Biography
Agata Waszkiewicz is a game scholar and a doctoral candidate associated with University of Warsaw (MA in psychology), Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland and University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. Agata is a member of Video Game Research Centers in Lublin and Kraków, has presented on several international gender and game conferences, and published in on both metafictional and experimental video games, and the representation of non-normative and marginalized identities in popular culture.

Cyberqueer: The Inclusive Design of Cyberpunk Video Games

According to Karen Cadora’s provocative statement, “[r]umor has it that cyberpunk is dead” (1995, 257). However, that does not seem to be a case with video game medium, where cyberpunk has always been and continues to be popular as reflected both in the mainstream industry, where CD Project’s Cyberpunk 2077 is currently one of the most anticipated new titles, and the independent industry, which in the past decade allowed the creation of one of the most innovative and definitely most inclusive games. 

Promotional picture of Cyberpunk 2077 featuring a woman posing with a gun on a solid yellow background. The woman has asymmetrical dark pink hair and obvious cybernetic body modifications visible on her arms and face.

Although initially both gamers and game scholars emphasized the difference between the casual and hardcore play practices, the latter became associated with toxic gamer masculinities especially after the harassment campaign arose around the #Gamergate hashtag . The event, which included attacks on feminist journalists, game designers, and game scholars (Massanari 2017), revealed the underlying misogyny and sexism of the gamer culture and the game industry, at the same time emphasizing the need for more inclusive spaces. Without the restrictions of big-budget game companies, the independent game developers more often follow have more freedom to experiment with form and create content that follows postulates of inclusive game design (Chess 2017) and feminist programming strategies (Cassell 1998). 

Although perhaps it is surprising that more developers did not choose cyberpunk setting for their games, it is hard to argue about its popularity. From Deus Ex trilogy (Ion Storm and Eidos Montréal 2000-2011), exploring transhumanist themes in the dystopian futuristic setting to the more current narrative games focused on interpersonal relations and personal stories experienced through the eyes of female taxi drivers in Neo Cab (Chance Agency 2019) and Cloudpunk (ION LANDS 2020). Mirroring the feminist initiatives in the late 20th century to reclaim cyberpunk literature which initially was  dominated and shaped by white, cisgender, heterosexual authors,  in independent games cyberpunk becomes a tool of creating inclusive spaces. In the presentation I concentrate on two games which draw from the classic hard-boiled noir cyberpunk detective stories: 2064: Read Only Memories (MidBoss  2015) and The Red Strings Club (Deconstructeam 2018).

Recognizing the high difficulty, high-stress environments of many mainstream video games, Justine Cassell discussed feminist programming strategies according to which feminist games should “transfer design authority to [the] user,” “value subjective and experiential knowledge,” “allow use by many different kinds of users in different contexts,” “give the user a tool to express her voice and the truth of her existence,” and “encourage collaboration among users.” (Cassell 1998, pp. 304-305). These values are mirrored closely by the discussion of the inclusive design first proposed by Sheri Graner Ray (2004) and, later developed by Shira Chess (2017). They concentrated on such aspects of games as time positivity (games that allow play in short intervals), low risk (small cost for failure), lack of overtly sexualized (female) characters as well as low violence and harassment potential.    

First game which I discuss briefly is 2064: Read Only Memories, a dialogue-driven adventure game prominent for its inclusive use of gender pronouns. The game is set in 2064 Neo-San Francisco, where personal assistant robot (ROMs) replaced smartphones and computers. The game begins when Turing, a prototype of the self-conscious robots, asks the player’s character for help in finding their creator, who  has recently been kidnapped. While the main character’s appearance is never showed, it is 2064’s character creation that deserves particular attention. In order to update their database to “be able to assist [the character] more successfully” Turing asks about the character’s (and, with that, player’s) name, dietary restrictions, and preferred pronouns which can be either chosen from the list of five (they/them, she/her, he/him, ze/zir, xe/xir) or provided on one’s own. The inclusion of both the pronoun “they” and the less common pronouns creates a space for self-expression for those players who do not identify with the binary gender options. This is of additional significance due to the fact that with the growing representation of non-heterosexual expressions of desire, non-normative gender identities are still often omitted from the discourses (Shaw and Friesem 2016)

Screenshot from a game featuring two frames (on the left, smaller one shows Turing, robot with a blue, round head and simple emoji-like expression, and the bigger n the right showing a room with a desk and a computer) and a dialogue line below them, reading: “Turing: Next, could you tell me which pronouns I should use for you in referential and conversational speech?”)

