Meh. If a booster gang or two goes for an occult vibe then fine, (vamps, voodoo, whatever.) But it should be a sham, all backed up with tech - no 'actual' mystic stuff.
Everyone will know better by now. No mystic stuff. At all. Religion in 2077 should hold even less ground than it does now - a complete sham, a method to control and brainwash the feeble minded.
Ah, but religeon is a funny thing. When people get desperate, (really desperate,) even people who haven't been to church since they were baptised stand a chance of finding religeon again. Fear is one hell of a motivator.
Also, religeon plays a HUGE part in todays world, particularly the differences between people religeons. Or did you sleep through 9/11?
I don't class religeon and occult as the same thing. I fully expect to see religeon in 2077. Heck, in 2020 there was a Cult that worshipped Elvis.
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I have to agree with Chris here, there's no reason why religion shouldn't play a part in the game. Just no mystical powers.
Hmm. AS WE TREAD MILDLY CHALLENGING GROUND HERE...
CP2020 really pretty much ignores religion. I mean it's there, it's present, absolutely. Mafia are still Catholic, Buddhism and Shintoism abound in Japan, but on the world stage, you just don't see it.
I don't know if Mike didn't want to get into it, followed his predecessors Gibson, Dick and Scott by largely ignoring it, ( although Androids Dream did have a weird religion running through it..), or deliberately decided that, for better or worse, people had finally transferred all their faith to money and power instead of religion and spirituality.
In any case, religion and Religions play little role in Cyberpunk. I admit, it does remove one source of tension.
And replace it with others! Lots and lots of others!
CP2020 really pretty much ignores religion. I mean it's there, it's present, absolutely. Mafia are still Catholic, Buddhism and Shintoism abound in Japan, but on the world stage, you just don't see it.
I don't know if Mike didn't want to get into it, followed his predecessors Gibson, Dick and Scott by largely ignoring it, ( although Androids Dream did have a weird religion running through it..), or deliberately decided that, for better or worse, people had finally transferred all their faith to money and power instead of religion and spirituality.
In any case, religion and Religions play little role in Cyberpunk. I admit, it does remove one source of tension.
And replace it with others! Lots and lots of others!
Technomancer ah-la Babylon 5?
Might be a fun role to play.
Nope, but cults can be cool. But you know, real-life kind of cults. Maybe cults that see cybernetics as a sin and others that see it as a godsend, cults that want to transcend as e-ghosts, cults that have a grasp of a concept as vague as humanity but which has an impact on gameplay... but nothing even remotely fantastic, if anything just suggestion.
That's a fair point. It'll be interesting to see how they tackle it if they decide to.
Having cults would solve that problem, as long as they're not real cults.
Yes, real-life kind of cults. Not the ones we have in real life, but ones that work like those in real life. They don't have magic, they don't summon anything, etc. it's a charismatic leadership thing, with sense of belonging, hierarchy, dogmas... all that stuff.
NPCs could belong to real religions, and they could be good, bad or neutral role models. I'm an atheist, but I like characters like Daredevil who is a catholic, Spiderman who is a protestant, Sanosuke Sagara who is a buddhist... But if any kind of conflict involving religion or how religions act and they want to go for a more grand less occult cult feel, maybe have real life religions be relegated to new ones that are kind of an exacerbated version of those but you can't clearly point out which single one of them it "parodies".
One of the reasons why I love adult fantasy and science fiction is that since none of the factions represented in those is really the one you feel like you belong to (contries, ethnic groups, political ideologies, religion...) your mind is so much more open to criticism. It happens to me that I prefer Game of Thrones to some of the historical serials like some of the ones that are produced in my country. With the latter I fear I won't be given a complete, honest, unadulterated non-romantiziced vision of these real historical events, I fear that this king or queen will be untouchable, etc. With GoT you don't really offend anybody with the representations of these characters because nobody represents their country, race... you can scrutinize them and value them without any taboos.
CDPR doesn't care too much about offending people, in cause of story. I doubt that is the issue.
