How do ppl feel about the balancing of mature themes and censorship?

[ShinAkira00]

Now that it's been a few years and we're effectively at the end of the road for major updates, I'm curious how ppl feel about the game's handling of some of the mature themes typically associated with the Cyberpunk genre and also censorship. I wasn't going to include the censorship but having consumed this genre for most of my life I think that is a part of the DNA of the genre and can't really be overlooked.

Obviously there were a lot of criticisms of the game at launch, some were warranted and others were a bit of an overreaction from the community.

1. On the subject of mature themes, I think the writers achieved the same level of success that they did in the Witcher but this can be seen as both a good and bad thing. Two of my favorite examples of this are the Quests with Evelyn and the other with River's quest which gave you that investigative perspective to the seedy underbelly of this dystopian world where money, power, drugs and depravity run rampant. It very much gave you some Blade Runner vibes. That said, if we were to compare the execution with some of the Novels that inspired the genre or even anime that arose from it then the game is still a bit on the conservative side of things especially where it concerns some of the more philosophical elements. At this point however, I think gamers have to recognize the difference in mediums because the writers can't focus too much on dialogue that will be too preachy, and the rating system will severely limit how far they can go with certain themes. The developers can only push the envelope so far and in that I do believe they achieved a good balance.

2. Now on the more controversial topic which isn't too far removed from the point above but I recall it was a sore point for many gamers. I think there are two issues, one is the expectations from the gaming community because I don't believe many of them understand how nudity is used in the cyberpunk genre. This is best explained with an example so let's use Ghost in the Shell since it's a popular one. When you watch The Ghost in the Shell animated movie the first scene you get of the protagonist shows her in the nude but it is not in a sexual way. At other points throughout the film when she appears nude, again it is never in a sexual way because there's always a purpose. She's an android and so she doesn't possess that notion we do that she is exposed. I think nudity has become somewhat perverse within the genre (and TV in general) that a lot of ppl only want to see nudity if it's depicted in an explicit or erotic way. When I first saw that scene of Major ripping off the door from that tank, my first thought was "that's f$&king badass", not....can I romance her.

Obviously sex sells and this is the part where I think CDPR is partly to blame, because they marketed the game on something as shallow as sex/nudity. There was no need for genital sliders in character creation and having dildo's everywhere in the game was just senseless. I feel like they shove erotic content in places where it doesn't need to be but in the places where it should be it's lacking. Rather than having so many sexual billboard ads, why not just have it at or around the clubs where it makes sense, Clouds or Mox etc. It's really bizarre how they chose to implement this. I think nudity or sex is fine in places where it makes sense or services the story and since they achieved this balance with the Witcher 3, it's baffling how they couldn't do it with CP 2077. I think most ppl would be ok if they removed the exaggerated sexual ads and just had some BD's that they could watch some models dance. Unless the ratings board changed since Witcher 3 I think they would have been fine. If anything the thing that affected them the most was all the erotic content all over the game. Hopefully they have a better sense of direction for the next game because they failed rather poorly on this aspect.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Over-sexualization is a part of this dystopian world and you nailed it in your post. Sex sells! So in this world without any regulation, sex is "overused" and shown everywhere, even if it's only to promote a drink or dog food (they simply removed/replaced dildos shortly after release, because well... They represented most of junk and were literally everywhere, which was strange^^).
Again, Ghost In The Shell is not Cyberpunk/Nigh City and honestly, I doubt they will change that in the next game

 

[koalahugs]

I do wish they would ditch the prostitution feature. I don't know why that became a tradition of CDPR games, but it doesn't fit well with a story which is otherwise trying to get you to see how bad sexual exploitation is.