Apart from the character creator, 2064: REM features other non-normative character, the most prominent examples of those who identify as non-binary and whose preferred pronoun is “they” are a human hacker Tomcat and Turing. What needs to be noticed is the sensitivity with which the creators approached both characters who are not expected to explain themselves — Turing explains their feelings toward the human concept of gender only because they consider player character their friend. Although science fiction has been criticized for either overly sexualizing alien and cyborg bodies (coded as feminine), often the non-human “otherness” is equated with being genderless or asexual, which, rather than offering positive representation, further marginalizes and dehumanizes the non-normative genders and sexualities (Sinwell 2014). 

The Red Strings Club similarly plays on nostalgia for the classic detective cyberpunk storylines: in the future, in which majority of humans use body modifications, the protagonists investigate the corporation which intends to use these enhancements to control the way their users experience emotions. Emotions are at the core of the game as the  eponymous The Red Strings Club is famous for its owner’s ability to make drinks that tune in the customer’s soul, enhancing their underlying emotions. While the gameplay does not follow Cassell’s feminist programming guidelines, it does meet some of the Chess’ criteria of inclusive design, including the lack of risk or time constraints and the diverse characters including Donovan, an owner of the eponymous club and his partner, Brandeis. Furthermore, it could be argued that the inclusivity does not lie predominantly with the representation[1], but with the dialogue-driven gameplay, simple and forgiving mini-games, and the overall aesthetic that draw from nostalgia towards pixel art of old point-and-click adventure games. 

Screenshot from the game showing the entrance to The Red Strings Club with a large neon sign with the name in the background. Both Donovan, a white man wearing blue vest and white shirt is smoking a cigarette and Brandeis, a Black man with red glasses sitting at a piano look at a half-destroyed half-naked android standing at the entrance. 

The presentation included a (very) short summary of two titles in order to show different ways in which cyberpunk video games attempt to follow the rules of the inclusive design. Different video game creators choose cyberpunk to envision futures where one can express their identities without fear of oppression. The queer utopia coexists there with the political dystopias: as the genre explores the loss of humanity and the invigilation of the government/corporations in the lives of the citizens, reflecting the past and present anxieties, these scenarios are utopian in the sense that they allow the freedom of self-expression. Queer people do not have to fight for validation and recognition and are not marginalized nor oppressed for who they are. 

Bibliography:

  • Cadora, Karen.. “Feminist Cyberpunk.” Science Fiction Studies vol. 22, no. 3, 1995, pp. 357–372.
  • Cassell, Justine. “Storytelling as a Nexus of Change in the Relationship between Gender and Technology: A Feminist Approach to Software Design.” From Barbie to Mortal Combat: Gender and Computer Games, edited by Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins, MIT Press, 1998, pp. 298–327.
  • CD Project. 2020. Cyberpunk 2077. Warsaw: CD Project.
  • Chess, Shira. Ready Player Two: Women Gamers and Designed Identity. University of MInnesota Press, 2017.
  • Deconstructeam. 2018. The Red Strings Club. Austin: Devolver Digital. 
  • Lavigne, Carlen. Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction: A Critical Study. McFarland, 2013.
  • Massanari, Adrienne. “#Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s Algorithm, Governance, and Culture Support Toxic Technocultures.” New Media & Society, vol. 19, no. 3, Mar. 2017, pp. 329–46. 
  • MidBos. 2015. 2064: Read Only Memories. San Francisco: MidBoss.
  • Ray, Sheri Graner. Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding The Market. Charles River Media, 2004.
  • Shaw, Adrienne. “Where Is the Queerness in Games? Types of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Content in Digital Games,” 10, 2016, pp. 3877–3889.
  • Sinwell, Sarah E.S. “Aliens and Asexuality: Media Representation, Queerness, and Asexual Visibility.” Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives, edited by Karli June Cerankowski and Megan Milks, Routledge, 2014, pp. 162-73.
  • Todd, Cherie. “COMMENTARY: GamerGate and Resistance to The.” Women’s Studies Journal 29, no. 1, 2015, pp. 64–67.
  • Walker, Austin; Riendeau, Danielle; Zacny, Rob (2018-01-22). “How ‘The Red Strings Club’ Sabotages Its Hopeful Cyberpunk Vision”. Waypoint. Retrieved 2020-06-26.

