Dystopian Theme
Oppression and Illusion rule here

The Theme of Sindome has always been dark, gritty and dystopian. A world where society is cruel, there is suffering and injustice. A world of 'haves' and 'have-nots'. A world where your neighbor is a nuisance and you should vote them for death to better your City and prevent over population. A world where you are rewarded for reporting your co-worker for crimes against their Corporation. A world where the Law is absolute and Corporations own you, body and soul. A world where seventy million plus people are crammed into one District that is so over-crowded, the populace as a whole fights for the most minimal of basic human rights, because, quite frankly, there is no such thing as human rights. It's a world that is built around survival of the fittest, richest or most conniving and the very fluidity that such an existence is fleeting and short-lived. It is a loss of individualism through totalitarian control. It's a world that is frightening, undesirable and the antonym of utopia.

I -feel- like that theme is becoming 'softened'. Players feeling offended about certain aspects of the game or dissatisfied with some of the 'tools' of the Theme. I have heard the argument many times that Sindome is a game and that it should be an environment that brings pleasure to the players, because, if the players aren't having fun...then the game doesn't thrive. And, I agree wholeheartedly. I've played SD for years and it's something that I get pleasure in every time I play it, even when it's dark and gritty. Actually, because it's dark and gritty.

Some of my best RP memories are being held at gunpoint and made to strip and being accosted and frightened, because that's the theme I signed up for...that's the theme I wanted when I started playing. I've had nude photos stolen and posted all over the Mix. I've been stalked, tortured, hunted, killed...I've been made to be frightened and miserable and treated cruelly and faced injustice. I've been cained by friends and lovers. I've been abused mentally and psychologically. I've reciprocated some of those same injustices and cruelty on others. And those are just a few of the memorable moments I've experienced in SD.

In the OOC arena, I've always been faced with courtesy and productive input - even if it was delivered without fluff. There is a line between the IC world and the OOC world of SD that is maintained and upheld. And, I am not trying to disrespect anyone with this posting but rather make a point of view from my perspective. And - none of this post is being applied to any rule violations. Those are unacceptable and should be dealt with. My comments and views are purely in the realm of appropriate, conforming Theme-based roleplay.

But, I do feel that lately there are those that struggle with the IC theme of the game. That fight against it and try and soften the edges, try and mold it to be 'more fun', less harsh, more balanced to benefit the Player, to the detriment of the game and it's Theme. Or, 'cherry pick' which theme they like and disregard other parts of Sindome's Theme. And, this is not a negative comment to any that are doing that on a personal level. I understand that every person has a different idea of what is fun, what is acceptable, what is enjoyable. And, if you don't find something acceptable, fun or enjoyable, then you should not be made to participate.

But, that's the key word. Participation. Because, it's the root of SD. The Theme. The dystopia. When you log in, the first thing you see is 'welcome to your nightmare where you wish you were dead'. I feel we've lost the ability to say -with absolute politeness and courtesy - don't participate then. Instead, it feels like the Theme is broken down or even ignored. And, that's unfair to players that have invested in participating. Have invested in the Theme.

This isn't going to be the game for everyone. It's not going to be the game that everyone finds enjoyment in. And, that's okay. What I think isn't okay is pushing the Theme of the game into a state that it is no longer that dystopian world in an effort to make it more what you as the Player want without regard to those that do appreciate all that SD offers.

I know that the argument has been 'Well, the answer isn't to tell players to leave'. And, I'm not saying that nor advocating that thought. But, there is a point where players have to decide if they can play the Theme. And, if they can't - then this isn't the game for them. It's not snobbery, it's not rudeness. It's not disregarding someone's emotional well-being or feelings. It's about putting the ownness of a Player's well-being back on the Player. This is a game that is built on certain styles of play. And those styles are ingrained into the very core of Sindome - violence, destruction, loss, suffering. Rising above it and then being knocked down by the person beneath you. Like I've heard so many times - Play to lose.

I haven't seen the game get any softer in the last three years. There have been ebbs and flows in how poweful this faction or that is and how much influence everyone feels from that, but there's been no shortage of murder, torture, mayhem and terror lately. I'm not sure what specifically you mean.

Yes, the issues are solved at a fundamental level. The corporation doesn't care what you like to do sexually, who you worship, or what color you are.

