Technoshock
I'm starting to see Cyberpunk stuff everywhere again. Just like when I was young. This time, though, it's not only in my head. Ironically.
So, Technoshock. That feeling CP2020 people get when their sense of place in their environment becomes so loose, unpredictable and unreliable, they begin to slide into a psychotic reaction. It can be a long-term disorder or a very short-term, violent psychotic reaction.
Not everyone who suffers from technoshock is a cyberpyscho. Not at all. That is the most dramatic negative response, but there are many other sufferers with a variety of issues. You could argue the entire cyberpunk population suffers from it to one degree or another and this mad desire to artificially enhance themselves, to better themselves, is a defensive reaction of society. Or a symptom of it's illness. The Braindance you see in 2077 could be another.
Technoshock begins with small things, though, and is really the cumulative process of technology and culture changing at a rate the individual cannot cope with. Of course, it usually affects adults, as children are more pliable. But even children can be affected. It starts in small places, changing small things that we've taken for granted for centuries. A creeping sense of dislocation and invasion.
Here is one amusing example of how Technoshock might start.
Our world has changed and is changing, in sneaky, creepy and subtly distorting ways, at a rate never before seen.
It's very important, in Cyberpunk 2020, this idea of technology overwhelming culture. It's a big part of the cyberpunk ethos that "more tech does not make life better". Making it a pervasive but not overwhelming influence on the gameworld of 77 is going to be a challenge. If possible, it would be nice to inflict a limited version of the feeling on the player. Ideas?
I'm starting to see Cyberpunk stuff everywhere again. Just like when I was young. This time, though, it's not only in my head. Ironically.
So, Technoshock. That feeling CP2020 people get when their sense of place in their environment becomes so loose, unpredictable and unreliable, they begin to slide into a psychotic reaction. It can be a long-term disorder or a very short-term, violent psychotic reaction.
Not everyone who suffers from technoshock is a cyberpyscho. Not at all. That is the most dramatic negative response, but there are many other sufferers with a variety of issues. You could argue the entire cyberpunk population suffers from it to one degree or another and this mad desire to artificially enhance themselves, to better themselves, is a defensive reaction of society. Or a symptom of it's illness. The Braindance you see in 2077 could be another.
Technoshock begins with small things, though, and is really the cumulative process of technology and culture changing at a rate the individual cannot cope with. Of course, it usually affects adults, as children are more pliable. But even children can be affected. It starts in small places, changing small things that we've taken for granted for centuries. A creeping sense of dislocation and invasion.
Here is one amusing example of how Technoshock might start.
Our world has changed and is changing, in sneaky, creepy and subtly distorting ways, at a rate never before seen.
It's very important, in Cyberpunk 2020, this idea of technology overwhelming culture. It's a big part of the cyberpunk ethos that "more tech does not make life better". Making it a pervasive but not overwhelming influence on the gameworld of 77 is going to be a challenge. If possible, it would be nice to inflict a limited version of the feeling on the player. Ideas?