[1] It has to be noticed that despite the positive representation of non-normative sexualities, one of the characters is revealed to be transgender through the use of the name given at birth (“deadname”), which is considered offensive or even violent (Walker 2018).

Discord Discussion

This discussion has been copied from the Discord server, names have been reduced to first name, discussion threads have been grouped and edited for better readability.

Alexander: Hi, just writing early (Australian time zone requires it) to say I found this paper really thought-provoking. I’ve played, and loved, the two main examples you draw upon. The notion of feminist programming strategies was really interesting and novel to me as a codified strategy, and I was wondering if you had any other notes on its application across different game developments, or even it’s history?

Agata: Hi, I am glad that you enjoyed the presentation! The general idea would be that with the increase in popularity of the independent industry games shifted from the high-stress, high-stakes, fighting-oriented gameplay and started to be more inclusive (both gampelay and narrative). While Chess’ postulates/qualities are more visible in the shorter, linear experiences, feminist programming originally can be fulfilled best in bigger and multiplayer games with character customization (because there is possibility for cooperation, for content-creation within the game and so on, etc.). 2064 is interesting because despite being a linear experience, it utilizes these postulates of creativity quite well, I think. Shira Chess was writing mostly about games advertized to women, but I think she generally describes very well the currently popular types of indie games (sometimes called wholesome games, small/slow games, cozy games etc.).

Alexander: Right, I did think of the wholesome games ‘movement’ as embodying many of these aspects. Or even games that aren’t strictly ‘wholesome’ per say, but do embody many of these principles. I’ve always enjoyed this article, which discusses radical softness etc (though I’m guessing I’m probably preaching to the choir here!)

Agata: Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean here! I have an article in review about cozy aesthetics so hopefully it will be published soon – I am trying to bring the idea of coziness from the game industry to game studies.

Alexander: Looking forward to reading it! Will you announce it via twitter etc?

Agata: I should start doing that more often, I still don’t do that much self-promotion on tweeter, but yeah, I will share it + it definitely will be featured on my academia and researchgate pages.

Beata: Hi Agata! Great paper! I’m also looking forward to your upcoming article. Please let me know when it’s out! Anna Hollinrake talked about gentle games and gender fluidity and queer narratives recently. If you don’t follow her on Twitter, their work might be interesting for you, I think. My question is about character creation. I know it’s not a cyberpunk game but certainly a big title in the wholesome gaming, Animal Crossing has a fairly inclusive character creator. The body type is androgynous and none of the accessories are bound to one gender or the other. I was wondering if similar inclusive character creators in mainstream games could help normalising different gender identities and representation in gaming industry and gaming events?

Carmen: Animal Crossing, I thought it was funny/weird/disturbing that the playable character, which is a human, ALWAYS has to wear pants/skirts that will cover that area, but if you give just a top (t-shirt, or even a onesie) to one of the (anthropomorphical) animal neighbours, they wear the top with no pants, and just nothing in that area but the same fur/color they have in the rest of the body. It’s partly the androgyny you are mentioning, but maybe also implying that sexuality in those animals “does not work quite the same way”, even if they are clearly masculine or feminine depending on the neighbor (ok, too much AC:NH during the quarantine)

Agata: Hi there! I didn’t know about Anna but I already followed them on Twitter, thank you! Do you know if that talk/paper is available anywhere online? Sounds really interesting!
As for the customization — definitely bigger games started to implement customization and apperance features that are not fixed to specific genders, which is great. I don’t know if just that can change the attitudes of the players, but it is definitely always beneficial to have more diverse representation.
It is interesting because while smaller games tend to be more inclusive and diverse, it is the bigger budget games that allow for customization of the characters (which is not surprising). So many indies opt for characters whose gender is unknown (they would often not be human, wear oversized clothes, etc), which correlates with what Chess wrote about the non-sexualized childlike or animal characters. I think it is interesting because it creates this difference in which indie players get used to not asking about the character’s genders while the mainstream games in a way still emphasize the gender binary, even when they allow customization. Even games that do not have gender-fixed apperances usually start with the default binary that then you can change. (Not always of course.) It is great when games that allow for customization do let us experiment and actually let everyone create character they could identify with, but there’s a long way ahead, considering how much toxicity happens every time this is attempted. The aggressive response towards BattleTech (Harebrained Schemes 2018) is one of such drastic examples – it is a turn-based strategy game and it allowed pronouns – after choosing pronouns one chooses the avatar’s apperace, but “they” unlocks all possible characters.
@Carmen: I mean, Animal Crossing is getting away with a lot of strange choices there, yeah (and sometimes manages to be racially problematic, like with the camel who evokes all Arabic stereotypes, etc.). But if I remember correctly, they are some non-normativities when it comes to gender performance and the apperances of the animals, right? But that’s definitely true about their pantslessness!

