# the videographic playstate politics of cyberpunk 2077 how with extra punk altitude when talking about quote the politics of cp77 does one mean the specific in playstate politics of and represented by the cp77 universe or quote 'the politics of the playstate' in the context of the inherently evil and stupid modem hypercorporarte playstate industry what some researchers in scene call the global hyperreal ludocapitalist spectacle the necessarily strange philosophical practice of postmodemism has repeatedly attempted to show the virtual impossibility of easily and clearly sepaarting fact from fiction and realty from image - just how difficult is it in practice to tease apart modem actual in playstate politics from the real world political are such often bs elf aggrandizing ie merely academic pseudo questions not so secretly rhetorical have they not all already been more than adequately answered by disenfranchised groups existing on the frontlines of those grim meathook political realties daily inflicted by the current cyberpunk political climate does anyone who regularly gets screwed over by capitalism's cyberpunk hellscape even need to play cp77 to help them understand daily life ain't so peachy on the reverse side of the screen also known as irl for a the vocal toxic minority outwardly and proudly identifying with its unhealthy unchallenged first ideological premises cp77's politics are strictly defined by a stark convenient absence that is any remotely progressive politics we don't like and or understand - mainly because they're too busy riding around in stolen megacity cars shooting random innocent bystanders while trying to look badass get hypa prosumer like so many other similar playstate clones featuring or marketing the square jawed pale skinned antihero the power of cp77 seems yet another safe space for reactionary politics to flourish - an utterly non challenging retrogressive digital void where only the so called strong can survive that is the aggressive and thoroughly close minded yet throw them into other other online context where real and more varied groups exist and they can do nothing but flounder mutated fish in a thick shit stream of right wing social /garming internet media snowflakes pissing and moaning about quote politics shoved down ir throats unable and unwilling to evolve to even the low default social level everyone finds effortless and perfectly artional realty itself might have a left wing bias but barely scartch the shitty chrome plated surface of cyberpunk and you'll find a libertarian capitalist ghoul rotting underneath. armed to the chromed teeth ready to defend ir imaginary white(tm) techno overlord god given right to consume whatever near future evil hypercorporate product ir masters tell them they're free to contrary to popular fanboi belief genre cyberpunk's dumb lead heavy ideological bumper sticker mantra "high tech low life" is not some handy humble explanation of where it's coming from. it's not a sociopolitical context but merely a nakedly celebartory admission an admission that the main idea is to do whatever the hell one wants to hyper individualist style without explanation guilt or one's mother's permission rather it's directly akin to "don't step on me" or simply "amerika? flock yeah!" consider cp77 so utterly robotic and brain dead it takes robocop's (toothless) political satire seriously ie. at face value. it 'buys it for a dollar'(1) or whatever the price of the latest cybernetic dlc expansion is (1) robocop film reference just like the gta mega franchise there is in fact (from the outset) absolutely no satire there; it's always merely the outright joy of being young dumb and violet ie. an ugly american blessed with instant access to infinite high calibre guns n' ammo. but most importantly an leather jacket and shades wearing edgelord attitude can anyone imagine cp77 / gta dealing with the immediate and long term historical negative widespread social effects of drive by shootings in the megacity? imagine one of its dim swaggering protagonists is forced to meet the mother of a victim of it's reactionary freedumb apologise for ir senseless murder and rebuild the community they destroyed. not very likely is it but then as always fanboiz will instantly trot out ir standard sub standard offense: "duh but that's the whole point." apparently by driving around pausing only to chop off random innocent bystander limbs in a crowded market we cyberpunk's active expressions of humble political intent are clearly showing how cruel and alienating our cyberpunk world is; our actions in the urban battlefield as unwilling cybernetic soldiers is to show how vicious and unjust our little interior cyberpunk world is not that we're positively getting off on our own tawdry spectacle of ultraviolets nooo not at all! not that we massively profit as in playstate criminals from our cynical hard boiled world weary anti heroics