 

[CyberpunkRoslyn]

Here are my honest opinions about balancing of censorship. CDPR needs to break the ice and just let the game have mature gestures and encounters. I'm not saying this because the game feature sex ads, or for the simple pleasure of just seeing V get it on with a saucy NPC. I am saying this because, there are missed opportunities for a real life experience in the realm of mature gestures and encounters. To be specific, CDPR gave us a spy-thriller with Phantom Liberty. Dogtown's atmosphere put V in a no boundaries approach. It was execute the FIA's mission or die. In that mindset, V has to do what V has to do in order to survive. This is where our mature themes were suppose to take off. To affectively incorporate it in the gameplay, it could have required V to keep a saucy relationship with a few key characters if he/she wanted to obtain intel. This would have made the atmosphere of Dogtown feel a bit more realistic, as it would if it existed in real life. Let's get more specific. When Aurora moves to your side of the roulette table, I was waiting for her to slip V a keycard to her apartment. This would have made the espionage more covert because part of gaining personality, could have involved becoming more interment or having physical contact with the person. Through the relationship, V may have been able to convince Aurora to join her side; but as we know things come with a cost.

It's safe to say that a mature audience supports Cyberpunk. I don't see any harm in putting it in the game. They game is filled with ads and explicit references between NPCs and dialogue options. Part of me thinks that CDPR practice constraint on this feature because of console accessibility in retail stores. If the game had been a PC-exclusive, there would have been a lot more romance in the game. After playing this game on PC, I will never go back to console version, because it's the difference between night and day. Even the options of enhancing V's appearance gives the game a spicier vibe on the PC version.

In ways it's disappointing to be forced to invest over a thousand eddies into a PC just as I did, for the mature experience that this game offers. However, most of those features were supported by MODS. CDPR has a lot to consider for the second game. One in particular were more options for character customization and quality of life. Outside of the missions, what can gamers do as a past time? Overall, CDPR has a lot of decisions to make. Do they want the back support of the game to rely heavily on mods, or can they give us the game that they promised, without withdrawing so much in censorship.

 

[CS554]

Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the great cyberpunk works that just happens to be a video game.

1. On the subject of mature themes, I think the writers achieved the same level of success that they did in the Witcher but this can be seen as both a good and bad thing. Two of my favorite examples of this are the Quests with Evelyn and the other with River's quest which gave you that investigative perspective to the seedy underbelly of this dystopian world where money, power, drugs and depravity run rampant. It very much gave you some Blade Runner vibes.

I think for most players around the most important factor was, that game stood on its own. Blade Runner visualized some important aspects like polluted world and neon hell as every possible place was sold for advertising space. While we see all that in and around the Night City, game has its own take, trash belt around city showing us how things are just thrown away, nothing recycled and trash bags in city area about lack of public works and regulation. City where people can afford to have functional garbage collection and proper road maintenance has these light columns full of adverts reaching up to space. Ha ha.

Any visitor in this virtual world gets their crash course about the cyberpunk genre and more.

Cyberpunk themes like corruption, even in base game we get cross section of that, though the first sneak peak about that is as early as in the Heist. Only missing piece was what is happening in larger scope, NUSA and that we get via Phantom Liberty expansion. Other things, gangs and corporation using gangs as proxies in their war against each others, little things like how we learn Zetatech can be even worse than organized crime as their contracts are legally binding.

That said, if we were to compare the execution with some of the Novels that inspired the genre or even anime that arose from it then the game is still a bit on the conservative side of things especially where it concerns some of the more philosophical elements. At this point however, I think gamers have to recognize the difference in mediums because the writers can't focus too much on dialogue that will be too preachy, and the rating system will severely limit how far they can go with certain themes. The developers can only push the envelope so far and in that I do believe they achieved a good balance.

I disagree about philosophical questions. Game in my opinion explores a lot about human condition. It shatters certain things. Making something like violence, "future" or "cyber" doesn't make it cool. It's as sad and dirty and driven by same motivations like always. Having Smart shotgun or Mantis Blades doesn't change homo sapiens, those are just better / alternate weapons.

Transhumanism, I think the most relevant is Saburo, Relic and how things go in the Devil ending. Solving one problem, that of immortality, creates others.

Oh, if someone would like to find out more about how Aldecaldos work, instead of how they look they might have some luck with philosopher John Stuart Mill.

There are way too many of these to even list in context of this topic but I really like how game rather than underlining things, makes players ask questions, which IMO is much better way to cover topics like philosophy in product like this.

