The Red Strings Club and Why Cyberpunk Gives Us Hope
A bartender, a spy and an android walk into a bar.
Much like cyberpunk isn’t about predicting the future, gaming is not in that business either.
What we do is react.
And it’s no wonder that, from Observer to Tacoma, we gamers have been endlessly fascinated with cyberpunk. The Red Strings Club (available on Steam) is just one of the great cyberpunk narratives that make us turn off our PCs and discuss.
So let’s dig into why neon and society’s decay work so well for us.
The Trouble with Emotions: Android vs Bartender
In a nutshell, cyberpunk is a dystopian scenario that juxtaposes advanced technology with a decaying society. We have all the silicon chips and no morals.
And like they say, the best fantasy is grounded in reality. We like technology and the opportunities it gives us, and we hate our emotions sometimes. That’s exactly why RSC revolves around them.
So what does the Red Strings Club do? It shifts the paradigm. Technology is necessary while emotions are outdated, as opposed to our natural order of things where technology can be outdated and emotions are necessary.
You alternate between three characters in a world run by corporations. The most notable of the three is an android, Akara-184 who works for a corporation and helps people by installing personality upgrade chips.
And that would be your run-of-the-mill cyberpunk scenario (along with the corporation’s bad intentions) if it weren’t for the android who wants to make people happy.
Now, the android is in on the corporation’s plan to suppress all negative emotions, but it’s paradoxical. On the other hand, we have the bartender, Donovan, who is pro-emotions but exploits them.
It becomes a moral issue with subverted stereotypes: a human who exploits emotions, and an android who wants to make people happy.
But like in the real world, it’s not all so black and white.
Sour Grapes, Sweet Lemons and Peak Usefulness
The needs of the android’s clients are simple at first, maybe even a parody of our society: a cosplayer wants more followers, a startup guy who needs more investors for his startups (plural), and a writer who is stressed by negative online comments.
However, as the story progresses, the available modules no longer fit the needs of the clients.
The writer loses his inspiration by diminishing negative influence, the cosplayer gets a lot of criticism. Akara-184 is forced to think of long-term solutions which seem counterintuitive to what the clients want.
At one point, Akara even says: “I am designed to make you happy, much different to granting every wish.”
And while cyberpunk emphasizes technology’s usefulness even in the field of our emotions, RSC draws a parallel between the available modules for personality upgrades (our wishes) and our actual needs.
Simply put, the available solutions are no longer enough and perhaps they never were.
Much like in our society, we have all the technology we can get, but the problem starts when it reaches its peak usefulness. A sentient android can’t do a lot when technology isn’t the answer to all of our problems.
Sometimes we have to use our own heads, and that’s the charm of cyberpunk. All that technology just reminds us of how human we are — and how human we have to be.
Dystopia Shaping Utopia
Cyberpunk is cool, but it also pushes all the right buttons for us because we live in a world of advanced technology, but in tumultuous times.
We’re bound to do some digging around the status quo. And by highlighting the issues we are facing today and making them huge in the future, cyberpunk helps us assume responsibility.
In a conversation between the android Akara-184 and a revolutionary, Ariadne, RSC drops a startling gem:
Akara asks Ariadne to go back to the operation table where a new module will be installed, saying: “This way I can help you and make you happy,” to which Ariadne responds: “Don’t worry. I’m in the process of making myself happy.”
Cyberpunk is our worst case scenario. It creates balance: for every invention, there is skepticism. And that’s good — there’s nothing wrong with a little soul-searching.
Choices Matter
Cyberpunk is also a hopeful scenario. RSC emphasizes the need to make personal choices, advanced tech or no. And it doesn’t matter how small they are.
In fact, the Red Strings Club shows the players how important every little choice is. Akara installs personality modules into her clients, and shapes their decisions in the future by doing so.
Donovan mixes drinks that fuel or suppress emotions needed to get the information he needs. Just one drop of liquor is enough to make or break a conversation.
In the first instance, clients get a choice — but their wishes may not match what they need. In the second, Donovan knows best whenever he invokes the muse and our choice is recorded in the red strings panel.
A reference to mythology, the red strings are references to fate and the freedom of choice. No matter how small a player’s choice, it can impact the further story.
We don’t know if they will be good or bad in the end — what matters is that we get the right to make our own decisions. Even if we completely screw it up.
Unity through Disconnect
While the critics of technology talk a lot about disconnect and it is present to a certain degree (feel free to @ me), it only emphasizes that we still feel the need to unite.
In a story about a world run by greed displayed not only in corporations, but in people, too, the Red Strings Club makes a point of showing how technology isn’t the only place to resort to. We do as humans do: we join forces.
Since our choice of games says a lot about us, it’s no wonder that gamers love cyberpunk. We are living it, with all the developments and new ways to learn, have fun and experience new realities.
And even though there are screens between us, we still feel the need to connect meaningfully. The question is: how do we make technology work for us again? How do we gather and discuss the important questions posed by good games?
Of course, we’ll muse about all the ways it could go wrong, but it’s safe to do that in cyberpunk. We never bring killer robots back with us; the only thing we bring is food for thought.
After all, a bartender, a spy and an android walk into a bar sounds like the start of a good joke only if you don’t let it become something much more powerful.
I am here for all the bad jokes, dystopian predictions and/or cyberpunk analyses. Tell me your thoughts in the replies or on Twitter.
