Disclaimer
There are places in the game that may have been influenced by modern day pop culture, this is not an invitation for everyone to do it.
Examples
Jane to John: I am paid less because I am a woman.
Not in 2103. Gender has so implications on salary in our world. All salary ranges are defined by the job itself codedly, the only true implications on salary are roleplay, relevant stats and relevant skills.
John shouts, "MAKE WITHMORE GREAT AGAIN!"
Modern meme reference. do not do this.
John says, "Mixers are all scum and deserve to die."
On theme.
John says, "Corpies are the real problem with the city."
On theme.
John says, "Muh fuckah was rappin' so off beat yous'a thought da chummah was left shark."
Another good effort, especially with the slang. Go me. However, the left shark reference is dated even TODAY. Let alone 100 years from now.
Cerberus thought he was making it up.
Jane-John says, "Why are people denying that you can pick your gender in 2103?"
Frank says, "You need to get a bio-mod to change your gender."
Jane-John says, "No, I don't."
Frank says, "If you want to ask people to address you with your preferred pronouns, that is up to you. If you want the city database to respect your pronouns, you need a bio-mod."
Let's be frank here. You the player, picked your characters gender during character generation. The game knows about males and females. It has special pronouns for them. If you want to ask people to refer to your male character with female pronouns (or vice versa), or use 'they' when referencing you, or something along those lines-- go for it! If you want your ACTUAL pronouns that the game uses to change, you need to get a bio-mod, which will allow the code to respect your characters choice of gender. That's just the way it is.
If your character asks people ICly to refer to them as a different gender or with different pronouns, those characters are under no obligation to do so, and your character is under no obligation not to hire someone to beat them up. It's an IC problem that needs to be handled ICly.
Jack says, "I wasn't hired hired for a job because I am male."
John says, "That's fuckin' bullshit and shitty."
And it is bullshit and shitty. ICly. The world doesn't care about our modern day biases. That doesn't mean that no one in the world doesn't have biases. If you uncover biases in NPCs or PCs ICly, you deal with them ICly.
Jack says, "People are arachiac if they don't accept my view on gender and religion, my beliefs should be the norm by the year 2103."
Joe says, "It's not that no one accepts your point of view, it's that they don't care. We've got bigger things to worry about, like Classist Corpie pricks."
Jack says, "If it's important to me it should be important to everyone."
Joe says, "No, if it's important to the world then it's important to everyone, you're the blip on the radar that goes unnoticed. Stop thinking Withmore, or Earth revolves around your ideas on what your penis, vagina, or God means to you or anyone else."
Jack says, "They insulted my beliefs, so they must care."
Joe says, "They probably insult your beliefs because you think they're important, not because they matter to anyone else one way or another. You turn nothing into something by bringing it up, if you don't want to be challenged on your beliefs, realize you're one of 73,000,000 people and keep them to yourself."
There is nothing wrong with trying and failing to convince the world that what you believe is right and true. It's good RP. However, the problem comes when players see someone speaking intelligently on a topic that relates to theme, and believing that what the player is saying is the way it's designed to be in the theme. This leads to the community policing itself in the wrong direction. Gender, race and religion matter very little. The only religion that truly matters on a global scale is Eternalism.
Just because 1 player says something is true, does not make it true. It's OK to take theme cues from other players, but it's important not to take them as an accepted part of the entire world if you aren't seeing it come from an NPC or corporate news source.
Jack says, "I don't like any race that isn't my race."
John says, "Good luck with that."
Race and gender are non-issues in 2103. The world worked out these issues way back. Someone thinking they are better than someone else because of race or gender should be treated in the same way you'd treat someone who says that people born on Wednesday are better than people born on Tuesday. We don't forbid this RP, but the world is going to treat someone saying that kinda thing as an idiot.
Jack says, "Dirty fuckin' criminal mixers ruining things for everyone."
John says, "You kiddin'? CORPIES is da fuckin' problem mano."
On theme. The only real geopolitical issue is class. The haves versus the have-nots.
Jack says, "I got a new quickterm."
John says, "Your mom is a quickterm."
Your mom is a classic, ya? Let's not make it a classic for another 100 years. We can be more creative and inventive as a way to enhancing the quality of our community and game world.