Overall, CP2077 is really comprehensive cyberpunk work. I think Bruce Sterling's Islands in the Net (1988) had huge scope and detail what comes to economics and some other things (real slog to read through though). Then Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon (2002) pondered about issues of immortality (Netflix series produced much later IMO lost its focus during its first season). Effects to individual, certain parts from Evelyn's, or rather Judy's, story line echo from Mona's from Gibson's Neuromancer.

There's very little point to create work like game is, unless topics that are inherently mature, are also covered mature way and game succeeds in this very well.

2. Now on the more controversial topic which isn't too far removed from the point above but I recall it was a sore point for many gamers. I think there are two issues, one is the expectations from the gaming community because I don't believe many of them understand how nudity is used in the cyberpunk genre. This is best explained with an example so let's use Ghost in the Shell since it's a popular one. When you watch The Ghost in the Shell animated movie the first scene you get of the protagonist shows her in the nude but it is not in a sexual way. At other points throughout the film when she appears nude, again it is never in a sexual way because there's always a purpose. She's an android and so she doesn't possess that notion we do that she is exposed. I think nudity has become somewhat perverse within the genre (and TV in general) that a lot of ppl only want to see nudity if it's depicted in an explicit or erotic way. When I first saw that scene of Major ripping off the door from that tank, my first thought was "that's f$&king badass", not....can I romance her.

Game's take on sexuality is far more mature than I expected. It looked that it could turn to something not so good but it weren't so.

Only controversial thing regarding game and sexuality I can recall was column published by some gaming site, where games was accused of having constant male eye. It intentional attempt to get clicks by revealing some issues but it didn't really worked as there's no way to describe dystopia without showing its issues. There was one thing that bothered me, there were but perhaps one Scav ripped male body in game during release. All the rest were female models IIRC. Why would chrome ripped from female body be any different to one ripped from male body? I think there CDPR were catering to body horror fetish crowd, whom more or less cyberpunk has been way to access to things due to couple of movies from the past, rather than intellectual aspects of genre.

Masamune Shirow is considered genius, then reasons for such status may varies. I like the dissonance between elements, beautiful naked body going through very complex machinery, we learn she is dependent. My take is that Shirow was probably laughing his ass off when planning that opening crawl scene.

How is looks of Major Kusanagi but her choice? She is meant to look desirable, ghost in a shell, body doesn't equal what makes Kusanagi, but what's between her ears. That said, I never considered character as sex symbol even if that was perhaps even intended. Perhaps different beauty standards or something,

But then Panam, Phantom Liberty ending Misty looks hot... art imitates life, life imitates art. Being attracted so femine features is how most of us males work. I like real women, why wouldn't I? Then why should my V feel bad about his sexuality, actually, why should anyone?

Obviously sex sells and this is the part where I think CDPR is partly to blame, because they marketed the game on something as shallow as sex/nudity. There was no need for genital sliders in character creation and having dildo's everywhere in the game was just senseless. I feel like they shove erotic content in places where it doesn't need to be but in the places where it should be it's lacking. Rather than having so many sexual billboard ads, why not just have it at or around the clubs where it makes sense, Clouds or Mox etc. It's really bizarre how they chose to implement this. I think nudity or sex is fine in places where it makes sense or services the story and since they achieved this balance with the Witcher 3, it's baffling how they couldn't do it with CP 2077. I think most ppl would be ok if they removed the exaggerated sexual ads and just had some BD's that they could watch some models dance. Unless the ratings board changed since Witcher 3 I think they would have been fine. If anything the thing that affected them the most was all the erotic content all over the game. Hopefully they have a better sense of direction for the next game because they failed rather poorly on this aspect.

Sex and nudity is why our species is still kicking around on this planet. Won't have children without that drive so inherently it's everything but shallow.

Sex in advertising can be a good distraction, so much that we never come to talk about dog food add, in a world where there's no dogs but perhaps some top corpo's can afford them, and add doesn't look something easily associated with elite corpo style at all.

That said, that drive can also be exploited to the point where people watching the adverts become product themself. Someone drinking NiCola softdrink and Abydos beer, wearing certain kind clothes from certain brand and such products wants to come off as very masculine, but in the process trying to turn to this stereotype, becomes a product: "Clink" Sound of corporations attaching their leash, as now your value is based on what and how much you are willing to consume. Having these everywhere makes perfect sense in Night City.

