless war-mongering), the collapse of the government (after it went bankrupt), and the loss of most jobs as nearly everyone was outsourced from other countries.

* Parts of the USA are now being rebuilt as new "company cities" by the megacorps after the standard of living here fell below that of Bangladesh.  Slavery was re-instituted as a punishment for bankruptcy, with most poor people (white and black) now owned by the corporations and the other wealthy elite.  The new cities have areas of slave dwellings (slums), factories, and the palaces owned by the wealthy elite.

* The ruins of cities are home to massive gangs that are nearly feral.  Rural areas have cave-dwelling clans of inbred cannibals.

* The world as a whole is very bad off.  Temperatures have risen several degrees, massive flooding along coastlines with deadly droughts in some areas while others endure massive rainfall.  The result - widespread agricultural losses resulting in famines.  The air is choked with smoke across the entire planet.  Most flora and fauna is dead.  Cans of pure air are sold on the black market.

* The year of the game is still set in 2020.  

Quote from: jgants;416446* The USA is now over 50% Hispanic with even Arabs being a larger minority than Whites.  Spanish and Arabic are now the official languages.  A coalition government of Hispanic Catholic cardinals, Arab Muslim mullahs, and Fundamentalist Protestant bishops now rules the country, which is divided into zones for each (anyone not falling into one of these categories is relegated to a slave caste).  This branch of government handles all laws for social issues - a large part of the coalition holding together is their agreement that a primary goal for the nation is to hunt down and kill all homosexuals and their supporters.

Osama Bin Laden is de facto president of the world.

Quote from: jgants;416446Here's my view of a potential cyberpunk future based on the fears of today:

* The world becomes dominated by the economies of China and India and the militaries of China and Iran.  Japan, Brazil, and Turkey are major players now as well.  The USA has collapsed under the weight of its own debt because one side refused to cut the military or increase taxes while the other side refused to cut spending on the poor or stem the tide of illegal immigrants.

* The USA is now over 50% Hispanic with even Arabs being a larger minority than Whites.  Spanish and Arabic are now the official languages.  A coalition government of Hispanic Catholic cardinals, Arab Muslim mullahs, and Fundamentalist Protestant bishops now rules the country, which is divided into zones for each (anyone not falling into one of these categories is relegated to a slave caste).  This branch of government handles all laws for social issues - a large part of the coalition holding together is their agreement that a primary goal for the nation is to hunt down and kill all homosexuals and their supporters.

* A small conclave of ancient rich white men rule the megacorps who manage the other branch of government dealing with all other kinds of laws.  None of them actually live in the USA itself (as it is largely a wasteland now) - they handle everything remotely and most are only still alive through massive advanced life-support systems.

* Most areas of the USA are now wastelands, both as the result of nuclear hits (the result of a reaction to the country's relentless war-mongering), the collapse of the government (after it went bankrupt), and the loss of most jobs as nearly everyone was outsourced from other countries.

* Parts of the USA are now being rebuilt as new "company cities" by the megacorps after the standard of living here fell below that of Bangladesh.  Slavery was re-instituted as a punishment for bankruptcy, with most poor people (white and black) now owned by the corporations and the other wealthy elite.  The new cities have areas of slave dwellings (slums), factories, and the palaces owned by the wealthy elite.

* The ruins of cities are home to massive gangs that are nearly feral.  Rural areas have cave-dwelling clans of inbred cannibals.

* The world as a whole is very bad off.  Temperatures have risen several degrees, massive flooding along coastlines with deadly droughts in some areas while others endure massive rainfall.  The result - widespread agricultural losses resulting in famines.  The air is choked with smoke across the entire planet.  Most flora and fauna is dead.  Cans of pure air are sold on the black market.

* The year of the game is still set in 2020.  

Jesus Christ, that is fucking awesome.

My Pathfinder group just started talking about wanting to play Cyberpunk too...

Quote from: thedungeondelver;416014...are those media now sort of goofy and unwatchable/playable/etc.?

Cyberpunk is precisely as unplayable as are westerns, 1930s pulp adventure, cliffhanger-style SF like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, Lovecraftian jazz-age horror and any other genre that you can think of.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!;416487Cyberpunk is precisely as unplayable as are westerns, 1930s pulp adventure, cliffhanger-style SF like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, Lovecraftian jazz-age horror and any other genre that you can think of.

Holy crap! Welcome back, Herr Doctor!

Indeed!

Hey WB Doc R

Idoru is happening now...

http://singularityhub.com/2010/11/09/cant-miss-videos-of-japans-3d-hologram-rock-star-hatsune-miku-in-hd/

Woot - the Doctor is IN!

Thanks.  If I can think of anything to say, I may stay.

Don't let that stop you - half the time nobody is saying anything around here anyway.