Jack says, "I got a new quickterm."
John says, "Im'a put my input in ya quickterm's output."
Good use of cyberpunk slang as a replacement for real world.
John says, "I'm walking around without a clone. Fuck Eternalism. YOLO!"
Great effort, but YOLO doesn't exist in our world and even if it did, it would be 100 years out of date. Make up your OWN slang.
John says, "I'm walking around without a clone. Fuck Eternalism. NOCLO! "
You are free to use NOCLO from now on. You're welcome.
John says, "A disguised boy robbed my crate from ACME. It must be Steve."
Jane says, "I had my crate stolen last week by a disguised boy, I bet it's also Steve."
John says, "There can only be one possibility."
Jane says, "Ya, I bet you that explains everything that has happened up to this point."
This is called meta gaming, or small world thinking. Maybe it was Steve. Maybe Steve is the only small boy who has a shroud in the game. That doesn't mean that among the 65 million+ people in the city, Steve is the only small boy with a shroud. Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Did I see the boy put on the shroud?
2. Did the boy do something I know Steve does? Such as pick his nose, or scuff his shoes against the floor in a certain way.
3. Did his disguise slip, revealing his 'name', which is an OOC indicator that your character might have glimpsed the person's face or some identifiable trait in someone they already knew?
4. Did you hear the boy talk, and recognize their voice?
5. If your answer is yes to these, is the answer also yes on any subsequent encounter with a fully disguised boy?
John says, "Donald Trump was president in 2017."
Jane says, "Donald who?"
Our timeline diverged from the modern timeline at the end of 1999. Check out the timeline on the website and you can see this. Nothing that happened after the end of 1999 happened in the Sindome Universe the same way it happened in the real world. No modern memes or slang, no modern companies. This is in place to prevent modern day references from seeping into the Sindome world. It's important. It takes practice to avoid. No YOLO. No Kardashians. No Star Wars Episode 8. The fact of the matter is, nothing that happened matters. Referencing modern day events ICly would be like going to work and referencing news stories/fads from 1918 and expecting people to get what you were talking about. That's weird. Don't be weird.
John says, "I am an expert in 1990s pop culture."
Jane says, "I can barely remember the 2090s, mano."
The Sindome Universe has gone through revolutionary and catastrophic geo-political changes that take precedent in people's memory. It is unrealistic that someone would obsess over New Kids on the Block from the 1990s in 2103 when they've grown up in a harsh dystopian future, and their life has been devoid of consistent happiness and enough down time to focus on irrelevant pop-culture from 113 years ago.
When you focus on the past, it dilutes the immersion of the current year and theme. Become an expert on the events in Withmore dating back to 2085, and the content of the timeline if you want to appear knowledgeable about world events and pop-culture.
John to Jack, "Does Rick James need to choke a bitch?"
Don't quote modern day things.
John says, "The titanic was a ship that sank."
Jack says, "America used to have 50 states."
John says, "Kurt Russel was an actor. He played Snake Plissken."
That's true, and it even happened in our timeline. Unless you are giving a history lesson though, why are you talking about something that happened 300 years ago or whatever? There are things happening in the game world TODAY or in the recent past (post 2085) that are much more relevant. It's much more immersive to use game world references and examples when discussing something or trying to prove a point. It might be more difficult, but it is also more rewarding.
Other examples of things that are not on theme:
1. modern tv show references
2. internet/youtube references
3. Any modern day meme reference
4. Any modern day slang
We welcome your thoughts, your examples, and your feedback.
Remember, it is up to each and every one of us to self police the theme. If you see someone making modern day references, remind them either ICly first that they are doing that.
IE:
.stare blankly at Jeff, "What the fuck is a YOLO? You sound like a fuckin' baka."
If ICly doesn't get the message across, try OOCly.
IE:
OOC hey, modern day meme/slang references are off theme for this game. Check out 'help theme'. I'm happy to help clarify if ya need it!
If ICly and OOCly don't work, report it on xhelp and an admin will take over.
IE:
xhelp Hey, talking to this guy Jeff and he keeps making modern day meme references. I've tried staring blankly at him ICly and tried OOCly reminding him what is/is not on theme, but he doesn't seem to get the message.
-- Slither & Cerberus