 

[Bartinga2077]

"HOW DO PPL FEEL ABOUT THE BALANCING OF MATURE THEMES AND CENSORSHIP?"​

Have always felt that the developers were forced to take large leaps back to not go out of line on accord of certain parties concerning "mature themes".

 

[CS554]

"HOW DO PPL FEEL ABOUT THE BALANCING OF MATURE THEMES AND CENSORSHIP?"​

Have always felt that the developers were forced to take large leaps back to not go out of line on accord of certain parties concerning "mature themes".

Do you mean "Mature themes" as R or X rated content, or something else? I ask because there's nothing secret in Microsoft Xbox and Playstation not allowing X rated content in their online store. Can't think I ever saw R-rated game in Xbox store either.

 

[Bartinga2077]

Do you mean "Mature themes" as R or X rated content, or something else?

I mean exactly that what the OP means in his title.

 

[tavellone]

I don't see how a rating system affects the level of philosophical or sociopolitical commentary in the game, there are many games that have a clear political and/or social narrative and are not hit by a rating system because of it and I don't think it's due to wanting to avoid being too preachy either as there are also quite a few games that succeed in pushing a very definitive viewpoint that isn't. I think there are two reasons that Cyberpunk is more oblique with any political narrative, and these are purely my assumptions 1. the writers are not interested in pushing a social/political narrative too far due to a lack of desire and/or any deep understanding or interest of such narratives 2. Cyberpunk 2077 is a game made by a big corporation who wants to sell games anything too 'political' would be a hard sell, particularly nowadays.

This is not to say the game does not have some sort of opinion or view on politics or society or any of the topics that come up in Cyberpunk, obviously they do, some of that is from the writers, a lot of that is from the source material and I do have to say the concepts this game deals with are not dealt with badly at all, just not too deeply in my opinion.

As for the sexual themes, I get that sex is cheap and everything is profane blahblahblah but I think that some aspects are not handled great in this game, it's more like a 14 year old's view of sex than anything 'profane' or cheap. It's more titillation than anything. I'm speaking mainly of the adverts, to me they scream shocking for the sake of being shocking, with not much behind it. Especially when you compare it to the more 'mature' sexual aspects in the relationships, which are downright pedestrian, though to me are at least more realistic and actually mature.

 

[Feline_Witcher_]

The Witcher games handled sex better, and that's a Medieval world. Cyberpunk ought to have surpassed it, but it didn't.

 

[0248991]

Hey,
awesome thread and amazing comments

On the subject of mature themes

I think they have overdone it with some - especially with the crucifixion.
I believe you can create mature content without actually showing too much of it - e.g. I find the "Evelynn in the tub scene" (if there was less blood, but whatever) far less "negatively influential" than personally participating in a long-running ritual crucifixion.

There was no need for genital sliders in character creation

Yeah, I find it completely unnecessary (in the current state of the game). But I guess I get the initial idea - themes of personal hygiene, human body, adulthood/life, (body modification), the raw reality,...and I love it - it goes really well with how the game (should have) plays and feels.

Funnily enough, I think that the scene with V brushing her teeth teased the maturity of the world pretty well - wake up, a guy from last night just leaves, V wakes in panties and a loose top, brushes her teeth, puts clothes on and runs out to meet Jack - it doesn't get cooler than that.

I think this is very well shown in the 48min gameplay demo - sleepover, greet Jack, talk cool with Dex, take a job, make resonating choices, take action, get paid, level up, get out for a scotch in a waiting car

having dildo's everywhere

I think they were leftovers from testing/development. CDPR loves to test their systems using dildos for everything
And they remained there because of the rushed release.
So I think it was not intentional at all.