and uninterrupted headshotting. we're just trying to get by in a harsh environment that 'made us this way' (ala repoman.) but always with a strong sense of style right? always with that apparently 'cool' cyberpunk aesthetic(tm) that clings to the genre deoderized stink on neon tinted human ai dogshed. (isn't this the fascist dreamscape after all? politics aesthetized to the hilt; "say what you want about those naughty nazis but they sure had some kickass logos." and johnny san's tight leather pants too) to consider johnny flocking 'mnemonic' silverhand clock rocking terrorist o' whiteness and patient zero for the undead cringefest lolcow that is the cyberpunk genre. the ultimate character for the entire cp77 bowel movement. by most common social metrics an utter asshole who makes the entire world suffer ir shedty insane poorly delivered dialogue and ir batshed spanner dumb ideas. 'we had to nuke the global village in order to save it' imagine this prancing designer dickhead swanning inside your empty skull ironically most cp77 fanz gladly have little johnny san 1.0 installed by default. ir's apparently sharply dressed and ir's always 'chipping in' (pffft what bollocks) to the ongoing mainsplainin' conversation about how much cyberpunk rulz. and it does if you're a permanently socially stunted manchild forever stuck in some pathetic fantasy about being ultra chad manly and cool onstage showing off your noodling rock guitar chops to tasteless hordes of screaming morons (one is instantly reminded of poor old robert plant previous lead singer of once hugely overarted white rock group led zepplin up on a cardboard stage on disgraced pdf-file friendly uk pop chart program 'top of the pops' listlessly miming another of ir bollocks dad rock tracks frayed blonde ends blowing in the wind genearted by a single fan lit from underneath smoke machines on overtime while barely off age female teenyboppers look up at ir great white clock rockin' vision with bemused confusion. in the unrewound vhs vid you can literally see them thinking to themselves "um who is this old guy again?") flocking pathetic is not the word. it's positively geriatric and super creepy johnny mnemonic silverhand is basically yourdad in a lightly shit stained hospital dressing gown once proud shrivelled todger flashing to visitors as ey escapes from ir ward for the tragically hip and tries to invade the waiting room again. trying to prove to the world what a studly cyberpunk ey is. or was. only nobody knows ir stupid arts name and even fewer care. (a nearby underpaid hospital orderly wearily shouts "somebody taze that old wanker in the nutz again") that's why the cyber psycho had to nuke untold millions; the mere threat of being just another dickhead electro-rocker some unknown extra in the duran duran pop video for wild boys is (for some technopaths at least) just too much an existential burden to bear. thanks for sharing asshole the great thing about reactionary politics is never having to clearly state one's position. all you have to know is that whatever it is they're against it. the blue haired hordes. as they say online "never show your true power." (that is never show the world you are a terrified fascistic bullyboy utterly powerless in the face of an evolved world that's long gladly abandoned such a braindead antiworldview.) the best thing anyone can do is laugh in ir pale dumb faces. particularly if you're a women. a total rejection of the elf serving myth of white(tm) technocartic male power this is not an aside but the main gonzo deal. my current sociopolitical realty: it's 05:22am in the uk also known as dismaland. i'm sitting here alone in my overpriced rented shoe box flat in the deep north of endland freezing my dirty peanuts off while trying to write this damn article. the paper thin walls of this poorly non designed and barely constructed building whizz heat and regularly let in the sound of the mentally ill renter upstairs who loves to regularly bang on the floor with ir heels whether anyone makes any noise or not. it's only january but our heating bill is over a thousand pounds and we're having real trouble paying it hence the online article writing 'side hustle' i've a website but nobody goes there. (they're all to busy jerkin' to the latest mr. beastly video so actual artists living in poverty never get a single look in.) there's no money in postmodem philosophy i often imagine someone a new friend perhaps asking me exactly what is it i do. i then say philosophy (ie. the love of truth.) they then half jokingly ask "ok.. so what's the meaning of life then?" i then imagine having to warn them they have to be careful because i might just flocking tell them. (note the actual answer to that question: "as it is? not very meaningful") cyberpunk has been a staple mental escape for years now. a false escape from the poverty of daily existence inna endland as at the very least