I'd prefer to avoid religion because, well, it doesn't feel very future-sleek, you know? All in the Now, all for money and Style. Religion, regardless of how youfeel about it's benefits and negatives, harkens back to the past. To a concern with what happens After. To history and sand and chants and men sitting under trees dispensing wisdom.
Not, not that @wisdom000. Hilarious image, though.
Whereas 2020/2077 is nownowNOWNOW, sharp, shiny and fast! Yesterday is Dead, Tomorrow Never Comes. Today is everything! Look good and get it done! You won't die - you're young and immortal! And you look GOOD.
It's not really a setting the religion or religions fit into very well.
I'd prefer to avoid religion because, well, it doesn't feel very future-sleek, you know? All in the Now, all for money and Style. Religion, regardless of how youfeel about it's benefits and negatives, harkens back to the past. To a concern with what happens After. To history and sand and chants and men sitting under trees dispensing wisdom.
Not, not that @wisdom000. Hilarious image, though.
Whereas 2020/2077 is nownowNOWNOW, sharp, shiny and fast! Yesterday is Dead, Tomorrow Never Comes. Today is everything! Look good and get it done! You won't die - you're young and immortal! And you look GOOD.
It's not really a setting the religion or religions fit into very well.
Nope, Sard, I'm not buying that argument.
The environment of Cyberpunk is stressful, faith is one way of relieving stress, and the stress of the era can and probably would cause some people to look back nostaligically on times when things were so much simpler. Religion is also another outlet for the pack mentality that causes gangs to thrive, the need to belong to some kind of group where you are one of the Us that is superior to Them. And, of course, it's also about power for those charismatic cult leaders.
I think that, for PR reasons, CDPR should probably stay clear of real religions, but cults shouldn't be discarded.
The environment of Cyberpunk is stressful, faith is one way of relieving stress, and the stress of the era can and probably would cause some people to look back nostaligically on times when things were so much simpler. Religion is also another outlet for the pack mentality that causes gangs to thrive, the need to belong to some kind of group where you are one of the Us that is superior to Them. And, of course, it's also about power for those charismatic cult leaders.
I think that, for PR reasons, CDPR should probably stay clear of real religions, but cults shouldn't be discarded.
Massive marketing schemes dominate the world. Each promising salvation if you simply buy X product. X product is good, X product is life. Others may like C product. These heathens must die. They must be purged from the world.
/crazy ranting.
Look at fanboyism. Rabid apple people trying to get the last laugh that their "god" (IE Megacorp brand) is better.
Hell, there is a cult in russia that worships a cartoon character from Chip n Dale cartoons!
http://englishrussia.com/2010/02/17/russian-gadget-hackwrench-religion/
/crazy ranting.
Look at fanboyism. Rabid apple people trying to get the last laugh that their "god" (IE Megacorp brand) is better.
Hell, there is a cult in russia that worships a cartoon character from Chip n Dale cartoons!
http://englishrussia.com/2010/02/17/russian-gadget-hackwrench-religion/
Oh, there are cults. Inquisitors, for example, a luddite cult. But it's really low key and setting specific - Luddites are anti-tech.
But it's not really an argument for or against religion as a stress reliever. It's an argument that religion simply isn't post-modern and slick enough to fit well into the Cyberpunk setting.
It simply fits an older time. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/religiosity-plummets-ireland-declines-worldwide-atheism_n_1757453.html supports this - modernity and religion aren't getting along and although you make a good point, Dragon, I think it doesn't fit a Cyberpunk future.
A reverse of the global trend towards a more faith-based perspective does not inspire thoughts of corporate kidnapping, dirty deals on dirty streets and cybernetically augmented rockstars changing the world.
But it's not really an argument for or against religion as a stress reliever. It's an argument that religion simply isn't post-modern and slick enough to fit well into the Cyberpunk setting.
It simply fits an older time. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/religiosity-plummets-ireland-declines-worldwide-atheism_n_1757453.html supports this - modernity and religion aren't getting along and although you make a good point, Dragon, I think it doesn't fit a Cyberpunk future.
A reverse of the global trend towards a more faith-based perspective does not inspire thoughts of corporate kidnapping, dirty deals on dirty streets and cybernetically augmented rockstars changing the world.