 

[ShinAkira00]

Over-sexualization is a part of this dystopian world and you nailed it in your post. Sex sells! So in this world without any regulation, sex is "overused" and shown everywhere

If by "this" you mean the source material, no it really isn't. The Table top game doesn't exaggerate it to this extent and that's the point. If you mean the genre then that's also not the case. Yes sex is prevalent in the genre but it serves a purpose for world building, I didn't feel like Milf Guard ads in this game was selling me on the world, it felt like it was just there for the sake of being there. My example with the genital slider in character creation is a perfect example, things being added for surface level shock value instead of being purposefully included.

I'm not saying sex or nudity in the game is an issue, as I said in my very first sentence..."I think that is a part of the DNA of the genre". What I'm saying is the execution was poor.

Post automatically merged: Oct 25, 2023

Funnily enough, I think that the scene with V brushing her teeth teased the maturity of the world pretty well - wake up, a guy from last night just leaves, V wakes in panties and a loose top, brushes her teeth, puts clothes on and runs out to meet Jack - it doesn't get cooler than that.

I think that scene is actually a nod to Ghost in the Shell. The trailers that they released definitely managed to give you the tone without overexposure. Obviously they had to tone things down for a global trailer release but it goes to show that sometimes less is more.

Post automatically merged: Oct 25, 2023

Do you mean "Mature themes" as R or X rated content, or something else? I ask because there's nothing secret in Microsoft Xbox and Playstation not allowing X rated content in their online store. Can't think I ever saw R-rated game in Xbox store either.

Mainly adult themes, like psychological trauma or sociopolitical topics. The second part is about the depiction of sexual or explicit content so I guess both

Post automatically merged: Oct 25, 2023

That said, that drive can also be exploited to the point where people watching the adverts become product themself. Someone drinking NiCola softdrink and Abydos beer, wearing certain kind clothes from certain brand and such products wants to come off as very masculine, but in the process trying to turn to this stereotype, becomes a product: "Clink" Sound of corporations attaching their leash, as now your value is based on what and how much you are willing to consume. Having these everywhere makes perfect sense in Night City.

I don't really agree on this bit. I've watched and read most cyberpunk material out there and they manage to communicate that hyper sexualized era without making it feel senseless. You get that from Blade Runner without every billboard having ass cheeks. Again, it's the execution.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

If by "this" you mean the source material, no it really isn't. The Table top game doesn't exaggerate it to this extent and that's the point. If you mean the genre then that's also not the case. Yes sex is prevalent in the genre but it serves a purpose for world building, I didn't feel like Milf Guard ads in this game was selling me on the world, it felt like it was just there for the sake of being there. My example with the genital slider in character creation is a perfect example, things being added for surface level shock value instead of being purposefully included.

I'm not saying sex or nudity in the game is an issue, as I said in my very first sentence..."I think that is a part of the DNA of the genre". What I'm saying is the execution was poor.

By "this" I mean, the world that CDPR has depicted, a world in which there is (almost) no regulation, a world in which everything's good to sell stuff and make money. In the city of dreams, they sell dream...
Not surprising for me, to see ads using sex to sell random stuff all over the city (I mean IRL, I saw ads for for man/woman underwear in bus station where kids take bus to go at school...). It's just "world story telling" in the same way as you can find weapon ads for famillies, gore ads (like "hate your meat?" one) or kids playing with guns... It just depict how far a society without any regulation can go.

 

[koalahugs]

Personally I'm fine with the character creator. The genital slider doesn't strike me as needlessly spicy - it's just... biological, and that's fine. If anything I found it adds to the role-playing aspect of things. The only thing I wish they added were more body shapes than just the one. It also would've been better if they could decouple gender identity from voice, and added gender fluid/neutral pronouns.

As for the adverts - I was mostly fine with them. It makes sense to me that corps would aggressively market their products using tactics that are known to work. However some of the adverts were a little too forced and on-the-nose for my liking. E.g. the "are you getting close" with the image of the man attempting suicide - that one is just completely over-the-top and trying too hard.

Same with the "at least you're wearing Jinguji" billboards - same problem, trying way too hard. The Jinguji adverts basically come across as satire - parodies that are criticising Jinguji - but that makes no sense; why would they be mocking themselves? If those posters were produced by Ruth Dzeng or Doc Paradox, that would sort of make sense perhaps, but that's not the case.