Carmen: The camel is certainly embarassing and offensive. I’ve stopped actually buying rugs from her (?!) though that’s a stupid, petty rebellion on my part. I still feel that most of the animals in the game pretty much conform to über-stereotypical masculine/feminine roles (i.e. the “jocks” are always male, and most of the female animals are hyper-feminine). But then AC is anything but cyberpunk

Agata: Yeah, that’s fair – I think they are sometimes designed to be little less binary, but that might also be my reading of them (I also cannot read wha types of animals they are supposed to be, so that might be that too). I guess that depends on how much you read it as an allegory for an oppresive government that needs to be rebelled against…

Adam: Hi Agata! First of all, I really enjoyed your paper and learning about inclusive design. I wondered if you were familiar with Technobabylon at all? It’s a point-and-click adventure, as you mention Red Strings draws upon with great representation (one of the central characters is trans).

Agata: Hi! I am glad you enjoyed it! I know of Technobabylon but I have to admit that I did not play it yet… But now I am defnitely adding it to my list, thank you for reminding me of it!

Adam: Following on from that, I’m interested if you could expand anymore on Red Strings and its mechanics for inclusivity. You mention the diverse cast is a real strength, I’m vaguely aware the main mechanic is manipulating customers through drinks? Can I ask how you responded to that relationship, and how it’s handled?
Oh and for sure, your talk just made me look back at Red Strings on my Steam and lament not getting round to it yet. It helped for Technobabylon that I got on a Point and Click binge a while back.

Agata: Yes, of course. The paper is a part of a bigger project that had to be cut and molded for the word limit, which, I admit, might have influenced the flow of the text. I feel like the the Red Strings’ Club part suffered from it more than 2064. For me, the inclusivity is there constructed on few levels and it draws more from Shira Chess’ qualities than Castell’s feminist programming strategies. Even the fact that, despite being very cyberpunk in its visuals, it refrains from too bright, too intrusive colors most of the time already falls under the inclusive design. Secondly, it also potrays one of these queer utopias where characters are and can be queer without any homophobia or transphobia. (There is the one problem of trans character who was outed – but in the world of the game she is fully accepted for who she is.) As for the drinks: it’s definitely interesting because it draws from the association of a bar and bartender as the safe haven, and the bartender of being kind, wise, and helpful. Donovan tunes the drinks to the customers’ emotions/souls – which on one hand could be interpreted as adding to the coziness (he can help, the customers are very satisfied), but on the other hand, it is used as a mechanic of manipulation as the customers are more prone to giving him the required information.
So, while there is a very dark tone underneath it, the mechanic itself is inclusive towards the player nor the characters (it is very forgiving, easy to follow and very enjoyable). So it’s intersting becaue as a GAME it is quite inclusive and accessible, but when it comes to the narrative, it could be read rather dystopian.

Adam: I really love that distinction, thank you for your answer

Felicitas: Thank you for your interesting paper! I am wondering how you would say sandbox games fit into Cassell’s feminist programming strategies since they allow a lot of self-expression, transfer design authority (I would argue) and also allow for very different playstyles. The ones I know, however, still feature a male/female binary in their character creation.

Agata: That’s a great question, thank you! I don’t think that a game has to fullfil all of the requirements to be considered inclusive, but you are right that the binarity and the lack of inclusivity and diversity in many of these games should almost outweight the other positive aspects. I think that it depends on the game – does it allow transgressive play? Can players challenge the heterosexist and patriarchal story? Cassell wrote about MMOs, but I also saw a paper that quite nicely used the framework for RPGs. For her it was not only about non-binarity, but about being to express yourself, so allowing to choose skin tones, hairstyles, etc. and then take agency over the way the game is played.

Pawel: To be fair, the ability to choose skin tones and so on opens another can of worms – are all really available? Which of them are excluded and so on. But sure, a small choice is better than no choice at all.