Individual people however may harbor somethings and they should be called out for it. It's not against the rules however.

What I have personally run into is the latter form of racism, which, fine, say what you want, but when I go on rants or campaigns to highlight you, why am I suddenly the bad guy? I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to "tone it down" when it comes to me defending myself on the matter, which is absolutely bizarre and counter to what every one preaches. I try to avoid most things that even revolve around it just to avoid the entire argument. What I will not do, however, is xhelp and complain about it.

Just wanted to touch on that subject while it's fresh.

@Grizzly I think 'racism' within the context of the setting makes perfect sense and is themely when done right. Maybe your character was raised with a hatred of the middle-east for causing bomb day, or they died from ebola seven from infected Chinese immigrants coming to your old town or something. Just as long as it's contextualized. I think there's a bit of white-knighting going on when it comes to certain topics, but it could just be that everyone's characters tend to be more progressive on these issues, I don't know.

I agree, it is not a far fetched argument to make that 1960's N-word and 2087 Mixer are not much different in context.

I also have brought up the cultural quarters in arguments like these before, it is a valid point.

I think most people here have experienced racism IRL in different instances and capacity and are sensitive to the subject and that's understandable. I agree it does serve as a wedge for conflict, the scale though is subjective.

I guess my point, and perhaps it's going to be seen as insensitive and I apologize if it's perceived that way. This is a game, make believe. And, to a degree, a world built on those hard-hitting experiences. So, to remove them completely takes away from the Theme. I'm not advocating abuse/bigotry/racism in RL. And, I'm not advocating that they be a driving force and bombardment on everyone in the game with them 24/7. I am saying that this game is created from and by those abuses happening in an IC arena. They exist and must exist - to a degree - and shouldn't be made not to exist.

I am not directing this at anyone in particular nor to the playerbase as a whole. It's a few pocketed things I noticed that I thought to bring here to to the boards to open up the dialogue.

They're like picket line crossers that don't have to clock out in many cases.

I don't know if I like the whole Joy shaming though. Until Corporate Hookers are corporate citizens how else are frustrated juniors supposed to get their rocks off?

To touch on recent points though: I have never, never ever seen any RP based around race or sexuality that I can say was interesting, compelling and not just a cheap jab that's mostly being exploited because you're OOCly allowed to. I'm in support of Staff's position that while it is not forbidden, it's also not a cyberpunk-y topic that anything interesting comes out of.

On the subject of service: definitely pretty easy, it leans more towards corpie lite than mixer lite which goes against intention. By all means, be looking down on and making fun of servies. On joys: should be controversial. They're like any other Mixers. If you're hiring them as a corpcit, that's good, but you don't get caught doing it or you're going to have a bad time.

The same exact stuff is used in the game with things not related to Nazis or whatever at all but when it comes to players it's instantly assumed that it has to do with Nazism. I'm asking for why there's an entire difference of opinions when it comes to things that are already in the game put there by staff, which are OK and all perfect, but when a player does it it's immediately assumed to be the worst case possible and OOCly cried about.

You can't dress your character up with literal NN symbols and then play victim when people are getting bent out of shape about it OOCly. We're in the midst of a humongous rise in fascism globally right now, and it's on people's minds.

And I agree with you. Why we'd be referring to garbage from WW2 when WW3 literally blew up the planet and forever changed history towards a bleak cyberpunk future is beyond me. If they want to scrub references to it IC, I'm fine with that personally. It shouldn't be relevant at all. It's ancient history.

Like I said before it is all subjective. What is good/bad RP is ultimately up to the persons involved. I might think something was really fun, and you might have hated it and vice versa.

I think 90% of SD understands where the line of good taste is .

The expectations, interests, and concerns have shifted, and it's natural for there to be a friction between how 'things have always been' and how things are likely to be in the future. Change is inevitable.

The core theme of Sindome is cyberpunk -- a genre that has itself grown and developed and change over the decades since its inception. No one thing defines it, and it by nature attracts a wide variety of personalities and types based on that variation. Some will be attracted to the dark grittiness, or the permissive violence, or the grey morality, or the technological themes, the transhumanism, the social exploration, or the aesthetic punk-futurist concepts.

There is no one theme and no single archetypical Sindome player.

I'd perfectly understand the complaints if there was something along the lines of swastikas going. That was what my point was about -- nitpicking.