As for the saucy adverts, again, it makes sense to me that corpos would adopt a sex-sells approach, so I'm mostly fine with those too. The only one that doesn't quite make sense is the Chromanticore advert. That advert uses a tag-line "Mix it up!" that relies on Night City citizens viewing trans women as "freaky" and "shocking" but.... they clearly don't. No one is weird and immature about Claire being herself. She's the fricking bartender of the Afterlife. No one is weird about V being trans, if they're trans. If you actually people-watch citizens in Night City, you'll notice people expressing themselves in a wide multitude of ways. E.g. A masculine bodied individual wearing high heels and a pencil dress, and... nobody cares. Gender fluidity and expression are normal in Night City.

So to me, the Chromanticore advert feels very much designed from the POV of someone who's a bit too trapped in the real world of 2023, when they should've looked at it from the POV of people in 2077 NC.

That's not to say there's anything illogical with having a sexy cis/trans man/woman on an advert in NC, in general e.g. as a thought experiment, imagine if the Naranjita advert just so happened to have a highly provocative image of a cis/trans model drinking a can of Naranjita, with the tagline, "Feel the Chemistry!", and the model's assets were just as suggestively shown off like in the Chromanticore advert, then that wouldn't have had the same problem as the Chromanticore advert.

In other words, it's about how you FRAME the advert, if that it makes sense.

 

[ShinAkira00]

Here are my honest opinions about balancing of censorship. CDPR needs to break the ice and just let the game have mature gestures and encounters. I'm not saying this because the game feature sex ads, or for the simple pleasure of just seeing V get it on with a saucy NPC. I am saying this because, there are missed opportunities for a real life experience in the realm of mature gestures and encounters. To be specific, CDPR gave us a spy-thriller with Phantom Liberty. Dogtown's atmosphere put V in a no boundaries approach. It was execute the FIA's mission or die. In that mindset, V has to do what V has to do in order to survive. This is where our mature themes were suppose to take off. To affectively incorporate it in the gameplay, it could have required V to keep a saucy relationship with a few key characters if he/she wanted to obtain intel. This would have made the atmosphere of Dogtown feel a bit more realistic, as it would if it existed in real life. Let's get more specific. When Aurora moves to your side of the roulette table, I was waiting for her to slip V a keycard to her apartment. This would have made the espionage more covert because part of gaining personality, could have involved becoming more interment or having physical contact with the person. Through the relationship, V may have been able to convince Aurora to join her side; but as we know things come with a cost.

It's safe to say that a mature audience supports Cyberpunk. I don't see any harm in putting it in the game. They game is filled with ads and explicit references between NPCs and dialogue options. Part of me thinks that CDPR practice constraint on this feature because of console accessibility in retail stores. If the game had been a PC-exclusive, there would have been a lot more romance in the game. After playing this game on PC, I will never go back to console version, because it's the difference between night and day. Even the options of enhancing V's appearance gives the game a spicier vibe on the PC version.

In ways it's disappointing to be forced to invest over a thousand eddies into a PC just as I did, for the mature experience that this game offers. However, most of those features were supported by MODS. CDPR has a lot to consider for the second game. One in particular were more options for character customization and quality of life. Outside of the missions, what can gamers do as a past time? Overall, CDPR has a lot of decisions to make. Do they want the back support of the game to rely heavily on mods, or can they give us the game that they promised, without withdrawing so much in censorship.

That's fair. Initially I disagreed with a lot of the complaints centered around the censorship because as you pointed out, their aim is to sell as many copies of the game as possible. I guess the question is at what point does it affect their artistic vision for the genre.

Post automatically merged: Oct 25, 2023

I do wish they would ditch the prostitution feature. I don't know why that became a tradition of CDPR games, but it doesn't fit well with a story which is otherwise trying to get you to see how bad sexual exploitation is.

For the same reason prostitution still exists today. Prostitution itself isn't inherently bad, exploitative prostitution is bad. Also we're in a dystopian setting, I don't think you can expect that not to be present. If we remove that then why not remove drugs and violence as well because they're all bad right. At that point it's no longer Dystopian.