Agata: Well, I didn’t want to drag Mass Effect into the discussion with the lack of racial hairstyles and facial features denying the purpose of the skin color change. But definitely it’s a good thing that there are more and more choices. But the skin tones for customizable characters is one thing, the other is casting POC characters/nonbinary/non-normative characters as the only available option. Or putting female as the first option (where there are several characters to choose etc) – I think these things could have more impact, because you can just not choose the diverse character otherwise (and in MMO it adds the problem of the digital blackface).

Felicitas: @Agata, you wrote: “Can players challenge the heterosexist and patriarchal story?” … Now I am wondering whether the “story” (or rather the narrative of the world) of Terraria and Minecraft is heterosexist and patriarchal

Agata: I guess, there is always, at the very least, the freedom to read the text differently. But when it comes to transgressive play, exploration of storylines, exploitations of glitches etc. there is always something. On that I can always suggest Transgression in Games and Play, if anyone is interested

Katherine: I vote yes that Terraria is sexist, heterosexist, and patriarchal

Felicitas: Can you elaborate?

Katherine: Yes @Felicitas, sorry if this sounds tart! I’ve just been playing Terraria for the first time and it is fresh in my mind! One particularly annoying example of the sexism is that all the female-presenting NPCs become grumpy and say mean things to the player character during a “blood moon”, which is a night when all the animals become “corrupted” and attack the player.

Felicitas: I have also been playing Terraria recently, but I did not notice that. Definitely weird

Katherine: Hi Agata! I enjoyed your paper… I was wondering what you make of the queer games scholarship (like Bo Ruberg’s) that identifies queer forms in games, for example saying that fumblecore (where you play as, e.g. a hopelessly floppy husband/dad character who is terrible at enacting their gendered role) is thematizing queerness
I thought about it because I think red strings club has some of those same imprecise controls in the mechanics of play, esp with the drink pouring and pottery

Agata: I have to admit, I did not make the connection between fumblecore and the controls in red strings! This is a very interesting point – while the pottery minigame was easy enough for me and quite responsive, I understand that people tend to have problems with the drinks, but I don’t know if it is enough of wobliness to categorize it as fumblecore… Though it adds another layer to my previous comment about the fact that it makes you potentially uncofmortable that you have to get these people drunk and use their mental states against them to obtain information. The fact that it is a physically difficult activity makes it potentially more complex.

Pawel: Fumblecore is only topped by mumblecore, as far as genre names go!

Katherine: Thanks, Agata!

Adam: Which contrasts I guess with how Va11Ha11a deals with drink mixing, where complexity isn’t so much an issue as memory. But then you’re not out for anything from them really except making the customers happy

Katherine: and progressing various storylines, no?

Adam: Oh for sure with player direction, but mechanically Jill only ‘wants’ the money to keep afloat. If memory serves

Agata: But also it’s such a complex process! So many ingredients!

Adam: Maybe complexity wasn’t the word. Particularly with the number of times I got drinks wrong. But I wonder if there’s an interesting difference in effect to the two processes. I couldn’t comment not having tried Red Strings yet

Anna: Speaking about Mass Effect and possible customizations, we (me and Agata) have a paper “Body Modifications and the Limits of Gender Identity in Video Games” under revision that tackles the representation of gender and sexual identities in Mass Effect, Secret World Legends, and The Sims 4

Felicitas: In regard to your paper: What do you think the announced feature of customizable genitals in Cyberpunk 2077 will add to the discussion?

Anna: Our research shows that even speculative video games that rely on transcending old understandings tend to neglect the potential of body modifications for exploring diverse models of identity. They incorporate them in ways that are almost utopian: avatars with various modifications are still narratively coded as falling within the conventional categories of sexualities and gender and their performative function allowing for playing out the complex identities seems lost. The possibilities of expression of complex identities end up pointless and the player is denied experiential, everyday experiences of a non-normative individual – and it’s possible that Cyberpunk 2077 will be exactly that.
Visually present but narratively non-existent.
(Also, but I need to think about that more, there is a possibility of fetishization and exoticization of non-normative bodies which is not a good thing…)
Ok, one more also: I am not familiar with everything promised by Cyberpunk 2077 but will there be an option of creating characters with disabilities? Because I’d expect that part to happen before modifying one’s genitals.

Agata: I don’t think there is, apart from prosthetics – but one of the devs made some ableist comments on the subject (the bodies that are modified and not “pure flesh” are no longer sacrum but profanum, or something among these lines) so I am not sure how the disabilities will be treated.

Felicitas: thank you!

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