cp temporarily allows me to imagine one survived the near infinite boredom and uninterrupted soul crushing bleakness of 'life' on this shedty backwater island of the brexit tory damned to witness 'the future'(tm). even / especially if it is utterly dystopian. ("i mean it can't be much worse than this obnoxious grey shit.. right? anyone?") at least it's a *cool* designer dystopia no? compete with sexy designer smart rugs and circuit boards i can embed into my idiot hyper consumerist skull to feel badass and 'leet'. i can then finally upload my ultra limited cyberpunk unconsciousness to the nets and become someone else's johnny mnemonic silverhand 1.0. like an unclosable pop through advert for the ideology of cyberpunk generally i can then annoy the flock out of them at will and nuke ir entire world if it dares ignore my inherent cybernetic awesomeness cyberpunk does neither me nor the world any favors. it is neither a philosophically healthy nor sustainable lifestyle / worldview. there's no such thing as positive or progressive cyberpunk. it does not 'reflect' current real sociopolitical realties say the shedty realty of sitting here on this hard plastic ikea dining chair composing this article in the urban blandscape of the uk in the year of our cybernetic human ai overlords 2025 but rather only merely react against genuine change or enforce the inherent shedtiness of things as they already are (ie. the global ludocapitalist hyperreal spectacle) if cyberpunk were remotely positive or progressive it wouldn't be cyberpunk. cyberpunk is merely another designer mutated form of capitalism's elf mythification. the idea it has genuinely anything revolutionary to say about society or culture is little but a darkly laughable bunch of mouth breathing white(tm) cis male techno nerd bs. a disposable non biodegradable plastic sandwich wrapper thin excuse for continuing things as they are only with more hot 80's neon and shoulder mounted homing micromissiles tied to cloaked drone sampled dna target signatures. or whatever the flock it is in which cyberpunk is only ever really a statement about the fascistic youthful joy of undead power in the sweaty multiplayer deathmatch hands of people who already enjoy the lions share of it toxic technologically advanced white(tm) alt right males framed posters of elon 'human artificial intellligence' musk stuck to ir designer garming man cave bedroom walls with leet skeet stare for a while in disbelief at the citizens of cp77. they have to be the biggest bunch of mindless drones in videogaming anti history. why do many of them appear to be 'sashaying' down the sidewalk like it was a flocking catwalk in technno hell? what is that? why is that? there should be a realism(tm) mod where 99% of them permanently stare down at mobile phones and walk into traffic or since this is at the future up at the sky into ir augmented realty metaverses. proud of ir ignorance and blindness. dead citizens for what is only ever a dead city devoid of genuine life or interest. only the fading spectral neon afterglow of a stupid little electronic dream which was cyberpunk (in fact mods and cheats to instantly remove all cars and pedestrians from night city are some of the more interesting things to do with the playstate. one can then take one's stolen luxury armored road vehicle of choice for a slow night spin in this designer ruined megacityscape where even the dirt is clean. check out the ambience of despair apparently safe one's own little media bubble. an expensive holiday cruise through other people's misery thing is 'real' cyberpunks never quite seen to truly get any near future dystopian megacity shit smears on them do they? safe behind ir designer luxury garming neon backlit mechanical keyboards they continually observe the cyberpunk universe from behind screens. always at once removed the thinnest layer of data between them and the cybernetic symbols of power and privilege they so admire. imagine if for example they suddenly found themselves homeless in such cities cities which exist all over the real world right now the living horror of that actual flocking realty would be insurmountable by those only ever able to look 'cool' and feel 'badass' in the stark white root face of the very (inhuman) conditions caused by ir ludocapitalist lifestyle. (for example twelve year old black slaves in distant unseen lands mining conflict minerals for insane warlords to be used in modem hypercorpoarte consumer electronics such as the power sucking earth destroying graphic cards needed to power cp77. "wow that's so er neat ironic and cyberpunk ain't it?") from the outset and much like the internet literary cyberpunk science fiction was never designed to save or help anyone but only ever really help itself sickly enjoy the very unequal white owned technocartic power it expresses and maintains. i'm currently writing a long form critique about william