 

[koalahugs]

For the same reason prostitution still exists today. Prostitution itself isn't inherently bad, exploitative prostitution is bad. Adding to that we're in a dystopian setting, I don't think you can expect that not to be present. If we remove that then why not remove drugs and violence as well because they're all bad right. At that point it's no longer Dystopian.

No, I'm saying, remove the feature (i.e. the interaction with joytoys to have a pointless sex scene) - not remove the existence of sex workers from the setting of NC.

 

[GrimReaper801]

My example with the genital slider in character creation is a perfect example, things being added for surface level shock value instead of being purposefully included.

I honestly think you're reading too much into the genital slider.

CDPR was accused of being transphobic quite a few times. Largely due to tweets made using the GOG account. It happened a few times in the years leading to CP2077's release in fact.

Personally, I think the genital slider was added as a way of shedding that image and trying to look more inclusive. I say look because it's my understanding it wasn't as successful as they hoped for.

 

[solarparty]

I don't really agree on this bit. I've watched and read most cyberpunk material out there and they manage to communicate that hyper sexualized era without making it feel senseless. You get that from Blade Runner without every billboard having ass cheeks. Again, it's the execution.

I think the classic cyberpunk material comes from a different time period, which casts a different lens on the future. In 2023 sex is more prevalent than ever. People stream porn and publicly acknowledge it, OnlyFans allows anyone to become an adult streamer. BDSM (and other fetishes) are commonly accepted and talked about now instead of being semi-taboo. So when I extrapolate our current reality out to 50 years from now, a lot of what I see in CP77 in terms of the advertising and other in-your-face sexual elements makes total sense to me. Especially when viewed within the context of a cyberpunk dystopian world.

So from that perspective, CP77 did pretty well in terms of exploring some of those themes and possibilities. But in terms of how V is allowed to participate in that sex-positive (and also sex exploitative) future, they kind of dropped the ball. Or compared with some of the pre-release material and discussion, I'd say CDPR got gunshy and walked back to something that no longer felt as real and grounded.

 

[0248991]

I mean IRL, I saw ads for for man/woman underwear in bus station where kids take bus to go at school..

I find this absurd - all the places humans have built around themselves...especially large cities...are blocks of dead grey concrete.
There is no space to breathe, to rest your eyes and mind, to feel fulfilled or inspired...

Views of the sky are often blocked by tall buildings, unending crowds of people and cars are always rushing everywhere, there is not enough greenery, many people work jobs they don't want to at all; and feel stressed, out of place, unappreciated,...

And stuff like those colourful idealistic ads which propagate mindless products or abstract ideologies are cherries on top...


So you just went to work by car and burned some fuel? How about you sponsor us to build giant wind turbines to clean the air?
My ass...just don't manufacture so many cars

 

[LeKill3rFou]

I find this absurd - all the places humans have built around themselves...especially large cities...are blocks of dead grey concrete.
There is no space to breathe, to rest your eyes and mind, to feel fulfilled or inspired...

Views of the sky are often blocked by tall buildings, unending crowds of people and cars are always rushing everywhere, there is not enough greenery, many people work jobs they don't want to at all; and feel stressed, out of place, unappreciated,...

And stuff like those colourful idealistic ads which propagate mindless products or abstract ideologies are cherries on top...


So you just went to work by car and burned some fuel? How about you sponsor us to build giant wind turbines to clean the air?
My ass...just don't manufacture so many cars

It depend
This ads was not vulgar or offensive (for french standards at least^^). I mean take a look of this ad from Porsche diffused on TV at all hours of the day. Nothing vulgar, nothing offensive, just fun

Spoiler

If you project this kind of ads, but in Cyberpunk dysotopian world, without any kind of regulation, you end with what we have in Cyberpunk 2077. Clearly not surprising to me. In the same way that in Night City, everyone (even kids) can easily buy a cheap gun everywhere, in an automatic dispenser as if you were buying a can of coke.

On side note, it was a public bus station, which mean that most of people who use it were/are workers/studients, but there are also kids. Yeah, in Europe we are lucky enough to get big cities with good public transportation. So you don't have to use a car, and with a lot of green spaces.