Also that ad isn't the one I'm talking about. Anyhow, the point is that I think some people tend to get easily upset about stuff related to racism, sexual RP, genderism or whatever and straight up assume the worst about what's going down. This isn't just IC either, it has to do with OOC. OOC chat, BGBB, whatever -- whenever there is a debate (and a friendly one, not a toxic one) on an interesting topic like the ones listed above players immediately start to attack each other and get heavily upset.

Like Johnny even mentioned in OOC chat, being offended is subjective and I think lately the playerbase has been up in arms and just searching for a topic that's even a little personal or controversial to get aggressive immediately.

It sucks, it's trash, get it outta here.

Sindome, of course, has nothing even remotely like that sort of historical heft, but it is in the spectrum of online communities on the older side -- and from talking to older players, and learning about older IC events, and seeing the shift in dynamics, and staff, and rules, and expectations, and interests catalogued by the cultural record of the forums, I am very much of the opinion that Sindome has reached it's venerable age not by being a fixed time-capsule of rigid identity and inflexible concepts, but by changing as the players themselves changed, as the staff changed, as the popular concept of what is cyberpunk changed.

I can only see this as a virtue.

The computer underground and "counter culture" groups have always been hand in hand. Needless to say, cyberpunk pulls heavily from the themes of hackers and other cyber criminals who don't fit in with mainstream society.

My perception of the current iteration of the cultural wars here on Sindome is that they are overblown. There seems to be a whole lot of RL bleed going on. I would say this is normal given the newfound "freedom" that people on the fringes of gender identity have recently found to express themselves. Online communities have always been a place to experiment and be someone other than who you "are" IRL. I spent my teens and early 20s being called Phax by all my friends because that's just how it was. Everyone used their handles, even among people who had known each other for a decade or more. Anonymity and alter egos are par for the course.

I write all of this to communicate that I get it. There are players here who are exploring their gender identity. It is normal that those players are also going to manifest some of that within their characters.

Although I have only been playing here for a year, I started reading cyberpunk literature in the late 1980s and have more or less kept up with it. Despite some examples of gender commentary making it into the literature, I think that trying to forward it as a key element of the genre is an attempt to "justify" why some players and their characters might spend the majority of their online time focused on those issues.

While those are stories that are engaging and probably worth telling, my opinion (note the word opinion here) is that those are just background noise.

The key themes of dystopian cyberpunk worlds are:

Haves and Have Nots

Corporations versus Everyone Else

Technology versus Humanity

Humans / Technology versus The Environment / Earth

Sindome is a rich roleplaying environment. There is no doubt about that.

But the core premise of the game is a PVP combat simulator. Characters are expected to pick, or be forced to join a side, or sides. They are expected to do whatever it takes to live as long as possible. They are expected to be in conflict with other characters.

While a certain player or character might place a heavy emphasis on their gender identity, or race or whatever distinguishes them from the "norm", I don't think that the player base as a whole should pay much attention to it. Let's be inclusive by not making a big deal about it. There are plenty of OTHER places to push the boundaries of acceptance and inclusiveness. Let's just be inclusive here, period, full stop.

Someone saving up for a gender reassignment biomod should get about as much attention as someone saving up for any other big purchase. eg. they're putting a big fat target on themselves to be robbed. And when they get robbed it's not because "hatred" but simply because they acquired a large supply of chy and weren't subtle enough to stay quiet about it.

As a playerbase, the large majority of us are coming here to play cyberpunk. We are here to play Corpies versus Mixers. Or Ganger versus Ganger. Syndicate versus Syndicate.

I think what other players are saying, is that within that context, race and gender and all of that doesn't matter. Be a white criminal, a black corpie, a dog-person ganger, a two cocked, three boobed syndicate assassin. Whatever.

It's not that we don't care about, or support people on the fringes of society. I have friends who have gone through sex changes. I have friends from all walks of life, and all colors of the rainbow. If I want to talk to or support those friends with what they're going through, I'm not going to log into Sindome to do it. I'm not going to invite them to come here and talk about their struggles on xooc.

As a group of roleplayers, lets make Sindome a sanctuary and refuge from the shit going on in the rest of the world. Not yet another channel with a slightly different variation of the same noise that is on Facebook, Twitter, 4chan, MSNBC and everywhere else.

