The Divide.
Where your character fits in it.

I wrote a lengthy post only for it to be eaten up as my browser reloaded, I might elaborate later when I am not about to murder someone. (Thanks PS4) Basically, think of black mirrors episode where others are defined by their standing, dealing with the divide lowers it, and this effects where you sleep to what you eat and where you work. We are not supposed to be abandoning this for public image to seem more friendly to the divide, or to seem less mysterious as a established character in the Mix by telling others trivial things to appease the publics opinion and seem more likeable by engaging no names and the divide that you would forget it's even there. This goes both ways, do not participate and it will solve itself, however it seems here to stay, generally under sexual undertone engagement or friendly banter with the enemy whether a Have or Have Not. This sets a bad example for our new players, and I have thinking about this for some time and think it deserves a post and some attention now. I' m not telling you how to play your character, I'm asking you to consider the themeliness of your RP instead of making it fluffy moo. I propose we bring back Class Wars to drive the point home, and the responsible corporation hire a new suitable host.

Also, one last thing tugging the back of my mind... We can't talk about certain groups for blaring reasons, but members of them can aire it's business out on public SIC like it's their diary? Shouldn't they be facing severe consequences for being so foolish and immature to bring light to these groups' business affairs? It's a daily thing now. Four years ago I didn't know they ven existed. It seems silly to brutally punish others who speak of these groups ie. Inquiring how to join vs. Grown ass adults broadcasting this business to the dome in some ego fuelled war. They should be held to a higher standard than the public who are punished for even whispering their existence, let alone advertising it's business. This also contributes to the above problem.

Also to tack on, I don't mean to dismiss your post. I only mean to say without giving away any information--some things are as they are because it's fine, but some things can improve.

I also believe that there is WAY to much made public about the groups in question. They're not an in-world secret but it is kind of silly.

Also I see OP subtweeting specific characters in a way that makes it clear he has no idea what those characters are actually like or what their RP is all about. So maybe tap the brake on that.

On a serious note though; I don’t disagree that some people take it a little too far on there but if that’s the paydata you are relying on selling, then it was probably public knowledge anyways. What people really forget here is ambient population. It can only be one or two people in a certain organization, because that is all they have to do, right? plenty of times it is gm’s and people heckling from the faceless crowd because they don’t like the people involved. If you think nothing ever happens over it well I don’t know what to tell you, would you like these peoples bosses to publicly sic their punishments for your satisfaction? Redundancy. Especially thinking their bosses are logged into the grid mainframe and watching everyone in the 800 billionn pop sicing to see who slandered who. What I’m saying here is it’s not always as you see it.

I have to agree that 'The Divide' is a problem, it has always been a problem and it will probably remain to be one (in a larger or smaller scale) since you can't control the actions of others and tell them what to do and every day we get new players who aren't familiar with the genera.

Everyone has a different idea of what the game should be like, but I agree that every single player should at least try to comprehend the common 'Themes' that encapsulate the Cyberpunk genera.

Sadly some players can't be bothered to read a 150 words helpfile, so forget about them reading 300 pages books to better understand what Cyberpunk means. They are mostly going to take cues from other players (some of who might not understand Cyberpunk either) and NPCs.

Instead of addressing this issue on a macro scale, I would suggest you do it on a personal level and take it to heart. Be the change you want to see in the world, lead by example and show other players how you think it should be done and others will follow.

Is another character not playing into 'The Divide' and it bugs the living hell out of you and your character? Then brand them a poser or a traitor, make an example out of them for others to see and make everyone realize that for your character this kind of behavior is unacceptable and merits consequences. How you go about it is up to you entirely and it depends on the resources that your character has at its disposal, but you can always get creative and do something about it no matter how limited the tools you have.

One of the key elements of 'The Divide' is HATE, people don't like to play into it for both OOC and IC reasons. Maybe the player doesn't have it in them or doesn't want to be the conduit for hate. Also even tho it might be good for RP it might be bad for your character, hating generates conflict which is generates RP which is good for the game, but it can also make your character a target and isolate you from other characters.

I find most players want to be generally well liked by everyone and have no morals, personal code or political agenda whatsoever, or at least they aren't vocal about it for fear of retribution.

Oh, is the person beside you a child killer, a cannibal, a corpie that profits from the suffering of hundreds of innocents or an asshole who has spent the past 2 years talking down on your 'social class' saying are garbage? Then I am going to try to befriend them and keep my mouth shut, so nothing bad happens to my character. In fact not only that, I am going to help them when they are in need so that they will definitively not mess with me and while I am at it I am going to compliment them and tell them they are 'super cute' and never ever betray them. This way, my character will survive to be MAX UE and THEN when its safe enough I'll start being an asshole to everyone for no logical reason.

This kind of behavior is not great for the Theme or the game, I understand that nobody likes to lose but a big part of Cyberpunk is taking risks and losing, it doesn't mean you won't get back on that horse and win some days but the Punk in Cyberpunk means being a rebel and defying the world and the people in it. If you play into conformity and safety and are friends with everyone, maybe then you should freshen up on that copy of Neuromancer that has been gathering dust on top of your bookcase for sometime.

Ultimately its the job of the staff to enforce the theme and how they go about its not for us to decide, even if we are entitled to our own opinion. If they feel something or someone is not playing to the theme be sure that they will do something about eventually.

Regarding your comments SmexyCucumber. Remember public SIC is basically an entertainment tool for the foolish masses, nothing that is in public SIC is to mean to be taken seriously or as a fact, because anybody can simply dump something in a dumper alias. Real reputation is built on the streets. So if you see somebody from an allegedly secret group talking smack or somebody dumping free data in public SIC, take it as a signal of their IC competence and motives.

It's a tightrope. There's kind of a counterpoint to be made about not taking the divide to the point of overzealousness- it's not unthemely for the Mix to talk to Topside and Topside to the Mix, they each have things they want from each other and there's a layer of nuance. Schmoozing and keeping channels and chummers on the other side is good roleplay, you just keep it quiet and out of public where it doesn't make you look bad. Have an explanation, a quick detachment and yeah, don't make your faction look bad, but a layer of subversiveness and interaction drives RP.

Unless I'm totally misunderstanding the point being made here.

When it comes to theme and public communication:

- Mixers and corpies (or other rival groups) should tend to avoid appearing chummy with the other.

- Mixers should tend to to sound less fancy and educated

- Corpies should tend to sound more professional and haughty

- Gangers should tend to be more boisterous

- Syndicates should tend to be more discrete

- Characters should avoid pop culture references

But these are just tendencies. Each character is unique. As is each situation. And more is going on than you know a majority of the time; so what seems like poor RP to you (given your limited view) might seem like amazing RP if you had a more complete picture.

As a few have said already, should your character find something communicated in public distasteful, insulting, stupid, threatening or whatever, they should react to it ICly. In a way that makes sense for your character.

If it something happens that you feel is really out of line, xhelp. Staff will handle it if it needs handling.

To be honest, it seems pretty straight forward to me.

@BlazingCoconut Ask some characters who lost people to the divide IC and see what their response is. Granted it will likely be skewed (either slightly or a lot) but it will give you an idea of how they were treated.