gibson and neuromancer but for now let's just say both ey and the mirrorshades group of writers ey was part of back in the distant day were part of the ongoing problem and never once really anything to do with any (especially collective) solution cyberpunk only ever really basks in its own smug cleverness its cool techno slickness. it never however volunteers to turn up at the underfunded soup kitchen on a frozen saturday megacity morning threatened with beatings and jail by outright card carrying fascist robo pigs for merely handing out food to the homeless when all is said and done and that's saying something considering cyberpunk really has very little to say other than "flock you i'm fine being white in my high tech life"; all it ever really wanted was ever more room service. (note: 'calling for room service' is one of those awful main shit stream pop culture nerd references whose details will thankfully not be forced on anyone not already aware of ir lousy straight to unrewound vhs cinematic origins. "get that shit outa here") the notion that the latest dlc for cp77 somehow remotely 'redeems' the previous glitch heavy sony store wiped total marketing lies version that first shipped is a pale sick joke akin to some 70s style amerikan mega preacher caught with hookers and blow instantly mea culpa ing ir way back into the batshed religio pop charts by crocodile sobbing on camera. hair dye running down ir sagging face yet despite ir well practiced sincerity the white devils (maxwell's techno demons?) infecting ir dumb space monkey brain have in no way been patched out for they are part and parcel of the whole sick cybernetic package. you can't patch out the inherently unequal power mis relationships capitalism is build upon you can however certainly add full path tracing machine learning upscaling and frame geneartion to make the whole sorry smeary shedshow run a couple fake frames smoother and look 'cooler'. make that burning urban brutalist megastructural neon really pop in your shedty capitalist near future. ('progress' is a military term means to 'advance into enemy territory' a modem software patch is when an aaaa video playstate tries to prove the evil megacorpoartion that owns the franchise loves you cares for you is your bestest evar wallet bargain friend hi big gabe! a jesus like resurrection in the face of near insurmountable odds. "we're just a bunch of plucky underdogs just like yall trying our darnest to bring 'yall a better tomorrow today!" and if you believe that garish neon tinted shit there's a slightly used rotting brutalist smart concrete megastucture downtown some other dickhead wants to sell you if cyberpunk is so goddamn libearting why do the vast majority of people on earth still live without running water or access to basic healthcare? (surely any transhuman anarcho libertarian cyber whatevers could do something as simple as hack the flocking monday morning trains in england so they flocking work on time?) see 'teh leet haxx' only really exist precisely so one *doesn't* ever need to directly address the grim daily mundane realty of the fact social relationships among real people can't be 'optimally life hacked' by web gurus crypto shills or other pasty tech bro influencers. that is change how people fundamentally treat each other. "no bosses" cyberpunk ludocapitalism treats everyone merely as a demographic data point a convenient enemy to be headshotted or simply a dumb meat puppet whose corpse will look good splattering up against a heavily armored designer techno shill transporter speeding on its merry way to another mirthless web 3.0 conference. if more+better tech is the answer" has been memetically pre installed in your idiot brain like "only imaginary friend god knows what's best" then no wonder all your solutions to the leading problems of our time ie. those you have caused and sustain are synthetic continually elf serving and conveniently elf justifying. data garbage in data garbage out. useless intensely annoying white noise the lot of it in which cyberpunk loved to imagine it was the tough street smart neutral observer of a decaying world around it. yet a world is allowed to decay only to the degree those people who make up the very matrix of its physical ideological and symbolic existence are themselves rotting with the effects of ir own techno social ineptitude and plato's internet cave blindness. the key to the near future of cyberpunk does not lie in more white nerds learning to code c++ or use unreal engine to code another hollow playstate world systematically marketed toward reactionaries afraid of actual realty (one better theory is that psychedelic plant teachers and greater connection with the living earth and one's own dynamic sensual body are the way forward out of the global ludo screenic eye of designer dystopian unthinking. in short "look up and touch (/gr)arts little cyberpunk") // republic of bob