It really... really isn't, Hek. There might be a lot of it, and it might be core to a lot of what players do but...

It's RP first. Combat may be heavy, frequent, and a usual outcome of disputes. But that's just one facet of the game. If it was a PVP combat simulator at its core, I wouldn't be playing SD in the first place.

Hugbox atmosphere murders RP, and shouldn't be catered to. There's many, many other avenues out there for that. SD to me should be about a uphill struggle to 'make it' both for corporates and for mixers. More class divide is good, more cross-class crime is good, and much more consequences for actions, doublegood.

As for my comment earlier about joys- I was more saying that being a transparent mix joy and just riding the lev for a blowie in one-step-above immy depot clothing should be frowned upon. That's why I mentioned 'getting caught.' We have all these awesome tools now that it should not even be an issue with some forethought and preparation.

I will say that I also agree the game is at it's core, RP-based PvP in a broad sense. Combat PvP is a by-product of that RP but only one of many that can be used. There's lots of really good non-combat ways to suppress the masses and gain in power and prestige. Or, just as easily take away another person's power and prestige. Without ever having to send them to the tanks.

@)x1mm - as I said in my post, those are examples that aren't necessarily in game but used to show how the mindset should be. Feel free to disagree though, because none of this has been an argument nor am I expecting anyone to agree with me. It was my perspective as I've repeated several times in every post I put in.

"But the core premise of the game is a PVP combat simulator"

It really... really isn't, Hek. There might be a lot of it, and it might be core to a lot of what players do but...

It's RP first. Combat may be heavy, frequent, and a usual outcome of disputes. But that's just one facet of the game. If it was a PVP combat simulator at its core, I wouldn't be playing SD in the first place.

I am really glad to hear that.

I think that my comment was a bit short sighted in that regard.

The more I engage in combat, the more I find staff looking over my shoulder and questioning my motives. Questioning the motives to gently guide me down the path of Sindome not being a MUD, or a murder simulator where attacking other people is done without thought, or without fear of consequences.

Like @0x1mm just said,

There are a fair number of social non-combat characters who add a lot to the game.

As my current character is splitting the line between combat and non-combat roles, I appreciate the distinction. Based on what people have said about the game when it was smaller, I don't think my character could exist in their current form 10 years ago. Their existence is only possible because of the number of non-combat characters around.

I know a lot of people see all the death and think murderhobos run rampant, but staff are very keenly aware of who's murdering who, how much, and asking the question of "why?"

Even things like high UE chars killing low UE chars is frequently called into question on the back end, so that it isn't just a stat comparison. There's a lot of accountability and responsibility in this side of the game, and my point in stating this is to reassure anyone who has any doubts otherwise.

You're definitely in good hands.

Nailed it with the analogy.

Despite that, I can say with certainty that Sindome has considerably improved the lives and outlooks of many players. They've improved as roleplayers and as people in the world. There are plenty of players who have advanced their game toward promoting theme instead of moosex. OOC bigotries have been challenged and torn down. The players who have their characters say things like, "not bad, for a mona," have seen their biases collapse. Off-theme references have dropped, such as saying a woman is being crazy because she's on her period, in a world where endometriosis etc. have clearly long been eliminated.

These same issues existed 10, 20, 50, even 500 years ago. They're not new by any means. But these issues are finally at the infancy of being addressed IRL, and that's a step forward.

Sindome is a critical examination of potential future real-world injustices (at times frighteningly near-future injustices) while eschewing the ones that exist today.

And for that I love playing Sindome and am thankful for its existence.

Corporate citizens jumping into obviously Mix discussions or interacting with mixers they clearly know are a problem though, and Sindome seems like the kind of cyberpunk dystopia where your employers actually keep track of your Facebo- I mean SIC usage.

Instead of blaming this perceived softening of the theme on cat-earred bar-sitters, as somebody so pointedly did (kind of messed up chum), could it be that this softening of theme you're perceiving might be better explained by the large influx in player population, resulting in a larger group of players who just don't know what they're doing? Maybe it's ignorance and not a malicious cherry-picking of the theme that's to blame.

Just roleplay, because I really feel like telling people how to enjoy their text-based game doesn't help anyone and is mostly counterproductive. If it isn't dark enough, go make Withmore a little darker. Show people how to roleplay... by roleplaying.